Vyasatirtha
Vyāsatīrtha (c. 1460 – c. 1539[1]), also called Vyasaraja or Chandrikacharya, was a Hindu philosopher, scholar, polemicist, commentator and poet belonging to the Madhwacharya's Dvaita order of Vedanta.
[2] Three of his polemically themed doxographical works Nyayamruta, Tatparya Chandrika and Tarka Tandava (collectively called Vyasa Traya) documented and critiqued an encyclopaedic range of sub-philosophies in Advaita,[note 1] Visistadvaita, Mahayana Buddhism, Mimamsa and Nyaya, revealing internal contradictions and fallacies.
With the royal patronage of the latter, Vyasatirtha undertook a expansion of Dvaita into the scholarly circles, through his polemical tracts as well as into the lives of the laymen through Carnatic classical devotional songs and Krithis.
Politically, Vyasatirtha was responsible for the development of irrigation systems in villages such as Bettakonda and establishment of several Vayu temples in the newly conquered regions between Bengaluru and Mysore in-order to quell any rebellion and facilitate their integration into the Empire.
Scholar Surendranath Dasgupta notes, "The logical skill and depth of acute dialectical thinking shown by Vyasa-tirtha stands almost unrivalled in the whole field of Indian thought".
Philosophically, its tenets stood in direct opposition to Advaita in that its progenitor, Madhva, postulated that the self (Atman) and god (Brahman) are distinct and that the world is real.
[11] Madhva deployed his disciples to promulgate the philosophy across the country, which led to the establishment of a small and diffuse network of mathas, or centres of worship, across the subcontinent.
[15][16] It was not until Sripadaraja, the pontiff of the matha at Abbur, who aligned himself with the Vijaynagara king Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya and served as his guru, that Dvaita would receive royal encouragement and a certain degree of power.
[17] But the Smartha Brahmins, adhering to the principles of Advaita, and Sri Vaishnavites, following the Visistadvaita philosophy of Ramanuja, controlled the Shiva and Vishnu temples respectively, thus limiting the influence of Dvaita.
According to Vyasayogicharita, the childless couple approached saint Bramhanya Tirtha, who granted them a boon of three children with the condition that the second child, who would turn out to be Yatiraja, be handed over to him.
[20] After the death of Bramhanya Tirtha during the famine of 1475–1476, Vyasatirtha succeeded him as the pontiff of the matha at Abbur in 1478[21] and proceeded to Kanchi, which was the centre for Sastric learning in South India at the time, to educate himself on the six orthodox schools of thought, which are: Vedanta, Samkhya, Nyaya, Mimamsa, Vaisheshika and Yoga.
Sharma conjectures that the education Vyasatirtha received in Kanchi helped him become erudite in the intricacies and subtleties of Advaita, Visistadvaita, Navya Nyaya and other schools of thought.
[20] After completing his education at Kanchi, Vyasatirtha headed to Mulbagal to study the philosophy of Dvaita under Sripadaraja, whom he would consider his guru, for a period of five to six years.
[10][25] At Hampi, the new capital of the empire, Vyasatirtha was appointed as the "Guardian Saint of the State" after a period of prolonged disputations and debates with scholars led by Basava Bhatta, an emissary from the Kingdom of Kalinga.
Fernão Nunes observes that "The King of Bisnega, everyday, hears the teachings of a learned Brahmin who never married nor ever touched a woman" which Sharma conjectures is Vyasatirtha.
[27] After the accession of Krishnadeva Raya, Vyasatirtha, who the king regarded as his kuladevata, greatly expanded his influence by serving as an emissary and diplomat to the neighbouring kingdoms while simultaneously disseminating the philosophy of Dvaita into the subcontinent.
His close relationship to Krishnadeva Raya is corroborated by inscriptions on the Vitthala Temple at Hampi and accounts by the Portuguese traveler Domingo Paes.
Stoker conjectures that this was advantageous to both the king and Vyasatirtha as the establishments of Mathas in these newly conquered regions led to political stability and also furthered the reach of Dvaita.
[22] This period of Vyasatirtha also saw the establishment of Dasakuta (translated as community of devotees), a forum where people gathered and sung hymns and devotional songs.
[36] By tracing a detailed and historically sensitive evolution of systems of thought such as Advaita, Vyakarana, Nyaya and Mimamsa and revealing internal inconsistencies, McCrea contends that Vyasatirtha created a new form of doxography.
[note 5] The goal of Vyasatirtha here is to prove the supremacy of Madhva's Brahma Sutra Bhashya by showing it to be in harmony with the original source, more so than the other commentaries.
The doxographical style of Vyasatirtha is evident in his copious quotations from the main commentaries (of Advaita and Visistadvaita) and their respective sub-commentaries under every adhikarna or chapter.
[36] The advent of Navya Nyaya widened the differences between the two schools especially related to the acquisition of knowledge or pramanas, triggering a systematic response from Vyasatirtha through Tarka Tandava.
Vyasatirtha refers to and critiques standard as well as contemporary works of Nyaya: Gangesha Upadhyaya's Tattvachintamani, Nyayalilavati by Sri Vallabha and Udayana's Kusumanjali and their commentaries.
The work is divided into three chapters corresponding to the three pramanas, and a number of topics are raised, including a controversial claim arguing for the supremacy of the conclusion (upasamhara) as opposed to the opening statement (upakrama) of the Brahma Sutra.
Sarma notes "Within a short compass, he has covered the ground of the entire Monistic literature pushed into contemporary prominence and argued an unexpurgated case for the Realism of Madhva".
[1] Sharma credits Vyasatirtha of converting Dvaita from an obscure movement to a fully realised school of thought of philosophical and dialectical merit.
Bagchi notes "It must be recognised that Vyasatirtha's definition of reasoning and his exposition of its nature and service really register a high watermark in the logical speculations of India and they ought to be accepted as a distinct improvement upon the theories of Nyaya-Vaisesika school".
[16] Though his works targeted the philosophy of Ramanuja, Vyasatirtha maintained a cordial relationship towards the Sri Vaishnavites, often donating land and money to their temples.
[69] By establishing mathas and shrines across the subcontinent, patronizing large scale irrigation projects at strategic locations[69] and forging productive relationship across various social groups, he not only furthered the reach of Vaishnavism but smoothed the integration of newly conquered or rebellious territories into the empire.
