Vijayapura: Padma Shri awardee Ibrahim Sutar (82) known as Kabir of Kannada, who died on Saturday February 5, had a dream that he could not fulfil until he was alive.
Sutar wanted to establish an ‘All Faith Centre’ which would be more of a Study Centre for all faiths. But his dream was not realised as the government or authorities concerned failed to allot him land for the purpose.
Javeed Bhagwan, a follower of Ibrahim Sutar says that Sutar had a dream of setting up an all-faith study centre in Mahalingapura. In this planned study centre, Sutar had decided to educate and create awareness about the holy books of all the religions and faiths. He had even applied for a piece of land or space to set up a study centre but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears. However, he had decided to knock on the doors of the District Administration but almighty had other plans for Sutar chacha.”
Sutar was popular among the masses for his spiritual discourses across South India and in several North Indian states too.
People of Mahalingapura address him as Sutar Chacha. He is a known figure to every house in the districts of North Karnataka. For the last five and half decades, he toured hundreds of districts, cities, towns, villages and most of the states to preach to all the people, irrespective of religion, about peaceful coexistence and social harmony.
What makes Sutar different and unique from other social workers is that he won the hearts of the people of all religions with his bhajans that spread a message on social and communal harmony. He has also penned hundreds of poems, bhajans and released 12 audio compilations. Even his speeches and bhajans on social networking sites and YouTube have gained millions of views.
According to the official website of Ibrahim Sutar, he hails from a poor family and was born at Mahalingapura of Mudhol on May 10, 1940. He was born to Nabisaheb Sutar, who was a carpenter by profession, and Ameenabi Sutar, who was a homemaker. The main occupation of the family was weaving.”
“He managed to study till Class 3. At a very young age, in his early thirties, he had set up a Harmony Folk Music Mela (team of artists). With this troupe, he kick-started his journey of performing devotional singing, and spiritual discourses across the country.”
“Every monsoon, he embarks on a month-long discourse programme known as ‘Shravankkondu Samaja Seve’ (social work for every Shravana month). Under this social work pledge, he had built a 9-km road to help the villagers of Shegunashi in Athani of Belagavi in 1988. When he learnt that two children died in one house in the span of a week because they couldn’t get to the hospital due to poor roads, he decided to spend his own money to develop the road.
As a part of social work, he also built a primary school named after philosopher Swami Vivekananda in Davaleshwar Village in 2002. A marriage hall for the poor was built at Sona Village of Bilagi in 2009 and Basaveshwara Yatri Nivas for the devotees in Aralimatti Village. Apart from this, he has also carried out many social works in the districts of North Karnataka,” as per the information available on the official website of Sutar.
The Union and State Government and various organisations and mathas recognising his social works honoured him with various awards. He was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, in 2018. He is also a recipient of the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award in 1995. In 1982, Inchal Matha seer Shivananda Bharati Mahaswamiji gave him the title ‘Kabir of Kannada’. Apart from these awards and titles, he has received hundreds of state and national awards in his nearly five-decade social life.
Ibrahim Sutar staged thousands of performances to promote peace among religious communities not only in Karnataka but also in Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Delhi and Rajasthan among others.
