Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka is a state in southern India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as the State of Mysore, it was renamed Karnataka in 1973. Only a small part of the state corresponds to the Carnatic region. The capital and largest city is Bengaluru. Karnataka is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, Goa to the northwest, Maharashtra to the north, Telangana to the northeast, Andhra Pradesh to the east, Tamil Nadu to the southeast, and Kerala to the south. The state covers an area of 191,976 sq. km (74,122 sq mi), or 5.83 percent of the total geographical area of India.

Quotes

Mahatma Gandhi: Mysore has been rightly considered one of the most progressive of States in India and, in several respects, far in advance of conditions obtaining in British India. There is progress in all directions.

• 'I want to take birth again in India and want to fight against the British and chase them away' - 'bharathadalliye matte hutti barabeku, britishara viruddha horadi avarannu deshadinda odisabeku' - These were the last words of Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna. He uttered these words when he was asked about his last wish. Sangolli Rayanna, who was the trusted fighter of Kittur Rani Chennamma, was hanged by the Britishers on 26th January 1931.

• Only a Hindu pietist rich in words could describe the lovely symmetry of the shrine at Ittagi, in Hyderabad; or the temple at Somnathpur in Mysore, in which gigantic masses of stone are carved with the delicacy of lace; or the Hoyshaleshwara Temple at Halebid, also in Mysore—“one of the buildings,” says Fergusson, “on which the advocate of Hindu architecture would desire to take his stand.” Here, he adds, “the artistic combination of horizontal with vertical lines, and the play of outline and of light and shade, far surpass anything in Gothic art. The effects are just what the medieval architects were often aiming at, but which they never attained so perfectly as was done at Halebid.”
  • Will Durant, Our Oriental heritage

• Mysore has been rightly considered one of the most progressive of States in India and, in several respects, far in advance of conditions obtaining in British India. There is progress in all directions.
  • Mahatma Gandhi, in 77 years ago, when the Mahatma came to Mysore

• Nature has favoured the State with a variety of rich gifts, and they are trying successfully to deserve them. The tidiness of the houses and the cleanliness of the road are in themselves a proof of the refined habits of the people. This could never be enforced from above but was a result of the people’s own culture.
  • Mahatma Gandhi, in "77 years ago, when the Mahatma came to Mysore".

• I came to Mysore State in order to regain my health that I had lost during the tour which I was conducting at that time. And naturally I have the most pleasant recollections of my stay in Mysore. From His Highness the Maharaja Saheb, and his Dewan and other officials to the subjects of His Highness the Maharaja Saheb, I experienced nothing but the warmest affection. You can, therefore, understand more fully probably than before how much joy it must have given me to have come in your midst again. You have added to the joy and pleasure by asking me to perform the ceremony of unveiling a portrait of the late Sjt. Venkatakrishnayya, the Grand Old Man of Mysore. I congratulate the artist upon his effort, because it is a faithful representation of the figure which was quite familiar to me.
  • Mahatma Gandhi, in "77 years ago, when the Mahatma came to Mysore".

• The road to paradise begins in Karnataka – and ends there. There is nowhere else to go. It is, as the poet says, cheluva Kannada Nadu. The word cheluva defies clear definition. It suggests beauty, grace, athomeness. In Karnataka, a graceful girl is a cheluve, one who is pleasing who radiates charm, contentment, peace. The state's theme song says: Udayavagali namma cheluva kannada nadu. May the lovely land of the Kannadigas arise. The people of Karnataka do not take their land – or themselves – for granted. The romantic in them always strives for the ideal and like all ideals, it is a movable feast. To say that the land is already beyond comparison is to invite comparison. To wish it to be is to live eternally in hope.
  • M. V. Kamath. Discovering Karnataka: Government of Karnataka. Vikas Publishing House Pvt., Ltd., New Delhi. p. 1. 
    • Cited in H S Gururaja Rao (20 November 2014). My Life, My Profession. Lulu Publishing Services. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-4834-1065-4.