The Dewan who became a Dasa

He was an accountant in the Adil Shahi Kingdom of Bijapur. A master of Urdu, Persian and Kannada, he rose to become one of the most famous Haridasa saints of the era.

One day, he was giving a discourse on the Narasimha Temple in Bijapur where he was staying. Bijapur then was under the Adil Shahis and it was perhaps the most prominent city of South India.

A leading commander of Bijapur and one of its noblemen, Khawas Khan, happened to pass by the Narasimha temple. Attracted by the sonorous voice, he halted and found that a discourse was being delivered at the temple.

He invited the Haridasa to come to his house and deliver a similar religious discourse. The Haridasa gladly accepted and went to the mansion of Khawas Khan. The Haridasa gave an excellent discourse in Urdu and Persian language. Khawas Khan and his family members were stunned by the scholarship of the Dasa and his mastery over the languages.

This Haridasa was none other than Mahipati Dasa (1611-1681) who worked as an accountant for some time before plunging into the Haridasa movement.

When Mahipathi Dasa conducted a discourse in Khan’s house, he spoke on the incidents from Bhagavatha, Ramayana and other texts. His discourse was so well liked that it became a practice and later on  to conduct them in both Khan’s house and the Narasimha Temple. Many Muslims, including mullas, attended his discourse and appreciated it.

Mahapati Dasa’s guru was Kolhar Prahalada Krishnacharya. Mahipati belonged to the famous Kathavate family of Kakandiki, a small village near Bijapur.

He was the son of Koneri Rao, an orthodox Madhwa, and even as a young man, he learnt several languages. He was extremely proficient in Kannada, Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Persian. He came under the influence of Bhaskar Yogi, an Adwaita scholar, of  north Karnataka.

He wrote with the Ankita Mahapati and his song Kolu Kolena Kole is famous to this day.

Once, the accountants of the Kingdom were in difficulty, as they could not rectify a mistake in their accounts. Someone suggested that Mahipathi Rao could be asked to look into the accounts as he was a known expert in accounting. Mahipathi verified the accounts, identified the error and set it right. 

Mahipathi then was appointed as Manager of Accounts Department. Eventually, he rose to become the Dewan of  the  province.

Mahipathi then married Tirumala and led a very simple and austere life, even though he could afford luxuries and comforts. He was man of simple tastes add devoted to his work. It was two Sufi saints of Bijapur who sent him to Bhaskar Swamy.

The Sufi saints were a brother and sister called Shah Nunga and Shah Nungi. They were very popular in the city of Bijapur and elsewhere. They could predict the future and even perform miracles.

However, they lived a mysterious life and nobody knew where or how they lived. They wore rags and spoke in riddles. As they were highly pious, they were respected by both Hindus and Muslims.

One day, Mahipathi was inspecting some construction work on the banks of Begum Talab, a water tank in Bijapur. (This tank still exists). Shah Nunga appeared suddenly at the Talab and he saw a ring in the hand of Mahipati.

He was curious to know what the ring was. Mahipati told the Sufi saint that it was the royal sign or Ring (raja mudra) and that he had it in his possession as he was the Dewan of the province.

Shah Nunga took the ring from Mahipati and threw it in the Begum talab. Mahipathi was shocked and he realised that he would be in trouble if the ring was not found. As it was a symbol of royal power and prestige, it could not be trifled with.

Mahipati pleaded with Shah Nunga to retrieve the ring. Shah Nunga then turned to his sister, Shan Nungi, who had come to the Begum Talab, and asked her to get the ring.

Shah Nungi immediately jumped into the tank and came up with hundreds of rings, all bearing the royal sign. She then handed over the rings to Mahipati who failed to identify the original.

Mahipati then again requested Shah Nunga to help him identify the original ring. Shah Nunga retrieved the original ring and said, “Maut kaa ghan” (smell of stinking body). So saying, both he and his sister disappeared from the Begum Talab.

Mahipathi could not understand Shah Nunga’s utterance. He kepton thinking about it. He then approached Shah Nunga himself for an explanation of the words “Maut Kaa ghan”.

Shah Nunga asked Mahipati to approach Bhaskara Swamy, who was then staying in Sarvada, a small village. “Accept him as your guru”, he said. Mahipati then decided to renounce the post of  Dewan. Both he and his wife then came to Sarwada where they met Bhaskara Swamy.

Bhaskar Swamy accepted Mahipathi as his disciple and gave him Upadesha. He also blessed the couple, saying that they would  have illustrious children. Mahipathi and his wife stayed with Bhaskar Swamy for some time before going to their native place near Bijapur.

Later, Mahipathi went to Shahpura village in Gulbarga district. He made the Hanuman Temple here his home for carrying spiritual activities.

Mahipati has written scores of devaranamas and they are all full of devotion and sincerity to God.

His kolu song goes as follows:

kOlu kOlennakOle kOlu kOlennakOle
sadvastuvina balagoMbekOle

kOlunikkuta banni bAlErellaru kUDi
myAlye maMdirada hAdEli kOle
myAlye maMdiradoLu bAlamukuMdatAnu
lOlyADuta oLagiddAne kOle

AdigiMtalyade hAdi anAdiyu
sAdhisa banni odaginnu kOle
sAdhisi baralikke sAdhyavAgutalyAde
bhEdisi nODi manadali kOle

kaNNinoLihya bOMbekANabaruttade
jANyEru nIvu tiLakoLLikOle
jANyEru nIvu kANade hOgabyADi
jANrisuthAne sadguru kOle

sadgurupAdake sadbhAvaviTTu nEvu
sadbhOdha kEli sAdhisi kOle
sAdhisi kELi nIvu budhajanaroDagUDi
caduratanadali ati byAge kOle

arahuveMda sIreyanuTTU kuravheMba kuppasali
iruvaMti puShTali muDidinnu kOle
muDidu baralu pUrNa oDigUDi barutAne
baDAvanA dAri balagoMbe kOle

balagoMbe sAdhanavu nelegODu mADabEku
valavhAMga tAne SrIhari kOle
SrIhari muMde nIvu sOhya tiLidubanni
sAhyamADuva ihaparake kOle

ihaparake dAta mahipatiswAmi
sahakAranobba SrIpatikOle
SrIpatistuti kODaDalikke pUrNa
bhukti muktiya nEDu tAne kOle

