Raghuttama Tirtha
Hindu guru
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Raghuttama Tirtha (Sanskrit:रघूत्तम तीर्थ); IAST:Śrī Raghūttama Tīrtha) (c.1527 – c.1596)[a], also called Bhavabodhacharya, was a Hindu philosopher, scholar, polemicist, commentator, theologian and saint. He served as the fourteenth pontiff of the Uttaradi Matha from 1535 until 1596 and is regarded as an important figures in the lineage of Madhvacharya.[2][b] His pontificate coincided with a period of political and institutional change following the decline of the Vijayanagara Empire. He is considered to be one of the important and great seers in the history of Dvaita school of thought. He developed the monastic and scholarly institutions of the Uttaradi Matha to support centers of religious and philosophical learning.[3]
1527
Raghuttama Tirtha | |
|---|---|
Brindavana of Raghuttama Tirtha at Manampoondi | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Ramachandra 1527 Malkheda (present-day Sedam Taluk, Kalaburagi district, Karnataka, India) |
| Died | 1596 (aged 68–69) Manampoondi, (present-day Kandachipuram taluk of Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, India) |
| Notable work(s) | Brihadaranyaka Bhavabodha, Tattvaprakasika Bhavabodha,[1] |
| Honors | Bhavabodhacharya |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Order | Vedanta (Uttaradi Math) |
| Philosophy | Dvaita, Vaishnavism |
| Religious career | |
| Teacher | Raghuvarya Tirtha |
| Successor | Vedavyasa Tirtha |
Disciples
| |
Born into a pious Deshastha Brahmin family and was brought up in the matha under the direction of Raghuvarya Tirtha.[4] Raghuttama Tirtha became a prominent scholar of Dvaita Vedanta and composed ten works, nine of which are commentaries on works of Madhvacharya, Padmanabha Tirtha and Jayatirtha. Five of his works bear the title Bhavabodha: the Brihadaranyaka Bhavabodha, Tattvaprakasika Bhavabodha, Nyaya Vivarana Bhavabodha, Gita Bhashya Bhavabodha and Vishnu Tattva Nirnaya Bhavabodha.[5] Prominent Scholar R. Nagaraja Sarma says, The principal aim of the Bhavabodhas was to elucidate (bodha) the deeper, underlying meaning (bhava) embedded in the works of Madhva and Jayatirtha.[6] His Brihadaranyaka Bhavabodha, comprising approximately 9,000 granthas (verses), is regarded as his magnum opus and most extensive work. It explains Madhvacharya's interpretation of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and examines the Upanishadic text in relation to other Vedanta interpretations, including that of Shankara.[7] Prominent scholar B. N. K. Sharma regarded the Brihadaranyaka Bhavabodha as an important source for a comparative study of the interpretations of Madhvacharya and Shankara. He drew extensively upon it in his book, The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Expounded from Sri Madhvacharya's Perspective, alongside Raghavendra Tirtha's gloss on the Upanishad to explain Madhvacharya's interpretation of the Upanishad.[8]
Raghuttama Tirtha also undertook religious activities including the consecration of deities and the development of the Raghuttama Agrahara at Mahishi. His disciples and successors continued the intellectual tradition of Dvaita Vedanta. He entered Brindavana at Manampoondi, near Tirukoilur. His Brindavana continues to attract thousands of devotees from diverse backgrounds, and Raghuttama Tirtha is traditionally revered for emphasizing devotion to Lord Vishnu without distinction of caste or creed. He is also venerated in popular tradition as a healer, with devotees attributing accounts of healing and the fulfilment of prayers to his blessings. His Brindavana remains a centre of pilgrimage, reflecting his enduring religious significance.[5]
Context
Dvaita Vedanta (Tattvavada), founded by Madhvacharya in the 13th century, emerged in opposition to the dominant Advaita school. Rejecting the non-dualist view that the individual self (jiva) and the Supreme Reality (Brahman) are identical, Madhvacharya propounded an absolute, eternal distinction (bheda) between the two, asserting the fundamental reality of the empirical world.[9] Early scholars like Padmanabha Tirtha systematized these concepts, while Jayatirtha consolidated the philosophical foundations of the school through major dialectical commentaries such as the Nyaya Sudha.[10]
