Bengaluru: Siddaganga Seer Sri Shivamurthy Swamiji received the Mahaveer Peace Prize instituted by the state government from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at a special ceremony organized in the matt premises by the Department of Kannada and Culture on April 19.
Speaking the occasion, CM Siddaramiah said,”Centenarian seer deserved the Mahaveer award for providing education, food and shelter to millions through his efforts. The government had requested the prime minister to honour him with Nation’s highest award Bharat Ratna earlier. It will again urge PM Modi to bestow the seer with the award, which he richly deserves.”
In recognition of his efforts to provide quality education, to the lower and deprived sections of society and for promoting peace, the government is giving away the state award of national importance to the seer, CM added.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Kannada and Culture Umashree said the seer had succeeded in wiping the tears of the downtrodden and adopted three important tenets of Jainism in his life.
Accepting the honour, centenarian seer said the award given by the government was in recognition of the good works of the matt and called upon people to follow the teachings of Mahaveer, founder of Jainism.
Minister T B Jayachandra, MLCs Ugrappa, M D Laxminarayan, Deputy Commissioner K P Mohan Raj, Zilla Panchayath President Latha Ravikumar, Kannada litterateur Siddaiah, elected representatives, officials from the department of Kannada and culture, ZP and others were present on the occasion.