When a son avenged his father's arrest

Indian history has rather been unkind to our own countrymen or rather we have been unkind in writing our own history. Even today, we have failed ourselves in reading and writing history accurately and in a dispassionate manner.
Many incidents and events in our past have either been simply glossed over or given a slant. Deliberate or otherwise, such writings have made their way into history and today they have become a part of  history books.
Indians have always been besotted with what Westerners have said about our history and culture and we have blindly accepted them even if they are wrong. Many incidents and personages have been dismissed by British and European historians without giving them their due.
One such figure who has not been accorded due recognition and whose exploits have been significantly whittled down in history is Shahaji Bhonsale, the father of  Chatrapathi Shivaji.
Few historians and fewer people are aware that Shahaji was among the first exponents of guerilla warfare. He was also an astute military strategist and he once managed to outwit the combined forces of Mughals and Bijapur armies merely by his common sense. This was when he was in the service of the Nizam Shahis.
Once the Nizam Shahis were extinguished, he joined the service of the Adil Shahs and for decades he was counted among the bravest, courageous and extremely far sighted commander of  the mighty Bijapur Army.
A peculiar incident that has not been given its proper and correct perspective during this time is the so called arrest and imprisonment of  Shahaji in 1648-1649 by the Adil Shah Emperor and his subsequent release.
While most history books ascribe his arrest to the rise of Shivaji,  contemporary accounts and even a few Marathi books speak otherwise about the incident.     
The Marathi Bakhars (Bakhar is a historical narrative written in Marathi prose and it is classified as one of the earliest genres of medieval Marathi literature. More than 200 bakhars were written from the seventeenth to nineteenth century. Many of them detail the deeds of Shivaji) and Basatin-i-Salatin by Mohammad Ibrahim Al Zubairi are sure that Shahji was arrested as a reaction to the military exploits of Shivaji.
According to these two sources, Shivaji had taken possession of some forts and territories in Maharashtra

and they belonged to the Adil Shah. Besides, he had killed several Bijapuri officers and even surprised the escort below the Bhor Ghat and captured the royal  treasure which was being sent from Kalyan to Bijapur. The conquest of Kalyan and the hill forts of Rajmachi and Lohgad had angered the Adil Shah who naturally concluded that these disloyal acts must have been done by the young Shivaji with the advice and instigation of his father. Hence secret orders were issued to arrest Shahaji.
Other sources such as the Sabhasad do not give credence to this view and infact they go so far as to say that Shivaji’s conquests had nothing to do with his father’s arrest. On the contrary, the Sabhasad throws up an entirely new angle on the incident. The Sabhasad records-this was the earliest work on Shivaji written by one of  the courtiers in the Maratha administration, Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad, in Ginjee in 1694- that a letter was sent to Shahaji by the Adil Shah Emperor directing him to keep Shivaji  under proper control.
The record further says Shahaji replied that his son was no longer under his control and that the Emperor might consequently deal with him in any manner he liked. This reply angered the Emperor who directed Afzal Khan to punish Shivaji. Surprisingly, the Sabhasad makes no mention of the imprisonment and release of Shahaji in 1649. The Chitragupta and Shiva Pratap Bakhars also make no such mention.
One of the earliest historians on Marathas, Chitnis, claims that Shahaji wrote a letter to Shivaji censuring his conduct and asking him to go to Bijapur. Chitnis further claims that Shivaji sought advice of his wife, Sai Bai Saheb, as well as of his officers and nobles.
Another work, Shiva Digvijaya, reproduces all the letters of  Shivaji, Shahaji and the Adil Shah on the issue. It confirms that Shivaji consulted his mother, officers, his wife and Goddess Bhavani before he wrote to his father and the Adil Shah.
Shivaji says in his letters that he was responsible for his own actions and that he was ready to take responsibility for the consequence of his deed. He further said he could not be diverted from his course.
Another source says that the Adil Shah disbelieved Shahaji when told that he had no control over Shivaji. Since the Adil Shah continued to be suspicious of Shahaji’s conduct, he ordered another Maratha nobleman in his service, Baji Ghorpade, to arrest Shahaji by any means and bring him to Bijapur.
Shahaji then was near Tanjore or Thanjavur and Baji Ghorpade accompanied Nawab Sarje ( Sharza ) Khan to meet Shahaji. The Adil Shah had asked Baji Ghorpade to arrest Shahaji in case he refused to control Shivaji. The Nawab, however, refused to arrest Shahaji as he considered him to be his friend.
Baji Ghorpade asked Shahaji to take steps to control his son and prevent Shivaji from invading the Adil Shahi territories. When Shahaji said he had no control over his son, Ghorpade decided to arrest Shahaji.
The Muhammad Namah, an imperial chronicle of Bijapur, has a different story altogether. It says there was some ill will between Shahaji and Mustafa Khan, Prime Minister of the Adil
Shahi Kingdom, during the siege of Ginjee. It says Shahaji questioned the authority of the Prime Minister who then ordered his arrest. Historians like Jadunath Sarkar say that the arrest of Shahji was due to his hobnobbing with the Raya of Vijayanagar and other Hindu Kings.
The Basatin-i-Salatin and the Shiva Bharat carry the same tale about the imprisonment of Shahaji. The Shiva Bharat narrates that one day, just as the sun was about to rise, the Adil Shahi commanders Dilawar i Khan, Masud Khan, Ambar Khan, Rajahs of  Adoni and Karnpur, Farhad Khan, Khairat Khan, Yaqut
Khan, Azam Khan, Bahlol Khan, Malik Raihan Khan,
Balal, son of Haybat Raja, Sidhoji, Mambaji Pawar,
Mambaji Bhosla, and some other nobles, besieged the
camp of Shahaji.
As Shahaji’s soldiers had kept awake the night, they had no idea of such a sudden attack and were unprepared, and so there was a great disorder and tumult in their camp. Masud Khan himself was commanding the forces. Then Khandoji, Ambaji, Manaji, Baji Raje and a few others entered the camp and arrested Shahaji.
The Basatin-i-Salatin says three Sardars- Baji Rao
Ghorpade, Yashwant Rao Wadhwe and Asad Khan-entered the
camp of Shahaji and thus awakened him and asked him to surrender. However, Shahaji decided to fight and ordered all his nobles to be prepared. He then rode on his faithful horse and attacked Baji Raje Ghorpade.
Shahaji was injured in the fight against Ghorpade. When he  swooned, fell down wounded, Ghorpade arrested him. The three thousand horse of Shahji soon dispersed and much plunder was secured from the camp.
Another account says that Shahaji was invited by Baji Raje Ghorpade of Mudhol to his house for a banquet and was treacherously put under arrest. Surprisingly Shahaji;s own kinsmen like Mambaji and Trimbakji Bhosle were in the
pursuing party, as were Sidhoji and Mambaji Pawar. The accounts say that Baji Raje was really accompanied by seven Maratha Sardars.
The vast booty acquired in the fort of Ginjee and Shahaji
were brought to Bijapur under the personal escort of Afzal
Khan. The Adil Shah received the party led by Afzal Khan in the Kalyan Mahal.
The Muhammad Namah claims that “Shahaji Raja who was brought in chains was sent to the prison.” However, the fact that the Adil Shah did not mete put any harsh treatment or torture Shahaji surprised the nobles and people of Bijapur.
A further surprise awaited the when the Adil Shah said he would release Shahaji and restore his jagir provided his forts of Bangalore
and Kondwana were returned to him. Shahaji then wrote to his two sons, Sambhaji and Shivaji, asking them to return the forts. When the forts were returned, the Adil Shah honored Shahaji and gave back his jagir.  
Shahaji, on his part, never forget the arrest. He wrote to Shivaji asking him to take revenge against the Ghorpade. Shivaji did kill the Ghorpade in his palace in Mudhol  and extracted revenge but that is another story.
Once Shahaji came back to Bangalore
, he allowed Ekoji to rule the province and he himself retired to Kanakagiri where he stayed on till his death in a horse accident in Hodigere near Chennagiri in 1664.

