Form and Work of the Sectarian Monasteries in Pandharpur

Journal of Arts and Culture ISSN: 0976–9862 & E-ISSN: 0976–9870, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2012, pp.-97-101 Available online at http://www.bioinfo.in/contents.php?id=53 FORM AND WORK OF THE SECTARIAN MONASTERIES IN PANDHARPUR VIKAS KADAM Department of History, Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil Mahavidyalaya, Pandharpur, Dist Solapur. M.S. India. *Corresponding Author: Email- [email protected] Received: January 09, 2012; Accepted: February 02, 2012 Abstract- It can be said without exaggeration that Pandharpur is a town of monasteries and temples. A majority of these religious centres belong to the Bhaagawat sect. The temple dedicated to Lord Vitthal is at the heart of the town and it is surrounded by a number of monasteries, boarding places, sectarian houses and asylums. These are the places mainly utilized for conducting various activities aimed at the propagation of the Bhaagawat sect. According to one of the inscriptions found around the temple of Lord Vitthal in Pandharpur, there is a word used ‘laanmadu’, meaning a monastery or temple. This structure was renovated in the 10th century AD. Maharashtra was then under the reign of Ramdevrai Yadav. The word monastery is also found in the literature of the Mahaanubhav sect. It means the concept of the monastery existed well before the times of Saint Dnyandev and Namdev. However, it is a fact that these monasteries underwent development after the 17th century. Citation: Vikas Kadam (2012) Form and Work of the Sectarian Monasteries in Pandharpur. Journal of Arts and Culture, ISSN: 0976–9862 & E-ISSN: 0976–9870, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2012, pp.-97-101. Copyright: Copyright©2012 Vikas Kadam. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Definition of Monastery life through meditation. Thus, the western interpretation of a mo- According to the definition given in Amarkosh, a monastery is a nastic life depends entirely upon spirituality. But, the Indian inter- residence of a sage or a disciple. In general a monastery is sup- pretation of monastic life not only expects the spiritual function but posed to be a place where the brahamcharis, sages, mendicants a commitment towards the material duties also. It is thus aimed at and sannyasis resided.2 T he word ‘madh’ is believed to have establishing and maintaining both religious and secular institutions. been derived from the Sanskrit base meaning ‘to reside’. According Besides this, it also plays a role in handing over the cultural herit- to Encyclopedia Britannica ‘a monastery is the home of a religious age of the society. It is fact that the human desires for religious community. The word is commonly used only of houses of men, meditation, mysticism and self-denial give rise to the need of mon- but in what follows houses of women religious, widely though not asteries. properly known as convents, will also be considered’.3 The word monastery is derived from the Greek word ‘monazo’, which means The Origin and Development of Monasteries in India ‘alone’ or ‘to live in isolation’. The concept of monastery is quite old The people in India have since long been dominated by the con- to the western world. In the final stage of human life, a person gets cept of the four duties viz. the religious, the economic, the physical separated from his family and its responsibilities. This stage makes and the spiritual. As a result, the concept of monastery came into a person give up material pleasures and discover the meaning of existence during the Ancient times itself. There existed the monas- Journal of Arts and Culture ISSN: 0976–9862 & E-ISSN: 0976–9870, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2012 Bioinfo Publications 97 Form and Work of the Sectarian Monasteries in Pandharpur tery system in the Hindu religion even before the creation of the The monasteries in the Hindu tradition have been busy in academ- Sangh in Buddhism, but it can’t be claimed that monasteries exist- ics, cultural activities, mass meals, maintenance of scripts, religious ed then. The third (Waanprasth) and the fourth (Sannyas) stages in rites & rituals and running country gyms. the Hindu religious order simply expected the persons to be contin- uous movers with a total sense of self-denial. But, the life of the Origin of Monasteries in Maharashtra people in these stages to a great extent was monastic. It is a fact The influence of the Waarkari sect began to increase in the times that with the rise of Buddhism, there came into being monasteries of Saint Dnyaneshwar. There were two other sects viz. Naath and in the Hindu religion too. Mahaanubhav which had their own dominance before the origin of Buddhism gives more importance to monastery than what the Hin- the Waarkari sect. Although there have been several holy centres du religion does, since Buddhism attributes monastic qualities