Malkhed

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Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

Malkheda (मलखेड़) is a town in Karnataka, India. It is located on the banks of Kagina River in Sedam Taluk of Gulbarga district, around 40 km from Gulbarga city (Kalaburgi).

Origin

Variants

History

Originally known as Manyakheta it was the capital of the Rashtrakuta dynasty during 9th and 10th centuries. At Malkhed, there is historical Fort.

Manyakheta rose to prominence when the capital of Rashtrakutas was moved from Mayurkhandi in Bidar district to Mānyakheṭa during the rule of Amoghavarsha I. After the fall of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, it remained the capital of their successors, the Kalyani Chalukyas or Western Chalukyas till about 1050 CE. According to Dhanapāla's Pāiyalacchi, the city was sacked by the Paramāra king Harṣa Sīyaka in CE 972-73, the year he completed that work.[1]

Malkhed is home to two ancient institutions. 1. The Uttaradi Matha of the Dwaita School of philosophy of Madhvacharya. The remains of one of its most prominent saints, Sri Jayatirtha's Mruthika Brindavana is here. . He was a commentator of the celebrated "aNuvyakhyana" of Madhvacharya which itself is a commentary upon the "Brahma Sutras". For this commentary called Nyaya Sudha, he is popularly known as Teekacharya.

2. The Jain Bhattaraka Math. The temple of Neminath (9th century AD). The pillars and walls of the temple date back to between the 9th and 11th centuries. The idols include tirthankaras, choubisi (24 tirthankaras), Nandishwar dvipa and idols of yakshi. There is a famous panchdhatu shrine with 96 images. In the same temple, there are other historical images. The last bhaṭṭāraka of the Malkhed seat who reigned during the year 1950–61, was Bhaṭṭāraka Devendrakīrti.[2]

The famous Mahapurana (Adipurana and Uttarapurana) was composed here by Acharya Jinasena and his pupil Gunabhadra in the 9th century. Somodeva Suri's Yasastilaka Champu was written here. The mathematics text Ganita Saara Sangraha was written here by Mahaviracharya.

The famous Apabhramsha poet Pushapadanta lived here.

From 814 AD to 968 AD Manyakheta rose to prominence when The capital of Rashtrakutas was moved from Mayurkhandi in Bidar district to Mānyakheṭa during the rule of Amoghavarsha I (Nrupatunga Amoghavarsha), ruled for 64 years and wrote Kavirajamarga the first classical Kannada work. Amoghavarsha I and the scholars mathematician Mahaveeracharya, and intellectuals Ajitasenacharya, Gunabhadracharya and Jinasenacharya, he helped to spread Jainism. According to Dhanapāla's Pāiyalacchi, the city was sacked by the Paramāra king Harṣa Sīyaka in 972–73 CE, the year he completed that work.[3] After the fall of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas, it remained the capital of their successors, the Kalyani Chalukyas or Western Chalukyas till about 1050 CE. It was later ruled by Kalyani Chalukyas, Southern Kalachuris, Yadavas, Kakatiyas, Delhi Sultanate, Bahmani Sultanate, Bidar Sultanate, Bijapur Sultanate, Mughal Empire and Nizam of Hyderabad by 1948.


Malkhed, Nagai & Seram

Note: This section is from the book History And Legend In Hyderabad, Department of Information and Public Relations, 1953, pp.45-46


[p.45]: Here lies buried the great philosopher-saint Jayatirtha, Once the mighty capital of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, it has now dwindled down to a small village with a scanty population. The town nestles on the right bank of the Kagna, a tributary of the Bhima and lies at a distance of about three miles from Malkhed Road railway station.

The town served as the capital of the Rashtrakutas from the 8th to 10th century A.D. Some altered temples and sculptures, an old fort and fragments of carvings, images, and inscriptions, which lie scattered about in the various localities of the village and the surrounding fields, go to show its magnitude and extent. Malkhed lost its lustre consequent on its sack at the hands of the Paramara ruler, Siyaka, in 962 A.D. and no further account of the town is heard until it was included in the Bahmani domains in the 14th century, and later annexed by Aurangzeb to the Moghul Empire of Delhi towards the end of the 17 th century.

In the time of the Rashtrakuta King Amoughravarsha I, however, Malkhed seems to have been a great centre of Jaina religion, literature and culture. Jinasena, the great guru of Amoughravarsha and author of several works noticed below, Mahendra, a Jaina mathematician, Gunabhadra, Puspadanta and Ponna (Kannada writer) seem to have made Malkhed their home.

