OF STATUES & CIRCLES...: BASAVESHWARA STATUE COMPLETES ONE YEAR

Basaveshwara Circle in Mysore. Pic by Hampa Nagaraj

It is a year since Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa inaugurated the statue of Saint Basavanna, built at a total cost of Rs. 64 lakh at the Gun House Circle in city. To coincide with the Basava Jayanthi celebrations tomorrow, here we publish a brief history about how the project that was started a decade ago took shape and now the great saint with a serene carriage beckons the theists and atheists alike to embrace the philosophy of Vachanas.
About 10 years ago, the followers of Basavanna under the guidance of Suttur Seer Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji, with an ambition to spread the ideals of Basavanna among the uninitiated in the mainstream society, decided to install a statue of the saint in city.
To oversee the work of building a dome and installing the Basaveshwara statue, the Seer constituted a Committee. But the project did not take off for nine years due to various reasons. Later, when former Mayor Dakshinamurthy was elected as the President of the Federation of Basava Balagas, he took interest in breathing life to the dormant project. Thus the work on the statue began earnestly.
Dakshinamurthy, speaking to SOM about the project, said earlier they had approached Siddharamaiah, who was then the Deputy Chief Minister, for the necessary funds to construct the mantapa, dome and statue. However, his promise to release Rs. 20 lakh was not met with, he said and added that they had also approached late M.P. Prakash when he was the Dy.CM, who too had promised Rs.20 lakh, which in turn did not see fruition.
Later, when Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) Managing Director Ashok Kheny was approached for the funds, he said he would not only sponsor the construction of the mantapa, dome and statue but also would take up the responsibility to see that the work was completed in an efficient manner. At the end, the statue and its mantapa along with the dome was built at a cost of around Rs. 52 lakh. Again Kheny spent another Rs. 12 lakh for specially illuminating the mantapa.
Dakshinamurthy says that Suttur Seer was very specific about the nature and form of the statue. As most statues of Basavanna were warrior-like in nature and seen riding on a horse adorned with a sword, the Seer directed the Committee to sculpt a statue which portrayed the peaceful nature of the saint, with a manuscript of Vachanas in his hand, preaching the true Sharana philosophy.
As per the Seer's wish, the statue was sculpted by Jagannath, a sculptor from Bidadi near Bangalore and the dome and mantapa were constructed by Annahalli Ramesh. The construction work was completed in 2010.
The imposing statue of Sri Basaveshwara, installed in front of JSS Mahavidyapeetha in the heart of the city, was unveiled on the occasion of Basava Jayanthi celebrations last year by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa in the presence of then District-in- Charge Minister Suresh Kumar, Ashok Kheny and others.
Mysore is the only district among the surrounding districts of Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, Mandya, Hassan and Chikkamagalur to have the saint's statue. Basaveshwara was a great social reformer and philosopher.