During the 15th and 16th centuries, Dvaita expanded significantly through the patronage of the Vijayanagara Empire. Sripadaraja gained influence at the court of Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya, paving the way for Vyasatirtha, who served as a spiritual adviser to Krishnadevaraya.[11] Vyasatirtha elevated Dvaita scholarship through his triad of polemical texts Nyayamrita, Tatparya Chandrika, and Tarka Tandava, which engaged in direct debate with Advaita, Vishishtadvaita, and Nyaya philosophies. Simultaneously, he fostered the Haridasa devotional movement, popularized by saint-composers like Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa.[12]
The decline of the Vijayanagara Empire following the Battle of Talikota in 1565 disrupted institutional patronage of Hindus across the region, prompting many Madhva scholars and lineages to migrate southward. During this period of political instability, the tradition relied on pontiffs who could maintain institutional stability while continuing dialectical scholarship under the regional patronage of the Nayakas and later the Marathas.[13][14]
It was in this turbulent milieu that three great saints emerged to steer the Madhva sampradaya through crisis: Vadiraja Tirtha of Sodhe Matha, Vijayendra Tirtha of Kumbakonam Matha, and Raghuttama Tirtha of the Uttaradi Matha. Of these, Raghuttama Tirtha occupies a unique place in the tradition's memory. As the fourteenth pontiff of the Uttaradi Matha and a direct successor in the line descending from Jayatirtha, he carried the burden of preserving the Matha's scholarly lineage precisely when its institutional foundations were most exposed. As an expert in the works of Madhvacharya and Jayatirtha, he emerged not merely as an administrator steadying a shaken community but as an original commentator and debater in his own right, whose expositions would come to be regarded as authoritative within the Dvaita tradition.[15]
Raghuttama Tirtha and his scholarly disciples played a critical role in continuing debates between Advaita and Dvaita. When the Advaita scholar Madhusudana Saraswati wrote the Advaitasiddhi as a refutation of Vyasatirtha's Nyayamrita, disciples of Raghuttama Tirtha authored key counter polemics. Vyasa Ramacharya composed the Nyayamrita Tarangini and Pandurangi Ananda Bhattaraka wrote the Nyayamrita Kantakoddhara. These works solidified the intellectual defense of the Dvaita tradition during Raghuttama Tirtha’s pontificate.[16][17][18]
Biography
Early life and education
Most of the information about Raghuttama Tirtha's life is derived from various hagiographies.[4] He was born as Ramachandra into a pious family in Malkheda in the present-day Kalaburagi district in the state of Karnataka belonging to Kannada-speaking Deshastha Brahmin family to Subba Bhatta (also known as "Vitthalacharya") and Gangabai. Gangabai is purvashrama sister of Raghuvarya Tirtha of Uttaradi Math.[19][20] According to traditional accounts, Madhvacharya appeared in Raghuvarya Tirtha's dream and instructed Raghuvarya Tirtha to visit Svarnavata and bless Ganga Bai and Subba Bhatta with a offspring. Madhvacharya assured Raghuvarya Tirtha that this child would grow up to spread the teachings of Madhva philosophy. Awaking from this sacred vision, Shri Raghuvarya Tirtha was deeply moved with gratitude. In due course, he visited the village. After that the childless couple approached saint Raghuvarya Tirtha, who granted them boon of children with the condition that their first child, would in turn be handed over to him. These words brought a mixture of happiness and sorrow to the childless couple but they accepted the decree of the divinity.[21] Soon after this incident, Gangabai conceived. Raghuvarya Tirtha was informed accordingly. He returned to the village expecting the birth of the child. A big gold plate was sent to Subba Bhatta's house from the Matha with a direction to receive the child on the golden plate without allowing the child to touch the earth.[22] Accordingly, the child was received on a golden plate. The personality and the face of the child were beautiful. He was named after Lord Rama as Ramachandra by Raghuvarya Tirtha.[21] Raghuvarya Tirtha made arrangements to feed the child every day with the abhishekha milk of the Vyasa Kurma Saligram of the Matha. When Ramachandra (the pre-monastic name of Raghuttama Tirtha) was around three years of age, two incidents occurred during his travels demonstrating his innate divine nature and spiritual power. While travelling in a country cart with his preceptor, Raghuvarya Tirtha, an asura is said to have secretly dismantled one of the cart's wheels. Yet the cart continued moving steadily despite the missing wheel and reached its destination without overturning. On another occasion, while the young Raghuttama was travelling with Raghuvarya Tirtha, a pisacha suddenly attacked the child and attempted to carry him away. The child responded by striking the assailant with a single blow of his foot (pādaprahāra), killing the pisacha instantly. Witnessing these extraordinary incidents, Raghuvarya Tirtha is said to have become convinced of the boy's exceptional nature and to have recognized him as possessing a divine aspect (devāṁśa).[23] [24] He had his Upanayana at the age of five and immediately after Upanayana was ordained as a Sannyasa.[4]
