A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c19.s2.32

c19.s2.32

A certain Tuṟaiyūr Śivaprakāśa-svāmi was a contemporary of Lingama Nāyaka of Vellore (early seventeenth century). He is said to have embraced Vira-śaivism to win the Nāyaka’s favour and induce him to restore worship in the shrine of Naṭarāja at Chidambaram, interrupted by the intolerance of the Vaishnava officials of Vijayanagar. Among his works Advaita-veṇbā expounds the Śaiva philosophy in 218 verses based on the Āgamas, particularly the Vātula, while others like Gaṇa-bhāshita-ratnamālai and Śatakatrayam deal with the theology and philosophy of Viraśaivism. Of more than ordinary interest is the work of Mādai Tiruvengaḍanāthar, an officer of the Nāyak of Madura at Kayattār in the Tinnevelly district about 1633. He undertook the exposition of Advaita Vedānta in a long Tamil poem and sought to excel Krishna Miśra who expounded the same system in the popular Sanskrit drama Prabodha-Candrodaya. The Tamil work also bears the name of its model and has an alternative name Meyññāna-viḷakkam (exposition of true knowledge), 48 cantos comprising 2,019 verses. Being a high official, Tiruvengaḍa patronized many poets. One of the latest works of Śaiva philosophy was Ñānā-bharaṇa-viḷakkam, a commentary on Śiva-Ñāna-Śittiyār by Veḷḷiyambala Tambirān (c. 1650), a disciple of the famous Kumaraguruparar. It is an extensive Bhāshya replete with citations from Āgamas of which the author also translated some into Tamil.