2023-06-05 16:38:48 by ambuda-bot
This page has not been fully proofread.
viii
It can
be made out from these extracts that he was
the second of the five sons of Nārāyaṇa Dikṣita, the son
of Acca Dikşita, who was himself the younger brother of
Sri Appayya Dīkşita (A.D. 1553 to 1626), the illustrious South
Indian Acarya of S'aivism and Advaitism, who is approp-
riately characterised by his admirers as the myriad- minded
poly-histor who produced one hundred and four works of
great merit in various branches of knowledge and had to his
credit incessant ritualistic activities nowise less numerous or
varied, and as one of the greatest champions of the religion and
philosophy of Srikaṇṭha and Samkara. From reliable records and
traditions preserved by the disciples and descendants of Nila-
kantha it may further be gathered how, as a boy of twelve,
Nilakantha became the recipient of Appayya Dikşita's heartiest
and choicest blessings in his last moments as the lucky substitute
for the earthly patrimony which his sons would not allow Nila-
kantha to get; how he rapidly throve to become the most
prominent scion of Appayya Dikşita's family, through his
superior statesmanship which culminated in his Premiership
under King Tirumala Nayaka, the most powerful of the Nayaka
Kings of Madura, and through his marvellous genius which
exhibited itself in the form of excellent poetry, thrilling and
stirring up his contemporaries and posterity alike; and how he
was otherwise known as Ayya Dīkṣita, and spent the evening of
his life in the village called Pālāmaḍai, on the left bank of the
Tamraparņi in the Tinnevelly District. Nilakantha was as
fortunate in his teacher as in his proteges and disciples. His
teacher was Śrī Venkateśvara, the reputed author of the
Vārtikābharaṇa and the worthy son of Govinda Dīkṣita of blessed
memory, who was the honoured minister of King Raghunatha of
Tanjore. His chief proteges and disciples were his younger
brother Atirätrayajvan, the author of a drama called Kuśakumud-
vatiya; his third son Girvāṇendra, the author of a Bhāṇa called
Śrngārakośa; the Vaiyakaraṇa Cokkanātha Dikṣita; and Cokka-
natha's son-in-law Ramabhadra Dikṣita, the well-known author
of the Janakipariņaya Nāṭaka. The Sanskrit introduction by
Mr. T. S. Kuppuswami Sastry, in the Srirangam edition of the
Sivalilarnava, which appeared as No. 18 of the Sri Vani Vilas
Sanskrit series, brings together all the available particulars about
Nilakantha Dikşita, his contemporaries and immediate prede-
cessors.
Nilakantha Dīkşita is known to be the author of several
beautiful minor poems published in 1911 by the Sri Vani Vilas
It can
be made out from these extracts that he was
the second of the five sons of Nārāyaṇa Dikṣita, the son
of Acca Dikşita, who was himself the younger brother of
Sri Appayya Dīkşita (A.D. 1553 to 1626), the illustrious South
Indian Acarya of S'aivism and Advaitism, who is approp-
riately characterised by his admirers as the myriad- minded
poly-histor who produced one hundred and four works of
great merit in various branches of knowledge and had to his
credit incessant ritualistic activities nowise less numerous or
varied, and as one of the greatest champions of the religion and
philosophy of Srikaṇṭha and Samkara. From reliable records and
traditions preserved by the disciples and descendants of Nila-
kantha it may further be gathered how, as a boy of twelve,
Nilakantha became the recipient of Appayya Dikşita's heartiest
and choicest blessings in his last moments as the lucky substitute
for the earthly patrimony which his sons would not allow Nila-
kantha to get; how he rapidly throve to become the most
prominent scion of Appayya Dikşita's family, through his
superior statesmanship which culminated in his Premiership
under King Tirumala Nayaka, the most powerful of the Nayaka
Kings of Madura, and through his marvellous genius which
exhibited itself in the form of excellent poetry, thrilling and
stirring up his contemporaries and posterity alike; and how he
was otherwise known as Ayya Dīkṣita, and spent the evening of
his life in the village called Pālāmaḍai, on the left bank of the
Tamraparņi in the Tinnevelly District. Nilakantha was as
fortunate in his teacher as in his proteges and disciples. His
teacher was Śrī Venkateśvara, the reputed author of the
Vārtikābharaṇa and the worthy son of Govinda Dīkṣita of blessed
memory, who was the honoured minister of King Raghunatha of
Tanjore. His chief proteges and disciples were his younger
brother Atirätrayajvan, the author of a drama called Kuśakumud-
vatiya; his third son Girvāṇendra, the author of a Bhāṇa called
Śrngārakośa; the Vaiyakaraṇa Cokkanātha Dikṣita; and Cokka-
natha's son-in-law Ramabhadra Dikṣita, the well-known author
of the Janakipariņaya Nāṭaka. The Sanskrit introduction by
Mr. T. S. Kuppuswami Sastry, in the Srirangam edition of the
Sivalilarnava, which appeared as No. 18 of the Sri Vani Vilas
Sanskrit series, brings together all the available particulars about
Nilakantha Dikşita, his contemporaries and immediate prede-
cessors.
Nilakantha Dīkşita is known to be the author of several
beautiful minor poems published in 1911 by the Sri Vani Vilas