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~ ~ ~ 5 ~ ~ 1
THE
TR ADITIONAL
AGE I
I OF f
I SRI SANKARACHARYA I
W AND
THE MATHAS
I
I A NATA JA
AIYER
ND
I
ifl
S
LAKSHMINARASIMHA SASJRI
M A L T
I
I
I
/
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THE
TRADITIONAL AGE
of
SRI
SANKARACHARYA
and
THE MATHAS
y
A Nataraja Aiyer
and
S
Lakshminarasimha Sastri M.A.
L.T.
SRI KANCHI KAMAKOTI MUTT
K NCHEEPUR M
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I
0
PO LISHERS
First
Published
1962
Reprinted 1988
Revised
Edition
1992
Price Rs.
rinted r
M/s. Rajan Co.
l rlntrrs,
I Goomes Slrcct Madras . 100 001.
other
who
through
practice and
: precept have fostered the .. ..
. h o a r
y
A d v a
i i
c.
tradition thatwas bequeathed ....
to
posterity
by
the great hagavatpada
as a priceless legacy this
~ : t
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
{
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reface
This Book
is
an attempt to determine the
age of Sri Sankaracharya according to the ancient
Historic traditions preserved in the Mathas, which
are indeed as old as the Acharya. The facts we
have herein presented would
be
found to differ
considerably from the d tes assigned y
Historians. But if Historians have their own
reasons to believe that Sankara flourished in
788 to 820 A.D., we have equally
v l i d ~
or more
valid reasons to believe that Adi Sankara lived
during the period 509 to 477 B.
C.
We do not claim to be original inadvo
cating this date. Pioneers like the late lamented
T.
S.
Narayana Sastri Age of Sankara), and
Sri Kata Venkatachellam, and a host of other
scholars, h ~ v already proved that the date of
Sankara
is
509 to
477 B.C.
We are merely con
tent to follow their foot-steps.
The histories of the various Mathas have
been sketched, with the scanty ineterials that have
been made available to
us.
\Ve have primarily based our work on the
historic traditions as embodied in the Gururatna
Malika Sadasiva Brahmendra, and in the Susama
of Atma Bodha.
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1J1 i11 J
l
lulincss Sri Yog swar 11
-
l
I
111 11,
L
111karn
frnrya
f the
a
vardhana
Matha of
the Vimala Pitha of Jagannatha, for the
Acbarya Parampara of
the
Govardhana
Matha
that he
o graciou
Jy
favoured us with.
We are
also gratefu] to Sri E.
Rama Rao
of Bangalore who ha traced the recent rustory
of
Kudali (Appendix F .
f
this work should
arouse
a genuine
interest with
regru-d to
the hi
tory
of Sankara
and
the Mathas in
the minds of the inte Jigentsia
it
would, we believe have amply ju 'tified it
exi tence.
THE AUTHORS
ONTENTS
CHAPTER
Prelude
I The Bb.agavatpada
II. ...
ri Sankaracharya and the Mathas
T
he Bhagavatpada and the Kanchi Kama
II.
koti Pitha
V
Sureswaracharya and the Mathas
V
The Mathamnaya and the Kamakoti
Pitha
T
he Kamakoti Pitha through the Ages
I.
VII. Epilogue
APPENDIX A
The Traditional age of Sri Sankaracharya
,and the Math.as
APPENDIX
B
Southern Tours of the Acharyas of Amani
' and
Sringeri
APPENDJX C
The Vidyaranya Tangle
PAGE
46
5
73
100
113
141
147
155
161
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APPENDIX D
The
Acharya Parampara of Sringeri
The Acharya
Parampara of
KudaJi
The Acharya Parampara of Dwaraka
The Acharya
Parampara
of Govardhana
Matha of
Jagannatha
APPENDIX E
Places all over India, where the Acharyas
of the Kanchi Kamakoti Pitha attained
Brahmibhava
APPENDIX
F
The Vidyaghana - Abhinava Sankara
Tangle
APPENDIX G
A Succint Survey of the Sri Kudali
Sringcri
Mutt
PAGB
166
169
172
177
181
187
190
n
if;J: f
~ ' ~ ~ + . 1 1 ) i i ~
illlt
i f r ~ ~ l i
I
THE DATE OF SRI SANKARACHARYA AND
THE
CHRONICLE
OF THE MATHAS
A TRADITIONAL APPROACH
Prelude
~ i l ~ < w f f f i r 1 ; I T T i f f ~ ~ :
?Trfi ~ ' l i r . ( W i ? \ ~ l a T ~
R i t .
t
tlf t
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2
l
ul1'
111
uf'
l\nli Mllllkiu1 forP. r:rnw j;
1
t
11
0111 m1ds1
;i,,
1lH' gTPa1- 81mlrnrarh;11')'iL
llis
life
of
hut
thi1' .v-
iw.o
''1.
1
m.
11
ert-
.nsc of
the
term.
An
oft-qnotrd
verse sums up
hi> UI
>' < . F1 r, immediatel
r thereafter
Sank , -
f>tva1a.ka
,
founds
th
D
ak
a
ara
goes
to
oad 'n'k war a tha, then
r ~
to
D
n nBJ'ama and
fo els h ' >.
h
un
t e ,Jyotll' Matha, then reacllu;
t etl ast coast, :founds the
Go>ardhana
Matha then
turns
sou l-west
found
Sri '
3 d ' s ngen, finally arrives
at
Kanehi
h ~ u ~ f s the_ K1Uuakoti Pitha, stays there till the end
of
e,
nnd attains Videha Mukti
Tt
. .ld
th
th t tl fi \\Ou us appear
ar
a le
nal b hE> t of Oovinda Bhagavatpada was tl t
w.athd e e t 1 ~
d - - -
motlel
of th
o
Buddhist order and
cf. or er of
Hincl11::'
'"
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,.
l IIl'l't js the ,.-erdict
of
historians
o 'I'ho Cambodia Inscription of the Greatel' Indiu
n ontloru one Sivasom
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10
trr1111ItI1011
)
11
.
It to It
It U ' j flt I
/
U ' A C' ( ;jf,c Of S _ . . L . ~ - s b 1
11
' ' ' '
I nt1 ..
lN
flculh, fl20 A ..s
"
' ' " D. The clrronogimn
~ i v r f l {
i r . J r ~ ~
si
1
Jffi :rr:;Fb-
...
'
'
6-.
' ' ~ \ 1 \ ? I
{ l l. 'f
~ < J ; : r 1 ' i f l
..,
'
~ q ~ f i i Q f i :
I
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~
~ ~ :
I
~ J f g =
'88
3 which d,
y
f ..L '
i eve
l'S
e yields 3889
r s .
o
LUC
K
a
i or
3889
- 3
10
2=
7
, i e
.,
3889
anothe ,._
77-78 A.D.
' r cwonogra1n J h
4'...-' h wuc reads .
Lu L
IJJ es the d t IA ~ l i f i i f ~ -
A. D. a e
of
Sankara's
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12
sUlli,as;. 'l'his is
palpah
ly
uhstu
d. TbNi{' stotras
can
~ v e 1 be
r,ttributed to
n k ~ u a
ru1 (loctrines
pre-existed long before their
f:imr Hrmw, i i h;
thl
irnc.ien t cfoct1inC's that are
refuted
and not hr
.A i aD$?'n
or J)inu aga or
Nagarjum1
brand
of tut\, doc1l'ines.
Trum.:
i.
11lso
the otlier a.
p(>(t
or
111
1' r1t1ar;tion C' im
Wt>
be
qtri1c sme thnf the
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14
~ ~ ~ f i t ~ ~ ffi?r
~ m i i - f . i f
f < t o r ~ r f . r l f
~
t ' l r ~ 1 f i f a : t 1 M 8 f s t a c t i i E - . b r l l - g ' f ~ ~ ~ o r : 1
Now every
activity of_ this
Abhin11\-;1
~ a u k a n b o i ( ~
such
clOSc
and
striking rcsemblanC c to th well
kn
own life
19Jfill of
Adi Sankara may lie
1 (\tainecl. Abhi
nava
Sankara
is tl1e refore madr
to
i lir
twenty
yPai'IJ
15
~ a r l i e r .
Thus
a branch
of Sringeri
tradition
fi:ires
the
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16
uid
d by u
1
1
1
.
ti d IV 111011 w h ~ n it
ts about
. .
th
1
10
11
ut plunf't,s l .
L
i
< l e s e r i b m ~
we
tme o Sankara.. bU'th
~ m u ~ a t
~ i t :
~ ~ S l i l ~ f ; ~
~ f i r w r ~ ~ r
:q'
~ i t u
. (.Matll1a1 iya. Sankara Vijaya 72J
Arya.mba gav1 birth . .
whe
th S.
Io
a.
sou
rn
an
arn;pieious
Lagn
. g
o any on .
of
the Indi '
mdee
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18
1
fir 1t,1,,yed
centurie
ago.
Can
it
be argued . t ~ t ,
w
we a1lu lt to these cities, we must bnve b e . ~ n .livmg
,before
their
destruction 1 This " P a t a l i p u ~ r a " ev1dene_e
is least convincing, :>ince
Sankara's
allu ton to ~ a ~ 1
iputra could neither prove his
anteriority
nor postenor1ty.
n
wonld be
1
too hazardous
to
ba8e
any
theory on such
;:u11depcnd.ible assumptions.
