Appayya Dikshita

Appayya Dikshita (IAST '), 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 Dikshitar was born as Vinayaka Subramanian in Adayapalam, near Arani in the Tiruvannamalai district, in the Krishna Paksha of the Kanya month of Pramateecha Varsha under the Uttara Proushthapada constellation of the Hindu calendar.

His father’s name was Rangarajadhwari. Appaya had the name Vinayaka Subramanya after the Namakarana or naming ceremony took place. Acharya Dikshitar or Acchan Dikshitar was the younger brother of Appayya. Appayya studied the Hindu scriptures under his Guru, Rama Kavi. He completed the fourteen Vidyas at his young age.

Dikshitar travelled widely, entering into philosophical disputations and controversies in many centers of learning. He had the rare good fortune of being revered and patronized in his own lifetime by kings of Vellore, Tanjore, Vijayanagara, and Venkatagiri.

Works

He was well-read in every branch of Sanskrit learning and wrote as many works, large and small. Only 60 of them are, however, extant now. These include works on Vedanta, Shiva Advaita, Mimamsa, Vyakarana, Kavya vyakhyana, Alankara, and devotional poetry. He was a member of the Advaita school and a devotee of Shiva. Though the followers of the Shiva Advaita school claim him as belonging to their school, it is not so easy to determine whether he was more inclined to Shiva Advaita or Advaita. Shiva Advaita is very much akin to Vishishtadvaita of Ramanuja, except for the role of Vishnu being taken by Shiva.

Dikshitar wrote the ''Chatur-mata-sara'' to illustrate the philosophical thoughts of the four prominent schools of interpretation of ''Brahma sutras''. The ''Naya-manjari'' deals with Advaita, the ''Naya-mani-mala'' with ''Srikanta mata'', the ''Naya-mayukha-malika'' with Ramanuja's philosophy, and the ''Naya-muktavali'' with Madhva's philosophy. He wrote a commentary on Vedanta Desika's Yadavabhyudaya.

References

Sources

Special issue of ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'' (March 2016, edited by Christopher Minkowski):
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Other (scholarly journal articles):
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Still other:
*N. Ramesan, ''Sri Appayya Dikshita'' (1972; Srimad Appayya Dikshitendra Granthavaliu Prakashana Samithi, Hyderabad, India)
* https://web.archive.org/web/20070111220640/http://www.shaivam.org/adappayya_works.htm

External links

Swami Sivananda on Appayya Dikshitar

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dikshitar, Appayya
1520 births
1593 deaths
16th-century Hindu religious leaders
Advaitin philosophers
Indian Hindus
People from Tiruvannamalai district
16th-century Indian philosophers
Scholars from Tamil Nadu
Scholars from the Vijayanagara Empire