A grand memorial in honour of Saint Basaveshwara (Basavanna), the 12th-century philosopher and poet will come up in the Solapur district of Maharashtra.
Known for its importance in terms of places of pilgrimage, Solapur borders Karnataka. Solapur is a city with tri-linguistic and multi-cultural features and has a mix of Marathi, Telugu and Kannada-speaking people.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government is planning the Basaveshwara memorial at Mangalwedha in the district.
Presenting the Budget for 2021-22 on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the Finance and Planning portfolios, said, “Sant Basveshwara Maharaj lived in Mangalwedha, Solapur district of Maharashtra for more than 30 years. He taught equality, hard work and morality to the common man. Necessary funds will be made available in the year 2021-22 for erecting a memorial in memory of Sant Basaveshwara Maharaj.”
Mangalwedha is also known as the ‘land of saints’ as Saint Jayatirtha, Saint Damaji, Saint Kanhopatra, Saint Basaveshwara and Saint Chokhamela had stayed here.
Mangalwedha is situated 55 km west of the district headquarters of Solapur and 25 km southeast of Pandharpur city. The Solapur district is home to a very big Lingayat community.
Published 09 March 2021, 17:03 IST