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The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c32: Chapter XXVI. The Struggle Between Sri Vaishnavism and Other Sects

The Aravidu Dynasty of Vijayanagara, Vol. I v1.c32

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Chapter XXVI. The Struggle Between Sri Vaishnavism and Other Sects

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SUMMARY.—1. Brahmanism, Saivism and Vaishnavism.—2. Early life of Ramanuja. Persecution of the Chola King.—3. Ramanuja in the Yadava kingdom and at Seringapatam.—4. Schism of Vaishnavism after the death of Ramanuja.—5. Bukkaraya I settles the differences between Jainas and Vaishnavas. Jain influence at the court of Vijayanagara.—6. Conversion of Emperor Virupaksha to Vaishnavism. Religious conduct of Krishna Deva Raya and Achyuta Raya.—7. Relations of Sadasiva Raya with Vaishnavism.—8. Devotion of Rama Raya and his ancestors to Vishnu.—9. Tirumala and Ranga I patrons of Vaishnavism.—10. Venkata II the greatest Vaishnava Emperor of Vijayanagara.—11. Vaishnavism professed by feudatory chiefs. Conversion of the royal house of Mysore.—12. Several manifestations of Saivism.—13. Influence of the Jains in Kanara.—14. Eclectic and tolerant religious character of Venkata and of some of his chiefs.—15. Religious controversies between Saivas and Vaishnavas.—16. Krishnappa Nayaka of Jinji restores the temple of Govinda Raja at Chidambarm. Suicide of the Saiva priests.

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CONTEMPORARY SOURCES.—1. Hindu inscriptions and grants.—2. Jain inscriptions in Mysore.—3. *Bhashyakara Cheritra*, *Venkatesvara Mahatmya*, *Kulotunga Cholan Ula*, *Tiru Narayana Puram*, *Prapannamrtam*, *Varadambika Parinayam*.—4. Jesuit Letters.—5. Du Jarric.—6. Della Valle.

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THE supreme god worshipped in India for a time during the pre-Buddhist period seems to have been Brahma. Even the Buddhistic scriptures give Brahma preference over the other deities of the Hindu Parnassus ¹. But later on another god, Siva, unexpectedly usurped his place of supremacy. The Saiva system seems to have been introduced in the peninsula from abroad. According to a legend, the first place in which it was practised was Benares. This was due to the efforts of King Divodasa¹. Siva's cult was later on fostered through the preaching of Sankaracharya. Nevertheless the superiority of Siva was not to remain long undisputed. A new rival arose in the person of the god Vishnu. Vaishnavism was propagated early during the Scythian and Gupta periods ² and finally with unusual vigour in the 11th century. The struggle that naturally ensued between the two deities and their respective adherents during this first peroid of the Aravidu dynasty will be the subject of this chapter. But we shall begin with a brief account of the Vaishnava movement, in order to make clear the position and the activity of the Aravidu Emperors in this religious conflict.

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¹ Cf. Bhandarkar, *Vaisnavism, Saivism*, p. 3. Hence the presiding deity of the pre-Buddhistic Hindu temple is Brahma. Cf. Praphullachandra Basu, *Art in Hindu Temple, The Holkar College Magazine*, XI, 22.

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¹ Taylor, *Catalogue Raisonnec*, II, p. III-IV. This author maintains that this system had its origin in Egypt; according to him Siva's bull is nothing but a replica of the bull Apis of the ancient Pharaohs. The worship of the bull passed afterwards from Egypt to Palestine, in the time of the great national schism of Jeroboam (1000 B.C.); from Palestine it migrated to Mesopotamia and finally found its way to Benares in 700 or 800.

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² Rayachaudhuri, *Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect*, p. 98-177.

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2. The founder and propagator of Sri Vaishnavism in the later period was Ramanujacharya ³. According to tradition, he was born in Sri Permattur, near Madras ⁴, in 1016-7 ⁵ and studied at Kanchivaram. Thence he retired to Srirangam where he perfected his system and wrote his religious works ⁶.

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³ Nevertheless in the works of Seven Pagodas (Mahavalipuram), executed by Pallava Princes, there are "mixtures of emblems, weapons and figures belonging to both the Saiva and Vaishnava phases of Hindu Faith". Cf. Branfill, *Descriptive Remarks on the Seven Pagodas*, The Madras Journal of Literature and Science, 1880, p. 126.

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⁴ Perhaps, on account of this, the Sri Permattur temple is traditionally supposed to be the first Vaishnava temple in Southern India. Cf. Taylor, *Catalogue Raisonnec*, I, p. LXVI.

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⁵ Cf. Bhandarkar, *Vaisnavism, Saivism*, p. 51.

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⁶ According to the account of the aiyangars, the fact that marked the starting point of the religious career of the new teacher is narrated as follows: "One day, it is said, the

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His chief work is his commentary on the *Bhagvat Gita*, entitled *Gita Bhashyam*¹. The *Upanishada Vacya Vivaram*, by Sri Ranga Ramanuja, if it is not written by the same teacher, is an exposition of the same system. "The system of Ramanuja is shown to be consistent with the Vedas and their supplements. This book opposes the *advaita* notion of the non-reality of the visible world; it maintains that it is real"². On account of his subtle doctrine and his holy life, Ramanuja was called later on in a decree of Bukka I of Vijayanagara, 'the king of the kings of ascetics'³. He is also termed Bhashyakara, from his explanations of the Vedas⁴.

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¹ Taylor, *Catalogue Raisonnee*, II, p. 45.

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² Ibid., p. 216.

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³ *Ep. Carn.*, II, No. 344.

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⁴ *Bhashyakara Cheritra*, Wilson, *The Mackenzie Collection*, p. 214.

