10-26-2006, 01:47 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The history of Ahobilam shrine is well documented. It is closely
connected with the Mutt and its Jeers. There should not be any
confusion, particularly now, when history is becoming more and more
important for Hindus. An authoritative book on Ahobilam is by
R.Vasantha, Prof. of History at KD Univ. Anantapur. This book was
published by TTD, Tirupati in 2001 and is still available in print.
The Founder and first swami of Ahobila Mutt was born in September
1379, took sanyaasya in 1398 and attained Moksha in 1458 AD. His
contemporary king was Harihara II of Vijayanagara. Krishnadevaraya
had also met him before he became the king. He mentions about this
Swami in his composition `Amuktamaalyada', which is about AnDaaL. It
is said that this Jeer also helped the Orissa king to get his
kingdom. But the details are missing.
Actually, it appears it was the 6th Jeer of the Mutt (1499-1513) who
was associated with Mukundadeva of Kalinga. It was the 11th jeer
about whom I mentioned in my previious post. He was remarkable. He
did lead an army to recapture Ahobilam from the Muslims. After the
fall of V.N kingdom, in 1565 at Talikote, the Hindu chief Tirumala
shifted the capital to Penukonda. In 1579 the Sultan of Golconda,
Ibrahim Ali, (attacked through his son) Ahobilam and completely
destroyed the temple. The gold and silver alloy idol of Narasimha
was taken away to Golconda. It is said that something strange
happened, when the Sultan saw the idol. The sultan was stunned and
became dumb. He died the same night (5th June1580). This appears in
a slightly different way in the Persian history by Farishta also. He
says the demons of Ahobilam killed the Sultan! It appears after
this event the Sultans mellowed a little bit towards Hindus. The son
Kuli Kutub Shah became the next Sultan and no worship took place in
Ahobilam for several years. It was at this time the 11th Jeer
approached the left over Hindu king Ranga Raya and asked him to
recapture Ahobilam. It is said that he had a dream in which he knew
that he would get support from the king. He asked the king to give
him the help of his commanders Venkataraju and Tirumalraju to lead a
contingent to Ahobilam. The Jeer gave instructions to the two Chiefs
about field placements of the troops. The recapturing of the temple
was celebrated by a victory pillar (You can still see it in
Ahobilam!) with a Telugu inscription of 1584 A.D. The complete text
of the inscription is available in the above book. Who helped whom?
Did the Jeer help the king or did the king help the SVs? Finally it
was Hinduism which was saved from further ignominy in Andhra,
Karnataka and T.N. History tells that Sanyasins, including SVs,
took leadership position to preserve the Dharma. I mentioned above,
about the 7th Jeer. He wrote the famous Sanskrit drama Vaasantika-
PariNayam in which Lord Narasimha of Ahobilam marries Chenchita the
tribal hunter girl of the Ahobilam forest. He started a group of
missionaries (Hindus if you like!) called Ahobila Daasa to work
among the Chenchus and these tribes are to this day devotees of
Narasimha. As you may be knowing the godess there is named Chenchu-
lakshmi, a memorable way of acknowledging the contribution of the
tribals in preserving SV-ism in that part of the country. IMHO doing
social work is not a mean job when it is for protecting Dharma.
RNI
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hinducivil...ssage/7432<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
connected with the Mutt and its Jeers. There should not be any
confusion, particularly now, when history is becoming more and more
important for Hindus. An authoritative book on Ahobilam is by
R.Vasantha, Prof. of History at KD Univ. Anantapur. This book was
published by TTD, Tirupati in 2001 and is still available in print.
The Founder and first swami of Ahobila Mutt was born in September
1379, took sanyaasya in 1398 and attained Moksha in 1458 AD. His
contemporary king was Harihara II of Vijayanagara. Krishnadevaraya
had also met him before he became the king. He mentions about this
Swami in his composition `Amuktamaalyada', which is about AnDaaL. It
is said that this Jeer also helped the Orissa king to get his
kingdom. But the details are missing.
Actually, it appears it was the 6th Jeer of the Mutt (1499-1513) who
was associated with Mukundadeva of Kalinga. It was the 11th jeer
about whom I mentioned in my previious post. He was remarkable. He
did lead an army to recapture Ahobilam from the Muslims. After the
fall of V.N kingdom, in 1565 at Talikote, the Hindu chief Tirumala
shifted the capital to Penukonda. In 1579 the Sultan of Golconda,
Ibrahim Ali, (attacked through his son) Ahobilam and completely
destroyed the temple. The gold and silver alloy idol of Narasimha
was taken away to Golconda. It is said that something strange
happened, when the Sultan saw the idol. The sultan was stunned and
became dumb. He died the same night (5th June1580). This appears in
a slightly different way in the Persian history by Farishta also. He
says the demons of Ahobilam killed the Sultan! It appears after
this event the Sultans mellowed a little bit towards Hindus. The son
Kuli Kutub Shah became the next Sultan and no worship took place in
Ahobilam for several years. It was at this time the 11th Jeer
approached the left over Hindu king Ranga Raya and asked him to
recapture Ahobilam. It is said that he had a dream in which he knew
that he would get support from the king. He asked the king to give
him the help of his commanders Venkataraju and Tirumalraju to lead a
contingent to Ahobilam. The Jeer gave instructions to the two Chiefs
about field placements of the troops. The recapturing of the temple
was celebrated by a victory pillar (You can still see it in
Ahobilam!) with a Telugu inscription of 1584 A.D. The complete text
of the inscription is available in the above book. Who helped whom?
Did the Jeer help the king or did the king help the SVs? Finally it
was Hinduism which was saved from further ignominy in Andhra,
Karnataka and T.N. History tells that Sanyasins, including SVs,
took leadership position to preserve the Dharma. I mentioned above,
about the 7th Jeer. He wrote the famous Sanskrit drama Vaasantika-
PariNayam in which Lord Narasimha of Ahobilam marries Chenchita the
tribal hunter girl of the Ahobilam forest. He started a group of
missionaries (Hindus if you like!) called Ahobila Daasa to work
among the Chenchus and these tribes are to this day devotees of
Narasimha. As you may be knowing the godess there is named Chenchu-
lakshmi, a memorable way of acknowledging the contribution of the
tribals in preserving SV-ism in that part of the country. IMHO doing
social work is not a mean job when it is for protecting Dharma.
RNI
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hinducivil...ssage/7432<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->