Temple for 6 days, it is a mosque on Friday

DHNS

• A humble abode of God that two communities have shared for five centuries

Bangalore, 05 October 2010: As the country continues to debate the trifurcation of the Ayodhya land among the parties to the dispute, a temple-mosque at Girimath at Kamathagi village in Bagalkot district may have a suggestion to offer. 

 

 
The five-century old mosque functions as a temple for six days in a week, transforming itself into a mosque on the seventh day. Barring Fridays when Muslims pray in it, Hindus have a free run of the mosque as a temple.

 

Constructed by Ibrahim Adil Shah II, the Bahmani Sultan known for his efforts to foster communal harmony among people of all religion, the structure resembling a mosque hosts idols of Hindu Gods like Shiva, Nandi and Ganesha as well as paintings of Marula Shankara Devaru, Ibrahim Adil Shah and his wife.

 

“Ibrahim Adil Shah II, who ruled between 1556 and 1627, formed certain rules for worship over here. It is being followed as tradition. No single objections has been raised since then. History is a witness to this communal harmony,” said Hucheshwar Swami, Pontiff of Hucheshwar Mutt, Kamathagi-Kotekal. The mutt manages Girimath.

 

The temple conducts a car festival the day after Ganesha Chaturthi.. The temple authorities either advance or postpone the car festival if it is Friday. Thousands of Muslims participate in the car festival and donate money.

 

History of temple

According to the locals, Adil Shah II was travelling when he sent his guards to find a place where he could pray. The guards found the ideal place, but found Maralu Shankara Devaru, a follower of Allama Prabhu meditating at the spot.

 

Unable to wake up Devaru who was in deep meditation, the guards decided to evict him physically, but the Sultan arrived in time and prevented them from doing so.

 

Adil Shah waited for Devaru to finish with his meditation and had a long conversation with him. So impressed was the king with Devaru’s scholarship and ideas on brotherhood, that he ordered the construction of a temple.

 

A signed transfer deed on a copper plate was handed over to the saint with the rider that “No festivals should be held at the mosque on Fridays and it be should be left free for Muslims to offer prayers on Fridays.”

 

The record even now is safe with the Desai family at Kotekal.

 

About Ibrahim Adil Shah II

Ibrahim Adil Shah, the fifth king of the Adil Shahi dynasty, is known in history as "Jagadguru Badshah." He tried to bring in cultural harmony between the Hindus and Muslims through music. He was a great lover of music, played musical instruments, sang and composed praises of Hindu deities Saraswati and Ganapati.

 

He wrote a book Kitab-E-Navras (Book of Nine Rasas) in Dakhani. It is a collection of 59 poems and 17 couplets. According to his court-poet Zuhuri, he wrote it to introduce the theory of nine Rasas, which occupies most important place in Indian aesthetics, to acquaint people who were only brought up in Persian ethos. The book opens with prayer to Saraswati, the Goddess of learning. He claimed that his father was divine Ganapati and mother the Holy Saraswati.