Raja Raja The Great

Author(s): Anantacharya Indological Research Institute
Publisher: Anantacharya Indological Research Institute
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/269195/1

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RAJA RAJA - THE GREAT (Seminar Proceedings) REPRINTS Ananthacharya Indological Research Institute G. D. Somani Memorial Building, Cuffe Parade, Bombay-400 005. 1987

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113 was in answer to Sankara's denial of the authority of the Agamas. On this basis Yamuna justified the temple worship and rituals (Cf Agamapramnya). 2. Rejection of Sankara's doctrine of Advaita (monism) and expounding the doctrine of qualified monism (Visishtadvaita) 3. Rejection of Sankara's concept of Nirguna-Brahman and description of the Lord as the embodiment of all auspicious qualities (Sarvakalyana-guna Sampannah). 4. Glorification Sri or Lakshmi as the embodiment of mercy and grace (Chatusloki) and as complementary to the Lord. 5. Preaching of the Bhakti and prapatti-marga as the only effective means of salvation (Stotraratna). 6. Glorification of the Tamil saints Alvars and their sacred hymns as revelations worthy of equal veneration. In one of the verses in the Stotraratna, he describes Nammalvar as his father, * mother, consort, child, wealth and in short, everything. * Thus, Yamua, following his preceptor Nathamuni was profoundly influenced by the inspired Tamil hymns of Nammalvar and other Alvars and his works are replete with their teachings and ideas. Actually, some of the stanzas seem to be Sanskrit renderings of the Tamil hymns. All these ideas and precepts mentioned above inspired Ramanuja and helped in the crystalli. sation of his philosophy. The galaxy of acharyas who followed Ramanuja continued this tradition and expanded the Divyaprabandhas in the light of Ramanuja's tenets. Thus, we can say that Rajaraja's period witnessed a very important and formative period in the history of Sri. Vaishnavism thanks to Yamunacharya's exposition. This was a prelude to a period which witnessed a new form of religion centering round the temple and the idol (arca form) within it, reticent to the vedic orthodoxy and accepting the Agama as also valid and authoritative, veperating Tamil saints Alvars and their inspired hymns as divine revelations preaching the path of devotionalism (Bhakti) and surrender which could be practised irrespective of caste status.

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Aghorasivacarya and the Dvaita School of Saivism in Chola Period PIERRE - SYLVAIN FILLIOZAT The importance of Saivism, i.e. not only monuments, cult and bhakti but also the philosophical doctrine of Saivasiddhanta, in Tamilnadu in Cola period, is well-established through inscriptions. Inscriptions are indeed the best documentary source and they allow us to approach the most authentic reality in the past. But there are other documents which can be taken into consideration. Our purpose here is to present two documents of a different nature and to examine their validity and interest. . They are two short Sanskrit texts. One is aiready known and published. It is an account which Aghorasivacarya has himself given of religious, intellectual and even familial lineage. It is a chapter of his magnum opus, Kriyakramadyotika, and is entitled "gotrasamtatih" (55 verses). It comes at the end of the section on mahotsavavidhi. The second document is less known because to our knowledge it is available in only one unpublished manuscript preserved in Tiruvadudurai Math, a transcript of which is in the collection of the French Institute of Pondicherry. It contains a story about the same Aghorasivacarya and establishment of a saiva matha in Cidambaram : it is entitled "Aghorasivacaryacaritam". The first text contains in the beginning an exposition of the theoretical organization of Saiva lineages, what is common to all lineages in the first 23 verses and then the particular lineage of the author, Aghorasiva, as an example of an application of the theory. To summarize briefly the theory there are four gotras and 16 gocaras or kula, 4 gotra munis and 36 bhratys, 4 sthanas, 15 (?) mathas and four vyksas. There is a regular correspondence between one gotra, 4 kulas, 1 muni, 9 bhratys etc. Then Aghorasiva gives his own lineage. The first part is mythical. It starts from supreme Siva. From Siva residing in non-agitated kundali-sakti comes the Siva-kula which is supported by Gayatri-sakti and which descends in Durvasas. The dwelling

