Sri Vyasatirtha aradhane [Tirobhava tithi- disappearance] March 14, 2020

Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha is probably the scholar of Tattvavâda held in highest esteem next to Sri Jayatîrtha. His work has been to write detailed commentaries on the works of Srimad Ananda Tîrtha and Sri Jayatîrtha, and to show Tattvavâda as being placed on a firm logical footing; his work is considered to be of the highest significance, particularly because it is accepted even by his opponents that his understanding of their schools is second to none. Thus, there is no possibility of claiming Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha’s critiques to be invalid on account of his having misstated the positions he wishes to criticize. Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha also keeps a tempo that is hard for the less skilled to even conceive of, let alone match. His logic is exceptionally hard to beat, because of his uncanny knack of knowing exactly what the opponent is going to say, and using this information to lead the opponent on to traps of logic that are dozens of steps deep, and impossible to work through or around. One feels that while one gropes in the dark and tries to guess where one is and struggles to find one’s way, Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha not only knows one’s present position to a nicety, he also knows all the possible ways one might proceed, in advance of oneself, and has a proper plan of action already planned out for any further move one might make. Thus, holding one’s own in a debate with Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha is very similar to making one’s way across a field laid with mines; one does not know where to put one’s foot next, and very often, even a secure retreat to a former safe position is impossible, after one has taken a few steps down in hopes of making progress. In summation, it is hardly a stretch to say that Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha is the very personification of mastery of skill in dialogue and debate, that every logician and philosopher wishes to be.

In addition to his pellucid and luminescent writings, Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha is also known for the influence he had on the Vijayanagara empire, especially for the fact that it was under his tutelage that it had its heyday, and produced its greatest ruler. Perhaps even more importantly, it is noted that he was responsible for providing a healthy atmosphere in which the Hari-dâsa tradition could sprout and flourish; he disregarded all highbrow disapprobation of the lower castes, as he showed by his acceptance of the low-caste Kanaka Dâsa as a shishya, on par with his other students, and by his even arranging to prove to them that Kanaka Dâsa was a greater devotee than any of them.

An inauthentic biography of Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha can be found in the work Vyâsayogicharita, by the Smârta poet Somanatha (Bangalore, 1926). This is a champu kâvya (“A kind of elaborate and highly artificial composition in which the same subject is continued through alterations in prose and verse” — from Apte’s dictionary) which two was first presented by the poet in Krishnadevarâya’s court using two reciters. The work however makes significant digressions from Tattvavâda, for instance when at the very outset, it names Balarâma as one of the avatars of Vishnu. However, the fact that such a work was even written by an adherent of another doctrine is an indicator of Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha’s popularity even among his opponents. An authentic biography of Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha is the one by his immediate disciple Sri Srinivasa Tîrtha.

Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha was born around 1460 in Bannur which is in the Mysore district in the modern Karnataka state. He and his brother and sister were born as a result of the blessings of Brahmanya Tîrtha, and the young Yatirâja (the future Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha) was presented to Brahmanya Tîrtha after he had completed the a comprehensive study of subjects like kâvya, nâTaka, alankâra, and vyâkaraNa. Having been impressed with the young Yatirâja’s quick mind and great aptitude for learning, Brahmanya Tîrtha secretly meditated to ordain him into the sanyâsa order. Yatirâja, though respectful of his Guru, had his doubts about receiving such dîksha, and finally consented after receiving a vision in which Vishnu Himself instructed him not to try to avert his destiny.

Shortly after Yatirâja’s ordination as Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha, Sri Brahmanya Tîrtha passed on. Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha left for Kanchi after his succession to the pîTha and spent many years there studying the six systems of philosophy, and thus gave the finishing touches to his mastery of subjects like Advaita, Vishishtadvaita, and Navya-Nyâya, in addition to Tattvavâda. After Kanchi, he continued his studies at Mulbagal which was the seat of Sripadaraja and a hub for learning like Kanchi. There he studied Vedanta for about five to six years.

