A Magic Carpet Ride !!!

During the last years of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq's reign many of his southern commanders broke free from the Delhi sultanate taking advantage of the loosening grip of the Sultan to establish their own kingdoms. The Bahmani Kingdom established by Zafar Khan alias Hasan Gangu alias Alauddin Hasan with its capital at Gulbarga is the most important. He ascended the throne as Allauddin Bahman Shah.

After the demise of Firoz Shah Bahmani, Capital of Bahmanis was shifted to Bidar by Ahmed Shah Wali, ninth Bahmani ruler. He was moving his capital farther away from Hampi, Capital of the great Vijayanagara Empire, bulwark against Muslim rule in South India. Bidar fort was completely rebuilt by him and his next two successors by demolishing the already existing structure possibly constructed during Kalyana Chalukya period.

It was pretty cold for a Hyderabad morning when I and Hareesh left for Bidar, planning to reach there by 8.00 am . Bidar in Karnataka is just 135 KM from Hyderabad. Bidar is a dusty and hot place perched at the top as if it were a crown on some regal head, a crown buried in oblivion. But it was December and the weather turned pleasant soon.

Soon we were on the Highway in Hareesh's car with a thin traffic of trucks. We stopped over for a smoke right outside Kukatpally and made a tentative itinerary. We would visit the fort, tombs and Gurudwara before heading back.
Just on the outskirts we came across farmers transporting sugarcane to the mills and families travelling on bullock carts to the city.



There was a convoy of carts taking sugarcane to the mills. It was an idyllic scene and I wondered how long this could continue. With India embracing free market and trying to integrate with the global economy, Indian farmer is on the verge of extinction. I remembered my own childhood and visits to my village, the tall sugarcane fields with a small crusher right amidst them where jaggery ( Brown, coarse sugar) was made. The night long romps with cousins and friends eating hot jaggery.


We passed through Sangareddy, a small town and through Zaheerabad. There we bought some Guavas, just ripening. I smelt the aroma of the fresh fruit and remembered reading Garcia Marquez. In Latin America they keep a bowl of ripe Guavas in the room instead of spraying some chemical room freshener.
Personally I don’t like ripe Guavas and their nauseating smell of ripeness. The skin is a cadaverous yellow. Pale and sickly. The Ripe already has a certain decay clinging to it. I prefer fruit that are neither raw nor fully ripe. Guavas, which are in the process of becoming, on their way to attaining their full scope and range before withering away. Fruit in transit, I like to call them. They are more interesting and taste good.

We reached Bidar and immediately proceeded towards the fort. It was magnificent with a moat running all round it. There were ruins of huge palaces with colored tiles and built with black granite.

We also saw the solah Kambh (16 pillars) Mosque which was getting a face lift.

Bidar was mostly ruled by two Dynasties, Bahmanis and Barid Shahis.

Any talk about Bidar will be incomplete if I did not tell you all about a fascinating personality who was Vazir or Prime Minister to three Bahmani rulers. He was a warrior, a scholar, and a diplomat par excellence. He was also a philanthropist and built many Mosques etc. He was Mohammud Gavan, a native of Persia. He built the Madarasa of Mohammad Gavan, a imposing structure, a religious college with a library that held more than five thousand titles!!!
Scholars and students came from all parts of the Islamic world to study here. Struck by lightening and public apathy, it is in ruins today.

There is a tradition of Sufi saints all over India particularly in those areas where Muslim rule was predominant. Sufism in India is a synthesis of Vedic thought and Islam. These saints came from far flung places in the Islamic world and Baba Budan came from Ethiopia to Chickmaglur in Karnataka and is credited with bringing Coffee beans to turn Chickmaglur into the Coffee bowl of India and the world.

There is another very interesting Sufi saint of Bidar, Baba Rahmatullah Kirmani. His Dargah is on the way to the Bahmani Tombs and he seems to have been held in high esteem by the People. He is supposed to have come from Kirman in Persia flying a Magic Carpet to Bidar, taking just One and a Half hours for the journey!!! It is very much possible that he was brought by the Barid Shahi rulers to crown them and gain some sort of legitimacy after they became independent of Bahmanis.
Bidar is also an important place for Sikh pilgrimage and Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion came to Bidar during his early travels. There was acute shortage of potable water and touched by the plight of the common folk he is said to have moved some rubble with his toe and fresh water sprang up at the spot!

Today there is the Karanja reservoir to supply water to the parched lands of Bidar. This was built quite recently even though it is a known fact of many centuries that water is scarce in these parts.

We visited the Bahmani Tombs and it was by far the most impressive of all the ruins that stand today. It reminds one of Shelly's Ozymandias and you can't but wonder at the hopelessness of it all. Yet you find ruler after ruler trying to attain immortality through building gigantic monuments . It is the same all over the world and one more proof that Men are the same all over at all times.

