[Advaita-l] [advaitin] Is Ramanuja a Demon? Is his Sribhashya a ku-bhashya?

[V Subrahmanian]

 'Sri Raghavendra called Adisankara and Smartar sons of harlots.'

This is what a renowned Madhva scholar  has said with proof in his Sanskrit
and Kannada book.

Sri Raghavendra Tirtha wrote the commentary, Gitavivruti, on the Bhagavad
Gita. There in Chapter 16, on some verses of the Gita, about the nature of
demons, he says that 'those who say the world is a mithya'...then, when
commenting on the verse 16.20 that says ' the will be born in demoniacal
wombs (aasura yoni)', he has said in the commentary: that those demoniacal
births will be illegitimate ones.

Some slokas in the 16th chapter of the Gita 16th chapter:

असत्यमप्रतिष्ठं ते जगदाहुरनीश्वरम् ।
अपरस्परसम्भूतं किमन्यत्कामहैतुकम् ॥ ८ ॥
एतां दृष्टिमवष्टभ्य नष्टात्मानोऽल्पबुद्धयः ।
प्रभवन्त्युग्रकर्माणः क्षयाय जगतोऽहिताः ॥ ९ ॥
काममाश्रित्य दुष्पूरं दम्भमानमदान्विताः ।
मोहाद्गृहीत्वासद्ग्राहान्प्रवर्तन्तेऽशुचिव्रताः ॥ १० ॥
आसुरीं योनिमापन्ना
मूढा जन्मनि जन्मनि ।
मामप्राप्यैव कौन्तेय
ततो यान्त्यधमां गतिम् ॥ २० ॥

In support of this, the Madhva Vidwan says: Sri Raghavendra reports that
'Adi Shankara and all his followers are thus of demonic birth (through
harlots)'.

This Madhva scholar has expressed the opinion (as the purport of what Sri
Raghavendra Tirtha has said) that these (Adi Shankara and those who follow
his path) are demons because of practices like 'wearing vibhuti and
rudraksha suitable for asuras'.

That Vidwan says that Swami Vidyaranya, Appayya Dikshitar etc. are of this
monstrous nature.

The pages of the book given below are in Sanskrit and Kannada, so those who
know that language can read directly from there.

Admirers of Adi Shankara and followers of his teachings may question
themselves whether they agree with Raghavendra Tirtha. The sad part is that
countless Smarta-s express devotion to Raghavendra Tirtha, blissfully
ignorant of what he has said about Adi Shankara and themselves 😢

Those who know Sanskrit can read the commentary for all the verses there.

None of this is what I am saying on my own. I have said what is in that
Madhva Vidwan's book without any exaggeration.

P.S:

Raghavendra's Gita Vivruti text here:

https://archive.org/details/gitavivruti/page/n187/mode/2up (see image
below) the word 'adulterous birth' is not found there.

This Madhva Vidwan has shown the meaning of each word for that verse 16.20
as per Raghavendra. Although the commentary for the words 'aasuriim yonim
aapannaaH' of the Gita verse is not found in the Vivruti of Raghavendra in
the publications available on the net, this Vidwan has given the meaning of
'adulterer' to that word and highlighted it (see the image below) as stated
by Raghavendra. While the Vidwan has given one-to-one exact commentary of
the Vivruti for the words preceding and succeeding the expression 'aasuriim
yonim aapannaaH', he has given the term 'व्यभिचारादिजातशरीरमापन्नाः'
(endowed with bodies born of harlotry).

And he concludes that Raghavendra Tirtha himself said this. From this we
can make a guess that this word may be present in the Gita Vivruti book in
possession of this Vidwan (and not in the present editions).

See all images: https://groups.google.com/g/advaitin/c/bDU7AGFjHRg

Images from the Vidwan's book, etc.:

Image of the Gita Vivruti relevant portion as is in the edition on the
internet:

From the Vidwan's book, Kannada part which says: Raghavendra Tirtha
establishes that Shankaracharya is a demon:

This image says: 'The criterion for determining someone as a demon are all
applicable to Shankaracharya. These demons will be born in demoniacal
wombs, that is, they will be coming with the bodies born of harlotry. So
says Raghavendra Tirtha'. The Kannada condensation is made by the
author-scholar's son, a contemporary scholar by name Vidwan Ruchiracharya.

