Vijayapura
Senior researcher Krishna Kolhar Kulkarni said that Ganesh Govinda Karkhanis opened schools and a boarding facility for Dalit students in Vijayapura district before Dr. B R Ambedkar’s influence spread here. He said Kaka Karkhanis faced untouchability and social boycott but chose to live among Dalits and formed the Harijan Sevak Sangh. He taught Bhagavad Gita to Dalit students and encouraged them to study and compete with Brahmin students, where many won top ranks.
He also worked closely with Kaujalagi Hanamantaraya and started education programs for Devadasi women through the Harijan Kanya Mandir in Vijayapura. Karkhanis not only educated Dalits but also helped them find jobs and arranged marriages, which people remember as his key social service. Speakers at the Vijayapura book fair praised his life and said his work is a model for social change in India.
In 1939, Dr. B R Ambedkar visited Vijayapura for a court case and held a public meeting where he met Karkhanis and appreciated his efforts. Karkhanis was a lifelong bachelor, a yogi, and lived for nearly a hundred years, remembered for discipline and service. He once trained at Sabarmati Ashram and protested there against the practice of showing his diary to Gandhi. He also wrote a book on Devadasis and worked for their dignity and education throughout his life. Retired judge Vasant Mulasavalagi said society should remember him and celebrate his birth anniversary every year.
Other speakers at the event said his efforts against untouchability and for education changed many lives. The program was attended by writers, social workers, students, and members of Karkhanis’s school family and organization. Anil Hosamani conducted the session at the Buddha Basava Babasaheb Ambedkar Book Fair.
Organisers of the book fair said the aim of the event is to highlight the work of social reformers like Karkhanis who fought caste discrimination and promoted education for all sections of society in Vijayapura region. Participants said Kaka Karkhanis legacy continues to inspire teachers students and social activists today and his life story remains an important example of equality education and human dignity in society always remembered.
