The stage is set for the bicentenary celebration of Karnataka’s Kabir — Santa Shishunala Sharif from Tuesday. The legendary 19th century saint, mystic minstrel poet, philosopher and social reformer had strived for communal harmony and traversed across the region (which now forms part of Karnataka ) carrying his messages through songs accompanied by his ‘Ekatare’ (a single string instrument).

Considered to be the first sufi poet in Kannada literature, Sharif lived between 1819 and 1889, offering his ‘Tatvapada’ (moral poems) in Kannada. While historians differ over Sharif’s date of birth — some believing he was born in March while others saying it was July 3, 1819 — the celebrations are starting on Tuesday. “Though historians and researchers differ over the birth date, they are unanimous in their opinion that Sharif breathed his last on the day that he was born that is July 3. As 2018 marks the beginning of the bicentenary year (completing 199th year and beginning of the 200th), it was decided to celebrate,” said Mahesh Joshi, a descendant of saint Govinda Bhat, the Sharif’s guru.

Sharif was born in Shishuvinahala in Shiggaon taluk to Imam Hazarat Saab and took Govinda Bhat as his guru. Both strived hard for unity and brotherhood between the two religions. Even now, both Hindus and Muslims can be seen worshipping Sharif at the temple in Shishuvinahala. Interestingly, Sharif was known to compose poems in accordance with the situation and sing them to spread his philosophy. Though Sharif never wrote down his compositions, his poems were passed by word of mouth to the future generation.

Filmmaker T.S. Nagabharana made Santa Shishunala Sharif in 1990 based on Sharif’s life, whose preachings are likened with those of Kabir of north India. The film starring Girish Karnad, Sridhar, and Suman Ranganath went on to win the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration, besides winning multiple awards at the State level.

It was the efforts of Lakshminarayana Bhatta and various sugam sangeet artists who popularised the soulful poems of Sharif in the southern part of Karnataka, where he was less known. Recently, Raghu Dixit also contributed to popularising his poems.

Programmes

The celebrations is being organised by the Saint Shishunala Sharif and Guru Govinda Bhat Foundation, in association with the Department of Kannada and Culture and other cultural organisations. Former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda will be inaugurating the function. A special music and dance programme based on Tatwa Padas of both Sharif and Govinda Bhat, ‘Tatvarasayana’, will be held at Ravindra Kalakshetra. To mark the occasion, the Department of Posts will be releasing a special postal cover.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Muralidhara Khajane / Bengaluru – July 01st, 2018