On Fri, Sep 19, 2025 at 1:42 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

>
>
> On Thu, 18 Sept, 2025, 5:46 pm Krishna Kashyap, <kkashyap2011 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> namaste Subbu Ji,
>>
>> in which work Raghavendra swami says this:
>> Raghavendra Swamy has praised Madhvacharya as the one whose feet dust
>> will liberate Shiva, etc. And also the Shankara nindaa part.?
>>
>> Please give a citation.
>>
>
> Dear Krishna ji,
>
> In the invocatory verse composed by Raghavendra (Swamy) Tirtha to his
> prakāśikā to the Tatparyachandrika of Vyasatirtha, the former says, in the
> second verse cited below: Let foot-dust of Purnaprajna (Madhwacharya) that
> causes the liberation (nirvāṇagati) of Śarva (Shiva) etc. gods (gīrvāṇa)
> protect us always.
>
>
> https://archive.org/details/tatparya-chandrika-of-vyasa-tirtha-dvaita-vedanta-studies-and-research-foundation/page/2/mode/2up
>
>
> समस्तगुणसंपूर्ण सर्वदोषविवर्जितम् । शानिप्रियतमं वन्दे मुक्तिदं कमलापतिम्
> ॥ १॥
> *शर्वादिसर्वगीर्वाणनिर्वाणगतिहेतवः । पूर्णप्रज्ञपदाम्भोजपासवः पान्तु नः
> सदा ॥ २ ॥*
>
> The following was shared with me by a friend: Regarding the Shankara nindā
> by Raghavendra Tirtha:  The gist of the Kannada write-up is:
>
> In this link
> https://srimadhvyasa.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/sanskrit-prameyanavamalika-01062013.pdf
> is a book *Goodha Bhaava Prakaashika Vyakhya Authored by Sri Raghavendra
> Theertha, a gloss on Prameya Nava Malika (Anu Madhwa Vijaya ) of Sri
> Narayana Pandithacharya.  (Raghavendra Tirtha was known as Mahabhāshya
> Venkta Bhatta in his pre-monastic life, when he wrote the commentary. There
> he has denigrated Shankara (and by extension, the other pre-Madhwa Sutra
> bhashya authors). One can see that in the linked pdf provided above.  *
>
> ಮಂತ್ರಾಲಯದ ರಾಘವೇಂದ್ರ ಸ್ವಾಮಿಗಳು ಶಂಕರರ ನಿಂದೆಯನ್ನು ಎಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಮಾಡಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂದು
> ಹೇಳುವವರು ಈ ಕೆಳಗಿನ ಕಿರುಲೇಖನವನ್ನು ನೋಡಬಹುದು.
>
> ನಾರಾಯಣ ಪಂಡಿತನ ಅಣುಮಧ್ವವಿಜಯ ಅಥವಾ ಪ್ರಮೇಯನವಮಾಲಿಕಾ ಎಂಬ ಕಾವ್ಯದ ಮೇಲೆ ಮಹಾಭಾಷ್ಯ
> ವೆಂಕಟಭಟ್ಟ (ನಂತರ ಇವರೇ ಮಂತ್ರಾಲಯದ ರಾಘವೇಂದ್ರ ಸ್ವಾಮಿಗಳಾದರು) ಬರೆದ ಗೂಢಭಾವಪ್ರಕಾಶಿಕಾ
> ಎಂಬ ವ್ಯಾಖ್ಯಾನವಿದೆ. ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದಿರುವ ಶಂಕರನಿಂದಾ ಭಾಗಗಳು-
>
> ಎರಡನೇ ಶ್ಲೋಕದಲ್ಲಿ क्रोधतन्त्रा भूत्वा भूमौ कुशास्त्रं व्याधिषत
> मणिमत्पूर्वकाः ಎಂದು ನಾರಾಯಣ ಪಂಡಿತ ಹೇಳಿದೆಡೆ, ವೆಂಕಟಭಟ್ಟರು ಹೀಗೆ ಹೇಳುತ್ತಾರೆ -
> "*मणिमदाख्यदैत्यपूर्वकाः क्रोधतन्त्राः कोपपरवशाः सन्तः भूमौ
> संकरादिनामत्वेनोत्पद्य कुशास्त्रं दुःशास्त्रं व्यधिषताकार्षुः*". ಇಲ್ಲಿ
> ಶಂಕರರನ್ನೇ ಅವರು ಹೇಳಿರುವುದು ಸುಸ್ಪಷ್ಟ. ಮುಂದಿನ ಶ್ಲೋಕದ ವ್ಯಾಖ್ಯಾನದಲ್ಲಿ ಸಹ
> "*संकरकृतदुःशास्त्रेण*" ಎಂದು ದೂಷಣೆ ಮುಂದುವರೆಯುತ್ತದೆ.
>
> ಒಂಭತ್ತನೇ ಶ್ಲೋಕದಲ್ಲಿ ನಾರಾಯಣ ಪಂಡಿತ दुष्टभाष्यापनोदी ಎಂದರೆ ವೆಂಕಟಭಟ್ಟ
