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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[NOVEMBER, 1914.
Achyutapreksha was growing old, he therefore resolved upon making Púrraprajia his successor in the seat occupied by him. On the day appointed for installing his disciple in his own place, Achyuta preksha performed all the ceremonies and anointed Pûrņaprajia under the name of Ananda Tirtha. Thereafter Ananda Tirtha was brought into conflict now and then with leaders of different schools of thought, and in all these dialectic disputations he is represented to have come out victorious.
By this time Ânanda Tirtha had already built up his system completely, and desired to start out on an extensive tour of pilgrimage to the south. With a number of disciples and admirers he visited Trivandram, Râmêsvaram, Srirai gam, Srimushộam, etc. In the first of these places he had an encounter with the then head of the Sriigêri-matha, Vidyasankara who lived about A.D. 1228. The Madhva chronicles state that Ânanda Tirtha vanquished Vidyasarkara.14
At the end of his pilgrimage he returned to Udipi and spent some time there before he thought of undertaking a journey to the Badarikaśrama on the Himalayas, reputed to be the residence of the immortal Rishi Vyasa the author of the Vedanta Sútras. Taking permission from his master and accompanied by his co-disciple, Satya Tirtha, he left Udipi and after several months' journey reached the foot of the Himalayas. Finding Satya Tirtha a drag on his progress, Pärnaprajña ordered the former to stop behind and continued his journey up singly. He soon reached the hermitage of Vyasa in Badart and placed himself directly under his tuition, and learned from his lips the meaning he had designed in his mind of the Sütras when he wrote them. Thereupon, he began his commentaries on the Brahma Sútras and several other works. He then took leave of the hoary sage Veda-Vyasa and reached the foot of the mountain, where he was rejoined by Satya Tirtha. Both of them took an easterly direction and journeyed through the Vanga and Kalinga countries. In the Telugu country Ananda Tirtha entered into a hot discussion with a powerful Advaitin, named Sobhana Bhatta. After a good deal of wrangling on both sides, Sôbhana Bhatta admitted his defeat and expressed his willingness to become the disciple of his vanquisher. Ânanda Tirtha converted him to his faith, made him a sanyasin and conferred upon him the name of Padmanabha Tirtha.
The defeat and conversion of Sôbhana Bhatta induced another great man to vindicate the faith of his forefathers in a fresh discussion with the teacher of this new school of philosophy. Sama Sastrin was the name of this disputant. He occupied the great social dignity of the prime minister of the king of the Kalinga country and was a very learned man. His erudition had to give way before the extraordinary capabilities of Ânanda Tirtha and Sama Sastrin, like Sobhana Bhatta, urged upon his vanquisher to take him as his disciple and make him a sanyasin. He preferred to give up his exalted social position, home and wealth to follow his Acharya wherever he went. Pôrņaprajña ordained him a sanyasin and gave him the name of Narahari Tirtha.
Soon after the events detailed in the previous paragraph had taken place Ânanda Tirtha returned to Udipi with his new disciples. One day, while he was sitting in samadhi on the sandy beach, he heard the distressed cry of the crew of a ship which was being tossed on a rough sea and was about to be drowned. With his unbounded grace, Ananda Tirtha bado the ship reach the shore safely and it did so. The crew in gratitude offered the whole cargo of the ship to their deliverer, but he would have none of it. When he found
14 In Ep. Carn., Vol. VI. intro. p. 29, Mr. Rice refers to the temple of Vidydkanker at Sringeri and states that it must have been built during the Vijayanagara period.
