A hostel for Dalit students in Davangere

Plaque commemorating the foundation stone laid by Mahatma Gandhi.

Plaque commemorating the inauguration of the hostel.

Scores of students have benefitted from this hostel for disadvantaged communities in Davangere, built upon the insistence of the Mahatma.

Plaque commemorating the foundation stone laid by Mahatma Gandhi.

It was the height of the Indian independence movement, and Gandhi was touring South India to instill a sense of nationalism in the people.

Freedom fighters Kasal Sreenivas Sresty, Channagiri Rangappa and Panduranga Shiroor invited the Mahatma to visit Davangere. After Sresty wrote Gandhi a letter requesting his presence, he put forth three demands as a prerequisite for his visit.

He wanted the implementation of any project or work which would prove highly beneficial for education of Dalits, arrangement for his visit to their colonies and appointment of two Dalits as his associates during his stay in Davangere.

Sresty and others agreed to his demands. Convinced, the Mahatma then visited Davangere on March 2, 1934 and laid the foundation stone for the construction of a hostel for students from these disadvantaged communities.

The hostel was later inaugurated by the then Dewan of Mysore, Sir Mirza M Ismail on February 10, 1937.

Scores of students have benefitted from the construction of this hostel, which still stands to this day at the P J Extension near Akka Mahadevi Road in the city.

The Mahatma also visited Dalit colonies.

Recalling the past, senior photo journalist H B Manjunath, son of H Bhujangaraya Shastry, who took the pictures of Gandhi's visit to Davangere, says that his father was the first professional photographer in central Karnataka region then and he was given the responsibility of taking pictures of Gandhi's visit to the town.

"My father gave away the negatives of the photos of Gandhi's visit to the British. So I don't have the photos now. But my father used to recall those days during my childhood," he says.