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115 of rsis who received the grace of this sage, is Amardaka embellished by a kadamba tree. The mythical origin is thus: Sivagotra, Bharadvaji-muni, his ninth brother (bhraty) Durvasas, Prajapatya-gocara, Amardakamatha, kadamba tree. Amardaka is non-mythical. Aghorasiva says himself: "sthanam atrabhavad bhumau bharate moksasadhanam (it was a place on this earth, in Bharata (khanda), a means to achieve liberation)". Then he gives his own guru-samtati on the human and historical level. It starts with Vyapakasiva, chief of Amardaka, and hailing from Lata. For all gurus in the line Aghorasiva gives indications on their origin and place of residence, occasionally a few historical facts. We will see that the line covers all parts of India. The line is : Vyapakasiva, residing in Amardaka. Disciple, Sarvesapantita from Gauta, residing in Nilalata (?). Disciple, Uttungasiva from Lata; resided in kalyana; author of . a paddhari; his younger brother was guru of King Bhoja "who determined the meaning of all agamas", and who is probably the author of Tattvaprakasika and earlier than King Bhoja of Dhara, as he is very early in the long lineage coming before Aghorasiva in the middle of 12th century and this line may have covered more than a century which is the distance between Aghorasiva and King Bhoja of Dahra. Disciple, Somasiva, of Lata (?) Disciple Purnasivacarya, honoured by a King of Varanasi. Disciple, Aryottungasiva of Aryadesa. Disciple, Vidyesanasiva of Aryadesa. Disciple, Vidyantasiva of Codadesa, guru of the King of :: Varanasi. Disciple, Brahmasiva of Lata. Disciple, Murtisiva residing in Vijayapura. Som, Sarvatmadesika residing in Mayapuri. Disciple, Srikanthasivadesika from Gauda. By his desire to wo see the Lord of citsaba in Cidambaram he came to Coladesa -

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116 and Cosa Kings, Vikrama and others, appointed him as their guru. If Vikrama Cola is referred to here, Srikanthasiva came to Tamilnadu in the beginning of 12th century. Disciple, Dhyanasiva from Gauda, "skilled in commenting the 28 tantras ; honoured by a Cola King. Disciple or son, HIdayasamkara; the relation between this guru and the previous one is expressed by the imprecise words "tasmad babhuya"; therefore we have no certainty about his origin; it appears that he was settled in Tamilnadu; he is the elder son of the paternal uncle of Aghorasiva's grandfather. The next guru which is mentioned is Paramesvara, His relation with the previous one is problematic. It is expressed by the verse : "matulo 'smatpitus tasya kanisthah paramesvarah" If "tasya" refers to HIdayasamkara mentioned in the previous verse, Paramesvara appears to be a younger brother of Hsdayasamkara and the maternal uncle of Aghorasiva's father. It implies that Aghorasiva's grandfather had married a sister of Paramesvara, i.e. a cousin in the same gotra, If "tasya" qualifies only "asmatpituh", Paramesvara has no connection with Hrdayasamkara, has another gotra, and is the younger brother of the mother of Aghorasiva's father. Paramesvara is told to have received acaryabhiseka from Dhyanasiva and to have resided in Kanci. Aghorasiva has a special reverence for him and for Hrdayasamkara He eulogizes them in longer verses, vasantatilka and sardulavikridita. He probably received diksi from Paramesvara as he qualifies him as madbandhavicchedaka. He had himself the name Paramesvara, Aghorasiva being his diksa name. At the end Aghorasiva introduces his own Kriyakramad yotika by saying that he has composed it after the model of his spiritual ancestors, of Uttungapaddhati, Siddhantasaravali and the teachings of Sarvatmasiva. The final verses give the date of composition in saka era, 1080/1158 A.D. and describes the paddhati as composed in 3500 granthus at the order of his guru. The second document to be presented here is entitled "Grimad aghorasivacaryacaritam"but it also claims to be an extract of a larger text of puranic nature "cidambarasare brahmanandasamkarayatisvarasamyade". Therefore no composer is acknow

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117 ledged for it. It is not found in the different mahatmyas and legendary accounts of Cidambaram. Nor is a Cihdmbarasara known to us. And we may suspect that it is in fact an independent text asserting its subordination to the literature devoted to the glorification of the holy place. It is very short. What we have consists in 31 anustubh verses We suspect that there is a lacuna in the unique manuscript, as we shall see below. It narrates the following story. A teacher explains to his disciples the story of a matha situated outside the temple of Cidambaram, to the South-East of it. There were in Cidambaram Trisahasra brahmins who followed the cult of Natesa and won fame for their generosity in giving food to all. Durvasas, the irascible sage, wants to test it. He goes to Tilvaranya when everybody is asleep. He approaches the linga worshipped by Sesa and asks three times for bhiksa. No woman comes to give him food, because of sleep. He gets angry and begins to say some derogatory sentences about Tilvaranya. At that moment Nrttaganapati thinks of his mother... Here there must be a lacuna in the manuscript, because without continuity, we come to a scene in which Durvasas receives the desired bhiksa, recognizes Gauri and worships her. It implies that in the gap Gauri had appeared for some reason determined by Ganapati. Then it is told that Gauri addresses Durvasas, asking him to instal in this place his disciple, as a naisthikabrahmacarin, with the name Aghorasiva, so that he will give dik sa to sudra devotees. At the behest of Gauri Durvasas builds a residence and with the necessary preparations performs the pattabhiseka of Aghorasiva. Then he brings his disciple in the citsabha, accomplishes different worships of the god in front of Trisahasra brahmins. Then he returns to the house, instals a linga and asks Aghorasiva to worship it and, after studying the dgamas, to establish the rule of linga murtis and sakti worship, the rules of different diksas for twice-borns and for sudras. Aghorasiva obeys the order of his guru and composes the Kriyakramadyotika. An important detail is the mention of the date of the abhiseka. The details of the date are given is : srimukha year, suklapaksa, pusyanaksatra, 5th tithi, vaisakha month, Thursday. In Swami

