DAVANAGERE: Karnataka on Sunday lost its senior most MLA when 94-year-old Dr Shamanur Shivashankarappa passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru at 6:20pm.
He was a politician, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, educationalist, agriculturist and social worker. Even though Shivashankarappa came from a humble background, his ambition helped him to become a national leader.
Son of Kallappa and Savithramma, Dr Shivashankarappa’s ancestors hailed from Shamanur in Bijapur, now Vijayapur district. The family then came to Ranebennur in search of employment and subsequently they settled at Davanagere, where they started rice business and became popular for the trade.
Dr Shivashankarappa, born on June 16, 1931, entered the business and never looked back. It was during the peak of the business when Shivashankarappa entered the political and education sectors simultaneously.
His close friends describe Dr Shivashankarappa as a man with great memory, straight forward thinker, philanthropist, spiritualist and a face-reading expert.
A devotee of Bakkeshwaraswamy
HB Manjunath, a senior journalist from Davanagere, described Dr Shivashankarappa as a straight forward person and a religious man.”Dr Shivashankarappa had donated wealth to each and every temple and mutt in Karnataka and other important religious places, besides helping the needy people. The most recent memory goes to Covid-19. When the entire world was reeling under this contagious disease, he obtained Covid-19 drugs and distributed them among the public,” he said.
Scholarships to students
Dr Shivashankarappa formed the SS Janakalyana Trust to support the education of financially deprived students from all sections, irrespective of caste or religion. The trust provides scholarships to the meritorious students. It gives special emphasis for the children of the journalists who are given special scholarships every year.
Funeral at Kalleshwara Rice Mill
Dr Shamanur Shivashankarappa will be buried next to his wife Parvathamma on the Kalleshwara Rice Mill premises on Anekonda Road.
Rich donations to temples, mutts
Chitradurga: Dr Shamanur Shivashankarappa made rich donations for the development of spiritual activities by gifting gold idols, construction of the lodges at religious places and donating money and land to mutts. One of his donations was a gold cover for the shivaling Guru Thipperudraswamy Temple in in Nayakanahatti. He was a regular visitor to the temple on the day before the chariot festival.
He also contributed in the construction of lodges at Yediyur Siddalingeshwara Temple, Tirupathi Tirumala Temple, said D Basavaraj, a close confidant of Dr Shivashankarappa. He was also an ardent lover of the theatre, because of which he constructed an air conditioned theatre at Sanehalli village in Hosadurga taluk. He also set-up the Bapuji Co-operative Bank.
