Google honoured one of the greatest Indian engineers, Sir M. Visvesvaraya, on his 158th birth anniversary with a special doodle, featuring him wearing the Mysuru peta against the backdrop of an engineering marvel, the Krishna Raja Sagar dam, built across the Cauvery river.
Visvesvaraya oversaw construction of his design for the dam and lake, which was at that time the largest reservoir in the country, providing drinking water to several cities.
Google.com, in its tribute on Saturday, said, “Living by the phrase 'Work is Worship,' Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya — fondly known as Sir MV — devoted his life to engineering. A master of irrigation design, the world-renowned civil engineer became so respected in his field that India celebrates Engineers Day each year on his birthday. While some sources cite his birth year as 1861, after speaking to his family, we’ve learned that Sir MV was actually born a year earlier.”
Visvesvaraya was born to a humble family in a small village Muddenahalli in Chickaballapur district in Karnataka. His father, a Sanskrit scholar, passed away when Visvesvaraya was very young. “According to stories passed down over generations, Sir MV had to walk over 60 km to Bengaluru to attend United Mission School, eating the food served in temples around the city, and studying under street lamps,” Google said in its post.
After completing his schooling, he earned a B.A. from Madras University in 1881, and went on to study civil engineering at the College of Science in Pune. As a young graduate, Visvesvaraya took up a job with the Public Works Department of the then Bombay Presidency, and later joined the Indian Irrigation Commission. He is credited with establishing extremely intricate systems of irrigation in the Deccan area. His flood protection system for Hyderabad and his irrigation plans for Visakhapatnam made him something of a celebrity.
He was conferred knighthood by the British Empire under King George V. In 1909, he became the Chief Engineer of Mysore and three years later, the Dewan of Mysore.
In 1918, he resigned from the post in protest over the Maharaja's decision to set aside state jobs for non-Brahmins. By this time, he had helped establish the University of Mysore, the State Bank of Mysore, Bangalore Agricultural University, Mysore Chamber of Commerce, among other institutions.
He was known for his love for the Kannada language, and was instrumental in setting up the Kannada Parishat.
True to the title of his autobiography ' Memoirs of my working life', his devotion to work continued till the last days of his life. He was honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 1952. He passed away in Bengaluru on April 12, 1962.
