NEW DELHI: Former Indian prime minister, H D Deve Gowda, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi after his Kedarnath visit saying he was deeply moved by the unveiling of the black schist statue of great saint Sri Adi Shankaracharya by the PM in Kedarnath on November 5. Also Read & Watch: Day After Diwali At LoC, Modi Reaches Kedarnath To Reopen Once-Ravaged Shankaracharya Memorial
I have long been ardent follower of the Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham or the Sringeri Math in the Chikmagalur district if Karnataka. As you are aware, it is among the four cardinal centres established by the great saint.
I wrote to Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi on the new #Shankaracharya statue in #Kedarnath, and how the Sringeri Sharada Peetham in Karnataka, established by the great saint, has to me always been a refined symbol of interfaith harmony. pic.twitter.com/f9D3COj7yq
— H D Deve Gowda (@H_D_Devegowda) November 6, 2021
He also took pride in the connection of Karnataka to the statue as it was sculpted by a Mysore Sculptor, Arun Yogiraj, and the black schist was extracted from HD Kote from Mysore district in Karnataka. There is so much of Karnataka connection in this endeavour. It is all divinely arranged, he added.
Recalling his connection with Sringeri Math, the former prime minister said that it has been a spiritual counselor across the centuries to many rulers and Kingdoms. As much as the Wodeyars, the Peshwas, the Keladi and Travancore rulers benefitted from the math, Mysore kings Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan as well as the Nizam of Hyderabad have immensely gained from their devotion to the math and the wise counsel it offered.
PM unveiled a 12-feet statue of Adi Shankaracharya that weighs 35 tonnes. Prime Minister’s visit on Friday to Kedarnath was part of a promise made in 2017 by him to rebuild the Shanti Sthal (peace memorial), in memory of Guru Adi Shankaracharya, that was damaged in the 2013 flash floods near Mandakini river at Rudraprayag district. Also Read & Watch: NEW TWIST: Aryan Khan Drug-Case Transferred To Delhi, NCB Officer Wankhede To Stay Put; “I Only Had Requested” He Says