Vaishnava populace. It was ordained that the Jeeyar was to be accepted and supported in
this initiative by the followers of Ramanuja till date and by the disciple-fold that was to
come in future.
The holy dispensation to be bestowed upon the Jeeyar as per the divine order was threefold. It included the flowers worn by the Lord, the clothes adorned by Him and the sandal
paste and unguents offered to Him. A phrase at the end concludes that this divine order of
Devadhiraja was engraved on stone by the temple-accountant and the year of inscribing was
sakabdam 1282, vikaari samvatsaram and mesha maasam shuddha prathama tithi in the
constellation of Ashvati, which would correspond to 1359 ACE, Friday March 29th.
Elsewhere in another inscription in Kanchipuram Varadarajaswamy temple, it is stated that
by the divine order of the deity Varadarajapperumal, many villages were gifted as
‘sarvamanya madappuram’ to Sri Brahmatantra Swatantra jeeyar. The gift was made along
with income from taxes – tiruppudiyadu, eduttalavu and viruttupadi. Tiruppudiyadu means
the first fruits paid as homage to the temple, eduttalavu is tax paid on articles measured by
weight and viruttupadi means nominal tax.
Other inscriptions that support these and provide further information can be found in the
temples of Southern Arcot, Thirunelveli district during the 14th and 15th centuries. It has
been established well that this matham described in the inscription is indeed the
Brahmatantra Swatantra Parakala Swamy Matham whose first yatishvara acharya was Sri
Brahmatantra Swatantra jeeyar, the donee of the divine dispensation in the inscription. The
Ramanuja darshana pravartanam done by Sri Brahmatantra Swatantra Jeeyar has also been
immortalized in another inscription as –
hStIz< laekivOyat< kaEi{fNy< ivÊ;a< vrm!, ramanujayRisÏaNtSwapnacayRmaïye.
The religious line of Vedanta Deshika through Sri Brahmatantra Swatantra Swamy has
continued uninterruptedly in this Matham for close to 700 years now. The holy seat has so
far been adorned by thirty-six pontiffs, each of whom have been highly erudite and
venerated scholars of their time and who have ushered themselves under the shadow of the
lotus feet of our paramacharya Swamy Sriman Nigamantha Maha Deshika.
Epigraphica Indica (Orignal version)
Following is the extract of the stone inscription as published by the Epigraphica Indica. This
inscription clearly delineates the origin of Sri Brahmatantra Swatantra Matham and its
original allegiance to Kanchipuram divya kshetram as already discussed above.
The granthaksharams are changed to devanagari here for the benefit of readers.
The details provided here are as per “Epigraphica Indica”, Vol. XXIV, part vii, July 1940, pp,
318-326 No. 34
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