maThas and maThAdhipatis

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

Balaji Hebbar <bhebbar at EROLS.COM> wrote:

>successor  of  VijayIndra  TIrtha  (1514-1595).  The  brindAvana  of
>SudhIndra  TIrtha  is  at  Anegondi  near  Hampi  on  the  banks  of
>the  TungabhadrA  river.  In  those  days,  the  PUrvAdi  MaTha  was
>based  at  KumbhakoNam.  After  RAghavendra  TIrtha's  time  it  came
>to  be  based  in  MantrAlaya.

Is there any traditional lore about how the pUrvAdi maTha came to
Kumbhakonam? What is the origin of the pUrvAdi and uttarAdi maThas?

It is interesting how closely a "maTha" is identified with the person of the
maThAdhipati and his lineage, so that the institution moves with the monk.
This doesn't seem to be very well appreciated in modern times, where the
geographical location of a maTha is given central importance, so that people
can't understand why there are disputes within a sampradAya.

By the way, I have recently updated my essay on the contested succession in
Jyotirmath, the principal northern SAnkara pITha. It is available under the
link on position and review papers on the Indology home page
(www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgadkw/indology.html).

Vidyasankar


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