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118 kannu Pillai's Ephemeris we find all these details, with the exception of the naksatra, occurring on Thursday 10th April 153. We have seen that the date of composition of the paddhati is 1158. Now we may examine the historical validity of these two documents. It is clear that they contain a large part of myth. But when Aghorasiva gives himself the history of his family and his religious lineage at a not-too-far-away distance in the past, we have no reasons to doubt the historicity of the tradition he records. There is no impossibility or inadequacy in his account. The other text has certainly taken more distance from reality. But still we find in it some interesting historical information, by interpreting the myth as a mythical transposition of some reality. There is in Cidambaram still now, a matha which claims to have been established by Aghorasiva. This text has certainly been composed there. When we compare its contents with the gotrasamtati of Aghorasiva, we see that the guru of acaryabhiseka who is actually Paramesvara, has been transposed into the mythical sage Durvasas. And Durvasas has been selected, because he is the original sage of the mythical lineage. The installation of the matha may be accepted as a historical fact. Its date fits well with the date of composition of the paddhati. The present matha which claims to have been established by Aghorasiva is connected with a temple of Anantesvara. This reminds us of the "Linga worshipped by Sesa" near which the story of Durvasas and the establishment of the matha are located in the text. We have thus enough corroborations to accept these two texts as documents for history. And we may infer some historical value of the line of gurus given by Aghorasiva, a few of these names, such as King Bhoja being known by their works or by other sources. An interesting point which can be drawn from Aghorasiva's gotrasamtati is that the Saivasiddhanta movement spread all over India. The Amardaka-matha was not the only one. The Golaki-matha has had in the same and later periods a great number of ramifications from Central India upto the South The presence and activities of these mathas in Tamilnadu is one of the great contributions of this land to the overall Saiva movement.

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119 The name of Saivasiddhanta is primarily attached to the group of 28 agamas beginning with Kamika. The basic agamas are mainly manuals of religious practice. Their main purpose is to describe the activities of devotees, i. e. their private rituals or temple rituals. The doctrine contained in vidyapadas is the formulation of the basic principles, the theory of creation, the six adhyans etc. which have an application in rituals. It is presented at length only in a few agamas or upagams. Because of their practical destination agamas do not contain much of philosophical matter. And the activities in the temple can be conducted without adoption of particular ontological views. The important development of philosophical speculation in Saivasiddhanta is found in a later stage of the literature. It appears to be the contribution of saivacaryas residing in mathas. Philosophical matter is presented mostly in commentaries on agamas and in short treatises or prakaranas generally written in a very refined and polished literary form. The best part of it seems to have been written in Kasmir in 10th and 11th century. The prominent figure in Kashmirian Saivasiddhanta is Bhatta Ramakantha, a great sostrin and polemist. He has defended with great dialectical power his dualistic and realistic doctrine against the idealistic views of Buddhists. The contribution of Tamilnadu to the same movement is equally important and it occurred through the person of Aghorasivacarya. We cannot speak of Saivasidhanta as a unitary doctrine. There are basic principles common to all authors. But there are also many differing fundamental ontological views, so that every author has to be examined with care. Aghorasiva has written several commentaries on prakaranas of Sadyojyoti and Ramakantha, and an important sub-commentary on Mygendragama's vidyapada, to mention only those works of his which are available to us. His style is very clear and his thought very well systematized. Sometimes he is really forcing the interpretation of an original text he claims to explain. These passages are particularly interesting for the historian, because in such cases the originality of the commentator appears more clearly. To show the originality of Aghorasiva we have to compare his conceptions with those of his predecessors. I may give as an example his conception of fattvas or fundamental entities of creation.

