Ramakunja mourns their favourite son as Vishwesha Teertha Swami passes away

MANGALURU: A pall of gloom has descended on the 6000-odd population of Ramakunja village, about 60 kms from here. For the seer had transformed the village by giving it one of the best gifts one could give – education.
It started as a Gurukul- style of educational institutions about 100 years back, but the seer ushered in a new era of knowledge and learning by introducing general education.What started as a Sanskrit pathshala in 1919 was reshaped into modern educational institution in 1952, preserving Sanskrit roots and ancient cultural background, due to the visionary approach of the seer.
Narayana Bhat, who retired this year after 41 years of service at the Sri Ramakunjeshwara Sanskrit Higher Primary School says that Pejawar seer’s demise has come as a shock and has saddened one and all.
Pejawar Seer became the honorary president of the Sri Ramakunjeshwara School in 1950 and by 1959 he also added high school. He introduced English education in 2002. The school has a strength of 3000 plus students from all over Karnataka studying from primary school to degree college. Almost 1500 students are studying in Kannada-medium school from primary to high school.
The seer joined the school in 1939 and during the last term of class I he got a call for ‘’Sanyasa Deeksha’ from Pejawar Mutt. “The school was established by the seer’s father and his uncles. This nondescript village lies between Subrahmanya and Dharmasthala and the seer was determined to give quality education to the youth of this village. This village lacked infrastructure and the seer saw to it that it got better infrastructure like roads during his tenure.