Dispute at Mannur and divine illumination
At the very young age of 8, Raghuttama Tirtha succeeded his uncle Raghuvarya Tirtha in the pontificate of Uttaradi Math.[2] Raghuttama Tirtha was also a contemporary of Vyasatirtha, Vijayindra Tirtha and Vadiraja Tirtha.[4] Raghuttama Tirtha is said to have studied for sometime after his ordinance and becoming peetadhipati, under a learned Pandit Adya Varadarajacharya of Mannur under the direction of Raghuvarya Tirtha.[5] Following the Brindavana pravesha of Raghuvarya Tirtha at Anegondi, the young pontiff Raghuttama Tirtha performed his guru's Brindavana installation rites at the sacred island of Nava Brindavana [25]. In accordance with the final commands of his preceptor, Raghuttama Tirtha proceeded to Mannur to continue his advanced studies under the prominent scholar Adya Varadarajacharya, an accomplished disciple of Raghunatha Tirtha.[25] At Mannur, social arrogance and pride stemming from the local dalapati created friction, leading Varadarajacharya to demand that the young ascetic pontiff visit his private home for lessons rather than attending upon the matha.[26] When a breach of traditional etiquette occurred on a Sadhana Dwadashi day, Raghuttama Tirtha ceased visiting the teacher's residence.[27] Concerned about his daily scriptural duty (pāṭha-pravacana), the young pontiff sought divine guidance. That night his preceptor Raghuvarya Tirtha appeared to Raghuttama Tirtha in a dream, inscribed the sacred syllable of knowledge (Sarasvatī Bīja-Akṣara) upon his tongue, granting him spontaneous mastery of the scriptures. Raghuvarya Tirtha instructed him to assume the seat of discourse (vyāsapīṭha) next morning and begin teaching the advanced texts directly to his disciples, assuring him that the deepest purports would be revealed to him. Guided through mystical dream visions by his preceptor Raghuvarya Tirtha, Raghuttama Tirtha commenced delivering independent, high-level discourses on Jayatirtha's Nyaya Sudha directly from the matha’s dais.[28] Varadarajacharya secretly listened to the pontiff's exposition of the intricate grammatical and philosophical sections, and realizing Raghuttama's divinely inspired mastery, he surrendered his arrogance and accepted the pontiff as his master. [29]
Institutional & Monastic Reforms
In response to the moral challenges of the contemporary age, Raghuttama Tirtha implemented extensive administrative and institutional reforms in accordance with his guru's instructions.[30] He transformed the monastic tours by adopting royal insignia, including palanquins, caparisoned elephants, horses, parasols, victory standards, and formal heralds to uphold the institutional dignity of the Vedanta Peetha against haughty officials.[31][32] He ended the absolute dependence of the pontiffs on external households for daily meals by establishing autonomous kitchen operations (svayampaka) within the matha compound, ensuring strict ritual purity.[30] Furthermore, he appointed branch officers (dharmadhikaris) and established permanent monastic centers in towns and villages across South India.[33][34]
Philosophical Debates & digvijaya
Raghuttama Tirtha’s pontificate was characterized by continuous intellectual engagement against contemporary rival philosophical schools, especially Advaita Vedanta and Vishishtadvaita, to establish the supreme doctrine of Tattvavada and Vishnu Sarvottamatva.[35][36] Rather than engaging primarily in oral disputations himself, his philosophical combat was conducted through his comprehensive sub-commentaries and the active delegation of his trained disciples.[35][37] To carry out regional philosophical debates, Raghuttama Tirtha ordained his sister's son into sannyasa under the name Raghupati Tirtha and sent him on an official victory tour.[35] During this tour, Raghupati Tirtha encountered a haughty disputant who had defeated a prominent Vishishtadvaita scholar and seized his victory banners, the Hanumaddhvaja and Garudadhvaja.