Taĝaduru Subbappa Subbanna was born in 1905 in Taĝaduru village, Nanjanagud taluk. His father Eshwarappa was the chief priest at the Ankanatheshwara temple in Taĝaduru. His mother Parvatamma was a devout pious lady.
Early years
Subbanna had his preliminary schooling at Taĝaduru govt. school. Then the family moved to Mysore for his further education. While in Mysore, Subbanna worked part-time as a priest at the Kashi Vishwanatha temple in Madvachar road in Agrahara. Subbanna was admitted to the Wesley Mission High School. Venkatakrishnayya was one of the senior teachers who had a profound impact on him. Some of the British teachers tried to persuade students like Subbanna to focus on their academics instead of spending time in the freedom movement. But Subbanna had already come under the influence of freedom fighters like M. N. Jois, Sharada Prasad, Agaram Ramayya, Subramanyam and Dasappa. Subbanna and friends convened as the ‘Tilak Sangha’ to share news about various freedom fighters from across the country. Subbanna had to slip away to Channapatna (Sogale) to avoid impending arrest. He participated in the civil disobedience movements at Sirsi, Siddapur and Ankola. Subbanna’s mother, in an attempt to distract her son from the freedom struggle, tried to get him married – but this was in vain. Interestingly, Subbanna is remembered to have dressed as a woman in a saree to escape being caught, while participating in a protest march passing in front of Hardwicke High School. He managed to give police the slip and made it to Subbarayana Kere to hoist the Indian flag! On another occasion, while being pursued, he ran into a coal plant and smeared himself with coal soot and succeeded in evading arrest! Subbanna was among the freedom fighters to hoist the flag at Shivapura in Maddur. He then made his way to Sabarmati ashram where he spent time imbibing the Gandhian way of life directly from the Mahatma!
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