Jainism must have been an active force in the lives of kings and commoners alike at this time. We find Amoughravarsha renouncing the kingdom to become an ascetic in his old age and later Indraraja IV also renounced the kingdom and ended his days ‘‘ according to the Jaina form of renunciation.” Numerous records at Sravana Belagola and other places in the south record the munificence of various Rashtrakuta kings ; and contribute to the fame of Malkhed and its rulers.

A number of Jaina and other works are stated to have been composed in this place (1) Adipuram and (2) Parsvabhyudaya Kavya both by Jinasena are the famous productions of the time of Amoughravarsha. Amoughavritti, a great commentary on the Sanskrit grammar of Sakatayana is named after this Rashtrakuta king and was probably the result of his patronage. Ganita-sara, a work on mathematics by Mahavira is another work that we owe to his encouragement of learning. There is considerable basis for believing that the Kannada work on Poetics, Kavirajamarga, was from the pen of Amoughravarsha himself ; nor is there any doubt about the merit of his beautiful kavya RatYiomalikd which according to his own statement he composed when he had abdicated the throne on account of the growth of ascetic spirit in him.”

The famous Umm Purma, the seqirel to Ai^pwtma^ was composed in the reign of


[p.46]: Krishna II by Gunabhadra. Puspadanta was evidently the most famous author of this reign although only three of his works have survived to his day, namely (1) Mahapurana or Tisatthi-purisa-gunalamkara, (2) Jasahacariu, an Apabhramsa work in four chapters, and (3) Maya-Kumaracariu, another apabhramsa work in nine chapters. Two other works are also famous as having been composed during the reign of Krishna II namely Jvala-malini-kalpa of Indranandi in 939 A.D. and Yasastilaka-compu of Somadeva in A.D. 959. The Kannada poet Ponna was highly honoured and was conferred the title Ubhayabhasa-chakravarti by the king.

Malkhed in Rashtrakuta times “ scraped the sky by its mountain-like high palaces " and is called, “ the champion of the celestial city, crowded with people and with flower gardens.”

The modern villages of Malkhed, Seram and Nagai— within a mile or so of each other appear to have been the localities and suburbs of one and the same great City of Malkhed. The abundance of ancient mounds, inscriptions, carvings and other materials of old Hindu temple-architecture which are littered over in these villages when exposed and pieced together account for the glorious capital of the Rashtrakutas, who played such an important part in the political and cultural evolution of the Deccan and the south.

Nagai is sacred to Digamber Jains; while Gangapur is the town of the Dattatraya cult. Nagai is of antiquarian interest because of the mantap of 16 carved pillars forming the entrance to the hall of a shrine which still retains the Chalukyan star-shaped base. It has two big inscribed slabs of black stone. Nearby is a Digamber Jain temple with two Jina images, the one in Adytum being a standing figure with a five-headed snake as canopy and worshippers at the feet. There is also a Hanuman temple with a beautiful carrot-shaped dipdan. There are also Kali Masjid and a Muslim shrine in the locality.

At Seram the Panch Linga Temple with its five shrines and the monolithic dipdan are most prominent. These remains belong to the 11th and 12th centuries A.D. There are also some Jaina temples, sculptures and inscriptions of the 11th to 13th centuries in the town.

मलखेड़, कर्नाटक

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[4] ने लेख किया है ...मलखेड़ (AS, p.714), कर्नाटक, भीमा नदी की सहायक कंगना नदी के दक्षिण तट पर छोटा सा ग्राम है, जो किसी समय दक्षिण भारत के प्रसिद्ध राष्ट्रकूट राजवंश की समृद्धशाली राजधानी मण्यखेट के रूप में प्रख्यात था।

राष्ट्रकूटों का राज्य यहाँ 8वीं शती से 10वीं शती ई. तक रहा था। ग्राम के आसपास दुर्ग तथा भवनों के अतिरिक्त मन्दिरों तथा मूर्तियों के भी विस्तृत अवशेष मिले हैं। जिससे ज्ञात होता है कि राष्ट्रकूट काल में इस नगर का कितना विस्तार था। 962 ई. में परमार नरेश सियक ने नगर को लूटा और तहस-नहस कर दिया। तत्पश्चात् 14वीं शती तक मलखेड़ अंधकारमय युग में पड़ा रहा। इस शती में यह नगर बहमनी राज्य का एक अंग बन गया।

