SRINGERI SARADAMBAL TEMPLE -CHICKKAMAGALUR DISTRICT- KARNATAKA - PART 2

['gopala krishnan' via Thatha_Patty]

SRINGERISARADAMBAL TEMPLE -CHICKKAMAGALUR DISTRICT- KARNATAKA - PART 2



History in detail
A pivotal figure in the history of the math is Vidyaranya(sometimes referred to 
as Madhava Vidyaranya or Madhavacharya who was an ideologicalsupport and the 
intellectual inspiration for the founders of the VijayanagaraEmpire. He helped 
Harihara Iand his brother Bukka to build a Hindu army to overthrow the Muslim 
rule in theDeccan region, and re-establish a powerful Hindu kingdom from Hampi. 
In his counsel, the Vijayanagara founders lead an expansiveconquest of much of 
the southern Indian peninsula, taking over lands from theSultanates that had 
formed after several invasions by the Delhi Sultanate. According to tradition, 
the monk'sefforts were supported by the 10th and 11th pontiff of Sringeri 
peetham.Vidyaranya later became the 12th acharya of the Sringeri peetham in 
1375 CE.Shortly after the start of the Vijayanagara empire in 1336 CE, the 
rulers began building theVidyashankara temple at the Sringeri peetham site. 
This temple was completed in1338.

 The Vijayanagararulers repaired and built numerous more Hindu and Jain temples 
in and aroundthe Sringeri math and elsewhere in their empire. This is a period 
wherenumerous inscriptions help establish the existence of the Sringeri peetham 
from the 14thcentury onwards.

The Vijayanagara rulers Harihara and Bukka gave a sarvamanya(tax-exempt) gift 
of land in and around Sringeri in 1346 CE to the Sringerimath guru Bharati 
Tirtha, in a manner common in the Indian tradition forcenturies, to help defray 
the costs of operating the monastery and temples.

 This grant became a six-century tradition that ended in the 1960s and1970s 
when the Indian central government introduced and enforced a land-reformlaw 
that redistributed the land...

 

In the late 15th century, the patronage of the Vijayanagarakings shifted to 
Vaisnavism. Following this loss of patronage, Sringeri math had to find other 
meansto propagate its former status, and the story of Shankara establishing the 
four cardinal matha mayhave originated in the 16th century.

According to Shastri, following the traditional accounts, theVijayanagara kings 
visited the Sringeri monastery many times over some 200years and left 
inscriptions praising the monks, revering their knowledge of theVedas and their 
scholarship. The monastery also provided the Vijayanagaraempire administration 
with guidance on governance. The descendant rulers of theVijayanagara empire 
regularly visited the monastery and made a series ofendowments to the Sringeri 
math as evidenced by various inscriptions. They also established the agraharaof 
Vidyaranyapuram with a land grant for the Brahmins, and in the 15th 
centuryestablished the earliest version of the Saradamba temple found at the 
Sringeripeetham site. The tradition of establishing satellite institutionsunder 
the supervision of the Sringeri peetham started in the Vijayanagaraempire 
period. For example,Vidyaranya organized a math in Hampi.

 

Keladi era

After the defeat of the Vijayanagara empire and thedestruction of Hampi by a 
coalition of Deccan sultanates,the Vijayanagara empireterritories faced a 
political turmoil. The Deccan region was largely dividedamong five Islamic 
sultanates. Thecoastal regions of Karnataka that included the Sringeri math 
ultimately cameunder the control of the Nayakas of Keladi from the Lingayatism 
tradition, whohas previously served as governors for the Vijayanagara emperors.

 The Keladi dynasty supported the Sringeripeetham for nearly 250 years, from 
1499 to 1763, when the Keladi Nayakas rule was ended by Hyder Ali seeking to 
create a sultanate fromMysore….

The lands held by the monastery and the goods meant for itsoperation were 
treated by the Nayakas as tax-exempt and not subject to anytariffs. 
Additionally, the 17th-century records show that the math receivedspecial gifts 
from the Lingayat rulers on festive occasions such asacharavicharas and Diwali. 
Someof the Nayaka princes studied at a school run by the monastery.

Maratha era

The Sringeri math wassupported by the Maratha rulers when they came to power in 
the post-AurangzebMughal era. Themonastery provided the Marathas with counsel 
in return as evidenced by over twodozen letters, mostly in the Marathi language 
and some in Sanskrit usingKannada script. These have been preserved by the 
monastery. 

