Mulabaagilu or Mulbhagal Mutt of Srirangam – The Abode of Vishnu on the Earth
Mulabaagilu or Mulbhagal Mutt of Srirangam: Mulabaagilu is a town and taluk headquarters of Mulabaagilu taluk in the Kolar district in the state of Karnataka, India. Mulabagilu is located at 13.17°N 78.4°E. It has an average elevation of 827 metres (2,713 feet). It lies just off the National Highway 75 as the easternmost town of the state and a hill landmark. “Mulabagilu” (ಮುಳಬಾಗಿಲು) comes from the word mualabagilu, which means the “eastern door” in the native Kannada language. Mulabagilu was supposedly the easternmost frontier of (and thereby the entrance to) the state of Mysuru. Mysore has close contacts with the Tamilagam Kings like Tanjore, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram and others. The movement of sages, poets, musicians, artists and others had been very common[1]. It is believed according to the Madhwa sampradhya that the Hanuman temple here was installed by Arjuna, one of the Pandavas, after the Mahabharata war (3102 BCE)[2]. Sage Vasishta is believed to have installed the idols of the main deity Srinivasa, Padmavati and Rama-Sita-Lakshmana. The history of Mulabagilu was compiled by Benjamin Lewis Rice, in his book “The Gazetteer of Mysore” (1887). In modern history, Mulabagilu is mentioned as the site of the Battle of Mulabagilu on 4th October 1768, during the First Anglo-Mysore War. Incidentally, there has been connection of the Madhwa Samparadhaya Saints with Srirangam.
Sripadaraya (c.1422-1480): Sripadaraya or Lakshminarayana Tirtha was a Dvaita philosopher, scholar, composer and the pontiff of the Madhvacharya mutt at Mulbagal. He worked here and then moved to Mulabhagile, Karnataka. He is widely considered as the founder of the Haridasa movement along with Narahari Tirtha. His songs and hymns, written under the nom-de-plume of “Ranga Vitthala”, contain the distillation of Dvaita principles infused with mysticism and humanism. He has also been credited with the invention of the Suladi musical structure and composed 133 of them along with several kirtans. He was the advisor of Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya and mentored the young Vyasatirtha. He has also authored a commentary on Jayatirtha’s Nyaya Sudha called Nyayasudhopanyasa-Vagvajra.
Mulbhaglu Mutt important for the Madhwa community: The Mutt at Srirangam is called as Mulabhagal Mutt, Mulbhagal Mutt, Mulabhgalu Mutt, Mulubhagal Mutt etc., 41. South Chittirai Street, has been the centre for the Madhwas, the followers of Madhwacharyas for religious activities. It is situated very near to the Sri Ranganatha Temple. Particularly, the “Antyesti” Samskara, the last rites, rituals and ceremonies for the departed souls are carried on systematically by well-versed Pundits, prohits and priests and trained in such liturgical practices. I have been visiting this Mutt for the last more than 50 years, as our relatives used to conduct rites here and I find that it has been one of the oldest and historical places of Srirangam. However, my recent visit in 2021 made me uncomfortable and distressed to note that the traditional building has been demolished and a new vertical building has come up, just like any modern building appears nowadays. It has three parts – one multi-purpose hall on the LHS, the Mutt at the Centre and another hall at RHS for religious and ceremonial activities. The cental building has a underground parking place, now used as a dining hall, oly for the Mut religious purposes.
The Acharya Parampara: The old structures – traditional stone pillars, lintels and other parts have been missing, granite and tiled covered floors and walls have been replaced with. Actually, they must have been retained, i.e, the original structure dated to some 400 years back, must have been retained and the modern structure could have been built over it as a protective cover or for utilizing the space without affecting according Agama or other Sastras binding. The three Brindavans stand in the RHS hall of Sri Padaraja, Sri Vysaraja and Swarnavarna Parashuramatheertha. The Guruparampara goes like this – Swarnavarna Theertha[3] -> Sripadaraya Theertha -> Vysaraya Theertha[4] -> Vijayendra Theertha[5]. Interestingly, Brindavans of these Gurus, Saints or Philosophers are also found inside the Sri Ranganatha Temple. It is also known that some Brindavans are found inside the Srirangam Temple. Generally, they are unnoticed by the ordinary devotees, but, they have clear evidences of carved sculptures peculiar to the Madhwa Sampradhya with Anjaneya Sculptures and Sri Rama-Sita-Lakshmana nearby.
