In an earlier post I suggested that the original name of the locality, the environs of the temple of Manjunatha in Mangalore was Kadire. The present corrupted form of ‘Kadri’ may be a modification consequent of Portuguese or British period of rule in the region.
Kadire
The word ‘kadire’ in Tulu (and local Kannada) means spike of paddy corns. The locality was designated Kadire because the tradition of distribution of auspicious paddy spikes during annual Puddar festival. The name Kadire can be found in the inscriptions available in the area. Dr. P. Gururaja Bhat (1974) has provided the transliteration of inscriptions available at Kadire Manjunatha temple. Italian traveler Della Valle had also visited Kadire during 1624CE.
968 CE. The famed Lokeswara (Avalokiteswara) bronze idol of Kadire dated 968 CE contains an inscription at the base. It describes that it was installed by King Kundavarma Alupendra in the Kadarika Vihar. The word ‘Kadarika’ is a Sanskritized version of the Kadire. Secondly, at the time of installation of this idol, the place was a ‘Vihara’, a Buddhist monastery.
1386.CE. The stone inscription in the courtyard of the Kadire temple dated ca.1386 CE, belongs to the period of chieftain Banki Alupendra. and King Harihararaya (at Vijayanagar). The line 6 mentions… ‘bhogikkadaliya’, line 8 and 17 mentions Mangalur (coins).
Line 23 cites: ’.Kadiru nekkilu.’.as one of the boundary of the Manjunatha temple. The ‘bhogikkadali’ has been interpreted as Jogi Kadali by Dr.Gururaja Bhat.
1475.CE Inscription dated ca.1475 was made by Vitarsa Odeyar, a governor Mangalore and Barakur provinces, under the King Veera Pratapa Prouda Virupaksha of Vijayanagara. Jogi Mangala Natha was the chief of Jogi Mutt. The place name Kadire is mentioned twice in the inscription. The Jogi Mangala Natha was declared as Ruler (Arasa) of the Kadire. Kadire is described as the central area (headquaters) of Mangalore province.
1624 CE - P.Della Valle, an Italian traveler who visited Mangalore and Ullal during (1624) Portuguese period (Abbakka was ruling at Ullal) reports that he met Batinata, the King of Jogis at a place called ‘Cadira’(Kadira).
Manjunatha
It is said that the Manjunatha is not in the traditional list of Lord Shiva’s names. Therefore it appears that the name Manjunatha was coined specifically at Kadire, Mangalore for the first time in the history. Earlier writers have visualized that the name Manju-natha was derived from Macchendra Natha, in the order of Macchendra>Mancho>Manju.
But, the ‘Kadali Manjunatha Kshetra Mahatme’ describes that Macchendra had twelve wives from whom he had twelve sons. The son of the last wife was called Manjunatha. Another account describes that Macchendra’s youngest son was known as Manju-Natha, who was installed as the ruler of Kadire by Macchendra Natha. Thus, it follows that the name of the deity Manjunatha was derived from the name of son of Macchendra Natha.
The Natha chief traditionally calls the installed 'God'Manjunatha as 'beta'!One story recounted by Jogi Ananda Nath cites an event when one of the (later period) Natha chief was sidelined by the Brahmin Tantri in charge of temple during a car festival. The temple car(chariot) did not move forward. Finally the the Natha chief(Arasu) was brought in and he said Aao Beta! And the car rolled forth!
The 'beta' legend suggests that the installed 'God' was originally the son of the founder Natha, the Macchendra.
Manjarur
One of the interesting facts somehow ignored so far by scholars is that Mangalore was known as Manjarur for some time, possibly till the arrival of Vijayanagar rulers. It may have been ignored under the impression that foreign Arab travelers may have failed to note down the name of this properly. But at least two Arab travelers Rashiduddeen (1300 CE) and Ibn Battuta (1342 CE) have unmistakably recorded the name of the city as Manjarur. Rashiduddeen uses the phrase: the country of Manjarur. Ibn Battuta has used both the ‘Manjarur’ and ‘Budufattan’ (<.Bokkapatna), the port at the beautiful estuary or simply ‘Pattan’ (Bokkapatna).
If we analyze the word Manjara +Ooru =Manjarur, it follows that the Manjarur was named after the Manju Natha, the youngest son of Macchendra Natha who ruled Kadire, after his father. Manja-ra stands for the respectable form of Manja.
