CHIKKAMAGALURU: At the religious meet, VHP Kshetriya Sanchalak Suryanarayan said the Datta Peetha has been a sacred place for Hindus from time immemorial and the VHP has been enlightening Hindus about the real history of the Peetha for the last 20 years.
“This is the place where the first Guru, Dattatreya, chanted the Vedas for his disciples. The Mysuru Wodeyars and Rani Keladi Channamma donated 200 acres to the cave shrine to conduct Trikala Pooja,” he said.
“All evidence and documents point to the fact that it is a Hindu Peetha. Hindu devotees should visit the cave shrine on every full moon day,” he said. Raghunath Guruji from Bengaluru said the Datta Peetha belongs to the Hindu religion and he would bring more than 1,000 devotees next time to the Datta Jayanti celebrations.
Sri Chandrashekara Shivacharya Swamiji, Sri Jayabasavananda Swamiji, Sri Jnanaprabhu Desikendra Swamiji, Sri Vrishabendra Swamiji and C T Ravi were present.
All you need to know about the issue
BJP leaders and Hindutva groups have been demanding that the controversial cave shrine atop Bababudangiri, near Chikkamagaluru, be declared a Hindu place of worship. To the north of Chikkamagaluru town is the Baba-Budan Range, which has one of the highest mountain peaks between the Himalayas and the Nilgiris. The range, originally known as Chandra Drona Parvatha, takes its current name from the Dattapeeta Cave and 17th century Sufi saint Baba Budan.
The saint took up residence here for more than 150 years ago and brought coffee seeds for the first time to India from Yemen.
The controversy was born in 1975 when the State government decided to transfer the shrine from the Muzrai Department to the Wakf Board. Till then, this had been a pilgrim place frequented by both Hindus and Muslims.
While Hindus treat it as the abode of Sri Guru Dattatreya Bababudanswamy, Muslims consider it the place of Dada Hayat Mir Qualandar.
(With inputs from online desk)