Dispute over the birthplace of Hanuman, two religious organisations face to face

Not two religions, but two Hindu trusts are face to face in the dispute, one from Andhra Pradesh and the other from Karnataka.

Hyderabad: The Ram Janmabhoomi debate has been resolved by the Supreme Court in November 2019, meanwhile a new dispute has emerged. This dispute is about the birthplace of Ram devotee Hanuman (Hanuman Janmabhoomi). However, this time there are no two religions in the dispute, but two Hindu trusts, one from Andhra Pradesh and the other from Karnataka.

Both these trusts claim the birthplace of Hanuman to be at different places. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) in Andhra Pradesh plans to organise celebrations to develop facilities at the Anjanadri temple and shrine in Tirumala Hills, where the ceremonial consecration of Hanuman was held on Rama Navami in April last year.

On the other hand, Sri Hanuman Janmabhoomi Theertha Kshetra Trust of Karnataka does not agree with this. The founder of the trust, Govindananda can reach Tirumala in the Saraswati case. The trust claims that the Valmiki Ramayana mentions that Hanuman was born at Ajjanahalli in Kishkindha, believed to be situated on the banks of the Tungabhadra river near Hampi. A debate was also held in May last year to resolve this dispute but no final result could be reached.

The TTD committee (headed by V Muralidhar Sharma, VC, National University of Culture, who passed away last month) clearly identified Anjanadri, now called Tirumala, as the birthplace of Hanuman in the Puranas and copper plate inscriptions. is mentioned in.

In April, TTD published a booklet outlining Anjanadri's claim, based on a report submitted by an eight-member panel set up in December 2020. The Teerth Kshetra Trust replied to the TTD in a six-page letter and the matter was debated. TTD makes its claim on the basis of mythological, literary, archaeological and geographical evidence accepted by scholars. TTD also claims that there is no evidence with the Tirth Kshetra Trust.

TTD CEO Jawahar Reddy, 'A visually impaired Swamiji from Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh had provided some solid evidence which will be included in Wednesday's celebrations.' Sharada Peethadhipati Swarupendra Saraswati, Rambhadracharya Maharaj of Tulsi Peeth in Chitrakoot, Govind Dev Giri, the owner of Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust are prominent among those who attended Wednesday's ceremony.