For the information of all sri vaishnavas
Adiyen Vasu
----- Original Message -----
From: GP
Srinivasan
To: MTNL
Cc: Krish
Vasu
Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 9:59 AM
Subject: Fwd: How the Tirumala Balaji Mandir was saved from a muslim
maurader ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: S V Badri <svbadri@xxxxxxxxx> Date: Jul 19, 2006 6:33 PM Subject: How the Tirumala Balaji Mandir was saved from a muslim maurader To: svbadri@xxxxxxxxx How Tirumala Balaji Mandir was saved from a
muslim maurader
S V Badri
This was during the period when
Sultan Abdullah Qutub Shah of Golkonda invaded the Tirupati region. An anomymous
Telugu poet, as an eye-witness, has most pathetically described in the poem, the
tribulations, hardships, acute suffering, agony, misery, rape and murder of
women, men, children, underwent at the hands of the Vazirs and the cavalry of
Sultan Abdullah Qutub Shah of Golkonda, their desecration of Hindu Mandirs and
holy places, and how they plundered and broke the Vigrahas in the famous holy
Mandirs of Lower-Tirupati.
The poem is titled "Venkatachala-Vihara-Satakamu", a centum of
Telugu verses (of which only 98 are available now) in "Sisamalika" meter, the
fourth line of each of the "Teta-gita" stanza appended to the "Sisamalika"
verses uniformly invoking Venkateswara as "Satru-Samhara Venkatachala-Vihara".
From verse 66, we understand that author is a Vaishnavite as he
queries:
"How can I utter the "kartaru-Mantra" of the muslims, giving up
the "Gayatri Mantra" and " remain sinfully with bare face devoid of the nAmam".
"How can I adore the Penugonda Babu (meaning the Nawab), discontinuing my
prayers to you, the father of this entire universe".
In verse 6 he asserts that if a Brahmana like himself possessed
a weapon like the Disc (Sudarshan Chakra) of Venkateswara, he would
surely wield it ferociously to strike, pierce, kill men and horses and make
them pile on each other as corpses and drive the Turks up the Golkonda.
In Verse 9 he laments that his ears that have been magnificently
tuned to listening to the Arava (Tamil) Prabhandams should not be subjected
to the torture of having to hear the Muslim lore instead of the Tamil
Pasurams of the Azhvars.
In Verse 77, he wonders how Nellore town would bear the onset of
the terrific soldiers of "Suratani Abdulla". He laments to the Bhagawan that
different sacred mandirs have been profaned, the trees in the gardens have
become the sport of the elephants, the holy worshipping places have become
the resting place of the "Sardaru" (Sardar, the army chiefs) and the
"Padmakaramulu" (lotus ponds) have been contaminated by urination. The poet
wails- "Kavali, Kovuru, Duvvuru, Nelluru, Poluru, Manneru, Tallapaka, Utukuru,
Oramupadu, Penu-Balapeta, Koduru, Kuruva , Mamanduru and Kalahasti have all
been occupied by the muslim enemies.
He continues to implore Venkateswara to slay the invading
muslims and in verse 90 says -
"I
entreat you, as your well-wisher, not to pay money to the mean-minded
people.
In a fit of anger, he calls the Bhagawan, names. "Do not
call yourself Vishnu, you might soon become "Kartaru". Not "Krishna", but
"Babayya", because the Dakkinul (Dakkinis) Turks, "Parasilu" (Persian) will
insult, abuse, strip and cudgel you. I have thus fore-warned you out of
gratitude, since I ate your food and enjoyed other benefits fully; and I have no
other thought except asking you to escape early in good time".
In the 98 verse, he realises that he had called the Bhagawan a
coward besides other unacceptable words born out of frustration and
helplessness. And pleads for forgiveness. He says, "Arrogantly I have called you
a coward, but you are supreme warrior; the ever-solicitous protector of bhaktas,
appearing powerless but really the all-pervasive universal power of different
forms inheriting even in the smallest atom and the pores of hair, seemingly
inactive but one who can be most decisive. In my destressed mood, I blamed you
only to exhort you for the good of the world to destroy the assailing Muslims, I
repent for my thousand offences"
The invasion must have been between 1656 and 1668, when the
East India Company sent an envoy to the Golkonda viceroy at Tirupati to get its
charter confirmed.