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During his stay at Srirangam he made many disciples. One of the most prominent of them was Tiruvarangattamudanar, the hereditary trustee of the Ranganatha temple⁵. But Ramanuja could not live there long. The Chola ruler Karikala, probably the younger brother of Rejendra and father of Kalottunga, who was then Viceroy at Uraiyur⁶, himself a Sankaracharya wanted to take an oil bath. The pupils used to serve their master in turn, and that day it was Ramanuja's. He was rubbing the oil over the bald head of the Sankaracharya, and another student was taking lessons by his side. A stanza was read in which the face of Vishnu was represented to be as red as the lotus. The Sankaracharya at once exclaimed that it was a *luptopama*, or defective comparison, as there were objects surpassing the lotus in their redness, which might have been used for the simile. As an example, he indicated the buttocks of the monkey. Ramanuja, who was a firm believer in Vishnu, cried out. Tears from his eyes dropped on the thighs of the Sankaracharya, and pierced them like molten lead. At once he ordered Ramanujacharya to leave the *matha*, and he accordingly went. And now being a hater of Siva and a special worshipper of Vishnu he started the new religion". Natesa Sastri, *The Origin of the Srivaishnavas*, *Ind. Ant.*, XVI, p. 252. The author explodes this legend.

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⁵ See Gopinatha Rao, *Srirangam Plates*, *Ep. Ind.*, XIV, p. 85.

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⁶ Cf. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, *Ancient India*, p. 332-3.

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staunch Saiva, could not tolerate any longer the spreading of the new sect. According to the Sri Vaishnava chronicles, "it was pointed out to this King that converting the common people by force was not in itself capable of augmenting the numbers to the Saiva faith; and if such a great leader as Ramanuja were to be made to subscribe to the Saiva faith, his followers would join that sect in a body. Ramanuja was summonded before the King; Kurattalvan (Ramanuja's first disciple), apprehending danger to his master, assumed the garb of a sannyasi, proceeded to the royal court and represented himself as the famous Vaishnava Acharya. The King then compelled him to sign a declaration that no god was superior to Siva. Kurattalvan boldly contradicted him by telling him that 'larger than Siva was Drona (words which also mean two different measures, of which the latter was the bigger) thus playing upon the double meaning of the words Siva and Drona. The King, enraged at the behaviour of Kurattalvan, ordered both his eyes to be put out immediately, and the order was forthwith carried out. So throughout the remaining part of his life he lived a blind man " 1.

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3. Ramanuja himself had to fly from the Chola kingdom, and took shelter in Chandragiri, the stronghold of the Yadava Kings, whose capital was at Narayanavaram. Toya Yadava was then the ruling sovereign. He charitably entertained the exiled guru and declared himself the patron of his disciples and his doctrine 2. Under his patronage Ramanuja visited different holy places, and took from the Saivas several temples and shrines which he dedicated to the worship of different forms of Vishnu. He also founded the temple of Terunarayaria at Terunarayanapur. One of the temples that he took from the Saivas was the famous one at Tirupati 3. The Venkatesvara Mahatmya narrates that, to effect this, Ramanuja agreed with the Saiva priests of the temple to leave in the temple at night a conch and a discus, which were the insignia of Vishnu, and beside them a trident and a small drum, which were the insignia of Siva. The temple was subsequently closed for the night; and on being re-opened next morning it was found that the image had assumed the conch and the discus. Since then Tirupati has been one of the most famous Vaishnava temples in the whole of India ¹.

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¹ Ep. Ind., XIV, p. 85.

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² Taylor, O. H. MSS., II, p. 85.

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³ Bhashyakara Cheritra, Wilson, The Mackenzie Collection, p. 214-5. Naturally the Vaishnava literature claims that all these holy places had formerly been Vaishnava temples. Hence they say that Ramanuja recovered them from the Saivas.

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¹ Wilson, o. c., p. 254. Cf. Ch. XV, No. 9. The conversion of Tirupati from a Saiva to a Vaishnava temple by Ramanuja has lately aroused much controversy. Cf. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India, p. 215-8. The Vaishnava chronicles are not impartial authorities. We really believe that the fact took place, through a fraud most probably, though formerly only Siva had been worshipped there. Naturally Ramanuja declared that he had re-started the previous cult given there to Vishnu, in order to give solid ground to his desire of establishing the Vaishnava religion there. An enormous amount of literature has been written on Tirupati. See, for instance, Wilson, The Mackenzie Collection, p. 254-5, 349; Taylor, Catalogue Raisonnee, I, p. 537, 588, 589, etc.

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From there Ramanuja proceeded to Mysore. It seems that the prevailing religious faith in the old Karnataka country was Jainism. According to an inscription on the summit of Indragiri at Sravana-Belgola, the Jains came to Mysore in an immigration from Ujjayini (Ujjain), under the leader Bhadra Bahu, in order to escape a dreadful famine ². The colossal monolithic statue of the Jain Saint Bhujabalin, that crowns the rocky hill, is a dumb witness to the preaching of Ramanuja; for it was erected between 977 and 984 A. D. by Chamundaraja, the minister of the two Ganga Kings, Narasimha II and Rachamalla II ³. Many conversions were also effected by his exhortations and disputes in the Karnataka country. One of the converts seems to have been King Vitthala Deva (1104-1141)¹. The Sri Rangha Mahatmya, that seems to refer to this period, states that Ramanuja "with his disciples visited the 108 Tripetis (Tirupatis or temples to Tirumal), and disputed with opponents. He taught the Vaishnava creed with great success, visited many places, and at length returned to Seringapatam"².

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² Ind Ant., III, p. 153-4. The inscription may also be seen in Q. J. M. S., III, p. 27-8. Jain tradition avers that the Maurya Emperor Chandragupta, after resigning his crown, was one of those who accompanied Bhadra Bahu to the South. Cf. Smith, Early History of India, p. 154; Tabard, Sravana-Belgola, Q. J. M. S., III, p. 12; F. Deaville Walker, Ancient Jain Shrines, Wonders of the Past, III, p. 1034.

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³ Hultzsch, Inscriptions on the Three Jaina Colossi, Ep. Ind., VII, p. 108. Tabard, o. c. p. 12-31. The statue is 57 feet high. Chamundaraja was not the founder of the present Jain religious settlement, as Rice, Mysore, I, p. 461, says.

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¹ Bhandarkar, o. c., p. 52.

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² Taylor, Catalogue Raisonnee, I, p. 589.