> "*दुष्टस्य संस्करस्य भाष्यं दुष्टं च तद्भाष्यं च इति वा*" ಎಂದು ಶಂಕರರನ್ನು
> ಮತ್ತು ಅವರ ಭಾಷ್ಯವನ್ನು ದುಷ್ಟ ಎಂದು ಕರೆದಿರುವುದು ಕಂಡುಬರುತ್ತದೆ. ಹೀಗೆ
> ಸ್ವಮತಾಭಿನಿವೇಶದಿಂದ ರಾಯರೂ ಸಹ ಅನ್ಯಮತಾಚಾರ್ಯರನ್ನು ನಿಂದೆ ಮಾಡಿರುವುದು ಖೇದಕರ. ಇರಲಿ,
> ರಾಯರ ಭಕ್ತರಾದರೂ ಇದನ್ನು ಮುಂದುವರೆಸದಿರಲಿ.
>
> ಇತಿ ಶಂ.
>
>
> warm regards
> subbu
>
>
>> *Best Regards,*
>>
>> *Krishna Kashyap*
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Sep 16, 2025 at 3:37 PM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Sep 16, 2025 at 2:41 PM Krishna Kashyap via Advaita-l <
>>> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Interesting article.
>>>>
>>>> I've heard that among Kannadigas (since I am a Bangalorean), smartas
>>>> marrying Madhvas is a common practice. Most people dont even question
>>>> this
>>>> practice. Should I understand that these Madhvas who have married
>>>> Smarthas
>>>> have never read, understood, or agreed with these scriptures by Madhva
>>>> scholars?
>>>>
>>>
>>> In many cases such Madhva - Smarta marriages happen in the non-scholarly
>>> Madhva circles.  Orthodox Madhwas/scholars would not recommend/support such
>>> a mix.  There is also this practice in some cases: A Madhva family would
>>> take a Smarta girl as their daughter in law and she will (have to) conform
>>> to their practices. But they would not give their daughters to the Smarta
>>> family.
>>>
>>> Most Smarthas also do not know of the Shankaracharya/Advaiti ninda in
>>> the Madhva books. There is also the Raghavendra Swamy following among a
>>> very large Smarta community. Again, they do not know of the antithesis:
>>> Raghavendra Swamy has praised Madhvacharya as the one whose feet dust will
>>> liberate Shiva, etc. And also the Shankara nindaa part.
>>>
>>> regards
>>> subbu
>>>
>>>>
>>>> *Best Regards,*
>>>>
>>>> *Krishna Kashyap*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Sep 16, 2025 at 12:06 PM V Subrahmanian <
>>>> v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > Here is an article on the above topic:
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> https://adbhutam.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/demonization-of-ramanujacharya-in-madhwa-books.pdf
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > regards
>>>> > subbu
>>>> >
>>>> > --
>>>> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>>>> Groups
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>>>> > To view this discussion visit
>>>> >
>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAKk0Te23Kn5OzJ5VpjJK4DVGtJ%2B7wwZVaM2-SBsNjr9FdD4MUQ%40mail.gmail.com
>>>> > <
>>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/advaitin/CAKk0Te23Kn5OzJ5VpjJK4DVGtJ%2B7wwZVaM2-SBsNjr9FdD4MUQ%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer
>>>> >
>>>> > .
>>>> >
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