The ''Shatadushani'' () is a polemical treatise written by the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

philosopher

Vedanta Desika Vedanta Desika (1268–1369), also rendered Vedanta Desikan, Swami Vedanta Desika, and Thoopul Nigamantha Desikan, was an Indian polymath who wrote philosophical as well as religious and poetical works in several languages, including Sanskrit ...

(1278-1369). Literally translating to "one hundred defects", the ''Shatadushani'' is a refutation of the hundred central tenets of the philosophy of Advaita.

Description

Though the title of the work suggests hundred refutations, only 66 of them are now available. It establishes the validity of the

Vishishtadvaita Vishishtadvaita (IAST '; ) is a school of Hindu philosophy belonging to the Vedanta tradition. Vedanta refers to the profound interpretation of the Vedas based on Prasthanatrayi. Vishishta Advaita, meaning "non-duality with distinctions", is a ...

philosophy of

Ramanuja Ramanuja ('; Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmānuja; 1077 – 1157), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and social reformer. He is one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavi ...

against the Advaita of

Adi Shankara Adi Shankara (8th c. CE), also called Adi Shankaracharya (, ), was an Indian Vedanga, Vedic scholar, Hindu philosophy, philosopher and teacher (''acharya'') of Advaita Vedanta. Reliable information on Shankara's actual life is scant, and h ...

. It is said that at the age of around 50 or 55, Vedanta Desika was invited by his disciples at

Srirangam Srirangam is a neighbourhood in the city of Tiruchirappalli in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A river island, Srirangam is bounded by the Kaveri River on one side and its distributary Kollidam on the other side. Considered as the first among ...

to engage in a polemical debate with a group of Advaitins from North India. The arguments made in the form of refutations against these men are said to be the content of this work.

Surendranath Dasgupta Surendranath Dasgupta (18 October 1887 – 18 December 1952) was an Indian scholar of Sanskrit and Indian philosophy. Family and education Surendranath Dasgupta was born to a Vaidya family in Kushtia, Bengal (now in Bangladesh), on Sunday, ...

, in his magnum opus ''The history of Indian Philosophy,'' has allotted almost 40 pages for this particular book of Vedanta Desika in the third volume of the series. R. Kesava Aiyangar, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court of India has written an exhaustive introduction to this work in English for the book titled ''Vedanta Desika's Shatadushani'' by Srivatsankacharya.

Umamaheshvara Uma-maheshvara (IAST: Umāmaheśvara), also known as Abhinava-Kālidāsa ("the new Kalidasa"), was a Sanskrit-language philosopher and grammarian from present-day southern India. He is variously dated to c. 1465 CE or c. 1750 CE. Biography Uma ...

's ''Virodha-varudhini'' (or ''Virodha-varuthini'') discusses contradictions in ''Shatadushani'' and other Vishishtadvaita works.

References

Indian philosophy 13th-century Sanskrit literature Vaishnava texts Sanskrit texts {{DEFAULTSORT:Shatadushani