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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY,
A JOURNAL OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH.
VOLUME XLV-1916,
MADHAVACHARYA AND HIS YOUNGER BROTHERS.
BY RAO BAHADUR R. NARASIMHACHAR, M. A.; BANGALORE.
SEVERAL years ago I made, incidentally, a few remarks in my Archaeological Reports1 with regard to Madhavacharya, the great Advaita teacher, author and commentator of the 14th century, who was also known as Madhavamatya or Madhava-mantri by reason of his having been the minister of the Vijayanagar king Bukka I. I also gave briefly some grounds for the supposition that there flourished at about the same period another Madhava-mantri who was likewise a scholar, an author and a minister of the same king. My discovery of a work on rhetoric, styled Alankara-sudhanidhi, by Sâyaṇa, also enabled me to give a few hitherto unknown details about Sayana and Bhoganatha, younger brothers of Madhavâchârya. Finally, it was stated that Madhava, the author of the Sarvadarśanasan graha, was quite a different person from Madhavâchârya to whom the authorship of the work is generally attributed. On a perusal of my remarks in the above Reports, Dr. L. D. Barnett of the British Museum, in a kind letter dated the 21st October, 1909, wrote to me thus:
"The argument for the differentiation of Sâyana-Mâdhava is very important," and I hope that you will put together your results soon in the form of an article in the J.R.A.S. For many years we have followed Burnell's conclusions in identifying Sâyana, Madhava and Vidyaranya, in what is, I fear, an s; and I should be glad to have the facts readjusted."
But one circumstance or another has till now prevented me from giving the requisite attention to this work and satisfying Dr. Barnett's desire. Though late, I now address myself to this task and shall try to put together the results of my researches with regard to the subject. It is, however, necessary to remark at the outset that some of the facts that follow may not be quite new.
Madhavacharya.
Madhavâchârya was a Brahman of the Bharadvaja-gôtra, Bödhayana-sûtra and Yajus. Sakha. His father was Mâyana, and his mother Srimati. He had two younger brothers named Sâyana and Bhôganâtha, the last being the youngest of the three. I give below
+ Report for 1908, paras. 55 and 83; and Report for 1909, para. 91.
