SrI VijayIndrar and Appayya DhIkshidar

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Fri, 6 Aug 1999, Anand V. Hudli wrote:

>  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
>

Here's another one.  In Swami Sanatanadeva Udasins' (The Udasin sampradaya
mixes Advaita Vedanta with elements of Sikhism) introduction to the
Gudarthadipika of Swami Madhusudan Saraswati on the Gita, he says that
after the publication of the Advaitasiddhi, Vyas Tirth sought to refute it
and he became a student of the great Madhusudana.  After a while he had
learned enough of Advaita to be able to write his rejoinder, Nyayamrt.
Madhusudan congratulated him on his effort and Vyas Tirth is said to have
replied that it was only through his teachers grace he was able to write
the work.

Now this story may be just as much a "fairy tale" as the other I don't
know.  But far from being insulting or disrespectful, I think these
stories show the great esteem the great scholars and saints are held in
even by people who disagreed with their teachings.

Just because they disagreed vehemently with each other in debates, doesn't
mean that thinkers of the calibre of Appyaya Dikshita or Raghavendra were
unable to get along in real life.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>