This is a brief note on the plight of Brahmans working under Islamist rulers of 18th century, as gleaned from a life account of Venugopaladasa, illustrious shishya of Sri Vijayadasa.
After the fall of Vijayanagara, the greatest Hindu Empire in South India & also after the disintegration of kingdoms of various Nayakas, the 17th century South India fell into utter chaos and disorder.
Many splinter states & principalities sprung up all over the landscape. Aurangazeb of Mughal dynasty was trying to penetrate into South via his subedars posted in Deccan & Karnataka. The atrocities of his generals can be gleaned from this excerpt from “The History of Aurangazeb.” Dilir Khan wrecked havoc in the environs of Adoni province.
Such frequent pillages have become a routine in the areas adjoining Raichur & Adoni which were the strategic forts in this part of the world. Also, the entire area was fertile yielding rich dividends for the rulers. In such period were born both Vijayadasa & Venugopaladasa.
Under such extreme volatile socio-political conditions that Sri Vijayadasa, originally named as Dasappa, was born in c.1685 in Chikalaparvi, a village near Manvi which is close to the fort-towns of Raichur & Adoni. As Dasappa became Vijayadasa, he got some of the brightest minds of those times as his disciples and Venugopaladasa was one among them.
Venugopaladasa’s real name was Timmanna & was in the service of Nawab of Adoni. Maadhva legends portray him as the Dewan [prime minister] of Basalat Jang, the then ruler of Adoni province. This Basalat Jang was an younger brother of the then Nizam of Hyderabad state.
Basalat was a war freak & was nurturing the ambition of becoming Sultan of Karnataka. Legend goes to say that Timmanna was envied by the Muslims officers of Basalat Jang and were trying to dislodge him from the top post. In the meanwhile, his only son Vasappa was lured by the Nawab & successfully converted him to Islam.
Thus, Vasappa the son of a pious learned Brahman became Rahmat Ali or Rahmatullah Khan and got married to the daughter of Basalat Jang. Disheartened by this unpleasant development, Timanna resigned from Nawab’s service and approached Vijayadasa for finding solace. The great Haridasa took the broken Timmanna as his disciple & initiated him into haridAsa dIksha. This is the location in Adoni where Vijayadasa made Timmanna to realise his biMbarUpa [form of paramAtma residing in antarAtma]
This legend & sad life account of Timmanna aka Venugopaladasa is recorded by a British officer in 1886. “The Kurnool Manual” prepared by the officer has this incident noted in page 196.
How do we ascertain that the “Panganamala Chinna Timmanna” is same as Dewan Timmanna [Venugopaladasa]? Because, it is well recorded in Madhva narratives that Vijayadasa was always calling Timmanna by nick name “panganAmada timmaNNa.”
Per Madhva tradition, Venugopaladasa is said to be the reincarnation of Vaikuntha Dasa of Beluru, a Srivaishnavite, who was the senior contemporary of Sri Vyasatirtha & Sri Vadiraja. Latter has even composed a kIrtana on this Beluru Vaikunthadasa. Sri Vijayadasa, being trikAlaj~nAni, knew that the previous birth of Timmanna as a Srivaishnavite & sporting the traditional Srivaishnavite nAma on his forehead. Hence he was calling Timmanna as “Panganamada Timmanna” [Timmanna with Srivaishnavite mark on forehead].
Ever since Vijayadasa gave that nickname to Timmanna, it became popular with the masses and everyone started calling Timmanna with the prefix of “Panganama.” Thus, we can establish that the Panganama Chinna Timmanna mentioned in the Kurnool Manual is same as Venugopaladasa.
Whether Timmanna was a Dewan or a village level officer can be debatable but the sad account of his son’s conversion into Islam remains undisputed. Kurnool Manual informs that the Peshwa of Pune got to know about the plight of Timmanna’s family members who were forced to eat food made by Muslims. He got them released from captivity except the son of Timmanna.
On the other hand, Sri Vijayadasa offered dAsa dIksha & guided the disheartened Timmanna to become the illustrious devotional poet of the lore. This kIrtana on Vijayadasa by Venugopaladasa precisely captures the agony felt by the latter.
Thus, the Peshwas & the pious spiritual leaders of 18th century have contributed in their respective capacities in fostering faith in the minds of Dharmikas. Without their contributions our Dharmik society would have long been disintegrated.
I bow to the great devotee of Vitthala & venerable poet Sri Vijayadasa. Pray to him to show the mukti patha as did with Venugopaladasa.
“vijayayAkhya guruM bhajE”
[Memorial structure at Chippagiri near Guntakal where Sri Vijayadasa’s cremation took place in c.1755].
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