III. There is again a passage in
the
same
Bhasya
.-011 fh
R1alnllnsur.rru which runs thus
.; ~ ~ i l ' {TGTT ~ S l t ' l i ' i f < P l o l t s ~ < I : . ( { 4 ~ ~ ~
J J ~ ~ r ' l ~ c p c < n ~ ' 1 l u ~ r ~ l l < r ~ f u < f q ~ l f ; : i 1
(U
: lt
18).
'rhe topic under discussion is the i m p o i : ; ~ i b i l i t y of. any
1-
...
ex
1
stent and
a
non-existent. To
illus-
assoe1ation
u e ~ w e e n an
. .
tnt t
the
point,
the Bhagavatpada
dra.ws attent10n
tothe
, ahstndity
of a
statement such
as
" P u r n ~ v a 1 1 m m succeed
.ed a barren woman's son." The tnntlon of a barren
\';ross
two Purnavarmans.
.ous ynas ies
" l ' h - ~ r o
is
a.
Purnn.va.rman
mentioned il" a.
Ja'l[a
copper
plate inscription. This Purnava.rman c ~ u 1 ~ n o ~ hr.ve
had
anything
to do
with
Sankara , since. he hve-a m. iar
off Jav:':t.
Another Purnavarman
is mentioned by H1eung
"l'sang
as having
ruled over
Western M a ~ a d h a .
And
:Sirice Sankara wrote 'his Bhasyas
in
Varanasi (Benares),
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22
-
489
B.C.
This
IIala was
a contemporary of
Nara, of
the Kashmir Gonanda dynasty, whom the Raja
'l'ata
ngini'
mentions. Hence, Purnava.rman could not have been the
~ o n t e m p o i a r y of
Sankara,
Pumarnrman is
just
an
imaginary
figure;
just
like 'rom,
nick or
H a r r ~ '
Ent tll.' Jiina. la
(V-0l.
1-3)
would have
it Lha.t Purn.11 ...
varman
was a real historic personage
and
identical
with
liala,
who was the 74th
ruler
of Magadha.
t
is
Sfii(l:
that Hala
was also kno,n1
by
the surname Puma from
the Yayu Purana
verse :
~ m : l t i f ~ ~ t l _oTT ~ r e t ~
l l ~ f f i
I
where iflf is the surname of HaJa.
I f ,
therefore,
Purna or
Pm1iayarman and
lfah l1C'
identical, that would be a further confirmation of the
traditional
date of
Sankara.
IV.
The l\Iadhaviya
$ankaravjjaya
makes Sn nlrnra
a contempo rary of Bana,
Mayura and
Dandi
in v the:
slo1rn
:
. 'fi'.nflil::rtf;;cr J
~ f u ; a 1 f ; q 3 1 . T r ; : i : _ ' l ' J U T ~ < . _ ( e f l J G ' l ~ ~
1 f u ~ m )
~ ~ i l 1 f ~ ~ 1 ; r w ~ ~ M ~ i f l l l T ~ ' l i t ~ < f i T {
I
(Sa
rgu
15
. 141.
)'
Professms \Veber, Buhler and Max Muller have fixed
the
date of
Dandi at
the
end of
the _6th
century A.
D.
Bana and
l\'Iaynra are also known
to
have li
"Cd
in
the
beginning of
the 7th
century. Hence
Sankara
must have
lived towards the end
of
the 6th and the beginning of
the 7th century.
This piece of independent evidences is
said
to
confirm
the date of
P n r n a y a
The biggest flaw
in
the
argument
is,
e-0uld the
highly
spurious
:i'.fadhavi.va Sankara
Vijaya
be relied upon when
it makes Bana, 1\fayura and Dandi tlie cont< mvoraries
of Sankara t
makes Srikantliacharya
(of the llth;
23
century) and
Abhinava
gn
pta
(of the 10th century)
also
contemporaries of S a ~ k a r a .
Can
this be soberly accepted
The Madhaviya Sankaravija.ya makes
everJ
one,
from
Adam
to fjisenhower,
a
contemporary
of
Sankara.
t
is
highly risky to base one's
arguments
on this highly
anachr onistic work. This work itse lf is a
. h u g ( ~
:rnar.hro
nism, since
the author (or
authors)
of it,
who lived
in
the . e:arly years this century have fathered
the
work'
on
Vidyaranya of the
14th century
This
pseudo-biography, passing
under the
impressive
title
l\fadhaviya
Sankaravijaya,
is
neither
MaclliaYiy:i _nor
Sankaravijaya
Though foisted
on the
.
devotecl. head of
l'lfodhavacharya,
or
Vidya,ranya, it is
really
a much
later
work (later than the
14th 'century). t
cannot l1t1
more
than
two centuries old, because
it has
two com
men.taries, Dindima
and
Advaita. Lakshmi,
the
Litter
of
which belongs to the first quarter of
the
19th crntury.
t appears
to have been
written by
one
Nava
Kalidasa,
and, freely emended
by an adherent of the
Sringeri
l\1atha. It has been revised and altered beyond recog
nition
by
Bhattasri Na.rayau a. Sastrigal, with the aid of
Kokkonda Venkatara.tnamgaru, and
Siddhantam
Suhrah
manya Sastri of Bangalore. In fact, on more
than
one
0 ~ " 1 1
ion, the fate
Bhatfas
r i ar a:nwn Sa, tci ponsttd
of
ba
vin
cr b
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24
two well-known commentaries on the \vork), s h'td any
reference to
the
A c h a r y a ~ connection with Kanchi.
In
sh?1't, the aim
of
Sri
Sastri
was
to
erase
all
traces
o .
the Bhaga,'atpada's connection with. Kanch..
As
for its claim
to be
a biography of
the
great
Bhagavatpada, \Ve
will
have to borrow Bentley's words
when he summed up his views on Alexander Pope's
trnnslation of Homer- t is all
very
good, Mr. Pope,
b u ~ you must l\Ot call it Homer. So too must we say
of the l\fadhaviya
I t
:Is good
poetry
and all that, but
don't call it Sankaravijaya-not one
shred
which is
genuine biogl apliy. As we have elsewhere pointed out,
it is a
st
ring of anachronisms and a veritable comedy of
conll.i Pa itlcuiitiPs.
But
all that were par
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26
But the q u c s ~
l
k
.k,
lS,
i.ic SanY-..ara converted
Tri-
Vf rama? Wu it the
fi.nit
or the A..:i1 S
f
J.:_
. u anrmra or anr
ILllS
iUwttrious
s u c c ~ o r s 1 Adi
Sanlta
em
rnent1
. k
w. .
rn was
pre-
k Y a V i sopke
7
,
w1th
no
sectarian
b i a ~ .
Ji
'l'ri-
rarna was made a Saiva, it should
haV'e
h en bv a
l
a
e ~ 8 a n k ~ u ' f l . c b a r y a
with
$0mewWit
pronomtct>d
S ~ h - a
eanutg-&---pr
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28
cularly whrn
there
is
such
remarkable agreement among
with regard to details.
l i01 6
positive
information is forthcoming. There
is
the
famo1s 'ra.mrapatranusasarui (copper
plate
inscrip
tio111 of king
Sn
ignorant
of the
existence
of
such records. The
only
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30
possible
explanation
is
that, in the
eyes
of
the historians,
all these records
arc
fakes
of
a
later date
concocted bv
the various
Mathas
to
cnrry their history
far
back
i n t ~
a
hoary
w1tiqui.ty. Should
such
indeed be
the attitude
of
the
historians, that would scarcely be
fair,
since,
such
an
allegation would
imply
that
the
Acharyas
of
the
various :Mathas
Wl l C
paities to
the
perpetration
of
this
,pionP.
fr;,ucl. Or,
i11
view of
th'-l
remarkable
similarities
found
in the
rccor
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32
Now follows the chronogram of the birth of Kumarila-
Bhatta
~ < f T ~ ~ < t O f i f < ~ ~ l q l + i i \ ~ f l ~ I
~ < ~ ~ l \ i : l T i l i :
' f i t ' < f i t < - J r ~ < ~ H : :
~ R l l ~ + m : ' J i l l < i i J 0 6 i l i t f l ~ :
I
~ ~ : m ~ ~ O f ~ M W l q:'f m f i l ~ ~ ~ f c f i I
(Quoted by T. S. Narayana Sastri
in
his ' Age of
Sankara 1917, pp. 139).
Before we decode this verse to
obtain
the
date
of:
t>irih of Kumarila Bhatta, we must be familiar with
certain
era1 in ancient Indian chronology
: -
( 1) Yudhisthira era of the Hindus, corresponding
to the coronation of Yudhisthira-36 years before
Kall
or 3138 B.C.
2) Kali era begins in 36
Yudhisthira era
or
3102 B.C.
3) The Yudhisthira era of the Jains corresponds
to 468 Kali or 2634 B. C.
Now, decoding the foregoing chronogram, :;iW: = 7-,.
cm::
= 7,
=0
i f & : i f ~ T
=
2, i.e. 7702, which,
when
reversed, gives 2077 of the
Yudhisthira
er
of
tho
Jains
i.e. 2634-2077
=
557 B. C. This is the
date uf
hirt:h
of Kumarila Bhatta.
