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

The Narasimha Suladi of Jagannatha dasa

If Vijaya Dasa has written a Suladi on Narasimha, so also has Jagannatha Dasa of Manvi.

The Narasimha Suladi has an interesting antecedent.  

Jagannatha Dasa was touring holy places and he came to a temple near Surpur. The province of Surpur in Gulbarga district was ruled by a local chieftian. (Today, Surpur is called Shorapur and among the temples is the Venugopala Swamy Temple) The Dasa halted at a temple singing the glory of Hari when he noticed a poor Brahmin in his entourage. The Brahmin looked sad and he appeared anxious.

Jagannatha Dasa called the Brahmin aside and asked him for the reason of his sadness. The Brahmin replied that he was an extremely poor man and that he did not have sufficient needs to even have a meal a day.

He sought the blessings of  the Dasa to come out of his poverty. Jagannatha Dasa meditated and found out that the Brahmin had come to this state as he had not given any dhana or given anything to people in his earlier birth.

He had, therefore, been cursed to be born poor and was forced to lead a wretched life for the past three lives. Jagannatha Dasa asked the Brahmin what he could donate.

The Brahmin said he had no money except a small copper vessel.
Jaggantha Dasa asked the Brahmin to sell the vessel, prepare panaka from the money he got and give it to him.

The Brahmin sold the vessel and with the money he got from it , he prepared panaka for Jagannatha Dasa and other members of the party. After Jagannatha Dasa completed his pooje, he took the panaka along with his disciples and blessed the Brahmin.
He then composed the Narasimha Suladi and gave upadesha to the Brahmin. He then asked the Brahmin to stay back at the temple they were camping. “Worship God here and he will do the rest. Do not forget to recite the Narasima Suladi”,  the Dasa told the Brahmin.

The Brahmin was overjoyed and he followed the instructions of Jagannatha Dasa. He recited the Narasimha Suladi with devotion and sincerity. Narasimha then gave the Brahmin riches and also helped him attain a high post in the durbar of  Surpur.

This is a powerful sloka and if recited with sincerity and devotion, it can help us get over all our difficulties.

The English translation is as follows:

“Dhurithavana kuTAri dhurjana kula vairi
sharaNAgatha vajrapamjara kumjara
vara samrakShaka janma maraNarahitha mahitha
parama karuNAsimDhu BakthabamDhu
svaratha svathamthra jagadhBaritha chithsuKapUrNa
hariye kSharAkShara puruShOththama
urugAya vaikumTa vara mamdhira chamdhira
tharaNi kOti samkAsha vimala kEsha
DhuradhoLagarjunana thuraga nadesidha sam
gara Bayamkara lOkaika vIra
narasimha ninna pAdhakkeragi bEdikombe
morehokka dhAsage bamdha Bayava pari
harisi souKyava karuNisu dhayadhimdha
sarvaramthaRyAmi lOkasvAmi
smaraNe mAthradhi ajAmiLage mukthiyaniththe
aridhEnO nInIga porevudhemma
saruva kAmadha jagannAThaviTTala Baktha
paripAlakanemba birudhu ninnadhallave? ||

viDhipitha nInalladhe niDhipathigaLumte?
saDhananAgi ippe ninna dhaasarigaagi
maDhusUdhana jagannaaThaviTTalarEya
niDhananenisikombe ninna dhvEShigaLige ||

mUru lOkasvAmi sarva~G~Ja suKapUrNa
prEraka sAkShi kAraNakArya dhOShavi
dhUra sadhguNasAmdhra sajjanAmbuDhi chamdhra
BArakartha jagake nInire emma manOraTha
salisuvudhEnasADhyavO ninage?
krUramAnavara samhAramAdisu guru
mAruthanimdhathi shIGravAgi
nIrakShisemdhu prArThisuve Baktharige BUri
sAra BAgyavaniththu kRupemAdu anudhina
shUra jagannAThaviTTala nInalladhi
nnAru Bakthara kAva karuNigaLu jagadhi? ||

