Bangalore, March 13: An influential group of Dalits and backward class members plans an awareness campaign about Mahishasura, who they claim was an "indigenous" king and gave Mysore its name but was maligned as a demon by the upper castes.
The trigger for the decision by the Backward Classes Awareness Forum, which represents all lower castes, is Union minister Smriti Irani's recent criticism of JNU students for observing Mahishasura Day on campus.
Dalits and some backward castes around Mysore claim to be descendants of the Mahisha Kula (Mahisha's clan) and revere Mahishasura, who has a huge statue near the famed Chamundeshwari Temple, 20km from Mysore.
Forum president K. Shivaramu told The Telegraph that his organisation had taken up the challenge of erasing the negative portrayal of Mahishasura in Hindu mythology.
"We shall organise a seminar in Bangalore to dispel the untruth that Mahishasura is a mythological figure and not a king who walked this land of Mysore in flesh and blood," he said.
The forum also plans to publish booklets in various languages to contest what Shivaramu described as "lies loaded against indigenous people like us who still admire Mahishasura".
According to the forum, the territory of Mahisha Mandala mentioned in two-millennia-old Buddhist texts later turned into Mahishana Ooru (Mahisha's Land) and eventually became Mysore.
Shivaramu had earlier led a campaign against the Made Snana (pronounced "madey snana"), a ritual at some south Karnataka temples during which Dalits roll their torsos over the leftovers of meals eaten by Brahmins in the belief that it would cure them of diseases.
Shivaramu's campaign has the support of the state president of the Dalit Sangarsh Sena, N. Murthy, who had steered the community into observing a one-off Mahishasura Dasara (Dussehra) about a decade ago.
According to mythology, Mahishasura was an asura (demon) with a mahisha's (buffalo) body who defeated the gods, prompting them to create the goddess Chamundeshwari (Durga) to slay him.
But many backward communities worship mythological demons such as Mahishasura and Ravan, and believe that they were historical, "indigenous" kings maligned by the "Aryans" because their rise threatened Brahminical dominance.
JNU has been holding Mahishasura Day every October since 2011, mainly as a seminar to debate caste issues, but Irani told Parliament the festival has hurt the sentiments of Durga worshippers.
"Irani exposed her ignorance about our history and traditions. Even if they treat Mahishasura only as a myth, he deserves some respect because some communities revere him. Why would Mysore have a statue of this ' asura' otherwise?" Murthy said.
He said Irani's speech had reinvigorated Dalits to establish the "real history of the indigenous people".
Shivaramu said he had drawn inspiration from Kannada books on Mahishasura by Sidda Swamy, a Mysore-based writer.
Swamy claims that Mahishasura lived between the 2nd and 3rd century BC, ruling a vast land that included today's Mysore.
"Mahisha Mandala became Mahisha Pura and Mahisha Nadu before it came to be known as Mysuru (Mysore) sometime around AD1499," he said.
"Mahisha Mandala was a Buddhist land that finds mention in the Markandeya Purana, Devi Bhagavatha and Skanda Purana (all of them Hindu texts), none of which are charitable about him."
Swamy plans to release his eighth book, Maha Mahisha Parva, during Dasara this year.
"When others celebrate the slaying of Mahishasura, I shall release my book to throw more light on why he was a great king," he said.
But Mysore-based historian Sheikh Ali, known for his authoritative works on Tipu Sultan, questioned Mahishasura's historical provenance.
"Yes, Mysore is derived from Mahishasura but there's no historical evidence that he was a real king," he said.
Ali said that Mammadi Krishnadevaraya Wodeyar, then ruler of Mysore, may have built the Mahishasura statue at the Chamundi Hills sometime after 1799.
Veteran archaeologist R. Gopal agreed with Ali, saying: "There's no evidence to suggest that Mahishasura was a real king."