J\ext, Chitsukhachrya in his
Brhat
Sankara Vijnya
says that, Kumarila was older than Sankara hy t orty
eight years. Hence, Sankara must have been hmn 48
years after Kumarila, that is
in
557-48 = 509 fL C.
1'he
date
of Sankara 's meeting with Kumarila
i:-i
irn1i
catcd in the verse :--
ffi O_
q ~ ~
qr{
~ ~ ~ i r a ~ R f
~ f f i l ) ~ ~ {*9t fii.'ltfl
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-dynastic history, from 2615
Kali
to 2554 Kal i. Thfo
fa
further
confirmation
of the date of Sankara
rn.
''fhe common allegatiou
against
th
t Mn
thas
that
they
have taJllpercd
with their dates
to gain
antiquity
fo1
their institutions
is
hnrdly
fair.
Had
they been
prompted
l>y
mich ignoble rnotinos,
1.hey couhl
have
pushed
hack
the
date
of Sankara as far
hack as 1st century Knli or
30th ceni ury B. C. For,
Gaudapada
is said to
have h < ' t ~ n
a S i s y ~ of Suka, who
lived
in
the
let. cen.t.ury l{:tli,
f
that. were so,
Gaudapada's Sisya
Govinda)ladil,
;111d
his Sis>a
Sankara
BLagavatpada, con1c1 easily hn.
1
ie l H ~ 1 : n
made to l i /e
in
the 1st century Kali or
30th cen
t111y B. C.
But
t h e ~ ; r .
Matha
histories rwver
make snch
f:111tf1';ti;i
daims. StH .h
moderation should be ample
proof
of
1.li( i1
authenticit:v.
f 9th century A.D.
js too late a
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36
Vais:tlcha, on the Krsnapaksa chaturdasi tithi.. f now
we remove one
full
cycle of 60 years,
then
112 -60== 52.
i.e. the 52nd year will also be Nala, with the same
month, vaksa
and
tithi. Hence, without materially alter
ing
the
year, month,
paksa and
tithi, the dates oJ Sar
vajnatman
and
others may be u pruned
to
" reasonahlc
limits
" so
that
we
might
bring
Sankara's
date forward
by at least three centuries, to the satisfaction o( aH
parties concerned. ,
But the
very
idea behind such pruning would be
:
(l)
that
the early records have been deliberately f a l s i f o ~ d by
an addition of
60
years to the reign
oi
each Acl11rrya ;
nnd (2) thnt we believe that no
man
could live for over
hundred years. To presum e so would be tantamount
to
questioning the honesty of the chroniclers. They were
too
~ r e a t
to be capable of such
shady
transaction >.
Somc
of
these chroniclers are, even
to this
day,
e o m r n a n d i n ~
the veneration of millions. One. at least among tl1em,
the
great Sadasiva Brahmendra, the
author
of t
lw I
lm1-
ratnamalika, is
held
in high reverence
by
all :tlik('. irres
pective
of. their
affiliations.
In
fact, the grcnt. 8atchi
dananda Sivabhinava Nrsimha Bharati Swami of Hl'ingcri
himself ha8 celebrated the gTeatness
1
of S a < l m ~ i v n Brnh
rnendra in immortal verse. Such being 1.lw < :Is( , no111
conld dare
to question
the
honesty
o:f Sa
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38
Sii Kota Venkatachelam has taken
considerable
pa:ins:
to fix the date of every important event in Sankara's;
life. (pp. lJ 1
to
116, Chr-0nicle of Nepal
History)
.
Further con:firmatio of thl date is forthcoming
1'rorn
the Brhat Sanka
ra
Vi
jaya of Sri Chitsukhaclmr>a, who
appears
to have been
the
most sober
and
fait.hfUl hlo
grapher of Sankara,
having been the companion
of
San
kara, practically from his birth. In the 32nd Pralmrana,
(4)
The
real history
of
India. is said to comm from
the d ~ a t h of Buddha,
which is now lixed
by da ti ng back
from the Ume
or
Ale.xander's in v
asio
n
of
India during 326-
32
B.
C. Tile reigning mona1cb at
th
e time
or
Ale:xander's
Jnvaalon is aa.id to have been Chandragupta
Maurya.
Wilh
this starting-point in
history, viz.
the
invasion of
India
hy
Alexander, the
date
of
Gautama
Buddha's NJrva.na. is .1\xed ns
being 486 C l lu t this date of B u d , d ~ a ' s death, MCOl'dJng t
F1ri Venka,tac
hellam, is
w
rong, Fo1
-, AleJW.nder's
con tem.pora1-y
ea
n.ol Chandragupta. Ma11rya
but ChandJ.ars
(2) Pradyo
ta
., S ,.
J
38
(3) Slsu
na
ga JO 360
(4) Nanda 2 ,. 100
(S) Ma
urya ,.
12
316 ,.
(6) S u n ~
10
300
(7)
Kaawa
4 8
(8) Andbra
32 S06
with a total
regnaI period of
2811 years. The
Maurya.
dynast.y
tharcfore came
into
power in 1604, years of
the
Kali
era 9 :r
39
of Chit.sukha's work, we have complete details with
regard
to the
date:
of
Sankara :
~ a :
m
~ i Rr 1 J r ~ ~ ~ e y 0 1 '
1
r r w ~
~ c f f ~ i r ~ f o f a { - ~ ~
II
Cl
~ ~ B r o s e y
fc{ ~ I - 1 ; . i ; : < ~ ~ I
~ J W ro ({ f ~ ~ ~ rnfu
i h l ~
II
~ ~ ~
q
q ~ p : < i t
RMT
~ 1 ~ ~ ~ 1 e f t
I
J t r o l ~ m t < t > < i i 2 ~
II
+ M l ~
~ s f ~ ~ ~ ~ ) + ~ I
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ q ~ < I T II
~ ~
i ' l f ~ ~ i i i ,fqtirr ~ ~ i j ' I
5 1 H l ~ ~ r ~ < t f ~ ~ i i i ~ r - I O l l II
(12 to 16)-
'fhen iu
the tenth
month of her
pregnancy
which
was
fraught with
all auspicious
igns, in the year
2631
of the Yudhisthira Saka, in t
h.
e auspicions year a n d a n ~ ,
on SundaY the 5th day oi the .bright half of the auspi
cious m;nth Vaisakha, when the sun was
in
Aries
(Mesa), when the moon
hnd
advanced into tl:c c o n s t e ~ a - ,
tion of
Pnnarvasu,
in
the
Ijag11a
Kataka, JUSt
at m1
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40
~ l a y in the Muhurta
known as Abhijit,
with the
Lagna
. a ~ p e c t e d . by a u s p i c i o u ~
planets, when
Guru,
Sani,
Kuja
a
nd Ravi were both rn
Kendra and in
exaltation, when
Snkra _
w as
ascendent,
and
when
the
auspicious
Budha
was with the sun,
the
chaste Aryamba gave
birth to
a
son even as Parvati gave
birth
to the glorious Shanmukha.
2631
Yudhisthira Saka corresponds to
2593 Kali
or
509
B
C. The horoseope { f the
Bhagavatpada
recon
structed
from these
data
would be
as
follows
Sukra
Kuja
Surya
Budha
Born in the
Constellation
Punarvasu
~ a n i
I
Chandra
um
Lagna
NOTE
: --The
positions
of Rahu and
Ketu
are not
indicated since we have no data.
Ve
have n ~ w ~ c c a s i o n
to l Cfer to
the
horoscope
of
Sankara
as
.mamtamed by
the
Sringeri
Matha.
t
would
he .found tnat the planeta r,v positions in the foregoing
; . ~ o s e o p e
reconstructed from Chitsukha s Brhat
Sankara
I ~ a y a are
the same as those reconstructed from
th
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42
(b) Vle
have - alre:idy shown
that
Kumarila W M
born in 557 B.
C.
Bhartrhal'i or Bharti:p1'apancha as he
At the t.in le rt Bhisma's Niryana, the relative .
positions
:
of
the
sun
and the
mocn :md otber details are dei;m, bed in
fnH in
the
49th
chapter
of
Santi P:uva of
the
Mahabharnta.
'file details ure as follow :
'lche
Month was
Muglm, Suklu Paksa, .Ast.ami tithi, an
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44
{ t SankarH, and son 14 of Govinda Bhagavatpade. (the
Guru of Sankara) before his Sanyasa.
Further,
accord
ing to Kota Venkatachellam's scheme, more
than
13 cen
turiS
pass from Buddha to
Sankara,
a period long
whioh
means that from the birth of Pariksit
to
the
coronation
or
Nanda (Maha Padma
Nanda),
1500
years had
t>:tssed.
Pa11iksit
must have been born in
3138
B.
C.,
since Ab timanyu
died
in 3139 B.
C.
(Pariksit a
posthumous
child). Hence,
the
coronation
of Nanda must
have
come off in
3 1 3 S ~ 1 5
=
1638
B.C.
f now we accept the tradition that the
two
genera.tions
the Nanda dynasty
ruled for
100
years,
then the date of
accession or Chandragupta. Maury a shou ld be 1638---100
=
J538 B.C., which
confirms
Sri Yenkatachellam's
da.te
as also
the date obtained on astronomical
evidence.
