Madhvåcårya and Vyåsatîrtha: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

The Mådhva community celebrates the lives and work of Madhvåcårya and Vyåsatîrtha. These åpta-gurus, realiable teachers, are treated as saints by the Mådhva community.1 After all, Madhvåcårya, the realist systematizer of Vedånta, founded the tradition that bears his name. Vyåsatîrtha further systemtized Madhvåcårya’s works and posed damaging critiques of Advaita Vedånta in his elaborate commentaries on Madhvacårya's bhåsyas, commentaries, and independent treatises. The combined efforts of these two thinkers helped to lay out the foundations of the doctrines of the Mådhva school of Vedånta and in this essay I offer a brief look
into their life stories.2 These biographies are not intended to be comprehensive. Rather, they merely sketch out the lives of these Mådhva saints and, more importantly, flag areas needing more study.