Nava Brindavana

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Nava Brindavana (also known as Navavrundhaavana); (Kannada:ನವ ಬೃಂದಾವನ), is located on an island in the Tungabhadra River at Anegundi, near Hampi, Karnataka, India. The Bruindavanas of nine Hindu Madhva saints present in Nava Brindavana belongs to the Uttaradi Math, Raghavendra Math and Vyasaraja Math. All these saints are descended from Padmanabha Tirtha, direct disciple of Jagadguru Madhvacharya.

List of Saints in Nava Brindavana[]

1. Padmanabha Tirtha, direct disciple of Jagadguru Shri Madhvacharya
2. Kavindra Tirtha
3. Vagisha Tirtha
4. Raghuvarya Tirtha, Guru of Tirukoilur Shri Raghuttama Tirtha
5. Vyasatirtha
6. Sudhindra Tirtha, Guru of Mantralaya Shri Raghavendra Tirtha
7. Srinivasa Tirtha
8. Raama Tirtha
9. Govinda Wodeyar

There are also shrines to Lord Ranganatha and Lord Hanuman inside the premises.

Nava Nrindavana Stotra[]

padmanabham kavindram cha vaageesham vyaasaraajakam raGuvaryam srinivasam, ramatirtha tathaiva cha| Shri Sudheendram cha govindam navavrundavanam bhajE|

Avathaarathraya Hanuman[]

This idol of Hanuman installed here by Sri Vyasaraja is indeed unique.

It depicts the three avatars - Hanuma, Bheema, Madhva in one form. The face is like Hanuman, the arms and shoulders well - rounded and muscular with the Gadhayudha symbolises Bheema, the avatar of Hanuman in the next yuga and the manuscripts in his hand symbolises Madhvacharya.

Powerful Avathaarathraya Hanuman at Navabrindhavan

The Nine saints of Navabrindavana and their holy background[]

Nava Brindavana is a small island in the Tungabhadra river near Hampi or Vijayanagar.

Hampi is in Vijayanagara district of Karnataka and it is approachable from Bangalore by rail or road. The nearest airport is Bellary. The nearest train stop is Hospet. There are direct buses from Bangalore and other places in Karnataka to Hospet and even Hampi apart from Bellary.

This is one of the most holy spots for Madhwas as it contains the Brindavanas (final resting place of nine Madhwa saints).

The Brindavana of Vyasa Theerta is at the centre while the Brindavana of other eight saints are in a rough circle. There is a yellow line drawn around the periphery of the Brindavanas.

Do not cross this line.

You have to go in a boat or Theppa from Hampi to visit Nava Brindavana. It is located east of Anegundi, which was the earlier capital of the Vijayanagar dynasty before it was shifted to Hampi.

You can catch a ferry either from Gangavathi side or Hampi side (Talagarighatta Gate).

There are shrines dedicated to Ranganatha and Hanuman here.

Poojas commence around 10-30 a.m., Devotees and visitors are advised not to do pradakshina of the Brindavanas in wet clothes. Try to time your visit in the morning.

It is on this island that Vyasa Raja in his earlier avatar as Prahalada had meditated to get rid of his dosha of getting his father, Hiranyakashapyu, killed by Lord Narasimha.

Some of the saints who have visited Nava Brindavana are Raghavendra Swamy and Raghuttama Tirtha among others and Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa.

Padmanabha Theertha[]

He is the first Madhwa saint to enter Brindavana at Nava Brindavana .

Padmanabha Theertha was the first disciple of the Madhwacharya. He also ascended the Dwaitha throne after Madhwacharya.

His original name was Shobana Bhatta. He was a well-known logician of his times and he lost a marathon debate to Madhwacharya after which he converted to Dwaitaism.

He was regarded highly by the fifth head of the Dwaitha Samrajya.

Kavindra Theertha[]

The second Brindavana here is that of Kavindra Theertha. He is believed to be the brother of Rajendra Theertha, Vyasaraja Matha. He was earlier known as Vasudeva Shastry.

The first bifurcation of the Padmanabha Theertha paramapara or Peetha took place when Vidyadhiraja handed over the reins to Kavindra Theertha.

Vidhyadhiraja Theertha had appointed Rajendra Theertha as his successor. Vidhyadhiraja fell ill and he could not get in touch with Rajendra Theertha as he was away on Sanchara. He then appointed Kavindra Theertha as the successor and passed away. When Rajendra Theertha came back he found what had happened and he travelled further south towards Mysore and founded Vyasa Raja Matha.

Kavindra Theertha is supposed to have entered Brindavana in 1398. Kavindra teertha continued to reign in the Peetha of the already established Matha/Peetha by Shri Madhvacharya through Shri Padmanabha Tirtha which is known as Shri Raghavendra Math which comes in the same lineage as that of Shri Madhvacharya, Padmanabha tirtha, Jaya Tirtha, Kaveendra teertha & Vageesha teertha and so on.

