Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti of
Kundalpur & Hirdaynagar
Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti mentioned in the BDJ
Directory account is a historic person. Several idols in the region mention him
as the presiding Bhattaraka. He is specially associated with the Pateriaji
Tirth temple 9 where idols installed by him in sam. 1839 and
1844 are present. The temple at Pateriaji is also thought to have been his
residence, at least for some time. There was a gaddi (seat) in a room of the
temple signifying official residence of the Bhattaraka. According to the
legends, some miraculous events at Pateriaji are associated with him. During
the pratishtha of sam. 1939, a kunda (well) was dug according to his
instructions. The water of that kund had miraculously turned into ghee. A
column near Pateriaji temple is said to have been blessed by Mahendrakirti. It
is believed that embracing the column cures fevers.
In Chhatarpur, three brass idols of sam 1835, a
Parshvanath idol in the crown of goddess Padmavati, a meru with 16 Jinas and a
manastambha, mention installation by
Mahendrakirti 10.
It is clear that Bhattaraka Surendrakirti was the
reigning Bhattaraka when the temple at Kundalpur was rediscovered and rebuilt.
Thus Mahendrakirti cannot be the Bhattaraka who discovered the temple. It may have been Bhatttaraka Surendrakirti
himself who had discovered the Kundalpur temple, or it may have been one his
pupils, perhaps Brahma Dharmasagar.
The Kundalpur region was once in the domain of the
Kalachuri kings. Jainism was quite popular during the long Kalachuri rule, many
Jain idols from the Kalachuri period have been found. However after the
Kalchuri rule, very few Jains stayed in the region. Jain temples were abandoned
and forgotten. After the Kalchuris, the power passed to the Gond kings. The
Bundela king Chhatrasal wrested this region from the Gonds. Before his death in
sam. 1787, he bequeathed a two-thirds of his lands to his two sons and and one
third to the Peshwa (leader of the Maratha confederacy). As a result around
sam. 1787 the region came under Maratha rule. Many of the administrators who
came with the Maratha forces were from the Jain communities of the Bundelkhand
region. Enforcement of a single administration over a wide geographic area
encouraged many Jains to emigrate to Damoh-Jabalpur region.
The shift in trading activity may have caused
decline of Chanderi as a commercial center, which may have caused the decline
of the prestige of the Chanderi seat. In any case, increasing numbers of Jains
settling in Damoh-Jabalpur region caused rekindling of religious activity in
the region.
While Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti may not have been the
person to discover or rebuild the Kundalpur temple, it does seem that he was
responsible for transforming Kundalpur into a major tirtha. He probably spent
prolonged periods in both Garhakota (formerly called Hirdaynagar named after
Bundela ruler Hirdeshah, son of Maharaja Chhatrasal). The BDJ Directory gives a
complete list of temples at Kundalpur with the names and towns of the builders.
It mentions that some of the builders at Kundalpur lived in Hirdaynagar. Thus it appears that both Kundalpur and
Hirdaynagar were both in the domain of Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti. In Kundalpur,
traditionally the first temple on the hill visited is called the Chhaigaria
temple. It was built by Maniram Chhaigaria of Hirdaynagar. Pt. Mohanlal
Kavyatirth 11 estimated that it might have been built about
250 years ago. It contains two charana-padukas in addition to 9 idols 1.
Maniram Chhaigaria also built another shrine containing another charan-paduka.
It is believed that the charan-padukas represent the bhattarakas who
administered over the Kundalpur region. It is likely that one of them belongs
to Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti.
None of inscriptions mentioning Mahendrakirti give
the name of his predecessor, with the exception of a vijay-meru at Kundalpur dated sam 1842 1. It
mentions bhattarakas Mahendrakirti and Surendrakirti. It appears that
Mahendrakirti was successor of a Bhattaraka named Surendrakirti. There are two
inscriptions mentioning a Bhattaraka Surendrakirti of sam. 1833, one in
Chanderi, the other in Kundalpur 8. Both are identical metal
idols of Lord Chandraprabh. It is unlikely this Surendrakirti was the same
Surendrakirti mentioned in Br. Namisagar inscription of sam. 1757, because that
would make his duration from sam. 1744-1833, an unusually long duration. It
seems that the Surendrakirti of sam. 1833 was actually Surendrakirti of
Chittor-Amer-Jaipur seat 12. Manju Chaudhari, a Parwar
shravak born in Bundelkhand, had risen
to become representative of the Maratha Bhonsle court of Nagpur in
Orissa in sam. 1807 13. In sam. 1836 he had invited a
Bhattaraka Surendrakirti to Katak where he had composed Jyeshta-Jinavar-Puja-Vrata-Katha.
This Surendrakirti is considered by Dr. Jyotiprasad Jain to be a Bhattaraka of
Chittor-Amer-Jaipur seat.. It is possible that Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti was a
pupil of this Surendrakirti, who had arrived with his guru but had stayed in
Garhakota-Kundalpur area to fill the vacuum created by the decline of the
Chanderi bhattarakas. Nothing is known about any successors to Bhattaraka
Mahendrakirti. Further research is needed to identify the predecessor and the
successors of Bhattaraka Mahendrakirti with certainty.
It should be noted that another Mahendrakirti
belonged to the Chittor-Amer-Jaipur line of Balatkargana-Sarasvatigachchha was
inaugurated Bhattaraka at Delhi in sam. 1792. He was succeeded by
Kshemendrakirti in 1815. This Mahendrakirti cannot be thus the Mahendrakirti of
Kundalpur and two Bhattarakas are distinct.