Hundreds of followers of Jayatirtha, a disciple of Madhwacharya, staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Yadgir on Thursday and expressed anger over the Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt in Mantralayam, Andhra Pradesh, for not acknowledging the presence of the Moolabrindavana of Jayatirtha in Malkhed, Sedam taluk of Kalaburagi district, but saying that it was at Navabrindavana at Anegundi in Koppal district.
Pandit Narasimhacharya Puranik and Pandit Satyabodhacharya Ghatali, representatives of Uttaradi Mutt, who led the protesters, said that Jayatirtha, who is known as Teekacharya, was a Hindu philosopher, dialectician, polemicist and the sixth head of the Madhwacharya peetha. 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 Madhwacharya, they said.
The protesters also said that his contribution to philosophy was immense as he toured the entire country and propagated the Dvaita philosophy and finally, he came to Malkhed village in Kalaburagi district where he was buried near the Kagina riverbank in the village 600 years ago. Since then, the brindavan of Jayatirtha has become a holy place and over a lakh people from across the country participate in the aaradhana every year.
