________________
No. 47] . TIRUVORRIYUR INSCRIPTION OF CHATURANANA PANDITA 297
No. 371 of 1911 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection too literally Tiruvorriyūr-udaiyār-köyilil-madamudaiya Chaturanana Panditanum-we may suppose that the malha was within the temple.
If, as has been supposed by some scholars, Chaturānana had received initiation directly at the hands of Niranjana-guru himself, we may expect the text and the wording of the inscription to have been different. As the wording of the inscription is, it is gahva or guh, that is emphasised and it is from the guha (gahvăd ya ăpta-vratah) that Chaturānana is said to have obtained his spiritual re-birth. In spirit, therefore, he was a pupil and successor of Niranjana, but not in person.
Chaturānana then established a monastery at Tiruvorriyür whose successivo heads came to be called Chaturānana Panditas after the founder. The following Chaturānana-Panditas aro mentioned at Tiruvorriyūr in inscriptions belonging to different periods. (1) Chaturānana-Pandita I (Vaļabha or Civil life at Grūmam A:D. 935-6 Vellankumāra); of the time of
and 9436 Parantaka I, Rājāditya and Kan. paradēva.
Spiritual caroer at
9576 Tiruvorriyūr
9597
(2) Chaturānana-Pandita (of the time of Rājēndra Chõļa I)
Tiruvorriyūr
10439 A certain architect Ravi
built the Vimāna under his aegis
unknown
date (3) Chaturānana-Pandita (of the time of
Tiruvoşriyür
107710 Kulottunga Chōļa). (4) Chaturānana-Pandita, (contemporary
1171-117211 of Vägisa Bhatta, a Soma-Siddhāntin ;
of the time of Rājādhirāja II) 1 There is at present no trace of the Chaturanana-Pandita mritha at Tiruvorriyür, either outside or inside the temple. The matha-like hall in the Sannidhi street vory near the main gõpura of the temple having an image of Dakshiņāmārti, Sankaracharya, etc., is a very recent one, owing its origin to an Advaitic Sannyasin, popularly known as Yögfávara, who was there some decades ago. This has nothing to do with the Chaturānana matha. There is also a local tradition in the place that to protect the purity of the priest, there used to be a cavo passage between the priest's house on the northern main street to the east of the tank, and the temple, but such a passage, if it was there, must have been different from the Niranjana-Guha.
? T.N. Ramachandran : Vijayakampavarman, JOR, Madras, Vol. VI, pp. 224-235.
+ Therefore, the whole argument of Mr. T. N. Ramachandran in his article that the Niranjang-guru of Vijayakampa's time being the same as the Niranjana-guru of our inscription, the date of Vijaya-Kampavarman would come to 907-33 A.D. seems to be wrong. It is unnecessary to assume too long period for the Niranjana of Kampa's inscription and the Chaturanana of Kanparadēva's inscription or to identify the latter with the Chatu. ranana of Rajendra Chola's time. Having proposed this last identification, Mr. Ramachandran differentiates the Chaturananas of the two Rajendra inscriptions, while the more natural assumption is to take these two se the same. It is acceptable to Mr. Ramachandran that the successors of the first Chaturanana-Papdita were also called by the same name. See also above, Volume XXIII, p. 145, f.n. 1.
• No. 739 of 1905 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection. • No. 735 of 1905 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection. • No. 177 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
No. 181 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection. * 8.1.1., Vol. V, No. 1354 ; No. 104 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection. • No. 126 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection. 10 8. I. I., Vol. V, No. 1356.
11 Nos. 403 of 1896, 371 of 1911 and 206 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphion Collection, XVI.1-25