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Ramanuja returned from Mysore on the death of Kulottunga I, which seems to have occurred in 1118³. The Kulotunga Cholan Ula relates that, during Ramanuja's second stay in the Chola country, Kulottunga II (1123-1146), 'a hater of the god Vishnu', removed the Govinda Raja temple at Chidambaram from the premises of the great Siva temple, and ordered the statue of Vishnu to be thrown into the ocean, 'his original shrine'. Then Ramanuja and his disciples either brought back the same idol or made a new one, and enshrined it in a new temple at Tirupati, with a formal and solemn consecration ceremony⁴.

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³ S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India, p. 219.

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⁴ Cf. Brahma Sri R. Raghava Aiyangar, Chelli Kulotungal Anapayan, Sen Tamil VIII, p. 301-2; Wilson, The Mackenzie Collection, p. 299.

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4. After the death of the reformer, his disciples continued his work. Besides the above mentioned Kurattalvan, the one who worked most for this cause was perhaps the famous Sri Vedanta Desika⁵. The Tiru Narayana Puram mentions a Vaishnava Aluvar, named Yempramanar, who also made many conversions to his sect in the kingdom of Mysore⁶.

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⁵ Cf. Rangachari, The Life and Times of Sri Vedanta Desika, B. B. R. A. S., XXIV, p. 277-312.

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⁶ Taylor, Catalogue Raisonnee, I, p. 510-1.

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Things however were not going too well. Soon after the death of Ramanuja, there arose a schism in his sect. Were the Sanskrit or the vernacular works to be the chief object of study for the Sri Vaishnavas? This question naturally gave origin to two different schools. For some time the Sanskrit school prevailed, during which period Vaishnavism was almost restricted to erudite people. But finally the vernacular school came out victorious in the contest. Those were the palmy days of Sri Vaishnavism, when its doctrines were easily spread among all classes of people ¹.

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¹ Cf. Rangachari, The Successors of Ramanuja, B. B. R. A. S., XXIV, p. 126-8.

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5. Naturally the propagation of the new creed was the cause of differences between its adherents and the members of other religious denominations. One of these religious disputes, apparently in Mysore, was appeased by Bukka Raya I of Vijayanagara in 1368. "Dispute having arisen between the Jainas and the Bhaktas (Vaishnavas)", says the royal decree, "the blessed people (the Jainas) having made petition to Bukka Raya about the justice done by the Bhaktas, the King taking the hand of the Jainas and placing it in the hand of the Sri Vaishnavas (here 48 representatives of the Sri Vaishnavas are mentioned, who come from different places, even from Tirupati, Kanchivaram and Srirangam), and declaring at the same time that there was no difference between the Vaishnavas and the Jainas, decreed as follows :-

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'This Jaina darsana is, as before, entitled to the five great musical instruments and the kalasa (or vase). If loss or advancement should be caused to the Jaina darsana through the bhaktas, the Vaishnavas will kindly deem it as loss of advancement caused to their (own darsana). The Sri Vaishnavas will to this effect kindly set up a sasana in all the bastis of the kingdom. For as long as the sun and the moon endure, the Vaishnava creed will continue to protect the Jaina darsana. The Vaishnavas and the Jainas are one: they must not be viewed as different. Tatayya of Tirumula (Tirupati) by consent of the blessed people (the Jainas) of the whole kingdom, will, out of the money levied at the rate of one anna a year for every house according to the door from the Jainas throughout the whole kingdom for the bodyguard to be appointed by Vaishnavas at the holy place Belugula (Sravana-Belgola), appoint twenty servants as bodyguard for the god, and with the remainder of the money have the dilapidated Jinalayas (the Jaina temples) whitewashed. In this manner, for as long as the sun and moon last, will they without failure pay every year and acquire fame and merit. He who transgresses this rule shall be a traitor to the kings, a traitor to the sangha and the samudaya. If an ascetic or chief of a village destroys this charity, he shall incur the sin of having slaughtered a tawny cow and a Brahman on the banks of the Ganges" 1.

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In this document preference seems to be given to the Jainas, although Bukka was not a Jain himself. It shows, however, how the King was influenced by Jainism. We know indeed from other lithic records that one of the ministers of Bukka was a fervent Jain: his name was Baichappa. He is mentioned in an inscription at Sravana-Belgola 2. According to an inscription of 1385 in Vijayanagara itself the same Baichappa and his son Irugappa, himself a Jain also, were ministers of Bukka's successor, Harihara II 3. Another inscription of 1387-8, in a Jain temple near Kanchivaram, records some donations of this Irugappa, mentioned as son of Vaichaya (Tamil form for Baichappa), General of Vijayanagara and follower of the Jain religion 4. Irugappa's two sons, named Baichappa and Irugappa, are also mentioned in another inscription of 1422, at Sravana-Belgola, as Jain Generals of Vijayanagara 5 during the reign of Vira Vijaya. His successor, Deva Raya II, was also much inclined to Jainism, as is shown in an inscription of this King, of the year 1426, in Vijayanagara itself 6. Probably there was built during this period the Jain temple, the ruins of which, on the slopes of the rockey hill that protects the Pampapathi temple of Hampi, are one of the most interesting features of the glorious capital.

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¹ *Ep. Carn.*, IX, Ma, 18. Cf. Ibid., II, No. 344.

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² *Ep. Carn.*, II, SB, 253. Cf. Luders, *Sravana-Belgola Inscription of Irugapa*, *Ep. Ind.*, VIII, p. 17.

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³ Hultzsch, *South Indian Inscriptions*, I, p. 161.

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⁴ *Ep. Ind.*, VII, p. 115-6.

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⁵ Ibid., VIII, p. 22.

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⁶ Hultzsch, o. c., p. 162.

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6. In spite of this Jain influence, the Vijaynagara sovereigns remained faithful to the cult of Siva till they became disciples of Sri Vaishnavism towards the close of the 15th century.

