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History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s77: 92. Mādhavācārya

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s77

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92. Mādhavācārya

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Mādhavācārya is the brightest star in the galaxy of *dakṣiṇātya* authors on dharmaśāstra. His fame stands only second to that of the great Śaṅkarācārya. He had a most versatile genius and either himself wrote or inspired his brother Sāyaṇa and others to write voluminous works on almost all branches of Sanskrit literature. As an erudite scholar, as a far-sighted statesman, as the bulwark of the Vijayanagara kingdom in the first days of its foundation, as a *saṁnyāsin* given to peaceful contemplation and renunciation in old age, he led such a varied and useful life that even to this day his is a name to conjure with. Among his numerous works two deserve special mention here, viz : the Parāśara-mādhavīya, his commentary on the Parāśarasmṛti and the Kālanirṇaya.

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The Parāśara-mādhavīya has been published several times, the edition in the B. I. series and in the Bombay Sanskrit series being the best known. In the following the Bombay edition has been used. This work is very extensive and occupies about 2300 printed pages in the Bombay edition. It is not a mere commentary on Parāśara's text, but is in the nature of a digest of civil and religious law. The original smṛti of Parāśara contains no verses on *vyavahāra*, but Mādhavācārya hangs, on the slender peg of a single verse of Parāśara calling upon the king to rule his subjects with righteousness, his treatise on *vyavahāra* that covers a little over a fourth part of the whole commentary (vide note 341 above an Parāśara). The Parāśara-mādhavīya is a work of authority on modern Hindu Law in southern India.⁸⁹⁶ His style is lucid and he generally avoids lengthy and abstruse discussions. Besides numerous smṛtikāras and purāṇas he names the following authors and works—Aparārka, Devasvāmin, Purāṇasāra, Prapañcasāra, Medhātithi, Vivaraṇakāra (on the Vedāntasūtra), Viśvarūpācārya, Śambhu, Śivasvāmin, Smṛticandrikā. The Parāśara-mādhavīya was amongst his earliest works. He tells us that there was no commentary on Parāśara before him.⁸⁹⁷

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⁸⁹⁶ 2 Mad. H. C. R. p. 206 at p. 217; 11 Moo. I. A. p. 487 at p. 508; I. L. R. 35 Mad. 152 at p. 156.

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⁸⁹⁷ पराशरस्मृतिः पूर्वैर्न व्याख्याता निबन्धृभिः । मयातो माधवार्येण तद्व्याख्यायां प्रयत्यूते ॥ 9th Intro verse.

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The Kālanirṇaya of Mādhavācārya has been published several times. In the following the B. I. edition has been used. He states that he wrote this work after he composed his commentary on the Parāśarasmṛti.⁸⁹⁸ The work is divided into five *prakaraṇas*. The first (Upodghāta) deals with a scholastic disquisition on *kāla* (time) and its real nature; the 2nd (called *vatsara*) speaks of the year, its various lengths according as it is *cāndra*, *sāvana* or *saura*, of the two *ayanas*, of the seasons and their number, of the months (*cāndra* and *saura*), of the intercalary months, and the religious acts allowed and forbidden in intercalary months, of the two *pakṣas* (fortnights); the third *prakaraṇa* (pratipatprakaraṇa) deals with the meaning of the word *tithi*, duration of a *tithi*, the fifteen *tithis* of a *pakṣa*, two kinds of *tithis*, viz. śuddhā (i. e. not intermixed with another *tithi* on the same day) and *viddhā* (intermixed with another *tithi* on same day), rules about the preference of the first *tithi* for particular religious rites and observances (for Gods and Manes) when intermixed with the preceding and following *tithis*, the fifteen *muhūrtas* of the day and of the night; the *fourth* (dvitīyādi-tithi-prakaraṇa) extends the application of the rules about *pratipad* to the *tithis* from the second to the fifteenth and decides on what *tithi* (whether intermixed with the preceding or the following) certain *vratas*, such as Gaurīvrata on the third, Janmāṣṭamī on the 8th, were to be performed; the *fifth* (*prakīrṇaka* i. e. miscellaneous) deals with rules about the determination of *nakṣatras* for various acts, the *yogas* and *karaṇas* and rules about saṁkrānti and eclipses and the actions proper for them.

