History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c46.72

v3.c46.72

Originally these injunctions about complete restraint and abandonment of sexual life and total lack of property were faithfully followed by ascetics. The great ācārya Śaṁkara was a celibate all his life, but he is said to have established four *maṭhas* as stated above (p. 907) for the propagation of his doctrines and philosophy at Śṛṅgapura (modern Śṛṅgerī) and other places. Pious devotees bestowed considerable donations on these *maṭhas*. In course of time these *maṭhas* went on increasing and huge properties came to be under the control of the pontiffs of these several *maṭhas*. There arose ten orders of *advaita sannyāsins* alone²¹⁷² viz. tīrtha, āśrama, vana, araṇya, giri, parvata, sāgara, sarasvatī, bhāratī and purī. These ten orders are said to be the pupils in succession of the four disciples of Śaṁkara i. e. the first two of Padmapāda, the next two of Hastāmalaka, the next three of Troṭaka (or Toṭaka) and the last three of Sureśvara. The several *maṭhas* at Śṛṅgerī, Kāñcī, Kumbhakoṇam, Kuḍalgi, Saṅkeśvara, Śivagaṅgā have been quarrelling among themselves as to their jurisdictions²¹⁷³ and their rights to claim monetary payments from the people and to exercise spiritual authority in matters of expiations, excommunication &c. To support the claims of the various *maṭhas* pedigrees of teachers ²¹⁷⁴ and pupils appear to have been fabricated, no two of which agree *in toto* and in some of them Sureśvara is said to have lived for 700 or 800 years. The disciples of Rāmānuja and Madhva also have many maṭhas of their own. Vallabhācārya (one of the great ācāryas that interpreted the Vedāntasūtras) and his disciples do not accept the order of sannyāsa. According to them in the Kali age sannyāsa is forbidden for the seeker as it leads on to regret and worry2174a (if its rules are to be strictly observed) and that the parityāga (abandonment) that is the essence of sannyāsa does not consist in resorting to the 4th āśrama but in behaving in the way in which bhaktas (devotees) like Uddhava acted (vide Bhāgavata III. 4). Most of these maṭhas have large endowments or incomes which are spent in pomp and show (e. g. keeping golden images and paraphernalia). Very few of the heads are really learned even in ancient Sanskrit Literature in all its branches, they are impervious to modern tendencies and requirements, are obscurantists and generally oppose all ideas of reform. Only a very few maṭhas are presided over by persons who have been celibate throughout their lives. Most of them originally were householders and then took to sannyāsa. Besides the succession to the *gādi* is often a hole and corner affair. When the incumbent is about to die the influential and intriguing persons round him catch hold of some aspiring householder, make him a disciple of the dying sannyāsin and afterwards he is installed as the pontiff.