Now,
even
historians
admit
that Bimbisara
of
the
Sais\1-
naga dynasty was a contemporary of Gautama
Buddha.
Now,
the ollowing
table
gives
the
regnia.l
years
of
the
r u l 1 ~ r > from
:
Btmbisara to Chandragupta, according
to
the
Matsyrc
Purana:
Bimbisara 28 years
Ajatasatru
27 years
Darsaka 24 years
Udasin 33 years
Nahdivarrlhana . 0 years
\lahanandin . 3
years
Mahapadma
Nanda and other
Nandas
100
y e a r ~
Total
295 years
Buddha was alive in
1538
+
295
=
8 . l . ~ B.
4 l i
B
C., is quite reliable
and
calls for no revision. Or,
at
any
rate,
sank a
was born and li11ed in the pre-
Christw.n e
a and
certainly not in the 9th century A D.
Bom in Kalati
in
509 B. C., the
Acharya
founded
many
Mathas,
in particular, the
Kamakoti Pitha, over
which he himself presided as the first Acharya,
and
entered
the Guha or Bila (the fissure) of Kamaksi in
Kanchi
and merged himself in Brahman.
14.
Vide-"
Age
of
Sankara",
by
T. S.
Narayana Saatri,
pp. 90 to 103.
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CaAPTEn
SRi
SA:NKARACHARYA AND
THE MATHAS
The Ministry of Sanlmra
mr. 1y be viewed from
three
have founded I
k n o ~ \ t l
Ma.thas
E
Si
like th.e
umcrn
an
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:wmdendiragiri (or simply Anandagiri) and Totaka ~
be identical.
_
Visnugupta, who
is
said
to
have belonged
to the same village as that of the Bhagavatpada, was
later orda.ined as Sanyasi under the name of Chitsukh
aehwya. It. was this disciple of
Sankara
who w r ~ t e the
Brhat Sankara Vijaya, which, unfortunately, 18 not
extant but
which
Anandagiri
claims
to
follow
c l o s e l y ~
Prthirldharnbharati, again, is not mentioned. Probably
he
is not different
from Hastamalaka, though some think
he is different from Rastamalaka.
\Ve have,
at
present, accounts of only four :\Iatbas,
enumerated in the popular Mathamnaya stotras (said to
haye been written by the great Sankara himself). Bach
of these Mathas was placed under the care
of"
one of
the
more distinguished Sisyas of
the
Acharya. We
will Just
trace the history of these Mathas as found
in
the
.M:athamnaya stotras
or
from a
particular
work e n t ~ t l e < l
the Mathetivrttam
( ~ l f f l l )
which is mater1ally
the same as the others.
At the very outset, it should be remembered that
each l\ fatha hns.its own version of Matharnnaya, and th.at,
consequently,
there
are
striking
differences even with.
r-egard to some fundaim:ntal details. For the. benefit.of
the reader who may be curious to be acquainted
w1.th
the contents of the Mathamnaya texts, we summarise
here
the
details of the
Mathctivrttam
which
i
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50
Sarvajnatman
al'c clnimed to be
the
first Aehm-yas not
merely
by
th11 I>waraJm Pitha but by
the
Sringeri Matha
as well. f>adrnapadacharya is also ment ioned as having
IH'C'll lh1 1I. Acharya of Dwaraka, In short, the eru:ly
i
iHLory ol th.is
Pitha
is very canfusing. The reason may
h
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52
~ r . t "f;r ( Prnjn:umm Brahm.a} is the ruliu.g motto
of
this
,l\1111.ha
Ii
'J.'lic (fovardhana Mat.ha still exists. Besides this Matha
J'nri has
a few
other Mathas, viz. the SanlrnranandiA
: Uatha, the Siva Tirtha
Matlia
and the G o p < ~ Tirtha
lHatha.
The latter are
:probably off-shoots of
the
original
(i-ovardhana
Matha.
The Govardhana Matha
has
had
a phenomenally
long
line of
Acharyus,
there having
been as
many
as
14
incumbents up to the present
time.
Its traditions,
how
ever; confirm the date of the Bhagavatpada as being in
the
5th c
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54
ul 111nrt.i11l
looki111{ ini aniry,
with
the
multitude of gay
f c w l o o w ~ ,
1lihnt.1nH,
cliamaras and Vyajanas--that were
inl11t1cl n Hig-ht. for gods to see, a sight that simply over
wlwhnH th 3 host of Sisyas
with
a sense of incomparable
dignity and
awe. Again, lik:e the Pope who commands
the allegiance of all Christendom-the Catholic world at,
l ~ a s ~ t h e
Acharyas
of
Sringcri
dominate
the
Hindu:,
worJd. Their disciples
are
legion,
in all parts
of
India.
This
Matha constitutes the Daksina
( s o u t h ~ r n ) Amnayn.
lts
Sampradaya
is
Bhurivara
(eschewing wealth).
The
Aeharyas
of this
Matha
assume the titles
of Saraswati,
Bharati and Puri. Its
Ksetra
is Rameswara, its presid--
ing deity Adi Varaha, the
Sakti
being Kamaksi, (or
Sarada according to
another
version).
Its
first Acharya.1
was Prithividhara (who is said to be the same as Sures-
waracharya).
The
Tirtha
is
Tungabhadra. The
ponti:ffsc
befong
tu the
order
of Chaitanya Brahmacharis. The:
l\Iatha stands for Yajurveda
(
Krsna
Y
ajus)
,
the
Maha
vakya
;risnflii
7
(A
ham Brahmasmi) being its ruling
motto.
7) : q g ~ e f ~ m ~ : ~ ~ h : 1 f u -
+t if r ~ C I . II
~ f t : < t ~ ' S f ~ u = ~ ~ ~ : ~ + r ; : r : I
~ r c r r f r r
~ H : ~ a l m:al au
~ i i T U i l : ~ ' l ' f f i I
'ifilil'lllit ~ l l f < \ . . ~ ~ ~ ~ 5 ~ T
II
~ r ~
~ ~ = ; ~ ~ f o - c t t ~
1
B r ~ " f i { t
lffQ ~ r :
~ ~ w r ~ ; q
w r c i t ~ ' ' ~ n : 1
~ ~ i ~ : s i f ' f t ~ < t i t 4 q r : II
8.. Chronicle of
Nepal
History,
pp. 116.
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56
B f t U " i { " ~ ' I ' : l ~ { ~ l ~ 5 i ~ ~ : I
i z n ; i j - ~ < r r ~ ~ ~ c n < f i ~ r r < J f ~ r n r : u
~ ' - 6 f ~ i f { i f i l ; : 4 1 f ; ; T C f f ~ l l ? J ~ f c t ~ F T Q : I (
o ~ r f i m > < r o r ~ ~ l { ~ ~ ~ i l f l . : 4 C i f :
)
(Ma hetivrttam, 1\-20) .
I
Not
bi;ing content
with
defining
the
juris J ~ m i
fii\f T.f f
l (25)
~ 1 ~ ; : ~ ~ ; : 1 ~ :
a f
by
Tripura Kumara, Ganapatya by Girirajakumara, and
Kapalika by
Va.
tuka-natha. I t
is
extremely doubtful
if
Kapalilrn, which
stands
self-condemned, ever received
the
Bhagavatpada
s approvl}l as a :eeligion.
to
be
foHowccl
by (JTJe
seeking
,Tnana.
The sixth
religion
is probably
Kaumarm
the worship of Subr.ahmanya.
lrn,vhow,
these Sisyas,
entrusted with
these
different
missions,
must have had
buses of ope-rations,
an.cl
these,.
probably, were some
of the minor
1\fathas, not
taken
cognisance
o1 by the
Matha.mna.ya.
All
these
minor
o r g a n i s a t i o n ~ may
have
had a brief
existence,
and might
liave
faded into
oblivion
through the
ages,
for want .-,;f
1ellergetic
and
zealous workers.
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53
CHAPTER
III
THE
BH G V TP D
ND THE K NCHI
K M KOTI PITH
Any one who
has studied the
second chapter would
lia.ve
been
intrigued'
by the
fact that the
Kamakoti
Pitha
is
mentioned
nowhere
in
the (extant)
Mathamnyas,
and
that
no
jurisdiction is assigned to it.
It
is nevcrthelesir
a Matha oi
very great antiquity, having had an unbroken
hi
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60
estnblishmeut. of'
the
six-fold paths worship c ~ ~
l w v i n ~ ; t:.iken
place at
Kanchi
f . \ ~ J q J J f l ? . l + J t T i t ~ er m r i r ~ < r t ~ ~ ~ ~ {'q'%nrr
i i i . ~ f;:nrfil '-7 ~ i r e ~ ~ ~ i r
t
etc.
(Anand.
Sank.
Vij.
