On Sunday, a pall of gloom descended on Ramakunja, the birthplace of Vishwesha Tirtha Swami in Kadaba taluk of Dakshina Kannada, and at Ramakunjeshwara Samskurta Higher Primary School in the village, where the seer had studied.
The seer, the eldest of six children of Narayanacharya and Kamalamma, went by the name of Venkataramu before his ordination as a saint. He was born on April 27, 1931, and studied at the school, which was established in 1919, for nearly a year in class 1 in 1938.
The seer was closely associated with the development of the school, which started with the Gurukula form of education on the Ramakunjeshwara Temple premises. “The seer’s father and uncle were closely associated with the school and he continued the association. He ran this institution democratically and cared bout empowering children from peasant and labourer families,” said Narayana Bhat, former headmaster of the school. The school is run by the Ramakunjeshwara Vidyavardhaka Sabha set up by the seer.
The school, located off the Uppinangady-Kukke Subrahmanya road, was recognised as a general school in 1952 and Sanskrit became one of the subjects taught there. It now functions out of an independent building.
Apart from the higher primary school, the Sabha runs a kindergarten, an English-medium primary school, a secondary school, a PU college, and a degree college. Nearly 3,000 students study at this institution.
A day before the seer was admitted to hospital, he visited the school and took part in its annual day programme. The seer then proceeded to Pajaka Kshetra — the birthplace of Madhvacharya. The seer had visited for the annual days of the English-medium school and the PU college on November 25 and December 2, respectively.
