Vijayendra Tirtha

Vijayendra Tirtha (1490-1592) was a Vaishnava saint in 16th century India.^[1] Literary sources in South India, especially Kerala, document his life and literary works on Madhva Siddhanta. He is also revered for his triumphs in theological debates, significantly over Appayya Deekshita and Lingarajendra.

Birth and early life

He was born in 1514 as Vittalacharya to a family of Saraswat brahmin. There are conflicting theories regarding his timeline.^[2] After renouncing the worldly life for the life of a saint, he was given the name “Vishnu tirtha” at the age of eight, ” by Sri Vyasa Raya or Vyasa Tirtha, a scholar noted for his work “Krishna nee bagane baro”. Under the tutelage of Vyasa tirtha, he is supposed to have learnt 64 arts ^[3] and “tarka-meemansha-vedanta” shastra. Later, he was named “vijayendra tirtha” by his second “guru” Shri Surendra tirtha, the pontiff of the Sri Kaveendra Teertha Parampara.^[2]

Literary works

Literary works

Vijayendra tirtha is credited with as many as 104 literary works.^[4] He became an active proponent of Dvaita Madhva school of thought in South India during the Nayak rule in Tamil Nadu.At that time,Dvaita school was threatened by a combined onslaught of Advaita,Vishishtadvaita and Shaiva schools,and Vijayendra became the redoubtable champion of the Dualistic realism(Dvaita vaad).Therefore,many of his books are refutation or “khandanam” of other school of thoughts-Pasupatha matha khandanam, shankhya and yoga matha khanadanam,etc.^[5] As a veritable exponent of Vaishnavism,he critically established Vishnu,and not Shiva, as Narayana-the vedic supreme deity of the hindus in “Narayana shabdartha nirvachanam” to the dismay of the eminent shaivate scholar Appayya deekshita,who had claimed otherwise.He quoted Rigveda, “sattvik” puranas ,“shrutees”,etc in rebutting the claims of Shaivate scholars based on “tamasik” puranas like Shiva purana and Skanda purana in instances like the stories of Sharabha,Tripurasura,etc in his book,”shaivasarvasa khandanam”.

Debates

Shri Vijayendra tirtha became well known with his victory over one Lingarajendra or Yemme Basava,a Veerashaiva ascetic at Kumbhakona.While the name varies with sources,the veerashaiva scholar was well versed in shruti and smriti and was particularly adversarial towards the rival Vaishnava scholars.The debate lasted eleven days,after which Yemme capitulated and handed over his shaivate matha over to the Vaishnavas.

Among hindu puranas,there is an accepted classification that there are six sattvik puranas-Vishnu,Narada,Bhagavata,Garuda,Padma,Varaha six rajasik puranas-Brahmanda,Brahmavaivarta,Markandeya,Vaamana,Braahma,Vabhishottyar six tamasik puranas-Matsya,Kurma,Linga,shiva,Skanda,Agneya.This is also a hierarchy in credibility of the puranas when they are contradictory.Vijayendra reasoned that incidents like Sharabha,tripurasura,etc those claim Shiva-supremacy were quoted exclusively from the Tamasik puranas and had no footings in the more authoritative Sattvik puranas.Moreover,Sattvik puranas claim Narasimha defeated and killed Sharabha.^[5]

Appayya deekshita was the pre eminent Shaivate scholar of the time and the “asthana pundit” (scholar of the king’s court) to the ruler of Tanjore.The discussions between Vijayendra and Apayya inspired many books of the time,and Vijayendra prevailed in thwarting the Shiava-advaita scholar.He successfully proved that Vishnu is Narayana of the vedas,and not Shiva.However,the discussions remained civil and their relationship cordial.^[6]

He also triumphed over the scholar Krishna sharma over a discussion on “bheda tattva”.

Later life

Vijayendra remained the pontiff of Vibhudendra math. He is also credited with being the creator of Kashi Math Samsthan, and he appointed Sri Yadavendra tirtha as its head in 1542. He tutored and appointed Shri Sudhindra tirtha as his successor. He died in 1614. His Aradhana divas is “jyestha krishna Chaturdashi”.

References