GG I> ::iknrn.na).
l'he
mo,..t
valtmb1r picc
o
in:f
rmai.ton t l i a ~ nanda
g ~ i fur11Lhes us \V-ith
i.
thal the H l i a ~ mt.paaa attained
V1deha M11kti ai KanclU
~ t ; f . : r f ; : J T ~ : C f i l ~ ) ; r l f { t l ~ ~ l ~ ~ l f i r ~ ~ l i < l . . ~ m : l t
~ ~ " i l s ; n ~ r ~ t r ~ q r ~ r ~ ~
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62
-\l:1t.l ns in ~ ~ b l a b a r , testifies to the
fact
that,
after
tour-
111g 1ou11d
lrnlia,
Sankara
finally reached
Kanchi
C' Cl:
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~ ~ ~ s t ~ ~ ' < l i i T 1 1 o ~ ~ : II
~ ~
::ll ig ~ f 9 ~ < J
~ i ~ ) i :
II
~ ~ ~ ~ l l ~ ~ C l ~ ~ t < l ~ I
a f 1 0 % ~ f f c r U < r t t
a . T ~ t
II
U
l tCJ ~ f q ) { l ~ l m ~ : q ~ f ' m : l ~ ~ C I T < J : . l
'
a i ~ f i f 11.a-
~ c : r ~ i l l ' l
Rrnfu
d) l he Vyasachaliya
Sankaravijaya,
written
by
one of the later Acharyas of the
Kamakoti
Pitha sum
marises Sri Sankara s activities at
Kanchi
~ f . r & ~ " { q ' r j ~ f t i ' E f i < f ~ ~ ~ i : f t 6 I l ' ~ f . ~ + " ~ l : C J ~ t : = a " I illSIT
Pluqfct ~ ~ T ' l r < T a ~ = < r m ~ ~ ~ i : ~ r f i t a - :
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. at Kanchi the Sarnda Matha
Sri
Sank-ara establt.shed
d from the
snow-clad
P tha
renowne .
or
the Kamakoti
1
'
f the
administration
Himalayas
to the
southern s ; h a a s peculiar
to
the
tne enforcement of
all
nJ
fom castes
~ . . . >
. ;fl ~ llH
' o
3
SO ri_.
Sanka.rt.
67
a)
There is, first and
fo
remost, the life-size image
of
~ a n k a r a in
.the Kamaksi temple, installd
over his
Surnadhi.
(
b)
Among
t lw
ornamental s
culptures of the
pillars
at Kamakili and Ekamrcsw
ara.
temp s, ther e arc
images
of t11e
Dltagavatpadu witl1 regal
in
Jgnia
beside
hi
m.
bi
the Varadarajaswami temple, too, there is a stone carv
ing- r c p r e ~ 1 e n t i 1 1 g Sri Sankara
as
paying
homage
to
Bliagavan
Vy
asa.
( c) n the unei nt dilapida ted . temple (recently reno
vated)
at Sivasthanam, in Teuambakkam on
the eouthern
bank
of the river Vcgayati, ther
e is a
plaque behind tl::.e
I,inga in ihe sanctum which repr
ut
Sri Sankara
a.s
o . t r ~ r i n g obeisance to Siva and Parvati.
(d) In Tiruvottiyur, six miles north
oJ.' Ma
dras,
there is
un
image of Sankara installed in the
temple
of
Tripuraslllldari, whose Ugrakala (fierceness) the great
B11fl 'avatpall.a is said to have mollified. So, too, in
Mangadu, fifteen miles west of Madras,
there
is a Meru
P1asthn
-of
Sri Yantra, said to have been installed
by
tl1( gr at
Sankara
himself. An image of
Sankara
is also
found installed
in
the temple.
(
e) Most interest ing feal ure of
all
is
this-
-that there
is nu
iiahotsava
celebrftted in the Kamaksi temple at
Kancheepuram when the
Murti
of
the
Acharya
is not
accorded equal worship. At the end
of the
Chaturmasya
e C J .v
year
the
image of the Acharya is taken
in
proces
:.
ion,
by
w
ay
of
Vfavarnpa
Yatra, to the Upanishaf
Bralunendra Matha
at the
western outskirts of Kanchi.
S 1ch
intimate local association with
the
personality
of
Sankara
\ annot be ascribed to mere accident. The
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68
poplJlax iru..igmation througliout the- ages abould have been
Jlowerfully imp ressed
by
the
dominant
pel'&onality of the
gi-eat
Bhagavatpada who cast off his mortal oil
in
this
city.
Viie
cannot
but refer
here to some
disputed
issues.
They
a r e : -
1)
D[d
Sankara occupy the Sarvajna Pitha at
Kanchi or at a s h m i r ~
and
2)
Did
he die
at Kanchi or at Kedara?
After
all thff evidence we have
mars
halled, it w o u l ~
be
~ e s s to
reopen
these qu.estic
>n
s. Still, the .Madha
viya $8.nka.'r'a. Vijaya
d-esci-ibes
Sanka
r a's accession t o the
arv
aj
na Pith.a
t
Kashnrir,
and
his ascension to Kailasa
from K-edara. How
far a.re
they
admissible
There is
evidence
to t he effect
that
the
great
B
ha
gavat
pa
da
visited
Kaabmir-and pr o
bah1y
O< euried.
the
Sar
va jna Pith.a aa well. There is even
today
in Srin:a-ga:r
a temple
e d i c a t ~
to Sri Sankaraeharya. The
fo
llow
ing
excerpt
would explain
"
Sankaracharya-This shrine
is
situated in the city
of
Srinagar
. SanJmracharya
is
an ancient temple crown
ing the Takti-Sula;iman bill and standing 1000 ft . a b ~ e
th
1
valley.
The temple and
he bill on which
it
stan
take t h ~ i : r name .froll).
Sankaracharya-the
great Sou
Indian
Teacher of
Monism,
wno
cam.e
to
Kashmir
from
Travance1e. This temple was built by .King Gopaditya,
wllo reigned in Kashmir from 36 to 308 B .C. I t was
repaited
lat.er
by the liberal-minded l1ns1U:n king, Zuin
ulAbdin." (' Tl;te Rinclu ", dated 17-7-]949, yage 15.
crJumn
2).
Hence, after establishing his supremacy
at Kashmir
by
69
e
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70
(2) Muka Sankara
(the
eighteenth pontiff),
was
served by
Vikramaditya
the
Great,
better known
as
Sakari. (375-413 A.D.)
3)
Sa,t-chit-Sukha
(the twe
nty-.first
Acharya),
is
said to
have
converted the
astror
wmer Ary ate
mscnption
No.
X.
ll1Rcr1p1Jon JS th
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72
(17)
In all the foregoing inscriptions, the Swamis
of the Kaernkoti Pitha
are
the donees. Here follows a
copper plate inscription (No. X , in which the S w a r n ~ is
the
donor. The date of the
grant
is
Saka
1608,
t. c.
1686.
The then Acharya of the Kamnkoti Pitha, Sri Maha
devendra Saraswati makes a
gift
of land to one
Rama Sastri. In this inscription, there is a reference to
the land in question as haYing belonged to the
Jagir
Sime
(31rr :rt
flmw) granted sometime earlieL' by
Akkanna and Madanna, ministers of Golkonda.
Mackenzie ' mentions that the Kamakoti Pitha had as
many
as
one hundred and twenty-five copper plate inscrip
tions in its possession. But unfortunately all of them
were destroyed at the beginning of this century, except
these ten. The destruction of these copper plates is a
terrible
loss
to
history.
(18) T rn
Chingleput District Clazrteer oi' the Y{'ar
1879
contains the following account
Shankarachari . . . . . . paid particular atLcntion to Con-
jeevaram where he worked many miraeles
and
founded
a
}iatham
or l\fonastry. (pp.
86
and
87)
'Vith all
this
volume of evidence in
favour
of
the
antiquity
of
the
Kanchi Kamakoti Pitha,
it ~ o u l d
be
impossible to call
it
a bogus institution pa rtLsan pro-
paganda
has been asserting time
and
agam. .
-w
c ca1inot do better than crown
our
arguments with
. , d" t f
11
,,- h mahopadhva a ~ f a d h a v a
the conswcred ver 1c o ~ n a a .
S
. ' r B1iandari of the Punj;ih
Oriental
Umvers11-.y, who
. i . t i . , pth
writes: Such being the case, the Khnchi Kamakoti 1 a
~ ~ 6 t : ~ ~
i ~ 6 4 ~ o l ~ ~ ~ ~ l t ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ a ~ : ~ ~ : a ~ t ~ ~ r ; ~ ? i t o r v ~ ~ -
c ~ :
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74
Sisya
Pith11s. Nevertheless, cons idering Sureswara's emi
nence, cq
ua}
io his own,
and
considering his
great
yogic
powers, the
Bhagavatpada entrusted him with the
con
trol
of ll
Pithas, Thus
Sureswara,
in
his capacity of
Controller-General, stayed for some time
in
each of
the
Pitlrns-(and
p r o h a b l ~ ,
paid
pe1-iodic
visits)-stabilising
those inst;itntiom:.
l l e r n ~ e it
is
that
ll
M:athas in.dude
Snreswara in their
line
of
succession
after Sankara
'>
-' rngei1
I
ia
commences
378
years
after
his df'ath (
406 B C .
m
: . 1
accordmg to the Kanch1 calendar. This
huge
mterrugnum
is
really
bewildering.
