Vaishnava Warriors of Medieval India

[dharamsingh]

I want to know some of the famous Vaishnava warriors in India during the Mughal Raj. Does anybody have any info on them?

[kettlelogic]

The closest I can see is Chatrapati Shivaji.. he was deeply influenced by Ramayana and Mahabharata. He had great respect and used to consult Vaishnava Saint Sri Ramdas.

[Banarasi]

I would suppose that many Rajputs were Vaishnava (e.g. Maharana Pratap) as Sant Tulsidas, Soordas, Mirabai and ShriVallabhacharya were contemporaries of Akbar and would definitely have influenced the kings.

As far as I know, Shri Valabhacharya established the Dwaraka temple with help from merchants and kings.

Jai Sitaram

[dharamsingh]

Hmm both of them are depicted with the Shaiv markings on the head, so chances are they are not Vaishnav.

[Sudarshan]

In his work called Sankalpasuryodaya, Srimad Vedanta Desika has eulogized a medieval warrior named Goppanna ( he was the minister of the king of Vijayanagara named Hariharaya) who strongly resisted the Muslim invasion of the South, and helped rescue several temple idols from being destroyed by Mallik Kaffur. This was a rare instance of "nara-stuti" in his works and it tells us how highly this general was regarded by Swami Desikan.

[Banarasi]

Namaskaaram:

Shivaji's guru was Shri Samartha Ramadas and was also attached to Sant Tukaram. So despite the markings depicted, I would guess that Shivaji was Vaishnav. As for Maharana Pratap, from what I have heard, he used to frequent Brindavan and also sought advice from Tulsidas... so again I would guess Vaishnav. On the other hand, I think Kshatriyas of North India traditionally pay their respect to Shiva (e.g. the war cry "Har Har Mahadev") and so I would not be surprised if they sport vibhuti on their foreheads.

Jai SitaRam