Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c13.53
Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c13.53
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v2.c13.53.1
§ 71. The popular Vaiṣṇavism of the Marāṭha country centres itself round the shrine of Viṭhobā at Paṇḍharpur, which is a city situated on the banks of the Bhīmā or Bhīmarathī. The full name of the god is Viṭṭhal, which is not a Sanskrit name, but the etymology is clear enough. It is stated that the corruption of the Sanskrit name Viṣṇu in the Canarese language is Viṭṭhu, and this looks probable, since Kṛṣṇa is corrupted into Kuṣṭa in the Goanese dialect and Kuṭṭa, Kiṭṭi, or Kṛṣṭa in the Canarese, and we have seen that Viṣṇu, the first portion of the name of the Hoysala prince Viṣṇuvardhana, was corrupted to Viṭṭi or Biṭṭi¹. The terminations bā and la are appended to the name Viṣṇu or Viṭṭhu to indicate additional sense such as tenderness or reverence. When the shrine was established we have not the means of determining, but we have clear evidence of its being in existence in the middle of the thirteenth century. In a copper-plate inscription of the reign of Kṛṣṇa of the Yādava dynasty of Devagiri it is stated that Malliseṭṭi a general and viceroy of the king made, while engaged on a military expedition, the grant of a village in the Belgaum district at Pauṇḍarīkakṣetra, a holy place situated on the Bhīmarathī, in the vicinity of the god Viṣṇu, in the year 1171 of the Śaka era corresponding to 1249 A. D.
v2.c13.53.2
² Now if the Pauṇḍarīkakṣetra was situated on the Bhīmarathī or Bhīmā river, it is certainly not unreasonable to suppose that is was the same as Paṇḍharī which is the alternative name of Paṇḍharpur; and the god in whose vicinity the grant was made must therefore have been Viṭṭhal, or Viṭhobā, here mentioned by his Sanskrit name and not the popular Canarese corruption. In another inscription on stone existing at Paṇḍharpur itself and dated 1192 Śaka, which corresponds to 1270 A. D., Bhānu, the son of Keśava, is represented to have performed an Aptoryāma sacrifice in Pāṇḍuraṅgapura in consequence of which crowds of people and Viṭṭhala together with the gods were greatly gratified¹. Here we have another name of Paṇḍharpur and that was probably given to it because it was the city of Pāṇḍuraṅga. Paṇḍaraṅga, or Pāṇḍuraṅga, is according to Hemacandra a name of Rudra or Śiva². And we have a temple of Śiva at Paṇḍharpur and pilgrims have to visit it first before going to that of Viṭhobā or Viṭṭhal. Pāṇḍuraṅga, which is the same as the Pāṇḍuraṅga of Hemacandra, is however in modern times a popular name for Viṭṭhal. Whether then the city was called Pāṇḍuraṅgapura on account of it containing the temple of Viṣṇu, or Viṭṭhal, or that of Śiva is doubtful.
v2.c13.53.3
But from the wording of the inscription in which Viṭṭhala and Pāṇḍuraṅgapura are mentioned independently it would appear as if Viṭṭhal had no connection with the name and that it was given to the city on account of its containing a Śiva temple. But when Viṭhobā's importance increased in later times so vastly that Śiva was thrown entirely into the shade, Pāṇḍuraṅga became identical with Viṭṭhala. The name Pauṇḍarīka occuring in the first inscription seems to owe its origin to a man named Puṇḍarīka, the popular legend about whom is to the following effect. The region about Paṇḍharpur was, it is said, a forest of the name of Diṇḍiravana. There lived a man of the name of Puṇḍalīka, who spent all his time in the service of his aged parents, and the god Kṛṣṇa was pleased with his devotion to them. In the meantime, while Kṛṣṇa was living at Dvārakā, he remembered Rādhā, who was the object of his fervent love while he was in Gokula. Rādhā, who had after Kṛṣṇa's leaving Gokula betaken herself to a residence in the Himālaya mountain for the practice of austerities in consequence of her separation from Kṛṣṇa, came to know of this through her innate cognitive power and came at once to Dvārakā and sat on the lap of Kṛṣṇa. Some time after, Rukmiṇī, the wedded wife of Kṛṣṇa, came to the place, and Rādhā did not rise up to honour her as every other woman in similar circumstances did at her approach.
v2.c13.53.4
Kṛṣṇa even did not take Rādhā to task for this dishonour of Rukmiṇī, and Rukmiṇī got offended, left Dvārakā and wandered about, until she came to Diṇḍiravana and rested there on the site of the modern Paṇḍharpur. Kṛṣṇa was filled with sorrow at the disappearance of Rukmiṇī and went about in quest of her to all parts of the country, until he came to the place where Rukmiṇī was lying. After some explanations she was reconciled to him, and Kṛṣṇa then went to the hut of Puṇḍalīka to reward him for his devotion to his parents by personal manifestation.