62th day of our blog

 Hello Readers,

Today is 62th day of our blog.  I hope you will like it.  So here we go………

Freedom Fighters of Karnataka

Umabai Kundapur: 

The fearless leader who sheltered freedom fighters from the British

Born – 1892 in Kundapura, Karnataka

Parents – Golikeri Krishna Rao and Jungabai

Spouce – Sanjiv Rao Kundapur

Died – 1992

Umabai Kundapur was the founder of 'Bhagini Mandal' and the leader of women's wing of Hindustani Seva Dal. She was also the head of the Karnataka branch of Kasturba Trust

She was the leader of women’s wing of Seva Dal. She was the founder of ‘Bhagini Mandal‘. She was the fearless leader who educated young girls at the ‘Tilak Kanya Shala‘. She was the iron-willed lady who sheltered the freedom fighters from the British. Mahatma Gandhi appointed her as the head of the Karnataka branch of the Kasturba Trust. Umabai Kundapur was the down-to-earth freedom campaigner who served her country fearlessly till her last breath.

Early Life

Umabai Kundapur was born as Bhavani Golikeri to Golikeri Krishna Rao and Jungabai in Mangalore in 1892. She was married to Sanjiv Rao Kundapur at a young age of 13. Her father-in-law Anandarao Kundapur was a progressive thinker and believed in uplifting the condition of women. Under his guidance, Umbai continued her education and passed her matriculation examination.

Life as a teacher

After completing her education, Umabai helped her father-in-law in educating women through Gaundevi Mahila Samaj in Mumbai. Umabai was just 25 when she lost her husband. After his death, Ananda Rao and Umabai came to Hubli, where he started the Karnataka Press. He also started a school for girls ‘Tilak Kanya Shala’, which was led by Umabai.

Life as a freedom fighter

In 1921, Dr. NS Hardikar started Hindustani Seva Dal to organize Youth and Hubli became the hub of its activities. Umabai became the leader of the women’s wing of the Hindustani Seva Dal.

In 1924, she helped Dr. Hardikar recruit over 150 women to help in Belgaum session of the All India Congress. In 1932, she was arrested and kept in Yerwada jail for four months. While she was in jail, the British confiscated Karnataka Press, sealed her school and declared her NGO ‘Bhagini Mandal’ as unlawful. Undeterred by the happenings, Umabai decided to keep fighting. Her small house became a shelter for women freedom fighters. She not only housed them in her home but also gave them money for their return journey.

In 1946, Mahatma Gandhi appointed her the head of the Karnataka branch of Kasturba Trust. Umbai along with other women took to begging bowl to collect funds for uplifting the condition of the villages by training Grama Sevikas in child-welfare, health programs, and education.

Umabai has been an inspiration to many other women freedom fighters out of whom one is Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay who after attending one of the sessions held by Umadevi was impressed and said: “It was the biggest turning point in my life, I joined as a volunteer and I still continue to be her camp follower”. 

After Independence, she lived in a small home called ‘Ananda Smriti’ built in the memory of her father-in-law.

She has been an inspiration to many fighters but however after independence, she refused to take up prominent political offices and adhered to pledge her service to the nation, she even refused rewards, recognition, and even a pension that freedom fighters were entitled to. She continued her work until her last breath from a simple cottage in Hubli and died at the ripe age of 100 in the year 1992.

Let’s Learn

In this Section you are going to learn how to read, write and speak Kannada fluently in a fun way. So let’s start. Yesterday’s edition we have asked readers to translate the sentence from English to Kannada from previous lessons. Hope you have completed😀 So here you have translation in Kannada to yesterday’s questions☺️

1. I am having stomach pain.{ Nanage hotte novaagutide}

2. Your face is glowing.{Nimma mukha holeyutide}

3. We have to meet tomorrow.{Naavu naale sigabeku/naale naavellaru siguva}

4. They want to go early.{avarige bega hogabeku}

5. He will wake up tomorrow at 5AM.{Avanu beligge aidu gante ge yeluttane}

We are excited to know how you have translated the same…..Please write it in comment section…We want to see your progress👍

Now Translate these Sentence from English to Kannada

1. I am in office now.

2. He is going with his son.

3. This shirt is very big.

4. Sita and Gita are good friends.

5. You are a nice person.

We have given sentence based on information given in this blog…So please read and try to answer. Please write your answer in the comment section.

We hope you will like our post.  Please let us know what do you want to know in comment section. We will try to add those things.

Let’s meet tomorrow with new post😀

Yours,

Seema