When an Emperor caught a bolt of lightning

The Gol Gumbaz is one of the most well-known monuments of India. Located in Bijapur in north Karnataka, the magnificent structure has the second largest dome in the world with a diameter of 44 metres or 124 feet. The whispering gallery of the Gol Gumbaz, where you can hear a whisper at a distance, is another marvel. The gallery is so designed that a faint whisper, clap, tick of a watch or even the rustle of paper can be heard across a distance of 37 metres and the sound is echoed seven times over. In earlier tines, the sound echoed eleven times over.

The Gol Gumbaz is also one of the biggest single chamber structures in the world and covers an area of 18,225 square feet or 1,693 square meters, which is substantially bigger than the Pantheon in Rome which is 14,996 square feet  or 1,393 square meters.

However, this post is not about the construction of the Gol Gumbaz or its features.  Built by Mohammad Adil Shah (1627-1656), the Gol Gumbaz was never fully completed as it was taken up during the ending years of Muhammad Adil Shah. The construction of the Gol Gumbaz was stopped in 1659, twenty years after it was taken up.  

However, the Gol Gumbaz, which is the subject of many legends and myths, has an unusual aspect which is generally ignored by both locals and millions of tourists who visit the monument.

One of the many popular legends about the Gol Gumbaz is that Muhammad Adil Shah chased and caught a bolt of  lightning which struck a place a little away from the monument.

Muhammad Adil Shah believed that the bolt of lightning or Sidilu in Kannada would bring him and the Kingdom luck and he hung the piece of rock in front of the Gol Gumbaz.

This bolt of lightning can be seen even today, hung ornamentally on the façade of the monument. It is tied in a tripod like ring and hung through a chain.

Since the bolt of lightning can be seen only if one observes the façade closely, it has been generally given a royal go by by the many tourists who mill around the monument.

Historians and archaeologists who have examined the rock have said that it is a piece of meteorite that fell within the confines of Bijapur.

When Muhammad Adil Shah was told about the falling piece from the sky, he went to the spot and had it examined. His astrologers told him that the rock would bring him and his Kingdom luck. They also told him that the rock would help him expand his Kingdom and lead to greater prosperity of Bijapur. However, they warned him that the rock would have to be carefully preserved if the good luck was to continue. Muhammad Adil Shah then decided to use it as a good luck charm and hang it from the façade of the Gol Gumbaz.

Believe it or not, after Muhammad got the rock, then called Bijli Pathar, hung on the façade atop the south door or main entrance of the Gol Gumbaz, he was officially recognized as the ruler of the Kingdom by the Mughal Emperor, Shahajahan.

Muhammad Adil Shah also managed to defeat Kempe Gowda of Bangalore and the Nayaka of Ginji from whom he seized immense booty. He also managed to sack the city of Doddaballapur. Muhammad also sealed an alliance with the Mughals to put an end to the Ahmednagar Kingdom.            

When the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, annexed the Adil Shahi Kingdom in 1686, Bijapur soon became a ghost town and the Mughals and Marathas were at war with for gaining a stranglehold over Bijapur. The meteorite also came to be almost forgotten after the eclipse of the Adil Shahi dynasty.

However, it was Henry Cousens (1854-1933), a British officer, who served as the chief archaeology officer in Western India in 1896, who re-discovered and recorded the Sidlu of Gol Gumbaz.

Cousens has described Bijapur and its monuments in his book, “Ruins of Bijapur City”.

Cousens visited Bijapur for the first time in May 1891to organise the Museum in the Yaqut Mahal. However, it is only in 1896 that Cousens talks about rediscovering a meteorite at the Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur in his “Ruins of Bijapur City.”

He examined the rock and said, “This is a rare piece of rock and believed to bring good luck to those who possess it. Therefore, Mohammed Ali Adil Shah might have brought and dangled it before the Gol Gumbaz.”

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.    

A fusion or art, poetry and music

What do you say to a work of art that is a superb fusion of art,  poetry and classical music. Such a work of art  took off in the Deccan and it was the product of a royal love for literature, painting and music.

Though the royals were Muslims, they loved classical music and commissioned works on music. One of the Emperors belonging to the Muslim Kingdom was himself a notable poet, musician and painter. He also wrote a book on music and also had a hand in illustrating it.

This art form, today forms a classic of the bygone era, a period when art, architecture and literature flourished and it gave birth to several fine arts.

Though the art form declined after the Kingdom was annexed by the Mughals, it still continues to inspire awe and amazement, so much so tat interest in this art today has reached a high not only in India but also in the West.

This is the Ragamaala or Ragamala paintings and this style of painting originated in the Adil Shahi Kingdom of Bijapur in the 16^th century. It then spread to the other Muslim Kingdoms of the Deccan-Golconda, Berar, Ahmednagar and Bidar.

Apart from Bijapur and the Deccan, the Raagamala type of paintings were extensively resorted to by the Rajputs and other royal dynasties of Rajasthan and to some extent Gujarat.

