106 SRINGERI
Vidyāranya, the head of the math at that time, was instrumental in
founding the Vijayanagar empire in r336, and was its first minister.
Sringeri (Sringa-giri, or Rishya-Sringa-giri) is said to have been the
place where the Rishi Vibhāndaka performed penance, and where
Rishya Sringa, a celebrated character of the Rāmāyana, was born, who
grew up to man's estate without having ever seen a woman. He was
allured away to the North, and eventually became the priest of Dasa=
ratha, and performed the great sacrifice which resulted in the birth
of Rāma. According to an inscription, the tract was granted as
an. endowment of the math, by Harihara, the first king of Vijaya
na,gar, in r346. Venkatappa Naik of Keladi claims in inscriptions to
have rescued the jągir out of unlawful hands and restored it to the
math in r62r. The revenue is estimated at Rs. 50,000 a year, which is
supplemented by Rs. rz,ooo from the Mysore Stąte. A municipality
was established in x888. The receipts and expenditure during the ten
years ending r9or averaged Rs. z,4oo. In rgo3-4 the receipts rose to
Rs. r r,ooo, and the expenditure to Rs. ro,ooo.
Srinivāspur.-North-eastern tdluk of Kolār District, Mysore, lying
between r3° rz' and r3° 36' N. and q8° 6' and q8° z4' E., with an
area of 3z5 square miles. The population in rgor was 58,Srz, com-
pared with 46,463 in r8gr. The tātuk contains one town, Srļnivāspur
(population, 3,x53), the head-quarters; and 34r villages. The land
revenue demand in r9o3-4 was Rs. r,4a,ooo. The south is drained by
the Pāhr river and the north by the Pāpaghni. On the north and
north-east are ranges of hills connected with the Eastern Ghāts. In
the south-east rise the low flat hills marking the Koh,r ąuriferous
band.
Sriperumbiādūr.-Town in the Conjeeveram tāluk of Chingleput
District, Madras, situated in rz° Sg' N. and q9° 57' E., on the western
trunk road z 5 miles west-south-west of Madras city. Population
(rgor), 5,48x. It is important as the birthplace, about a:n. ror6, of
Srļ Rāmānujāchārya, the great religious reformer of the Vaishnav sect.
A shrine to him in the town attracts an immense number of pilgrims
from all India. It is executed in the beautiful style of early Vijayanagar
architecture, and the sculpture is excellent. Rāmānuja, a Brāhman by
birth, was noted even as a boy for his studious habits and meditative
reserve. When a youth he went to Conjeeveram to study under
Y~,dava Prakāsa, the great teacher of the Advaita system of thought,
which was adopted mostly by the devotees of Siva. But he grew to
differ from his master, and, attaching himself to the then rising Vaish-
navite creed, wrote commentaries embodying the principles of what is
known as the Visishta-Advaita philosophy, or ' qualified non-dualism.'
In contradistinction to the professors of the Advaita doctrine, he held'
that the divine soul and the human soul are not absolutely one, but are
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