HastAmalaka etc.

[Balaji Hebbar]

Dear  Mr.  Sundaresan:

There  is  an  oral  tradition  among  the  TuLu  brahmins  that
HastAmalaka,  the  first  ShankarAcArya  of  Puri  was  from  among
them.  To  be  precise,  he  said  to  have  come  from  the
BaNNaNjittAya  family  of  the  ShivaLLi  (TuLu)  brahmins.  Madhva
himself  came  from  the  NaDDillAya  family.  In  fact,  HastAmalaka
is  said  to  have  established  a  VeNugopAla  icon  at  Adi-UDupi.
After  the  BaNNaNjittAyas  converted  to  Madhva-VaiShNavism,  they
handed  over  the  icon  to  Madhva  who  installed  it  in  a  corner
of  the  sanctum  of  the  UDupi  KRShNa  shrine  where  it  can  be
seen  even  to  this  day!  Is  there  any  record  of  this  in  the
Puri  MaTha  etc.?

Also,  I  have  heard  from  a  NambUdiri  brahmin  vidvAn  that
PrabhAkara  Mishra  (the  originator  of  one  school  of  MImAmsA  that
bears  his  name)  was  a  NambUdiri  brahmin.  This  man,  tho  an
Advaitin  today,  claimed  descent  from  PrabhAkara?  Can  you  confirm
this  from  the  Advaitic  side.

That  Shankara  was  a  NambUdiri  is  well-known  and  that  Madhva  is
TuLu  is  equally  well-established.  If  HastAmalaka  and  PrabhAkara
are  also  TuLu  and  NambUdiri  respectively,  I  would  say  that  the
SaptakonkaNa  brahmins  have  done  pretty  good!!

Regards,
B.N.Hebbar