page_title: Manik Prabhu
section_title: Travel and Pilgrimage
hierarchical_section_title: Manik Prabhu / Travel and Pilgrimage
caption_attribution_description: English: a painting of Manik Prabhu
context_page_description: Manik Prabhu Maharaj was an Indian Hindu saint, philosopher, poet, mystic and guru. He is also regarded as an incarnation of Dattatreya by the people of Datta Sampraday. Prabhu's philosophy, the "Sakalamata Siddhanta" basically rests on the principles of Advaita Vedanta as propagated by Adi Sankara. Shri Prabhu strongly advocated the essential oneness of all religions. Prabhu's Muslim Devotees revered him as an incarnation of Mehboob Subhani whereas his Lingayat devotees saw him as a form of Basavanna. Shri Prabhu composed numerous Bhajans and Padas in various languages such as Marathi, Kannada, Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit. Shri Prabhu was also associated with the First war of Indian Independence in 1857. Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi, Shri Swami Samarth of Akkalkot, Shri Bramhachaitanya of Gondavale and many other contemporary saints are believed to have visited Maniknagar to interact with Prabhu on matters of deep spiritual wisdom. All biographers refer to Shri Prabhu as a saint of great spirituality and mysticism. Shri Prabhu's teachings basically lay stress on the path of Bhakti.
context_section_description: After leaving home, Prabhu stayed and performed penance at Amrutkund - a holy place in the jungles near Manthal for six months. Devotees believe that Bhagawan Dattatreya, disguised as a 'Bairagi' once visited Prabhu at Amritkund and gave him 'Danda', 'Deeksha' and 'Jholi', mandating his future journey as a wandering Yogi and an itinerant messenger of Truth. From here, he started travelling and visiting places of religious importance in the region. According to a legend, he once arrived at Chalakapur, a small village near Bidar during his wanderings. The Sun had already set and he had no place to stay at night. On the outskirts of the village, he saw a temple dedicated to Hanuman. The people of this village did not visit this temple after nightfall due to the fear of dacoits, thieves and wild animals. Prabhu arrived at this temple and planned to stay there for the night. He packed his clothes and other belongings in a cloth and safely deposited them on Shri Hanuman's Moorthi before sleeping in a corner of the temple. Next morning, the Poojari arrived and was enraged to see that a young person had kept his belongings on the holy idol's shoulders. He woke Shri Prabhu up and asked him why he had done so. Prabhu said "He who takes care of the whole world can easily take care of my belongings in this desolate place, therefore i kept it with the lord". The Poojari's anger knew no bounds and he started beating Shri Prabhu with a stick. It is believed that blood started oozing out of the Hanuman idol when the Poojari beat Prabhu. Seeing wounds appearing on Hanuman's idol, the poojari thought that Prabhu is none other than Hanuman in Human form and begged for his forgiveness. Prabhu forgave him and asked him never to be harsh with devotees. He stayed at Chalakapur for a few months and people started flocking to him for his Darshan. He arrived at Mailar near Bidar after leaving Chalakapur. It his here that he met Devi Venkamma or Madhumati Shyamala, his desiple (a Yogini revered as a Devi by Shri Manik Prabhu's devotees), for the first time. Prabhu stayed at Mailar for a few months and like Chalakapur, thousands of people started gathering to take a glimpse of Shri Prabhu. After leaving Mailar, Prabhu proceeded to Bhalki. Prabhu is said to have performed penance in the jungles near Bhalki. Some accounts suggest that Prabhu taught Devi Venkamma 'Samadhi' & 'Yoga' in the jungles of Bhalki. He then visited Chitguppa where he is said to have given darshan to his devotees in the divine form of Lord Basaveshwara.
  Prabhu sent all his followers and shishyas to Kalyan and then set out for his spiritual journey across the country. Prabhu travelled on foot as a wandering Yogi across the length and breadth of the country covering all places of religious importance such as Varanasi, Haridwar, Mathura, Badri, Puri, Dwarka, Girnar, Tirupati and Rameshwaram. Some of his Muslim Devotees believe that he visited the Shrine of Mehboob Subhani at Baghdad (Iraq) during his travels in North India. Prabhu also visited Pandharpur, Tuljapur, Ganagapur, Kolhapur and other major temples of the Deccan region. According to Ganesh Raghunath Kulkarni (Prabhu's official biographer), The River Chandrabhaga was flooded When he visited Pandharpur. Prabhu's devotees believe that Panduranga himself came in the form of a boatman and took Prabhu to the other side of the river and then disappeared. When he visited the Vitthala Temple, he had worn dirty and torn clothes. The Pundits thought that he was a beggar and denied him entry to the Temple. When he tried to forcefully enter the temple, the pundits beat him. It is believed that a Floral garland came from Panduranga's idol and fell on Shri Prabhu. The Pundits realised that Prabhu was some divine being and beg him for forgiveness. Prabhu took Lord Vitthala's Darshan and stayed at Pandharpur for many days. while describing his Pandharpur visit, Prabhu himself says in an abhanga - 'कडकडोनि माणिकदास विट्ठलासी भेटले'. During his countrywide travel, he composed numerous bhajans in praise of various deities in Marathi, Kannad
caption: a painting of Manik Prabhu
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