A Parivar project in Karnataka: take over a Sufi shrine in Chickmagalur

(Frontline, Dec. 19, 1998 - Jan. 01, 1999)

THE STATES

A Parivar project in Karnataka

The Bajrang Dal makes an attempt to whip up communal frenzy and take over a Sufi shrine in Karnataka's Chickmagalur district.

PARVATHI MENON
in Baba Budan Giri

DEVOTEES, both Hindu and Muslim, have resumed visits to the remote Sufi shrine of Guru Dattatreya Baba Budan Swamy Dargah in the Baba Budan Giri range of mountains in Karnataka's Chickmagalur district. The threat to the shrine and the routine worship there, posed by the fundamentalist Bajrang Dal, has passed for the time being. The Bajrang Dal had undertaken to "cleanse" the shrine of its Sufi heritage by enforcing Hindu rites and rituals.

It appears that the last-minute decision by the Bajrang Dal leadership to call off the campaign to "liberate" this ancient place of common worship was dictated by the outcome of the November 25 elections to the legislative Assemblies of three States and Delhi. In these elections the Bharatiya Janata Party faced its worst electoral defeat in recent times.

An organisation that operates almost entirely outside the law, the Bajrang Dal announced its presence for the first time in Karnataka with a campaign of intimidation and assault against nuns and students of convent schools in several towns and cities in the State in July this year (Frontline, December 4, 1998). The Baba Budan Giri is the second major Hindutva "cause" that the Bajrang Dal in Karnataka has espoused. It announced a plan to "liberate" the shrine from what it viewed as Muslim control on December 3, Dattatreya Jayanti day. Ananth Kumar Hegde, BJP Member of Parliament from Karwar, threatened to organise "suicide squads" to ensure the success of this campaign. This communally motivated and illegal project of the Bajrang Dal was endorsed also by the leadership of the other components of the Sangh Parivar, such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

On December 3, vehicles carrying young slogan-shouting men who sported saffron bandanas and neckscarves, arrived at the shrine, evoking memories of what happened in Ayodhya six years ago. The crowd, which shouted pro-Hindu, anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan slogans, strutted and postured for the benefit of the media, even as the large contingent of security forces that guarded the shrine watched. The crowd grew aggressive as it grew in size. Although the Bajrang Dal had announced that 25,000 volunteers would visit the shrine that day, only 8,000-10,000 activists actually came. Even this was beyond the leadership's expectations. The security forces, which had been instructed to exercise restraint, allowed the volunteers to hoist saffron flags atop the shrine. Attempts by the organisers to install a two-foot idol of Ganesha was stopped by District Commissioner K.S. Manjunath. The organisers held a public meeting on the hillside, where speakers called for Dattatreya puja to be performed every Thursday.

The Bajrang Dal was, however, forced to shelve its original plan to take over the Baba Budan Giri shrine in an Ayodhya-like action. With the stunning public rejection of the BJP in its traditional strongholds in the Assembly elections, the Sangh Parivar could not risk a further erosion of its image, which a forcible takeover of a peaceful place of worship would have certainly resulted in. This was all the more so in a State like Karnataka, which is an important and growing base for the BJP in the South.

K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
Bajrang Dal men plant saffron flags near the Baba Budan Giri shrine on December 3.

In addition to the BJP's election defeat, the apparent determination of the State's Janata Dal Government too helped prevent the threatened storming of the shrine. The police and the paramilitary forces, numbering almost 2,000, ringed the shrine for the three days of Dattatreya Jayanti (December 1 to 3) celebrations. The forces included 25 platoons of the Karnataka State Reserve Police, and one company each of the Rapid Action Force and the Special Striking Force. In charge of the situation were Inspector-General of Police B.Y. Bhosle, five Additional Superintendents of Police and 15 Deputy S.Ps. While this indicated the resolve of the J.H. Patel Government to deal firmly with communal forces that threatened to disturb law and order, this alone could not have prevented an Ayodhya-like situation from taking place, had the Bajrang Dal decided to press on with its original programme. The calculated gamble of the State Government to allow nearly 10,000 Hindutva activists, who outnumbered the security personnel four to one, to visit the shrine paid off.

The dargah is but a small cave located on one of the highest peaks of the Baba Budan Giri range. Commanding a spectacular view of the few remaining shola forests of southern India, the dargah is visited annually by lakhs of devotees, especially during the Urs festival in March. Believed to be one of the earliest centres of Sufism in South India, it is said to have been founded by Hazrat Dada Hayath Meer Khalandar, a disciple of the Prophet Muhammad, who came to this region with his followers and set up camp in this cave. The early history of the region is veiled in legend and myth, but that the region was a centre of Sufic tradition is historically undisputed. There is a line of disciples of the original Dada Khalandar, whose names appear in inscriptions, grants and endowments of the several Hindu and Muslim ruling dynasties of Karnataka from the medieval period onwards. Baba Budan, after whom the hill range is named, was one of the disciples of Dada Khalandar. It is believed that he came from Mocha in Arabia and brought with him coffee seeds, which he introduced in the region.

