Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c14.s3: Section VII. The Temple and the Maṭha

Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c14.s3

Language
English

Section VII. The Temple and the Maṭha

c14.s3.2

In mediaeval India the temple and the maṭha were two important institutions that played a prominent part in the religious life of the people. While the former stood as a symbolic expression of the religious impulse of the people, the latter was an institution that stood for the propagation of certain schools of thought and the imparting of religious education in the particular way which was agreeable to the founder.

c14.s3.3

The mediaeval temple was, from a religious point of view, a house of God.¹¹⁵ The management of the temple was in the hands of trustees who had the right to control the appointment and dismissal of the temple servants and administer the temple endowments and property; in short, they controlled the interests of the temple. There were many servants in the temple of whom prominent mention must be made of the general manager of the temple (kōyilkēḷvi) and the temple accountant (kōyilkaṇakku or ōlai eḷttu);¹¹⁶ there were also the general watchman (mey kāval or tirumēni kāval),¹¹⁷ superintendent of the stores (araikāval), treasurer (poṉ baṇḍāram), servants in charge of lighting (tiruviḷakku-kuḍi),¹¹⁸ the temple priest, the piper and the drummer and a host of other servants who had different duties in it. The Gods in the temple were considered to have the tastes of the men who worshipped them, and hence a large number of dancing girls were attached to the temples, and their duty was to dance and sing before the Gods, not only at the time when offerings were made to them but also in the mornings and evenings. The Gods were said to have been very much delighted at their dances and hence dancing girls were called the dēvaraḍiyār (servants of God). The servants of the temple were remunerated either by grants of lands on terms of beneficial service to be rendered to the temples, or they were allowed a particular share of the income of the temples. Sometimes private individuals maintained these temple servants by making grants of land for their maintenance or endowing a specified money income.

c14.s3.4

¹¹⁵ For the secular functions of the temple see Chapter on Local Government, sec. on temple.

c14.s3.5

¹¹⁶ 415 of 1912; T.T.D.I., II, No. 219.

c14.s3.6

¹¹⁷ 299 of 1912.

c14.s3.7

¹¹⁸ 374 of 1912.

c14.s3.8

The temples encouraged education to a large extent, for teachers were employed by them for the recitation of the Vedas, Purāṇas or some sectarian literature in shrines. According to a group of documents at Tirupati provision was made in A.D. 1433 for the chanting of Veda in the temple by twenty-four Brahmans for which a part of the revenue from the village of Śittakkuṭṭai was set apart.118a A record of A.D. 1534-35 registers the gift of land and a house to each of the two Vaiṣṇava Brahmans who recited the Purāṇas known as Bhakti Sañjivini in the local temple at Narasiṅgapuram.¹¹⁹ According to an epigraph of A.D. 1523 Viśvēśvara Śivācārya of the Bikṣāmaṭha at Devikkāpuram, the Kaikkōḷa Mudalis and other trustees of the temple at Devikkāpuram made a gift of land and a house in the devadāna village Śōrappūṇḍi to Vaḍamalaiyār, one of the paṇḍits (vidvān) of Arruvanpāḍi.¹²⁰ In Ś. 1477 the authorities of the temple at Tiruppuḍamarudūr appointed a certain Rāmanātha as the poet of the temple conferring on him the title *Marudavanakkavirāyaṇ* and granted him certain lands and a house tax-free. He had evidently to attend on the two days of the (Kē)ṭṭai festival and to compose some poems for the occasion.¹²¹ From the next year he was daily granted food from the temple,¹²² and three years later he was granted a *mā* of land.¹²³

c14.s3.9

118a T.T.D.I., I, Nos. 199-202.

c14.s3.10

¹¹⁹ 240 of 1910.

c14.s3.11

¹²⁰ 365 of 1912.

c14.s3.12

¹²¹ 421 of 1916.

c14.s3.13

¹²² 413 of 1916.

c14.s3.14

¹²³ 412 of 1916.

c14.s3.15

The temples were the places where grants were made by the kings. Mallikārjuna Mahārāya made his grants while he was at headquarters in the *dānamaṇṭapa* in the Virūpākṣa temple at the capital. The Vijayanagar sovereigns made grants when they visited many of the holy places in the empire. Sometimes they had themselves crowned in the temples. Acyuta Rāya for instance had himself crowned along with his wife Varadāmbā in the temple at Tirupati.¹²⁴

c14.s3.16

¹²⁴ S. K. Aiyangar, *Sources*, p. 158.

