When Rayaru blessed an African

Who has not heard of the story of  Nawab Siddi Masud Khan and Raghavendra Swamy or Rayaru of Mantralaya.

Siddi Masud Khan (1662-1687) was the Governor of Adoni (Adwani), now in Andhra Pradesh, and he held the province as part of the Adil Shahi dominion.

It was at Adoni itself that Siddi Masud Khan first met Raghavendra Swamy and tried to test him by offering him meat on a plate covered with a clothe. Siddi Masud realized the greatness of Raghavendra Swamy when the meat turned into fruits and flowers.

Siddi Masud later gifted Raghavendra Swamy the land at Manchale, which is now better known as Mantralaya. All these facts are more or less well-known as is the fact that Venkanna Pant, a devotee of  Rayaru, was the Dewan of Adoni.

Venkanna had been appointed to the post by Siddi Masud Khan and he continued in the same position even when the Khan went to Bijapur to discharge his duties.

However, not much is known about Siddi Masud Khan or his rule over Adoni. Records available at Bijapur, the Adil Shah chronicles and even Maratha texts when pieced together give a fascinating account of  Siddi Masud Khan, his life and times.

Siddi Masud Khan was not an Indian. He was an African and he belonged to the Siddi tribe.

He was of African descent, a Habshi. He was the son-in-law of Siddi Jahaur, a front-ranking general and commander of the Adil Shahis.  Siddi Jahaur was also the governor of Kurnool, now in Andhra Pradesh. Interestingly, both Siddi Jahaur and Siddi Masud fought Chatrapathi Shivaji as did other Adil Shahi Generals, Afzal Khan and Ranadulla Khan.

Siddi Jahaur was one of the few Bijapur Generals to treat Shivaji with respect. Siddi Masud too was friendly with Shivaji and thanked him when he came to his aid when the Mughals invaded Bijapur.

There is a painting in England of Siddi Masud Khan which is part of the Golconda series of portraits of eminent men.

Masud Khan remained in power until 1683 and he was also the Regent of  the King, Sikander Adil Shah. However, he was disgusted with the internal politics in Bijapur and he returned to Adoni where he soon asserted his independence.

At Adoni, he built a mosque and also a well. Both these structures exists even today. This is the Shahi Jamia Masjid and its architects were Iranian engineers headed by Mallik Sandal. The area of this masjid is as same as of Holy Kabba in Mecca.

The well is called Kamam Bhavi and it was also used for irrigation purposes.

A little known fact about Siddi Masud Khan is that Bijapur would have fallen to the Marathas under Shivaji much before Aurangzeb could conquer the Adil Shahi Kingdom.

It was December 23, 1677 and the Regent of Bijapur, Bahlol Khan, died. His slave and close confidant, Jamshed Khan, seized the reigns of power in Bijapur.

Sikander Adil Shah was then barely nine years of age and he was a mere puppet in the hands of his powerful nobles. Jamshed entered into a secret pact with Shivaji. He agreed to hand over Bijapur to Shivaji and also deliver the boy King to the Chatrapathi for six lakh pagodas.

News of this plot leaked to Siddi Masud Khan and he immediately made plans to safeguard the Bijapur Kingdom. He himself spread a rumour of his death and directed four thousand of his elite troops to go over to Jamshed and seek employment.

Jamshed was only too happy to oblige. Jamshed was a weak and timid person and the arrival of battle-hardened troops were a God send. He recruited all of them. The troops cleverly trapped Jamshed and killed him and Siddi Masud Khan entered Bijapur triumphantly.

Siddi Masud Khan then took over as the Regent of Bijapur and strengthened its defences. Meanwhile, the Mughals under Diler Khan invaded Bijapur and laid a siege of the city. Masud appealed to Shivaji for help, saying that he and Shivaji both had eaten the salt of Adil Shah and that they should form a common front against the Mughals.

The valiant Shivaji agreed at once and he arrived at the gates of Bijapur and began harassing the troops of  Mughals, who subsequently withdrew. A grateful Masud Khan thanked Shivaji for his gesture. Masud Khan, however, withdrew to Adoni and left Bijapur to its fate when he realised that he was no longer welcome in Kingdom. He retired to Adoni on November 21, 1683 on the pretext of visiting his jagir. He left Bijapur, never to come back. He then sent in his resignation to Sikander Adil Shah who then appointed Agha Khusro as the Wazir. However, the Mughals were already knocking on the doors of Bijapur and on September 13, 1686, Sikander Adil Shah walked out of the fort and handed over the keys of Bijapur and the royal insignia to Aurangzeb.

Sikander Adil Shah became a Mughal prisoner and died in captivity in Daulatabad in 1700.

Coming back to Siddi Masud, the Mughal General Firuz Jang on January 25, 1688 attacked Adoni with a head of 25,000 cavalry. On August 6, 1688, Siddi Masud surrendered to the Mughals and he was enrolled as a high ranking commander along with his sons. 

Siddi Masud had thus a meteoric rise and Venkanna attributed it to the blessings of Rayaru.    

The well by a Rayaru devotee

We all know the story of how Raghavendra Swamy helped an unlettered person, Venkanna, to became a Dewan of the Nawab of Adoni (Adwani), Siddi Masud Khan.

Adoni was the capital of Nawab Siddi Masud Khan a nobleman of the Adil Shahi kingdom. Adoni then was part of the Adil Shahi Kingdom and the then Emperor of Bijapur, Muhammad Adil Shah,   had appointed Siddi as the Jagirdar of Adoni.

After Aurangzeb ravaged Bijapur in 1686 and took the last Adil Shahi Emperor, Sikander Adil Shah prisoner, Siddi Masud Khan declared his independence and began ruling Adoni and surrounding areas as an independent ruler.

