Type | Religious |
---|---|
Location |
|
First Jagadguru | Adi Shankara |
Present Jagadguru | Vijayendra Saraswati Swamigal |
Affiliations | Hinduism |
Website | www |
Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, also called the Sri Kanchi Matham or the Moolamnaya Sarvagnya Peetham,[web 1] is a Hindu institution, located in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. It is located near the Kamakshi Amman Temple of the Shaktism tradition, along with a shrine for the Advaita Vedanta teacher Adi Shankara.[1]
The matha-tradition attributes its founding to Adi Shankara, but this and the reliability of the matha's succession list has been questioned.[2][3] According to the Sri Kanchi math tradition, the matha was founded at Kanchipuram, and shifted south to the temple city of Kumbakonam in the mid-18th century due to the on-going wars, when there was warfare in the region, and returned to Kanchipuram in the 19th century.[4] Historically, the Kanchi Math was originally established as the Kumbakonam Mutt in 1821 as a branch of the Sringeri Mutt, and became involved with the Kamakshi temple in Kanchipuram in 1839, "set[ing] up shop in Kanchipuram at the turn of the last [19th] century."[web 2]
The matha is a living tradition, that continues to pursue spiritual scholarship in contemporary times.[5] Since February 2018, the institution has been led by Vijayendra Saraswathi Shankaracharya Swamigal.[web 3]
The founding of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam is traditionally attributed by its adherents to Adi Shankara, but this and the reliability of the matha's succession list has been questioned.[2][a] Sringeri matha rejects the claims of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, and does not count it among the mathas established by Shankara.[6] According to Clark, the story of the four cardinal mathas founded by Shankara dates from the 16th century, questioning the founding stories of all those mathas.[3]
According to the Kanchi matha's tradition, Adi Shankara was born in 509 BCE and died in 477 BCE,[7] and founded Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham in 482 BCE.[8] According to the Sri Kanchi matha documents, the matha relocated completely to Kumbakonam in the mid-18th century to escape wars and persecution,[4][web 4] returning to Kanchi in the 19th century.[4] According to Jonathan Bader and other scholars, the monastic tradition gives "fear of Muslim atrocities" from Nawab of Arcot, Mysore's Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan as the reason, but the details remain unclear.[9][10][11]
According to T. A. Gopinatha Rao, copperplate inscriptions show that the matha was located at Kanchipuram until 1686 CE,[12] and relocated to Kumbhakonam, Tajore, in the 18th century;[13] Sharma disputes Rao's interpretations of the copper plates, arguing that the dating is doubtfull, and that most plates do not refer to Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.[14] According to Rao, based on the oldest record found in the respective mathas (1291 and 1346 respectively), Kanchipuram matha may be older than Sringeri Pitham.[15]
Historically, the Kanchi Math was originally established as the Kumbakonam Mutt in 1821 by the Maratha king of Tanjore, Serfoji II Bhonsle,[16][web 2] as a branch of the Sringeri Mutt.[web 2] It became an apostate schismatic institution in 1839 when the Kumbakonam Mutt applied for permission to the English Collector of Arcot to perform the "kumbhabhishekham" of the Kamakshi temple in Kanchipuram.[17] In 1842, the East India Company headquartered at Fort William, Calcutta appointed the head of the mutt as the sole trustee of the Kamakshi temple, despite the protests of the traditional priests of the Kamakshi temple, which are well documented and preserved.[17][18][web 2][web 5] Mohan Guruswamy recalls,
My own ancestral village, Nagavedu, is a few miles from Kanchipuram. I remember my father telling me that his father was a young man when the Kanchi Shankaracharya set up shop in Kanchipuram at the turn of the last century. He also said that his father always referred, and as did others in the area, to this new Shankaracharya as the Kumbakonam Shankaracharya. This is a nice play on the word Kumbakonam for in colloquial Tamil it is also used to refer to a shady deal.[web 2]
The successive heads of the Kanchi and all other major Hindu Advaita tradition monasteries have been called Shankaracharya, leading to confusion, discrepancies and scholarly disputes over the chronology. The chronology stated in Kanchi matha texts recognizes five major Shankaras: Adi, Kripa, Ujjvala, Muka and Abhinava. According to the Kanchi matha tradition, it is "Abhinava Shankara" that western scholarship recognizes as the Advaita scholar Adi Shankara.[7] Scholars such as William Cenkner, Christopher Fuller and David Smith dispute this traditional belief, though they accept that the Kanchi Shankaracharyas are his direct "spiritual descendants".[19]
The Kanchi monastery, along with its sister monasteries across India, has also been an important preserver and source of historic palm leaf manuscripts.[20][21]
According to the Peetham, the chronological list of Guru Paramapara of the matham is follows:[22][better source needed]
Main article: Sankararaman murder case |
In 2004, Jagadguru Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Mahaswamigal and his junior Vijayendra Saraswati were arrested in connection with the Sankararaman murder case on Diwali day.[26] The court said that the complainant failed to support the prosecution and he was given bail. The trial went on till 2013 when he was acquitted by the court.[27]