The religio-political significance of the Sringerimonastery was such that 
boththe Marathas and the Muslim ruler Hyder Ali sought "cordialrelations" with 
it. According to Leela Prasad, after the Maratha ruler RaghunathaRao invited 
the Sringeri matha's Jagadguru to visit him and the pontiffaccepted the 
invitation, when Hyder Ali – whose hostility to the Marathas hadbeen legendary 
– heard about the trip, Hyder Ali sent the Jagadgurugifts and an escort 
consisting of a palanquin, five horses, an elephant andcash for the travel 
expenses.

Peshwa Maratha sackingof the temple in 1791

After the third Anglo-Mysore war in 1791 between the armiesof the British and 
Maratha coalition and those of Tipu Sultan, a part of the defeated contingent 
ofthe Marathas, that is, the irregular Pindaris returned through Sringeri and 
looted the monastery temples of its gold and copper, statues, killedsome 
Brahmin priests, and destroyed property.

 The news reached Tipu Sultan, who sent funds to restore the damage. 
TipuSultan, a Muslim, also sent a letter requesting the Jagadguru to 
performpenance and Hindu worship for "good showers and crops".

 Scholars haveinterpreted this event both as an evidence of Tipu Sultan's 
religious toleranceand the predatory habits of some contingents in the Maratha 
army, oralternatively as a strategic political move by Tipu Sultan torequest 
the monastery to perform "superstitious rites" to"conciliate with his Hindu 
subjects and to discomfort his Marathaenemies", quotes Leela Prasad…

 

My note- My interest inproviding 2nd part was about Tipu sultan while invading 
most Keralatemples favoured the Sarada temple at Sringeri.

British rule

The Sringeri monastery has been a historic politico-religiouscentre at least 
from the 14th century. Along with the Vijayanagara emperors andthe Mysore 
Muslim rulers such as Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, the colonial British 
authorities andtheir Nayak and Wodeyar dynasty appointees considered the 
monastery to be astrategically important hub for regional politics.

Its operations were a target of surveillance, itscollection of Hindu texts on 
Dharma and its counsel given its regionalsignificance were sought by the 
British authorities.

 

Temples

The Sringeri math includes two major temples. One is dedicated to Shiva and is 
called the Vidya Shankara temple, theother to Saraswatiand is called the 
Sharada Amba temple. The earliest version of the Shiva temple was built in 
the14th century, of goddess Saraswati in the 15th century.

 

Architecture of Sivatemple

The Vidyashankara temple is a fusion of pre-VijayanagaraHindu temple 
architecture traditions with Hoysalas and Vijayanagara styles,giving it an 
unusual appearance. The temple has an apsidal shape with itsinterior chambers 
and sanctum set on the square principle while the spire andouter walls use an 
almost circular plan.

 The temple is set on ahigh plinth like the Hoysala temples, with the basement 
adorned with sculptedanimals and balustrades with yalis flanking the steps.

 The outer walls of theShiva temple have large sculptured panels at right 
angles to each other and these show the major gods and goddess of Vedic 
tradition and post-VedicShaivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism, Saurism (Surya) and 
Ganapatya (Ganesha)traditions of Hinduism.

 The base of the templehave relief friezes depicting a large variety of stories 
from Hindu epics andPuranas. 

The temple can beentered from four directions. Inside the temple is a large 
mandapa with intricatelycarved pillars, several antechambers with artwork, a 
sanctum with linga and acircumambulation passageway around it. The passageway 
opens to smaller shrinesdedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses from various 
Hindu traditions. Accordingto George Michell, the current Vidyashankara temple 
reflects the 16th-centuryadditions.

Deities in Siva temple.

The sanctum has a linga, the southern side of the sanctumfeatures 
Brahma-Sarawati, the western side Vishnu-Lakshmi, and the northernside 
Shiva-Parvati.

Additions about Saradatemple

Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and arts in the Hindutradition, is the 
presiding deity of the monastery. The monasterytradition states that Adi 
Shankara installed a sandalwood image of Saraswati asSharadamba in a simple 
shrine, one that was replaced with its current copy ingold by the 11th acharya 
of Sringeri sharada peetham, Sri Barathi Thirtha inthe Vijayanagara era. 

