Veerendra Heggade (born November 25, 1948) is an Indian philanthropist and the hereditary administrator (Dharmadhikari) of the Dharmasthala Temple.
Heggade was born the eldest son of Dharmadhikari Ratnavarma Heggade and Rathnamma Heggade (née Shetty).
He belongs to the Pergade dynasty of Tulu Lineage, the hereditary trustees of the famous Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatha Swamy temple in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. The family is trustees of a Hindu temple, although the family is of the Jain Digamber community. They belong to the Digambara Jains. He has three younger brothers, Harshendra Kumar, Surendra Kumar, and Rajendra Kumar, and a sister, Padmavati. He married Hemavathi Heggade in a match arranged by their parents.
As the eldest son, Veerendra Heggade succeeded his father as Dharmadhikari. He is the twenty-first member of the Pergade dynasty to hold the position of Dharmadhikari of the Dharmasthala Temple. As he has no sons, his heir is his younger brother, Harshendra.
He administers the temple and its properties, which are held in trust for the benefit of devotees and of Dharma. He was awarded the Karnataka Ratna award for the year 2009, the highest civilian award in Karnataka.
On July 6th, 2022, he was nominated as a Rajya Sabha member by President Ram Nath Kovind.
Heggade has reached beyond his administrative role:
Social Service
- He has been conducting a Free Mass Marriage every year in Shri Kshethra Dharmasthala since 1972. 10,000 couples had been married under this scheme by April 2004.
- He established the Rural Development and Self-Employment Training Institute (RUDSETI) in collaboration with Syndicate Bank, Syndicate Agricultural Foundation and Canara Bank to train rural youth for self-employment and volunteers for rural development in 1982.
- 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 people every day. It was featured on the National Geographic TV show, “Mega Kitchens”.
Education
- He started SDMIMD College Mysore which evolved into a top Business college in India.
- He started Rathnamanasa, a model hostel with training in Agriculture, Horticulture, and Dairying and a concept of future farmers and citizens for high school boys at Ujire.
- 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.
Awards and Honors :
- Padma Bhushan Award (2000) for social work and Communal Harmony (India’s third-highest civilian award)
- Rajarshi title from President of India, Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, in 1993
- The State Government selected Heggade for the Karnataka Ratna title for 2009.
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India presented the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry award for Rural Development & Self Employment activities by RUDSET Institute on November 20, 1999.
- Padma Vibhushan (2015) by the Government of India for social work
Picture Credits – https://www.thehindu.com/Mangalore/veerendra-heggade
