Kashmir and
Kanchi Kamakoti Pitham through the ages
Bhagavan
Sadashiva, from His Guru svarupa of Dakshinamurti, was born about two thousand
and five hundred years ago in the village Kaladi in Kerala. He took this
avatara seeing dharma on the descent everywhere due to the increase of adharma,
and thereby restored dharma to its former
strength. To ensure the continued protection of this dharma
parampara, He established four pitha-s in the four
directions of Bharata
and appointed four of
His shishya-s as the Acharya-s
there. He Himself,
however, stayed at the Sharada
Matha in Kanchi as the Acharya of the Sarvajna Pitha which derives its
spiritual power directly from Devi Kamakshi, who is also called Kamakoti. He also attained
Siddhi at Kanchi
in front of Devi Kamakshi. These facts are given to us by respected texts such as Shiva Rahasya
and all noble-minded souls have accepted this.
There is no doubt
that the first Acharya of the Kamakoti Pitham Shrimad Adya Shankara Bhagavatpada (509-477 BCE) has been to Kashmir. The Kashmir king
Gopaditya (417-357 BCE) built a temple
for Shri Shankara
Bhagavatpada in Shrinagar
in view of the
fact that the Acharya had been to Kashmir only a short time before his rule.
(Ref: A Short History of Kashmir, Gwasha Lal,
1932.)
Shri Sureshvaracharya who is respected as the second Kamakoti
Acharya and supervised the Pithadhipatya from 477 to 407 BCE was born in Kashmir.
Punya Shloka Manjari which is summarizes the lives of the Acharya-s of the
Kamakoti Pitha says about Shri Sureshvara: “gauḍaḥ kāśmīrajanmā”. Of the five
Gauda-s – Sarasvata, Kanyakubja, Gauda, Utkala and Maithila – He was a
Kanyakubja Gauda in His purvashrama i.e. before sannyasa. The father of Shri
Sureshvara, Himamitra, was a Rajaguru of the Kashmir king.
The sixteenth
Acharya Shrimad Ujjvala Shankarendra
Sarasvati (329-366 CE), after having curbed those hindering Sanatana Dharma
during his tenure as Pithadhipati, attained Siddhi in Kashmir. Punya Shloka
Manjari states: “vimatān āmūlam unmūlayan ākāśmīram agān-mahāyatir iti khyātyojjvalaḥ śaṅkaraḥ”. His Siddhi place in Kashmir was called Kalapura. It came to be known as Ujjvala Mahayati
Pura because of His Siddhi
there. Punya Shloka Manjari states this as: “apa-harṣa-śokam ajaram
brahmaiva yaḥ śāsvataṃ kāśmīreṣu kalāpure yad adhunā (a)pyākhyāyate (a)syākhyayā”.
There is a stotra
in praise of the Acharya Parampara named Guru Ratna Mala authored by the great
Yogi Sadashiva Brahmendra. Its commentary Sushama states regarding the seventeeth Acharya Shrimad Gauda Sadashivendra Sarasvati (366-374
CE) that He was the son of a Kashmir minister
named Deva Mishra
Sharma. This Deva Mishra
was excessively attached to the Jaina religion. However, the Acharya even as a
child strongly asserted the greatness of the Sanatana Dharma and the Advaita
Siddhanta. Enraged by this,
the Jaina-s threw the child
into the Sindhu
river. The river,
however, bore Him with
affection on a lotus leaf and carried Him to one Bhurivasu Sharma, resident of
Pushpapura, who was in desire
of a son and had descended into the river for his ablutions.
Bhurivasu Sharma then brought up the child. Later the Acharya received sannyasa
from Acharya Ujjvala Shankara when He came to Kashmir. After the Siddhi of the
Guru, He taught the Advaita
Vedanta Brahma Sutra
Bhashya to His shishya-s about
fifty times in just
eight years, and later attained
Siddhi at Tryambakeshvara in Maharashtra.
The eighteenth Acharya Shrimat Surendra Sarasvati (374-384 CE) visited the court of the Kashmir king Surendra. There was a notorious hedonist
there named Durdidivi
who was spreading wicked practices. The Acharya defeated him in debate.
The Deva Guru Brihaspati by His yogic powers then came there in the form of a
Charvaka and argued in support of Durdidivi (in order to bring out the
greatness of the Acharya). The Acharya defeated even Him, and thus
re-established Sanatana Dharma and Advaita. The king Surendra then expressed his respect to the Acharya
and donated land to the Shrimatha.
The relation of the twentieth
Acharya Shrimad Muka Shankarendra
Sarasvati (397-436 CE) is as follows. A certain Brahmana
brahmachari by name Matrgupta – who was also
a poet – was doing services during the time of puja to the Acharya. He was excessively proud of his ability
as a poet. To rid him of this pride, the Acharya
made the caretakers of the horses and elephants of the Shrimatha, by name Ramila
and Menthaka, poets by His graceful glance alone.
Upon seeing this,
Matrgupta realized that worldly skills
like poetry can be attained
or lost in a split second.
In those days, Harsha Vikramaditya
was the Chakravarti of Ujjaini and bore high respect for the Acharya.
To his court, the Acharya
sent Matrgupta as court-poet. The king
had much affection for Matrgupta. In the meanwhile, Hiranya, the Kashmir king
of that time, by name
passed away without
issue. His brother
was Toramana, who also met
with an untimely death.
