The 523rd birth anniversary of Sri Kanakadasa, the legendary poet, composer and philosopher, was celebrated across Karnataka on Wednesday. Kannada and Culture Minister Govind Karjol presented the Kanaka Shree, a state award named after the saint-poet to Prof Sudhakar. The award is set up to honour persons who work towards promoting the values preached by Kanakadasa through his keerthans on social evils like caste system. The award carries a cash component of five lakh rupees and a plaque. The state government has declared the birthday of Kanakadas as a state holiday with celebrations across the state for promoting the ideology and philosophy of Kanakadas who hailed from a backward pastoral community. Prof Sudhakar in his speech said that Kanakadasa was also known to people outside the state for his preaching and social justice. The literary works of Kanakadasa are also a trend setter for Kannada literature and music. Even today many new experiments in music are taking inspiration from his works that flourished during the Vijayanagar Empire in the 16th century.