. Ntir
i
this
tJw only i s r I ' < ' p a n c ~ ' -
Aftrr
Sut'f'SWlll ll
pass-
11lt .
l\:1.1Y i n 7 7 2 ~ . D . , h e i s ~ a i c l tolrn chceu
s11cceccledbv
om J:
1 t y a b ~ d h u g J l . ' 1 J . l l l who
is frll>ntified
with
8 : u 1 ~ 1 . . j n : l ;
rnan' t ie . ust
pu1
hrnl st c " s . ~ r
aft
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76
nnd Sarvajnatman,
belonging
to the Kamakoti
Pi tha-
the
Pitha
of
the great Acharya himself-must
han been
a c ~ o r d e d high honours by
the
firnt Aclrnryas
of
all the
other lHilthas ; so
that,
between
the Bhagavatpada and
themselves
they
filled
in
the revered nnmes of
the
elderly
Bureswara
and the young
Sarvajna in
their
spil'itual
geneology. Thmi,
the
first Achar:va of
Sringeri, nominated
by Sankara himself, was Prithvidhar a (or Prithvidhav a)
1
[Sri
N. Venkatrama.n, however, seems
to
regard Pri1.hi
vidhara
as being identical
with
Sureswarn.
(Sankar
acharya and
his successors
in
Kanchi,
page
10). But
Atmabodha
thinks
otherwise.] But Prithvidharacl1arya,
_though
realty the
first
Acharya
of
that
line
afte1'
Sankara,
waives off
that honour and prefers
to considP.r himself
as successor
in the
line
after
Snreswara and Sarvajnat
man (or Nityabodhaghana,
as
Sringeri chronides
call
him).
The Kudali-Sringeri
records,
(Hultzsch Mss),
contain a
very
suggestive verse
~ . r r ; ; q ~ l fciT I
~ f ~ ( q f 1;>1 y .he
Jeit
fxiliinn been fUl
unlHoke;i in '
[
Acltarya.s on th K.udali-Srincreri
Un '
bl 5
p1
oo a
Y about
a
do7,en Acharya
whose names
ar enu
-
te l
in tJ
e Hult7.sch
Mss.
But
immcthing
happened
JU:.L then. rheJ;e was
no successor
to the pontifirate
for
what
reason, we
cannot
say.
There
p rhaps
some
trut.h in. tho
tradition
that the
t h e 1 ~
.Acharya of
Kudali
::U:in.geri
l1ad gone on a .
tour to
Kedara
and
.had not.
r turned. It was
at
thi
t i m ~
that the future Acharya of
ihc
Iv.unaJmti
Pitha,
Sri Krpa
Sankru:11,
undc1;
orders
i1orn lris l.ITU and
predecessor KaivaJyanandir,
m
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78
identifa.1 with Snreswara, and
the
tradition gained
grournl
that
Sureswara,
a/ins
Viswarupa
occupied th0 pontifical ,
throne of S1ingcri, and the history of the Sringcri. Matha
it'iell' was tra.ccd from his times (circa 28
B.C.),
and
Sankam
himself
-vvas made to live
just
prior to 28 B.
C.
(J4 to 12 B. C.), so as to make Viswarupa's succession
immediate
after
Sankara. This Viswarupa
was
then
.,
mcc{;edcd by Nityabodhagana (v.Tongl:v identi.ficd with
Sn-v ajnatman),
,T
nanaghana, J nanottarna. Siva,
,T
nana
~ i . r i Simhagiri, Iswara Tirtha and finally the
famous
Vidya Sankara Tirtha. 'l'his last Acharya who lived for
105 years, is generally assigned
the date
(1229-1333) in
the Sringerj calendar, su
that Bharat
Krsna 'rirtha, the
brother of Vidyaranya,
might
succeed
him
without any
break in the line. But
according
to the 'l'hcosophist
(Vol. XVI,
pp.
292-96), Vidyasankara appears
to
have
died in
5G9
A.D. at
Nirmala
on
the Bombay
coast,
on
Kmtika Sukla
Trayodasi.
After him, until
Bharati
Krsna
Tirtha
occupies t h ~ throne of the restored Sringeri
Matha, i.e.
from 569
A.D. to
1333
A.D., there
was
an
interrugnum of 764 years during
which
the Matha had
no
history at
all.
Though this appears
to
have
been
the real
state
of affairs, the Sringeri
cafondar
a d j u . ~ t s the
period 28 B.
C.
to
1333
A. D., thus : ::
(a) Viswarup a (confounded with Sureswara)
28 B.C.
to
about
772
A.
D.
(
b
The other
Acharyas,
from
Nitya
bodhaghana to
Viclyasankarn, from about 772
A.D.
to 1333
A.
D. Thus,
an unbroken
line
of suceession is sought to be established
by
endowing Viswarupa with an
incredibly
long
life of
800
years.
But
what
appears t
h
o
ave actually happened is
follows w.>
(a)
Prithhridhru:a to
y
28
B
c T' iswa.rnpa, circa
477
B.
C
t
t f names
of
the
A h
vidhara
and Viswaru h . b c ar::as between
Prithi-
'
pa .,p;e
ecn
irretrievably
lost
(b)
From Viswar t ' l d
569
A.D.
.
pa
o
i
yasankara,
28 B.C.
fo
(c) From 569
A.D.
d
to
J:338
A D.,
the JJ atha wa
un
-
.er a trtal eclipse.
"
Atmab dha.
refers to
this
11u.g:c
gup
< r
800 ""
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80
Sringeri.
(Vide
supra). Later on
in
1333
A.D., it
sent
Bharati Krsna Tirtha to
revive
the
Sringeri Matha
as
also
to found eight
more Mathas. Why was it
1
then,
that the Kamakoti Pitha
allowed
an interrugnum
of 800
years to pass without nominating anyone
during
that
period
Atmabodha,
in
this connection, gives
but
a
glimpse of
the
chaotic
nature
of
the
times.
We
have
to
l'eronstruc:;
the history
of
the Karnataka
from
other
so11rces.
First, the Kamakoti Pitha itself was passing through
difficult times
from
5th century A.D. onwards. Bauddhas,
,Jainas, Kapalikas and Saktas
had
regained
their
supre
macy in
Kancheepuram,
rendering
peaceful existence
impossible
for
the
Kamakoti
Acharyas.
:B u,:rther, Kanchi
was
in
a
state oi panic due
to
the
periodic incursions
of
the
Kaiabhras,
of
whom
very little is
known.
The
unsettled
conditions of
the
times
may
be gleaned
to
so:rnc extent from the Matta
Vilasa, a
play
of the
late
7th centur,Y A. D. in which
the
excesses of
Bauddhas,
~ f a i n a s
and Kapalikas arc caricatured.
Hence,
the
Kamakoti Pitha itself
was
constantly
on
the
move,
far
away from
Kancheepuram,
as
can
be seen
from
the
fact
that most of the Acharyas died far aw.ay fronL
Kanchi,
and their
successors belonged to the same places
where
the prr.decessors
had
died. Thus the Kanchi
Matha
waA
its elf havinl: a
precarious
existence
amidst the
pplitica1
and
religious turmoil of
the
times.
Passing on to a considerati on of
what
happened to
Sringeri
, we must peep through the dense haze of time
to
get
a
bluned picture
of
what
was happening then.
This
is
the
religious
and
political
background
:---
81
Karnata'ka
h ~ s ,
from very early times, been a strong
hold of extrfm1st
types
of Saivism, apart from its having
been
in the
grip of
Jainism
as
vvell. The entire
countrv
,vas
studded with the
.
Mathas
of Kalamukhas.
S r i s a i l a ~
was
the
centre of
Kapalika and
Kalai:nukha activities.
There was, again,
Vira
Saivism,
the
fore-runner of the
Basaya cult,
and
hence
much
older
than
the Basava
enlt.
The
Vira
Saivas claim
that theirs
is
the
oldest
religion in
the
world.
They
claim that
Revana
Siddha
or Renukaeharya,
one of the first five
great Acharyas
of their
cult,
presented the
'Adi
Bhagavatpada
with
a
SpJiatika
Linga ~ q f a C f . T ~ w - t h e present Chandra
mauliswara worshipped by the Sringeri Pitha 2, They
go so far as to
say
that the Ifrhat
Sankara Vijaya
has
l chapter entitled the
Siddha Sankara
Samvada where
in the
con
~ r s a t i o n
of the two Acharyas
is -
said to
have
been dfScrihed
in
detail,
and
more,
that Sankara
him
sell
was
persuaded
to believe
that Lingaradhana was
snpc;rior
to any other form
of worship.
