Hundreds of followers of Jayatirtha, a disciple of Madhwacharya, staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Yadgir on Thursday and expressed anger over the Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt in Mantralayam, Andhra Pradesh, for not acknowledging the presence of the Moolabrindavana of Jayatirtha in Malkhed, Sedam taluk of Kalaburagi district, but saying that it was at Navabrindavana at Anegundi in Koppal district.
Pandit Narasimhacharya Puranik and Pandit Satyabodhacharya Ghatali, representatives of Uttaradi Mutt, who led the protesters, said that Jayatirtha, who is known as Teekacharya, was a Hindu philosopher, dialectician, polemicist and the sixth head of the Madhwacharya peetha. He is considered to be one of the most important seers in the history of Dvaita school of thought on account of his sound elucidations of the works of Madhwacharya, they said.
The protesters also said that his contribution to philosophy was immense as he toured the entire country and propagated the Dvaita philosophy and finally, he came to Malkhed village in Kalaburagi district where he was buried near the Kagina riverbank in the village 600 years ago. Since then, the brindavan of Jayatirtha has become a holy place and over a lakh people from across the country participate in the aaradhana every year.
The protesters further said that now Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt in Mantralayam, which has been trying to distort history connected with Jayatirtha at Malkhed, is calling the Moolabrindavana of Raghuvarya Tirtha, which was located at Navabrindavana in Anegundi of Koppal district, as Jayatirtha’s Moolabrindavana and is also planning to hold a three-day aaradhana of Jayatirtha at Anegundi from July 17.
This move of the Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt will hurt the sentiments of lakhs of followers of Jayatirtha. Therefore, those concerned should stop such activities considering the history associated with Malkhed and also keeping the sentiments of the followers of Jayatirtha in mind, they said.
In support of their claim, the protesters said that the fact of the matter is that the State Gazette mentions that the Moolabrindavana of Jayatirtha is located at Malkhed and not in Anegundi. They also furnished Gazatte copies and related documents to the Yadgir district administration.
They also submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister urging him to protect the interest of the followers of Jayatirtha and take action if anyone makes any effort to change the history of Malkhed.
Raghavendra Kulkarni Mundargi, Shankar Narayan, Sanjeev Rao Kulkarni, Gururaj Lingeri, Chandrakanth Rao Kulkarni, Govardhan Puranik, Gopal Rao and others were present.
