Part 1 - Introduction (name and manuscript of the Srikara-bhashya)

In a paper submitted to the Indian Oriental Congress, held at Allahabad in November 1926, I gave a short but comprehensive account of this little known but from several points of view important commentary on the Brahmasutras of Badarayana by Sripati Panditacharya, a Virasaiva teacher of note. What was stated in it was the result of a cursory examination of the work and is, it is needless to add, entirely superseded by what is mentioned in this Introduction after a closer study of it. A brief statement of the circumstances under which a critical edition of this work is being issued now, may not, in the first instance, prove uninteresting to the reader. The existence of a commentary on the Badarayana Sutras under the name Srikara Bhashya, by one Sripati Panditacharya has been well known for many years, but no attempt has so far been made to critically examine its contents or to evaluate its position as a standard commentary. MSS. of the Work. An incomplete edition of the text of the commentary in the Telugu script was published in the cyclic year Vijaya, corresponding to 1893, at the Sri Lakshmi Vilasa Press, situated in Tirumalgiri Street, Secunderabad, and owned by one Nyalapalli Ramaiya. The MS. of the work was, it would appear, first critically examined for publication by one Kotilinga Sastri of the family of Vemanaradhya. After further re-examination by one Mallikarjuna Sastri, son of Nandisvara Sastri and grandson of Basavesvara Sastri, who is spoken of as the moon born in the ocean of the family of Sripati Panditaradhya, its publication was undertaken. Mallikarjuna, we are told, purged the MS. of all the errors committed by copyists. This edition of Mallikarjuna was printed by Bhairavaradhya, who, it is added, belonged to the family of Udbhataradhya.

Bhairavaradhya states that he issued the edition for the benefit of Virasaivas and for their advancement everywhere in this world throughout the whole time the sun and the moon last. It is further mentioned that the printing was rendered possible by the assistance given by one Talagadadivi Hanumantha Rao. Bhairavaradhya, who evidently took the leading part in the publication of this edition, has prefixed to the text an account of his own family, which he, appropri ately enough, calls Bhairavavamsavali. Though there is nothing in it to connect him with Sripati, the author of the Bhashya, it is of interest mainly because it indicates that he himself belonged to a highly respected and learned Virasaiva family, originally of Benares, and that at the time of the printing of the Bhashya he was a highly respected Guru. This Vamsavali is in Sanskrit. Descent is traced from Visvesvara of Benares; from him was descended Udbhataradhya, known also as Visvanatha, who was, it is said, initiated by Rishi Bharadvaja. (Evidently he belonged to the Bharadvaja Gotra.) Some generations after Visvanatha, came Mallikarjuna, whose son was Chandrasekhara, of Shanmukhamsa. The latter married Annapurna and had by her two sons. Of these, the elder was Bhadra alias Virabhadra, author of Saivanhika, and the younger, Kumara alias Mallikarjuna, who was the author of two works, called Kunda and Darpana, besides a Kosa, evidently a dictionary of some kind. Mallikarjuna had three sons Buchchalinga, Somaradhya and Viranaradhya. Of these, the last had two sons, Rajalinga and Bhairavaradhya. Bhairava left two sons, Lingaradhya and Nagalingaradhya. Of these, the latter had as his sons Lingaradhya And Bhairavaradhya. It is the latter who was responsible for the publication of the Bhashya and after whom the Vamsavali is named. Of him we have a long panegyric, of which only the gist need be given here. He and his elder brother were, we are told, initiated and instructed by one Channamallesvararadhya. They were subsequently taught by Kedaialinga-guru in Siva-tatva, Veda, Purana, etc. From the high praise bestowed on both these teachers, we have