Around this time, he distinguished himself at the court of Saluva Narasimha at Chandragiri by winning several debates against renowned opponents. During this time he was entrusted the worship of Lord Srinivasa at Tirupati, a task that he performed for twelve years, from 1486-1498. Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha left for Vijayanagara after persistent invitations by its royalty and ministers, and stayed there for the major part of the rest of his life. Among the several debates he had at Vijayanagara, a notable one is that with Basava Bhatta of Kalinga which lasted for thirty days, before Basava Bhatta lost comprehensively. However, the ‘golden period’ of Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha’s life started after Krishnadevaraya ascended the throne of Vijayanagara, for what were the one-and-twenty greatest years of the kingdom’s history. Krishnadevaraya had a lot of regard for Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha, as is evident from the historical evidence that shows Krishnadevaraya regarded Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha as his Kuladevata, as well as from several honorific references in the writings of Krishnadevaraya.

Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha is responsible for the continuation of the high regard and recognition earned by the system started by Srimad Ananda Tîrtha. He has been respected by many scholars from other schools, including the likes of Appaya Dikshita, Pakshadhara Mishra, Madhusûdana Sarasvati, and Basava Bhatta. He is known for his warm-heartedness and sympathy even toward proponents of other systems of philosophy, while being a staunch Mâdhva himself. In fact, his elucidation of the principles of Advaita and Vishishtâdvaita were so outstanding that he even had pupils of these doctrines, who learned those from him in preference to learning it from a guru in their own tradition.

Among his nine major works, his most important ones are Nyâyâmrta, TarkatâNDava, and Chandrika, collectively known as Vyâsa-Traya. In his magnum opus Nyâyâmrta, he justifies the philosophy of Tattvavâda and shows that Monism is untenable on every ground, and that the reality of the world cannot be rejected, compromised, or diluted for any reason — physical, rational, or spiritual. The TarkatâNDava is a refutation of the principles of Nyâya-Vaisheshika. Tâtparya-Chandrika, or Chandrika as it is known for short, is a commentary on Sri Jayatîrtha’s Tattvaprakâshikâ and deals with the Sûtra-Prasthâna of Tattvavâda. It is, in fact, a significant contribution to the literature on the analysis of the Brahma-Sûtra, because it makes an in-depth comparative study of the Bhâshyas of Shankara, Râmânuja, and Ananda Tîrtha.

He has composed beautiful devotional songs in Kannada, thus contributing significantly to the Dâsa-sâhitya. He was also the Guru of Purandara Dâsa and Kanaka Dâsa, two outstanding luminaries of the Hari-Dâsa tradition, the former also the founder of modern Karnataka music, and is probably the greatest singer-saint in history.

He cast off his mortal body on the 8th of March, 1539. His Brndâvana is at Nava-Vrndavana, which is located on an island in the Tungabhadra river, near Anegondi, very close to Hampi. Here, in the company of eight other eminent Mâdhva ascetics, he continues to meditate, and to bless devotees with true knowledge.

(This piece is the result of joint work, being partly due to Narahari S. Pujar, with some additions and editing by Shrisha Rao and H.P.Raghunandan).

References:

History of the Dvaita School of Vedanta and its Literature, Dr. B. N. K. Sharma, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1981.

Works by Sri Vyâsa Tîrtha

Nyâyâmrta
Tâtparya Chandrika (Commentary on Jayatîrtha’s Tatvaprakâshika)
Tarka Tândava
Mâyâvâda Khandana Mandaramanjari
Upâdhi Khandana Mandaramanjari
Prapancha Mithyâtvânumana Khandana Mandâramanjarî
Tattvaviveka Mandâramanjarî
Bhedojjivana
Sattarkavilâsa

http://www.dvaita.org/scholars/vyasaraja/

Vyasatirtha (Kannada: ವ್ಯಾಸತೀರ್ಥ) (1460–1539), also called Vyasaraja or Vyasaraya or Vyasraja swamin, was acclaimed as one of the three spiritual lights or munitrayam of dvaita Vedanta, i.e., Sri Madhvacharya, Sri Jayatirtha and Sri Vyasatirtha. He was a scholar of very high order with a judicious defence of the Dvaita Vedanta against all rival schools of thought. He also brought the Haridasa cult, historically believed to be propagated by Sri Narahari Tirtha, into limelight. He belonged to the Dvaita school of Madhvacharya. He, along with Jayatirtha, helped systematize Dvaita into an established school of Vedic thought. Vyasatirtha’s genius lay in his clear understanding and exposition of all his opposing schools of thought, for which even his opponents admired him. He was a master at debate and dialogue in logic and philosophy. Till the publication of the vyasayogicharita of the poet Somanatha, the world had no idea of the part played by Vyasatirtha in the history of the Vijayanagara empire.

