Poet laureate G S Shivarudrappa was cremated with state honours at Kalagrama behind the Jnana Bharathi campus here on Thursday. The 87-year-old poet died on Monday at his Jnana Bharathi here.
His sons G S Jayadev and G S Shivaprasad lit the funeral pyre in a non-religious ceremony. The poet had earlier written a two-page letter requesting that his body be burnt instead of being buried according to the custom of the Lingayat community from which he hailed.
Earlier in the day, the mood was somber at the tent erected at Ravindra Kalakshetra, where Shivarudrappa’s body was kept for public viewing. His admirers recited his poems.
His son Jayadev broke down when inmates of the orphanage run by the poet at Chamarajnagar, went there to pay homage. As the voice of Deepthi, one of the children from the orphanage, rent the air, people recalled the greatness of the man who was a role model for people from all walks of life.
“Our association dates back to 1966 when I first rendered his poems at a show in Shimoga,” said Srinivasa Udupa, a music director and singer. Udupa, his neighbour at Banashankari, said, “On each of his birthdays, I would go to his house and sing a few songs written by him. This was the birthday gift I would give him,” Udupa recalled.
Shivarudrappa’s second son Shivaprasad, a doctor residing in England, said his earliest memories of his father’s tryst with Kannada literature was when he was just five-years-old. “I was too young. But my father’s passion for Kannada literature was so deep that I got a taste of it. He would take me along to all the literary activities, meetings and programmes,” he said. He narrated how his father loved travelling as well. “My father loved England, not just because I live there, but because he had great respect for poets like Shakespeare and Wordsworth,” he said.
Shivarudrappa died of supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disorder. “His condition had been deteriorating gradually for three years. He read the work of Russian authors like Leo Tolstoy during his last days to keep himself motivated’’. Former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa attended the cremation. He said the Kannada Samskruti Bhavan that has come up at the poet’s birthplace of Shikaripura was supposed to have been inaugurated by the poet. “We wanted Shivarudrappa to inaugurate it, but now it will be named after him. We will also discuss with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on having a memorial built for him,” he said.
Minister for Kannada and Culture Umashree said although the poet left the world, his thoughts, values and knowledge system will always live. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah paid homage to the poet at Kalagrama. Earlier in the day, Minister Ambarish and others, visited the Kannada Sahitya Parishat to pay their respects.