3 to infer that they were learned Virasaiva teachers. Kedaralinga-guru was possibly a Sanyasin. Under his tuition, Bhairavaradhya became, we are told, a great Virasaivavadin and overpowered in argument the followers of the Buddhist, Advaita, Visishtadvaita and Dvaita systems of philosophy. He was on earth, it is added, the very Mrigendra (Sakshan Mrigendro bhuvi).¹ He bore the title of Saivendra Chudamani. He was, we are told, born as the son of Nagalinga, to establish the Vedic Saiva faith by the publication of Sripati Panditaradhya's Bhashya, which is described as a great work containing the essence of the true meaning of every system of Vedanta (Sarva Vedanta Satyartha Sarabhutam), as the conqueror of the pride of evil opponents, as the destroyer of evil desires, as the bestower of the sanctified wealth of Sivagnana, and as the means of salvation from worldly bondage. This Telugu script edition is incomplete inasmuch as it omits the following parts from the original MS. work:Adhyaya I, Pada I, Sutras:-3, 4 and 5. Adhyaya II, Pada III, Sutra :-46. Adhyaya II, Pada IV, Sutras:-1 to 14. The Government Oriental MSS. Library at Mysore has a small portion of this printed edition of the Bhashya. Kandukur Balasurya Prasadarow of Devidi House, Vizagapatam, possesses two palmyra-leaf copies of this work and one copy on ordinary paper with the Sutra-vritti. These are all in the Telugu script and preserved in the Saiva Grantha Karyalaya at Devidi, in the Ganjam District. Raja Balasurya Prasadarow has also a copy of the Secunderabad Edition in the Telugu script, of which copies are now difficult to secure. 66 an 1 The reference here is to the Illustrious Mrigendra", eminent authority on the Saiva Darsana quoted by Madhava in his Sarvadarsana Sangraha. See Cowell and Gough, 116 and 120. Cowell has suggested the identification of Mrigendra with Meyganda Ibid. 116 f.n. 3, but this seems groundless. (As to the dates of Madhava, surnamed Vidyaranya, and others bearing that name, see Mysore Gazetteer, 1930 Edition, II, iii, 1433-1446.)

The late Mr. Basavaradhya, B.A., B.L., of Bangalore, had in his possession a hand-written paper copy. This has been carefully compared and checked with the text of this Edition. The present edition is wholly in the Devanagari script. It is being undertaken under the auspices of the Mysore Lingayat Education Fund Association, Bangalore, a well-known and enlightened body which has been doing much for the social and spiritual betterment of the large and progressive community of Virasaivas in Southern and Western India. The first MS. copy was prepared under the direct personal supervision of Rajasabhabhushana Dewan Bahadur Sir K. P. Puttanna Chetty, Kt., C.I.E., Retired First Councillor, Mysore State, who is the President of the Association and whose unabated interest in the work requires special mention on the present occasion. The idea of securing the MS., getting it critically examined and making it available for publication in The Association has, proper form, has been entirely his. under his inspiration, generously undertaken to meet the cost of the publication of the work. The Committee of the Association, which includes leading members of the Virasaiva community, deserves special thanks for the unstinted manner in which it has helped in the undertaking from the start. It is needless to state that an edition of this work in the Devanagari script, which is now being supplied, has been long a great desideratum. Name of the Work. In the Preface to the Secunderabad edition, this work is described under three different names: () Vaiyasika-Brahma-Sutra-mukhyartha-prakasakam, (2) Sarvopanishat-sahaja-samanvaya-dvaitadvaita- siddhantapradipakam, and (3) Srikara-Mahabhashyam. The first of these titles means no more than that it is the enlightener of the gist of the Brahma-Sutras of Vyasa; the second suggests that this Bhashya conveys the real meaning of all the Upanishads taken together and interpreted in the light of the dvaitadvaita system of the propounder; and the