However, the earliest Ragamaala painting belong to the Adi Shahi dynasty when Ibrahim Adil Shah, the second, was the Emperor.

The Ragamaala is one of the most unique styles of paintings. It combines Raga-which means melody and Maala, a garland-into a painting.

There are mainly six ragas that are used in such type of paintings. These six ragas which are sung during the seasons of the year are  Bhairava, Dipika, Sri, Malkaunsa, Megha and Hindola. They represent summer, monsoon, autumn, early winter, winter and spring.

The ragas are also related to different parts of the day like the dawn, morning, afternoon, evening, night and midnight. The Ragamala painting usually describes the story of a man and his beloved (known as nayaka and nayaki, hero or heroine) along with the time of the day and the season. Along with the ragas, the  paintings also depict the wives of ragas who are called raginis,  their sons ragaputra and daughters ragaputris.

Thus each painting has a story to tell and the story is narrated with through art, poetry and classical music. The Ragamala paintings come across as a series of illustrative paintings based on Ragamaala or the Garland of Ragas, depicting various Indian ragas.

These paintings today represent a classical example of the amalgamation of art, poetry and classical music in medieval India.

Ragamala paintings are today named as Pahari Ragamala, Rajasthan or Rajput Ragamala, Deccan Ragamala, and Mughal Ragamala depending on the province in which they are painted.

In these paintings, each raga is personified by a colour, mood, a verse describing a story of a hero and heroine. It also paints the season and the time of day and night in which a particular raga is to be sung, More astonishingly, a majority of the paintings are addressed to specific Hindu deities attached with ragas, like Bhairava or Bhairavi to Shiva, Sri to Devi.

The classification of the ragas in such paintings is based on

Sangeeta Ratnakara, an important 12th century AD text on music. This mentions for the first time ever the presiding deity of each raga.

The Ragamala paintings owe a lot to Kshemakarna, a priest of Rewa in Central India who in 1570  compiled a poetic text on the Ragamala in Sanskrit. It was in this text that he first described six principal ragas—Bhairava, Malakoshika, Hindola, Dipaka, Sri, and megha-each having five Raginis and eight Ragaputras, except Raga Sri, which has six Raginis and nine Ragaputras, thus making Ragamala a closeted family of 86 members

Most of the Ragamala paintings tend to stick to the principles enunciated by Kshemakarna. The first such painting was by the Adil Shahi emperor, Ibrahim Adil Shah, the second. Apart from being an excellent painter and illustrator, he was also a renowned musician and composer. He personally illustrated his Ragamaala paintings and also built Nauraspur-a city which he wanted to base on the nine rasas of music (This city, which was never completed, is in ruins adjacent to Bijapur and near Torvi).

To this Emperor goes the credit of  making Ragamaala a miniature painting. Each painting is accompanied by a brief caption or poem that describes the mood of the raga, most frequently devotion and love – in its various aspects.

Ragamala painting flourished throughout the royal courts of India but it went into a rapid decline after the advent of the British in India.

The earliest Ragamaala paintings are from the city of Bijapur in Karnataka. They were painted for Ibrahim Adil Shah II of Bijapur.

One of the best books on Ragamaala is Nujum-al-Ulum or the Stars of Sciences which is a  superbly illustrated encyclopedia dated 1570 was painted in Bijapur. It is presently in Chester Beatly Library in Dublin, Ireland.  

The book contains a total of 876 miniature paintings. Ibrahim owned the book and it later went out of the Adil Shahi collection and today it is in England. Both Ibrahim (1580-1627) and his predecessor, Ali Adil Shah, the first (1558-1580) were patrons of art and literature. Ibrahim commissioned the Nujum sometime in 1590.

The book has illustrations on astronomy and this is traced to a Turkish manuscript by Fuzuli (1483-1556) the Ottoman poet, writer and thinker whose real name is Muhammad bin Suleyman.

Apart from Bijapur, the other prominent Deccani centres of Ragamaala were Ahmadnagar, Golkonda and Hyderabad.

Blue, red and pink were the favourite colours of Deccan painters and illustrators and the designing patterns have a geometric thrust and tend to be highly symmetrical.

The only Mughal Emperor of Bijapur

It was 1707 AD and Aurangzeb was exhausted by the long decades he had spent in the Deccan vainly trying to subjugate the Marathas.

Aurangzeb had retired with his retinue to Ahmednagar now in Maharashtra. He saw his death nearing and tried in vain to set right the things that he knew he had wronged.

He wrote to one of his five sons in February 1707, “I came alone and I go as a stranger. I do not know who I am, nor what I have been doing”.  His youngest son, Kam Baksh, had always been his favourite but like the other four Kam Baksh too had been imprisoned by his father.

Aurangzeb never led a happy family life. He was always suspicious with his five sons and frequently imprisoned them on one silly reason or other. Of all his sons, he loved Kam Baksh, the youngest, the most.

Towards the end of his life, Aurangzeb realised that Kam Baksh was timid and weak. He, therefore, made him Governor of his Deccan provinces and sent him with a strong bodyguard to Bijapur as its Governor.

Aurangzeb hoped that by sending Kam Baksh to far away Bijapur, he could avert a war of succession among his sons. He wrote one of the most poignant letters ever from a father to a son. It was addressed to Kam Baksh. Aurangzeb said, “Soul of my soul, now I am going alone. I grieve for your helplessness. But what is the use? Every torment I have inflicted, every sin has committed, every wrong I have done, carry the consequence with me. Strange that I came with nothing into the world, and now go away with this stupendous caravan of sin! Whatever I look I see only God.

You should accept my last will. It should not happen that Mussalmans be killed and the reproach should fall upon the head of his useless creature. I commit you and your sons to the care of God and bid you farewell. I am sorely troubled. Your sick mother Udaipur would fain die with me. May the peace of God be upon you?”

When Aurangzeb died on March 3, 1707, Kam Baksh soon proclaimed his independence and assumed the title of Din Panah or Padshah. He then ascended the throne of Bijapur.

It was just 21 years after the Adil Shahis had capitulated. The bubonic plague had wiped out half the inmate of the great city of Bijapur. When the Mughals had advanced towards Bijaour in 1686, the Adil Shahis had destroyed houses, buildings, structures, crops, tanks and lakes leading to Bijapur. So when Aurangzeb took Bijapur in 1686, it was broken and battered city.