K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
The entrance to the cave-shrine, surrounded by security forces.

In peaceful coexistence with the Sufic tradition is a body of legend and oral traditions that are Hindu in origin. According to this, Dattatreya, believed to be an avatar of Vishnu, meditated in this region, and finally vanished into the cave. Dada Khalandar is himself, according to this legend, known as Dattatreya Swami. Forms of worship are equally syncretic. Devotees break coconuts and offer flowers at the shrine. The priest who performs the worship inside the shrine, called the Mujavar, is a Muslim. He lights the lamp in the inner chamber of the cave where Dada Khalandar/Dattareya is supposed to have meditated, and gives teertha (consecrated water) to the devotees. The shrine has been managed by the Sajjade Nisheen, a post that has passed from father to son through a family that traces its lineage to the Prophet's family. In addition to what is believed to be the seat (peetha/chilla) of Dada Khalandar/ Dattatreya, the cave contains four tombs, which are of the disciples of Dada Khalandar. A small opening in a wall at the back of the cave is said to be from where Dada Khalandar left for Mecca (Hindus believe that Dattatreya left for Kashi through this opening). In another part of the dargah is the seat of Mama Jigni, also believed to have been a follower of Dada Khalandar. Here people take vows, a practice common to most Sufi shrines.

THE pressure exerted by Hindu communal elements to "Hinduise" worship at the shrine is not of recent origin. The observance of a day every year as Dattatreya Jayanti, when Hindu priests could conduct puja in the shrine, began as recently as 10 years ago, according to the present Sajjade Nisheen, Syed Peer Mohamed Shakhadri. "Hindus worship here in lakhs, but the demand to Hinduise the shrine grew after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992," the Shakhadri said. "About 10 years ago they approached us to allow Dattatreya Jayanti to be celebrated. We said that there was no problem as it was done outside the shrine with some bhajans and prayers." But two years ago Dattatreya Jayanti became a three-day affair; it was earlier a day's celebration. During these three days a statue and a picture, supposedly of Dattatreya are put on a peetha, which is covered in saffron instead of the customary green cloth. Puja is performed by Brahmin priests in addition to the twice-a-day prayers conducted by the Mujavar.

K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
Prakash Sharma, all-India general secretary of the Bajrang Dal, addresses a public meeting in Chickmagalur town on December 2.

By seeking to "liberate"' the shrine, the Bajrang Dal decided that it would enforce Hindus' right to offer prayers at the shrine, as if that right was ever disallowed. A 'Datta-treya Puja Samiti' was formed two years ago by the VHP. This year, the organisers announced that 25,000 volunteers would visit the shrine on December 3. When it became apparent that they would not be able to mobilise such numbers, owing to the widespread criticism their campaign had attracted, the leaders agreed to the district administration's plans to resolve the issue. At a peace committee meeting on November 25, Bajrang Dal and VHP leaders agreed to put their original plans on hold following a promise from State Education Minister Govinde Gowda (who is also the Minister in charge of Chickmagalur district) to look into their demands.

For the Hindutva organisations, the change of plans seems only a tactical measure. Their final goal is to make the shrine a Hindu one, which Muslims can visit, if they so wish.

K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
Syed Peer Mohamed Shakhadri, the Sajjade Nisheen, the hereditary administrator of the shrine.

"They are making this into a Muslim shrine," Prakash Sharma, all-India general secretary of the Bajrang Dal, told Frontline. "They have taken away the trishul and a sacred tulasi platform that belonged to Swami Dattatreya. There are no accounts kept for the shrine. This should be a Hindu shrine where Muslims can also come. For this we will mobilise Hindus and force the Government to agree to our demands." Sharma's language was less temperate at a public meeting organised the previous day in Chickmagalur town. "If Allah and Christ do not accept Saraswati Vandana, why should our Dattapeetha accept Muslims?" he shouted from a platform shared by the State convener of the Bajrang Dal Pramod Muthalik, Jaya Basavananda Swami of the Basava Peetha, VHP secretary Baburao Desai, State and local level leaders of the RSS, and the heads of the four rath yatras which had converged on Chickmagalur from different parts of the State.

Unlike in the case of the Babri Masjid, there is no legal ambiguity over the status of the shrine, its management and the forms of worship that are to be followed. The Bajrang Dal and the VHP speak as if there is a dispute about its status. Their frequent references to a so-called High Court judgment in favour of "Hinduising" the shrine is a resort to falsehood. The Karnataka High Court had, in 1980, passed a judgment on the shrine whereby it dismissed an appeal to hand over the shrine from the control of the Muzrai department to the Karnataka Board of Wakfs. Delivering their order, Justice D.P. Hiremath and Justice N.D.V. Bhat observed: "The suit institution, the Guru Dattatreya Baba Budan Swami Dargah, stands aloft as a shining example of the true secularism in this world divided so sharply on narrow caste, communal or religious consideration".