Kalady Sri Acharya Mata Aryambha’s Memorial (1935)
Author: Shankarasampradayakosh
केरलीयशङ्करचरितम्
Keraleeya Sankaravijayam (Sankarachaya Charitam) -Govindanatha
Kudali Matha Vishaya Charcha – ShriShankaraPithaTattvadarshanam
” कूडलीमठविषयचर्चा ” – श्रीशाङ्करपीठतत्त्वदर्शनम् ।
सम्पादकाः प्रकाशकाश्च-
श्रीस्वामी रामानन्दसन्यासी व्याकरणाचार्यः
पं० विद्याधरशर्मा वेदाचार्यः
पं० महादेवशास्त्री व्याकरण साहित्याचार्यः
पं० पट्टाभिरामशास्त्री मीमांसाचार्यश्च ।
rīśānkarapithatattvadarśanam By Svāmī Rāmānanda Sannyāsī, Pandita Vidyadhara Sarma, Pandita Mahadeva Śāstrī and Pandita Pattabhirama Śāstri with an introduction by Śrīkantha Śāstrī.
Rāmānanda Swami, author. Published by Jayakṛṣṇadāsa gupta Banaras (1938).
शृंगेरी मठानुसारी शङ्करचरित – गुरुवंश काव्य
श्रीशङ्करचरित (श्रीकामकोटि पीठानुसार)
शङ्करविजय – सारांश
Shrimad Appayya Dikshita in Nyayarakshamani
नानाभाष्यादृता सा सगुणफलगतिर्वैधविद्याविशेषै:
तत्तद्देशाप्तिरम्या सरिदिव सकला यत्रयात्यंशभूयम् ।
तस्मिन्नानन्दसिन्धावतिमहति फले भावविश्रान्तिमुद्रा
शास्त्रस्योद्घाटिता यैः प्रणमत हृदि तान्नित्यमाचार्यपादान् ॥
(श्रीमदप्पय्यदीक्षितानां न्यायरक्षामणौ)
“The rivers or the courses of devotion towards the diverse aspects of the Personal God attain their final calm only when they become one with the ocean of bliss (Ananda Sindhu) that unfolds itself at the moment of Ultimate Realization.”
Sri Sankara Bhagavadpada : The Shanmata Sthapanacharya
Sri Sankara Bhagavadpada : The Shanmata Sthapanacharya – Shankara And Shanmata
“The celestial wish-yielding tree of Sankara taking its root in the Vedas, and spreading for branches the Shanmatas, gave out to the world at large a rich yield of the fruits of Illumination” thus says Anandagireeya.
“Those who came to scoff remained to pray” said Goldsmith. Those who came as disputants.. the leaders of the various sub-faiths became His disciples.
When Sri Sankara Bhavadpacharya took His abode in Kanchipuram in His last days, He sent out these disciples to propagate the worship of the six divinities within the Vedic framework. They did accordingly and reported back the success of their mission to the Great Acharya.
The 67th and succeeding prakaranas of Anandagiri’s Sankaravijaya, give an account of this. Paramata Kalanala, Lakshmana, Hastamalaka, Divakara, Tripura Kumara and Girijakumara were the disciples who spread the faiths in the different parts of Bharat,
Thus it is clear that Sri Bhagavadpada was Shanmata Sthapaka. He shed off His mortal coils in Kanchi only after the leaders of the six faiths, who were His disciples, reported to Him that the faiths had been stabilised throughout the nation in the new form given by the Achrya which really was their original form.
Iconography
It is significant that Sri Sankaracharya (like Dakshinamurti) is usually represented in sculptures with His four disciples who spread the philosophy of advaita. But, only in Sri Kamakshi Temple (Kamakoshta) and Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Srimatha (old Puja-griha)- His most important shrines
in Kanchipuram, six disciples are shown in the pedestal/ panel. They are the expounders of the Shanmatas. Two of them are not Sannyasins, their head not covered with cloth. But since they do not have the upavita they could not be brahmacharins or grhastas either. One may conclude they had been tantrics, newly won over to the Smarta tradition.
A Note on Tirukkamakkottam 2/2
A Note on Tirukkamakkottam
– V.R.Ramachandra Dikshitar [Proceedings of the Indian History Congress (1946)] …2/2
“Tradition avers that Adi Sankara in the course of his digvijaya established mutts at different places and one such place was Kanchi, the modern Conjeevaram.
At Kanchi. Sankara founded what is known as Kamakotipitha. This Pitha of Kamakoti was flourishing here till at least A. D. 1686, and in this connection the temple of Kamakshi in Conjeevaram is said to be the one erected or renovated by Sankara and his disciples.
Even to-day a figure of Sankara is to be seen in this temple, evidently a figure of the first acharya. And Kamakoti is written in inscriptions as Kamakottam.
Kamakottam means the shrine dedicated to the goddess Kamakshi. The cult of Kamakshi must have become popular after Sankara and shrines in her honour were erected and dedicated by kings and pious devotees.
As time went on, the Kamakshi amman koil became generally known as Amman koil. For Parvati or Uma, Minakshi and other names are the names of one and the same goddess. So whatever be the name of the goddess enshrined in a temple, the common people call it even to this day Amman koil.
The revival of Devi worship as Kamakshi must be therefore due to Sankara who founded the Kamakoti pitha in Conjeevaram for the first time. Hence the Kamakottam which we find in the inscriptions. If Kamakottam is the same as Kamakoti, then the institution of Kamakottam must at least go back to the age of Sankara.”
A NOTE ON TIRUKKAMAKKOTTAM – 1/2
BY V. R. RAMACHANDRA DIKSHITAR, University of Madras. (Part-I)
In a paper contributed to the All India Oriental Conference Nagpur (1946) Mr. K. R. Srinivasan said: ‘In the South Indian temples, Tirukkamakkottam is the name given in inscriptions to the separate shrine dedicated to Parvati or Devi installed and consecrated as the consort of Lord Siva, the presiding deity in a South Indian temple unit’ He further proceeded and remarked that only in the period of the Imperial Cholas the Tirukkamakottam was introduced as a new member and later on grew in importance.
The conclusion arrived at, is based on mere references in the inscriptions, and perhaps also from a study of the temple architecture, and the tentative definition of a temple unit.
According to him till about the eleventh century A. D. there was no place for a separate Amman shrine or shrine for the goddess.
We are afraid that this theory of a separate Amman shrine as a later addition and that from about the eleventh century cannot be readily admitted. This is to ignore all tradition, literary and oral.
We must first examine the term Tirukkamak-kottam or simply Kamakkottam, tiru meaning sacred. The origin of this expression will be indeed significant for our investigation. It may be a very ancient one but it became very much popular certainly after the Adi Sankaracharya. (1/2)