[38] Raghupati Tirtha challenged the victorious disputant, thoroughly routed him using the dialectical training received under Raghuttama Tirtha, confiscated his banners and musical regalia, and presented the captured trophies at his guru's feet.[38] During the era of Raghuttama Tirtha, the intellectual community was actively engaged in responding to Madhusudana Saraswati's Advaita Siddhi, an extensive non-dualist critique of Sri Vyasatirtha's Nyayamrita.[39][40] Raghuttama Tirtha guided and instructed the core scholars who provided the definitive Dvaita rejoinders.[41][42] His disciple Tarangini Ramacharya composed the acclaimed Nyayamrita Tarangini, systematically refuting the Advaita Siddhi and defending Vyasatirtha's work.[39] Concurrently, another foremost student, Pandurangi Ananda Bhattaraka, composed the polemical masterpiece Nyayamrita Kantakoddhara, methodically resolving the philosophical objections raised against Tattvavada.[40] Through his original written treatises, Raghuttama Tirtha directly engaged opposing philosophies.[43][37] In his extensive commentary on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which is his magnum opus he systematically quoted, examined, and refuted the non-dualist interpretations of Adi Shankara’s Shankara Bhashya across numerous passages.[44] In his Tattvaprakasika Bhavabodha, he integrated the dialectical methods of Vyasatirtha’s Tatparya Chandrika to resolve purvapaksha arguments throughout the Brahma Sutras, demonstrating that the entirety of Vedic revelation points exclusively to Lord Narayana.[45][46] A celebrated biographical account involves Rotti Venkatadri Bhatta, a devoted young kitchen assistant in the matha who had spent years making rotis without formal literacy.[47] Moved by his intense devotion and desire for knowledge, Raghuttama Tirtha blessed him, miraculously enabling him to expound the intricate Nyaya Sudha before a gathering of scholars.[47] Venkatadri Bhatta subsequently authored respected sub-commentaries on the Tattvasankhyana, Tattvodyota, and Karmanirnaya, as well as an authoritative treatise on Dinattraya Nirnaya that was cited by later pontiffs such as Vidyadhisha Tirtha. [48]
Consecrations and Shrine Developments
Raghuttama Tirtha made an extended encampment at the premier Vaishnavite pilgrimage center of Srirangam, situated on the banks of the Kaveri River.[45] It was during his residence at the Srirangam Uttaradi Matha premises that he authored the five major treatises of Bhavabodhas corpus-most notably his monumental commentaries on Madhvacharya and Jayatirtha works.[45][49] Before starting to write his Bhavabodhas, Raghuttama Tirtha consecrated and installed a deity of Hanuman (Mukhyaprana) at the Uttaradi Matha located on North Chitra Street, adjacent to the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple complex.[45] This Anjaneya deity is also revered as Grantha Sakshi Anjaneya or Bhavabodha Anjaneya, signifying the deity's role as the divine witness and presiding inspiration for the composition of his Bhavabodha commentaries.[45]
During his return from a pilgrimage to Udupi, Raghuttama Tirtha visited the town of Mahishi.[50] According to traditional accounts, he was divinely guided to establish a settlement for Vedic scholars and recognized the need to support traditional scholarship and preserve Vedic pedagogy. He subsequently established a residential settlement for Vedic scholars known as Raghuttama Agrahara at Mahishi, on the banks of the Tunga River in present-day Shivamogga district, Karnataka.[44] He endowed the agrahara with residential quarters and agricultural lands to support learned Dvaita families engaged in Shastric teaching and daily ritual observance.[44] The settlement later became a significant centre of Dvaita scholarship and the site of the moola brindavanas of pontiffs such as Satyasandha Tirtha. A stone icon of Raghuttama Tirtha is also preserved at Mahishi.[50]
In the course of his pontifical travels across the Kaveri basin in Tamil Nadu, Raghuttama Tirtha visited the town of Chintalavadi (in modern-day Karur district), he consecrated and installed a sacred deity of Lakshmi Narayana and organized regular worship protocols for the local community.[51]
Works
