Month: October 2022

Date of Sankaracharya – From the Annals of Kanchi Kamkoti and Dwaraka mathas

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It is remarkable that the date of Sri Sankaracharya preserved in the Dwaraka matha list tallies almost exactly with that found in the ancient records of the Kanchi matha. The Dwaraka matha has also preserved the exact dates of the various events of Sri Sankara’s life from His birth to His departure.

It is important to note that the Kanchi Kamakoti and Dwaraka Peethas have not only preserved the regnal years of the Acharyas upto the present day, but also have preserved the Date of Birth of the Great Acharya and the date of His Brahmi-bhava.

Coming from two entirely distant corners of India the agreement in the dates of these two great religious institutions, the Moolamnaya and Pascimamnaya Peethas of Bharath, speaks for the genuineness of the dates given by the two lists.

And the surprise is all the more agreeably enhanced when we find that the dates given by these two mathas are quite in conformity with the date deduced by many eminent indologists, (Shri.K.G.Natesa Sastry and others) from internal evidence, one more proof to show that the Puranic chronology is genuine and tolerably correct.

( Source:Jignasa,1927)

Kanchi – The Kamakotipuri

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Kanchi, popularly known as Kanchipuram and styled as ‘Kacchi’ in Tamil classical literature, is a city of celebrity, according to the popular saying ‘Nagareshu Kanchi.’

This city has been listed as one of the seven sacred cities of liberation (Mokshapuris). Kanchi is the only mokshapuri in Peninsular India, the other six, Ayodhya, Mathura, Maya (Haridwar), Kashi, Avan thika (Ujjain) and Dwaraka being situated North of the Vindhyas.

The city is referred to in the southern recensions of the Bhagavata Purana, (in the 10th skanda in the Balarama Teerthayatra Prakarana) as ‘Kamakoti Puri Kanchi.’

Vallabacharya in his Subodhini commentary on the purana, styles the city as Kamakotipuri. In the northern texts of the Bhagavata the city is given the name, “Kamakoshtipuri Kanchi.”

The sacred city is considered to be one of the foremost of the Shakthi peethas of Bharat in the Tantric works wherein the name ‘Kamarajakhyam’ is given for the Shakthi-sthana of the place.

The word Kanchi literally means the central part of the gold ornament worn round the waist, (Odyana). The Meru Tantra speaks of the city of Kanchi as the navel spot (Nabhisthana).

The city has been the capital of kingdoms and the ruling seat of princes in puranas, kavyas, inscriptions and history.

The Naishada Kavya of Sri Harsha speaks of a prince of Kanchi present at the Swayamvara of Damayanti. The edicts of Asoka refer to the Kingdom of Satyaputra besides those of Chera, Chola and Pandya of the south.

Of the several names given to Kanchi, one is Satyavratakshetra. There is a temple in Kanchi with a Sivalinga known as Satyavrateswara, of Tevaram fame. It will be hence easy to identify the Kingdom of Satyaputra as the territory around the Satyavratakshetra of Kanchi. Kanchi otherwise known in Tamil as Kacchi is spotlighted as an ancient city in Tamil classical literature.

The city has been the seat of the illustrious Pallavas and the Chola rulers according to epigraphical and historical evidence.

Kanchi has been acclaimed also as one of the Pancha bhutakshetras – where Siva has assumed the form of elements – as the Prithvi kshetra. Besides, Kanchipuri is reckoned as the Akasa Pitha among the five elemental Pithas.

That Kanchi is a great seat or Maha Pithastana has been acknowledged by the Visvakosha.

Puranas about this holy city avow that this city is an Akasakshetra just like Cidambaram of the south.

The city is also named as ‘Divyakshetra, Brahmasala’ etc. according to old puranic stories, treatises and other works depicting the sacredness of the place.

