5.6. Udayavarma-carita alias Brahmapratistha

[Full title: Works written in Puranic (Legendary) style: Udayavarma-carita alias Brahma-pratistha]

The legendary account given above according to the Udayavarma-carita of Ravivarman forms the subject matter of another Udayavarmacarita^[1] written at later date. The author of the work is a Namputiri Brahmin. The work is supposed to form the chapter of Kolarastravarnanam, an episode in Kerala Mahatmya The actual title of the publication should be brahma-pratista^[2], the editor of the Trivandrum series has preferred the general title Udayavarmacarita^[3].

Udayavarmacaritam; occuring in Kolarastravarnana, an episode in Kerala Mahatmya the context being the consecration of several devinities and Brahmins in the land of Kerala, is dialogued as one between a Dvija and a Suta, to pass for a legend. The king Udayavarman invited Brahmins from afar, bestowed on them rich presents to the chagrin of the indigenous Brahmins who turned hostile towards him, to absolve himself of the sin of the slaughter of brahmins in battle and thus caused the land of Kerala, to overflow with Brahmin community.

The succeding verses—

tataściragate kāle kolambābde kṣamākhane |
vākkūrākhye mahākṣetre satsabhā militābhavat |
tato bahutithe kāle gate kolambavatsare
vacoratne kumbhamāse saure'hni suragāyaka!
kolambābde bhātiratne kumbhamāse sure'hni
vidyāraṇyayatīndraśca ṣoḍaśagrāmiṇo dvijāḥ ||

In 127 slokas describes the settlement of Brahmins in Kolattunadu at the instance of Udayavarman. Requested by some Brahmins, a Suta narrate the story as told by sage Narada to a Gandharva called Suprabha. While the Gandharva was passing through Kerala by the aerial route he happened to notice a new class of Brahmins in Kolattunadu with a view to learning their origin and settlement he approaches Narada who narrates the story to him. The story begins with the days of Ceraman Perumal giving various details. Such as his voyage to Mecca, partition of the land among his sons and nephews etc. Udayavarman, while ruling Kolattunadu happened to kill some Brahmins in a battle and to absolve himself of the sin, he invited Brahmins from places like Idukunci, Vilakkur, Gunavati and Srivalli^[4] and presented to them two temples called Krsadhaksetra and Arhasta along with his sin. But the native Brahmins did not like this and they boycotted the outsiders. After much persuation the king was able to bring peace between them. The name of Ravivarman, a brother of Udayavarman is also mentioned in the account. Disclose the date of that event as the latter half of the 11th C. thereby bringing the time of a certain Vidyaranyavati close to that period.

The [following] lines betoken that Vidyaranya must have been a different appellation of Madhavacarya:

tadā trigāmiṇo viprāḥ prāpya mādhavapaṇḍitam
tad dṛṣṭvā mahadāścaryaṃ stutvā mādhava paṇḍitam
mādhavācārya ityasīd vyomni vāgaśarīriṇī ||

Be that as it may, a doubt may crop up as to whether he was the same Madhavacarya of the 14th C. AD, to whom Sarvadarsanasangraha, Dhatuvritti and Rgbhasya owe their origin, or another individual of that domination who must have flourished earlier than the former. Mahakavi Ullur holds the view that another Udayavarmacarita, a Sanskrit composition consists 11 chapters originated from the pen of one Ravivarma, the celebrated king of Kola kingdom in the 8th C. vṛddhidāmbā in the text determines the date of Udayavarma as the latter half of the 8th C. Again the term tuṅgo dhūlī lends support to the belief that this land was blessed by the Universal preceptor -the great Sankaracharya of the world wide repute. But others do not see any connection between Vidyaranyayatindra ‘alias’ Madhavapanditha who showered his choicest blessings on Udayavarma and hence the conjecture in consonance with the chronogram ‘Vacoratna’ suggestive of the Malabar era, that Udayavarma of the latter half of the 11th C., the hero of this, production could never be contemporaneous with Madhavacarya, otherwise known as Vidyaranya of the 14th C. Thus both the views are illogical.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Travancore Sanskrit Series 133, 1933
T.K. Joseph, Brahmapratistha, KSP III -Pp 135 -143

[2]:

iti śrīkeralamāhātmye kolarāṣṭravarṇane udayavarmacarite
brahmapratiṣṭhā nāma prakaraṇaṃ sampūrṇam ||
Ullur has rightly choosen this title in Kerala Sahitya Caritram, Ullur II -P -83

[3]:

The publication also contains an appendix in which another work on the subject in the form of a resume in ten stanzas is incorporated. Some scholars have wrongly considered both these works -the one by Ravivarman and the other published in the Travancore Sanskrit Series -133as one and the same. See Kerala Sanskrit Literature -Pp 58 & 61

[4]:

The places are to be identified with Trttalattu and Arattil respectively by Ullur, Kerala Sahitya Caritram, Ullur -Vol. II -P -83