There have been 10 works accredited to Raghuttama Tirtha, 9 of which are commentaries on the works of Madhvacharya, Padmanabha Tirtha and Jayatirtha. Bhavabodha is the general title for five of his works. Raghuttama Tirtha composed these Bhavabhodhas to reveal the essence and deeper meanings of Shri Madhvacharya's and Sri Jayatirtha's works, because of this he is popularly referred as "Bhavabodhakara" or "Bhavabodhacharya". [5] His work Brihadaranyaka Bhavabodha is a commentary on Madhva's Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Bhashya, is considered to be his magnum opus. Running up to 9,000 granthas, it discusses Khandana and Bhashyartha of the Upanishad.[52] His work Tattvaprakasika Bhavabodha is a commentary on Jayatirtha's Tattvaprakāśikā. It runs nearly 8100 granthas. It is quoted by Jagannatha Tirtha in his Bhashyadipika four times and by Raghavendra Tirtha once in his Tatparya Chandrika Prakasha.[5]
| Name | Description | References |
|---|---|---|
| Brihadaranyaka Bhavabodha | Commentary on Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Bhashya of Madhvacharya | [7] |
| Gītābhāṣya Bhavabodha (Prameyadīpikā Bhavabodha) | Gloss on Jayatirtha's Gītābhāṣya Prameyadīpikā | [7] |
| Viṣṇutattvanirṇaya Bhavabodha | Gloss on Viṣṇutattvanirṇayaṭikā of Jayatirtha | [53] |
| Tattvaprakasika Bhavabodha | Super-commentary on Tattvaprakāśikā of Jayatirtha | [54] |
| Nyāyavivarana Bhavabodha | Direct commentary on Nyāya Vivarana of Madhvacharya, in continuation to Jayatirtha work to Nyāyavivaranaṭikā | [55] |
| Taittirīyavinirṇaya | Commentary on Taittiriya Upanishad Bhashya of Madhvacharya | [7] |
| Nyāyaratna Sambandhadipikā | Commentary on Anu Vyakhyana, showing at the same time the inter-connection between the words of Madhva and Sutras of Badarayana. | [56] |
| Vivaraṇoddharā | Gloss on the passages of Nyāya Vivarana which was commented by Jayatirtha in his Tattvaprakāśikā | [56] |
| Sanyayavivruthi | Commentary on Sanyaya Ratnavali of Padmanabha Tirtha | [7] |
| Tāratamya Stotram | Prayer explaining the hierarchy of gods | [7] |
Brihadaranyaka Bhavabodha
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Bhashya Bhavabodha or Brihadaranyaka Bhavabodha stands as Raghuttama Tirtha's magnum opus and the most ambitious commentary of some 9,000 granthas on Madhva's Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Bhashya.[52] Few commentators in the Dvaita tradition attempt what this text sustains from beginning to end: a double exposition that simultaneously establishes the plain meaning of the Upanishad and dismantles, at every contested juncture, the readings advanced against it.[52] Its defining achievement is the rigor and completeness with which it engages Shankara. Rather than treating the Advaita position as a foil to be dispatched in passing, the work pulls Shankara's own Brihadaranyaka Bhasya into direct, sustained confrontation, tracking it page by page and answering it point for point.[57] The correspondence between the Bhavabodha and Shankara's Bhashya is close enough to trace almost line by line, evidence of a text engineered as continuous counter-argument rather than occasional polemic. It is this sustained architecture, more than any single refutation within it, that marks the work as a landmark of Dvaita exegesis rather than merely one commentary among many. The commentary also draws together three further strands of Jayatirtha's own scholarship, his treatment of the Kathālakṣaṇa, the Anuvyākhyāna, and the Isha Upanishad, folding each into active use rather than leaving them as background citation.[57] And amid all this rigor sits a quieter, human moment. Glossing the term गोष्ठ ("goṣṭha") at Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad III.1, Raghuttama Tirtha pauses in the middle of dense philosophical combat to record, by name, the interpretation his own teacher Raghuvarya Tirtha once gave for that word. In a text built almost entirely on independent textual argument, that single act of preserving a guru's reading says something about the man behind the scholarship.[57]
Brindavana
Having adorned the sacred pontifical seat of the revered Uttaradi Matha and after transferring the pontifical authority of the primary monastic seat to his chief disciple, Vedavyasa Tirtha, the venerable Raghuttama Tirtha, as per the divine will, desired to enter the Brindavana.[3][58] He then appeared in a dream to the Zamindar of Vettavalam (now in Tiruvannamalai District) and instructed him to construct a Brindavana at Manampoondi, a village near Tirukoilur, on the bank of the South Pennar. Manampoondi is a holy place where Shri Galava Rishi once resided. The site is also described in the scriptures as the ‘Pancha Krishnaranya Kshetra’. Raghuttama Tirtha entered Brindavana in 1596 on the auspicious day of Vaikuntha Ekadashi.[59][60][61]
