BANGALORE: The honour of being the second oldest university in the state goes to Karnatak University, Dharwad (KUD). The town is known for its cultural heritage and also has a glorious history of education. The Karnatak Arts College in Dharwad, is the oldest institution for higher learning in the town and it served as a nucleus of the Karnatak University in the initial stages.
Genesis
The varsity started functioning from July 1949, but there was a long struggle leading to its formation. In 1917, the people of North Karnataka raised donations and handed them over to the government, as part of efforts to form the university. In the same year, a resolution was unanimously passed to the effect that independent universities should be established in different linguistic regions of Bombay Presidency.
Later, the Saddler Commission endorsed this view. This led to the appointment of a committee under the chairmanship of Sir Chimanlal Setalvad which recommended the establishment of the Karnatak University. The Senate of the Bombay University gave its assent in 1926.
It was during the All India Congress Committee session in Belgaum in 1924, that R B Kulkarni advocated the establishment of a separate Karnatak University. The 12th session of the Kannada Sahitya Sammelan held in Bellary in 1926, was also the venue of the first Karnatak University conference. It resolved to form the Karnatak Vishwavidyalaya Samithi with Alur Venkata Rao and S S Basavanal as its secretaries. The movement suffered a setback in the wake of the Salt Satyagraha.
However, the Bombay Legislative Council, under the leadership of B G Kher, accepted in principle, the establishment of regional universities.
The movement for Karnatak University could only be rejuvenated in 1942, during the second Karnatak University Conference in Belgaum under the presidentship of R A Jagirdar. In 1943, the report of the Maharashtra University Committee was published. It served as an eye-opener for Kannadigas and Prof V K Gokak, gave a warning in Dharwad that “if the Kannadigas do not wake up and act in a concerted way, their interests would be jeopardised.” The Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha took up the leadership of this movement and September 28, 1946 was observed as ‘Karnatak University Day’ all over the region. These efforts didn’t go in vain and the then Bombay Government appointed Karnatak University Committee under the chairmanship of Justice N S Lokur. The Karnataka University Bill was passed by Bombay Legislature as Bombay Act of 1949. Karnatak University thus came into being with R A Jagirdar as the first Vice- Chancellor.
Karnatak College
Any effort to profile KUD, is incomplete without the mention of Karnatak College in Dharwad. People of the region felt the need for better educational facilities in their region itself, as the Mumbai Karnataka region (North Karnataka), was farthest from the capital of the Bombay Presid e n c y.
Hence, the Karnatak College was established in Dharwad in 1917, as an Intermediate College. People contributed a substantial sum of money for the purpose. The college, in a way, symbolises modern Karnataka. It is responsible for the renaissance of the spirit of love of the people for their language and culture.
Its academic standards were comparable with those in great institutions like Elphinstone College, Mumbai.
Students of the college had also taken part in the Quit India Movement of 1942, and were part of the hartals in support of the movement.
In 1920, it was upgraded. Thanks to the efforts of Sir George Lloyd, Governor of Bombay, the headquarters of the Madras and Southern Maratha Railway was transferred to the Bombay Education Department. The fullfledged college took up habitation in this heritage building later on.
The most outstanding of the students of the college were D C Pavate (who later became the Vice-Chancellor between 1954 and 1967) and V K Gokak.
The college was bifurcated into arts and science colleges during 1978.
Museum
The museum of the Kannada Research Institute of KUD has archaeological and epigraphical remains from the river valleys of Manjra and her tributaries as well as those of Krishna, Tungabhadra and Malaprabha. The institute has carried out excavations at Sanganakallu in Bellary district and Halluru in Haveri district. The excavations led to the discovery of relics from the pre- and proto-historic periods.
Kshatrapa and Shatavahana coins, besides terracota figures and other relics that are 2,000 years old, were discovered at Vadagaon Madhavpur near Belgaum. The Vadagaon Madhavpur prakrit inscription provides information about the prevalence of Vedic cultural practices in the area. Copper plates belonging to early Kadamba, Chalukya and Ganga dynasties and several Uddharane figures are among the other collections at the museum.
The biological museum of the Karnatak University, has skeletal remains of a Baleen whale, 12 metres long and weighing three tonnes.
Famous alumnus
Niranjana Tontada Siddalinga Mahaswamigalu of Tontadarya Mutt, obtained his post-graduate degree in Kannada from Karnatak University.
He waged a war against casteism and untouchability. He founded Jagadguru Tontadarya Vidyapeetha, which started several educational institutions.
Collaborations
KUD has instituted Dr D C Pavate Memorial Foundation under the auspices of which a candidate of eminence from social science is sponsored for further studies at Cambridge. KUD has collaboration with several universities abroad like University of Gothingen, Clemson University in USA, Gutmen University of Yugoslavia, Manitoba University in Canada, University College of London and University of Birmingham in UK. The department of polymer science has been identified as a centre of excellence by UGC.
Bifurcation
Likewise, KUD intended to introduce open elective courses in personality development, said Saidapur. To redefine the role of PG centres, he also suggested that an high power committee could be appointed to review their functioning and explore the option of converting the PG centres into smaller affiliated universities with one or two districts under each one of them. They could also deal with all matters related to examination work of undergraduate courses themselves, thus freeing the main campuses from this task.
To make universities more relevant to societal needs, the V-C said a total revamp in the curriculum was necessary.
The boundaries between various faculties must become porous and multi-disciplinary approaches were needed, he added.
Vidya Soudha
The main building of the Karnatak university, Vidya Soudha is a monumental building with an ‘Indian face’. It was built in 1959. It is of a style distinct from the neo-classical format but representing the Indian ethos. The university’s auditorium ‘Srujana’ provides the contemporary efforts to define architectural spaces, a shift from formal spaces to more informal ones.
KUD is waiting for the status of a model university to be bestowed on it by the Karnataka Knowledge Commission A recent analysis of scientific contributions of the universities in India - an exercise undertaken by the department of science and technology of the Union government - showed that KUD stood 11th among the universities in the country.
R A Jagirdar was the first Vice- Chancellor (1949-51)
Districts served by KUD: Dharwad, Belgaum, Bijapur, Uttara Kannada, Bagalkot, Haveri and Gadag.
With inputs from Basavaraj F Kattimani in Dharwad