c14.s3.17

The inscriptions give a list of the centres of pilgrimage in the Vijayanagar days. To mention only a few of them, they were Ahōbalam, Śrīkākuḷam, Kāḷahasti, Tirupati, Kāñcī, Tiruvaṇṇāmalai, Cidambaram, Kumbakōṇam, Śrīraṅgam, Jambukēśvaram and Anantaśayanam; and there were many others of lesser importance. Pilgrimages were made by the people generally on foot, though the use of palanquins and hired horses was not uncommon.¹²⁵ The roads were provided with shady trees, for the convenience of travellers.

c14.s3.18

¹²⁵ *Amukta.*, canto II, v. 95.

c14.s3.19

The *maṭhas* of South India, like the monasteries of mediaeval Europe, were very important religious institutions that received the care of the state, and were maintained by the wealth they possessed. They were each presided over by a *sanyāsin* who was invariably a cultured ecclesiastic whose duty was not only the management and administration of the *maṭha* but also the encouragement of learning. There were generally many disciples in these *maṭhas* who, if they were in Brahmanical institutions, studied the Vedas and the other allied Sanskrit literature, and if they were in non-Brahmanical institutions, studied the vernacular literature. Thus these *maṭhas* were primarily educational institutions.

c14.s3.20

We meet with many such maṭhas in the Vijayanagar days. The first among such was the Śṛṅgēri maṭha in the modern Mysore State. Originally founded by Śrī Śaṅkara, the great Advaita teacher and philosopher, it appears to have continued to be presided over by a regular line of pontiffs. From the epigraphs we may say that the following pontiffs lived in the Vijayanagar period :—

c14.s3.21

Vidyā Tīrtha. Bhāratī Tīrtha. Vidyāraṇya Śrīpāda Narasiṁha Bhāratī Rāmacandra Bhāratī Śaṅkara Bhāratī Candraśēkhara Bhāratī Puruṣottama Bhāratī Rāmacandra Bhāratī Narasiṁha Bhāratī Immaḍi Narasiṁha Bhāratī Abhinava Narasiṁha Bhāratī Saccidānanda Bhāratī

c14.s3.22

These may be different names of the same person.

c14.s3.23

Each of them took the titles Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācāryavarya (chief ācarya of the paramahaṁsa sanyāsis), Pada vākya Pramāṇa-pārāvāraparīṇa (who has seen to the farthest point of grammar, philosophy and logic), devoted to Yama, Niyama, and others, the eight branches of Yoga, establisher of the pure Vaidikādvaita Siddhānta, etc. They were, as they are even now, taken in palanquins carried crossways blocking the entire road and preventing anything else passing.¹²⁶ The Śṛṅgēri maṭha had very intimate connections with the royal house of Vijayanagar. Its heads Vidyā Tīrtha and Vidyāraṇya played a prominent part in the foundation and expansion of the Vijayanagar empire. The Vijayanagar sovereigns made many pious gifts to the Śṛṅgēri maṭha for its maintenance and support.¹²⁷

c14.s3.24

¹²⁶ See Mys. Gaz., New Edn., Vol. V, pp. 1174-1181.

c14.s3.25

¹²⁷ E.C., VI, Sr. 1: Sr. 29, 11, 13, etc.

c14.s3.26

Another maṭha was originally located at Kāñcī and was known as the Kāmakōṭi pīṭha, in honour of the Goddess at Kāñcī. This also appears to have been ruled by a regular succession of pontifical heads. Inscriptional records show that this maṭha was at Kāñcī at least in the thirteenth century, for a record of Vijayagaṇḍagōpāla, the Telugu Cōḍa king, registers a grant to the maṭha at the place in A.D. 1293.¹²⁸ From the very beginning of its foundation the maṭha appears to have been presided over by a regular succession of pontiffs. Among them mention may be made of Vyāsācala, Candracūḍa, Sadāśivēndra, Paramaśivēndra, the guru of Sadāśiva Brahman of Nerūr, and Ātmabōdhēndra at whose instance Sadāśiva Brahman composed the Gururatnamālā, and Nāma Bōdhēndra.¹²⁹ According to a list of the ācāryas of this maṭha by T. S. Nārāyaṇa Śāstri, the 55th ācārya in the apostolic line was one Candracūḍēndra, who presided over it between 1506 and 1512, and the next was one Sadāśivēndra who presided over it between 1512 and 1538. According to two copper plates of 1507 (?) Vīra Narasiṃha made two grants of villages to one Mahādēva Sarasvati, the then presiding pontiff of the Kāñcī Kāmakōṭi pīṭha.¹³⁰ In A.D. 1522 Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya made a grant of two villages to Candracūḍa Sarasvati, the disciple of Mahādēva Sarasvati.¹³¹ He is called Śivacetas (having his mind devoted to Śiva), Yatirāja (prince among ascetics) and Dhīmat (philosopher). He is also said to have been a great expounder of the doctrine of māyā. In the light of the date of this inscription and of the two others of Vīra Narasiṃha and the names of the pontiffs, we have to doubt the value of the chronology of Nārāyaṇa Śāstri’s list.¹³²