The shrine was rebuilt inthe 15th century and expanded in the early 20th 
century. 

Deities in Saradatemple

The temple has a maha-mandapa (main hall) with images of saptamatrikas (seven 
mothers)sculpted. The goddess sits in a golden chariot. 

The golden chariot was dedicated to goddess in 1999 by thepresent acharya of 
Sringeri sharada peetham. 

Sub deities in Saradatemple

Along with Saraswati in the sanctum, the temple has smallshrines for Ganesha 
and forBhuvaneshvari.

Idols etc. 

The Sharadamba temple and nearby structures additionallyhouse a library, a 
Vedic school, a shrine for Adi Shankara, and other facilities of themonastery. 

General

It has been the historic epic enter of Sringeri's annual Navaratri festival 
celebrations,as well as the chariot festival held in February or March every 
year. Thetemple also gives the site its name, with "Sarada peetha" meaning 
"seat oflearning".

 The temple 's small gopuram wasbuilt in Chettinad structures by 33rd acharya 
of Sringeri sharada peethamSachitananda Shivabinava Narasimha Barathi in 1916.

Library

Sringeri matha has preserved and been a source of ancientSanskrit manuscripts 
to scholars. In the contemporary monastery, a library islocated on the first 
floor of the Saradamba temple. It has about 500 palm-leafmanuscripts and a 
large collection of paper manuscripts, most of which are inSanskrit. 
Thesemanuscripts are not only related to Advaita philosophy, but toclassical 
subjects such as Sanskrit grammar, Dharmasutras, ethics, and arts.

Organization

The Sringeri Sharada Peetham, over its centuries ofoperations has evolved a 
structure to manage the monastery, its succession andits branches. Some of the 
key positions and features include:

Jagadguru (lit."teacher of mankind") is the pontiff, both in spiritual and 
secular sense. Acelibate ascetic by tradition, he leads the learning 
institutions within themonastery and worship festivals. In case of differing 
views on the operation of monastery, his decision isconsidered by the monks as 
binding.

 He is also responsiblefor screening, studying and selecting the candidate monk 
who will succeed himas the next pontiff.

Administration

Samsthana is theadministrative organization that has historically managed the 
monasteryresources,properties and endowments in accordance with historic 
policies and guidelines.This includes the temples, the Vedic schools, the 
library, the kitchen and freefeeding houses for the monks and visiting pilgrims 
at Sringeri and otherbranches of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham. Prior to the 
1970s change in Indianlaw, the Samsthana responsibilities included managing the 
extensive lands andits tenants.

The monastery has anumber of officials with various duties… 

The Sringeri SharadaPeetham has a network of branches in India. Some of the 
major branches include those inVaranasi, Haridwar, Nasik, Gaya, Mysore, 
Hyderabad, Madurai, Chennai,Kanchipuram, Tirupati, Coimbatore, Ramesvaram, 
Kalady, Ramnad and Bengaluru.The monastery also supervises a number of Vedic 
studies and Sanskrit schools invarious parts of India. The monastery owns some 
agriculture land and this isfarmed by the monks and monastery workers.

My note- I have stayed intheir pilgrimage stay at Rameswaram, while perform 
preliminaries at Rameswaramfor Gaya srardha.

Modern era Jagadgurus

Jagadguru Vidhushekhara Bharati was appointed asUttaradhikari of the Sringeri 
Sharada Peetham by Jagadguru Bharathi TeerthaMahaswami on 23 January 2015. The 
last five Jagadgurus were:

Name       Years asJagadguru  Place of birth         Purvashrama name 

Sri Sachchidananda Shivabhinava Narasimha Bharati Mahaswami     1872–1912      
Mysore    Shivaswami     

Sri Chandrashekhara Bharati III Mahaswami  1912–1954         Kunigal    
Narasimha Shastri   

Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswami     1954–1989         Bangalore        
Srinivasa Shastri      

Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswami 1989– present         Machilipatnam        
Tangirala Sitarama Anjaneyulu         

Sri Vidhushekhara Bharati Mahaswami

(Successor-designate)
2015–present  Tirupati    Kuppa Venkateshwara Prasad Sharma
Compiled and posted by R. Gopalakrishnan 06-10-2025

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