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Their family god was then Virupaksha, the name under which Siva was worshiped in the celebrated temple of their capital. But at that time it happened that two brothers from Ettur, named Nrsimhacharya and Srirangacharya arrived at Vijayanagara. They were learned Vaishnava gurus, and easily persuaded Virupaksha, the then Emperor of the great Hindu Empire, that there was no other god higher than Vishnu¹. Accordingly the sovereign foreswore Saivism and became a fervent Vaishnava. On this occasion the majority of his subjects also became followers of Vaishnavism ¹.

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¹ The Prapannamrtam, which affords this information, gives the following legendary account of Virupaksha's conversion to Sri Vaishnavism: "Nrsimhacharya and his younger brother, as they entered the city during night, mistook this haunted palace for the King's residence and entered it, Ramayana in hand. At their approach the ghosts remained quiet; and they were admitted into the palace. Entering the palace they found the ghosts holding court with king, council and attendants. On their approach all the ghosts bowed to them and showed them the respect due to scholarship; and the ghost-minister inquired who they were, and for what purpose they had come there. They narrated their whole story, on which the king directed them to come secretly every night and read to them the Ramayana; for which he promised to pay them at the rate of one nishka every day. This they did for some time. When they came to the end of the Ramayana, Nrsimhacharya and the brother directed them to make due preparation for the celebration of the coronation of Rama, as is usually the practice even now. On the day of the reading of the coronation portion of the Ramayana, the brothers were presented with many thousands of gold coins and precious stones. After the reading was over, the ghosts narrated to the brothers their story as follows: 'We are all related to Virupaksha, the present sovereign of the country, and have been foully murdered by him in our sleep. This horrible death has forced us to haunt the palace. It was on our account that Virupaksha left this palace and built another, seeking to get rid of us by vows and charities. But all that was of no avail. You two holy people by coming here every night and reading to us the Ramayana have ridded us of our sins, and we now go to the heaven of Santanika'. They took

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¹ Prapannamrtam, l.c., p. 73. The poem says that all the subjects of Virupaksha became Vaishnavas. This is evidently a poetical exaggeration.

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Virupaksha's successors were also faithful devotees of Vishnu, without however excluding the devotion to Siva, the old protector god of the Empire. Krishna Deva Raya worshipped Vishnu, Siva and also Vithoba (an incarnation of Vishnu known only in Maharashtra) to whom he erected a temple in Vijayanagara ². Achyuta Raya made in 1534 a gift of land with a house in the presence of Vitthalesvara and on the banks of the Tungabhadra river, to each of the two Vaishnava Brahmans who recited a *puranam* in the same temple ³. Then the same sovereign is said to have had a son by the favour of the god of Tirupati; hence the child is called Venkatadri ⁴. But the greatest achievement of Achyuta so far as the propagation of Vaishnavism is concerned, was

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² Cf. Krishnamacharlu, *The Religion of the Vijayanagara House*, Ind. Ant., XLIV, p. 222.

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³ 240 of 1910.

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⁴ Varadambika-Parinayam, S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, *Sources*, p. 172. Cf. Ch. I, No. 2.

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leave of the two brothers thus, and went to heaven. The palace became rid of the ghosts and the whole neighbourhood, to its great relief, was rid of the nightly disturbance. They reported the matter to Virupaksha, and Virupaksha, on learning after inquiry what had taken place, summoned the two brothers before him. He inquired who they were and why had gone to the haunted palace. They told him that they belonged to the village Ettur, and were the descendants of the famous Srisailapurna whom the god Venkatesvara called 'grand father', and who explained the Ramayana in twenty-four different ways to Ramanuja. They then gave a full account of their going to the haunted palace and of what had transpired there. On hearing the whole story, King Virupaksha felt great reverence for the Ramayana, the god Rama and the preceptor Nrsimha. The King was soon admitted into the Vaishnava faith by him, for before that time he was a Vira Saiva". S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, *Sources*, p. 71-3.

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the foundation of the Nayakship of Madura. The Pandyas of those days had remained faithful Saivas, as the Tenkasi inscriptions of Arikesari Parakrama Pandya prove ¹. The Telugu chiefs sent from Vijayanagara to the South were almost always Vaishnavas. The final settlement of Vishvanatha and his successors as rulers of the Pandya kingdom naturally marked the commencement of a flourishing period of Vaishnavism in the southern dominions.

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¹ *T. A. S.*, I, p. 93 and 98.

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7. Sadasiva, the last representative of the Tuluva family, was also a fervent worshipper of Vishnu. In 1556, he granted 31 villages to the great sage, Ramanuja, *i. c.*, to the sect founded by him—as Dr. Kielhorn understands—to enable the devotees to carry on the regular worship of Vishnu with incense, lights, oblations of food, flowers, dancing, singing, music, etc. ². In 1568, at the request of Krishnappa Nayaka of Madura, he granted the villages of Krishnapuram to the temple of Tiruvenkatanatha, at the same place, to keep up the cult of the god Vishnu “ who shone in this place under the name of Tiruvenkatanatha, by means of burning incense, by lights, and by the offering of good food, cakes, etc., by means of offerings of several kinds of flowers, by illumination with many lights, by means of dancing, singing and music, with umbrellas, *chauris* on days both ordinary and special, for the car festival at the beginning of each year for the floating festival during the hot season and for the *yatrotsava* ³. For Sadasiva, to die is ‘to attain the Vishnava seat’, as may be seen in a grant of his of the year 1558 ⁴. In his inscriptions several Vaishnava teachers are mentioned on different occasions: Vallabhacharya, whose eloquent panegyrics as a Vaishnave *guru* are described in an inscription of 1544 at Govada, Guntur ⁵; the *sannyasi* Emberumanaru Jiyyangaru, mentioned in another inscription of 1559 at Markapur, Karnul ⁶; and finally Parankusa Van-Sathagopa Jiyyangaru, spoken of in three inscriptions of Lower Ahobalam, Karnul, of 1555 ¹, 1560 ² and 1564 ³. Another inscription at the same place, of the year 1567, mentions a gift from a chief, consisting of some offerings to be distributed among twelve Sri Vaishnava mendicants ⁴.

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² British Museum plates of Sadasiva, *Ep. Ind.*, IV, p. 5-10.

