Manik Prabhu Samsthan, which celebrates Datta Jayanti and the Gyarahvi of Sufi saint Mehboob Subhani with equal fervour, was also associated with another epoch-making event in Indian history — the 1857 ‘First War of Independence’.
This and other contributions of the centre will be recalled when Manik Prabhu’s 200th birth anniversary will be celebrated on Datta Jayanti in December, says Sri Dnyanraj Manik Prabhu, seer of the samsthan. “We will pay homage to the spiritual and worldly contributions of Manik Prabhu Maharaj,” he told The Hindu .
This centre of ecclesiastical worship sheltered revolutionaries in 1857 and helped them build armies of angry peasants and youth disenchanted with the British regime. Ranga Rao, a messenger of Peshwa Nana Sahib of Bithoor, came to Manik Nagar in Bidar district and sought support for the movement. He stayed in Manik Nagar for eight days. The seer inspired revolutionaries in Humnabad and surrounding areas, raising an army against the British, said Sri Dnyanraj Manik Prabhu.
Proof of the involvement of this seat of spirituality is found in the book ‘Freedom Struggle in Hyderabad’, compiled by Setu Madhavrao Pagdi, who headed the Hyderabad State committee on documenting the freedom movement. There are mentions of Manik Prabhu’s support to the movement in the second volume of the book, brought out in 1956.
Manik Nagar was also the place where many youths learned the craft of war. “In the samsthan storehouse, we found around 1,200 lathis or yoga dands that were used for assault training,” said Chaitanyaraj Prabhu, junior seer of the samsthan.
Manik Nagar was the seat of the Arya Samaj movement, the Hindu reform movement promoting values and practices based on the infallibility of the Vedas. It had families devoted to the cause of the freedom and the Hyderabad-Karnataka liberation movements, said chronicler Gandharva Sena.
“Despite the fact that the Nizam of Hyderabad, who ruled this region, was not favourably inclined towards revolutionaries, Manik Prabhu Maharaj supported them,” Mr. Sena said.