The 21 years of Mughal rule had not helped matters. People had all the time been deserting Bijapur for greener pastures. The once mighty warriors of the Adil Shahis had either joined the Marathas or become mercenaries.

Kam Baksh, therefore, was only the Emperor of a small province. The Marathas had already eaten away more than half of Adil shahi provinces.

However, Aurangzeb’s eldest son, Bahadur Shah, did not agree to the declaration of Independence by his brother, Bahadur Shah.

Bahadur Shah soon declared war on Bijapur and marched with an army in 1708. Kam Baksh then was just 41 years of age.     

 Kam Baksh then was stationed at Hyderabad.

A strong believed in astrology, Kam Baksh was convinced that he would won as the astrologers had predicated a sweeping victory. Kam Baksh met Bahadur Shah who had come with an army of 2 lakhs.

By then, Kam Baksh had lost many of his mansabdars due to his ill treatment. He was just left with an army of  just two thousand soldiers.Yet, Kam Baksh came out of Hyderabad city and stood on battlefield and directed his troops.

Both Kam Baksh and his son were killed  in the battle of the brothers in January 1709. A very interesting anecdote is that the Mughal troops were wary of the small army of Kam Baksh. They believed that he had some secret weapon with which he would  destroy them. “Otherwise why would Kam Baksh come with so few men to face such a large army”, they reasoned.

With Kam Baksh’s death the one year rule of the Mughals as Emperor of Bijapur came to an abrupt end. A Mughal writer, Khafi Khan, describes the final meeting of the two brothers in detail wherein Bahadur Shah treats his younger brother with great tenderness and love.

Bijapur fell into the hands of the Nizams of Hyderabad in 1724. They transferred it to the Maratthas in 1760 on payment of  Rs. 60 lakhs. When the Peshwa rule ended in 1818, it came under the British and later became part of the Bombay Presidency.

The open grave of the Mughal Queen

The mediaeval city of Bijapur in north Karnataka is famous for its Islamic monuments. The city was once the capital of the Adil Shahi Emperors who were great patrons of art, architecture, literature and other final arts. Aurangzeb had five wives. One of then was Aurangabadi Mahal.

The Adil Shahi Kingdom was founded in 1489 by Yusuf Adil Shah who traced his ancestry to the Persian Kings. The Emperors who followed Yusuf transformed Bijapur into the foremost city of excellence in the Deccan and very soon it came to be known as the Palmyra of the Deccan.

Palmyra is an ancient city in Syria and it is famed for its ruins. The city is near an Oasis and, hence, it came to be known as Bride of the Desert.

The growing wealth of Bijapur and the secular nature of its Emperors attracted the ire of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. The Mughals, right from the time of Shahajan, had been wanting to subjugate Bijpaur.

Aurangzeb (1658-1707) had camped in south India for several decades to subdue the Deccan states of Bijapur, Ahmednagar and Golconda apart from carrying out a relentless campaign against Shivaji, the Marattha Emperor.

As was the wont in those days, Aurangzeb had settled down on the Deccan with his family. The long drawn out wars against Bijapur and the Maratthas had exhausted him mentally and physically. He had five wives- Nawab Raj Rai Begum, Dilras Bano Begum, Hira Bai Zainabadi Begum, Aurangabadi Mahal and Udaipuri Mahal.

Aurangabadi Mahal, who had married Auragnzeb in 1654, had they had a daughter frm the marriage.

She had joined Aurangzeb during the later part of his campaign against Bijapur. She was with him when he finally overcame the stubborn Bijapur resistance in 1686 and the last Bijapur Emperor, Sikander Adil Shah, surrendered.

She entered Bijapur City along with Aurangzeb and stayed there for some time before the couple moved to Golconda where Aurangzeb waged another war against the Emperor. 

Even as Golconda fell, Aurangzeb received news of the growing restlessness of the newly added territory of Bijapur to the Mughal Kingdom. Shivaji and his son Sambhaji were once again raiding Mughals posts and making daring attacks against the Mughals. 

So, Aurangzeb, with Aurangabadi Mahal in tow, hurried back to Bijapur sometime in 1688.  By the time he came to the walled city. The great plague of 1688 had already started its dreadful dance of death. More than 1.5 lakhs people were killed by the bubonic plague that swept Bijapur.

The plague also claimed the life of Aurangabadi Mahal. However, Aurangzeb could not be deterred from his avowed aim of  giving Bijapur a steady ruler. He had his wife buried in an open grave within Bijapur city itself.

Even today, the junior wife of  Aurangabadi Mahal is in the open. Unfortunately, only a handful of locals and none of the tourists visiting the city have an idea of the grave.

A really sad end to the wife of one the last great Mughals. While, the wives of Aurangzeb's predecessors, Aknar, Jahangor and Shahajahan, had magnificent tombs built for them, Aurangabadi had not even a roof over her tomb. 

The Chakki Nama and Charaka Nama

Bijapur has played a major role in the architectural and cultural map of India in the middle ages. During the Bahamani and Adil Shahi period (1400 to 1686), Bijapur became the centre of Muslim art, literature and Sufism.

During the Adil Shahi period, hundreds of Sufis made Bijapur their home and each one of them had a distinct and definitive role to play.  Some of the Sufis like Hashim Pir were close to the court of the Adil Shahis during the kingship of Ibrahim Adil Shah, the second, and Muhammad Adil Shah.

The Sufis wrote extensively and many of their works are still available. A large part of their literature was in the form of poetry. Sufi poetry is simple in language and easy to understand.

Many Sufi posts of Bijapur adopted the style and even the substance of  the poetry of Sayyid Mohammad Bande Nawaz  Gesu Daraz of Gulbarga, a notable Sufi poet, to highlight the virtues of  God.

Gesu Daraz composed many simple but beautiful and lyrical poems. These came to be widely sung by the rural populace of the Bijapur kingdom.

These short poems were to be sung when womenfolk were doing particular chores and they came to be known by different names.

If a woman sang while grounding millet or any other food grain, it came to be called as Chakki Nama. Chakki mans the grindstone and Nama means a poem.

The Sufi saints composed several hymns, each for an occasion and the namas or poems came to be called after them. Thus it was Chakki Nama for women grinding away on the grindstone, Charaka Nama of the women were spinning cotton and silk on the Charka or wheel.

If the women sang to make their children go to sleep, it was called Lori Nama. Marriages were a special occasion and songs sung then were called Shaadi Nama.

