Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c15.10

c15.10

But the system of Brahmanical education was different. Eminent pandits and scholars conducted small schools of their own and trained students in the study of the Vedas and allied literature. This education was also mainly the result of private initiative and effort. At Aḍayapalam and Vēlūr (North Arcot district), for instance, Appayya Dīkṣita established schools where provision was made for the teaching of about five hundred students in the Śrīkaṇṭha Bhāṣya.⁵ In some places, certain portions of the temple buildings were set apart for conducting such classes. At Conjeevaram there was a Vēdamaṭha in the temple of Viṣṇu where such classes were held.⁶ The teachers in these schools appear to have been remunerated by assignments of lands, the income from which they could enjoy. Thus according to an inscription at Vēppūr (North Arcot district) of the time of Kampaṇa Uḍaiyār, a piece of land was granted to a particular individual as an adhyayanavṛtti.7 Acyuta Rāya made a grant of the village of Kambampaḷḷi to Peda Kṛṣṇamācārlu, son of Gōvinda Dīkṣita, for the promotion of studies in the Ubhayavēdānta.⁸ A record at Viriñcipuram, (North Arcot district) dated A.D. 1535, mentions the grant of a number of kulis of land for the benefit of two Brahmans, Timmappaṇ and Śaivādirāyar Vasantarāyaguru who taught the Ṛg śākhā and Yajus śākhā respectively.9 Similarly in A.D. 1579 a few villages were granted as bhaṭṭa vṛttimānyams in Podiliśīme (Nellore district) for carrying on work connected with learning.¹⁰