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Veerendra Heggade

Indian temple administrator (born 1948) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Veerendra Heggade
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Dharmasthala Veerendra Heggade[1] (born 25 November 1948) is an Indian philanthropist and the hereditary administrator of the Dharmasthala Temple in the Indian state of Karnataka. He succeeded to the post at the age of 19, on 24 October 1968, the 21st in his line.[2] He administers the temple and its properties, which are held in trust. He is a nominated Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha since July 2022.

Quick facts Personal life, Born ...

He was awarded the Karnataka Ratna award for the year 2009, the highest civilian award in Karnataka.[3]

Due to his family's position with Dharmasthala Temple, Heggade has faced significant public scrutiny during the Dharmasthala mass burial legal cases.[4]

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Personal life

Heggade is the eldest son of Dharmadhikari Ratnavarma Heggade and Rathnamma Heggade (née Shetty). He belongs to the Pergade dynasty of Tulu Jain Bunt[5] lineage, the hereditary trustees of the Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatha Swamy temple in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. The family are trustees of a Hindu temple, although the family belong to the Digambara Jain community.[6]

Work

He runs the Annapoorna kitchen at Dharmasthala, which is one of the largest and oldest family-run kitchens in India. The kitchen feeds around 50,000 persons every day. It was featured on the National Geographic TV show, "Mega Kitchens".[7]

He is the President of SDM Educational Society, Ujire, which manages educational institutions from primary to engineering, medical, ayurvedic and management institutes as well as hospitals.[8]

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Awards and honours

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Indian president Mukherjee gives Heggade the Padma Vibhushan Award, 2015

References

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