Life

He was born inBannur in and about 1460 AD in the Mysore District in what is now the modern Karnataka state.^[1] He was one of the foremost dialecticians in the history of Indian philosophy. His father Rallanna Sumati, of kashyapa gotra, was the youngest of the six sons of Ramacharya. By blessings of Brahmanya Tirtha of Channapatna Rallanna Sumati had three children born to him- a girl and two boys. The youngest was Yatiraja the future Vyasaraja swamin. the traditional thread ceremony or upanayana at age of seven, for four years afterwards, he was at his gurukula(school) whence he home at eleven. There he went through the complete course of studies in kAvya, nATaka, alaMkAra and grammar, which must have covered at least a period of five years. As per the promise made by Rallanna, he himself took his son to Channapatna and presented him to Brahmanya Tirtha and returned home. Very much impressed with the superior attainment of his ward, Brahmanya Tirtha ordained his ward Yatiraja a monk and gave him the name Vyasatirtha. Assuming that he was sixteen years old at the time of demise of his Guru (some time after the great famine of 1475-76), we may easily fix the date of birth of Vyasatirtha in or about 1460 AD. Vyasatirtha did not had any time studying much under his Guru Brahmanya. He was obliged, soon after his succession to the head of the maTHa (or Pitha), to go to Kanchi, the center of the vedic studies in South India, in those days, where he is said to have stayed for many years studying six systems of philosophy, under the most eminent pandits there. It was probably here that Vyasatirtha acquired his deep erudition in the systems of Sankara, Ramanuja, Bhatta and others. After the completion of his studies at Kanchi, he went over to the seat of Shripadaraja at Mulbhagal. There he spent many years in study and meditation. Vyasatirtha is believed to have studied for several years under Shripadaraja

Influence

Vyasatirtha was extremely influential in the Vijayanagar Empire. He initially came to limelight in the court of Saluva Narasimha in Chandragiri where he defeated many scholars with his masterly debates. He headed the Tirupati Temple during the time 1486–1498 CE. At the pressing and repeated invitations of ministers of Saluva Narasimha, he moved to Vijayanagara and spent the rest of his life there. The accession of Shri Krishnadevaraya in 1509 AD opened up a new chapter of the glory in the life of Vyasatirtha. It was during the time of Krishnadevaraya that Vyasatirtha saw the peak of his influence over the empire. The king had the greatest regard and respect for Vyasatirtha and regarded him as nothing less than his kuladevata. This is very beautifully narrated by Somanatha in his biography on Vyasatirtha. The evidence of a clear statement to the effect that King regarded Vyasatirtha as his Guru is still saved as a palm leaf fragment (preserved in G.O. Mss. Library), Madras. The two foreign travellers Paes and Nuniz who travelled along the Vijayanagara empire give accounts of how the King Krishnadevaraya regarded his Guru. Nuniz in his catalog says that King of Bisnaga (vijayanagar) listened everyday to the preachings of “a learned Brahmin who never married nor touched a woman”. The description points unmistakably to Vyasatirtha. Nuniz’s remarks are fully corroborated by Somanatha’s biography. Somanatha writes that, before starting on his Raichur expedition, Krishnadevaraya performed a ritual ceremony “ratnabhisheka” to his Guru Vyasatirtha in year 1520 AD and gifted him with many villages. Somanatha goes on to say that after the death of Krishnadevaraya in year 1530 AD, Achutaraya continued to honor Vyasatirtha for some years. It was in Achutaraya’s reign that the image of Yogavarada Narasimha was set up by Vyasatirtha in the courtyard of the Vittalaswami temple at Hampi (Vijayanagara) in 1532. Seven years later, Vyasatirtha himself passed away at Vijayanagara on the fourth day of the dark fortnight of Phalguna, in Vilambi, corresponding to Saturday, 8 March 1539 AD. The data is given by Shri Puranadadasa in one of his songs. His mortal remains are entomed at Nava Brundavana, an island on Tungabhadra river, about half a mile east of Anegondi. Vyasatirtha was almost the second Founder of the system of Madhva. The learned Appayya Diksita is reported to have observed that the great Vyasatirtha “saved the melon of Madhvaism from bursting, by securing it with three bands” in the form of his three-great works – the Nyayamrutha, Chandrika and Tarka-Tandava. There is a tradition that when the North Indian Logician Pakshadhara Mishra visited Mulbhagal, he had spoken most appreciatively of Vyasatirtha. Shri Vyasatirtha was a thinker of high order. He was essentially warm-hearted and felt himself as at home on the naked peaks of intellect and in the unfathomed depths of mystic consciousness and devotion to God. The biography of Vyasatirtha gives several accounts of his kind-heartedness. He treated Basavabhatta whom he vanquished in debate with exemplary kindness and regards. He allowed his preachings to take their gentle course of persuasion and disliked proselytization for the sake of numbers. He did not misuse his influence with Kings to make his faith the state religion. This attitude deserves to be contrasted with that of the Shrivaishnava’s, reported in the prappannamruta.