We decided to visit Basavakalyana. A most fascinating story unraveled in these parts in the 12th century. It is the story of Sharanas, Jangamas and Vachanas. A protestant religion came into being; in order to give new life to a stagnant and decadent social order. At the helm was a minister in the Chalukya rule, Basavanna. This town before him was simply known as Kalyana, Capital of the Chalukya Kingdom and after him as Basavakalyana. It shows no signs of its earlier greatness(apart from the ruined fort), having lost prestige long back, turning into one of the many tens of thousands of such nondescript towns in India.

Then at a little distance from the town was Anubhava Mantapa.It was an incredible experience to tread the ground on which the Vachanakaras had trod and harangued with the people. Allama, Basavanna, Akka, Siddarama, and a thousand other Sharanas sang here. The power of the spoken word was demonstrated here with a decisiveness that lasts to this day. Poetry was written in simple everyday language. The deepest, most profound thoughts were discussed in the common Man's language. In case you want to experience the beauty of these Vachanas, read “Speaking of Shiva” an anthology by AK Ramanujan, a brilliant translation from Kannada to English.This is a pioneering work of translation and is regarded as the work of a genius adept in English, Kannada and Tamil.

There was a serious attempt to liberate the people from the clutches of organised religion and the cultural hegemony of a select few.These privileged classes had maintained steadfastly their privileges through a vice-like grip on Language,Temples and Priesthood that can put today’s business Corporations and Intellectual Property lawyers to shame. The caste system was rigid affording no opportunity for escape or for upward social mobility. Birth determined your social and material condition. All knowledge and Education was the sole prerogative of very few in society.

To the sharanas, Body became the temple and Work, Worship. Through work you could attain salvation. One need not be born a Brahmin, know Vedas, perform Homa, Havana or undertake pilgrimages to holy places to attain "Moksha" or salvation. Whatever a Man's occupation, doing his work diligently was enough to attain liberation from the eternal cycle of births and rebirths.Trying to rid people of superstitions they were ridiculed and persecuted. Basavanna’s attempts at intercaste marriage ended tragically.
Most ironically they have built a temple for Basavanna!

Meanwhile,the Juggernaut of Sanathana Dharma rolls on swallowing, ingesting and excreting religions and movements. Buddha is supposed to be a reincarnation Of Vishnu and Charvaka's Atheism an offshoot of Vedic philosophy!!!

Hair apparent.... Hair Un-apparent!?

During the visit to Gurudwara we were asked to cover our heads before we entered the Sanctum Sanctorum. This got me thinking. Why this dislike for hair? Every faith and culture seems to be prejudiced in this aspect.
Long hair has been celebrated in every literature of the world. Long tresses have maddened lovers for ages. While shiny, black hair is loved in the East, it is the blond that is held in high esteem in the West.Hair as black as the night, they say and that is as it should be since the night is a beautiful and a mysterious time.

It is understandable to cover your head in the kitchen lest some of it drop onto the food you are cooking. A swimmer wears a smooth cap to reduce friction since every split second matters. A king wears the crown as a symbol of his authority.

But we also see cutting hair as a symbol of renunciation. Buddha, after leaving his family and riches in search of the Eternal Truth, shaved his head at the first opportunity. Jains go a step further and pluck their hair by their roots enduring excruciating pain. Monks of every faith shave their heads to a severe gloss. Muslim women and Christian Nuns as also some Hindu women cover their heads. Sikhs entomb theirs in a Turban.
When did Headgear become a part of the Human dress code? What made them adopt it? When did it attain fame and prestige? Was it the clime? The various headgear of every country makes for a fascinating study.........
On the outskirts of today's Bidar there is a very interesting temple. It is in a cave and a stream runs through it. The Idol is a good 600 feet inside the cave and you have to wade through chest high water to reach it.
The God is Narasimha (Nara = Man and Simha = Lion) He is the God with the face of a lion and the body of a Man. This is another incarnation of Lord Vishnu, come down to Earth to slay a Demon, Hiranyakashipu and save the world from his evil clutches. Here in the Bidar cave he is Jharini Narasimha Swamy or Lord Narasimha of the stream. Jhari, which is a beautiful Kannada word, means Stream or rivulet. I had almost forgotten the word and felt a high on recollecting it. Jaaru in Kannada means Slide. A stream is forever sliding and slithering. Did Jhari bring about Jaaru?
In another temple close by devotional music was being played by a Master Musician and his group.



This was our last place of visit and we were seen off by a lovely pair of birds perched atop electric lines running outside the Temple.