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Apropos Umāsvāti in Kannada Literature
HAMPA NAGARAJAIAH
Preamble 1.1. Nirgrantha authors of Karnataka have, over centuries,
great regard for Umāsvāti and his magnum opus Tat
tvārtha- sūtra 1.2. Without touching the vexed issue of religious nuances
of the white-clad and sky-clad differences involved in the debate of the authorship, I would carefully confine to record the available material apropos Umāsvāti in Kannada language, both from literary and epigraphical
sources. 1.3 The methodology followed is purely an historical docu
mentation of facts. 1.4. Occasionaly I have ventured to analyse and assess the
facts without sacrificing objectivity or scope of the paper. Confusion of authorship 2.1 Umāsvāti is known with the name of Grddhrapicchācārya
(GP) in Karnataka; northern tradition is not familiar with
this cognomenic appellation. 2.1.1. The credit of mentioning the name of GP for the first
time in Karnataka goes to Virasena-āiriya who says in his Dhavalā - Tīkā: taha Giddha Picchariyappayasidata-ccatha sutthevi (C.E. 816].
