Kumar Gandharva’s village in Belagavi waits for a meaningful memorial for its musical genius son

Pandit Kumar Gandharva’s village in Karnataka’s Belagavi waits for a meaningful memorial.

The village of Sulebhavi, tucked away in the lap of the Tanikolla mountain along the Belagavi-Bagalkot highway with a population of around 9,000 people, is famous for the temple of the village deity Dyamavva. The temple complex, now renovated and renamed, houses shrines for three deities. The Lakshmi temple here is the go-to point for several politicians from Karnataka and Maharashtra before starting election campaigns.

However, very few take the trouble to wander into Bazar Galli where stands “Basava Kunja”, a building that doubles as a tea shop and the home of Rudrappa Naganur, who runs the hotel.

It was here that one of the greatest Hindustani musicians, Pandit Kumar Gandharva, was born in 1924. The old house, renovated partially, still has a leaky roof. Other than this house that the Gandharva family sold to the family of Mahadevappa Naganur, a hotelier, there is little else to remind visitors of the maestro. Till 1990, Panditji kept visiting the plce every year. His children have come once or twice since then, recalls Mr. Rudrappa Naganur.

While the world prepares to celebrate the birth centenary of Pandit Kumar Gandharva, his native village of Sulebavi in Belagavi district waits for a memorial for the gifted singer.

“The problem is that we are not proud of our own people. We forget them soon,” says Basavaraj Marihal, a resident of the village. “If Panditji was born in any of the villages across the border in Maharashtra, they would be feted while alive, and celebrated every day long after their death,” he said.

In 2008, a delegation of villagers met the then Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and asked him to build a memorial. The Department of Kannada and Culture and the zilla panchayat engineering wing constructed a two-storied building and named it after Pandit Kumar Gandharva. But the building, at the far end of Bazar Galli, has fallen into disuse. Plans to have a Hindustani music Gurukul have not been taken up.

“I tell all the politicians who visit the Lakshmi temple to erect a statue of Panditji in the village. But they do not show interest. Our MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar made the promise too, but nothing has happened,” said Jagadish Naganur, son of Mr. Rudrappa Naganur who works for a private firm in Belagavi.