SrI VijayIndrar and Appayya DhIkshidar

[Dr. S.R.Marur]

Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <ramakris at EROLS.COM> wrote:

>Sorry for sounding rude, but frankly, this seems like a cooked up
>story to me. Appayya displays deep animosity towards the dvaita
>doctrines at various places and has even written a text called
>madhvatantramukhamardanam.  All these hagiographic tales are not of
>any use.

* All my observations in the previous post are based on an exhaustive
  biography - 'Ajaya VijayIndrar'[1]. This book seems to be quite
  detailed in its account of HH srI VijayIndrar, starting from the
  point of HH taking formal sanyAsa from srI VyAsa thIrthA to His
  attaining siddhi at Kundanthai. It also lists 88 books composed by
  HH, many of which have been published in the recent past.

  I was personally awe struck by His personality after reading this
  book. To check a few points, I went to KumbakOnam and visited His
  BrindAvanam. I saw the vigrahams there, said to be made by Him [2].
  Also, verified the existence of a well, known as Garuda thIrtham,
  said to be created by HH with His dhandam [3]. It doesn't appear to
  be a compilation of 'fairy tales' born out of the fertile imagination
  of a devoted mind.

  Also, this book gives details of the debate between HH and Appaya
  Dhiksithar [4,5] and also with BhattOji Dhikshithar [6]. I leave the
  exercise of verifying the authenticity of these technical debates
  to members of this list (such as srI. Shrisha Rao). The possibility
  of composing a detailed debate by the author of this book, on behalf
  of HH, seems quite remote! More conversations between HH and AD
  and their supporting sanskrit verses are also given in the book
  at various places.

>Dr. B.N.K Sharma who has written a very comprehensive and
>well researched account of dvaita and it's literature says "There is
>no authentic biography of Vijayindra, such as we have for Vyasatirtha.
>There are a few sketches of his life in the form of Sanskrit stotras
>by later day devotees. But they are of negligible historical value"
>(page 396 History of Dvaita Vedanta and its literature).

<snip-my message>

>And I don't see why we should give credence to some
>arbitrary story floating around, when a dvaita writer like B.N.K.
>Sharma himself does not.

* The same Dr. BNK Sharma has written a foreword to this book.
  Though there is a debate regarding the exact date of HH, in the
  foreword, I just reproduce here a few lines from his foreword:
  [Note: The Kannada edition came first and the Tamil translation
   of which was published later in 1995]

  "... Accordingly, I made the suggestion to him and repeated it again
   in my HDSV & L (Vol. II. p 168)."
   Here, BNKS is referring to his request to write the biography of
   HH to GururAjAchAryA.

  "I'm happy that Raja Gururajacharya has taken up my suggestion and
   acted on it and has given the Kannada reading public a handsome
   and artistically thrilling biographical account of one of the most
   admirable personalities ..."

  "Sri GururajachAryA's work in 500 and odd pages is a tribute of
   affectionate regard and reverence to one of the greatest luminaries
   in the firmament of Madhwa SiddhAntha ..."

  "When the redoubtable Appayya Dikshita and Tatacharya drew Him into
   philosophical controversies by their adverse criticisms of Madhwa's
   works, VijayIndra readily accepted their combined challenge and
   fought single handed to worst His adversaries and successfully
   repulsed them. ..."

  "The Arivilimangalam grant of Sevvappa Nayaka of Tanjore to
   VijayIndrA in 1577 AD pays a handsome tribute to His victories
   over the Advaitha philosophers:
       | mAyAvAdhi-mathOchEdha-kOlAhala-bharOkthayE | ..."

  "The publication in Kannada is sure to be hailed and welcomed .."


  From these, it is clear that even BNKS has agreed with the material
  presented in this work, though he might have differed earlier!

<snip- my message>
>The above is enough to convince me that this whole thing is a fairy
>tale. Vijayindra who was a disciple of Vyasatirtha himself advising
>someone to continue advaitic mode of worship? I don't think so. But
>whoever cooked up this story must have had a good sense of humour, no
>doubt :-). And certainly a good competition for Grimm.

* Again, I would refer to pages dealing with the last days of
  AppayadhIkshidhar with HH [7]. Even in my first mail I thought
  of adding more material on this, but dropped the idea as, I
  thought, it would be quite off the tangent to advaita list.

Finally getting back to the original point where we started -
Appaya dhIkshithA has *certainly* travelled to and stayed at
Kudanthai for a longer period of time.

Regards,

Sudhakar


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References:

[1] Raja S. GururajAchAryar, 'Ajaya VijayIndrar'. Parimala & PrakAsana
Mandiram, 'PadmanAbhA', #1074, 3rd B-Main, Giri Nagar - II Phase,
B'lore - 560 085, India, First Tamil Edition, pg: (80) + 582 (1995).

[2] Ibid, pp. 149-154.
[3] Idib, pp. 336.
[4] Ibid, pp. 265-326.
[5] Ibid, pp. 337-355.
[6] Ibid, pp. 226-234.
[7] Ibid, pp. 463-467.
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