nakul rana: IN THE NAME OF SHRINATHJI FORGOTTEN SACRIFICE OF KOTHARIA RAWAT VIJAY SINGH CHAUHAN

नंद घर आनंद भयो! जय कन्हैया लाल की!

The Vaishnava theologians offered different explanations of the nature of god, individual souls, and the world, maintaining a more or less dualistic position so as to admit the possibility of a devotional relationship between god and his devotees. They all agree that god, as brahman, is the supreme cause of the universe, but emphasize his possession of attributes and his appearance in personified form as Vishnu, Rama, or Krishna. They hold that individual souls and the inanimate world are both as real as brahman and that the distinction between them cannot be completely erased. Only devotion (bhakti) to Vishnu or one of his incarnations can lead to deliverance from the material world and the endless cycle of rebirth. It is claimed to be a more effective means of approaching god in the present age than either reliance on ritual or intellectual apprehension. The ultimate goal is not one of extinction of the self and complete immersion in brahman, but an exalted state of adoration and communion with god in heaven. Devotees of Krishna usually belong to a particular group, order, or movement which may be referred to for convenience as a 'sect', though, since Hinduism has no established or orthodox 'Church' as in western world, the term does not have the same connotations as. it does in the context of abrahamic cults. Generally devotees of a particular Vaishnava sect have never studied its specific theological doctrine and do not necessarily refrain from visiting temples administered by members of another sect.

Nearly all the Vaishnava sects of India have some kind of establishment in Braj, but the ones that are most active and have had most influence on developments since the sixteenth century are:-

Pancha Dwaraka

Five important temples relating to Bhaghwan Shri Krishna.

Dwarkadhish Temple, Bet Dwarka ( both in Dwaraka). Shrinathji Temple in Nathdwara, Ranchhodraiji Temple (Dakor), Dwarkadhish Temple ( Kankroli).

1. Dwarkadhish Temple, is the main temple in Panch Dwarka that stands on the banks of the Gomti river. It is considered as one of the 108 Divya desams of Shriman Vishnu.

This 16 th Century Majestic and mesmerizing Dwarkadhish temple, also known as the Jagat Mandir built in solanki Rajput style Architecture by Jagat Singh Rathore.

2. Bet Dwarka, Bet means island,It is said the Bet was the original place of residence of Shri Krishna. There is Shri Krishna Temple on the island and also Dandiwala Hanuman temple. Idol was supposedly created by Rukmini, the consort of Shri Krishna.

3. Dakor Ranchchodji is famous temple. Krishna, escaped from the battlefield at Mathura in order to avoid Jarasandha. So he is called Ranchhod here.

4. Kankroli Dwarkadheesh temple. The idol of Shri Krishna was carried from Gokul, by Shri Gir darji Maharaj to prevent attacks by the Mughals. In addition to Pancha dwaraka, Moola Dwaraka, Mukthi Dwaraka, Sudhama Dwaraka & Rukmini Dwaraka are visited.

5. Nathdwara Shrinathji Temple in Udaipur ‘Haveli of Srinathji".

Shrinathji Temple is one of the most revered shrines of Lord Krishna. Located at Nathdwara in Rajasmand district, Shrinathji Mandir is easily accessible from anywhere in Rajasthan. Nathdwara is small town that is truly famous for this temple.

Shrinathji lies at a distance of 48 kms from Udaipur, the city of lakes in Rajasthan. Udaipur is well-connected to the major cities of the country by road, rail and air. From Udaipur, one can take regular buses or hire taxis in order to reach Nathdwara. Built in the 17th century, Shrinathji Temple is dedicated to Lord Shrinathji (form of Lord Krishna). 'Haveli of Shrinathji' is the synonymous phrase used for Shrinathji Temple. This temple was built by a Goswami priest on the orders of Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar. It has the black marble idol of Shrinathji which was originally at Govardhan.