Directly north of the open-air sanctum at Manampoondi stands a sacred tamarind tree (tintriṇī vṛkṣa) noted for a persistent botanical anomaly.[62][63] Monastic chronicles and regional records state that whenever branches extend southward to cast shade over the brindavana, they wither and dry up spontaneously before casting any shadow upon the Brindavana.[64]
British officer incident
During the British Raj, the colonial administration decided to construct a bridge across the river at Manampoondi, with the engineer's blueprint requiring the demolition of Raghuttama Tirtha’s moola brindavana. After the authorities served an official demolition notice, the peetadhipati and officials of the Uttaradi Matha gathered at the sanctum in deep prayer, placing their complete surrender before the Brindavana of Raghuttama Tirtha. That night, Raghuttama Tirtha manifested directly in the British officer's dream, speaking fluently in the officer's native English. The radiant saint commanded him to halt the demolition and personally revealed an alternative architectural blueprint that spared the sacred shrine. Awakening in profound awe and reverence, the British engineer arrived at the brindavana the following morning, offered humble prostrations (namaskara), apologized to the matha authorities, and strictly executed the alternate route given by the Swamiji. The diverted bridge stands just outside the temple complex to this day as an enduring testament to the saint's living presence.[37]
Livestock healing traditions
Local agrarian and pastoral communities in the surrounding rural regions of Tirukoilur, irrespective of community or caste background, maintain an active custom of bringing cattle afflicted with illnesses or suffering from bovine epidemics directly to the shrine complex. The owners lead the afflicted cows, oxen, and calves in ritual circumambulation (pradakṣiṇa) around the perimeter of the brindavana compound to seek spiritual healing. Local tradition holds that simple circumambulation of the sanctum relieves livestock of ailments and protects herds from contagious diseases, making the shrine an important center of veterinary pilgrimage among regional farmers.[65]
Resolution of Dialectical and Scholarly Doubts
Monastic tradition records instances where scholars and commentators struggling to comprehend complex dialectical passages in the works of Madhvacharya or Nyaya Sudha or the Bhavabodhas corpus performed Seva and observed fasts at the Moola Brindavana Manampoondi shrine, subsequently receiving intuitive resolution and clarity through dream visions.[66]
Legacy
After Jayatirtha, Raghuttama Tirtha became Tika-kara and is referred to as Bhavabodhacharya.[5] Sharma writes "His language is simple and precise. He makes his points forcefully. He quotes often from certain unidentified sources not cited by any other commentator".[52] Raghuttama Tirtha is regarded as a saint known for preaching the worship of Lord Vishnu regardless of caste or creed. His shrine in Tirukoilur at present has become a holy seat of pilgrimage and a vast number of devotees belonging to all castes and creeds perform seva even today. Guru Raghuttama Tirtha is known as a healer. Thousands of devotees who go to his Brindavana are a proof of his divine power and a kind heart to bless his devotees. He has made dumb to speak, mad to be intelligent, childless to beget progeny. None of his devotees have returned in disappointment.[5]
Intellectual & Scholarly Influence
Raghuttama Tirtha, through his commentaries and preachings, carried the torch of the philosophy of Madhvacharya during his times. A band of commentators developed under his tutelage. He made each one of his disciples a repository of scholarship and academic excellence. They were successful not only in defending the Philosophy of Madhvacharya in scholarly debates but also in preparing others to become scholars and commentators. Raghupathi Tirtha (a sannyasi), Vedavyasa Tirtha, Vedesa Tirtha,[67] Vyasa Ramacharya,[3] Ananda Bhattaraka (father of Vidyadhisha Tirtha), Rotti Venkatabhatta who all made a name as commentators were directly trained by Raghuttama Tirtha. When Madhusūdana Sarasvatī composed Advaitasiddhi, a line-by-line refutation of Nyayamṛta of Vyasatirtha. In response to Advaitasiddhi, Vyasa Ramacharya and Ananda Bhattaraka, wrote Nyayamṛta Tarangini and Nyayamṛta Kantakoddhara and challenged Madhusūdana Sarasvatī.[68][69] They are intellectual gifts given by Raghuttama Tirtha to the followers of Madhvacharya.[17][70]
Notes
- These dates are based on the book, "A History of Indian Philosophy: Volume 4" by Surendranath Dasgupta
- These dates are based on the book, "A History of Indian Philosophy: Volume 4" by Surendranath Dasgupta