The Contribution of Vyasaraja (c.1460–1539): Vyasaraja has installed hundreds of Anjaneya Idols all over the medieval Thamilagam. The Brindavans – either the tombs of the Madhwa Saints or the earth taken from the tombs, characterized and known as “Mruthika” – have been built to commemorate the association of them with the specific places, where, they have carried their work. Thus, the Brindavans found inside the Srirangam Temple could convey their services to the Temple. Sri Vyasaraja was a great saint of that time and follower of the Dwita philosophy of Sri Madvacharya. He was the Rajaguru for both Saluva and Tuluva dynasties of Vijayanagaram. He was instrumental in the renovation of many temples that were destroyed during the onslaught of Malik kafur. He was a great devotee of Sri Hanuman and had built many temples for Sri Anjaneya. He also solved the boundary dispute between the Srirangam Temple and Tiruvanaikkovil by constructing “Ellai Anjaneyar Koils.” It is customary of Vijayanagara to mark the boundary of villages with a temple for Sri Anjaneya. With no exception, Sri Vyasaraja who was also a devotee of Sri Hanuman had built four Hanuman temples at these four places marked as boundaries of Srirangam. Now, only three of them are in existence and the fourth one at Ellaikarai Mandapam had been missing. This is how the historical evidences are missing and history is also forgotten and misinterpreted.
© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao
24-12-2021
[1] The Temple building and renovation activities brought the people of Maharastra, Karnataka, Andhra and Tamilagam together. Such tradition had been continuing since the Sangam period, as the Sangam literature men such interaction of the people for metallurgy and stonework.
[2] Vibhshina had reportedly installed the Idol at Srirangam and that spot became sacred to be converted into a Great Vaishnavite Kshetra, the Bholuga Vaikuntam on the Earth. As Post Sangam literature mentions (Silappathikaram) about the Srirangam, it is evident that the tradition has been about 2000 years old.
[3] His real name is Parashurama Tirtharu and was regularly involved with Srihari Chintane and Japa tapa. As such, his body was shining like gold and hence called as Swarnavarna Tirtharu. He helped the kings in solving the problems faced by them. Once he went to see Sri Purushottama Tirtharu, the mathadipathi of Abboor Matha in a pallakki. On his way, he saw an 8 years old boy who was grazing the cows. The boy was none other than Sri Lakshminarayana Muni who took the ashrama from Swarnavarna Tirtharu and later got the title Sripadarajaru.
[4] Vyāsatīrtha (c.1460–1539), also called Vyasaraja or Chandrikacharya, was a Hindu philosopher, scholar, polemicist, commentator and poet belonging to the Madhwacharya’s Dvaita order of Vedanta. As the patron saint of the Vijayanagara Empire, Vyasatirtha was at the forefront of a golden age in Dvaita which saw new developments in dialectical thought, growth of the Haridasa literature under bards like Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa and an amplified spread of Dvaita across the subcontinent. Three of his polemically themed doxographical works Nyayamruta, Tatparya Chandrika and Tarka Tandava (collectively called Vyasa Traya) documented and critiqued an encyclopaedic range of sub-philosophies in Advaita,[note 1] Visistadvaita, Mahayana Buddhism, Mimamsa and Nyaya, revealing internal contradictions and fallacies. His Nyayamruta caused a significant stir in the Advaita community across the country requiring a rebuttal by Madhusudhana Saraswati through his text, Advaitasiddhi.
[5] Vijayīndra Tīrtha (also known as Vijayendra Tīrtha) (c.1514-1595) was a Dvaita philosopher, dramatist and dialectician. A prolific writer and an unrelenting polemicist, he is said to have authored 104 treatises expounding the principles of Dvaita and defending it against attacks from the contemporary orthodox schools of Vedanta. He held the pontifical seat at Kumbakonam under the rule of Thanjavur Nayaks where he participated in polemical discussions with the Advaita philosopher Appayya Dikshita Inscriptions from that era record grants of villages received by Vijayindra for his triumph over theological debates. Legend ascribes to his mastery over 64 arts and his erudition, writes Sharma, “is evident from a few of his works bearing on Purva Mimamsa, Nyaya and Kavya literature”
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