question about Appaya Dikshita

[Sankaran Panchapagesan]

Hi.
  I came accross a post on Sri Appaya (Appayya?) Dikshita, a great
Advaitin, by Sri Jaldhar in the archives of the list ("About Appaya
Dikshita", 18 Feb. 1998), and some replies by others. There is also some
info. on him at the Advaita Vedanta Home Page maintained by Sri
Vidyasankar.

        My father told me that when they were digging for some
construction at the India Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (Chennai)
in the late 50's, when IIT Madras was actually being founded, they
unearthed a Shiva Lingam. This Shiva Lingam is believed to be the one
worshipped by Sri Appaya Dikshitar everyday during his life, and this
Shiva lingam is now the one in the JalakaNTheSvara temple in IIT.

Can someone tell me if this is possibly a historical fact? i.e., did
Appaya Dikshita live in "Chennai" during his life?

Thanks,
Ganesh.
>From ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG Tue Jun 29 14:51:40 1999
Message-Id: <TUE.29.JUN.1999.145140.0400.ADVAITAL at LISTS.ADVAITAVEDANTA.ORG>
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 14:51:40 -0400
Reply-To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
To: List for advaita vedanta as taught by Shri Shankara
        <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan <vsundaresan at HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: question about Appaya Dikshita

>Can someone tell me if this is possibly a historical fact? i.e., did
>Appaya Dikshita live in "Chennai" during his life?
>

The Nayak rulers of Vellore/Gingee were the major patrons of Appayya
Dikshita. They ruled over most of what is currently called the Arcot
districts, the Chingleput district etc. The area of modern Chennai would
have been under their control, but to get more specific about where Appayya
Dikshita lived, one has to look at local tradition. Of course, one must
also remember that he shifted residence a few times.

Vidyasankar