बहमनीकाल के एक प्रसिद्ध हिन्दू दार्शनिक जयतीर्थ की समाधि मलखेड़ में आज भी विद्यमान है। जयतीर्थ द्वैतवादी माध्वसम्प्रदाय के अनुयायी थे। उनके लिखे हुए ग्रंथ न्याय और सुधा हैं। 17वीं शती के अन्त में औरंगज़ेब ने इस स्थान को मुग़ल साम्राज्य में मिला लिया। प्रसिद्ध राष्ट्रकूट नरेश अमोघवर्ष के शासन काल में मलखेड़ जैन धर्म, साहित्य तथा संस्कृति का महत्त्वपूर्ण केन्द्र था। अमोघवर्ष का गुरु और आदि पुराण तथा पार्श्वाभ्यूदय काव्य इत्यादि का रचयिता जिनसेन यहीं का निवासी था। इनके अतिरिक्त जैन गणितज्ञ महेन्द्र, गुणभद्र, पुष्यदन्त, और कन्नड़ लेखक पोन्ना भी यहीं के निवासी थे। अमोघवर्ष स्वयं भी वृद्धावस्था में राजपाट त्याग कर जैन श्रवण बन गया था। इन्द्रराज चतुर्थ ने भी जैनधर्म के अनुसार सन्न्यास की दीक्षा ले ली थी। मलखेड़ में, इस काल में, संस्कृत और कन्नड़ भाषाओं की बहुत उन्नति हुई। जिनसेन के ग्रंथों के अतिरिक्त, राष्ट्रकूट नरेशों के समय में उनके द्वारा या उनके प्रोत्साहन से अमोघवृत्ति, संस्कृत व्याकरण टीका, गणितसार, महावीर के द्वारा रचित, कविराज मार्ग, कन्नड़ काव्यशास्त्र पर अमोघवर्ष की रचना और रत्नमालिका, अमोघवर्ष की कृति आदि ग्रंथों की भी रचना की गई। गुणभद्र ने आदिपुराण का उत्तरभाग राष्ट्रकूट नरेश कृष्ण द्वितीय के शासन काल में लिखा। इसी समय का सबसे प्रसिद्ध लेखक पुष्पदंत था, जिसके लिखे हुए महापुराण, नयकुमाराचरिपु (अपभ्रंश ग्रंथ) आज भी विद्यमान हैं।

कृष्ण द्वितीय के शासन काल में (939 ई.) इन्द्रनन्दी ने ज्वाला मालिनी कल्प [p.715] और सोमदेव ने 959 ई. में यशस्तिलक चूंपकाव्य लिखे। उपयुक्त सभी कृतियों का सम्बन्ध मण्यखेट से था जिसके कारण इस नगर की मध्यकाल में, दक्षिण भारत के सभी विद्या केन्द्रों से अधिक ख्याति थी। राष्ट्रकूट काल में मलखेड़ अपने भव्य प्रासादों, व्यस्त बाज़ारों, प्रमोदवनों और उद्यानों के लिए प्रसिद्ध था। वर्तमान समय में मालखेड़, सिराम और नगई नामक ग्राम प्राचीन मण्यखेट के स्थान पर बसे हुए हैं। दिगम्बर जैन नगई

दिगम्बर जैन नगई को अब भी तीर्थ मानते हैं। यहाँ 16 नक़्क़ाशीदार स्तम्भों का एक भव्य मण्डप है, जो किसी प्राचीन मन्दिर का प्रवेश द्वार था। इस मन्दिर का आधार ताराकार है, जो चालुक्य वास्तुकला का लक्षण माना जाता है। इसमें काले पत्थर के दो अभिलिखित पट्ट जड़े हैं। पास ही हनुमान मन्दिर है, जिसका सुन्दर दीपस्तम्भ गर्जराकार बना है। सिराम में पंचलिंग मन्दिर है, जिसका दीपदानस्तम्भ एक पत्थर ही में ताराशा हुआ है। यह 11वीं, 12वीं शती की रचना है। इसके अतिरिक्त 11वीं से 13वीं शती के कुछ जैन मन्दिर तथा मूर्तियाँ भी यहाँ हैं।

External links

See also

References

  1. Georg Bühler, 'Pâiyalachchhî Nâmamâlâ', in Beiträge zur Kunde der Indogermanischen Sprachen, vol. 4, edited by Adalbert Bezzenberger (Göttingen, 1878) and B. J. Dośī, Pāia-lacchīnāmamāla (Prākṛta-Lakṣmināmamālā) (Bombay, 1960): v. 276
  2. A Rare Letter of a Bhaṭṭāraka of Malayādri (=Malayakheḍa> Malkhed) Padmanabh S. Jaini, CoJS Newsletter, March 2017, Issue 12, pp. 28-33
  3. Georg Bühler, 'Pâiyalachchhî Nâmamâlâ', in Beiträge zur Kunde der Indogermanischen Sprachen, vol. 4, edited by Adalbert Bezzenberger (Göttingen, 1878) and B. J. Dośī, Pāia-lacchīnāmamāla (Prākṛta-Lakṣmināmamālā) (Bombay, 1960): v. 276
  4. Aitihasik Sthanavali by Vijayendra Kumar Mathur, p.714