Fa.Gu. Halakatti, who revived Vachana Literature, remembered

The chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti has said that programmes should be chalked out to create awareness on the life and work of Fa.Gu. Halakatti, who dedicated his life to the revival and dissemination of the Vachana literature of the 12th century.

Chairman of the Karnataka Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti has said that programmes should be chalked out to create awareness of the life and work of Fa.Gu. Halakatti dedicated his life to the revival and dissemination of the Vachana literature of the 12th century.

He was speaking at the birth anniversary of Fa.Gu. Halakatti, the release of a documentary on his life and works and the centenary of the publication of the Vachana volumes edited by him in Dharwad on July 7. Basava Shanthi Mission and Karnatak Vidyavardhaka Sangha had jointly organised the programme.

Recalling the contribution of Fa.Gu. Halakatti, Mr. Horatti said that Halakatti, a native of Dharwad, travelled extensively across the region in the last century to collect the palm leaf manuscripts of Vachanas almost forgotten by the people and spent his life’s earnings for the publication of the vachana volumes. “He dedicated his life to the dissemination of the ideas and ideals conveyed through the vachanas. He did a commendable job throughout his life and left footprints for others to follow. The new generation should know about such ideal personalities and learn from them and therefore programmes to spread his message should be conducted extensively”, he said.

The social revolution initiated by twelfth century ‘sharanas’ led by Basavanna, Allama Prabhu, Akka mahadevi and the likes through the ‘Anubhava Mantapa’ laid the foundation stone for today’s Parliament. Their names would be remembered for time immemorial, he said.

The Chairman of the Legislative Council, however, regretted that while many people spoke a lot about the ideas and ideals of twelfth-century Sharanas and other legendary personalities, hardly a few people matched their words with their deeds. Consequently, casteism still prevailed in society. He said that only when people united cutting across caste lines, a casteless society, of which Basavanna had dreamt about, could be created.

Former chairman of the Legislative Council Viranna Mattikatti presided over the function. Writer Ramzan Dargah and others delivered talks on Fa.Gu. Halakatti’s life and works. Mathe Jnaneshwari, President of Basava Shanthi Mission Mahadev Horatti, former MP I.G. Sanadi, Sharanappa Kotagi, Shashikant Pattan and others were present.