Vijayīndra Tīrtha ''(also known as Vijayendra Tīrtha)'' (1514 - 1595) was a Dvaita philosopher and dialectician. A prolific writer and an unrelenting polemicist, he is said to have authored 104 treatises expounding the principles of Dvaita and defending it against attacks from the contemporary orthodox schools of

Vedanta ''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...

. He held the pontifical seat at Kumbakonam under the rule of

Thanjavur Nayaks The Thanjavur Nayak kingdom or Thanjavur Nayak dynasty were the rulers of Thanjavur in the 15th and 17th centuries. The Nayaks of the Balija social group, were originally appointed as provincial governors by the Vijayanagara Emperor in the 15th ...

where he participated in polemical discussions with the

Advaita ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the orthodox Hindu school Vedānta. The term ''Advaita'' (l ...

philosopher

Appayya Dikshita Appayya Dikshita (IAST ', often "Dikshitar"), 1520–1593 CE, was a performer of yajñas as well as an expositor and practitioner of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy but with a focus on Shiva or Shiva Advaita. Life Appayya ...

Inscriptions from that era record grants of villages received by Vijayindra for his triumph over theological debates . Legend ascribes to him mastery over 64 arts and his erudition, writes Sharma, "is evident from a few of his works bearing on Purva Mimamsa, Nyaya and Kavya literature".

Life

Almost nothing is known about his early life and family. Most of the information on Vijayindra is derived from a few inscriptions and two hagiographies: ''Rāghavendra Vijaya'' and ''Guruguṇastavana''. Born as Vitthalācharya in a

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

-speaking Deshastha Madhva Brahmin family, he studied

, Mimamsa and Nyaya under the philosopher

Vyasatirtha Vyāsatīrtha (. 1460 – 1539), also called ''Vyasaraja'' or ''Chandrikacharya'', was a Hindu philosopher, scholar, polemicist, commentator and poet belonging to the Madhwacharya's Dvaita order of Vedanta. As the patron saint of the Vija ...

. He also received training in Kavya (poetics), Natya (drama) and Alankara (rhetoric). Aged 25, he moved to Kumbakonam at the behest of Surendra Tirtha, the erstwhile pontiff of the Vibhudendra mutt. Vitthala eventually succeeded Surendra as the pontiff with the title Vijayīndra Tīrtha. Inscriptional evidence and traditional accounts note that Vijayindra received patronage from Aliya Rama Raya and grants from

Sevappa Nayak Sevappa Nayak was a governor of Thanjavur under the Vijayanagar Empire who later proclaimed his independence and founded the Thanjavur Nayak kingdom. He reigned from 1532 to 1560. Ancestry and personal life Sevappa was the successor of his fat ...

Tanjore Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the ...

. He was involved in severe polemical discussions with his rival and friend

, with several of his works dedicated to refuting the claims of Appayya. After his death in 1595, his mortal remains were enshrined in the mutt at Kumbakonam. He was succeeded by

Sudhindra Tirtha Sudhindra Tirtha (1596 - 1623) was a Dvaita philosopher of aesthetics, dramatist and the pontiff of the matha at Kumbakonam. Unlike his predecessors who mainly dealt with polemics and theology, most of his written works deal with Kavya (''poet ...

Works

Vijayindra tirtha is credited with as many as 104 literary works of which many are non-extant. A few that remain mainly consist of commentaries on the works of

(''Laghu Amoda'') and

Madhva Madhvacharya (; ; CE 1199-1278 or CE 1238–1317), sometimes anglicised as Madhva Acharya, and also known as Purna Prajna () and Ānanda Tīrtha, was an Indian philosopher, theologian and the chief proponent of the ''Dvaita'' (dualism) schoo ...

(''Tattvaprakasika Tippani''), polemical works refuting the works of

and several treatises dealing with the issue of compatibility of Dvaita with Mimamsa (''Chakra Mimamsa''). A few poems and three dramatical works have been attributed to him as well.

List of Notable Works

104 works are attributed to Vijayindra of which only sixty are extant. Except for a few notable works, many remain unprinted. The manuscripts are preserved in ''mutts'' at Nanjangud,

Mantralayam Mantralayam is a pilgrim village in Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, India, on the banks of the Tungabhadra River on the border with neighbouring Karnataka state. It is known for the brundavana of Raghavendra Swami, a saint who lived in 1 ...

and Kumbakonam.

Notes

References

Bibliography

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External links

Vijayindra Tirtha and the origin of Kashi Math
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tirtha, Vijayindra Vaishnavite religious leaders Dvaita Vedanta Dvaitin philosophers