Kudmul Ranga Rao was a social reformer from Kudmul, a village in the erstwhile Madras Presidency, (in the present-day Dakshina Kannada district) who established the “Depressed Classes Mission” in 1897 in Mangalore for providing education, and better housing, drinking water and empowering the backward classes socially by guarding them against exploitation by other classes.
Rangarao was born on 29 June 1859, in Kudmul, a village in south canara (Mangalore) in the erstwhile Madras Presidency (now in Karnataka) of British India. He was born into a middle-class Gowda Saraswat Brahmin community.
Rangarao as an advocate in the profession was better known as ‘the poor man’s lawyer’. ‘Education is the source of progress’ was his tenet. Rangarao set up schools in Kankanadi, Bannanje, Moolkhi, Beloor, Udupi, Nejaru, Atthavara, Baabuguddde, and Dhaddal forests for the downtrodden. He called them ‘Panchama schools’. To persuade the kids to attend school, he arranged for mid-day meals and 2 paise per day for the parents to develop an interest and motivate the families to get their progeny to school. It is said that he bathed the young kids, sat with them for lunch, and slept in their huts to win over their hearts. He freed many servants and slaves from the clutches of demanding and barbarous masters.
Picture Credits – https://karnatakahistory.blogspot.com/2012/06/kudmul-ranga-rao
