Retired Professor wins eight gold medals

MYSORE: A retired history professor will walk away with the maximum number of gold medals in the 92nd convocation of the University of Mysore that will be held in April.Hotapeti Jeevandhar Kumar Kuberappa, 66, who  scored 1709/2000 in M A Jainology and Prakrit  bagged eight gold medals. Dr Padma Shekar, chairperson, DoS in Jainology and Prakrit said, “Though it is not uncommon for retired persons to get gold medals in convocation, none of them topped the list of gold medallists so far.” After his retirement as history lecturer from Sir M Visweswaraiah Government Arts and Commerce College in Shimoga ,Kuberappa joined National Institute of Prakrit Studies and Research in Shravanabelagola, Hassan where he worked for two years. A native of Hubli, he wrote and published about 30 books on Jainism. His “Dharmada Hathu Sandeshagalu” and “Thirtankara Vardhamana Mahaveera” won Kannada Sahitya Parishat awards while, “Chavundaraya Vaibhava” won Gomateshwara Vidyapeeta award. Kuberappa admitted he had all the time in the world to study and was encouraged by his wife, son and daughter-in-law to fulfill his dream. “Though I wanted to do a Ph D, I had no patience to write the thesis and hence dropped the idea,” Kuberappa  added.