If the women were married and they sang, it was Suhagan Nama. There were thus many varieties of such Namas, each catering to a particular chore.

All the namas were simple in language so that they could be understood by the rural masses, particularly women. Each aspect of the chore was addressed to in the Nama. They could either be set to music or sung extempore.        

The first of these Namas can be traced to Gesu Daraz who composed them in Gulbarga. They quickly spread to Bijapur which soon became the centre of Sufi literature.

Gesu Daraz is perhaps the first composer of  Chakki Nama. A master of Dekkani, he was an eminent personality of Gulbarga who commanded hundreds of  students and fellow Sufis.    

The names became a “hit”  in Bijapur and its surrounding areas. Very soon, womenfolk took to it like fish to water. Whether they spun the cotton into thread, ground jowar into meal and rocked the children to sleep, the Nama had a central role to play.

Each of these household activities involved a steady movement of the hands which these namas assisted. The metres in which the were composed synchronized perfectly with the chores. Very soon, the chakki Nama and the charkha Nama, became the most widely composed, recited or sung form of  poetry.

However, it is to be remembered that folk poems and lyrics in Kannada and Marathi existed much before Sufis, particularly those of the Chisti order, made their stand in the Deccan. But, it was their arrival which gave an impetus to such poetry and it took “off like a rocket.”

Even today, books containing chakki-namas and charkha-namas have been printed in Kannada and Marathi. I have seen some of them in museums and bookshops in Hyderabad.  cheap lithograph editions which can still be found in the Deccan country- side.

An American author, Richard Eaton, speaks of several author, of course all Sufis, who have written Chakki and Charka namas. He has described a selection of Chakki Namas attributed to Amin al-Din A'la (1675).

Amin was an important Sufi saint of  Bijapur. Another Sufi who is credited with this category of compositions is Shah Hashim Khudawand Hadi (1704-05). Shah Hashim was a close friend of  Amin. Another collection of Chakki Namas is attributed to Faruqi who was not a Sufi saint but a follower.

Other compositions of Bijapur on Chakki Nama are by Ghausi and Fi’l Hal Quadri. A Sufi from Belgaum,  Shah Kamal-al-Din, has written Chakki Namas at the behest of his wife. He was in Chitoor, Andhra Pradesh, when he penned these poems.

One of the best compositions of Suhagan Nama is by a Sufi saint of the Chisti order, Shah Raj. This poet settled down in Hyderabad.

Bijapur produced some of the best Sufi literature of the times. However, some of the notable Sufi writers such as Shah Miranji Shams al-Ushshaq (1499), Shah Burhan al-Din Janam (1597) and  Shaikh Mahmud Khush Dahan (1617) did not compose many  namas. Their followers and devotes did but these Sufi greats did play their part in popularizing the Namas.

In one of his Chakki Namas, Burhan al-Din Janam says “In the case of the chakki, some other power is required, somebody's hand must be applied to move the wheel.

There are many people who use the chakki, yet only the power hidden in the hand actually turns the wheel.

That hand is 'arif al-wujud (God), and those who see that the power is in the hand are witnesses of the light; thereby they witness the essence, which is God.”

The Chakki Nama of Shah Hashim Khudawand Hadi also speaks of  the close bond between God and the chores. It ends beautifully by saying, “As we turn the Chakki, so we find God.”

The Charaka Nama is even more imaginative. One such Nama says, “Imagine Sister, your body is a spinning wheel. The tongue is the rim of the spinning wheel. Bring out the thread of breath and show it.”

The Chakki and Charaka Nama might have disappeared in Deccani after the demise of the Adil Shahi kingdom in 1686, but they have survived in the many forms of folk compositions in Kannada and Marathi in Bombay-Karnataka area.

I conclude this post with a simple Chakki Nama.

“As you take the cotton, you should do zikr-i jali.

As you separate the cotton, you should do zikr-i qalbi.

And as you spool the thread you should do zikr-i aini.

Zikr should be uttered from the stomach through the chest,

and threaded through the throat.

The threads of breath should be counted one by one, oh sister.

Up to twenty-four thousand.

Do this day and night,

and offer this to your pir as a gift.”

The only underground Brindavana of Raghavendra Swamy

There is only one underground temple dedicated to Raghavendra Swamy and that is more than eighty years old. This temple was built in the heartland of the Deccan and the capital of the Adil Shahis.
The temple is in Bijapur and this year it celebrated its 82nd year of Prathistapane. The Brindavana was conceived by Raghuprema Theertha  as per the shastras laid out by Madhwacharya.

Raghuprema Theertha belonged to the Kudli Akshoba Theertha Matha. He was born in Ayachoti village in Kadapa district to Tungabai and  Swamirayacharya in 1860 A.D. He entered Brindavana in 1943.

According to Pavamanachar, the priest of the Raghavendra Swamy Temple of Bijapur, Raghuprema Theertha, had decided to enter Brindavana at this very place. He, however, changed his mind after Rarayu came in his dreams. The then Tahsildar Gundu Rao decided to go ahead with the construction of the temple and consecrate the Brindavana of Rayaru here.

Some old timers and contemporaray texts on the life and times of Raghu Prema Theertha have a slightly different account of the events leading to the establishment of the temple.  They say two residents of Bijapur, Perur Gundu Rao and Dr. Govinda Rao along with others came to Adoni where Raghu Prema Theertha was staying and sought his help to tide over their problems.

The Seer decided to visit Bijapur and personally look into the problems of the people there. He suggested that all the families would benefit if a Brindavana of Raghavendra Swamy were to be constructed.

Both Mr, Gundu Rao and Dr. Govinda Rao agreed to the suggestion and Raghu Prema Theertha himself suggested that the Brindavana be installed underground and steps be provided to reach it.

Raghu Prema Theertha himself designed the plan and structure of the temple as per Madhwacharya’s  Tantrasara Sangraha Grantha. This granta deals with aspects such as architecture of temple construction, the rituals to be performed and the steps needed to invest the place with holiness and sanctity.
The Brindavana came up in a record time of 6 months and it was inaugurated in 1930.

This temple is in a locality called Jorapur Peth which is on Bableshwar road. There are a flight of 23 steps that lead underground to the Brindavana dedicated to Rayaru. Almost all but the last step is one foot in height.

There is a small well behind the Brindavana. The wall of the Garba Gudi housing the Brindavana and the well share the same wall. Water for the Pooje, abhisheka is taken from the well. The well is at a lower level than the Brindavana too and it has never run dry despite Bijapur being one of the driest places in the country.

