An exercise in accounts

Sosale Vyasaraja Matha

 

Expense Report - Feb 2013

Published by admin on Sat, 03/09/2013 - 14:20

This is the income-expenditure chart put out by the Administrator of the Vyasaraja Matha (Sosale). The administrator, K. Jairaj, and the team of officials, say that all the income and expenditure of the matha from all its properties and daily offerings have been entered into account books and audited.

The matha is now trying to increase the rent on its properties by calling for fresh tenders or going in for fresh rent agreements of its properties mainly in Karataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
The matha has vast properties in Bangalore, Mysore, Sosale, Kumbakonam, Tricy, Tirupathi and othe rplaces. The matha is trying to ensure that it gets rentals out of  these properties. In some cases, the rentals have been inscreased and in several other cases the rentals are in the process of being increased.
Centuries ago, the Vyasaraja matha was considered to among the richest not only in Karnataka but in India too. The matha and its prosperity reached its peak during the Vijayanagar period when Vyasa Raja was the perceptor to not only Krishna Deva Raya but five other Vijayanagar Kings. During that time, it was not only the Vijayanagar Emperors but also the Muslim Kings of Bijapur, also called the Adilshahis, and Bahlol Lodh of Delhi among others who honoured Vyasa Raja and gifted him with an umbrela and jewels.
Vyasa Raja never kept any wealth with himself. When he was honoured with Ratnabhiskeha by Krishnadeva Raya, he distributed almost all of the gold, jewels and ornaments to the gathering of pandits, seers and religious men and the rest to the people.
The matha is once again trying to harness its exisitng properties so as to ensure that it gets the maximum income. The expense sheet published above will indicate how teh matha is trying to revive and reinvent itself.
All the matter contained here have been sourced from the Administrator and the officials of the Administrator's team. We just like to bring to the readers of the post the good deeds of the team. 

Accommodation at Tirupathi

Vyasa Raja or Vyasa Raya is one of the most important Madhwa saints. He is ranked alongside Madhwacharya and Jaya Theertha or Teekacharya in his knowledge and eradication of Madhwa philosophy.

The seer occupies a unique place in the annals of Madhwa papampare. He is the founder of both Vyasa Koota and Dasa Koota and it was he who gave an impetus to Dasa Sahitya.

Vyasa Raja’s Guru was Bramanye Theertha of Abbur and his vidya Guru was Sripadaraja of Mulabagal. Vyasa Raja and Srinivasa Theertha, also of Vyasaraja Matha and successor of Vyasa Raja, were products of the Vidyapeeta of Sripadaraja at Mulabagal.

Sripadaraja deputed Vyasa Raja to perform poojas to Srinivasa at Tirupathi. Vyasa Raja stayed on in Tirupathi for 12 long years from 1486 to 1498 and every day performed pooja to Srinivasa.

He also set up a matha in the hill town and it came to be known as Vyasaraja matha.

The Vyasaraja matha in Tirumala has once again started offering accommodation for pilgrims visiting the lord of seven hills. The rooms can be booked at any one of the Bangalore One Centres in Bangalore.

The matha has tied up with Bangalore One Centre to facilitate pilgrims to book accommodations at Tirumala. There are 75 Bangalore One centres in Bangalore and devotees and pilgrims can book accommodation at any of the centres.

In case you need further details, please call 080 26610097.

The three Madhwa seers who jointly consecrated this idol

There are many idols in India which have been consecrated by seers and holy men. These idols today have become objects of intense devotion, faith and regular places of pilgrimage.

The Sri Krishna Temple in Udupi was consecrated by Madhwacharya and Vyasa Raja consecrated 732 Hanuman temples all over India. Similarly, other Madhwa seers have consecrated different deities and almost all of them have become places of pilgrimage.

However, there is one unique temple where the idol is consecrated by three Madhwa seers and all of them are scholars of standing and yet the place remains relatively unknown.

The temple in this place is just off the Bangalore-Mysore Highway and it is one of the busiest roads in India. Yet, not even a small percentage of the huge number of  people travelling on the road take a small break to see this unique temple. Why travelers, even Madhwas do not find time to see this place and those who do keep on coming back here again and again.

What is unique about the idol here is that it is consecrated by a Shishya who had two Gurus and all three of them represent different Madhwa mathas. The Shishya is Vyasa Raja or Vyasa Theertha and his two gurus are Bramanye Theertha of Abbur or Kundapura Vyasa Raja Matha and Sripadaraja of Mulabagal Matha.   

The idol of  Mukya Prana Devaru was discovered by Bramanye Theertha and he called upon both his cousin brother Sripadaraja and his erstwhile Shishya Vyasa Theertha to come over to Bramanyapura and consecrate the idol.

Bramanyapura is just five kms from Chennapatna and it is on the Bangalore-Mysore Highway. It is a small hamlet and the big banyan tree is located adjacent to the temple of Prana Devaru. The idol represents all the three avatars of  Hanuma, Bheema and Madhwacharya or Madhwa.