His Aradhane Thithi is Chaitra Shudha Navami (April–May)

Vageesha Theertha[]

His Poorvashrama name was Raghunathacharya. He was one of the greatest scholars of his time. He was the third Madhwa saint to enter Brindavana at Nava Brindavana.

He was the successor of Kavindra Theertha. He entered Brindavana sometime in 1406. His Aradhane Thithi is Chaitra Krishna Tritiya (April–May).

(Not to be confused with the Vageesha Theertha of Sode Mutt who was the deeksha guru of Shree Vadhiraja, and revered respectfully by the latter in his Theertha Prabandha)

Vyasa Theertha[]

Vyasaraja Theertha Shrine

A renowned scholar, Vyasa Theertha or Vyasa Raja was the Raja Guru of six Vijayanagar Emperors, including Krishnadevaraya. He had a large number of disciples including Vadiraja Tirtha.

He encouraged Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa in penning Haridasa Sahitya. He was the Chancellor of the Vijayanagar University which had 11,000 students.

He consecrated 732 idols of Hanuman in India. His guru was Brahamanya Theertha of Abbur, while his Vidya Guru was Sripadaraja of Mulabagal.

Vyasa Raja was the earlier avatar of Raghavendra Swamy. His works are considered to be among the most significant in Madhwa literature.

Some of his works include Nyayamritam Tarkatandava Tatparya Chandrika.

He entered Brindavana in 1539 when Achyuta Deva Raya was the Emperor of Vijayanagar.

Srinivasa Theertha[]

Srinivasa Theertha

He succeeded Vyasa Theertha to the Vyasaraja Matha. He was also the Raja Guru of Achuta Deve Raya. He has written a book on Vyasa Theertha. This book along with accounts of Portuguese travelers to Vijayanagar and a biography by Somanatha, a Smartha Brahmin during the period of Krishna Deve Raya, give us a lot of information about Vyasa Raja.

Rama Theertha[]

He followed Srinivasa Theertha to the Peetha of Vyasaraja Matha.

It was during the period of Rama Theertha that the first split of the Vyasa Raja Matha took place. Both Lakshmikantha Theertha and Sridhara Theertha took Sanyas from Rama Teertha.

Thus the Abbur Matha or Kundapur Matha and Sosale Matha came into existence. In Bangalore, the Abbur Matha has its premises in Hanumanthnagar and the Sosale Matha at Gandhi Bazar.

Raghuvarya Tirtha[]

Sri Raghuvarya Tirtha was 12th Pontiff of Sri Uttaradi Math. He was successor of his guru Raghunatha Tirtha.He worshipped Samsthana Pratime's for almost 52 years.Once when he had to cross rapidly flowing Bhima river,he prayed to Moola Rama deity to show him a way.Then the river, split into half and he made his way through.This was a rare miracle by him.He made Raghuttama Tirtha his successor and attained Haripada at Nava Brindavan On Jeshta Krishna Dwitiya in 1557.

Sudhindra Tirtha[]

He was the Guru of Shri Raghavendra Swamy. He was also the “Shishya” given to Vijayeendra Theertha by Vyasa Raja himself. He was an unmatched scholar and he shared a close relationship with Vijayeendra Theertha. Some of the books written by him are: Sadukthi Rathnakara (Tarkathandava Vyakhya), Apastamba Shulbasootrapradepa,

Commentary on second and 11th Skandas of Bhagavatha Literary Books, Subhadra Parinaya, Vyasarajabhyudaya,

Amruthaharana, Dayalu Shathaka,

Vairagyatharanga, Alankara Manjaree,

Alankaranishaka and Sahitya Samrajya.

He was the Raja Guru of Raghunatha Bhoopala of Tanjore.

Raghavendra Swamy himself made arrangements for the Brindavana Pravesha of Sudhindra Theertha′^{[citation needed]}. His Aradhana Thithi is Phalguna Krishna Dvithiya (Feb-March).

He was the sixth pontiff of Madhvacharya Peetha from (1365 – 1388). He is considered to be one of the most important seers in the history of Dvaita school of thought on account of his sound elucidations of the works of Madhvacharya.

Apart from these Brindavanas, the final resting place of Narahari Theertha, the second pontiff of the Dwaitha Samrajya after Padmanabha Theertha is at Chakra Theertha in Hampi.

