Madhavacarya has taken many Slokas verbatim from the SANKARAVIJAYA of Vyasacala and this indicates the superiority and greatness of the latter. So it is a matter of great delight to us that a work of that type is brought to light.
The SANKARAVIJAYA of Vyasacala is fit to be called a Mahakavya as it satisfies the definition of a Mahakavya as given by great literary critics like Dandin.'सर्गबन्धो महाकाव्यमुच्यते’. It consists of twelve Sargas. Its invocatory stanza 'कालट्याख्ये ग्रामवर्ये', etc., comes under he third type of Mangala which straightaway begins the work. The theme of the work also fits in well to be called a Mahakavya in that it describes the life history of a great person. The work statisfies the rule as laid in 'चतुर्वर्गफलोपेतम्' etc., for it is clear that the work shows us the path to reach divinity and the hero is no other than the great Bhagavan Sankara.
The verses ‘नगरार्णवशैलर्तु', etc., in the definition of a Mahakavya show that a Mahakavya should contain vivid descriptions of city, ocean, mountains and other natural beauties. The contents of the Sankara- vijaya of Vyasacala will clearly reveal to the learned the literary excellence of the work and its accordance to the definition of a Mahakavya. Though there are to be found some flaws here and there, they need not be taken as literary faults, for Dandin says -
- न्यूनमप्यत्र यैःकैश्चिदङ्गैः काव्यं न दुष्यति ।
- यद्युपात्तेषु सम्पत्तिराराधयति तद्विदः ॥
Figures of speech pertaining to sound and sense are to be found in plenty in this work and hence it is surely commendable to scholars of taste. The last verse of each Sarga briefly indicates the substance of that particular Sarga.
There are not enough details about the author Vyasacala either in this work or in other works and so it would be a vain attempt to deal with his life history. But the information given by Sri Atreyakrsna Sastri in Tamil in the work SANKARAGURUPARAMPARA is given below. Vyasacala is the fifty-second Guru in the line of sixty-five Gurus beginning from Sarvajnatmendra Sarasvati and ending with Mahadevendra Sarasvati and he occupied the revered seat of the Kamakoti- pitha of Kanci from 1498–1507 A.D. Further his name is to be found in a copper plate of 1507 A.D. during the reign of the Vijayanagara king Narasimhadevaraya. He was born in Kanci and his original name