The Hindus pay Zizya to save their
Mandir
No attack on the Mandir took place as feared by the poet. It is
widely believed that the invading Muslim army was "put-off" by the presence of
"Varaha Murthy" Vigraha - (The Boar form of Bhagavan Vishnu) at the foot hills
and boar being anethema to them, they returned in a huff and camped at the
Chandragiri Fort wanting to attack the shrine from the Chandragiri forest side.
Many people believe that the name "Alipiri", the foot hills of
the Bhagawan's Seven/two Hills was derived from the word "Ali -
Phiri" (Ali returned from here) and perhaps the name Alipiri has
stuck ever since.
It is said that it is during this period that the Archakas and
the Sthaniks of the Tirumala Mandir played a vital role in ensuring the
Mandir was not attacked by the mauraders.
They took cue from the legend of Bhagawan Balaji in which
He takes a loan from Kubera for his marriage to Sri Padmavati, and added their own version that the Bhagawan had
undertaken to pay Kubera the interest
amount, through the kings who hold sway over this part of the
country and through levy of fees on devotees. This appears to
have then resulted in an average annual income of two lakhs of rupees to the
shrine.
The worshippers, who were anxious to preserve the Mandir free
from alien interference, gladly and liberally contributed towards the funds of
the Mandir. The Sultans of Golconda and their successors, the Nawabs of the
Carnatic, farmed out this revenue to Hindu renters, thus realising annually a
steady and certain income from it. They could not afford to forego such a
fruitful source of revenue by interfering with the worship at the shrine.
(The poor Archakas and the Sthanikas have never realised that
they had set up a precedent that is dutifully followed by successive governments
of AP, which has made TTD their very own fiefdom for personal aggradisement
of wealth).
The Mandir's Archakas and the Sthanikas (residents of Tirumala)
deserve our eternal gratitude for this daring piece of diplomacy, for they even actually "prepared a bond" relating to the
transaction between Bhagawan Balaji and Kubera, which is said to be
preserved to this day.
The basis for preperation of one such bonds was the following
extract from Chapter XI, Slokas 120-125, p352 of Sri Venkatachala Mahatmiyam -
Bhavisyothara Purana.
This loan transaction is vividly described in the
Venkatachalamahatmyam. You will find that there is
nothing in it to show that Bhagawan undertook to repay the debt through the
sovereigns ruling the country between Palar and the Swarnamukhi rivers. However,
the Archakas and the Sthanikas of that time, advanced this argument to the
Muslim mauraders and ensured they kept away from destroying the magnificent
Mandir, while enjoying the benefits of the "interest" on the loan repayment to
Kubera .
Here is the bond executed by Bhagawan Venkateswara in favor of
Kubera:
Srinivasaha
UvAca
Kayam Lekhyam maYA patra RNadAnE vavadhyamE
BrahmOvAca
RnagrAhi Srinivasa,
DhanadayE Dhaneswaraha,
Atmakaryam Nimithuntu,
KalyAnArtha KalauyugE.
VaisakhE Sukla SapthamyAm
VilambE CaivavatsarE.
NishkANAm RAmamudrANAm
LakshAnica Caturdasa
Dravyam Datham DhanEsEna
VriDhigrahaNakAraNAt
Samvridhi Diditsata Moolam
SvEkrtam ChakrapANinA
VivAhavarsha MAracya
sahasrAntE Dhanam punaha
Datavyam YaksharajAya
SrinivasEna sAngiNa
Ekaha sAkshE caturvaktrO
Dviteeyastu TrilOcanaha
triteeyO Saktyarajastu
Vethi Sarvamidam Drudam
IdyEtaRnapatram tu
SrinivasO Likhatsvayam
(It is interesting to know that this third witness,
Asvatha tree is believed to be the one near the Srivari Pushkarini)
Namaste,
S V Badri
Sincere Acknowledgement:
Source : Extensively borrowed from "The Tirumala Temple"
(p420 to 427)by Dr N Ramesan, M.A., Ph.D. F.R.A.S (London), I.A.S., Second
Secretary to the Govt of AP (Revenue) and former Chairman, TTD. Manuscript
handed over to TTD on 1-10-1979 (Vijayadasami Day) and Published by the
TTD-1981.
Azhvar EmberumAnAr JeeyAr ThiruvadigalE Saranam http://www.vedics.net
SPONSORED LINKS
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
__,_._,___ |
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia |
ramanuja-subscribe@yahoogroups.com To subscribe to the list |