Be it the history of the world or the history of a nation, it must be always the history of a few. Just as we measure the height of the Himalayas by the height of Mt. Everest, we are compelled to judge the individuals by the knowledge one has. Babu Shiva Poojary is one among those few.
Babu Shiva Poojary was born in 1945 in a historic place in called Barkur in Udupi District of costal Karnataka. This place was known as ancient capital of Tulu Nadu. Like many others, he came to Mumbai at the early age after completing his primary education. Fortunately, I too belong to the same place Barkur. As such, my affection towards him is different one. In Mumbai, while earning his livelihood during day, he did his SSC through Night School and then graduated while studying through morning colleges. Here again, I happened to be the student of same college, where Babu Shiva Poojary studied.
The goal of mankind is knowledge
No knowledge come from outside
Its all inside
– said Swamy Vivekananda
True to this saying, during the college days itself he exhibited all the qualities to be a scholar. ‘80s was the boom time. During this period Kannada students were organized in almost all colleges in Mumbai and formed Kannada Sangha through which regular Inter- Collegiate Talents competitions were held. Babu Shiva Poojary was the star participant in elocution competition. I was witness to this as a student of Night Junior College during those days.
People hardly know Babu Shiva Poojary as a hotelier by profession, for he devoted his precious time in reading philosophy and research study, and in the company of scholars and literates. He know very well that one should not put all his stress in material interest of life. He is a great lover of Books. His office at hotel premises at Borivli is filled with books to his taste which include Kannada, English, Hindi, Sanskrit reference and literature books including tulu literature. I had few occasion to meet him at his office. I found him always engrossed with his books. I would rather say that what is found in him may be found with others, but what is not found in him, may not be found with others. He believed in self help. He does his typing necessity for his research work by himself. He is computer Savvy. His reading and collection of books is not confined to Mumbai itself. But at his house at native place too he has large library with hundreds of reference books, as invariably he makes it a point to visit native place 2-3 times in a month. His Native place has his large contribution in many ways. He is actively involved in the activities of Shivagiri Kshetra, Barkur. At this premises he helped to build a Vyayama Shala and provided all the modern equipments by himself for the benefit of locals. He has in his possession in-depth study on historical background of Barkur and has videographed every nook and corner of the place and its heritage. As per tradition, the city contained 365 temples, during Vijayanagar Empire, the remains of which can be seen even to-day. I am for sure that one fine opportune he would come out with some untold story on Barkur, which would bring him laurels. I feel, may be religion and philosophy must have fascinated him right from the childhood.
Babu Shiva Poojary is not writing just for the sake of writing. He has authored and published 4 books. All these books are his research studies. The first book published by him in 2003 is “Billawaru ondu Adhyayana” - Study of Billawas. In this book he has written on 1400 years of legacy of Billawas covering all aspects right from their origin. His next epic volume was “Shee Narayana Guru Vijaya Darshana” - the Guru who taught the world “One Caste, One Religion, One God.” This book unfolds Shree Narayan Guru’s thinking, his preaching, his achievements, and his social revolution, which holds true even today. It is pertinent to note here that this book was released by Shri Shri Ravi Shankar. This book is the result of decades of research work on Shree Narayan Guru.
Other two books are “Haggina Hani” – a collection of his literary writings and “Anusandana” – a research thesis based on Indian Culture and literature.
He is the editor of “Guruthu” – a kannada montly published by Billawa Jagruti Balaga, which is in its 15th years of publication. Reading the editorial in the magazine itself is a pleasure. He would always take current topics elaborately in his editorial and put forward logical arguments and solutions.
Interaction with Babu Shiva Poojary itself is a pleasure. He would welcome you with pleasant smile while edge of his tongue peeping through his lips is unique for him. He will not make you bored even after hours of his company. He would touch every aspect of all subjects and people, and would make one feel like visit him again and again. There are quite a few writers and scholars who come from Karnataka or elsewhere visit him during their each visit and exchange literary views. Though he is a man of serious nature, element of humors is always in his speech. Once when I asked him after seeing the statues of two elephants at the main gate of his house at Barkur, he mildly cracked a joke saying it is the symbol of BSP – Babu Shiva Poojary. Babu Shiva Poojary is a charitable person. He would always lend his helping hand for charitable causes and to the downtrodden.
As already said he is a good orator. He would talk for hours on varied subjects, of course with proper preparation. He would never deviate from the given subject. He has the skill to study the mind of audience and has the art of keeping them under his control.
He does not believe in felicitation and citations and he never gone after awards. Yet many institutions recognized him on various occasions, and was awarded with “Sahitya Durandhara” and “Billawa Sahitya Ratna”. The felicitation hosted by Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Bangalore and its Maharashtra Ghataka, with presentation of Felicitation Volume is an apt decision.
I wish almighty God bestow on him good health, in order to continue to contribute more and more to the Society, and see the light of Century.
- Shekar A. Amin Barkur
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