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³ *Ep. Ind.*, IX, p. 341, vv. 67-69.

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⁴ *Ep. Carn.*, IX, *Cp*, 186.

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⁵ Rangacharya, I, p. 841, 825.

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¹ 65 of 1915.

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² 75 of 1915.

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³ 73 of 1915.

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⁴ 69 of 1915.

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Nevertheless, Sadasiva was not so staunch a devotee of Vishnu as to despise the other gods or to force people to join his own sect. He sometimes invokes Siva, Vishnu and Ganesa in the beginning of his grants ⁵. Krishnappa Nayaka of Madura, his feudatory, built a temple to Siva in his new city of Krishnapuram ⁶. The most characteristic feature of this tolerance is the fact that the Yelahanka Prabhu, Kempe Gowda I, on returning to his dominions from his captivity at Anegundi, adopted the worship of Siva, instead of the cult of Bhire Devar, his family god. He thought, in changing his devotion, that it made no difference, as Bhire Devar was the son of Siva; his offerings and prayers however remained in the same family. His broad and tolerant spirit is moreover shown in the fact that he built a temple to Vishnu at Bangalore ⁷.

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⁵ See for instance British Museum Plates of Sadasiva, *Ep. Ind.*, IV, p. 12.

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⁶ Taylor, *O. H. MSS.*, II, p. 23. Cf. Ch. XIII, No. 2.

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⁷ Puttaiya, *The Kempe Gowda Chiefs*, Q.J. M. S., XIII, p. 728. Cf. Rice, *Mysore*, II, p. 21.

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8. Sadasiva's Regent, Rama Raya, was a no less fervent worshipper of Vishnu than his master. The Aravidu family appears to have worshipped Vishnu from ancient times. The names of the majority of its chiefs are names of Vishnu or of his avatars. Moreover several of those chiefs are mentioned as staunch Vaishnavas: such are Rajanarendra, called ‘a devotee of Vishnu’; Vira Hemmaliraya, stated to be ‘a devotee of Murari (Vishnu)’, and Ramaraja (the grand father of the founders of the Aravidu dynasty) who ‘was poisoned by his relatives, but by the grace of Vishnu, whose devotee he was, suffered no harm" 1.

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The most important act of Rama Raya in connection with Sri Vaishnavism is the restoration of the idol of Govindaraja to the temple of Chidambaram. The Prapannamrtam, relates that there was at that time a Vaishnava scholar named Mahacharya who lived in the sacred town of Ghatikachala (Sholighur). He had defeated all the Saiva scholars of Chitrakuta (Chidambaram) among whom was the celebrated Appaya Dikshita. After this victory he grew desirous of re-establishing the worship of Govindaraja in the temple of Chidambaram, abolished since the time of the Chola King, Krimikantha (Kulottunga II) 2. Rama Raya seems to have been then at Chandragiri with his teacher Tatacharya. Mahacharya went there, and with the assistance of the Emperor and his guru, succeeded in restoring Govindaraja's idol to its old place at Chidambaram 3.

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It has been said by modern Saivas that the tremendous defeat of Raksas-Tagdi was the punishment inflicted by Virupaksha on the house of Vijayanagara for going over from his cult to the cult of Vishnu. We already find this idea in an old work of the Mackenzie Collection entitled Jangama Kalajuyana in which the defeat and death of Rama Raya are given in a prophetic strain by Sarvajna, a Jangama priest, and his son Virupana, staunch devotees of Siva 4.

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9. The immediate successors of Rama Raya, however, did not abjure the cult of Vishnu. On the other hand, it seems their devotion even increased. Tirumala is called in his Penuguluru grant 'a repository of nectar-like devotion to Hari (Vishnu)' 5. According to the colophon of his supposed commentary on the Gita Govinda his favourite deity was Rama ¹. In 1568 he made two grants to a Vaishnava temple at Khairuwalla, Karnul ². In the same year he made another grant to another Vaishnava temple in the village of Gundala ³. The so-called ‘three Swami pagoda’, introduced by Tirumala, displays three figures, the central one standing, and the other two seated; they are said to be either Lakshmana with Rama and Sita, or Venkatesvara with his two wives ⁴. In either case this coin proves Tirumala's Vaishnava devotion. With Tirumala also a new Vaishnava feature appears in the royal grants. Till the battle of Raksas-Tagdi the grants of the Emperors of Vijayanagara, even after their converson to Sri Vaishnavism, were as a general rule made in the presence of Virupaksha; but after the establishment of Tirumala at Penukonda, his grants were made in the presence of Ramachandra in the temple of its fort ⁵.

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¹ Dalavay Agraharam plates of Venkata II, *Ep. Ind.*, XII, p. 186, vv, 5-6 and 9-12.

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² Cf. above No. 3.

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³ S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, o. c., p. 202. Cf. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, *Ancient India*, p. 320.

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⁴ Wilson, *The Mackenzie Collection*, p. 272.

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⁵ *Ep. Ind.*, XVI, p. 245.

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¹ Ibid.

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² Sewell, I, p. 93.

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³ Rangacharya, III, p. 909, 10.

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⁴ Brown, The Coins of India, p. 64.

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⁵ See for instance the Penuguluru grant, Ep. Ind., XVI, p. 256, vv. 44-62.

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His devotion to Vishnu, nevertheless, was not that of a fanatic who despises all other deities. His grants after the usual ‘prostration to the blessed Ganadhipati’ start with an invocation to Siva, Vishnu and Ganapati ⁶. One vritti of the Penuguluru grant was by his order given to the local shrines of Vishnu and Hara (Siva) ⁷. Tirumala moreover, in an inscription of 1571, mentions the Saiva teacher, Anantasivacharya, his pupil Ponnambala Dharmasivacharya, and the latter's pupil Immadi Dharmasivacharya ⁸. Another Saiva teacher is mentioned in another of Tirumala's inscriptions dated 1577; this guru is named Santabhiksha vritti Ayyavaru, and seems to have been a man of great influence in Karnul ⁹.

