Singing to God, Educating the People: Appayya Diksita and the Function of Stotras‪.‬

APPAYYA 100, APPAYYA 500 The writing on the walls of Kalakanthesvarar Temple in Adayapalam, a village near Vellore in the northern Tamil country, celebrates Appayya Diksita (1520-1592), the village's main claim to fame, as a man of outstanding achievements. The inscription begins with a Sanskrit verse, highlighting Appayya's association with the Vellore-based king Cinnaboma ("whose glory he spread"), his resurrection of Srikantha's commentary on the Brahmasutra ("in order to fortify the Siva school"), and his construction of the very temple on which the verse is inscribed. A prose passage in Tamil further elaborates his deeds, mentioning, among other details, two impressive figures. Appayya is said to be the author of no less than one hundred books (nuru prabandham pannina) and to have taught Srikantha's commentary on the Brahmasutra and his own subcommentary on it, the Sivarkamanidipika, to a crowd of five hundred scholars. (1)