Gangubai’s house now Gangotri museum

Gangubai’s house now Gangotri museum

Manu Aiyappa | TNN

Gangubai Hangal

Dharwad: Tuesday will go down as a Red Letter Day in the annals of Indian classical music, when chief minister B S Yeddyurappa dedicates ‘Gangotri’ —- the birthplace-turned-museum of renowned Hindustani classical vocalist Gangubai Hangal, to the nation. According to the organizers, it is the first of its kind in the country being dedicated to a “living legend”.
   The museum (birthplace) of Gangubai Hangal is located in Shukravarpet of Dharwad. For years, whenever she visited Dharwad, Gangubai made it a point to visit Shukravarpet, just to have a glimpse of the house where she was born and brought up.
   Moved by her sentiments, the state government decided to acquire the property, which Gangubai had sold to one Krishnaji Venkatacharya Kittur in 1957. Krishnaji had later sold it to Dasoi Kulkarni in 1963.
   Dasoi Kulkarni, who had a son and four daughters, died in 1989.
   The district administration took up the issue with the legal heirs of the property to acquire the house and they consented to sell it to the government for Rs 10 lakh.
   Another Rs 15 lakh was needed, as per an estimate for renovating the old house which was almost in ruins.
   Yeddyurappa, when deputy CM in the erstwhile coalition government led by Kumaraswamy, sanctioned Rs 25 lakh to acquire the house when the proposal was put before him.
   Later, the district authorities with technical assistance from the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) took up renovation and converted it into a heritage building.
   Experts from R V College of Engineering, Bangalore, were roped in for technical inputs on the renovation, based on which Nirmiti Kendra, Dharwad, began the work. “We made every effort to retain the original look of the house, although a part of it had collapsed. Even the wooden pillars have been retained and some weak ones were replaced with the same wood,” said Kendra members.
   The authorities now plan to start a music school as per the wishes of the music legend. She had also suggested that one of the rooms in her ancestral house be dedicated exclusively to the teaching of music.
   The main hall and two rooms have rare photographs and books related to music and musicians, promising to be a part of the itinerary of tourists to Dharwad.