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120 In agamas there is no established number of tativas It varies from agama to agama Rautavagama's vidyapada gives several times a list of 30 lattvas. It enumerates 28 material tattvas, the well-known 24 of Samkhya school and, above that, raga, vidya, kala and the basic maya. Two more tastvas are spiritual entities, Siva and Purusa Rauravagama knows also several spiritual entities such as Mantresvaras, Mantras, Rudras headed by Virabhadra, etc. He introduces them as emanating from Siva, Siva being their material cause (upadanakarana). Thus in Rauravagama the difference between matter and Siva is clearly marked. But nothing is told nor can be directly inferned about the relation of Purusa and Siva Sadyojyoti an early acarya (before Somananda of 9th cent.), has written a Tattvasamgraha which is an exposition of the contents of Rauravagama on the subject of tativas. He gives the same number and list. He presents a more definite ontological position. He upholds a view according to which there is complete difference between matter and Siva. Siva is made of cit which is kriya and jnana, Cit is that by which a being is animate and has knowledge. Matter or maya is acit and it is an eternal entity, having the same deree of reality as cit entities. Sadyojyoti is the first acarya to assert with clarity this realism and dualism. Chronologically we find next the Tattvaprakasika of King Bhoja on the same subject. This text gives a list of 36 tattvas, adding kala and niyati in the material sphere and a few spiritual entities, Sakti, Sadasiva, Is vara and Suddhavidya at the top of the scale. Bhoja accepts the dualism of cit and acit, but he admits in the scale of tattvas spiritual entities above the material ones. Aghorasiva has commented on these two Prakaranas. In spite of the difference between the two, in spite of their unequal number of tattvas, he interprets them as presenting the same conception. In addition to this he makes an important modification in the doctrine. He conceives the scale of tattvas as comprising only acit or material entities. His dualism is extreme. The cit principle Siva is only an efficient cause (karty). It cannot be a material cause (upadanakarana) and cannot have any contact with matter. Therefore it cannot have any place in the scale of

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121 creation. In a realistic view where the matter principle is an eternal entity, creation is not the making of new entities, it is only a process of transformation Now Aghora has to comment a text which places pure spiritual entities in the scale of tattvas of creation He interprets that the name Siva denotes bindu or mahama ya, a duplicate of maya in the pure sphere at the top of the scale, that the name Sakti denotes nada, the primordial sound conceived as matter and first evolute of mahamaya, etc. Bhoja defines sivatartva as : .." vyapakam ekam nityam akhilasya tattvajatasya / jnanakriyasvabhavam sivatattvam jagadur acaryah || "Teachers have told that Sivatativa is all-pervasive, unique, eternal, cause of all the class of tattvas and having the nature of knowledge and action." : Aghorasiva reads the words of this definition as referring to the pure material entity bindu. The words vyapaka, etc. can be applied to this material entity. But "jnanakriyasvabhavam" in its obvious sense of bahuvrihi compound "whose nature is knowledge and action" cannot be applied to matter. Therefore Aghorasiva takes it as an upapadasamasa of a kydanta,-bhava with two upapadas, one signifying the object (karman) jnanakriya-, the other signifying the location (adhikarana) sva-: "jnanakriye svasmin sthite atmanam bhavayatiti (it makes the knowledge and action of souls to be placed in itself)". It means that matter allows the powers of knowledge and action of souls to stand in itself. The separation of cit and acit is thus preserved. * Aghorasiva is a sastrin. He uses etymology for the purpose of asserting his dualistic conception. He uses logic to establish on rational grounds all his concepts. He has not devoted much of his talent to polemics with rival schools. His main contribution is the sytematizing and establishment of an extreme form dualism with the instrument of Sanskrit sastras. The main trend of ancient Saivasiddhanta is dualistic. But I have not seen in any other author such an extreme and systematic form exposition. This conception of tattvas as pure material entities, even at the top of the scale, does not appear in other authors. Saiyasiddhanta is an original and independent system with

