Mysuru: Karnataka Sahitya Academy and District Chakora Vedike together had organised a programme titled ‘Kuvempu-Tejaswi Meluku’ at Kuvempu’s house ‘Udayaravi’ in V.V. Mohalla here on Sunday.

Those who had assembled at the literary meet had an enjoyable and thought-provoking discussion on the works of eminent poet laureate Kuvempu and his son late Poornachandra Tejaswi. The discussion was followed by rendition of poems of Kuvempu by H.M. Ravanikar, Gururaj, L. Shobha Anand, T.N. Srividya Phaniraj, Prithvi S. Bharadwaj and Parimala Vishwanath.

Kuvempu’s daughter Tarini, going nostalgic, recalled that her brother Poornachandra Tejaswi and Kuvempu shared common thoughts adding that Tejaswi practised what Kuvempu preached.

She contended that her father always batted for simple marriage and added that Tejaswi got married on a much simpler note.

She recalled that Kuvempu was always against superstition and beliefs supporting that.

She recalled that her father used to receive death threats as he gained influence and popularity which made family members to accompany him on evening strolls. She added that Tejaswi used to receive similar death threats after the demise of his father.

Speaking on the occasion, Kuvempu’s son-in-law Dr. Chidananda Gowda said that Kuvempu born in a forest area came to a city and settled down while Tejaswi born in city developed a coffee plantation in Mudigere and settled down there amid                    nature’s beauty.

Critic Dr. R. Chalapathy said that Tejaswi never blamed English for problems faced by Kannada. Similarly, Kuvempu asked people not to blame someone else for their ignorance which should be shot down first, he said.

The participants discussed on the relative prowess in literature of Kuvempu and Tejaswi.

Dr. Ganesh, Dr. Kanakamalini, Dr. Shivakumar Kharepura, N.G. Ramesh, Dr. J.R. Paramesh, H.C. Anand, Dr. Kuppanahalli M. Bhyrappa and others participated in the discussion.