'Develop tomb of Kempegowda as major tourist attraction'

Hundreds of people on Monday joined the ‘Kempegowda Padayatra’ at Magadi in Ramanagaram district to press for the overall development of Bengaluru’s founder Kempegowda’s tomb at Kempapura in Magadi taluk.

The call for the padayatra was given by Rajya Vokkaliga Sangha and Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Nagarikara Hitha Rakshana Vedike.

The march began with the participants offering prayers to Kote Maramma, Kempegowda’s family deity. A number of seers, including Nirmalanandanatha Swami of Adichunchunagiri Mutt, Najavadhoota Swami of Spatikapuri Mutt and Kumara Chandrasekharanatha Swami of Vishwa Vokkaliga Mutt, joined the march.

Speaking to reporters, Rajya Vokkaliga Sangha president Appaji Gowda said the padayatra was organised to seek the development of Kempegowda’s samadhi (tomb) as a major tourist spot. Gowda said, “Recently, an expert team from the Kempegowda Chair, Bangalore University, had confirmed that the tomb found near Magadi was indeed the place where Bengaluru’s founder Hiriya Kempegowda had died fighting a war.”

He said the tomb was the most precious historical find for Bengaluru. The Kannada inscription on the tomb says it is that of Hiriya Kempegowda (Kempegowda I) who died at the spot while returning from Kunigal.

Addressing a huge gathering, Najavadhootha Swami said, “We have statues of great leaders at the Vidhana Soudha, though ironically, there is no statue of Bengaluru founder Kempegowda. It is high time his statue is installed. We also want the government to declare a public holiday for Kempegowda Jayanti. The State government should immediately declare Kempegowda samadhi a national memorial and take up works to develop it.”

Former BBMP corporator
A H Basavaraju, who is taking the lead in developing Kempapura, said a decision was taken to urge the government for setting up a Kempegowda Memorial Development Authority.