pithanimdha nomdha praHlAdhananu kAydhe dhE
vathegaLige bamdha Baya pariharisidhe dhrou
padhiya more kELi dhivyaambarava karuNisidhe
kShithijanAlayadhi baLaluva bAleyara dhvArA
vathige karedhoydhu olidhavara pOShisidhe mA
ruthiya karadhim bRuhadhraThakuvarana kolisi
pRuThivipara bidisi pAlisidhe karuNadhali kuru
pRuThanadhoL pAmdavara gelisi kIrthiya padadhe
shathamOdhanasthradhimdhali garBadhoLage pI
dithanAdha shishuparIkShithana samthaisidhe
shithikamTagolidhu sAyakanAgi muppuradha
sathiyaranolisi kIruthiyiththe Bakthanige
mithiyumte ninna karuNake dhEvapathi sAm
pratha bEdikombe binnapa kELajasra sam
sthuthipa Bakuthara manOraThava pUraisu su
vrathanAma shrIjagannAThaviTTala BAga
vatha janara priya nInE gathi emage ihaparadhi ||

nI salahalinnaaru mUrlOkadhoLu bamdha
ddaisuvaru oLahorage? dhAnava dhivou
kasaru ninage samarpaka kARya ma
hA suKadhi nadesuvaru niruthadhi lakShmi
dhAsiyemdhanipaLu ninnaramaneyalli
dhEsha kAla guNakarmAdhigaLu ninagA
vAsake yOgyavAdha sThAnavenipavu
Isha lOkake lEshAyAsa kANeno karu
NA samudhrane olidhu emma manadha aBi
lAShe pUraisemdhu bEdidheno vEdha
vyAsa kItage olidhu kottu mahAsim
hAsanavannErisi nI poredheyo pa
rAsharAthmaja ninna guNagaLa baNNise
nA samarThane emdhemdhigAdharu dhEva
nI sulaBanemdhAshrayisimdhu nA bi
nnaisidheno I rIthiyalli saru
vAsunilaya shrIjagannAThaviTTalarEya
Isu mAthugaLEke manmanadha
Ashe pUrthiya mAdi emmanu dhayadhi u
dhAsisadhe anudhina nOLpudhu ||

nigamathathigaLige vEdhyavAgadha ninna
agaNitha mahime lakumi bomma BavA
dhigaLu thAvariyaru sAkalyadhimdha ji
vigaLige gOcharisuvudhe ninna rUpa
Bagavamtha nIne dhayALuvemdharidhu nA
pogaLidheno yaThAmathiyoLage lEsha
bageyadhirennaparADhakOtigaLannu
jagathIpathi thanna maguvina thodhalu mA
thugaLane kELi thA nagutha kAmitha bage
bageyimdha pUrthisi mige haruShadhimdha
bigidhappi mOdhipanalladhe shishuvanu
thegedhu bisutu maththe pagegombanEnO thrai
yugane bidadhe pAdipogaLuva dhAsagI
bage badathanavEke samsAradhoLage nA
lmOganayya arThakAmagaLoLagippa I
rvage rOpavomdhAge AvudhasADhyavo
gagana BUpAthALa vyAptharUpage kara
mugive gOcharisemma dhRuguyugagaLigimdhu
yugavartha shrIjagannAThaviTTala nara
mRuganAgi kambhadhimdhogedhu bamdhodhagidhe ||

shrIniDhi prathidhEhamgaLalli gathi
nInalladhe emagArihaparadhalli
A naLinaBavaBavAdhyanimiShara ni
jAnamdhavarithu PalagaLa koduva ma
hAnuBAva emmaBimatha salisuvu
dhEnachchari ninnarisi lakumi kade
gANaLu paramaishvaRyadha prAmtha chi
dhAnamdhamayane praNathara aDhikA
rAnusAra nadesuva muKya
prANapathige nUthana vi~G~JApana
vEnumtinnanudhinadhali mALpudhu
mAnadha guru jagannAThaviTTala karu
NAniDhi sarvadha sulaBa nInallave? ||

chatula kARyagaLa samGatane mAduveyo ni
Shkutila jagannAThaviTTala dhEvOththama ||

When Purnaiah defeated Wellesley

Much is made of the victory of Arthur Wellesley over Tipu Sultan in the fourth and final Anglo-Mysore War.

It is this final battle of Srirangapatna on May 4, 1799 that Tipu lost his life and the British razed Srirangapatna to the ground. The aftermath of the battle came to be felt much later when the British managed to gain complete stranglehold over South India.

However, what many historians and these include Indians as well, seem to forget is that just a month before the decisive battle of Srirangapatna, the British forced had been at the receiving end of Tipu’s famed rockets.

What is more the same British force, which was led by Wellesley was forced to beat what the British historians call a strategic retreat in the face of unrelenting rocket fire. Guess who commanded this Mysore army. It was none other than Dewan Purnaiah, the revenue Minister of Tipu.