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⁸⁹⁸ व्याख्याय माधवाचार्यो धर्माम्पाराशरानथ । तदनुष्ठानकालस्य निर्णयं वक्तुमुद्यतः ॥ 4th Intro. verse of कालनिर्णय.

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The Kālanirṇaya besides the names of numerous sages, purāṇas, astronomical and astrological writers mentions the following works and authors:—Kālādarśa (p. 83), Bhoja (as having composed in Āryā metre a work on the Śaiva āgama), Muhūrta-vidhāna-sāra (p. 341), Vateśvarasiddhānta, Vāsiṣṭha Rāmāyaṇa, the Siddhāntaśiromaṇi (of Bhāskarācārya), Hemādri (p. 67 his *vratakhaṇḍa* and *danakhaṇḍa*).

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A good deal about the family and personal history of Mādhavācārya can be gleaned from the above-mentioned two works and other treatises of Mādhavācārya. From the Parāśara-mādhavīya we⁸⁹⁹ learn that he was the son of Māyaṇa and Śrīmatī, that Sāyaṇa and Bhoganātha were his younger brothers, that he was a student of the black Yajurveda and of the Baudhāyana-sūtra-caraṇa and belonged to the Bhāradvāja-gotra. The introductory verses and the colophon of the Prāyaścitta-sudhānidhi⁹⁰⁰ of Sāyaṇa corroborate most of these particulars. A verse at the beginning of the Kalanirṇaya tells us that Vidyātīrtha, Bhāratītīrtha and Śrīkaṇṭha were his teachers.⁹⁰¹ The Parāśara-Mādhavīya highly eulogises⁹⁰² Mādhava, compares him to divine and semi-divine councillors like Āṅgirasa of Indra and says that he was the hereditary teacher (*kulaguru*) and *mantrin* of king Bukkaṇa (or Bukka). The colophons to the several works of Sāyaṇa, the younger brother of Mādhavācārya, show that these brothers were closely connected with four rulers of the Vijayanagar dynasty, viz. Bukka and his son Harihara, Kampa and his son Saṅgama. In the Yājñatantra-sudhānidhi⁹⁰³ (ms. in the Bhau Daji collection) Sāyaṇa, the author of the bhāṣyas on the vedas, is said to be the *kulaguru* of Harihara, son of Saṅgama. In the Guruvaṁśa-kāvya (Vāṇīvilāsa Press ed.) it is said that Vidyāraṇya was the pupil of Vidyātīrtha, that he composed Vedabhāṣyas and published them in the names of Sāyaṇa and Mādhava, that Harihara and Bukka were the most valiant of the five sons of Saṅgama (*v.* 48), that Vīra Rudra was the sovereign of Harihara and Bukka and was defeated by the *suratrāṇa* i. e. *sultan*. The same work says that Vidyāraṇya founded Vijayanagarī in śake 1258, vaiśākha śuddha 7 Sunday (i. e. 30th April 1335 A. D.) and crowned Harihara king.903a

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⁸⁹⁹ श्रीमती जननी यस्य सुकीर्तिर्मायणः पिता । सायणो भोगनाथश्च मनोबुद्धी सहोदरौ ॥ यस्य बौधायनं सूत्रं शाखा यस्य च याजुषी । भारद्वाजं कुलं यस्य सर्वज्ञः स हि माधवः ॥ Intro. verses 6 and 7 of पराशरमाधवीय.

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⁹⁰⁰ यस्य मन्त्रिशिरोरत्नमस्ति मायणसायणः । यः ख्यातिं रत्नगर्भेति यथार्थयति पार्थिवीम् ॥ and the colophon इति माधवभोगनाथसहोदरस्य मायणनन्दनस्य सायणाचार्यस्य &c. Descriptive cat. of Madras Govt. Sanskrit mss. vol. VII. p. 2620 No. 3490. The king referred to is सङ्गम.

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⁹⁰¹ सोहं प्राप्य विवेकतीर्थपदवीमाम्नायतीर्थे परं मज्जन् सज्जनसङ्गतितीर्थनिपुणः सद्बुद्धितीर्थं श्रयन् । लब्धामाकलयन्प्रभावलहरीं श्रीभारतीतीर्थतो विद्यातीर्थमुपाश्रयन् हृदि भजे श्रीकण्ठमव्याहतम् ॥ 2nd verse of कालनिर्णय.