to belonging to Naath and Mahaanubhav sects in Maharashtra, it the Sangh. The Buddhists call the Sangh ‘vihaar’. It was Gautama can’t be said that these sects had any separate monastic system. Buddha who originated the concept of vihaar and through these The Samarth sect is said to have motivated the system of monas- monasteries the philosophy of Buddhism was propagated.5 The teries. Chaityawaadi of Jainism and the Bhattarak of the Digambar sect Gorakhpur was the chief centre of Naath sect. The representative became monastic. The Buddhist and Hindu monasteries have been branches of this sect were developed all over India due to the work older than the Christian monasteries. The distinction of the Chris- done by Gorakshnath. The Siddhas like- Shaiv, Kapalik and Shakt tian monasteries is that they were established on the three princi- entered into the fold of this sect. The members of the Naath sect ples- holy ordain, honesty and service. We can say that the monas- held the temples of Shiva, Bhairav and Shakti to be reverent, so in teries have been the excellent centres for the conservation of edu- Maharashtra the temples at Vruddheshwar, Tryambakeshwar, cation and culture. It is because of the monasteries that the ancient Devgiri, Chandragiri, Paithan, Alandi, Dudulgaon, Mangeshnath, books, manuscripts and cultures have been preserved. The Ambhore, Kanifnath of Diveghat, Parali Vaijnath became the cen- maintenance of cultural values realized the development of the tres for the Naath sect. However, these holy centres couldn’t devel- monasteries in turn. At present, we see monasteries of various op monasteries.6 religions and sects dedicated to the propagation and development The birth and residence of the incarnations of the Mahaanubhav of religious, sectarian and cultural life of people. sect made several places holy centres. In Maharashtra Phaltan is famous for the birth of Changdev Raul and Mahur for the place of Tradition of Hindu Monastery his sacred residence. Chakradhar attributed importance to Paithan The Hindu culture relates the monasteries, the dargahs and the for spreading the philosophy of his sect. Besides these, Beed, ashrams to the final stage in human life. It is believed when a per- Apegaon, Tryambak, Madh, Pimpri, Arangaon, Bhingar, Joge- son enters into the fourth and the final stage of life by sacrificing shwari, Verul are called the holy centres. the material duties and pleasures; he takes shelter at a monastery. Ganagapur is called the chief centre of the Datt sect. In Maharash- The fame of the monasteries is seen all over the nation. There tra there are places- Mahur, Karanje, Audumbar, Narsobawadi and can’t be shown a single state in India which is without a monastery. Akkalkot, where the Datt sect is conserved. The concept of taking shelter at a monastery can be located in the It is a fact that Maharashtra witnessed the growth and development sense of security also. A monastery of a particular religion is close- of the Naath, the Mahaanubhav and the Datt sects, but there are ly associated with the philosophy of the concerned religion, cult or not seen any monasteries belonging to these sects. Samarth sect. As a consequence, the mould of every monastery is different Ramdas is believed to have erected and utilized the monasteries from the other. There are some monasteries connected to temples, and monks for promulgating the philosophy of his sect. He brought as there are other monasteries which succeed the temples. There together the family and the spiritual responsibilities. His sect wit- are found several monasteries which appear attractive and splen- nessed a huge role played by the monasteries and monks. did. There is no unanimous opinion regarding the exact number of mon- There have come into being several sects from the Hindu religion. asteries set up by Saint Ramdas. One of the claims says that there These sects have their monasteries in various parts of India. The were erected 1100 monasteries in and outside Maharashtra by monasteries set up by Shankaracharya in Badrinath, Dwaraka, Ramdas.7 Today, information on only a few monasteries is availa- Jagannathpuri, Shrungeri and Kanchi Kamakoti has been very ble. The main centre of Samarth sect is found in Chafal, district famous. The monasteries established by the Gosavi and Bairagi Satara. In addition to this, there are seen in the places like- Jamb, sects are termed Aakhaadas. Vallabhacharya, Ramanujacharya Dahifal, Miraj, Sajjangad, Domgaon, Takali, Mahabaleshwar, and Nimbakacharya are said to have erected monasteries at vari- Karanje, Beed, Nilanga, Kanheri, Parali etc the big and spacious ous places for the propagation of their respective philosophy. One monasteries of the Samarth sect. Thus, in the state of Maharashtra gets information on one hundred and ten monasteries set up by it was the Samarth sect which set up monasteries in huge number.

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