Mr. Pavamanachar says the Brindavana is at least 23 feet below ground level. He says only the pooje is performed underground. The hall for partaking Theertha Prasada, rest rooms and a small hall are built overground.

He says the underground chamber is so cool that flowers such as Mallige and rose will not wither for two to three days. He says the present owners of the matha, who are the descendents of Gundu Rao,  have undertaken several developmental works.

He says the owners even tried to get the roof of the underground chamber housing the Brindavana repaired. However, almost all the engineers who inspected the roof said nothing could be done as it is an engineering marvel and it is better not to tamper with it.

He says the Brindavana has been constructed in such a manner that it is completely visible from the top of the stairs.    

The temple here is known for many miracles. Mr. Pavamanachar has a list of almost all the miracles that Rayaru performed here from the Brindavana.

There are three other Rayara mathas in Bijapur but this is the oldest. However, the oldest Madhwa matha is at Mahipathi Galli which is about two kms from this place. It has the Samadhi or Brindavana of one of the seers belonging to the Uttaradhi Matha. There is also an Uttaradhi Matha here.              

 The other Rayara mathas in Bijapur are at Divatageri Galli near Station Road (Ph No: 08352-220300) and at the Sri Raghavendra Swamy Matha on Bagalkot Road (08352-277322). However, this Rayaru Matha at Jorapur Peth is the only underground matha in India.

Interestingly, this is among the two underground temples in Bijapur. The other underground temple is in Torvi and it is dedicated to Narasimha. This deity is called Torvi Narasimha. This is the exact place where Kumara Valmiki wrote the Torvi Ramayana.

Torvi is on the outskirts of Bijapur. It is near to Navaraspur, the city of music which was planned by Ibrahim Adil Shah and left unfinished. The 63 graves of the wives of the Bijaour General Afzal Khan are also near Torvi.

I have personally visited the Rayara Matha at Jorapur Peth and the Narasimha Temple in Torvi. I can vouch for the sanctity and holiness of both the temples.

Bijapur is a city with history. It is the home of Gol Gumbaz and Ibrahim Rouza. You can take a train or bus from Bangalore. The Basava express leaves Bangalore in the evening and reaches Bijapur the next morning. Buses leave in the night and reach Bijaour in the morning. There are many lodges in Bijapur which offer a reasonable level of accommodation.

Stay back at Bijapur and Kolhapur (Maha Lakshmi Temple), Pandhrapur (Panduranga Vittala) and Tulzapur (Amba Bhavani) from here. Take in a visit to Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal and Banashankari-which has temples by the Chalukyas and Yelgur which has a beautiful temple of Anjeneya. The small town of Talikota is near Bijapur. It is here that the decisive battle between the Muslim kings and Vijayanagar was fought in 1565. Almatti dam is one of the biggest in Karnataka. Its twin town Seethimani is associated with Seetha and Ramayana.  

The Indian mathematician who predated Newton and Liebniz

The city of Bijapur is not only famous for its link with the Adil Shahis but it is also the birthplace of several eminent personalities in the field of literaure and science.

If Narayana of Bijapur, better known as Kumar Valmiki, wrote Torvi Ramayana and Naga Chandra, a devout Jain penned the Jain version of the Ramayana,  there was another writer who became a famous mathematician and astronomer. He is Bhaskaracharya.
Bhaskaracharya or Bhaskara is believed to be born near Bijapur.

Though there are no precise records to tell us where or when he was born, it is believed that he was born in 1114 A D in a Deshastha Brahmin family somewhere near Bijjada Bida, which was the earlier name of Bijapur.

His father, Mahadeva, was an astrologer. It was his father who taught the young Bhaskara the rudiments of mathematics( Bhaskara passed on this knowledge to his son Lokasamudra). In one of his books, Bhaskara himself speaks about how and where he studied. He said he had studied grammer, vedas, Bharata shastras, Mimasa, mathematics, medicine and logic by the time he reached 36 years of age. 

He calls himself a poet. He is the author of  Siddhanta Shiromani (Crown of Treatises), a book of 1450 verses written in 1150 AD. The book can be broadly classified into four parts - Lilawathi, Beejaganita, Ganitadhyaya and Goladhyaya. There are 278 verses in Lilawathi, 213 in  Beejaganita, 451 verses in Ganitadhyaya and 501 verses in Goladhyaya.

This is a book on calculations in arthematic and astronomy. Even today, it is regarded by experts as being one of the nest books in ancient Indian astronomy.

Lilawathi mainly deals with mathematics. Pleas read it to know how mathematics can be written in poetic form. The language is simple and lucid. It was only after the British set up the universities in Bombay, Calcutta and Madrtas did that Indian come to know about present day mathematics. Till then, Indians relied on this magnificent work to unbdersytanbd the nuances of mathematics.

The Lilawathi and Beejaganita is a mathematician’s delight. It gives us easy methods to find the squares, square roots, cube, and cube roots of  numbers. Bhaskara was such a genius that he has proved the Pythagoras theorem in two lines.

Pascal’s Triangle was Bhaskara’s Khandameru. Bhaskara has worked out this number triangle 500 years before Pascal.

Lilawathi has also details on  permutations and combinations in a unique method called Ankapaash. Bhaskara has given us the  approximate value of PI as 22/7 and its more accurate value as 3.1416. He knew infinity and called it khahar rashi.

The two sections has problems on spherical trignometry, interest computation, plane and solid geometry.

Lilawathi is sub-divided into 13 chapters and each covers different branches of arithematic, algebra, geometry and mathematics..

Beejaganita  deals with Algebra  in twelve chapters. It was the first book to recognize that a positive number has two square roots (a positive and negative square root).

It deals with positive and negative numbers, Zero, simple equations, Diophantine and indeterminate quadratic equations.

Chakravala was a cyclic format devised by Bhaskara to solve indeterminate quadratic equations of the form ax² + bx + c = y.

His method also helps us solve other similar problems such as quartic equations, cubic equations, indeterminate cubic equations, indeterminate quartic equations and higher-order polynomial equations.

Check out his poetic forms on Trignomotry and the Sine functions and calculus (integral and differential calculus). His work on calculus predates Newton and Leibnez.

He has also accurately measures the distance between the planets and their farthest and nearest positions with earth as the base.

The two sections has problems on spherical trignometry, interest computation, plane and solid geometry.

