Miscreants involved in vandalising Sri Vyasaraja Tirtha’s tomb near Karnataka's Hampi arrested

All miscreants involved in the vandalism of the Brindavan (tomb) of Sri Vyasaraja Tirtha, at Anegundi near Hampi, in Karnataka have been arrested by police according to reports.

The Brindavana of Sri Vyasaraja Tirtha, a famous saint of the Madhwa tradition at Anegundi near Hampi, was found razed on 18 July. It is one of the nine Brindavanas at Nava Brindavana, on the banks of the Tungabhadra.

Nava Brindavans have no security as they are open spaces. The premises see religious activity only when devotees visit them during aradhana. Some of the pilgrims and devotees visiting Hampi go to Nava Brindavan to pay respect to the saints.

The incident came to light on 18 July morning when some people visited the site for performing rituals. Going by circumstantial evidence, the police suspect it to be an act of treasure hunters. The incident is suspected to have taken place during the lunar eclipse early on 17 July.

Temples of spiritual Gurus in Anegundi village of Gangavathi taluk, destroyed by unidentified miscreants on 18 July. Twitter/ANI

Renuka K Sukumar, Superintendent of Police, Koppal, told The Hindu, “As we received the information, our teams rushed to the spot. We prima facie feel that this is the act of treasure-hunters. We found some puja material on the spot. It is evident that some kind of puja was offered to the seat of the saint. Our scientific investigation team, including the forensic experts, are already at the spot, collecting the samples for further investigation. The dog squad is also there. I have constituted a special team headed by Circle Inspector of Police attached to Gagavathi Rural circle to crack the case. I am confident that we will lay our hands shortly on the guilty.”

The tomb was rebuilt and consecrated on 19 July. According to TOI report, more than a 1,000 volunteers across Karnataka helped in the reconstruction work.

Saint Vyasaraja Tirtha (1490-1539) was a renowned Madhwa scholar and was the spiritual guru for Sri Krishnadevaraya, the most famous emperor of Vijayanagar empire. He is the guru of Sri Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagar Empire, entered Brindavan in 1539. It is said that the Nava Brindavana dates back to 700 years and the Vyasaraja entered the Brindavan (tomb) in 1539.

He had several hundred disciplines, including Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa. Some of his known works include Nyayamritam, Tarkatandava and Tatparya Chandrika. He is also known as the previous avatar of Raghavendra Swamy.

With inputs from agencies