About Dr. Bhat
Dr. Paduru Gururaja Bhat (1924-1978) was a researcher and scholar extraordinaire of history, especially Tuluva history and culture, a leading educationist of his time and an inspirational teacher. He is aptly recognized as the father of South Kanara Archaeology. In his relatively short lifespan, he made an unparalleled contribution in defining the history of Tuluva people and culture, inspired thousands of students and touched countless people's hearts so much so he is remembered even today with great warmth and reverence, more than 30 years after his death.
Dr. P. Gururaja Bhat, Professor of History and Principal, Milagres College, Kallianpura (1967-1976), was born in 1924 in Paduru, a village belonging to Udupi Taluk of the district South Canara (now Udupi district), Karnataka State, India. He graduated from the University of Madras in 1952 and took his degree in teaching from the same University in 1953. He obtained his Masters Degree in History from the Banaras Hindu University in 1956. Entering the teaching profession in 1942, he acquired his educational and academic stature with single-minded devotion and was awarded the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Mysore in 1968 for his Thesis, A political and cultural history of Tulunadu from the earliest times up to 1600 AD.
Dr. Bhat's interest in Archeology and Indology in particular was immense. Rivetting his research attention on the history and culture of the district of South Kanara, historically known as Tulunadu, he took his rightful place as the father of South Kanara Archeology.
His publications are numerous and his first work Tulunadu was awarded the Devaraja Bahadur Charities first award in 1965. The Acedemy of general education Manipal, conferred on him the honorary fellowship for his services in the field of education in 1972. He received the Silver Jubilee Award of the Mahatma Gandhi memorial College, Udupi for his historical research at Delhi in 1974. With a view to promoting Indological Studies he founded at Kallianpura, an organization called the Association of Indological Studies which functioned under his Presidentship till his death in 1978. He was a member of the Board of Governors of Sri M. Govinda Pai research centre at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College, Udupi.
Dr. Bhat was nominated as a member of the Karnataka State archeological board in 1974. He was awarded the UGC project aid many times. The credit of discovering the Iron Age remains in South Kanara for the first time and bringing to light the earliest Kannada copper plate in Karnataka should go rightly to Dr Bhat. He published in 1975 an incomparable work of scholarship, Studies in Tuluva History and Culture along with its foreign edition which was an outcome of his painstaking historical research for over 15 years.
Dr. Bhat passed away in 1978 and he is survived by his four daughters and six sons.