Lilawathi is sub-divided into 13 chapters and each covers different branches of arithematic, algebra, geometry and mathematics..

Beejaganita  deals with Algebra  in twelve chapters. It was the first book to recognize that a positive number has two square roots (a positive and negative square root).

It deals with positive and negative numbers, Zero, simple equations, Diophantine and indeterminate quadratic equations.

Chakravala was a cyclic format devised by Bhaskara to solve indeterminate quadratic equations of the form ax² + bx + c = y.

His method also helps us solve other similar problems such as quartic equations, cubic equations, indeterminate cubic equations, indeterminate quartic equations and higher-order polynomial equations.

Bhaskara’s contribution to astronomy is too immense to be written in this part of the article. He calcluated the orbital periods of several planets. He also wrote about several astronomical instruments that he used for his calculations.
He died in 1185. His son Lopamudra built school in 1206 to teach his father's works.
A persian translation of  Siddanta Shiromani says Bhaskara wrote it for his daughter Lilawathi. It also has an interesting anecdote on his daughter's marriage. I will write about this in another article.

 

Bijapur and the Gandhi connection

There is new addition to the history of Bijapur, the capital of the Adil Shahis. Already known as the City of Gol Gumbaz and Ibrahim Rouza, Bijapur now boats of a new addition and one that it closely connected to the Father of the Nation.

A few days ago, the Defence Ministry gifted the Sainik School of Bijapur with a Bofors Gun. This is a 5.5 inch Howitzer gun and it is placed within the vast campus of the Sainik School.

It is a medium range gun and it has seen action in several wars and for the first time in India in the India-Pakistan conflict of 1947-48. Subsequently, it was in the thick of action such in the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan and also the 1962 war with China.

This gun has played a vital role in destroying Patton tanks of the Paikstan Army at the Khem Karan sector in the Punjab in  the war against Pakistan. In 1965, Pakistan captured the border town of  Khem Karan, pushing hundreds of tanks into India.

India retaliated and one of the largest tank battles was fought from September 8 to September 10. This is called the battle of Asal Uttar. The Pakistanis lost 110 tanks and the Indians 10 tanks.

Pervez Musharraf, who later became President of Pakistan, was a lieutenant of 16 (SP) Artillery field Regiment, 1st Armoured Division.

After the battle, a new town was set up called Patton Nagar. This was the very place where a large number of Patton and Sherman tanks belonging to Pakistan were either captured or destroyed. Khem Karan is just five kms from the border with Pakistan. Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675) visited it during his wanderings.

The small town was in Lahore district before  the partition of India. It then became a part of Amritsar district. Now it is in Tarn Taran district.

This Bofors gun also played a role in knocking out the Pakistani tanks. It was first introduced in the Indian Army in 1942 by the British and the Indians inherited it. It was finally decommissioned in 1998. Since then it had been lying in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.

What makes this gun different is that it is this very apparatus that was used to carry the ashes of  Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Let me make it clear. This is a gun and not the gun carrier that carried the body of Mahatma Gandhi (The same carrier was used to carry the body of Jawaharlal Nehru and Mother Theresa).

Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead at 5-10 p.m., on January 30, 1948 when he was walking to a prayer meeting at Birla House in Delhi. The last Congress leader to see and speak to him was Sardar Vallabhai Patel, the then Home Minister.

Gandhi was late for the prayer meeting as the discussion with Patel had ended late. Gandhi was walking slowly to the venue of the meeting, supported by Manu and Abha.

Though he had been warned about attacks on him, Gandhi had chosen to disregard pleas by Prime Minister Nehru, Patel and others for security to him. The year 1948 was seeing communal tensions and India and Pakistan were not on very friendly terms. There was revulsion and hatred over the mass killings on both sides of the border.

Nathuram Godse and some of his friends had held Gandhi responsible for the ills of partition. They had hatched a plan to eliminate Gandhi and had chosen the venue of the daily prayer meeting at Birla House for the act.      

Godse came forward, pushing his way through a throng of 500 people, and bent towards Gandhi as if doing a pranam. He then shot Gandhi and point blank range,

Gandhi collapsed and died. His body was taken to Raj Ghat in a  gun carriage. Later, his ashes were immersed and this Bofors Gun had the honour to carry his ashes.

The gun is on display in the Sainik School and you need permission from the school authorities to enter the campus.

The gun as an equipment (not the gun at Sainik School )was first introduced in the European sector during the middle of the  second world war. It was completely manufactured in Britain. It was introduced in 1941 and later in north Africa. It was later inducted into the Indian Army.

The gun was in production from 1941 to 1945. Apart from Britain and India, it was used by Australia, New Zealand, France, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Iraq, Malaysia, Burma ,Oman and Pakistan.

South Africa used this gun extensively in the Bush war or Border war from 1966 to 1989 with Angola.  

If you have the time and interest contrast this gun with the massive Malik-I-Maidan Tope which is placed on the ramparts of outer fort of Bijapur.

Mailk I Maidan means the monarch of the plains,. It weighs 55 tonnes and it is placed on a specially made platform called Shah Burz. It is 4 metres long and 1.5 metres in diameter. The gunner, after firing, would remain underwater as the sound was deafening.

It was cast in 1549 in Ahmednagar by Mohammad Bin Hassan  Rumi and captured by the Bijapur General Murari Pandit who  brought it to Bijapur as a war trophy. Aurangzeb, the Mughal Emperor,  wrote that he subdued the Malik-I-Maidan in 1686.

Well, this is the story of the 5.5 Howitzer Gun and its earlier Indian ancestor The Malil- I- Maidan..

All kudos for the Army in tackling the enemy and making maximum use of the artillery. But is not ironical that a piece of artillery is associated with a man who preached non-violence and ahimsa.

Gandhi always shunned violence. He believed in the saying, “Show your other cheek, if you get slapped on the first cheek.”  Mother Teresa too believed in peace and non-violence. The bodies of  Gandhi and Teresa were taken on  a gun carriage. Let us think if they would have approved of such an act.

Once again, let me make it clear that I have nothing against the Indian Army or any Defence or para-military force They have been doing and are doing a wonderful job, safeguarding our nation amd protecting our borders. Three cheers to them and may their tribe increase.

But what galls me is the insensitivity of the political class in making use of the armed force for civilian use. The armed forces are meant for external use and they must not be made use of for internal security and for carrying out such tasks. This is my personal opinion and I hold no prejudice against any body.