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⁹⁰² इन्द्रस्याङ्गिरसो नलस्य सुमतिः शैब्यस्य मेधातिथिर्धौम्यो धर्मसुतस्य वैन्यनृपतेः स्वौजा निमेर्गौतमः । प्रत्यग्दृष्टिररुन्धतीसहचरो रामस्य पुण्यात्मनो यद्वत्तस्य विभोरभूत्कुलगुर्मन्त्री तथा माधवः ॥ 4th verse of परा. मा.

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⁹⁰³ तस्याभूदन्वयगुरुस्तत्त्वसिद्धान्तदर्शिता । सर्वज्ञः सायणाचार्यो मायणार्यतनूद्भवः। उपेन्द्रस्येव यस्यासीदिन्द्रः सुमनसां प्रियः । महाक्रतूनामाहर्ता माधवार्यः सहोदरः ॥ अधीताः सकला वेदास्ते च दृष्टार्थगौरवाः । त्वत्प्रणीतेन तद्भाष्यप्रदीपेन प्रथीयसा ॥ Intro. verses 7, 8, 14.

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903a नागेष्वर्कैर्र्मिते इह शके शालिवाहस्य याते धातार्यब्दे शुभसमुचिते मासि वैशाखनाम्नि । शुक्ले पक्षे सुगुणपितृभे सूर्यवारे झुलग्ने सप्तम्यां श्रीविजयनगरीं निर्ममे निर्ममेन्द्रः ॥ गुरुवंशकाव्य VI. 8.

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Burnell in his introduction to the Vaṁśabrāhmaṇa started the theory that Sāyaṇa and Mādhava were identical and put forward an esoteric meaning on the verse that states that Sāyaṇa and Bhoganātha were the younger brothers of Mādhava. But the facts as culled from the works of these two great men and the inscriptions of contemporary Vijayanagara kings are too strong for the hypothesis of Burnell and make it look absurd. The whole subject about the relationship of Mādhava, Sāyaṇa and Bhoganātha has been carefully examined by Rao Bahadur R. Narsimhachar in Ind. Ant. vol. 45 pp. 1-6 and 17ff and the theory of Burnell has been thoroughly refuted. Sāyaṇa and Bhoganātha were as real personages as Mādhavācārya himself. Mādhavācārya in his later years became a *saṁnyāsin* and was named Vidyāraṇya. To the items of evidence adduced by R. B. R. Narsimhachar for establishing the identity of Mādhava and Vidyāraṇya (Ind. Ant. vol. 45 p. 18) I may add one more. The Vīramitrodaya ascribes the commentary on Parāśara composed by Mādhava to Vidyāraṇya.⁹⁰⁴ It has however to be noted that the Guruvaṁśakāvya (Vāṇīvilāsa Press ed.) says (V. 41-44) that Vidyāraṇya was different from both Sāyaṇa and Mādhava.

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⁹⁰⁴ व्याख्यातं चेदं शङ्खवचनं विद्यारण्यश्रीचरणैः पराशरस्मृतिटीकायां 'पैतृकद्रव्यविभागकाले स्वधृतालङ्कारादिकमपि कन्या प्राप्नोतीत्याह शङ्ख' इति । वीर० p. 583 ; *vide* p. 672 'विद्यारण्यश्रीचरणोक्तं प्राग्लिखितं तस्मान्निरिन्द्रिया इत्यादि श्रुतिव्याख्याने तु स्त्रीणां दायग्रहणप्रतिषेधत्वमेवास्याः श्रुतेर्नास्तीति ।'. This refers to the remarks in परा. मा. vol. III. p. 538.