The Shika of the beautiful idol represents the Madhwacharya and the Saugandhika pushpa in hand of Prana Devaru represents Bheema.

There is a legend about how this idol came to be consecrated here.

Purushottama Teertha, the Guru of Bramanye Theertha, used to go to the cave or Guhe near Abbur and perform his morning rituals regularly. After praying and meditating at the cave, which exists even today just a little away from Abbur Matha in Abbur, he went to the temple of  Kamba Narasimha near Chennapatna and performed pooje there. He drew water from the Guhe which is today known as Purushottama Guhe and bathed the Narasimha idol with it.

Purushottama Theertha then disappeared into the cave never to come back and he gave Deekshe to Bramanye Theertha who became head of the Matha. Bramanye Theertha too followed the same ritual but he found it rather tedious to bring water from Abbur to the Narasimha Temple.

He then founded a village which subsequently came to be called Bramanyepura.  He also ensured that a pond and well was dug and that its water was used to perform abhisheka to the idol of Narasimha. It goes without saying that Bramanye Theertha stayed on here for some time.

One day, he came across a beautiful idol of Prana Devaru he decided to consecrate it in Bramanyepura village itself and he called his Shishya Vyasa Theertha and Sripadaraja. Both came to Bramanyepura and they all marveled at the beauty of the idol.

All three Madhwa saints then consecrated the Prana Devaru idol and to this day this remains the only idol that has been so consecrated.

Interestingly, Abbur where Bramanya Theertha is entombed is just a little distance away. The Purushottama Guhe or cave is just a little distance away from the Abbur Matha. The Vyasaraja Matha of Vyasa Raja is at Sosale near T Narsipura.  The Brindavana of Sripadaraja is at Mulabagal in Kolar district and that of Vyasa Theertha is at Nava Brindavana near Anegundi in Bellary district.

 Bramanyepura is about 66 kms from Bangalore.

When a boy showed Hanuman to Purandara

It was sometime in the early 1500s and Hampi or Vijayanagar was a thriving City and the richest in the while world.

Krishna Deva Raya was the Emperor and Vyasa Raja or Vyasa Theertha was his preceptor. Krishna Deva Raya had ascended the Vijayanagar throne in 1509 and he had  defeated Bijapur, Golconda, Berar and even Ahmednagar Kingdoms.  He had extended the boundary of the Vijayanagar from coast to coast and put the fear of  God in his Muslim adversaries.

While Krishna Deva Raya presided over the Raja Durbar, there was another equally important durbar and this was conducted by the venerable Vyasa Theertha.  If the Raya’s durbar was full of pomp and gaiety, Vyasa’s was academic and religious and it was also the place where Dasa Sahitya and Vaishnava literature flourished.

Vyasa Raja one day consecrated the Yanthrodaara Praana Devaru temple (Hanumantha) in Hampi. He would visit this idol regularly with Purandara Dasa (1484-1564) and his other disciples.  Purandara had made it a point to pray to the deity every day and also offer naivedya.

One day, Purandara was called away for some work and he asked his young son, Madhwapathi,  to go to the shrine and  offer naivedya. Madhwapathi agreed and he went with the naivedya to the deity. He first prostrated before the deity, offered prayers and then called out to the monkey god to eat the naivedya.

When there was no response from the deity, Madhwapathi became angry and started calling out to Hanuman to come and take the food. He said if he refused to eat, he would hit himself. When still the deity remained unmoved, Madhwapathi began punishing himself.  

Hanuman was unable to see the young boy torture himself. He came in his physical form to towards the boy and took the naivedya. He also ate the naivedya and left back a small portion.

Madhwapathi went back home with the small portion of the naivedya. Both Purandara and his wife were surprised at the tale their son related. Both disbelieved Madhwapathi.

The next day, Purandara accompanied Madhwapathi to the place and asked his son to give naivedya to Hanuman. To his surprise and amazement, Hanuman emerged from the rock, ate the naivedya and went back.

A stunned Purandara realised that Hanuman had shown himself to his son as he was pure at hear and pure in mind. Moreover, Madhapathi’s heart was full of devotion and bhakti.  

Purandara then appreciated the devotion of his son and blessed him, saying that he was lucky to see God at such an young age.   Purandara blessed told Madhwapathi that he was very lucky to have obtained the grace of Hanumantha.

When Purandara was on his death bed, Madhwapathi pointed out that  he had been able to complete only four lakhs and seventy five thousand songs out of the target of five lakhs he had set himself. Purandara told Madhwapathi that he had left the rest 25,000 songs to be completed in the next generation. He blessed Madhwapathi saying that he (Madhwapathi) would be reborn as Vijaya Dasa and composed the rest 25,000 songs.

Madhwapathi as Vijaya Dasa (1682-1755) composed 25000 songs with the ankita (signature) of  Sri Vijaya Vittala. Today, much of our knowledge of the life and times of Purandara are sourced from the songs of  Vijaya Dasa.