| Temples & Legends Of
Maharastra |
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| Temples & Legends Of
India |
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TULJAPUR - BHAVANI |
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| "The
armies collected together and the march started. Tuljapur was the next halt. Here the
troops encamped. Shri Bhavani was the family deity of the Maharaja (Chhatrapati Shivaji)
and was on that count broken to pieces. The pieces were powdered in a quern." The
chroniclefurther adds that an heavenly voice immediately pierced the atmosphere and told
Af zal Khan that he would be dead within three weeks. The incident is connected with the
campaign started by the Adit Shahigeneral Afzal Khan against Shivaji in 1659. This was the
beginning of the adventurous career of the great Maratha leader and Afzal Khan had publicly bmsted that he
would bring back to Bijapur Shivaji, dead or alive And in order to terrorise the Marathaleader and his
followers he embarked on a course of pur poseful destruction and rapine. Contemporary
ballads, especially one composed by a well known poet Ainyandas, state that the Khan had
desecratej not only the Bhavani of Tuljapur, but also the deities at Pandhapur, Pali and
Aundh. The ballad by Ajnyandas also states that the Khan erected a mosque on the spot
where the temple stood, If this was so, it seems that during subsequent years this mosque
was removed by someone and the devi reestablished in her ancient abode, as there is no
trace whatever of any mosque like structure around the temple courtyard. The immediate
punishment the Khan received he was killed in his encounter with Shivaji within a
fortnight of these atrocities-led people to believe that this Kulaswa mini of the
Chhatrapati was a 'jagrit' or vigilant and deity. Her aspect is of the ferocious Or Taudra
type and the mythological legends that tell of how the goddess came here depict her as a
ferocious goddess ready to take reprisals against those who troubled her or her devotees.
Legendary accounts and the verses from the pen of Swami Ramadas who was an ardent devotee
of the goddess, make it clear that in view of the great insecurity at Tuljapur the devi
was removed to the Pratapagad fort. |
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