Udhbhavaha, the alternate learning space in Bangalore, celebrated Gurupurnima today by giving out the first Dr. K.S. Narayanacharya award for writers promoting Bharatiyata. The event was jointly organized by Udhbhavaha and two publishing houses, Sahitya Prakashana and Subbu Publications. The award for this year was given to Sandeep Balakrishna.

The function, held at the beautiful Udhbhavaha campus, started with Gaupuja and Gurupuja. There were four eminent speakers including Sandeep Balakrishna. The other three were Shri M Subramanya, the founder of Sahitya Prakashana, Shrimati Smitha Srinivasmurthy, a translator and author, and Shri Jeevan Rao, the young author of Yuganta: The advent of Kaliyuga. The four speakers kept the audience of around hundred people engrossed in reminiscences of Narayanacharya and with stories on various aspects of Bharatiyata. Diwakar Chennappa, the head of Udhbhavaha and the moderator of the event, concluded with some inspiring stories of life at Udhbhavaha. The evening ended with bisi bele bhath, curd rice and payasa served by the Udhbhavaha teachers and parents.

I request people from Udhbhavaha to share some photos of this memorable event on the SIDH Telegram channel.

About K.S. Narayanacharya:
Dr. K.S. Narayanacharya, was an English, Kannada and Sanskrit scholar who retired as the Principal and Head, Department of English, Karnataka Arts College, Dharwad. He has published over 200 books in Kannada and English on Indian topics like The Ramayana, The Mahabharata, Bhagvad Gita, Tamil scriptures, Sri Krishna, Valmiki, Chanakya, Agastya, Gandhi and Bose. His book ‘Those eighteen days’ (in 3 volumes) about the Mahabharata war is very popular in Karnataka. His discourses on the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads etc. were very well attended.

About Sandeep Balakrishna:
Sandeep Balakrishna is a Kannada/ English author, editor, speaker and independent researcher with about 20 years of writing on Indian history, culture and literature. He has authored over 2000 articles, essays, critiques, academic papers and delivered lectures related to these themes at institutions like the Indian Council of Philosophical Research, IIM Bangalore, Sri Aurobindo Society, Shree Somanath Sanskrit University, Bangalore University and Amrita University etc. Sandeep is the author of bestselling books such as Tipu Sultan: The Tyrant of Mysore, Madurai Sultanate: A Concise History, 70 Years of Secularism: Unpopular Essays on the Unofficial Political Religion of India, Invaders and Infidels and Stories from Inscriptions. He has also translated Dr S.L. Bhyrappa’s critically acclaimed work ‘Aavarana’ into English, and it is now in its 20th reprint. Sandeep is the founder and editor of The Dharma Dispatch, an online journal dedicated to Indian civilisation, culture and history,

Links:
Udhbhavaha https://www.udhbhavaha.org/
Sahitya Prakashana https://sahityaprakashan.com/
Subbu Publications https://subbupublications.com/