General Instructions[]

• Avoid throwing plastics, carry bags or dusts inside islandways keep the place clean and if you find any carry bags or plastics, please take them to put in a dustbin at anegundi village
• Gents are advised to remove shirts and vests before entering to island and highly suggested to wear ಪಂಚೆ (dhoti)
• Please maintain silence inside shrine

Temple Administration[]

Nava Brindavanam is an island. Priests will not be available. Priests stay at Sri Raghavendra mutt at anegundi. Daily early morning at 7am, boat from anegundi ferries to nava brindavanam. The priests perform the abishegam and return immediately before noon. Hence people who wish to perform poojas or wish to have abishega darshan, have to plan accordingly. It will be a good planning to arrive anegundi during evening and stay at Sri Raghavendra mutt(Need to call and inform them to book rooms) and also pay for abishegam. Early morning devotees can leave along with the priests and take a holy dip at brindavanam and do pradhakshana. Nearest railway station is munirabad railway station and one can easily find plenty of buses plying for anegundi.

  Another major aspect of anegundi is important events of ramayana took place here.

Sankalpa Parihaara (Prayer)[]

As a remedy for the people's trouble in child birth (also called barrenness), A. M. Rajagopalan, the famous astrologer, suggests that they visit the Navabrundhaavana and perform Sankalpa Parihaara (a kind of Prayer) while walking around the nine tombs (without crossing the yellow line) twelve times and light a lamp using pure cow ghee at the Shreenivaasa Shrine within the Navabrundhaavana. This will resolve the astrological barrier (Dosha) on child birth.

Pilgrims visiting Navabrindhavana Shrine have experienced Miracles here ^[1]

Kindly avoid crossing the yellow line around the nine shrines[]

In order to maintain peace and politeness around the Jeevasamaadhi of the nine shrines, a yellow circle is painted on the ground in front of the shrines. The pilgrims are requested to offer their prayers, in front of this line, to the Madhwa Saints. Please avoid crossing this line to avoid disturbing the meditation of the holy saints.

Raama showed the Navabrundhaavana Island to Lakshmana[]

When Raama and Lakshmana were in search of Seeta, Raama pointed out an island (called 'Navabrundhaavana' now) to Lakshmana and suggested to him to perform Namaskaara to the island, as it would be a sacred place in the future, when nine powerful saints born on different occasions would come down to stay there to perform their holy meditation.

Taara visits the Navabrundhaavana off and on[]

Even now, it is believed, Taara (wife of Sugreeva) visits - as a star - the Navabrundhaavana - from the sky; and makes a circle in the sky before disappearing. Many of the villagers say that they see a star travelling towards the Navabrundhaavana from the Taara Parvata (the mountain next to Anegundi)

Vandalism Incident[]

Miscreants vandalized the Vyasaraja thirtha brindavana on 18 July 2019.^[2] Quick reconstruction efforts were carried out by hundreds of volunteers of the madhva community and state of karnataka. Later, police arrested inter state thieves within 3 days who accepted their fault of vandalizing^[3]

Travel[]

City of Anegundi Map

• Travel to Gangavati City which is located in Karnataka:
  • Regular buses are available from Bangalore to Gangavati
  • Trains are available from Bengaluru and Chennai to reach Hospet and it is easy to commute to Gangavati through bus or car
  • Nearby Airport is Hubli and there are few flights from Bangalore to Hubli and it is flexible to commute to Gangavati/Anegundi using Cars or Bus services
• Reach Anegundi village from Gangavati in a 25-minute journey using auto, car or bus from Gangavati bus stand and walk towards the river shore (refer to the Anegundi Map location 19)
• Take a boat from Anegundi to reach Navabrindhavana

Routes:

Train route:

From Bengaluru to Hosapete:

Bengaluru - Hubballi Hampi express passes through Hosapete daily.

From Chennai to Hosapete by train :

Option 1:

Chennai to Guntakal (Mumbai trains are passing through this station) and Guntakal to Hosapete trains are available by daily.

Option 2:

Chennai to Renigunta (Minimum 4 trains are available daily) and Renigunta to Hosapete train (Haripriya Express) is available by Daily.

Bus route:

Bangalore -Tumkur – Sira -Chitradurga – (moved from NH-4 to NH-13) – Hospet – Anegundi. Distance: approximately 365 km

An Alternate route from Chennai is:

Chennai – Tirupati – Anantapur (all along NH205); Anantapur – Gooty (on NH7); Gooty – Bellary – Hospet (on NH63) – Anegundi

Direction to visit from Mantralaya to Navabrindhavana:

The direction of travel by road is as follows,

By KSRTC bus, you can travel to Raichur from Mantralayam( 1.5 hrs travel). From Raichur, board KSRTC bus to Ganagvathi (3 hrs travel). From there you can reach Anaegundhi (20 mins travel) by local bus.

Boat waiting at Anegundi rivershore for pilgrims to travel towards Navabrindhavan Island in a 10 minutes boat journey

References[]