A high-level committee set up by the Karnataka Department of Culture has unanimously recommended adding the word “Bouddha” to the state’s official anthem, Nadageethe. The proposal, submitted to the department on Monday, is now awaiting a final decision by the state government, Kannada Development Authority chairman Purushottam Bilimale said on Tuesday.
Bilimale said the committee found that restoring the word was in line with poet Kuvempu’s original intent and would not affect the anthem’s rhythm or meaningfully increase its duration. The recommended wording is “Parasika Jaina Bouddha”.
“We concluded that the rhythm would not be affected. Therefore, unanimously, we recommended that the state anthem may be changed to read Parasika Jaina Bauddha by including the word ‘Buddhist’. We submitted this recommendation to the government yesterday,” Bilimale told PTI.
Kuvempu is the short form of Rashtrakavi Kuppalli Venkata Puttappa, the Jnanpith awardee who wrote the state anthem. Tracing the origin of the proposal, Bilimale said former minister HC Mahadevappa had written to the previous Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in November 2025 seeking restoration of the word “Bouddha” in the anthem.
“He suggested that the word Buddhists should be included because when Kuvempu prepared the first draft of the poem in 1924-25, the word was there,” Bilimale said.
He said the word was dropped when the poem was published in Kuvempu’s Kolalu collection in 1930 and replaced with “Jains”. “Since Kuvempu, throughout his life, held Buddha in very high regard, that word should be restored,” he said.
Bilimale said the matter was referred to the Department of Culture, which then formed an expert committee. He said the eight-member committee comprised Hampa Nagarajaiah, SG Siddaramaiah, KV Chidananda, Asha Devi, Dwarakanath Tokk, Moodanakoodu Chinnaswamy, Kalegowda Nagawara, Baraguru Ramachandrappa and himself as an ex-officio member.
He said the committee met on Monday and discussed the matter for nearly two hours before unanimously concluding that the proposed addition was not contrary to Kuvempu’s vision or the state’s intent. The panel also examined whether adding the word would affect the anthem’s rhythm or increase its duration.
“We examined whether the rhythm would be disturbed. We found that adding the two syllables would not significantly increase the duration because singers naturally stretch long notes while singing. At most, it may add a fraction of a second. But that will not affect the song as a whole,” Bilimale said.
He added that changing the line from “Parasika Jaina…” to “Parasika Jaina Bouddha…” would not disturb the cadence of the anthem. “It will not disturb the rhythm because the entire state anthem has a particular cadence. That is Kuvempu’s contribution,” he said.
Bilimale said the recommendation had been submitted to the Department of Culture, which had set up the panel. “Whether the government accepts it or not is the government’s final decision. We do not know,” he said.
On the committee proceedings, Bilimale said seven of the eight members attended the meeting, while writer Baraguru Ramachandrappa was absent.
Asked whether Ramachandrappa had conveyed his views on the proposal, Bilimale said, “No, we do not know. We did not ask him. We simply recorded him as absent.” He added that Ramachandrappa had informed the committee that he had prior commitments and would not be able to attend the meeting.
The committee has now formally backed the inclusion of “Bouddha” in the Nadageethe, saying it matches Kuvempu’s original draft and does not affect the anthem’s rhythm, with the final call resting with the Karnataka government.
– Ends
Published By:
India Today Web Desk
Published On:
Jul 14, 2026 23:57 IST