It is possible that Manju Natha was deified after his life and worshipped in the tradition of Spirit worship. It may be recalled that the recluse queen Pingala (who became ‘Mangala’ after death) was worshipped in the similar style and the area around her temple was named after her (Mangalapura). In honour of Manju Natha the area was called Manjarur.
Om-Manjur
There is one more Manju-oor in Mangalore. A minor suburb in the outskirt on the way to Mudabidri is known as Vamanjur. This place probably was originally known as Om- Manjur. It is customary to add the word ‘Om’ to sacred names, as in the case of Om Namah Shivaya.
®
Reference:
Gururaja Bhat, P. (1974) “Kadri Shri Manjunatha Devalaya: Kshetra Mahatme mattu Itihasa” Published by: trustees of the Kadri Manjunatha temple.73p.
A heritage blog by: Ravindra Mundkur & Hosabettu Vishwanatha
Isn't 12 sons from 12 wives an afterthought? I think there is an easy explanation in Manjusri an important deity in Tantrik Buddhism.
ReplyDelete12 sons from 12 wives- is included in 'Kadali Kshtera Mahatme'written in the style of Puranas.12 was a significant number for Natha cult. (Barapantha).But the point I picked up from it was that his last/youngest son was named Manju Natha.(Another source reports that Macchendra had two sons from Pingale,it is said.)
ReplyDeleteManjusri.>Manjunath explanation dies not answers why Manjusri was opted for when Avalokiteswara idol was there. It appears weak in the light of the fact that the Avalokiteswara was more powerful God(Bodhisatva turned incarnation)at that time.
The son Manjunatha theory I proposed has another legend to support.The Natha chief traditionally calls the installed 'God'Manjunatha as 'beta'!One story recounted by Jogi Anannda Nath cites an event when one of the (later period) Natha chief was sidelined by the Brahmin Tantri in charge of temple during a car festival. The temple car(chariot) did not move forward. Finally the the Natha chief(Arasu) was brought in and he said Aao Beta! And the car rolled forth!
I feel the 'beta' legend arose because the installed 'God' was originally the son of the founder Natha, the Macchendra.It is also possible that the son Manju Natha died before his father, leading to consecration-deification in the Tulu tradition of spirits.Note the parallelism between Pingal/Mangala and Manju-natha spirit deifications.And also names of the places Mangalapura and Manjarur!
A typing Correction in the above reply:
ReplyDelete"dies not answers" should be 'does not answer'
The Mangale legend that I heard when I was small goes something like this.
ReplyDeleteMangale is the queen of Malayala region. Matsyendranatha and his disciple Ghoraknatha visit her. She falls in love in with Ghoraknath and they marry. They have two children. She follows both Guru-Shishya to the region of Tulu Nadu.
One day, both children cry for something. Matsyendranatha gets disturbed and asks Ghoraknatha to take care of the children. Ghoraknatha isn't happy that his guru can be moved by worldly matters. He kills both his children. Heartbroken Mangale dies soon after.
Have you heard of this story?
Avalokiteswara may be superior but when it comes to Tantrik Buddhism Manjusri is an important deity and why should Saiva Tantriks bother about Avalokiteswara anyway. Both Buddhist Tantriks and Saiva Tantriks could find common ground in Manjusri. Minor deities can become superior as the religious outlook changes (eg. Visnu, Siva among Vedic pantheon, Samash in West Asia etc...).
But I am puzzled by the fact that Natha cult still exists as a separate entity.
I have not heard about the story,especially the tragic end part involving killing of the children.(At least, that is not included in any of the four books I referred to.).But one mentions that Goraka on reaching the present Mangalore, looked for Macchendra. He laid his danda at that station (Jeppu)which is known as-Gorak danda.
ReplyDelete2.There is a technical hitch in accepting Manjusri>Manjunatha.Vying with mainstream Hindu Gods, the Buddhists modelled the Bodhisatvas incarnations in the concept of Hindu Gods.Avalokiteswara was modelled on Shiva, Manjusri was modelled on Brahma/Vishnu.(The web Literature says Manjusri is equivalent of Brahma and Padmapani is equivalent of Vishnu but Dr Gururaja Bhat who studied the Kadire bronze idols opines that it is a form of Vishnu).
