Sadashivanagar (Rajmahal Vilas Extension) (Bengaluru) | residential neighbourhood

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  Jagdeesh (guest)

  SADASHIVNAGAR is named after Karnad Sadashiva Rao. He was a social reformer, a great patriot, tireless organizer, a fatherly figure to the downtrodden, and a humanitarian. He was a Gandhian to the core. He is referred to as "Dharmaraj" (embodiment of charity) by Dr. Shivaram Karanth, the great Kannada writer, whose famous novel "Oudaryada Urulalli" is centered around a Sadashiv Rao-like hero. Karnad Sadashiva Rao was born in 1881 in Mangalore, the only son of a rich and leading lawyer Ramachandra Rao and Radhabai. Even as as young boy, he used to give his books to poorer classmates, facing admonishing from his father, who was a strict disciplinarian. He studied at presidency college in Madras and later studied law in Bombay. He played tennis and cricket, and was a member of a elite sports club. But Sadashiva was attracted to the Indian nationalistic movement that was sweeping the country and took to austere, simple life. With the help of his devoted wife Shantabai, he founded an organization "Mahila Sabha" for betterment of widowed and downtrodden women. He provided funds to educate them and find means of self-support. Several were trained to become teachers, nurses, and tailors. In a caste-torn time, Sadashiva Rao united various communities of South Kanara for the cause of freedom. He was jailed three times, and during those five years, his health deteriorated. He even refused mosquito-curtain in the prison, because it was not given to all inmates. He'd lost all his inherited assets, including his ancestral home due to his "generous to a fault" nature, and due to the treachery of some of his associates. His old mother and daughters had to live in a small rented house. At the Faizpur Congress Session (year 1936), he was thoroughly soaked due to leakage in the hut he was staying. he caught fever and traveled to Bombay on Congress work without telling anybody about his physical condition. The fever worsened, and soon after reaching Bombay he died. He was 56. Not long after his death, Gandhi went to see Sadashiva Rao's mother. He bowed before her and said "Blessed are you mother, for having borne a son such as he".

  19 years ago | reply | hide comment