KANCHI, THE SOUTHERN MOKSHAPURI

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Kanchi of those days was the meeting place of all the rival faiths, tenets and cultures found in different parts of India. Sankara in His digvijaya in various parts of the country attacked the rival faiths in their own centres and citadels and having vanquished Jains, Bauddhas, Mimamsakās, Sāktās, Kāpālikas,and atheists in the West, North and East and having established monuments of victory in the four corners of the country, He finally settled down at Kanchi which was the great converging centre of all the faiths and cultures of the country. Here He rested, found peace and entered into Eternal Bliss.

H. R. RANGASWAMI IYENGAR,

(Retired Superintendent,

Oriental Research Institute, Mysore)

R. CHAKRAVARTI,

(Retired Archaeological Assistant,

Dept. of Archaeology, Mysore.)

Mahant Bhagawan Shagat vs. Girijanandan Bhagat

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Where oral and documentary evidence shows that in the matter of nomination of successor or to a Mahantship seniority is not decisive factor but that heredity and efficiency in management coupled with good moral character and adherence to the religious rites practised at the Math and a spirit of service etc., it is for the person claiming the Mahantship to prove competence.

(Mahant Bhagawan Shagat vs. Girijanandan Bhagat, (1972) 2 SCJ 730; AIR 1972 SC 814)

SRIMUKHA VYAKHYA (1871-72)

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Scrutiny of Srimukhas of Sankarite institutions

In the year 1871-72, a new verse was introduced in the Sringeri Almanac. The accuracy of the statement made in this verse engaged the attention of many scholars continuously for about six years.

The examination of this newly inserted verse, by scholars all over the land revealed many historical facts including an important one, i.e., that Sri Vidyaranya of the Veda Bhashya fame went to Hampi or Vijayanagar from Kanchi and after his spiritual life-work there which included the installation of the heads of Virupaksha and Sringeri mutts finally returned to Kanchi where he attained Siddhi.

The Astikas of Madras who had an organization or Sabha for determining dharmic questions and correct lapses, if any, in the community were in the habit of assembling periodically in the premises of the Madras branch of the Kamakoti Peetha at 119, Thambu Chetty Street, Madras, for the specific use of which this mutt had been dedicated by a Vaisya gentleman in the early years of the emergence of the City of Madras. The Astikas were represented by 18 Jaladhi patis, who were the accredited heads of the different communities. The meetings were presided over by an elected Sabhapati.

At one of such meetings the verse in the almanac which was intended to belittle the importance of the Kamakoti Peeta and the Kudali Mutt in Shimoga district was taken up for consideration.

The Sabhapati on behalf of the Sabha authorised Sri Gurram Venkatrama Sastri of Nellore, who had previously published some of his researches in Dharma Sastra, to consider the correctness of this sloka and make a report to the Sabha. He accordingly collected all relevant literary and documentary materials and after studying them conveyed the conclusions of his research in the form of a small booklet under the title ‘Srimukha Vyakhya’.

The method of research adopted by him was somewhat novel. He did not attach much importance to the varying literary works connected with the life and doings of Sri Sankaracharya but relied for his conclusions on the forms of honorific epithets contained in the Srimukhams and the inscriptions and in the shape of the seals of the respective mutts.

Copies of all the Srimukhams containing uniform epithets and seals were collected and every detail was minutely and meticulously examined.

The final conclusion was that the epithets and seals of all the mutts except the Kanchi Peetha, then presided over by Sri Mahadevendra Saraswati Sankaracharya Swami, pertained to the advent of Sri Vidyaranya of Vijayanagaram and Veda bhashya fame, while the epithets and seals of the Kanchi Mutt alone pertained to Sri Sankaracharya. Sri Kamakoti Peetam was established by the Great Acharya for His own residence at Kanchipuram where He attained Siddhi. The other mutts were established for or by the Sishyas of the Acharya and their parampara.

The Srimukhams collected by him pertained to the following mutts: Pushpagiri in the Andhra, Virupaksha, Kudali, Amani (Avani) and Sringeri in Karnataka and Kanchipuram in Tamilnadu.