The Mrutyunjay Swamy Dargah of Narayanpur in Basava Kalyan taluk, where the annual Urs was celebrated earlier this week, is a place of syncretic worship, attracting Hindus and Muslims in equal numbers.
The saint, who is also called Murtaja Quadri and is believed to be of royal lineage, is buried in a dargah in Narayanpur, a small village 7 kilometres off the Solapur-Machilipattanam national highway, and 2 km away from the taluk headquarters of Basava Kalyan. The samadhi of his friend, student and companion Muddayya Swamy is in a two-room building next door. The twin graves have two priests or caretakers, Ahmed Pasha and Pundalikrao Mote.
Legend has it that Mrutyunjay Swamy was the scion of the Behmani Sultanate, but left the palace in search of the meaning of life. His guru, Sahajananda, who lived in the Sadananda Mutt in Basava Kalyan, made him pass a fire ordeal and named him Mrutyunjay Swamy, goes the popular story. The king-turned hermit began writing in Marathi and produced several devotional songs.
The dargah occupies pride of place for the people of Bidar district. “It is in line with our multiculturalism,” says Manik Bhure, a writer whose book speaks about saints of Basava Kalyan taluk. “There is a need to protect these places and preserve the tradition which unites the people,” says Dusan Deak, professor of Indian cultural history from Slovakia, who has written extensively about Marathi saints’ literature. Dr. Deak visited Basava Kalyan recently.
Mrutyunjay Swamy finds several references in the works of Marathi scholars. He is known by different names, such as Shanta Brahmani and Shah Bahmani. Numerous stories about Mrutyunjay Swamy find a mention in Bhakta Vijaya by Mahapati Buva Taharabadkar.
The story of the banana peel
One of the legends says that Bidar palace guards once beat a homeless beggar, who was found licking peels of bananas eaten by the Behmani prince. The beggar laughed when he was beaten for doing so, and started crying when they stopped. When questioned about his strange behaviour, he said: “I was beaten up so badly for eating just the peel and I laughed. I then wondered what would happen to the king who ate the whole banana, and cried.” The disturbed prince, the legend goes, who heard the story, decided to leave the palace in search of truth.
