2023-02-17 20:20:17 by ambuda-bot
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INTRODUCTION
3
have been as prominent as it is usually made out.,
Vidyaranya's influence was at its height only in the
last quarter of the fourteenth century, nearly forty
years after the foundation of the kingdom. At the com-
mencement it was Kriyāṣakti Pandita, a high-priest of
the Srikanthāgama sect who occupied the exalted posi-
tion of guru to the Vijayanagara monarchs. In a
Mysore inscription Harihara II acknowledges Kriyā-
şakti as the kula guru."
13 Kriyāṣakti was held in such
high veneration that the early Vijayanagara rulers
looked to him not only for spiritual guidance but also
for advice on matters of state. It is believed that it was
largely through his influence that Vidyāraṇya under-
took to write a commentary on the Srauta Sutras.
Even after Vidyāraṇya's ascendancy to fame and in-
fluence in the last quarter of the fourteenth century,
Kriyaṣakti continued to enjoy the same regard and
esteem as at the inauguration of the kingdom. Natu-
rally the first kula guru received the obeisance of the
poet in this poem. In all probability Kriyāṣakti had
some part in shaping Gangā Dēvi into a poct and it was
possibly a high sense of duty and gratitude that prompt-
ed her to give him the place next only to Pārvati and
Paramēṣvara in her invocations.
Among the others of the period mentioned by
Ganga Dēvi Agastya is described as the author of
"seventy-four poetic compositions".14 This Agastya was
different from the Agastya of ancient tradition. He
was a poet at the court of Prataparudradēva of Warran-
gal and was an elder contemporary of Gangā Dēvi. It
is guessed, not without sufficient reasons, that he was
13. T. A. Gopinath Rao mentions this.
14. Madhuravijayam canto 1 sloka 14.
3
have been as prominent as it is usually made out.,
Vidyaranya's influence was at its height only in the
last quarter of the fourteenth century, nearly forty
years after the foundation of the kingdom. At the com-
mencement it was Kriyāṣakti Pandita, a high-priest of
the Srikanthāgama sect who occupied the exalted posi-
tion of guru to the Vijayanagara monarchs. In a
Mysore inscription Harihara II acknowledges Kriyā-
şakti as the kula guru."
13 Kriyāṣakti was held in such
high veneration that the early Vijayanagara rulers
looked to him not only for spiritual guidance but also
for advice on matters of state. It is believed that it was
largely through his influence that Vidyāraṇya under-
took to write a commentary on the Srauta Sutras.
Even after Vidyāraṇya's ascendancy to fame and in-
fluence in the last quarter of the fourteenth century,
Kriyaṣakti continued to enjoy the same regard and
esteem as at the inauguration of the kingdom. Natu-
rally the first kula guru received the obeisance of the
poet in this poem. In all probability Kriyāṣakti had
some part in shaping Gangā Dēvi into a poct and it was
possibly a high sense of duty and gratitude that prompt-
ed her to give him the place next only to Pārvati and
Paramēṣvara in her invocations.
Among the others of the period mentioned by
Ganga Dēvi Agastya is described as the author of
"seventy-four poetic compositions".14 This Agastya was
different from the Agastya of ancient tradition. He
was a poet at the court of Prataparudradēva of Warran-
gal and was an elder contemporary of Gangā Dēvi. It
is guessed, not without sufficient reasons, that he was
13. T. A. Gopinath Rao mentions this.
14. Madhuravijayam canto 1 sloka 14.