At any time of the day, on the premises of Sri Veereshwar Punyashrama Music School in Gadag, you will see scores of young children learning vocal or instrumental music from their seniors and teachers in small groups. Students from all castes and communities, including many Dalits and Muslims, study here.
The Punyashrama is one of few charitable institutions of northern Karnataka that provide residential education in instrumental and vocal classical music to physically-challenged students at highly subsidised fees. The institution, informally started in 1915, admits 600-800 students per year, several of them disabled. It acquired a more formal structure in 1944 under the guidance of Sri Panchakshari Gawai.
Guru-shishya tradition
The training is traditional and follows the Guru-Shishya tradition. Training is residential and all students live on campus and eat at the Ashrama’s open kitchen. It remains a boys only school. An estimated 20,000 students have passed out of this school till now. The school committee now runs around 10 schools and colleges in and around Gadag. They include a primary school, high school, pre university college and a music college that awards degrees.
Sri Panchakshari Gawai, who lived between 1891 and 1945, was trained under various gurus, including his relatives. Born blind, his skills were noticed by Sri Hangal Kumaraswamy who arranged for his training. He was trained in Hindustani music by Sri Gadigeppa Gawai from Siralkoppa and Neelkanthbua Mirajkar. He also studied Carnatic music from some teachers in Mysuru.
He started a professional theatre group that went around towns. When it camped in Gadag, Veerappa Basarigidad donated land, asking him to settle down in Gadag. It made a modest beginning in a tin shed near the railway station. It has grown to be a centre of spiritual and musical pilgrimage for the faithful in northern Karnataka now. Members of the Hidakimath family have been serving the institution as managers for three generations now.
Means of livelihood
Sri Panchakshari Gawai believed that music, drama and the arts were not only for entertainment, but were also tools for livelihood. He began the practice of admitting visually -and physically-challenged boys into the school.
However, the Ashrama gained global fame in the lifetime of Sri Puttaraja Gawai, the founder’s disciple. A polyglot and polymath, Sri Puttaraja Gawai played over a douzen string and percussion instruments, apart from singing in Hindustani and Carnatic styles. He has also written books on the life of Sri Panchakshari Gawai, Indian philosophy, music theory and other subjects. He was afflicted by a condition of the nerves that blinded him when he was six years old. He joined the Ashrama as a student and served the institution as a teacher and its head, all his life.
Raising donations
Sri Puttaraja Gawai began the practice of raising donations by his Tulabhara tours. He would visit disciples or the faithful in various cities, get himself weighed in cash, coins or food grains or coconuts, and bring them back to be used for the Ashrama. The Ashrama is now headed by the seer Kallayya Ajja or Kallinath Swami, who is a blind musician.
The music school has produced greats like Pandit Venaktesh Kumar, AIR artists like Nagesh Shirol, Subhash Patil, and Shukru Mullah, music teachers like Ayyappayya Halagalimath and Basavaraj Hiremath. Respected musicians like Rajiv Hiremath, Ravindra Jakati and Shivamurthy Alavandi have served as teachers.
