When the world-renowned scholar, India-aficionado, and multifaceted expert on various art forms, Ananda Coomaraswamy was asked to deliver a message regarding India’s independence, this is the note he wrote from America: “Be yourselves. Tread on the path showed by Mahatma Gandhi, Kumarappa, D.V. Gundappa and Ramana Maharshi.”
Political Reforms in Mysore
DVG directly involved himself for several decades in the politics of Karnataka (then, Mysore...
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Public Organisations
The public meeting that took place towards the end of 1919 was organized by D.V.G. In the South Indian Princely States Conference held in 1929 in Travancore, D.V.G was the secretary to its president, Sir M. Visvesvaraya.
In the People’s Conference of South Indian States held in May 1925 in Pune, in the All India States People’s Representative Conference held in December 1927 in Mumbai, and on numerous such occasions, D.V.G’s...
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The Rule of the Maharajas
The situation in the states ruled by the Maharajas were not really praiseworthy.
Bhopal was a Hindu-majority state as long as it was under the suzerainty of the Gonds – until Mohammad Khan captured it. By the beginning of the 20th century, the situation had declined so badly that not even one percent of key administrative posts was in the hands of Hindus.
Only a handful of Princely States like Mysore, Travancore, Kochi...
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DVG practiced journalism for an unremitting seven decades; from the beginning, he fiercely upheld the nationalistic spirit in both speech and writing. From 1913-1920 when D.V.G. was editing the English biweekly Karnataka, this was the tenet that he declared: “The newspapers of our country need not imitate their counterparts in America or other foreign countries. Our papers need to conduct themselves in a manner that is consonant with our social...
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The long years of service that DVG rendered variously as the member of the Municipal Council (1915-16), Legislative Council (1927-40), Mysore University Senate (1927-42), Mysore State Reforms Committee (1938-39) and other expert committees was inspired by this selfsame spirit of all-encompassing dedication to the nation. The index finger that shaped and guided his life was the following verse which he used to repeatedly recall:
jñāninā caritum...
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Note: This is the first part of the English translation of a series profiling D.V. Gundappa's life and legacy authored in the original Kannada by Dr. S.R. Ramaswamy, part of his essay collection titled "Divatigegalu."
"Do you have a notebook?” asked DVG when I went to see him one evening. When I said “yes,” he made me write this verse:
अज्ञस्य दु:खौघमयं
ज्ञस्यानन्दमयं जगत् |
अन्धं भुवनमन्धस्य
प्रकाशं तु सुचक्षुषः||
ajñasya du:...
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