Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c15.s3.26

c15.s3.26

Tirumalainātha was a poet who spent a good part of his life at Cidambaram. He was the author of the Cidambara Purāṇam, a translation of the Sanskrit work of the same name, and the Madu-rai Cokkanātharuḷā. His son was Parañjōtiyār who wrote the Cidambarappaṭṭiyal, a work on poetics. Śevvaiccūḍuvar was another poet of the period who rendered into Tamil the Bhāgavata-Purāṇam. Tattvaprakāśa Svāmigaḷ who lived at Tiruvārūr was a good scholar of the period. He was in some way connected with the management of the temple at the place; when the affairs of the temple were not getting on well, he reported the matter to Kṛṣṇa-dēva Rāya, who had the Śrī Bhaṭṭar of the temple removed from office and thereby restored order. He was the author of the Tat-tvaprakāśam which expounds the Śaiva philosophy. Vaḍamalai Aṇṇagaḷayyaṇ who was connected with the administration of the Tamil districts of the empire, and was well known for his devotion towards Viṣṇu and consequently bore the name of Haridāsar, was a good scholar of the time and was the author of the Iruśamaya Viḷakkam which praises the superiority of Vaiṣṇavism. Jñāna-prakāśa Dēśikar who lived at Kāñcī was another notable scholar of the period. He was the author of a mañjarippā in praise of Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya as also of the Kacci Kalambakam, an important work describing the greatness of Kāñcī. Another contemporary of Kṛṣṇadēva was one Maṇḍala Puradar who was a Jain and a pupil of Guṇabhadra the head of the maṭha at Tirunaṛuṅkoṇḍai. He was the author of a Lexicon called Nikaṇḍu Cūḍāmaṇi. He also wrote the *Tiruppukaḷ Purāṇam* dealing with the lives of the Tīrthaṅkaras. Among the scholars patronised by Kṛṣṇadēva Rāya was a Brahman Kumārasarasvati who had a good knowledge of Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannaḍa besides Tamil. In his Tamil work dealing with the activities of his patron he largely uses Kanarese and Telugu words. Vaḍamalayar, a Vidvān Paṇḍit of Ārruvaṉpāḍi, was the recipient of a lands from Viśvēśvara Śivācārya of the Bikṣāmaṭha.¹²⁷ It has been suggested that he was the author of the *Maccapurāṇam* and the *Nīḍūrttalapurāṇam*.¹²⁸ But it appears that the author of the two works was different from the Vijayanagar scholar since the *Maccapurāṇam* was written in K.A. 882 (A.D. 1707), more than one hundred and fifty years after the period of our scholar. Vīrakavirāśar was another poet who lived in the period and was the author of the *Hariccandra-purāṇam*. Varadaṉ, generally known as Aruḷāḷadāsar, translated the *Purāṇa Bhāgavatam* into Tamil which deals with the ten incarnations of Viṣṇu and the sports of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Perumāḷ Kavirāyar was another notable poet of the period who lived at Tirukurugai. He wrote the *Kurukāmāṉmiyam* and the *Māraṉkilavimaṉimālai*, two works which extol the greatness of the God at Āḷvār Tirunagiri, *Māraṉagapporuḷ*, *Tiruppatikōvai*, *Māraṉalaṅkāram* and *Māraṉpāppāviṉam* besides a few others. Contemporaneous with them was Kavirāśapaṇḍitar, a Brahman scholar who translated the *Saundaryalaharī* into Tamil. He was also the author of two Tamil works, *Varākimālai* and *Ānandamālai*.