The word 'Nathdwara' is made up of two terms, one being 'Nath' that means 'the Lord' and the other is 'Dwara', which suggests 'gate'. Thus, Nathdwara implies the 'gate of the lord'. Shrinathji forms an important pilgrimage site for the Vaishnavites.

141 years old Mewar style painting of gathering of worshippers & pilgrimages at Shrinathji temple of Nathdwara in Rajputana was painted in 1880 AD.

Like other temples of India, Shrinathji Temple also has a story behind its foundation and its survival....?

Not many knew of Shrinathji, Nathdwara (Mewar) and looting of the temple.

People heard about their atrocities in bengal and their looting at sringeri temple in south.

Most people are aware of their breaking temples under Golconda sultan in Andhra country.

But most people don't know about their acts in Mewar. If someone doesn't want to read background story then he can directly go to Sources section. But will highly recommend that should read the whole where Money had overtaken dharma for even some of Marathas. We rever all Hindu kings who resisted M & C invasions for Dharma sake but all such exceptions like this should not take any good credit for their overall fight to save dharma

So here is a background story about Shrinathji Temple, during 1670s, Aurangzeb issued orders to demolish several temples and to break idols of the temples. Shrinathji was worshipped at Govardhan hills. The priest (Gosain) of the temple sensed that danger and to save the idol from being demolished, Bhagwan Shrinathji was shifted first to mathura and then it was shifted here and there but no one was willing to give it shelter fearing the wrath of Aurangzeb.

When Maharana Raj Singh came to know about this he invited the Gosain priest to come to Mewar and install the diety there, he not only gave the shelter against Aurangzeb's will, he also assured the Gosain that as long as a single soldier of mewar remains alive No one can touch the Shrinathji idol. Maharana provided the place for temple which became a little town later and came to be known as Nathdwara. The temple was also fortified as Haveli.

Aurangzeb did attack mewar some time later and according to promise of Maharana, No harm came to the diety. Mughals were defeated many a times by Maharana, in this war both mewar and marwar fought together. Aurangzeb's son Akbar was defeated too and he was turned against his father. At one point of time Aurangzeb was on verge of being captured but his son Akbar delayed the march and Aurangzeb called his other two sons for his help and it was too late. Aurangzeb's Rajputana invasion consumed his whole resources and almost whole of his army was called to Rajputana, from deccan to bengal every part of army was called to fight in rajputana, later Maharana Raj Singh died and aurangzeb signed peace treaty with the next Maharana. Nonetheless the Shrinathji temple couldnt be harmed by Aurangzeb thanks to sheer will of Rajputs. Since then long time passed and later maratha inroads started.

Mewar was weakened by some combination of factors, mostly due to maratha interfering in mewar, weak ruler like Bhim singh remained on mewar throne and he couldnt do much against marathas. Marathas made mewar a desolate places by regularly looting the villages Due to their interferences many nobles started to undermine the authority of Rana. But worse was yet to come. Marathas like Ambaji ingle, Lakwa dada, Holkar and Scindhia made mewar bleed. Anarchy and chaos followed due to pindari raids supported by marathas.

Now come to the main point in 1802 Scindhia and Holkar were fighting each other and pursued by Scindhia, holkar fled towards mewar. In the way he looted Ratlam (now in MP). He came to Nathdwara and camped a little away from the temple. He attacked the temple and looted 3 lakhs rupees of temple property (amount varies according to different sources), but he was not satisfied with this little amount and asked for further payment from Gosain Damodarji (Main priest).

Holkar had his eyes on immovable properties of Shrinathji. When further payment was not made he made several priests prisoners for guarantee against future payment. Gosain knew that Shrinathji was not safe here because of future actions of maratha chief.