Contribution

Vyasatirtha was a Psalmist in kannada and had composed many beautiful songs in his mother tongue kannada. More than even for his own compositions, his name will have to be invested with special significance as that of a person who gave to India, both Purandaradasa, the father of carnatic music, and Kanakadasa, disciples of Vyasaraya. Those who know anything about the history of great haridasa’s and their literature will have no difficulty in realizing service rendered by Vyasatirtha to the cause of popular religion and cultural revival. The influence of Vyasatirtha was felt far beyond the limits of Karnataka, in the heart of distant Bengal. It is now fairly well known that the Bhakti movement of Chaitanya who flourished wholly within the lifetime of Vyasatirtha, owed a great deal of its inspiration to philosophy of Madhva and its exposition by Vyasatirtha. If properly viewed, the influence of Vyasatirtha would be seen to have brought about a glorious religious renaissance in the XVI century, simultaneously in the north and in the south India

The Place of Vyasatirtha in the Dvaita philosophy/Dvaita system

As Shri BNK Sharma says, Vyasatirtha is the prince of the Dialecticians of the Dvaita systems. He carried forward the work of his distinguished predecessors: Madhva, Jayatirtha and Vishnudasa and explored and exhausted all the technical and Shastric possibilities of making the doctrines and interpretations of his school, impregnable and invulnerable to attacks from any quarter. Dr Dasagupta pays him the highest tribute the modern historian of Indian philosophy could pay when he says that “the logical skill and depth of acute dialectical thinking shown by Vyasatirtha, stands almost unrivaled in the whole of Indian thought” (p. viii, preface to vol. IV op. cit). He also follows the example of great dialecticians like Udayana, Shriharhsa and Chitsuka in summing up the discussion of the topic at the end of the sections in pithy samgrahashloka’s. Vyasatirtha has thus enlarged the scope and vision of Madhva shastra and its commentaries (tIkA’s) with the exegetical apparatus of nyAya, vyAkaraNa and mImAMsa shAstrAs and expanded the significance of the original texts of his school in light of their methodology. His Tatparya-chandrika is a commentary, only in name; in effect, it is a scintillating critical and comparative study of the interpretation of the Brahmasutras according to the Bhashyas of the three main schools of Vedanta (together with their important commentaries). Its powerful flow of arguments and breathtaking points of criticism are such as to leave the modern scholar and critic, grappling with the Sutras and their commentaries, dumb with astonishment at the masterly way in which Vyasatirtha has successfully probed the problem of the interpretation of Sutras. The tradition rightly regards him, with Madhva and Jayatirtha as constituting the ‘trinity of authorities on Madhva siddhanta’. He showed to the philosophical world that the system of Madhva was not just an effervescence of Puranic Hinduism or merely revival of Bhakti cult but a mighty philosophical movement of thought and a well laid metaphysical structure that could hold its own against other speculative systems in the field, for richness and depth of thought and fineness of the speculative content. The age of Vyasatirtha was, thus, the most glorious epoch in the history if Dvaita school and its literature and philosophy and has not been rivaled, either before or after him for so much all-round distinction, progress and development. The political influence of the Madhva school also rose to its highest level under Vyasatirtha. He enjoyed the closest affection, and commanded the highest esteem of the greatest Hindu emperor of South India, -the immortal Krishnadevaraya