Sri Madhvacharya

A person with an innate supernatural intellect that conforms to Shruti and smruti, inspite of not having been being trained in shastras, is indeed a celestial who has incarnated as a human. Such auspicious characteristics are very evident in this divine commentator.---------Sri Trivikrama Panditacharya, direct disciple of Sri Madhvacharya)  

Sri Madhvacharya (1238-1317), also known as Sri AnandatIrtha and Sri Purnaprajna is the founder Philosopher of tattvavAda, more popularly known as the Dvaita School of Vedanta.

 Born in a small village called Pajaka, near Udupi, in Karnataka State (India), he took monkhood at a tender age of ten years. He toured extensively all over India many times to propagate “Visnusarvottamatva. He defeated in debate many rivals belonging to other doctrines by his convincing arguments. He installed Lord Sri Krishna’s idol at Udupi which has since then become a major center of Dvaita. He initiated 8 young boys into monkhood and appointed them as pontiffs of 8 monasteries. He set up a unique system in which the 8 pontiffs would worship the Krishna icon in turn. The 8 monsasteries are the famous Ashta-MaThas of Udupi

Sri Madhvacharya's works include multiple commentaries on Brahmasutras, Bhagavadgita, Upanishads, RgVeda and Bhagavatha Mahapurana. He also composed hymns praising the glory of Lord Vishnu. His 37 works are collectively known as “Sarvamulagramthas”.

His doctrine is based on authorless Vedas, Pancharatra, Purana, Ramayana and Mahabharatha and is in tune with the decisive principles enunciated by Lord Vedavyasa in the Brahmasutras. His doctrine is not his personal invention or an imaginative reconstruction of other philosophies. It is a renewal and revival of the eternal Vedic Religion which was sullied by wrong interpretations and doctrines. He does not state anything without valid supporting references. He was the first to treat all the scriptures as an integral entity, without differentiating and discriminating between different aspects of the scriptures. He showed how seemingly conflicting passages from different scriptures could be interpreted to yield one coherent message.

The direct disciples of Sri Madhvacharya viz., Sri Padmanabha tIrtha, Sri Hriskesha tIrtha, Sri Narahari tIrtha, Sri Trivikrama Panditacharya and others have written commentaries on his works. These were followed by brilliant commentaries by Sri JayathIrtha (1365-1388). Sri JayatIrtha’s commentary on Anuvyakhyana called “Nyayasudha” is one of the crown-jewels of sanskrit literature. Other commentaries/subcommentaries include “Nyayamrutha” of Sri VyasatIrtha, “Yuktimallika” of Sri Vadiraja tIrtha, “Bhavabodha of Sri Raghuttama tIrtha and “Parimala “ of Sri Raghavendra tIrtha.