SrI VijayIndrar and Appayya DhIkshidar

[Anand V. Hudli]

On Fri, 6 Aug 1999 20:51:42 +0530, Dr. S.R.Marur <smarur at EASI.SOFT.NET>
wrote:

>
>  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.

 Just because something is written with a devoted mind, it does not
 mean it is true. The entire section of rAmAyaNa called the uttara-
 kANDa is usually acknowledged as a text later added. As Shri Abhinava
 Vidyatirtha has said, there is no limit to human imagination,
 especially human imagination when it is challenged.

 Just because someone quotes beautiful sanskrit verses, we cannot
 agree with whatever he says. There have been large portions of
 purANas, such as the bhavishhyottara purANa, containing lots of sanskrit
 verses that are interpolations.

 It may or may not be true that there was a debate between appayya
 dIkshita and vijayindra. We have to find out, but not by listening to
 just one side of the story.

 And this is not the first time that such a story has been heard by
 advaitins. First, there was a story about Madhva defeating Vidyashankara
 tiirtha of Sringeri. Then there was a story of akshhobhya tiirtha
 defeating VidyAraNya, with Vedanta deshika as the moderator! Now, the
 story of Vijayindra beating Appayya dIkshita and later advising
 Appayya on his death bed. This sure is the high watermark of
 dvaita-advaita polemics!

 Anand