Whatever
such
claims
may
mean,
there
is some more information-and
very valuable
information at t h a t ~ f o r t h c o m i n g with
regard
to Sringeri
and Vira
Saivas. There is a p s ~
in the Guravamsa
Kavya,
published under the authorlty
of the Sringeri Matha which contains tw-0 tell-tale slokas :
~ i : : i J ~ l c l U ~ ~ ~
: < i i ~ 1 " ' 4 1 4 ~ h ' l l i t ' 1 f l i f t ; = z y : r
i t i f \ N ~ I
~ 1 ~ 1 J r t ~ q i f m r f c i ~ Q l l
~ ~ J ' t i ' I U l < i l f 4 @ r ~ ~
l
c f t ~ 1 " l + R 1 1 " ' 4 ~
c r - = ~ s ~
l i t ~ ~
2
(Nanjanacharya- Vedanbi.sara Vira Saiva
Chintamanl),
s
6
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82
l i f i t ~ ~ w ~ ~
~ c < i T ~ 1 r { r ~ R { i f ' t ~ a u
Wl eT\Rrr ; i J { ~ ~
c
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84
From the foregoing citations the following fact.a
emerge:-
(1) The
Sringeri tradition
itself admits that the
Lino-a of Chandramauliswara was got from Renukacharya.
c
\Ve need
not
give
any
serious credence
to the
claim
that
Renukacharya presented Chandrarnauliswara
to the
Bhagavatpada. \Ye know
from other
sources
that
he
fetched the Pancha Lingas from Kailasa, of which the
Chandramauliswara of
Sringeri
is one
and
the Chandra
mauliswara of Kanchi is another. But the insistence
that the Virasaivas place on the fact
that
Renukacharya
presented the C h a ~ d r a m a u l i s w a r a Linga, and the open
aeknowledgment of that fact
by
the Sringeri chronicles
point
to
the
'One inesca,pable conclusion that during those
800 years
of Sringeri's
eclipse, the
Matha had
either passed
entirely imo
the domination of .Virasaivas
or
(which is
11early the s ~ m e ) , the successors of Vidya Sankara
(after
569 A. D. ) , succumbed to the influence of Virasa iva
religion
and
became converts thereto, forswearing
their
allegience to
the
Advaitic tenets of Sankara, and, per:
haps, the uriginal Chandramauliswara having been
l ~ s t
in
the course of all this turmoil, a new Chandramauhs
wara Linga, worshipped through generations by the
Virasaivas, was substituted
in
the place of the original
Chandramanliswara . 'Vhate ver might have boen the real
state
of affairs, this much is
certain-Sringeri
as
an
Atlvaitic institution, ceased to exist. The Chandramaul
iswara installed there by
the
Bhagavatpada fell into the
hands
of the Virasaivas or, having been lost for ever,
was substituted
by
another Linga, worshipped by the
Virasaivas.
85
(2) Nor was this all. In the course of the 12th
and
13th
centuries, the followers of Ramanuja,
and
) adhava were
aJso
aggressively
propagating their
doctrines in the Karnataka. From
Goa
came the mis
sionary
activities of the Roman Catholics (Cf.
~ ~ T < I f
i i t l t ' T ~ l c r ~ f Q ; : r l I , etc.
and Q ' ~ m < i 5 1 f u f
: j ~ ~ : firoRr
5 1 " 2 " ( J i 5 1 ~ { J w r r : IDl'::QCI :
bUJfaJwt f ~ ~ ~ ' q i ~ ~ < i l ~ m : i 1 H ~ U J : } H :
etc.-Susama). In
short, among the f anatical
d u ~ l i s t s
who overran Karnataka in those days, it was
impossible for a monistic institution like Sringeri to sur
v i v ~ .
The inevitable happened.
t
ceased to exist.
But even the Virasaiva domination of eight centurie l'
was
not
tG
last
long. 'l'he armies of Malik Kafur, the
victorious General of Alla-ud-din Khilji, were
marching
through K:1rnataka, submerging the old order like a.
tidal
wave.
After
Malik Ka.fur's Campaign
in
the
Kar
nataka, the Virasaiva dominatio J- at Sringe ri was pro
bably thoroughly shaken. The institutipn i,vas in its
thl'oes of death.
3)
t t h i ~
time (early 14th century), the pontiff
at .Kanchi was Vidya
Tirtha.
He was
the Guru of
S a ~ a n a
l\Iadhava (later, Vidyaranya, head of the
Virnpaksi Matha) and of Bhamti Krsna Tirtha, the
younger
brothrr
of Vidy
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Evangelism. The eight Sisyas chosen by Vidya Tirtha
and Sankarananda for this
onerous task
wen
Satchl
dauanda, Adwaitananda, Sevadhi Mahadeva, Si
vadwaita
and
Sukhananda Brahmananda, Sandrananda,
and
Sukhananda.
3
Vidyaranya, therefore, with
the blessings
of Vidya
Tirtha and Sankarananda, strained every nerve to res
tore
the old
order in Sringeri, and to
found
the other
l\fathas to serve as bastions against the advance of the
other Sctarian cults. This fact--viz. the Vidyaranya
was the restorer of the
Ancient
Regime is reflected
by
the
fact
that all these Mathas, jncluding Sringeri, con
tain, in their Srimukh.as,
the
seal
Vidyasankara
or Vidya
r:myu.
Sri
N.
Venkatraman
thinks
that ViJyasankara
and
Vidyar::mya mean the same,
but
different
from
the
lXth
head
of
the Sringeri
Matha, who died
in
Nir
mala
in
491
S.E.,
i .e. 569 '.A.D.
(pp.
95,
Sankar
acharya
and his successors).
Such,
however, does not
appear
to
be
the case.
Of
course, the
term Vidya
Sankara
does not
at all refer to
Vidyasankara,
the 9th
Acharya (reckoned
after
Sankara) , of
Sringeri
who
died
in 5 )6
A.D.,
though the Sringeri chronicles would
ha;;e it so. The term Vid ya-Sankara is a onogrmn cu
it 'llJere, rt fusi.on
of
Vidya Tirtha a.nd Sankamnanda
the two 1lcharyas
of
the Kanwkoti Pitha who were
r.espor .'iib?c for the restoration of, Sringeri
with
the aid
of
Vidyaranya. t was Vidyaranya
who,
in
his gratitudA
c::
.::...s:
3.
e
:q
i j 1 ~ f i M { , B f [ ~ i i f ~ ~ ' ' ~ f i r S : i H ~ : ,
:a:fiF'Ho/G.'
'(1q11:T
+ r i j T ~ ' i
fuq,
: a : r ~ o ~ i g r < i ; : z y : - o l T : ~ ~ E f i l i _ . . F i f i T l f r ~ ~ o 5 1 f u f m T :
~ m ' r . ? $ i i r n r < t ' 1 1 T : i l l ~ i { W ~ ~ f a o i t ~ l l .
-Sui;a.ma.
87
n
devotion to his
Gurus
composed the monognm
Vidya Sankara 4.
(4) W11cn Vidyaranya attempted the rcstomtion of
Sringeri, evidently the first thing to be restored was
the worship
of
Chandramauliswara r ~ i n g a .
But
from what
we are able
to
see, the fonga had passed into the ha:nds
of
the
Virasaivas.
Vidyaranya had perhaps
to
coax
the
then
Virastiiva owner of the Chandramauliswara Linga,
a11d he got it returned on condition
that
it was to
be
1,lO lsidered
a present from Virasaivas. Probably he
had
f..lso to agTee to the importation of some Virasaiva
rituals in the Sringeri Sampradaya. That appears
to
be
the
drift of the Guruvamsa Kavya.
Hence, the
Sringeri Matha
was 1X'storcd to
its
original
.status
through
the labours-
of Vidyaranya. Bharati
Krsna Tirtha
was the first
Acharya after the
restoration:
Evidently, the Sringeri chronicles commit
an
error when
they
make
Vidyaranya als;o
an
Acharya of
Sringeri.
This
-cannot be,
for both Bharati Krsna Tirtha
( 1328.80), and
Vidyaranya (13:31-86) ,
are
assigned
the
same periods.
Both could not have been pontiffs simultaneously. Fur-
1her, Vidyaranya is definitely known td have founded
:and preside] over the Virnpaksi
Matha
-
f i ~ ' l f a . ' f ~
~ m
i r ~
t l ' ~ f l l ~ etc.
t
Susama).
rhe latest chronicles of Sringcri would, however,
draw
a veil over
this
eight-hundred-year-eclipse
of Sringeri,
and rewrite the
entire
history of the Matha thus
-
-
4.
mi:4' ~ ; q f ' i f . l e y r ( f l ~ ~ < R 1 l ; : q < T f
: rrm
f c t ~ r { O < T
r . r ~ m r ' f i {
~ F ~ ~ T ~ ( 7 , f f ~ ~ ~ f J < 3 f f i ~ ~ f l T : p m f ; : r " " Q''"fT
-
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88
(1)
Sankara Bhagavatpada, 788-820 A.D.
( 2)
Sri Sureswaracharya
3) Nityabodhaghana
(4) Jnanaihana
(
5)
J nanottamasiya:
(
6)
,J
ri
anagiri
(7) Simhagiri
( 8 ) Iswa,i:a
l irtha
( 9)
N
rsimha
Tirtha:
(10) Vidyasankara
From
820 to 1333
A.
D
. Bharati Krsna
Tirt:&a to Abhinava Vidya'.
'1'irtha, 1333 to the present day,
so
that,
from the times of the Bha.gu,::itp"ada to
the
present day an unbroken line Of Aclu.rrya is made tO
rule c>ver Sringerj. Not
merely is
this attt>mpi,
ca lcu
lat d to vitin1c histol'y, but i l Dlksita
of Mysore slves a
l f f ~ r e n t
ac.count of
lhls
caSt>. (
irfr prd-
face to Brahma. Sutra. .Bllruna-Venl
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90
Soon
afLer,
the
e
lder
Nrsimha
Bharati (1547--1609),
returned
from Kcdara, and
resumed
his pontificate.
