History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v1.c27.3

v1.c27.3

According to the *Narahari-yati-stotra*, Narasimha II was an infant when his father died and the famous Vaiṣṇava scholar Narahari-tīrtha ruled as his regent for 12 years. Narahari was a disciple of the famous Ānanda-tīrtha, the founder of the Dvaita or Mādhva school of philosophy. According to the *Narahari-yati-stotra* which forms a portion of the *Stotra-mahodadhi*¹, Narahari’s real name was either Rāma-śāstri or Sāma-śāstri. After his initiation by the great Mādhva teacher Ānanda-tīrtha, he was renamed Narahari-tīrtha. According to the orders of his *Guru*, he came to the capital of the Gajapati King to become a ruler. Narahari preferred to be an ascetic, but his *Guru* said, “You must go to the country of Kaliṅga and obtain for me the images of Rāma and Sītā which I want to worship.” When Narasimha II had attained majority, Narahari-tīrtha begged of him the images as a present and compensation for services rendered, from the royal treasury. Narahari obtained the images and took them to his Guru who worshipped them for eighty days and then made them over to his disciple Padmanābha-tīrtha, who gave them to Narahari-tīrtha after six years. Narahari carried the images about for some time and then gave them to Mādhava-tīrtha, another disciple of Ānanda-tīrtha. The statements in these Mādhva or Dvaita chronicles agree with certain inscriptions in the Kurmeśvara temple at Śrī-Kurmam in Chikakole Tāluqa of the Ganjam district. The first of these inscriptions records that in the Śaka year 1203 Narahari-tīrtha built a temple of Yogānanda-Nrisimha at Śrī-Kurmam. According to this inscription, Narahari-tīrtha had protected the people of Kalinga and defended Śrī-Kurmam from an attack of the wild Śabaras. The temple of Yogānanda-Nrisimha was dedicated on Saturday, the 29th March, 1281. There are five other inscriptions at Śrī-Kurmam recording gifts by Narahari-tīrtha. The earliest of these is in the temple of Kurmeśvara at Śrī-Kurmam and dated Friday, the 19th September, 1264, the year of the death of Narasimha I. The second of them was discovered in the temple of Lakshmi-Narasimha-Svāmin temple at Simhāchalam near Waltair and is dated Sunday, the 20th January, 1292. The third is also to be found at the same place and is dated Saturday, the 26th July, 1292. The fourth inscription is in the temple of Kurmeśvara at Śrī-Kurmam and is dated, Thursday the 21st May, 1293. The last inscription also comes from the same place and is dated Sunday, the 3rd January, 1294.¹ The biggest inscription of Narahari-tīrtha, which records the dedication of the temple of Yogānanda-Nrisiṁha, appears to have been inscribed when the great teacher was still the Governor of Kaliṅga, but this would go against the statements of the Mādhva chronicles that Narahari-tīrtha was Governor of Kaliṅga and the regent of the Gajapati King, Narasiṁha II, for 12 years only from 1278 to 1290. The remaining inscriptions show that Narahari-tīrtha was in a position to make grants till the beginning of 1294. According to the calculations of the late Rao Bahadur H. Krishna Sāstri, Narahari-tīrtha became the pontiff of the Mādhva sect in 1324 or eighteen years after the death of his ward Narasiṁha II and he himself died in 1333 A. D.²