Purnaiah was a handful of Hindis who held high positions in the court of Tipu. When war came, Purnaiah was among the first to offer his services to Tipu.

Tipu kept Yaar Mohammad, his trusted commander-in-chief , at Srirangapatna and sent Purnaiah with a contingent of rocketmen and foot soldiers to face the British Army.

The British had taken the Bangalore fort after much difficulty and had marched towards Srirangapatna. The British were assisted by the Marathas and the Nizam of Hyderabad.

The British army was led by Col Arthur Wellesley, later first Duke of Wellington. When the British forces reached Sultanpet Tope near Srirangapatna on April 6, 1799, Wellesley decided to press on towards Tipu’s capital.

It was then that the British were given a lesson of their life. The Battle of Sultanpet Tope turned out to be a nightmare for the British.

The British forces were constantly bombarded by rocket fire. The rockets were so effective that one of them injured Wellesley. Though it was a minor injury, it was enough to throw a scare into him.

In a cruel twist of fate for the Mysoreans, Wellesley managed to evade capture at the last moment. Imagine the history of India had Wellesley been captured.

When the British forced failed to gain a critical position, Wellesley was forced to call off the attack. He asked his Army to retreat.

Briitsh historians and unfortunately even Indian historians have glossed over this episode. They have not given Purnaiah his due and also the Army under him for effectively  blocking easy access to Srirangapatna.

In reality, Wellesley was defeated in a battle by Purnaiah, a fact politely acknowledged in diplomatic words by Forrest, a British diarist and military historian who had accompanied Wellesley during the war.

Here is what Forrest has to say about the war of Sultanpet Tope….

“At this point (near the village of Sultanpet, there was a large tope, or grove, which gave shelter to Tipu's rocketmen and had obviously to be cleaned out before the siege could be pressed closer to Srirangapattana island. The commander chosen for this operation was Col. Wellesley, but advancing towards the tope after dark on the 5 April 1799, he was set upon with rockets and musket-fires, lost his way and, as Beatson politely puts it, had to “postpone the attack” until a more favourable opportunity should offer. The following day, Wellesley launched a fresh attack with a larger force, and took the whole position without losing a single man.

On 22 April 1799, twelve days before the final battle, rocketeers worked their way around to the rear of the British encampment, then “threw a great number of rockets at the same instant” to signal the beginning of an assault by 6,000 Indian infantry and a corps of Frenchmen, all directed by Mir Gulam Hussain and Muhammad Hulleen Mir Mirans.

The rockets had a range of about 1,000 yards. Some burst in the air like shells. Others, called ground rockets, would rise again on striking the ground and bound along in a serpentine motion until their force was spent. According to one British observer, a young English officer named Bayly: “So pestered were we with the rocket boys that there was no moving without danger from the destructive missiles ...”.

Bayly further says, “The rockets and musketry from 20,000 of the enemy were incessant. No hail could be thicker. Every illumination of blue lights was accompanied by a shower of rockets, some of which entered the head of the column, passing through to the rear, causing death, wounds, and dreadful lacerations from the long bamboos of twenty or thirty feet, which are invariably attached to them.”

Alas, this did not help Tipu much as he was forced into his fort in Srirangapatna when the British besieged Srirangapatna. As far as Purnaiah is concerned, he has been denied the credit that is due to hi for defeating Wellesley. Of course, he lost the battle the next day. But this seems to have been highlighted and not the previous day’s battle in which he forced Wellesley to retreat. 

Unfortunately, rockets proved to be the undoing of Tipu in his last stand with the British. On May 2, 1799 a British shot struck a magazine of rockets within Tipu Sultan's fort, causing a huge explosion and sending plumes of smoke into the sky.

On the afternoon of May4,  when the final attack on the fort was led by Baird, he was again met by “furious musket and rocket fire.”  Unfortunately, this tactic failed to deter the attackers and in about an hour's time,  the fort was taken and  perhaps within another hour Tipu had been shot.

After the mopping up operations in Srirangapatna,  the British discovered 600 launchers, 700 serviceable rockets and 9,000 empty rockets. Some of them were sent to England where William

Congreve studied and copied them in 1801 to create the Congreve rockets. In 1805, the British demonstrated the Congreve rockets in public but in reality they were only more refined instruments that were once the proud armament of Hyder and Tipu. So much so for British invention or rather manipulation.