He had still retained Venkanna as his diwan and Venkanna, with the grace of  Raghavendra Swamy, had undertaken several developmental works for the people of Adoni and surrounding areas.

Adoni is a holy city and its history goes back to the times of the Ramayana. The Ramjala lake in Adoni was formed when Lord Rama shot an arrow into the earth when Sita wanted to drink water. This lake is fed by the Tungabhadra river.

The Ranmandala hill is a famous tourist and pilgrim spot. The famous Hanuman Temple is situated here. It is here that Hanuman killed some of the demons who were disturbing Rama.  

Adoni has a number of temples dedicated to Ganesha. A local legends says that if the water levels reaches the belly of a Ganesha idol in Adoni, the city will be completely submerged underwater. Interestingly, Adoni has an elevation of just 430 metres and it is prone to frequent flooding.

However, one interesting place of interest is the Venkanna Bhavi. Yes, as the name suggest this was the well constructed by Raghavendra Bhakta and Diwan Venkanna.

One of the biggest wells in the area, it is more than 350 years old,
Venkanna had followed the teachings of Rayaru or Raghavendra Swamy to always think of helping others. He had decided to construct the well for providing a permanent solution to the water crisis that Adoni always faced.

Venkanna took the help of water diviners to find out the best spot for the well. Unfortunately, no water appeared even after several days of digging. One night he had a dream in which he was asked to give a sacrifice or “bali” of a pregnant woman if he wanted water to spring out.

Venkanna decide to sacrifice the life of  his daughter-in-law. The moment the sacrifice was done, water began springing out. However, the water was salty as he had sacrificed the life of a pregnant woman. Even today, the water of the well is not used.

Unfortunately, the well became the suicide point of  Adoni. The civic and police authorities have, therefore, restricted access to the well.

Adoni, before Independence, was known as second Bombay because of the manufacture of cotton and textiles. The Kaman Bavi was built by Masud Khan for providing drinking water to his subjects. The Jumma Masjid is another structure worth visiting. It was built by Madu Quadri, a nobleman of the Bijapur court in 1680. It is located within the Adoni fort, which is in ruins now. By the way, Venkanna was one of among the hundreds of  anguished devotees when Raghavendra Swamy entered Brindavana in Mantralaya in 1671. Siddhi Masud Khan and Venkanna met Raghavendra Swamy many times to discuss the construction of the Brindavana. It was Raghavendra Swamy himself  who showed Venkanna the place from where he wanted the stones for the Brindavana to be brought. That place still exists and it is known as Madhavaram.    Mantralaya, the abode of Raghavendra Swamy, is just 42 kms from Adoni. Bangalore is 339 kms from Adoni.

Third route to Mantralaya from Bangalore

This is the third route to Mantralaya by road from Bangalore. In my earlier articles, I have written about two other routes to Mantralaya from Bangalore.

Take the Bangalore-Doddaballapur route and if possible visit Ghati Subramanya, which houses the deity of Karthikeya and Narasimha.  Take off from there on the Makali Ghat section and proceed towards Hindupur.

Take the  Hindupur- Ananthapur- Pattikonda-Adoni route to Mantralaya or the deviation from Hindupur towards Guntakal and from there to Alur, Adoni and finally reach Mantralaya.

Just before the Andhra Pradesh border, is a village called Vidurasthwatha, where there is an ashwata tree planted by Vidura, during the Mahabharata era. 

Located six kms from Gauribidanur town, this ancient hamlet is in Gauribidanur taluk. It is near the border of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Historians call this place the Jallianawalla Bagh of South India . This is so as the British fired upon and killed ten people when they had gathered here on April 25, 1938 to observe Satyagraha. There is a small memorial recalling this incident.

The ashwatha tree is not the only old thing in the area. The naga devasthana is supposed to be as old as the tree. There is a temple of Raghavendra Swamy here for any one who wants to pray, stay or have theertha prasada.

Thirty kilometres from this place and just a few kms after Hindupur (continue on NH 7 and pass through Kodikonda checkpost), visit the Lepakshi temple built by a minister of the Vijayanagar kingdom.

The temple has shrines dedicated to Vishnu, Shiva and Veerabhadra. There is also a huge statue of Nandi. The stories about the construction of the magnificent temple and the architects who built it is fascinating.

The temple is ascribed to Vishwakarma Brahmins who sculpted the structure. Legend has it that Amarshilpi Jakanacharya was one of those involved in the architecture of the structure.

Visit Gunkatal where there is the famous temple dedicated to Anjenaya.  Called the Nettikanti Anjaneya Temple , it is located in Kasapuram.

Gunkatal has the second largest cotton mill in Asia .

There is an interesting anecdote behind the consecration of the Hanuman Temple. Vyasaraja Theertha was visiting Chippargi where Vijaya Dasaru was living.  Hanuman appeared in his dream and asked him to approach a dried up neem tree in Nettikanti village.  He said his idol was buried near the tree.

Vyasaraja got the idol removed and he consecrated it here.

Another place worth visiting near Guntakal is Chippargi. 

Chipppargi is seven kms from Guntakal and it is approachable by buses, taxis and autos. There is the Brindavana of Vijaya Dasaru is here. Vijaya Dasaru is one of the greatest Haridasas. He gas written a number of  Devara Namas. Accomodation is available here.

You can motor down to Mantralaya from Chippargi either directly or through Alur.

In Alur, you can see the beautiful temple of Ranganatha . Look up the Alur Konda waterfalls and the Belum caves, which is the second longest cave network in India (The first is located in Mizoram It is called Krem Um Lawan and is 21 kms long.).

Belum is also approachable from Tadripathi or Ananthapur. It is 3.5 kms in length but only 2 kms is open for the public.

You can halt at Mantralaya, have a darshan of Rayaru and go for a sightseeing in and around the place.