Part 3 (1/2)
Another authority, the Tebkat Akbeeri, a history of Akber's reign, with a preliminary Sketch of Indian History, has the following: ”In the year 415 (Hijera) Mahmud determined to lead an army against Somnath, a city of the seash.o.r.e, with a temple appertaining to the followers of Brahma; the temple contained many idols, the princ.i.p.al of which was named Somnath. It is related in some histories that this idol was carried from the Kaaba, upon the coming of the Prophet, and transported to India. The Brahminical records, however, refer it to the times of Krishna, or an antiquity of 4000 years. Krishna, himself, is said to have disappeared at this place.
”When the Sultan arrived at Neherwaleh (the capital of Guzerat) he found the city deserted, and carrying off such provisions as could be procured, he advanced to Somnath: the inhabitants of this place shut their gates against him, but it was soon carried by the irresistable valour of his troops, and a terrible slaughter of its defenders ensued. The temple was levelled with the ground: the idol Somnath, which was of stone, was broken to pieces, and in commemoration of the victory, a fragment was sent to Ghizni, where it was laid at the threshold of the princ.i.p.al mosque, and was there many years.”
Ferishtah, the historian, supplies a much more graphic, if not reliable account. He says: ”When the garrison of Sumnat beheld their defeat, they were struck with confusion and fear. They withdrew their hands from the sight, and issuing out at a gate towards the sea, to the number of four thousand embarked in boats, intending to proceed to the island of Sirindiep. But they did not escape the eyes of the king.
He seized upon boats which were left in a neighbouring creek, and manning them with rowers and some of his best troops, pursued the enemy, taking and sinking some of their boats while others escaped.
Having then placed guards round the walls and at the gates, he entered Sumnat, with his son and a few of his n.o.bles and princ.i.p.al attendants.
When they advanced to the temple, they saw a great and antique structure, built of stone, within a s.p.a.cious court. They immediately entered it, and discovered a great square hall, having its lofty roof supported by fifty-six pillars, curiously turned and set with precious stones. In the centre of the hall stood Sumnat, an idol of stone, five yards in height, two of which were sunk in the ground.
”The king was enraged when he saw this idol, and raising his mace, struck off the nose from the face. He then ordered that two pieces of the image should be broken off, to be sent to Ghizni, there to be thrown at the threshold of the public mosque, and in the court of his palace. Two more fragments he reserved to be sent to Mecca and Medina.
When Mahmood was thus employed in breaking up Sumnat, a crowd of Brahmins pet.i.tioned his attendants, and offered some crores (ten millions) in gold, if the king should be pleased to proceed no further. The Omrahs endeavoured to persuade Mahmood to accept the money; for they said that breaking up the idol could not remove idolatry from the walls of Sumnat, that therefore it would serve no purpose to destroy the image, but that such a sum of money given in charity, among believers, would be a very meritorious action. The king acknowledged that what they said was, in some measure, true; but should he consent to that bargain, he might justly be called a seller of idols; and that he looked upon a breaker of them as a more honourable t.i.tle. He therefore ordered them to proceed. The next blow having broken up the belly of Sumnat, which had been made hollow, they discovered that it was full of diamonds, rubies, and pearls, of a much greater value than the amount of what the Brahmins had offered, so that a zeal for religion was not the sole cause of their application to Mahmood.”
It is said, by some writers, that the name of this idol is a compound word of Sum and Nat; Sum being the name of the prince who erected it, and Nat the true name of the G.o.d; which in the language of the Brahmins, signifies Creator. In the time of eclipses we are told that there used to be forty or fifty thousand wors.h.i.+ppers at this temple; and that the different princes of Hindostan had bestowed, in all, two thousand villages, with their territories, for the maintenance of its priests; besides the innumerable presents received from all parts of the empire. It was a custom among these idolaters, to wash Sumnat, every morning and evening, with fresh water from the Ganges, though that river is above one thousand miles distant.
Among the spoils of this temple was a chain of gold, weighing forty maunds, which hung from the top of the building by a ring. It supported a great bell, which warned the people to the wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.d. Besides two thousands Brahmins, who officiated as priests, there belonged to the temple five hundred dancing-girls, three hundred musicians, and three hundred barbers, to shave the devotees before they were admitted to the presence of Sumnat. The dancing-girls were either remarkable for their beauty or their quality, the Rajas thinking it a honour to have their daughters admitted. The king of Ghizni found in this temple, a greater quant.i.ty of jewels and gold, than, it is thought, any royal treasury contained before. In the history of Eben a.s.sur, it is related that there was no light in the temple, but one pendant lamp, which being reflected from the jewels, spread a strong and refulgent light over the whole place. Besides the great idol above mentioned, there were in the temple some thousands of small images, in gold and silver, of various shapes and dimensions.
The idol destroyed by Mahmood was, in fact, one of the twelve great Lingas, then set up in various parts of India, several of which besides Somesware, or Somanath, which was the name of the Siva demolished by Mahmood, were destroyed by the early Mahommedan conquerors.
In the Kedara Kalpa, Siva says: ”I am omnipresent, but I am especially in twelve forms and places.
”(1) Somanatha, in Saurashtra. (2) Mallikarjuna, or Sri Saila. (3) Mahakala, in Ougein. (4) Omkara, said to have been in Ujayin. (5) Amareswara, also placed in Ujayin. (6) Vaidyanath, at Deogerh in Bengal. (7) Ramesa, at Setubandha. (8) Bhimasankara, in Dakini. (The 9th is missing from the list enumerated by Mr. Wilson in the Asiatic Researches, said to be unknown). (10) Tryambaka, on the banks of the Gomati. (11) Gautamesa, site unknown. (12) Kedaresa, or Kedaranath, in the Himalaya.”