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The chronology of the kings of Vijayanagara has been a fruitful source of controversy. It is not necessary to go into that chronology in great detail here. It may be studied in such works as Sewell's 'Forgotten empire' and in E. I. vol. III. p. 36, E. I. vol. XIV p. 68, E. I. vol. XV p. 8. The following pedigree⁹⁰⁵ will be sufficient for the purpose of connecting Mādhava and his brothers with the kings of Vijayanagara. The earliest inscription is that of Harihara I dated *śake* 1261 (1339-40 A. D.) wherein Harihara is said to be a Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara and is spoken of as ‘Śri-Vira-Hariyappa-Voḍeya.’⁹⁰⁶ The colophon of the Mādhavīya Dhātu-vṛtti describes Mādhava as the great minister of Saṅgamarāja, the son of Kamparāja.⁹⁰⁷ The Biṭraguṇṭa grant in *śake* 1278 (1356 A. D.) by Saṅgama II at the request of his teacher Śrīkaṇṭhanātha shows that Bhoganātha⁹⁰⁸ who composed the contents of the grant was a *narmasaciva* (gay or humorous companion) of Saṅgama II. We saw above that Śrīkaṇṭha was a teacher of Mādhavācārya and that Bhoganātha was the youngest brother of Mādhavācārya. Bhoganātha in order to be a poet and a *narmasaciva* of a reigning sovereign must have been a grown-up man in 1356 A. D. and so Mādhavācārya must have been quite an elderly person about that time. The Kālanirṇaya tells us that in the cyclic year Īśvara following immediately after *śake* 1258 *śrāvaṇa* was an intercalary month and that in the cyclic year Bhāva that preceded *śake* 1258 (i. e. in *śake* 1256) Fālguna was an intercalary month and then examines the intercalary months that occurred in the cyclic years up to Vikārī thereafter (i. e. up to *śake* 1281).908a As the Kālanirṇaya examines the intercalary months from *śake* 1256 (i. e. 1334 A. D.) to *śake* 1281 (i. e. 1359 A. D.), it follows that it was either composed during these years or immediately after this period. The Parāśara-mādhavīya was composed before the Kālanirṇaya. Rao Bahadur Narsimhachar states that in a copperplate grant dated 1386 A. D. it is said that Harihara (II) gave in the presence of Vidyāraṇya-śrīpāda certain donations to three scholars who were the promoters (*pravartaka*) of the commentaries on the four Vedas (Ind. Ant. vol. 45 p. 19). Another inscription speaks of Vidyāraṇya in 1378 A. D.⁹⁰⁹ This shows that Mādhavācārya had become a *saṁnyāsin* at least in 1377 A. D. Tradition says that Vidyāraṇya died in 1386 A. D. at the ripe old age of 90. Therefore we shall not be far wrong if we place the literary activity of Mādhava-Vidyāraṇya between 1330-1385 A. D. From the remarks about intercalary months it appears that the Parāśaramādhavīya and Kālanirṇaya were composed between 1335-1360 A. D. There was a tradition among *paṇḍits* that it was Mādhavācārya who composed bhāṣyas on the Vedas and ascribed them to his brother Sāyaṇa. Kāśīnātha, in his Viṭṭhala-ṛṅmantra-sāra-bhāṣya says so.⁹¹⁰

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⁹⁰⁶ ‘महामण्डलेश्वरपूर्वपश्चिमसमुद्राधिपतिश्रीवीरहरियप्पवोडेय’ Int. Ant. vol. X, p. 63.

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⁹⁰⁷ श्रीमत्पूर्वपश्चिमदक्षिणसमुद्राधीश्वरकम्पराजसुतसङ्गमराजमहामन्त्रिमायणपुत्रमाधवसहोदरसायणाचार्यकृता माधवीया वृत्तिः।

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⁹⁰⁸ इति भोगनाथसुधिया सङ्गमभूपालनर्मसचिवेन । श्रीकण्ठपुरसमृद्ध्यै शासनपत्रेषु लिखिताः श्लोकाः ॥ E. I. vol. III. at p. 30.