c14.s3.27

¹²⁸ C. P. Inscriptions belonging to the Śaṅkarācārya Matha at Kumbakoṇam, pp. 7-14.

c14.s3.28

¹²⁹ Tan. Dt. Gaz., Vol. II, p. 231.

c14.s3.29

¹³⁰ C. P. Ins. belonging to the Śaṅkarācārya Maṭha at Kumbakonam, pp. 15-47.

c14.s3.30

¹³¹ E.I., XIII, pp. 122-132.

c14.s3.31

¹³² According to the Guruparamparāstava, Pūrṇānanda, the guru’s guru of Candraśēkhara, went on a pilgrimage to Nepal. Bühler mentions an epigraph which refers to the fact that a svāmi of South India named Sōmaśēkharānanda went to Nepal in A. D. 1503. As inscriptional evidence from Nepal corroborates the tradition contained in the Guruparamparā of the Śaṅkarācāryamatha, there can be no denying the fact that a svāmi of the maṭha went to Nepal. S. V. Venkatesvara observes that “the svāmi referred to must be either the donee of our grant (Candraśēkhara) or his guru’s guru, Pūrṇānanda alias Candracūḍa.” But since Bühler gives the date of the svāmi’s visit to Nepal and since the donee of the above grant (Candraśēkhara) could have been living at that time as the prospective successor to the pontifical throne, we can say that it was he that went to Nepal, for the names Sōmaśēkhara and Candraśēkhara are synonymous. In the face of such clear evidence we need not suppose that Pūrṇānanda might have gone to Nepal. (See E.I., XIII, pp. 125 ff.).

c14.s3.32

Candracūḍa Sarasvati or Candraśēkhara Sarasvati was succeeded in apostolic line by Sadāśiva Sarasvati. He is said to have been the disciple of Candraśēkhara Sarasvati, apparently another name of Candracūḍa, who was a Paramahaṃsa and Parivrājakācārya. This succession is corroborated by the list of Nārāyaṇa Śāstri also. Sadāśiva was the recipient of a grant of the village of Udayambākkam in the Chingleput district by Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya in A.D. 1528. Thus he appears to have succeeded Candraśēkhara Sarasvati between A.D. 1522 and 1528; but we are not able to know the exact date. He compiled the Puṇyaślokamañjarī containing the succession list of the pontiffs of the Kāmakōṭi pīṭha.¹³³

c14.s3.33

¹³³ Tan. Dt. Gaz., Vol. II, p. 231.

c14.s3.34

But some time later this maṭha seems to have been shifted to Gajāraṇya-kṣetram or Jambukēśvaram near Trichinopoly. In A.D. 1608 Vijaya Raṅga Cokkanātha Nāyaka of Madura made a grant of land for maintaining worship and for feeding Brahmans in the Śaṅkarācārya maṭha at the place.¹³⁴ The copper-plate inscription states that this maṭha was located in the street called Poṇvāśi koṇḍāṇ at the village and had been in the possession of the pontiff from early times. But the building which is pointed out as the original one where the maṭha was located does not appear to be correct according to the government epigraphist.¹³⁵ This apart we do not know why and when the maṭha was established there. It might only have been a branch of the Kāmakōṭi pīṭha. But subsequently in A.D. 1739 the maṭha was transferred to Tanjore at the request of Pratāpa Simha, the Maḥratta king of Tanjore, on account of the fact that Conjeevaram was attacked frequently by the Muhammadans. Thence it was shifted to Kumbakōṇam and located at its present place.¹³⁶

c14.s3.35

¹³⁴ M.E.R. Cp. 4 of 1914-15; Rep., 1915, para 54; also Rep. for 1909, para 104.