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⁶ See the same grant, Ibid., p. 254, vv. 1-3.

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⁷ Ibid., p. 245.

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⁸ 497 of 1905.

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⁹ 43 of 1915.

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During Tirumala's reign we hear of two Vaishnava temples which were improved through the munificence of the devotees. One was the temple of Bhaktapala Venugopala Krishna at Holalakere, which had passed through different vicisssitudes referred to in the inscription. The idol had been set up by one Janamejaya; but, owing perhaps to difficult circumstances, the god was buried in the earth by a certain Vishnuvardha Raya, till it was restored to its old shrine by Krishna Deva Raya. Rama Raya, it seems, enlarged or beautified the temple, which after the wars with the Muhammadans was dilapidated and ruined. Then in 1568 Kamageti Kasturi Medakeri Nayaka set up the ruined god, and repaired the temple with the aid of the Brahmans of the place ¹. Some years later Sri Van Sathagopa Swami established the idols of the Vaishnava Alvars at the temple of Purushtamam (Jaganath) ².

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¹ *Ep. Carn.*, IX, Ht, 7.

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² Ahobalam inscription, S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, *Sources*, p. 233.

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Ranga I followed the example of his father in his devotion to Vishnu. He is said in the Maredapalli grant ‘to have borne in his heart Sarngadhara, i. e., his god Vihnu’ ³; and in the Arivilimangalam plates he is called ‘worshipper of Vishnu’ ⁴. Nevertheless Ranga, as much of an eclectic as Tirumala, invoked Siva, Vishnu and Ganesha at the beginning of his grants ⁵. During his time the Hande chiefs of Anantapur, who were bigoted Saivites, co-operated with Ibrahim Shah of Golkonda in the sack of the temple of Ahobalam ⁶.

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¹⁰ Ranga’s successor, Venkata II, was the great Vaishnava Emperor of the dynasty. His fervent devotion to Vishnu was the cause of a great change introduced in the grants issued by him. During the third dynasty, and even during the reigns of Tirumala and Ranga of the Aravidu family, the Emperors had commenced the practice of invoking Vishnu together with Siva at the beginning of their grants,

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³ *Ep. Ind.*, XI, p. 328, v. 35.

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⁴ Ibid., XII, p. 357, v. 20.

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⁵ See for instance the Maredapalli grant, *Ep. Ind.*, XI, p. 327, vv. 1-3, and the Arivilimangalam plates, Ibid., XII, p. 356, vv. 1-3.

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but still they used to sign the same grants with the solitary word 'Sri Virupaksha', the name of the guardian god of the old Empire. "The Vijayanagara throne", says Mr. Krishnamacharlu in this connection, "was still believed to be under the blessed guardianship of the wings of Virupaksha" 1. According to the *Prapannamrtam* the Emperor Virupaksha after his conversion "gave up the use of the old seal with the sign manual Virupaksha on it, and adopted a new one on which was inscribed the name 'Sri Rama'" 2. But his successors had resumed the old seal of Virupaksha. Venkata II broke this tradition for ever: Virupaksha was no longer the protector of the Empire; Vishnu had taken his place. Accordingly all the grants of Venkata bear the following signature: 'Sri Venkatesa' 3, one of the forms of Vishnu worshipped at Tirupati. The very beginning of his grants, moreover, shows more signs of the Vaishnava faith than the former grants. The Padmaneri grant, for instance, starts with an invocation to Venkatesa, the feet of Rama Vishvaksena and the Moon 4. In the Vellangudi plates the invocation is addressed to Rama's feet, Vishvaksena and Vishnu 5. The beginning of the Mangalampad grant is as follows: "I seek refuge in that pair of substances (Rama's feet), by virtue of whose touch a stone became the gem of women and which is deserving of worship by the gods" 6. Besides, almost all his grants are made in the presence of Venkatesa at Tirupati.

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We have still several other instances of Venkata's devotion to Vishnu. In 1590 he made a grant to a Vaishnava shrine under the management of one Krishna Das ¹. In 1597, at the request of Krishnappa Nayaka of Madura, he granted two villages in the Madura district to several Vaishnava Brahmans ². On another occasion the King made arrangements for celebrating a festival in the temple of Alagiyarama Perumal ³. Venkata's gold coin, called *Venkatapati pagoda*, shows on the obverse Vishnu standing under an arch, while the reverse bears this Nagari legend: *Sri Venkatesvaraya Namah*, adoration to the blessed Venkatesvara ⁴. Another coin of Venkata shows the figure of Hanuman advancing to the right, with the same legend on the reverse ⁵.

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¹ Krishnamacharlu, *The Religion of the Vijayanagara House*, *Ind. Ant.*, XLIV, p. 221.

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² S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, *Sources*, p.

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⁷³ We have not seen any grant of Virupaksha with the colophon mentioning Sri Rama. His ordinary signature was, it seems, Sri Harihara. Cf. his Alampundi plate, *Ep. Ind.*, III p. 229, and Sornikavur plates, Ibid., VIII, p. 305.

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³ See for instance the Vellangudi plates, *Ep. Ind.*, XVI, p. 329, and the Pandmaneri grant, Ibid., p. 297, v. 159.

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⁴ *Ep. Ind.*, XVI, p. 296.

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⁵ Ibid., p. 318.

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¹ Ranghacharya, III, p. 1497, 457.

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² Ibid., II, p. 1002, 91.

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³ 385 of 1905.

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⁴ Hultzsch, *The Coins of the Kings of Vijayanagara*, *Ind. Ant.*, XX, p. 308. Cf. Brown, *The Coins of India*, p. 64.

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⁵ Rangachari, *Some Inedite Coins of the Kings of Vijayanagara*, *Ind. Ant.*, XXIII, p. 26.

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II. Vaishnavism was also openly professed outside the royal palace. Venkata's nephew Tirumala, the Seringapatam Viceroy, starts one of his decrees with the suggestive words: 'Obeisance to Ramanuja' ⁶. The poet Matla Ananta in the prologue of his works invokes the blessings of the god of Tirupati, and in the colophon to the same work calls himself disciple of the Vaishnava teacher Tirumala Tolappa Acharya ⁷. In 1609 a gift of seven gold-gilt pinnacles for the big gopura of the Vira Narasimha temple at Diguva Tirupati, and of two fly-whisks and an umbrella of white silk with a gilt *kalasa* over it, was made by some merchants of Aravidu ⁸.