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908a ‘तादृशं चाधिमासमुदाहरामः । अष्टपञ्चाशद्युक्तशतद्वयाधिके शकवर्षाणां सहस्रे गते सति समनन्तरभावी योयमीश्वरसंवत्सरस्तस्मिञ्श्रावणमासोधिकः । ततः पूर्वभावी यो भावसंवत्सरस्तस्मिन् फाल्गुनमासोधिकः ... ननु अधिकमासस्य क्वचिद्विंशत्तमत्वं व्यभिचरति न्यूनाधिकसंख्याया अपि दर्शनात् । तथा हि यथोक्तेश्वरसंवत्सरोत्तरभाविनि चित्रभानुसंवत्सरे वैशाखमासोधिकः ... तथा दुर्मुखसंवत्सरे श्रावणमासोधिकः । हेमलम्बिविलम्बिसंवत्सरद्वयव्यवहिते विकारिसंवत्सरे ज्येष्ठोधिकः । तथा च तत्र पञ्चत्रिंशत्त्वं संपद्यते । कालनिर्णय pp. 70-71.

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⁹⁰⁹ Epigraphia Carnatica, vol. VI. Koppa 30.

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⁹¹⁰ कथं तर्हि माधवाचार्यैर्वेदभाष्यादिषु सायणादेः स्वभ्रातुर्नाम लिखितमिति चेत्कारुण्येन &c. । folio 37 b of the विट्ठलऋङ्ग्मन्त्रसारभाष्य (D. C. ms. No. 100 of 1869-70).

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Great confusion has been caused by identifying Mādhava-Vidyāraṇya with another scholar named Mādhava who was also a *mantrin* of Bukka, who was a great warrior and was governor of Banavase and the country round Goa on the western coast. In a grant⁹¹¹ of the village Kucara, also called Mādhavapura, dated *śake* 1313 (1391 A. D.), it is said that he routed the armies of the Turuṣkas, wrested Goa the capital of Koṅkaṇa from them and re-established the temple of Saptanātha (i. e. Sapta-koṭīśvara). There is another inscription dated *śake* 1290 (i. e. 1368 A. D.) where the great minister (*Mahāpradhāna*) Mādhavāṅka is stated to have ruled over Banavase 12000 under king Bukkarāya (Ind. Ant. vol. IV, p. 206). Fleet is wrong in identifying the minister Mādhavāṅka with Mādhavācārya-Vidyāraṇya. Another grant from Goa (found by Dr. Bhau Daji) says that Mādhava-mantrin, son of Cāuṇḍibhaṭṭa, established the *liṅga* of Saptanātha (JBBRAS vol. 9, p. 228). Vide E. C. vol. VIII, Sorab No. 375 dated śake 1268 (Sunday Mādhava 30, i. e. 11th Feb. 1347), where we are told that Mādhavamantrin was governor of Candragutti, capital of Banavase 12000, that he was minister of Mārapa, younger brother of Harihara I and that he was a disciple of Kriyāśakti, a Śaiva teacher. In E. C. vol. VII, Shikarpur 281 dated śake 1290 Kārtika bahula 8 (i. e. 15th November 1368) Mādhava is said to have been a son of Cāuṇḍa of the Āṅgirasa gotra and a minister of Bukka I and his *guru* is said to have been Kāśīvilāsa Kriyāśakti.

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⁹¹¹ गोवार्भिधां कोङ्कणराजधानीमन्येन मन्येरुणदूर्णवेन । प्रतिष्ठितांस्तत्र तुरुष्कसङ्घानुत्पाट्य दोष्णा भुवनैकवीरः ॥ उन्मूलनित्तानामकरोत्प्रतिष्ठां श्रीसप्तनाथादिसुधाम्बुजां यः । JBBRAS vol. IV, p. 115 (text), p. 107 (translation).

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From this it follows that the Mādhava *mantrin* who was a governor of Banavase and Goa and was living in 1391 A. D. was the son of Cāuṇḍibhaṭṭa and cannot be identified with Mādhavācārya who was the son of Māyaṇa.

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There is a ms. in the Bombay University Library of a work called Kālanirṇayakārikā in 130 verses, which contains the introductory verses of the Kālanirṇaya dealing with the contents, though in a somewhat different order. There are several commentaries on the Kālanirṇaya, viz. Kālanirṇayadīpikā by Rāmacandrācārya composed about 1450 A. D., a commentary called Lakṣmī by Lakṣmīdevī, wife of Vaidyanātha Pāyaguṇḍa. There is a Vivaraṇa of the Kālanirṇayadīpikā, by Nṛsiṁha, son of Rāmacandrācārya (vide D. C. Ms. No. 99 of 1871-72).

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