Toramana’s wife Anjana
was pregnant at that time, and she took refuge
in a potter’s house.
There she gave birth to a son by name Pravarasena.
Upon Hiranya’s
death, his ministers requested the Ujjaini Chakravarti Harsha Vikramaditya to
ensure the security of the Kashmir kingdom. The Chakravarti sent Matrgupta – as
a fitting honour in recognition of the excellence of his poetry – to be the
Kashmir king. In accordance with this Matrgupta
ruled there for five years.
Upon hearing of Harsha
Vikramaditya’s death, Matrgupta became disinterested in worldly matters. Making Pravarasena the Kashmir king, as he was the nephew of the previous
king Hiranya and hence had the right to the throne,
Matrgupta returned to his Guru Shri Muka Shankara
and took sannyasa.
In those
days, those wishing to go on pilgrimage to the holy kshetra-s in Kashmir found
it very difficult because of the dense forests of the mountainous Kashmir
region. Seeing this, the Acharya was filled with compassion for the pilgrims
and had Pravarasena refine the forest path into a highway and named it Sushama. This fact had been mentioned by all those who had received
the anugraha of the Acharya such as Matrgupta, Ramila, Menthaka and Pravarasena
in their respective works.
We come to know of these details from Sushama,
the commentary of Guru Ratna Mala, and from the works of the well-known Andhra research scholar
Kota Venkatachalam. The
twenty-first Acharya Shrimad Jahnavi
Chandrachudendra Sarasvati (436-446
CE) was, as mentioned before, known previously as Matrgupta. After having
ruled over Kashmir for sometime, He took sannyasa. Spending ten years in
penance on the banks of the Ganga, He attained Siddhi there.
The
thirty-first Acharya Shrimat Sheelanidhi
Brahmanandaghanendra Sarasvati (654-667 CE) was object
of the devotion of the Brahmana Kashmir
king Lalitaditya. This
king conquered all of Bharata Varsha. In the course of his travels of
conquest, he came to Kanchi, and having reached the Kamakoti Pitha,
he stayed there
for quite some time in the
seva of the Acharya. Mahakavi Bhavabhuti had mentioned this in his work named
Mahapurusha Vilasa. This we come to know from Guru Ratna Mala and other
such works.
The thirty-second Acharya Shrimat Chidanandaghanendra Sarasvati (667-671 CE) was also
highly respected by the same Lalitaditya. After His Guru having attained
Siddhi, this Acharya had Lalitaditya establish an annadanashala in Kashmir after
the purvashrama name of His Guru – Jyeshtha
Rudra. In that annadanashala food was provided
for lakhs of pilgrims. The Acharya also
had Lalitaditya place
on the Karnataka throne the orphaned
son of the former queen of that kingdom
who had lost her life during his conquest.
When the thirty-fourth Acharya
Shrimat Chandrashekharendra Sarasvati (691- 709 CE) came to Kashmir he
defeated an atheist by name Chakuna who, in the name of spreading the Jaina
religion was obstructing the Sanatana Dharma. Thus the Acharya re- established
the Shastric Dharma in Kashmir.
In the days of the thirty-eighth Acharya Shrimad
Dhira Shankarendra Sarasvati better known as Abhinava
Shankara (788-839 CE), the durmata-s of mleccha-s (the malpractices of
those devoid of Sanatana Dharma) had spread all over Bharata. In the course of
His vijaya yatra-s (tours of victory over adharma) as if another avatara of
Shri Adya Shankara, He re-established Sanatana
Dharma and Advaita
Siddhanta everywhere. In Kashmir in those days there was a
great pandita by name Bhattodbhata who was undefeatable, having defeated eight
other great pandita-s. The Acharya, however, upon coming to Kashmir, won over Bhattodbhata in debate, and ascended the Sarvajna Pitha
in Kashmir in front of the Vagdevi Sharada.
This is mentioned in Guru Ratna
Mala, Sushama and many works
such as Shankarendra Vilasa and Sadguru Santana Parimala quoted by Sushama.
This Acharya attained Siddhi in the Himalayas.
During the reign
of the forty-sixth Acharya Shrimat
Sandrananda Bodhendra Sarasvati (1060-1097 CE) mleccha-s were (once more)
causing trouble to the Sharada Shrimatha. In accordance with the Acharya’s wish
to protect those around Him, the minister of the Kashmir king Kalasheshvara
drove away the trouble-making mleccha-s. This Acharya attained Siddhi at
Arunachala (Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu).
In the time
of the forty-seventh Acharya Shrimat
Chandrashekharendra Sarasvati (1097-1165 CE), there was in Kashmir a Jain
king named Kumarapala. He was misguided by the Jaina leader
Hemacharya. The Acharya,
upon visiting that Kashmir king’s court, clearly explained the
Advaita Tattva, defeated Hemacharya in debate and re- established dharma in
Kashmir (once more).
The forty-eighth Acharya Shrimad Advaitananda Bodhendra Sarasvati (1165- 1199 CE) had
debated with, won over and were highly respected by the well-known Kashmiri
Shaivaite Abhinava Gupta.
We have given a
few examples of the various relations that have existed between Kashmir and the
Kanchi Kamakoti Pitha as is learnt from the works such as Guru Ratna Mala,
Sushama and Punya Shloka Manjari. It is highly likely that more research will
uncover many more such relevant facts.
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Sourece: www.kamakoti.org
