South Indian Inscriptions

Contents
Index
Introduction
Contents
List of Plates
Additions and Corrections
Images
Contents
Altekar, A. S
Bhattasali, N. K
Barua, B. M And Chakravarti, Pulin Behari
Chakravarti, S. N
Chhabra, B. CH
Das Gupta
Desai, P. B
Gai, G. S
Garde, M. B
Ghoshal, R. K
Gupte, Y. R
Kedar Nath Sastri
Khare, G. H
Krishnamacharlu, C. R
Konow, Sten
Lakshminarayan Rao, N
Majumdar, R. C
Master, Alfred
Mirashi, V. V
Mirashi, V. V., And Gupte, Y. R
Narasimhaswami, H. K
Nilakanta Sastri And Venkataramayya, M
Panchamukhi, R. S
Pandeya, L. P
Raghavan, V
Ramadas, G
Sircar, Dines Chandra
Somasekhara Sarma
Subrahmanya Aiyar
Vats, Madho Sarup
Venkataramayya, M
Venkatasubba Ayyar
Vaidyanathan, K. S
Vogel, J. Ph
Index.- By M. Venkataramayya
Other South-Indian Inscriptions
Volume 1	Volume 2
Volume 3	Vol. 4 - 8
Volume 9	Volume 10
Volume 11	Volume 12
Volume 13	Volume 14
Volume 15	Volume 16
Volume 17	Volume 18
Volume 19	Volume 20
Volume 22 Part 1	Volume 22 Part 2
Volume 23	Volume 24
Volume 26	Volume 27
Tiruvarur	Darasuram
Konerirajapuram	Tanjavur
Annual Reports 1935-1944	Annual Reports 1945- 1947
Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Volume 2, Part 2	Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Volume 7, Part 3
Kalachuri-Chedi Era Part 1	Kalachuri-Chedi Era Part 2
Epigraphica Indica	Epigraphia Indica Volume 3
Epigraphia Indica Volume 4	Epigraphia Indica Volume 6
Epigraphia Indica Volume 7	Epigraphia Indica Volume 8
Epigraphia Indica Volume 27	Epigraphia Indica Volume 29
Epigraphia Indica Volume 30	Epigraphia Indica Volume 31
Epigraphia Indica Volume 32	Paramaras Volume 7, Part 2
Śilāhāras Volume 6, Part 2	Vākāṭakas Volume 5
Early Gupta Inscriptions
Archaeological Links
Archaeological-Survey of India
Pudukkottai

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

TIRUVORRIYUR INSCRIPTION OF CHATURANANA PANDITA

No. 371 of 1911 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection too literally Tiruvorriyūr-uḍaiyār-kōyilil-maḍamuḍaiya Chaturānana Paṇḍitanum─we may suppose that the maṭha was within the temple.1

If, as has been supposed by some scholars,2 Chaturānana had received initiation directly at the hands of Nirañjana-guru himself, we may expect the text and the wording of the inscription to have been different. As the wording of the inscription is, it is gahva or guhā that is emphasised and it is from the guhā (gahvād ya āpta-vrataḥ) that Chaturānana is said to have obtained his spiritual re-birth. In spirit, therefore, he was a pupil and successor of Nirañjana, but not in person.3

Chaturānana then established a monastery at Tiruvorriyūr whose successive heads came to be called Chaturānana Paṇḍitas after the founder. The following Chaturānana-Paṇḍitas are mentioned at Tiruvorriyūr in inscriptions belonging to different periods.

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^[1] There is at present no trace of the Chaturānana-Paṇḍita maṭha at Tiruvorriyūr, either outside or inside the temple. The maṭha-like hall in the Sannidhi street very near the main gōpura of the temple having an image of Dakshiṇāmūrti, Śaṅkarāchārya, etc., is a very recent one, owing its origin to an Advaitic Sannyāsin, popularly known as Yōgīśvara, who was there some decades ago. This has nothing to do with Chaturānana maṭha. There is also a local tradition in the place that to protect the purity of the priest, there used to be a cave passage between the priest’s house on the northern main street to the east of the tank and the temple, but such a passage, if it was there, must have been different from the Nirañjana-Guhā.
^[2] T.N. Ramachandran : Vijayakampavarman, JOR, Madras, Vol. VI, pp. 224-235.
^[3] Therefore, the whole argument of Mr. T. N. Ramachandran in his article that the Nirañjana-guru of Vijayakaṁpa’s time being the same as the Nirañjana-guru of our inscription, the date of Vijaya-Kaṁpavarman would come to 907-33 A.D. seems to be wrong. It is unnecessary to assume too long a period for the Nirañjana of Kaṁpa’s inscription and the Chaturānana of Kannaradēva’s inscription or to identify the latter with the Chaturānana of Rājēndra Chōḷa’s time. Having proposed this last identification, Mr. Ramachandran differentiates the Chaturānanas of the two Rājēndra inscriptions, while the more natural assumption is to take these two as the same. It is acceptable to Mr. Ramachandran that the successors of the first Chaturānana-Paṇḍita were also called by the same name. See also above, Volume XXIII, p. 145, f.n. 1.
^[4] No. 739 of 1905 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
^[5] No. 735 of 1905 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
^[6]No. 177 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
^[7] No. 181 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
^[8] S. I. I., Vol. V. No. 1354 ; No. 104 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
^[9] No. 126 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.
^[10] S. I. I., Vol. V. No. 1356.
^[11] Nos. 403 of 1896, 371 of 1911 and 206 of 1912 of the Madras Epigraphical Collection.

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