So how can Vishnu be made into Manjunatha, the declared form of shiva? So I folowed the son of Macchendra theory to account for that. Manjusri bronze idol, undated, may have been brought later to add deification attributes to Manju Natha, the son.
I still have a tinge of feeling that Macchendra named his son from a local Tulu word Manja.
Unfortunately, identification of Bodhisatvas with Vedic/Hindu deities is not very clear cut. Avalokiteswara himself can be modelled after Vishnu and Padmapani is one his names. Also, it is said that Avalokiteswara can be the complete essence of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. It must be noted here his original name was Avaolitasvara and suffix ishwara was a later development(Source: Wikipedia)
ReplyDeleteUnless that story(of Managle) is a result of my hallucination then it may be a stronger proof for spiritification of two people Mangale and one for her childern(what has happened to the other child?). Many spirits in our region are spiritification of persons meeting tragic ends.
If Pingala can become Mangala, her son whatever might be his original name might have got Manjusri's name due its prominance in Tantrik tradition.
Pingala is the name of the prostitute in the Bhagavata. Some allusion? Was this name popular in the past in our region?
ReplyDeleteThe name Pingale is specifically used by Jogi Ananda Nath in his book published by the temple.She is described as Queen of a women- dominated state, where there was no entry for the men!Gorakh Nath had to assume the guise of a female drum beater to get into the inner circle and contact Macchendra,who was deeply involved with Pingale, it is said.Actually the legend describes that Pingale wanted a virile man for having male children for herself.She prayed to Lord Hanumantha, who in turn deputed Macchendra for the job.So,in return for the favours Macchendra installed an idol of Hanumantha at kadri. This is the story.The Pingal in Bhagavatha may be another character.
ReplyDeleteIt also needs to mentioned in passing that (elsewhere) some of the Purana writers have also indulged in the intentional character assasination of the persons in their rival camps.
Manju, (a) spiritification and subsequent (b)deification-conversion into Godship- of the two individuals(Pingala and one son of Macchendra) was the sequence of events at Mangaladevi and Kadare.
ReplyDeleteI am not convinced of any of these Maccendra stories.
ReplyDeleteWe have origin account of Mangala unconnected to Maccendra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangaladevi_Temple). I believe all other stories involving Maccendra are mythologies developed by Natha cult.
The fact is we have physical evidences for Buddhist past of Manjunatha temple. But only stories about Maccendra's son Manju Natha. I am not sure what kind of sequence we can observe here.
spiritificaioin-> bouddhization -> hinduisation?
Do we have any evidences that priests were once belonged to Natha cult?
By the way, I was checking on the web and I found the name Pingala (tawny) is strongly associated with Buddhism (Pali).
Lot of confusions possible! We have to be careful in sifting chaff from the grain.Mangaladevi wiki page is a heavily edited version to bolster up the image of the temple(We cant blame, that is but natural.They have to promote temple).
ReplyDeleteSpiritification and deification was a trend in South India.Kannaki of Tamil Sangam was spiritified at Mangaldevi hills,near Kumily,Idukki district on the border between Kerala and Tamilanadu.She was later deified,she is now Mangaldevi!(Available in the web ). Note the parallelism between that Mangaladevi(<.Kannaki) and this Mangaldevi(<.Pingale).Both seem to have occurred during the period of Buddhism.(Pingale's name was cited as Premila by historian Ganapati Aigal.). The Kadire temple was a Vihar (Buddhist monastery)complex in the beginning.Macchendra came and settled near the Vihara!The 12 wives allusion may be referring the nun inmates of Vihara.(Add,..visualise, the secret tantric rites).Kundavarma Alupa, I think, was a Buddhist.Kunda is among Pali names.It is not a Shaiva name!Not a common name of Tulunad!As you noted, Pingale is a Pali name.Macchendra initially was not Buddhist (may be he was a Kapalika(they worship Bairav,whose statues found in Kadire mutt) He founded Natha cult after his Guru Adinatha, but associated himself with Buddhists).
The sequence may be: Buddhism>Natha-ism>Spirit-ism>Brahman/Hinduism.The last event(Hindu-Shiva) occurred during Vijayanagar period.They changed the place-name from Manjarur to Mangalur.
The Natha people ('Kadire Araser')administered/supervised the temple and surrounding area.Maybe they did not directly involved in the pooja/preistly works.Natha(naa+tha) ,I saw a new interpretation (Srilankan Natha temple): formless and shapeless!
Mysteries!!