Sri Sharat Chandra Swami, seer of Kunduru Mutt speaking at the release event of a compendium of complete works of MM Kalburgi in Fa. Gu. Halkatti Research Center in Vijayapur on Saturday | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Law based on Vijayapur. Gu. The Halkatti Research Center has published a survey of the complete works of MM Kalburgi.
The 40 volumes of books released on Saturday in Vijayapur contain over 26,000 pages of his research papers, fiction, non-fiction, plays, documentation of stone inscriptions, essays and other works.
It is being prepared by a committee of scientists who have been working for more than three years. It was released under a project of the Ministry of Kannada and Culture. Committee members shared their experiences at the seminar on Saturday.
Veeranna Rajur, editor-in-chief of the review, urged young students to consider research as a full-time profession.
“The academic work started by the work of MM Kalburgi remains unfinished even today. Scientists from institutions and universities should continue it,” said prof. Rajur.
“Prof. Kalburgi was originally a researcher of stone inscriptions. But later he focused on Vachana literature. But it absorbed him so much that he immersed himself in it. He opened several new vistas in the field of Vachana literature,” he said.
Prof. Expressing anguish over the killing of MM Kalburgi, Rajur said his death ended a great era of Kannada research. He focused on the cultural-historical interpretation of the Vachanas. He taught us how to identify apocryphal vachanas and theories that disrupt the ideology proclaimed in the vachanas, said Prof. Rajur.
“Kalburgi was not just an individual but an institution. He was the force behind the collection and publication of the complete set of 22,000 Vachanas from the Karnataka University, Dharwad, the Adilshahi and Dasa Sahitya documents from the Fa. Gu. Halkatti Research Centre, Vijayapur, stone inscriptions from Karnataka and the translation of the maganaths in the Gadaaryganath and other works.” 30 languages by the Basava Samitis,” he said.
SK Koppa, one of the scholars, spoke about Kalburgi’s contribution to the research and publication of stone inscriptions. He was a man of many interests, but the study of stone inscriptions was the soul of his life. He was one of the first scholars to provide empirical evidence of the lives and contributions of Basavanna and other Sharanas, he said.
“Most of these were based on stone inscriptions. He started elective courses in the study of Kannada stone inscriptions in universities. His work included indexing 30,000 inscriptions from Karnataka. He not only published them but also printed their Kannada and English transcriptions. His work on the Arjunwadi stone inscriptions helped answer questions about the history of Basavanna. Koppa.” He was so enthusiastic that on one of his business trips he climbed an old rusty gate and jumped into the old office when his much younger students balked, he added.
Gurupada Mariguddi, another source, spoke about Kalburgi’s works of fiction.
“His poetry and plays are as important as his scholarly works. The play Kettittu Kalyana brings to light the real life of Basavanna and the oppression by the priestly class. His plays like Khare Khare Sangya Balya and Khare Khare Kitturu Bandaya helped remove several prejudices,” he said.
Prof. Mariguddi read a poem by MM Kalburgi where he talked about not being afraid of death. It contained the lines: “I will not die. Until the truth is in me. You may want to kill me for fear of the truth, but I want to win you with love.”
Other persons like K. Ravindranath, FT Hallikeri, Hanumakshi Gogi and center secretary MS Madbhavi spoke.
Published – 15 Nov 2025 20:11 IST