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⁶ *Ep. Carn.*, IV, Gu, 40.

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⁷ Cf. Krishnamacharlu, *The Penuguluru Grant Ep. Ind.*, XVI, p. 246.

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⁸ 67 of 1915.

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But the most interesting event in connection with the propagation of Vaishnavism, is the conversion to this sect of the royal house of Mysore. We do not know for certain when this conversion took place; we are only aware that the early Rajas of Mysore were devotees of Siva, and that shortly after this period they appear as worshippers of Vishnu ¹. "But many circumstances afford room to conjecture", says Wilks, "that it was about this time (after Raja Wodeyar took possession of Seringapatam) that they adopted the insignia and ceremonies of the sect of Vishnu" ².

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¹ Cf. Thompson, *Religion in the Mysore State*, Q. J. M. S., I, p. 135.

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² Wilks, *History of Mysore*, I, p. 43. Cf. Krishna Row, *A Brief History of Mysore*, p. 10; Rice, *Mysore*, I, p. 364.

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12. The whole Empire however was not Vaishnava. Several feudatory chiefs still adhered to their old family sect. One instance is that of the Nayaks of Vellore, who with their families remained faithful to Siva. Lingama Nayaka, the last known member of this dynasty, is said in the Vilapaka grant of Venkata II to 'be engaged in establishing lingas of Siva'; 'his prize', says the same grant, "was the works relating to Siva" ³. Another family very faithful to Siva was that of the Nayaks of Ikeri. Among their titles there are two that refer to their devotion: they are called 'establishers of the pure Vaidika Advaita doctrine' and 'devoted to the faith in Siva and the guru' ⁴. In their zeal they seem to have converted many of the Jains to the Saiva creed ⁵. We know likewise of a grant of 1592 for the services of a matha, issued by Keladi Venkatappa Nayaka, son of Sadasiva Nayaka II and grandson of Sadasiva Raya Nayaka; the grantor is called in the grant 'feudatory of Venkatapatiraya, devoted to Siva and gurus' ⁶. The chiefs of Ullal were likewise devotees of Siva; Pietro della Valle says that the family god of the Queen he met during his travels was Putia Somnata ⁷.

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³ *Ep. Ind.*, IV, p. 271.

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⁴ Rice, *Mysore and Coorg*, p. 157.

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⁵ Cf. Burnell, *On the Colossal Jain Statue at Karkala*, *Ind. Ant.*, II, p. 353; Wilson, *The Mackenzie Collection*, p. 62.

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⁶ M.A.D., 1923, p. 106-7.

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⁷ Della Valle, II, p. 341.

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There exist moreover several other grants of petty chiefs announcing their liberality to the temples and to the mendicants of Siva. In 1612 Nanja Raja Odeyar made some offerings to Siva ¹. In 1593 Immadi Rama Raja Nayaka, son of the chief of Hadinand-sima, Devappa Gowda, made also a grant to Siva, recorded in a stone charter he gave to Channa Basavaraja Deva, disciple of Sivaratreya Deva ². In 1588 Vaiyappa Krishnappa Nayaka ordered 30 rice offerings to be distributed among Saiva mendicants ³.

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¹ Ibid., 30.

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² Ep. Carn., IV, Ch, 135.

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³ 339 of 1913.

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13. Furthermore the Jains were still powerful in the Kanarese Viceroyalty. The gigantic statue of the Jain Saint, Bhujabalin, set up at Enura (Venur) in 1603-4 is a clear proof of this. It was erected by the chief Timmaraya of the family of Chamunda, the younger brother of Pandya, son of Queen Pandyaka and nephew and son-in-law of Rayakuvara. He is said to have made the image at the request of the Jain priest Charukirti, who was the pontiff of Belgula (Sravana-Belgola). On the opposite side of the colossus there is another inscription, according to which Timmaraya belonged to the lunar race and was ruling over the kingdom of Punjalike ⁴.

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⁴ Ep. Ind., VII, p. 113-4. Cf. Ind. Ant., V, p. 37.

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There are still other instances of the widespread influence of the Jains in the Kanarese country during the reign of Venkata II. In 1591 a Kanarese Prince named Kinniga Bhupala made a grant for the purpose of maintaining a Jain temple ⁵. In 1586 the Karkala chief Bhairava II built a Jain temple on the Chikkabetta hill at Karkala, set up the images of the three Tirthankaras, Ara, Malli, and Munisuvrata on each of the four faces of the temple, and consecrated at the same time the images of the 24 Tirthankaras and those of the Jains together with those of Brahma and Padmavati. This temple, built at the advice of the Jaina teacher Lalitakirti, was called the temple ' of the three jewels ' ⁶. Its chaturmukhabasti indeed shows down to this day three nude statues of the Tirthankaras strongly resembling each other, carved in black stone, and surrounded by many other idols also naked.

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⁵ Sewell, II, p. 14.

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⁶ Karkala inscription of Bhairava II, Ep. Ind., VIII, p. 124-5.

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14. This variety of sects within the limits of the Empire shows the eclectic character of the Emperors of Vijayanagara, so inconsistent with the exclusive spirit of orthodox Vaishnavism ¹. The two most prominent representatives of this characteristic eclecticism of the Vijayanagara House are Krishna Deva Raya and Venkata II. The latter was really a fervent devotee of Vishnu, but he also favoured the cult of Siva when occasion arose. In 1588, for instance, he gave 20 offerings to be distributed among the Saiva mendicants in the Bhisesvara temple at Chidambaram ². Similarly there is a plate of his of the year 1596 proceeding from Cuddalore, bearing a large number of mythological figures of both the Saiva and Vaishnava sects; such are for instance Ganesa, the lingam, Hanuman, Narasimha, etc. ³.