c14.s3.36

¹³⁵ M.E.R., 1909, para 104; 1915 para 54.

c14.s3.37

¹³⁶ See Tan. Dt. Gaz., Vol. II, pp. 231-32.

c14.s3.38

The Vyāsarāya maṭha was an important institution that received great patronage from the Vijayanagar kings. Vyāsarāya, the head of the maṭha, was the recipient of many gifts from Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya. He was succeeded by Vijayīndra Tīrtha, another great scholar. He was a contemporary of the equally famous Appayya Dikṣita, the great exponent of Advaita philosophy. Another head of this maṭha who flourished a little later was Rāghavēndra Tīrtha who was a great Vedic scholar and commentator.

c14.s3.39

The Goḷaki maṭha was an important religious institution in the Vijayanagar days, and it had its branches in the Cuddapah, Kurnool, Guntur and North Arcot districts. Some of them were at Puṣpagiri, Tirupurāntakam, Tirupparaṅkuṉṟam, etc.¹³⁷ Its spiritual influence is said to have extended over three lacs of villages. The inscriptions at Dēvikkāpuram mention Īśāna Śivācārya of the Goḷaki maṭha, and he appears to have been its head from Ś. 1442 to Ś. 1455. But we do not know the exact date of his death. He was a prominent treasurer and trustee of the temple at the place.¹³⁸ A contemporary of his was one Viśvēśvara Śiva who was also very intimately connected with the Dēvikkāpuram temple.¹³⁹ “Dēvikkāpuram is even at the present day the headquarters of a line of Śaiva ācāryas whose head is now known as Santānaśivācārya. These are the preceptors of certain sects of the Bēriceṭṭi Śaiva merchants. They appear to be connected with the Jñānaśivācāryas of Mullāmḍram (North Arcot district) who are the preceptors of the Tamil speaking Vāṇiyars (oil-mongers). The predecessors of these Jñānaśivācāryas are said to have been related to the famous Diṇḍima family of Sanskrit poets of the Vijayanagar court.”¹⁴⁰

c14.s3.40

¹³⁷ 323 of 1905; 272 of 1905; V. R. I. M. P., Mr. 403.

c14.s3.41

¹³⁸ 352, 368, 373 and 400 of 1912; Rep., 1913, para 55.

c14.s3.42

¹³⁹ 354, 365, 389 and 390 of 1912 of dates ranging between Ś. 1429 and 1446.

c14.s3.43

¹⁴⁰ M.E.R.. 1924, para 50; see for other references 33-38 of 1917; 209 and 211 of 1924, etc. See also Hultzsch's Rep. on Sans. Mss., No. II, Intro., p. xviii.

c14.s3.44

We have evidence of the existence of a few non-Brahman maṭhas during the Vijayanagar period. One of them was the Dharmapuram maṭha. It appears to have been founded in the sixteenth century. Purnalingam Pillai thinks that the founder of the maṭha was one Kumāra Kuruparar, a contemporary of Tirumala Nāyaka of Madura;¹⁴¹ but the author of the Tanjore District Gazetteer is inclined to think that it was one Jñānaprakāśa Paṇḍāram of Tiruvārūr, who was appointed the manager of a few temples.¹⁴² The heads of this maṭha were great expounders of the Siddhānta Śāstras. Among the pontiffs of this maṭha mention may be made of Veḷḷi Ambala Tambirāṉ, Sambanda Śaraṇālaya svāmi and Vaidyanātha Nāvalar.¹⁴³

c14.s3.45

¹⁴¹ Hist. of Tamil Literature, p. 297.

c14.s3.46

¹⁴² Tanjore Dt. Gaz., Vol. II, p. 257.

c14.s3.47

¹⁴³ See Purnalingam Pillai, op. cit., pp. 297-98.

c14.s3.48

One of the Śaiva maṭhas that gave great encouragement to Tamil learning was the Tiruvāvaḍaturai maṭha. It devoted itself to Tamil philosophy and religion and trained many disciples. The first head of this *matha* seems to have been one Namaśśivāya Dēśikar who lived about the close of the sixteenth century. He was succeeded by a regular succession on Tambirāns among whom mention may be made of Dakṣiṇāmūrti, Ambalavāṇa Dēśikar and Īśāna Dēśikar alias Svāminātha Dēśikar.¹⁴⁴

c14.s3.49

¹⁴⁴ Purnalingam Pillai, *op. cit.*

Cites (5)