Polemics and patronage in the city of victory : Vyāsatīrtha, Hindu sectarianism, and the sixteenth-century Vijayanagara Court

2016·7.1 MB·English

by  Stoker, Valerie, 1969- author

S
T
Polemics and Patronage
O
K
E
R
City of Victory
in the
|

P
O
L
E VYASATIRTHA,
M
I
C HINDU SECTARIANISM,
S

A
AND THE
N
D
P SIXTEENTH-CENTURY
A
T
R VIJAYANAGARA COURT
O
N
A
G
E

I
N
Valerie Stoker

T
H
E

C
I
T
Y

O
F

V
I
C
T
O
R
Y
Luminos is the open access monograph publishing program from
UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and
reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases
the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles
published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the
same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and
marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of
the Ahmanson Foundation Humanities Endowment Fund of the
University of California Press Foundation.
Polemics and Patronage in the
City of Victory
SOUTH ASIA ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES
Edited by Muzaffar Alam, Robert Goldman, and Gauri Viswanathan
Dipesh Chakrabarty, Sheldon Pollock, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Founding Editors
Funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and jointly published by the Uni-
versity of California Press, the University of Chicago Press, and Columbia University Press.
For a list of books in the series, see page 213.
Polemics and Patronage in the
City of Victory
Vyāsatīrtha, Hindu Sectarianism, and the
Sixteenth-Century Vijayanagara Court
Valerie Stoker
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university
presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advanc-
ing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its
activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic
contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information,
visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2016 by Valerie Stoker
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license.
To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses.
Suggested citation: Stoker, Valerie. Polemics and Patronage in the City
of Victory: Vyāsatīrtha, Hindu Sectarianism, and the Sixteenth-Century
Vijayanagara Court. Oakland: University of California Press, 2016.
doi: http://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.18
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Stoker, Valerie, author.
Title: Polemics and patronage in the city of victory : Vyāsatīrtha,
Hindu sectarianism, and the sixteenth-century Vijayanagara Court /
Valerie Stoker.
Other titles: South Asia across the disciplines.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press,
[2016] | Series: South Asia across the disciplines | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2016032554 | isbn 9780520291836 (pbk. : alk.
paper) | isbn 9780520965461 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Vyāsatīrtha, 1460–1539—Influence. | Hinduism and
state—India—Vijayanagar (Empire)—History—16th century.
| Vijayanagar (Empire)—Religion—16th century.
Classification: LCC BL1153.2 .S76 2016 | DDC 294.50954/809031—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032554
Manufactured in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xii
Note on Transliteration and Translation xiii
1. Hindu Sectarianism and the City of Victory 1
2. Royal and Religious Authority in Sixteenth-Century Vijayanagara:
A Maṭhādhipati at Kṛṣṇadevarāya’s Court 17
3. Sectarian Rivalries at an Ecumenical Court: Vyāsatīrtha,
Advaita Vedānta, and the Smārta Brahmins 45
4. Allies or Rivals? Vyāsatīrtha’s Material, Social, and
Ritual Interactions with the Śrīvaiṣṇavas 73
5. The Social Life of Vedānta Philosophy: Vyāsatīrtha’s Polemics
against Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta 106
6. Hindu, Ecumenical, Sectarian: Religion and the Vijayanagara Court 130
Notes 143
Bibliography 191
Index 203

Illustrations
FIGURES
1. Painting of an ascetic on the ceiling of the Virūpākṣa temple’s
mahāraṅgamaṇḍapa 71
2. Vyāsatīrtha’s bṛndāvana, side with Viṭṭhala image 79
3. Yantrodhāraka Hanumān icon 82
4. Vyāsatīrtha’s bṛndāvana, front 83
5. Vyāsatīrtha’s bṛndāvana, close-up of front 84
6. Navabṛndāvana 101
7. Vyāsatīrtha’s bṛndāvana, side with Narasiṃha image and side
with Bāla-Kṛṣṇa image 102
8. Vyāsatīrtha’s bṛndāvana, side with Narasiṃha image 103
9. Vyāsatīrtha’s bṛndāvana, side with Bāla-Kṛṣṇa image 104
MAPS
1. Vijayanagara Empire, 1510 (1500 border also shown) 5
2. Vijayanagara Empire, 1520 6
3. Land grants made by Kṛṣṇadevarāya to Vyāsatīrtha 25
vii