When the world-renowned scholar, India-aficionado, and multifaceted expert on various art forms, Ananda Coomaraswamy was asked to deliver a message regarding India’s independence, this is the note he wrote from America: “Be yourselves. Tread on the path showed by Mahatma Gandhi, Kumarappa, D.V. Gundappa and Ramana Maharshi.”
The public meeting that took place towards the end of 1919 was organized by D.V.G. In the South Indian Princely States Conference held in 1929 in Travancore, D.V.G was the secretary to its president, Sir M. Visvesvaraya.
In the People’s Conference of South Indian States held in May 1925 in Pune, in the All India States People’s Representative Conference held in December 1927 in Mumbai, and on numerous such occasions, D.V.G’s opinions were sought and discussed.
In 1931, Lakṣmīnarasiṃha Śāstri joined the Pāṭhaśālā in this Maṭha for higher studies. He was then eighteen years of age. The background of this Pāṭhaśālā requires mention.
शुद्धाद्वैतपथस्य पालनकृते पूर्वं त्वया स्थापित-
स्थानेष्वन्यतमस्थशिष्यततिगस्तत्कार्यकृत्यक्षमः।
अज्ञानां धुरि कीर्तनीयचरितो नाद्यापि विद्यालय-
स्तस्मात्स्थानमिदं गुरूत्तम कृपावार्धे त्वमेवाश्रय॥
यद्वा दुर्मतभेदपाटववतीं मेधां नवोन्मेषिणीं
Magadi Karanika Krishnamurthy is worthy of remembrance. He had a mind that was liberal, a heart that was generous, and an outlook that was progressive. The reward the world gave him was—to some extent—admiration and a bit of ridicule.
The situation in the states ruled by the Maharajas were not really praiseworthy.
Bhopal was a Hindu-majority state as long as it was under the suzerainty of the Gonds – until Mohammad Khan captured it. By the beginning of the 20th century, the situation had declined so badly that not even one percent of key administrative posts was in the hands of Hindus.
The following incident happened in the 1930s, when Śrī Candraśekhara-bhāratī Mahāsvāmi adorned the Śāradā-pīṭha at Sringeri. The Mahāsvāmi’s liking for and support of scholarship is well known. He took great interest in the development of Gīrvāṇa-prauḍha-vidyābhivardhinī Pāṭhaśālā that is housed in the Bengaluru Śaṅkara-maṭha. Back in the day, this Pāṭhaśālā was one of the greatest centres of traditional learning.
DVG practiced journalism for an unremitting seven decades; from the beginning, he fiercely upheld the nationalistic spirit in both speech and writing. From 1913-1920 when D.V.G. was editing the English biweekly Karnataka, this was the tenet that he declared: “The newspapers of our country need not imitate their counterparts in America or other foreign countries. Our papers need to conduct themselves in a manner that is consonant with our social circumstances and the nature and traditions of our people.”