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122 dualistic and realistic inclinations directly opposed to the general monistic and idealistic trends of other systems And in Saivasiddhanta Aghorasiva stands as an extremist drawing the dualistic and realistic tendency to its farthest' consequences. To conclude a word has to be told on the influence of Aghorasiva. His influence has been maintained upto our days in the field of rituals, by his Paddhati which is still remembered and used by priests in temples of Tamilnadu. Many manuscripts of his Kriyakramadyotika, complete or in the form of extracts, are found only in South India, especially in Tamilnadu, unlike manuscripts of Somasambhupaddhati, which has been current in Tamilnadu but also elsewhere in India, as manuscripts of it are found in Kasmir and Nepal. In the field of the doctrine AghoraSiva does not seem to have been followed. The prominent trend after him is also a kind of dualism, but blended with monism. The main movement is that which has its origins in the Sanskrit agamic literature, but which has taken Tamil as a medium of exposition, from the time of Meykandadevar in 13th century. It has different ontological foundations. Tamil Saivasiddhanta literature is a great contribution of Tamilnadu. Earlier in Cola times Tamilnadu had already contributed a lot to the history of Saivasiddhanta and produced the most extreme and pure form of the doctrine in the philosophical works of Aghorasivacarya. Appendix. We give below the text of the Aghorasivacaryacaritam from a transcript preserved in the French Institute of Pondicherry, of the unique known manuscript belonging to Tiruvadudurai Math Cidambarasare brahmanandasamkarayatisvarasamvade srimadaghorasivacaryacaritam yatra pratisthitam lingam patanjalimahatmana tatra gatva mahadevam sisyaih sakam yatiisvarah // 1 // phalapuspaksatair gandhaih samabhyarcya yathavidhi dvarad bahih samagacchan brahmanandayatisvarah // 2 || "sivalayasya purato vahnikone virajitam drsyamanam idam sthanam visnor va samkarasya va // 3 //

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123 iti tesam vacah srutva tatkatham gurur abravit trisahasramunindras ca cidambarapure vare ||4|| srautasmarta dikarmani prakurvanto yathavidhi natesaradhanam krtva vedenoditavartmana || 5 || tatragatebhyah sarvebhyo dvijatibhyo yathakramam tebhyo 'nnam samprayacchanti nivasanti dvijottamah // 6 // samtatam sarvavarnebhyo dadaty annam cidambaram evam vadanti lokesu [manu] gandharvanirjarah || 7 || durvasas tadvacah srutva sisyena sahito munih annadanapariksartham sarvalokesu visrutam // 8 // susuptesu ca sarvesu tilvaranyam samayayau sesapujitalingasya nikate munipumgavah || 9 || bhavati bhiksam dehiti trivaram samudirayat bhiksam datum kapi nari nayayau nidraya taya // 10 // munis tadanim durvasah kopasamtaptamanasah "tilvaranyerkabhuyisthasamam tat paridrsyate // 11 // iti purvam samuccarya cottaram gaditum tatah na vidyate sivas tilva iti vaktum samudyatah // 12 // tada nrttaganadhyaksah svamataram acintayat bhiksam adaya tam gauri iti matva mudanvitah || 13 || pradaksinanamaskaraih stotraih sampujya sadaram murdhanjaliputas tisthan sivakamim hrda smaran // 14 // gaury uvaca "he vatsa srnu bhadram te lokanugrahakarinam aghorasivanamanam naisthikabrahmacarinam // 15 // Sivagamarthatattvajnam tvacchisyam suddhamana [sa] m sudranam sivabhaktanam diksam kartu m yathvaidhi // 16 // asmin sthale sthapaya [tvam] bhaktanam hitakamyaya " ity uktvantardadhe gauri cidambarasabhantare // 17 || sasisyo munisarudulas tam disam sampranamya ca samkalpya vasasadanam sarvalamkarasobhitam // 18 // grham pravisya vidhivad vastusantipurashsaram srimukhabde suklapakse pusyarkse pancamitithau // 19/

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124 vaisakhe guruvare ca subhalagnasamanvite gauryas cajnam htdi dhyatva durvaso munipumgavah || 20 || sambhitya sambharan anayitva rsin tatah . pastabhisekam akarod aghorasivanamakam 1/ 2111 tatah sisyam samaniya citsathayam munisvarah puspanjalim karayitva trisahasramunisvaraih || 22 11 natesasya natesasyai ca phaladini nivedya ca cidambaram dars'ayitva nirajanapurahsaram || 23 // sivarpita sankhatoyair elagandhadhivasitajh proksayitva sisyamurdhni devasya tveti mantratah // 24 // aghorasivacarya iti namadheyam cakara sah trisahasramunindrebhyah svarnapuspam samarpya ca // 25 || pradaksinanamaskaraih prinayitva sathapatim tatah svamasramam prapya sasisyo munipumgavah || 26 // tatra lingam pratisthapya samabhyarcya yathavidhi "aghorasiva he vatsa lingam enam supujaya || 27 || sivadvijanam sarvesam sudranam ca yathavidhi diksanam samayadinam tattadvarnanusaratah || 28 // inganam sivaberanam saktinam ca tathaiva ca agamani samalokya paddhatih kuru suvrata " || 29 || ity uktva sthapayamasa naisshikabrahmacarinam tatah kailasam agamat pancaksaraparayanah || 30 || tathaiva paddhatim krtva diksakarma karoti ca caritram sivabhaktasya bhaktanam avadad guruh // 31 //