M Anke Gowda.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Pandavapura: M Anke Gowda, who has set up the free access library ‘Pustaka Mane’, of Haralahalli village, Pandavapura taluk, Mandya district, has been selected for the prestigious Padma Shri award - one of the India’s highest civilian honours in 2026, in the Unsung Heroes category.
Anke Gowda has collected over 20 lakh books in a large building in the village under the name of the Ankegowda Foundation. The 76-year-old Anke Gowda is the second son of Marigowda and Ningamma.
Pustaka mane.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Inspired by the words of Kannada professor K Anantaramu, who had advised to develop a good hobby in life, like book collection, Anke Gowda started his collection by buying small books. Now the hobby has grown and there are millions of books now in his collection.
He had worked as a timekeeper at the Pandavapura Cooperative Sugar factory. He sold the site he bought in Mysuru for Rs 6 lakh and spent additional Rs 5 lakh on buying books.
Learning that the small house was full of books, businessman Hari Khode built a large building at a cost of Rs 80 lakh to keep the books. This library is named as ‘Pustakada Mane’, in the name of Anke Gowda Jnana Pratishtana.
Various politicians like Rahul Gandhi, H D Kumaraswamy, D V Sadananda Gowda, MLAs and litterateurs have visited the library.
The library has thousands of books in various languages like Kannada, Hindi, English, Tamil and others. There is a huge collection of 2,500 books related to Mahatma Gandhi. There are also books on Bhagavadgita, Mahabharata, Jain and Buddhism. Besides thousands of books related to the Bible are also there in the library.
Anke Gowda has received several awards, including the Rajyotsava and earned a place in Limca Book of Records.
‘I was happy to hear that I have been selected for the Padma Shri award. My wish was to collect all the knowledge of the world in one place and make it accessible to the common man. I should keep the habit of reading and collecting books alive,’ says Anke Gowda.