Vishveshvara Shambhu

Vishveshvara Shambhu was the initiating teacher of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva and the royal preceptor of Rudramadevi.¹² His monastery at Mandadam on the Krishna made provision for a maternity home and a home for the sick.³ It also had a college.⁴⁵

The Golaki monastery

Vishveshvara Shambhu, also called Vishveshvara Shiva or Shivacharya, belonged to the Pashupata order of Shaiva teachers of the Golaki monastery. According to the Malkapuram inscription of Rudramadevi’s reign, which gives the history of the order, its teachers descended from the sage Durvasa. They flourished in the Dahala country between the Ganga and the Narmada. One of them, Sadbhava Shambhu, received a province from the Kalachuri king Yuvarajadeva and founded the Golaki monastery.¹ The inscription claims that the monastery’s teachers were honoured by the Kalachuri, Kakatiya, Malava and Chola kings.¹

P. V. Parabrahma Sastry notes that the names of the Pashupata teachers end in Shiva, Shambhu, Pandita or Rishi.⁶ The names of the older Kalamukha teachers end in Rashi, Pandita or Shakti.⁶ He adds that the coming of the Pashupatas in Ganapatideva’s reign pushed the Kalamukhas out of royal favour.⁶

Teacher of Ganapatideva and Rudramadevi

Vishveshvara Shambhu was the initiating teacher (diksha-guru) of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva.¹² After his initiation, Ganapatideva called himself the teacher’s spiritual son.¹² Vishveshvara Shambhu was also the royal preceptor of Rudramadevi.¹²

The same Malkapuram inscription describes the Kakatiyas as Kshatriyas of the solar race.⁷ Parabrahma Sastry set this claim against other evidence on their caste.⁷

Mandadam and its institutions

In Saka 1183 (1261; Saka is an Indian way of counting years) Rudramadevi, fulfilling her father’s wish, granted Vishveshvara Shambhu the village of Mandadam, or Mandaram, on the Krishna in the Velanadu district. There he built a temple of Shiva, a monastery of the pure Shaiva order and a feeding house. He settled many Brahmans there and renamed the village Vishveshvara-Golaki. Provision was also made for a maternity home and a home for the sick.³

Parabrahma Sastry describes the college (vidya-mandapa) attached to the monastery.⁴⁵ Its teachers were paid from endowments to teach the three Vedas, grammar and logic, literature, the Shaiva scriptures and medicine.⁴⁵

Other foundations

The Malkapuram record and other inscriptions list further foundations. Vishveshvara Shambhu built or set up:⁸²

• a stone monastery and a temple at Kaleshvaram on the Godavari, headed by his disciple Dharma Shiva⁸²
• a monastery at Eleshvaram on the Krishna⁸²
• lingas (stone emblems of Shiva) at Mantrakuta, Chandravalli and other places⁸²

According to an inscription at Tripurantakam, he bought forest land for 850 gadyanas (gold coins) and cleared it.⁹ There he founded a village called Vishvanathapura with a tank, for the worship of the god.⁹

Branches of the Golaki monastery stood at Srisailam, Tripurantakam, Alampur, Draksharama, Pushpagiri and Bhattiprolu.⁸ Parabrahma Sastry found the Pashupata institutions flourishing until the end of Prataparudra’s reign.⁸

A poet named Narasimha called himself the son of the royal preceptor Vishveshvara.¹⁰¹¹ His verses are carved on a hill at Ursu near Warangal and on the gateways of Warangal fort.¹⁰¹¹

Footnotes

1. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), pp. 275–276. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. P. Sreenivasachar, A Corpus of Inscriptions in the Telingana Districts, Part I (1942), p. 20 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

3. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), pp. 276–277. ↩ ↩²

4. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), pp. 278–279. ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 292. ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 275. ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 27. ↩ ↩²

8. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 277. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

9. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 199. ↩ ↩²

10. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 276. ↩ ↩²

11. P. V. Parabrahma Sastry, The Kakatiyas of Warangal (1978), p. 295. ↩ ↩²