5 third is a mere repetition of the name given by the author himself in Adhyaya I of his work which is referred to below. The author speaks of his work in a variety of ways:- (a) Dvaitadvaitabhidhana Viseshadvaita Siddhanta Sthapaka Brahma Mimanisa Sutrartha Virasaiva Siddhanta Prakasika (Adhyaya I, Pada I, Colophon). : (6) Bhedabhedatmaka Viseshadvaita Virasaiva Siddhanta Vyavasthapaka Brahma Mimamsa Sutrartha Prakasika (Adhyaya II, Pada I, Colophon). The difference between the two descriptions "Bhedabheda" and "Dvaitadvaita" Viseshadvaita contained in the two colophons mentioned, deserves to be noted. An alternative name for the work as given by the author in the 16 colophons of the work is Srikara Bhashya. In Adhyaya I, Pada I, Sutra I, line 26, the name of the work is also described as "Sutra Vriththim Samalokya Kritham Bhashyam Sivamkaram". In other words, the term Sivamkara seems to be set down as the equivalent of Srikara. It is possible that the author is trying to impress upon the reader the point that Sripati Pandita charya named the commentary that he wrote, not after his own name, but after Srikara or Sivakara, i.e., the Lord Siva himself. Hence the alternative name, mentioned in every colophon, of Srikara Bhashya, which, in Adhyaya I, Pada I as above stated, is turned into Bhashyam Sivamkaram. It is thus evident that the commentary which is known as Srikara Bhashya is named virtually after Sival himself, Siva 'having inspired him, as the author elsewhere states, to undertake the work. Hence, some writers refer to this commentary not as Sripati's Bhashya but as Srikara Bhashya. That the suggestion that this Bhashya is named after Siva is not without some foundation is seen from the name Govinda Bhashya given to Baladeva's commentary. This commentary was written by Baladeva and it is called the Govinda Bhashya, because it was written-so it is said-at the command of Lord Govinda. Baladeva's commentary is based on that of Anandatirtha, whom he mentions. He belonged to the Kanyakubja country and

followed dualism as taught by Chaitanya. His great-grandfather Murari was the guru of Prataparudra Gopaladasa, King of the Utkala country. (Madras T. C. of Sanskrit MSS., IV. i. A. R. Nos. 2989 and 2990, pages 4343-4347.) His Bhashya has been translated by Rao Bahadur Srisachandra Vidyarnava (Panini Office, Allahabad). There is, however, one further point requiring consideration. It might be suggested, with some plausibility, that Srikara is an alternative name of Sripati and that the Bhashya is, therefore, called by both names. The colophons lend some support to this view. A closer study of the colophons, however, shows that Sripati named the Bhashya as Srikara Bhashya, with the definite view that it should be so perpetuated. The name Srikara itself is rather an unusual one, though it occurs as part of a personal name mentioned in a lithic inscription at Koturpalli Strotriyam, Rapur Taluk, Nellore District, which records the fact that one Narapa Sahni Bhimanayakundu, a feudatory of Eira. Siddhi Choda, had for his preceptor Srikara Kantha Kesayyangaru, who is called a great yogin. (Nellore Inscriptions III, 1252-56, Rapur 37.) The inscription is not dated but since it mentions that the Chief Narapa Sahni Bhimanayakundu was a contemporary of Erra Siddhi Choda, it may be set down to the close of the 12 th century A.D. (See V. Venkayya, Ancient History of Nellore District in the I. A., XXXVII and XXXVIII, 99 and 7, where it is pointed out that Manmasiddhi and Tammusiddhi, sons of Errasiddhi, were feudatories of KulottungaChola III, who ruled between 1178-1218 A.D.) It would seem to follow from this fact that Errasiddhi should be set down to about the close of the 12 th century. The identification accordingly of Srikara, the author of the Bhashya named after him, with this Srikarakantha-taking it for granted that he was called both Sripati and Srikara-seems impossible, for Madhvacharya, whom the Srikara Bhashya mentions, came long after the close of the 12 th century A.D. Moreover, in the record quoted above, the name appears in the alternative forms of Karakanthadeva and

7 Srikarakantha Kesayyagaru, thus suggesting that Sri here is the usual prefix of honour added to the name of Karakantha Kesayyagaru. (See the original text of Rapur 37 at pp. 1254-1256, in the last of which the name appears also as Karakantha Kesavayyagaru.)