One of the forms in which the Linga wors.h.i.+p appears, is that of the Lingayets, Lingawauts, or Jangamas. These are the anti-braminical wors.h.i.+ppers of Siva, who are distinguished by their wearing a small idol, either hung on the breast, round the neck or arm, or placed in the turban; the idol is of silver or copper. In common with the Saivas, generally the Jangamas smear their foreheads with Vibhuti or ashes, and wear necklaces and rosaries of the Rudraksha seed. The priests stain their garments with red ochre. They have never been very numerous in the north of India, being rarely met with except as beggars, leading about a bull, the living type of Nandi, the bull of Siva, decorated with housings of various colours and strings of Cowri sh.e.l.ls: the conductor carries a bell in his hand, and thus accompanied goes about from place to place, subsisting upon alms. These are the disciples of Basava, whom they regard as a form of the G.o.d Siva. They are numerous in the South of India, among the Canarese, the Telugus, and the Tamils, the officiating priests of the Saiva shrines are generally of this sect, when they bear the designations of Aradyha, and Pandaram. The sect is also known by the name of Vira Saiva.
Many years ago, Professor Wilson supplied certain information relative to this sect in his paper in the 17th volume of the Asiatic Researches. That information was sufficiently interesting to create a desire for further particulars. Additional researches were accordingly entered upon and we are now able to supply a much fuller account than had hitherto been possible.
Among Brahmins the Smartas (followers of Sancar Achari) are generally called saivites, but are in fact freethinkers, equally willing to adore Siva and Vishnu. Their creed may be found in the Mahabharat, the Bhagavat, and the Ramayan, all of which are entirely rejected by the disciples of Basava. There are indeed some few Siva Brahmins who officiate as priests in the Siva temples, and though but little is known of their peculiarities they certainly are different from the Smartas, who refuse to receive the holy water and rice.
The Vira-Saivas are divided into two sects: one is semi-braminical, called Aradhyas; the other is anti-braminical, and is called Jangam.
The Aradhyas claim to be descendants of saivite brahmins, and between them and the Smartas there is a certain degree of reluctant intercourse: founded upon the rites of initiation which both parties use. Their history, when divested of fabulous decoration seems to be that, their creed was founded by Basava, whom they adore as their one deity; looking upon him as an avatar or incarnation of Siva, the G.o.d of this creed.
Basava was the son of a Saivite brahmin, named Madenga Madamantri, at Hinguleswaram, a village near Bagwari in Belgaum, in the southern Mahratta country. When he was a boy he refused (they allege) to wear the braminical thread, because the rites that confer this mark of initiation require the adoration of the sun in the manner prescribed in the Vedas. Perhaps in truth he did a.s.sume it, but if so, he subsequently renounced it. Shortly after this time he escaped from his parents, and accompanied by his sister Acca Nagamma, he fled to Calianum, the capital of the Carnataca country, where the reigning prince was Bizzala or Vijala, a Jaina by religion, whose minister, a brahmin, was Basava's maternal uncle: he bestowed employment on Basava, and ultimately gave him his daughter in marriage. (”This proves,” says a writer in the Madras Journal, ”in my opinion, though opposed to that of his followers, that he did not lay aside the braminical thread in childhood, for had he done so no brahmin could have given him his daughter in marriage.”) At his death Basava succeeded to his office, and gradually usurped great power.
It would seem that at this time he began to compare the opposed statements of Jainas and Brahmins, and perceived that both creeds were idolatrous. In the end he determined on getting rid of the braminical priestcraft, and accordingly refused to wors.h.i.+p any deity but Siva, whose image, the lingam, is the most ancient idol known among the Hindus.
A writer on the subject says:-”This symbol is as separate from indecency in the Hindu mind as circ.u.mcision is to the Mahomedan mind.
The Brahmins with their usual love of filth have connected a variety of obscenities with the linga wors.h.i.+p, but these are wholly unknown to the Jangams, who look upon this idol just as the catholics do upon a reliquary, with deep veneration
'Hanging a golden stamp about their necks Put on with holy prayers.'
”The image erected in the Saiva temples being denominated Sthavara Linga, or the stable image, he denominated this reliquary the Jangama Lingam or Locomotive image: a phrase borrowed from the Vedas, where it is used for living being. Hence he and his followers are denominated Jangams, or living images of the deity.”
Basava's determined opposition to the Saivite Brahmins and to the Jainas raised him many enemies; while his bounty to the poor gained him friends equally numerous. At last the prince's jealousy was roused, and a civil war ensued, wherein Bizzala was slain, and this event was soon succeeded by the death of Basava, who, according to his followers was ”absorbed into the image,” or vanished; while the Jaina account declares that he fled to Capila Sangam, where the Malparba and Krishna rivers meet, about one hundred and four miles west of Bellary.
The name Basava is a very common one among Hindus: the Jangams have taken occasion from their teacher having borne it to feign that he was an incarnation of Nandi or Ba.s.sava (the Apis or bull appertaining to Siva or Osiris), and this has been the source of numerous idle legends in the subject.
The Basava Purana after recording the events just alluded to, enumerates various marvellous actions, performed by Basava and several of his disciples, such as converting grains of corn to pearls, discovering hidden treasures, feeding mult.i.tudes, healing the sick, and restoring the dead to life, and then gives various anecdotes from which we make a selection.
Basava having made himself remarkable for the profuse bounties he bestowed upon the Jangamas, helping himself from the royal treasury for that purpose, the other ministers reported his conduct to Bijala, who called upon him to account for the money in his charge. Basava smiled, and giving the keys of the treasury to the king, requested him to examine it, which being done, the amount was found wholly undiminished. Bijala thereupon caused it to be proclaimed, that whoever calumniated Basava, should have his tongue cut out.