Kasargod: Kerala and Karnataka chief ministers will jointly inaugurate the ‘Gilivindu’ project commemorating Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai in Manjeshwaram on Thursday.
Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate the Govinda Pai Memorial Centre and his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah the Bhavanika Auditorium inside Gilivindu at 4 pm.
Culture minister A.K. Balan will open the renovated house of Mr Pai and his Karnataka counterpart Umashree will unveil his bust. Karnataka minister B. Ramanath Rai will open the Yakshagana Auditorium and Kerala revenue minister E. Chandrasekharan the Yakshagana Museum. Gilivindu consists of an amphitheatre for plays and Yakshagana, and spaces for art exhibitions, library, preservation of manuscripts, research, comparative studies, archives and guesthouse for scholars.
“The centre will show the life and works of Govinda Pai to the young generation. It will keep important works in both Malayalam and Kannada literature and will develop as a world-class heritage centre,” said K. Jeevan Babu, Kasaragod district collector.
The project has been funded jointly by the two governments, and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) chipped in. Former Union petroleum minister M. Veerappa Moily, who is also a writer, took sincere efforts in realising the project.
The Kannada poet (1883–1963) was born in a Konkani Brahmin family at his maternal grandfather's house in Manjeshwar. The Madras Government awarded him the first Rashtrakavi title in 1956. Gilivindu was his first collection of poems (1930).
