The Rashtrakutas and their Times c20.62.1

c20.62.1

It seems that these institutions did not wield any influence in our period. In the first instance we have got not a single reference to any Pītha or its activity in any records of our period. In the second place there are indications that down to the 12th century A. D., the term Jagadguru, which subsequently came to designate exclusively the occupants of the Pīthas funded by S'ankara, was used to denote ordinary Brahmanas of outstanding preeminence, learning and character. The Managoli inscription of 1161 A. D.⁴⁵ mentions that towards the end of the 10th century, in the Brahmadeya village of Manigavalli there flourished a celebrity, Iśvara Ghalisāsa by name, who was the Jagadguru of the world and whose feet were worshipped by Taila II, the overthrower of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas. There is nothing to indicate in the record that Iśvara Ghalisāsa had any connection with the Pītha of Sringeri or its branch at Sankeśvara. Besides, were he a Jagadguru of the order founded by S'ankara, his name would have appeared in a Sanyāsin garb. He was a married man and the headship of the agrahāra of Managoli seems to have been hereditary in his family. His gotra was the same as that of the Chalukyas viz. Hārita, and Taila believed that it was the favour of this celebrity that had secured him the throne. It is therefore not unlikely that the title of Jagadguru may have been conferred upon him by his grateful and illustrious disciple.