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¹ Cf. Raychauduri, o. c., p. 116.

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² 349 of 1913.

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³ Sewell, II, p. 9; Rangacharya, I, p. 154.

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The most striking specimen of this eclecticism is given in an edict issued some years before the accession of Venkata in 1561, by Krishnappa Nayaka, the feudatory chief of the North Kanara, when speaking of some differences between Saivas and Vaishnavas. It runs as follows: "Obeisance to Ganadhipati. May it be fortunate. Praise of Sambhu. There being some who say that besides Hari (Vishnu) there is no god in the world and some who say that besides Hara (siva) there is no god in the world; to remove those doubts of mankind, they assumed with affection in Kudalur the glorious double form of Harihara: may he protect us.

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"Be it so. To the chief lord of all worlds, the chief god and supreme lord of the gods, destroyer of the contradictory statements of Saivas, Vaishnavas and others, the bestower of a boon on Markkandeya, the single incarnation of Hari and Hara, tearer asunder of the pride of Guhasura, his two lotus feet placed on the chest of Guhasura, worshipped by the three worlds of heaven, earth and hell, bestower of their desires on the faithful, granting the gift of being without fear to the dwellers in the auspicious forest Guharanya, residing on the eastern bank of the Tungabhadra, boon-lord of Manigapura, the god Harihara" ¹.

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¹ *Ep. Carn.*, XI, Dg, 18. The edict evidently speaks of the temple at Harihara 'on the eastern bank of the Tungabhadra'.

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15. In spite of this eclecticism and toleration, we cannot doubt but that the reign of Venkata II marked a period of proselytism towards the spreading of Vaishnavism. The Prapannamrtam tells us that, "when Venkata became a disciple of Tatacharya, a large number of the subjects became Vaishnavas" ². Tatacharya indeed was an ardent Vaishnava missionary, and under the patronage of Venkata contributed largely to the progress of his creed.

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² S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, *Sources*, p. 251.

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This proselytism produced warm disputes at the court itself of this sovereign among the Saiva and Vaishnava teachers. One of these controversies took place between Tatacharya and the court poet Appaya Dikshita. This scholar was a very fervent Saiva. He chanted four verses in honour of Siva wherever he went, and by his zeal and preaching reconverted many Vaishnavas to their former faith in Siva. In the religious disputation with Tatacharya, Appaya Dikshita was victorious. Hence the royal guru cherished a mortal hatred against him and even, they say, actually plotted to put an end to his rival's life ³.

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³ Subramiah Pantulu, *Discursive Remarks*, *Ind. Ant.*, XXVII, p. 326.

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Another of these religious controversies took place in Kumbhakonam between the Vaishnava philosopher Vijayindra Tirtha and a famous Vira Saiva guru of that *matha*. The condition under which it was held was that if the Saiva guru succeeded Vijayindra Tirtha would join his *matha*; but if the latter triumphed, the Saiva guru would make over his *matha* with all its belongings to his opponents. The discussion lasted eleven days, at the end of which term the Saiva guru declared himself vanquished. Consequently Vijayindra Tirtha entered into possession of the *matha* at Kumbhakonam ⁴.

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⁴ Gopinatha Rao, *Arivilimangalam Plates*, *Ep. Ind.*, XII, p. 346.

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Vijayindra Tirtha had also several discussions with Appaya Dikshita. When the latter wrote some works condemning the Madhya philosophy, Vijayindra Tirtha wrote several works against him refuting the Saiva arguments ¹.

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¹ Ibid.

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This antagonism between the two sects which existed in some quarters of the Empire and specially in the Tamil country, finds expression in a poem existing in the old library of Fort St. George. This work deals with the marriage of a Brahman's daughter with the god Ranganathaswami of Srirangam, but incidentally refers to the sectarian disputes between Saivas and Vaishnavas in the South of the Empire ².

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² Taylor, *Catalogue Raisonnée*, I, p. 646.

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16. A notable instance of this struggle between the two sects is the lamentable event that took place at Chidambaram in the year 1597, while Krishnappa Nayaka of Jinji, himself a staunch Vaishnava, was there superintending the improvements which he had ordered at the temple of Govinda Raja within the great Saiva temple. Fr. N. Pimenta, who passed through Chidambaram at this time, narrates in one of his letters that on this occasion a great controversy arose as to "whether it were lawful to place the Signe of Perimal in the Temple at Cidambaran. Some refused, others by their Legats importunately urged, and the Naichus of Gingi Decreed to erect it in the temple". These last words of Pimenta indicate that, after the restoration of the idol to the temple by Rama Raya, it had again been removed and its shrine probably destroyed. In order to re-instal it with due honour, Krishnappa Nayaka ordered the old shrine to be repaired, and even perhaps enlarged.

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This was the cause of the whole trouble. "The Priests of the Temple which were the Treasurers", continues Pimenta, "(were) withstanding, and threatening if it were done, to cast down themselves from the top. The Brachmanes of the Temple, sware to doe the like after they buried the former, which yet after better advice they performed not". But Krishnappa Nayaka was unmoved by any such threat; the reconstruction of the shrine was carried on without hesitation. Whereupon the priests, climbing one of the high *gopurams* of the temple, started to cast themselves down while the Nayak was in the temple. "About twentie had perished in that precipitation on that day of our departure", says Pimenta; "whereat the Naichus angrie, caused his Gunners to shoot at the rest, which killed two of them, the rest wandring in uncertaine places. A Woman also was so hote in this zealous quarrel that shee cut her owne throat". Naturally Krishnappa Nayaka accomplished his purpose in spite of this opposition¹.

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¹ From Fr. N. Pimenta to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Purchas, X, p. 208-9. Cf. Du Jarric, I, p. 637; Anquetil du Perron, l. c. p. 169.

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This brings us to a point in the history of Vaishnavism and Saivism, where we see the opposition between them at fever-heat. But the struggle between the two sects was practically over at the end of Venkata II's reign. Although the sect of Siva still counted many adherents, Vaishnavism had won the victory.

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Printed by S. Ganesan, at the Current Thought Press, Triplicane, Madras.

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