Kanchipuram, city of learning

01The ghatika

The Talagunda pillar inscription of the Kadamba king Kakusthavarma tells how a young Brahmin, Mayurasharma, came to Kanchi in the 4th century to study the Vedas at the ghatika with his teacher Viirasharma. Insulted there by a Pallava horseman, he put down the sacred grass, took up the sword, and founded the Kadamba kingdom. Pallava copper plates speak of the ghatika again, and Narasimhavarman II is said to have revived it. Sanskrit, Vedic ritual and grammar were taught here for centuries.

02A city of many teachers

The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang came to Kanchi around 640 and found a large city of learning, with many Deva temples and Buddhist monasteries. Dharmapala, later head of Nalanda, was a son of Kanchi, and the logician Dignaga is linked with the region. In the Sanskrit verse often quoted, Kanchi is the best of cities, ‘nagareshu Kanchi’. It is counted among the seven Mokshapuris with Ayodhya, Mathura, Haridwar, Kashi, Ujjain and Dwarka, and is divided into Shiva Kanchi and Vishnu Kanchi, with a Jain Kanchi at Thiruparuthikundram.

The life of this place