Nrsimha llharati Junior, the
successor,
was
however,
sent over to Nco-Sringeri
where
a vacancy
had
a,risen.
The new _Acharya of NBo-Sringeri
was,
however, given
to
understand that
he should
stay
at
Neo-
Sringeri
and
mr1st
not go out on
Digvijaya.
This
agreement was
ratified
in
1580
by Krsnappa
K
ayalm of
Keladi
( 1520
to
1609), who passed 01ders
that
the Acharyas of
Neo-Sringeri should
not
go
out
on
Digvijaya.
During the
reign
of
the 52nd Acharya
of
Kudali
( ci:rca 1723
, the Acharyas of
Kuda.li, Sankheswa:ra
and
Neo-Sringeri l\fathas, met
at
Satara,
during
the
reign
of
Sahu,
the
successor
of
Sivaji.
The
question
as to
which
Acharya
\Vas to be accorded
Agra
Puja was vehe
ml)ntly discussed.
Pinally, the
issue was se
ttled
by
deciding
thnt
the Acharya of Kudali aJone was
entitled
to
Agra Puja.
(
Vide--History
of Sankheswar,
Matha).
his
absence, Sankara
Bhara.ti, after his return,
was obliged
to
stay at
Kudali.
But
on
a
reference
to the Guruparampara ot Sringeri,
we
fi nd tbers is
no
Sankara Bharati at all, particu laily be
tween
1500-1600 A.D.
We
are
afraid,
there
is sorae m l i r t a l l ; ~
here.
We have therefore preferred to
follow
the version of
the
lndiun Patriot since
the writer
of those articles
in the Indian
l 'atriot was an Antevasi
; a ~ i j t
of
the last
Acha:-ya
of Kudali and
at
one time a successor presumptilre
to
the
pontificate of Kudali. The gentlema n
is
still alive,
and
we
had oral information from
him
in addition to
what
we gathered
from his
articles.
His
version
of the whole case ap pears
to
he
more
aut;1entic, and we have
preferred to
adopt his
ver
sion
rather than
the
version
of Venkatachala Dilrnita which is
somewhat confusing.
During the pontificate o1 Nrsimha, Bb.arati,
the
531d
.Acharya ot Ku lali ( 1
727-51)
Cheladi .Basavappa
N a y a . k ~
om
again passed ordPrs re. trarning the
Ai:iharyas of o S r i r l g c r i from going out on Dig
1
;ijaya.
_Again
in
1806, dlll'ing
th pontifi ate of
aukara
Bltarati,
the
56th
.Aclulrya
o f
Knuali,
Ptll'nayya, the famous
mi,1ister
of Hyder Ali and 'rippu Sultan, restrained
the
Achal'yas of Neo"Sringeri
from
Digvijaya.
n
1811,
Krishnarajendra III
of Mysore allowed Nara
simha Bharati
(180'7-20
)
of
the Kudali Matha
to
go
-0n
D i g v i j a ~ a having
recognised his titles
to his being
the
Jagadgurn.
n
the year 1820, during the
reign of
Sankara Bharati
J 820--56),
the
58th Acharya of Kudali, the
.Acharya
-0f Neo-Sringeri was
again restrained from
going out
oi S r i n ~ r i
ln
1836, the 58th
Acha :ya of
Kudali
set
out on a
Digvijaya,
when
the Acharya
of Neo-Sringeri
took
..exception
to
that,
and filed
a
suit
in the Hu:mr
Sudder
A
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92
l he
Ka11ntaka
was
divided
into
a
number of
diocese
for
purposes of spiritual
as also fiscal administration of
the Matha
benefices.
vVest
Karnataka
was
under
the
jurisdiction
of
Kudali,
and
East Karnatalrn, under
the
sway nf Puspagiri, South
Karnataka,
comprising
modern
Kolar m ~ d e r the
jurisdiction
of the
Anrni:i
Sringcri, and
North Karnataka under
Sankheswara Matha. About
1792,
when
Tippu
Sultan had
annexed
Coimbatorn
and Salem
districts,
the
Acharya of Amani toured these districts
and
recruited Sisyas. But when he attempted to recruit disciples
i Tnnj0re and
Trichinopoly
districts,
he
was firmly told
tliat, that was not his
jurisdiction,
and that, if at all he
wanted to tour the
districts,
it
should
be
on
the distinct
u n c l e r t . a k i n ~ ~
that
he would
not
attempt recruiting Sisyas.
He
gave
the
undertaking that
he would thereafter desist
from
recruiting
disciples.
This
W JS
the first occasion
when
an
Acharya of
a
Matha
belonging
to the Karnataka
attempted to
tour
the South.
South India.
including Chola,
Pandya,
Chera
countries
and Toncfaimandalmn
has always been
under
the
juris
diction of ihe Karnakoti Pitha. In t w ~
middle of
the last
C1 ntury, Babu R.ao,
the
a ~ m t
of
Mackenzie
of Tfmjore
was informed
by the then
Achary.a
of the
Kamakorti
Pitha that
hii,; jurisdiction
extended over
the
districts
enumerated
above.
Hence it was
that
the attempts
of
the
Ac
harya
of Am:mi
Sringeri to
enlist Sisyas
were
firmly
rc sisted.
But in the
middle
of the year 1854, Hi"
Highness
f: ri Krishnaraja Udayar
Bahadur,
had olrt.airny}
initiation
in
Sri Vidya from His Holiness
r ~ i m h a Bhn,.wti
VTII of
Neo-Sring-eri and had composed
two
works, the Sringeti
93
ltfatha
Guruparampara,
and
Astottara
Sata
Namavali on
r s i m h ~
Dharati Swami. This enlightened ruler of 2\iysore
was so
devoted
to the
Acharya
of
Sringeri, that, for
the
first time in
the
anuals of Neo-Sringeri. the Acharya waa
penr,itted to
go
on Digvijaya.
And
when
the
Acharya
sent a
Srimukha intimating-
bis proposed visit
to the
citizens of
Madras
in 1860, he was
assured
by
the
President
of
the
Association of the Citizens
of
Madras
that, His Holiness was most
welcome,
prnviclr.d that 1is
rno,emcnts
and
activities
during the tom wet\:
such a'1
wonld not
offend
the dignity of
the
Karnakoti
Pitha
\Yh;se
spiritnal jurisdiction comprised l\Iadras
and
South
India.
The Aclrnrya
of (Neo.) Sringer then gave :m assur
:.ance in 1v1iting,
that
he and his followers would never
J.e)lort then:selves
in any manner derogatory to the
dig
_nity of the Kamakoti Pitlm.
(
Vidc--Appendix B).
l_i'rom
all
that we
have
so far cited,
it should
be
clear
that
Neo-Sringeri
has
no
jurisdiction whatever
beyond
the limita of Sringeri.
And
whatever
jnriscliction
S.ringeri
now
elaim:01
W JS acquired through
sufferance an
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94
V
irn
paksa .Matha, he
stabli sh
ed S:cing
eri
as l r>
Puspa-
g i r ~
.Amani, Sankhes
wru;a
and
oth
er 1\
1at
has. Particularly,.
af ler 15.99, Neo
-S
ringru s ems to have sbrunk into a
litt1 tow
ns
hip
,
wi th
no
jurisdictions.
There
i, pe r
haps
eon:riderab1 11 truth in t
ho
ve rdict
.returned y
lfuhuya
vedanta:pravartaka
Sri
edan
ta
Raman
uja
I
J
augaro
in
the year Srimukha .::ici-g/ ..as
l
: S - s ~ s ; S t : \ ' o : S / . , . ~ s
1f;:pXf\IJ'::r
. : S X : S a - . J ~ e i ~ ' ~ o X M t r : : J l l i < S o ~ ; $ ~ i : l i ) : , 1 5 o Z l : l ; $ ~
; $ ~
:.Siba>cl'Nm
: S . j g _ ~ x
c D d f u t ; > ~
l \:lC:o ~ o s ' t i r ~ 5 1 l l l l " ~
3 ~ ~
: . S s ; ; S ~ : : i l l . ) O l ' ~ o
OSo:Odfu
" . , ~ l M o ' i : : a ~ ~ i ' l ' i i 3 ; $ J X o O J > o ' ~ etc.
~ P a g e 16
of the Nirnaya Patra, issued by
Sri
Vedantaramanuja Swami).
t
is clear that the decision:
arrived at by
Gurram
Venkanna Sastrulu that the
present
Sringeri Acharyas, who reaJ.ly beloug to
tlie
Parampara
of
Vidylll'anya,
are not
the
rightful
masters of
the
Vid
yapi
tha
established
at
Sringeri by
the
Bh
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96
from
the Paudya country,
on
the
banks of Tampra.parni.
A
real
prodigy
even
in
his seventh year, he e\rolrnd the
admiration of the great Bhagavatpada himself, who was
hi:::nself a prodigy
of
the
first order.
Ordained in
Sanvasa
by the gr.eat Sankara himself, he was
nominated s u ~ c e s c
sor
to
ihe 1\amakoti
Pitha--a worthy
snecessor to
a
worthy
Guru.
Sarvajnatman
seems
to
have been eonside
rablv indebted
to 8uresw
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