King Bittideva of Hoysala Kingdom was a follower of
Jainism. During his rule Srimad Ramanuja stayed in Saligrama, he had a disciple
Vaduga Nambi who informed about the political situations there. The daughter of
Bittideva was suffering from an illness which none were able to cure her. When Srimad
Ramanuja was in Kanchipuram he had cure the illness of daughter of King Veera
Rajendra. Bittideva was informed about Srimad
Ramanuja being in his kingdom and the above incident. The King request Srimad Ramanuja
for help and the princess was cured of her illness, with the help of “Narasimha
Danda” from Yoga Narasimha temple atop the hill at Melukote. This act prompted
King Bittideva become a disciple of Srimad Ramanuja and started following
Vaishnavism. He was given the name Vishnuvardhana by Srimad Ramanuja. They say
Bittideva who was a Jaina was converted to Hinduism by Srimad Ramanuja, which
is not true.
Srimad Ramanuja never asked Bittideva to become a Vaishnava,
if so he could have converted Shantaladevi, the wife of Vishnuvardhana, her
parents Marasingamayya & Manchikabbe and all the chieftains of
Vishnuvardhana who were all Jains. Even though their King changed his faith from Jainism to
Vaishnavism, they all continued to follow Jain Philososphy without fear.
While Vishnuvardhana was building the Pancha
Narayana Kshetras (Chaluvanarayana at Melukote, Nambinarayana at Tondanur, Vijayanarayana at Beluru, Kirtinarayna at Talakad
and finally Veeranarayana at Gadag) Shantaladevi who continued to follow
Jainism was built Savati Gandhavarana Basadi. There was no forceful conversion
by the King; he let her follow her faith. Even Srimad Ramanuja had no objection
to it. This is how religious harmony thrived in my country until the advent of a
few Mughal rulers who either had with them Shahs, Qalandars, Murshids, Marabouts,
Shaikhs, Faqirs and Darweshs who insisted on spreading Islam by converting the
citizens to Islam or those who called themselves Khalifas like Alauddin Khilji
and Tippu Sultan who butchered people for not converting to Islam.
Look at what the conversion has done, Constantinople
has been converted from Christianity to Islam to become Istanbul. What happened
to those Buddhists and Hindus in Afghanistan Pakistan and Baluchistan???
History says that in the year 680 A.D a battle took
place between a small group of supporters of Hussain Ali, the grandson of Prophet
Mohammad and a larger military detachment from the forces of Yazid I, the
Umayyad Kalifa. When Muawiyah I died in 680, Hussain did not give allegiance to
his son, Yazid I, who had been appointed as Umayyad Kalifa by Muawiyah; Hussain
considered Yazid’s succession a breach of the Hasan–Muawiya treaty which was
made by the 5th Kalifa of Sunni Islam Hasan Ali, cousin of Hussain Ali
and the 1st Kalifa of Umayyad. The treaty was that no successor has
to be named during the reign but let the Islamic world choose the successor thereafter.
The successor was appointed and hence the battle of Karbala. In those times
there was trade between Bharat and Baghdad; Rahab Singh Dutt of Mohyal Clan of
Brahmin warriors sacrificed his seven sons supporting Hussain Ali in the battle.
Learning about the battle and the sacrifice of seven sons, a large
army from present Rajasthan was sent by King to assist Hussain
Ali. By the time they arrived, however, the Hussain Ali had been slain and
those Brahmin warriors later on settled there. The uniqueness is that those Hussaini
Brahmins observe Muharram even to this day.
Look at the history none of our Kings have invaded
any other country or none of our Philosophers tried to convert anyone……..Mera
Bharat Mahan.
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