Col Tod, who was contemporary said this about marathas act, " The portal (Gate) of God proving no bar either to Toork (Turk) or to equally impious Mahratta (Marathas)." Priest Damodarji sent message to Maharana, regarding securing the idol of shrinathji to a safe place, Maharana was very weakened at that time but still he asked some of his nobles to safely bring Shrinathji to Udaipur saving it from Maratha eyes. Nobles like Thakur Ajit singhji Bhati, Rathore Jagat Singhji, Thakur Kalyan singhji Jhala and Thakur Vijay singhji Sangawat took the duty for securing the diety to Udaipur. They were joined by 13th Rawat of Kotharia Chief Vijay Singhji Chohan. Damodarji removed the God of Braj from its pedestal, (It surely reminded them about history when same diety was removed during Aurangzeb's time.)

These nobles with their men guarding Shrinathji from marathas proceeded towards Udaipur. In midway, their approach was stopped by a detachment of Maratha party. Kotharia chief asked others to proceed towards Udaipur and he alongwith his men faced Marathas.

Marathas asked them to surrender their horses and arms, although highly outnumbered, Mewari chief had no choice but to face Marathas. He cut down his horse and asked his men to do the same and stood there for the last stand against Maratha horde.

Rawat Vijay Singh Chauhan, Thakur of Kothariya, and his men faced Holkar's invading army. They all died fighting Holkar's army near Nathdwara.

Chauhan Rajputs fought valiantly, but due to sheer numbers of marathas, they were all cut down to the last man. Nonetheless their supreme sacrifice saved the idol of Shrinathji. Shrinathji was safely escorted to Udaipur.

Disappointed marathas attacked another temple town of Vaishnavite site, Kankroli. Holkar then demanded a huge amount of money from the residents of Nathdwara. Mediators were sent to negotiate with him but Holkar arrested them when they were unable to pay and looted the valuables from the temple, raided the entire town and district. They collected good amount of money from Dwarakadheesh temple of Kankroli too.

Ghasiyar Temple

ShrinathJi remained in Udaipur for nearly a year and then shifted Shrinathji for better security was escorted to Gassyar, in hilly areas of mewar where a new Temple was built. There shrinathji remained for 5 years before they were later brought back to Nathdwara in a celebration. While ShrinathJi was away, Nathdwara was like a deserted town. ShrinathJi returned to Nathdwara in VS 1864 and with that Nathdwara returned to its glory.

Marathas from kankroli proceeded towards Ajmer and some sources say Holkar distributed part of his loot from shrinathji at Khwaja Pir Dargah. There are records of Marathas looting Rishabhdeo temple in south mewar too, this temple is revered by Jains and Local bhils equally. This is how marathas behaved in Rajputana. Apart from their looting of temples, there were all kind of atrocities too, Also Amir Khan Pindari, employed by Holkar in his later times, and Holkar's trusted lieutant and at that time, regent of holkar rule also came to mewar to demand 11 lac or he will demolish highly reverred Eklingji Temple, Maratha-Pindari activity in mewar will be dealt in such manner that mewar ruler has to relocate Shrinathaji into new temple

The great temple builders, marathas have one more feather in their cap. Many don't know but this temple a few kilometers away from Udaipur in the Aravali hills exist solely due to Marathas. If Marathas were not there this temple would never would have been built. The temple in the above pic. is Ghasiyar temple which was not built by maratha but credit should be given to them because it was due to Marathas attack on Shrinathji temple in Nathdwara that Deity of Shrinathji was removed from Nathdwara temple and was hidden here in the hills to save it from rapacious eyes of Maratha looters. To cater for worship of Shrinathji this temple was built in this hilly areas. Until maratha threat was over Shrinathji's idol was hidden in this temple for a couple of years.

This was the sad state of affairs of Marathas in Mewar. Had there been some strong ruler like Hindupat Maharana Raj Singh, he would have thrown these looters south of Narmada. But sadly at that time Mewar didn't have a strong ruler.

Later the idol was re-shifted to Nathdwara but temple remained and here still worship happens, all thanks to marathas that a new temple was built in rajasthan. Indeed Holkars were really temple builders. I recommend todays holkar worshippers to visit this temple now located on a highway a few kms outside Udaipur.

Read history on temple's website itself

https://t.co/w42FEUXdcq

Sources: