Works On Shri Madhwa Siddhanta by Shri Raghavendratirtha: - Prof. D. Prahladacharya

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Works on Shri Madhwa siddhanta

by
Shri Raghavendratirtha
-Prof. D. Prahladacharya
More than forty works have been ascribed to Shri Raghavendratirtha.

Though some of them, have different names, many of them, have a common
name "Bhavadeepa". The following are the works attributed to Shri
Raghavendratirtha.
1. Commentaries on the Teekas on the Prakarana texts of Shri Madhwa.

Among the thirty-seven works of Shri Madhwa, collectively called
"Sarvamoola" the ten short monographs are called Dasha-prakaranas. They are
the following -
1. Pramaana-lakshana
2. Kathaa-lakshana
3. Upaadhi-khandana
4. Maayaavaada-khandana
5. Mithyaatvaanumaana-khandana
6. Tattva-samkhyaana
7. Tattva-viveka
8. Tattvodyota
9. Vishnu-tattva-vinirnaya
10. Karma-nirnaya
The first one, as the very title indicates, deals with the theory of knowledge
and various other issues related with it. The second Prakarana deals with the
subject of debate, its varieties and the rules and regulations governing its
conduct. The next three Prakaranas are devoted for the refutation of certain
fundamental theories of the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy. While the
sixth one called the Tattva-samkhyaana deals with the ontology according to the
Madhwa school of Vedanta, the seventh one namely, Tattva-viveka deals with
the same object with some additional points. The Tattvodyota, the next
Prakarana contains some of the arguments actually used by Shri Madhwa in his
historic debate with Pundarika Puri and Padmatirtha - the two celebrated monks
of Advaita Vedanta. The Vishnu-tattva-vinirnaya, considered as the most
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important of the Dasha- prakranas, mainly contains a severe criticism of Advaita

and interprets the so called Advaita Shrutis on new lines. It also strongly defends
the concept of "Bheda". The Karma-nirnaya - the last one of the Prakaranas, is
devoted by Shri Madhwa to the exposition of his view that even the so-called
Karma-kaanda portion of the Vedas, has the Brahman as its main purport. On
the basis of many statements in the Shrutis an the smrtis, Shri Madhwa
convincingly establishes here that the entire corpus of the scripture, has the
glorification of the Brahman i.e., Naaraayana, as its main objective. Here in
Karma-nirnaya, he lays down the general principles of higher interpretation and
taking some instances, shows how each and every word of the Shruti conveys
the glory of the Brahman.
The ten Prakaranas of Shri Madhwa mentioned above, are, except the
Vishnu-tattva-vinirnaya, very short. The language of them, is very though and
terse. Shri Naaraayana Panditaachaarya, in his Madhwa-vijaya, describes the
Prakaranas, as follows :
Vaadaadayh prakaranasphulingah tanavopyalam.

Vipakshaksham kshinvanti maaruten tvayeritaah.
'Maayaavaada-khandana etc., sparks-like Prakaranas are very small in

size. However, O! Madhwa ! being ignited by you Maaruta - the son of wind, they
will burn-down the whole of forest-like arguments of the opponents.'
But for the very lucid and excellent commentaries of Shri Jayatirtha, on
them, the Prakaranas would have been beyond the reach of even scholars.
Fortunately, Shri Jayatirtha has written commentaries on all the ten Prakaranas.
Among the ten commentaries on Prakaranas, by Shri Jayatirtha, the four

namely the Maayaavaada-khandana Teeka, the Mithyaatvaanumaana-khandana
Teeka, the Upaadhi-khandana Teeka and the Tattva-viveka Teeka are
commented by Shri Vyasatirtha - the Vidyaguru of Shri Vijayeendratirtha who
was the Paramaguru of Shri Raghavendratirtha. These glosses by Shri
Vyasatirtha are, very aptly, named by him as Mandaara Manjari. Omitting the
above four, on all the other six commentaries of Shri Jayatirtha, on the
Prakaranas, Shri Raghavendratirtha has authored his glosses.
As already state, the main characteristics of the writings of Shri

Raghavendratirtha, are 'remarkable clarity of thought, simplicity of expression
and compactness'. He always keeps in his mind, the needs of the students who
find certain passages in the Teekas very difficult to understand and selecting
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them he would elucidate only those points without knowing which the student's
understanding of the passage would not be complete.
The following is an instance from his gloss on the Tattvodyota Teeka-
According to the Advaitin, the world, is false and the falsity of it, is
established by the inference - 'Vishwam mithyaa drshyatvaat' i.e., the world is
false as it is cognised.
The Advaitin argues here that anything that is an object of cognition, has to
be false. He gives the illustration of the Snake (wrongly) perceived in the rope.
Madhwa’s rejection of the validity of this inference as elaborated by Shri
Jayatirtha is as follows:
When we perceive the world as real by pratyaksha, this perceptual
cognition is in total contradiction with the inferential cognition derived through the
Anumana used by the Advaitin to establish that what is cognised is not real. But
a perceptual cognition such as this can not be sublated by any other cognition
derived by inference or even Shruti. If this were possible, the cognition that 'Fire
is hot' could be countered by an inferential cognition that it is cold – “Fire is cold,
as it is also a substance, like water” – or by a Shruti statement. No amount of
inferential derivations or statements attributed to others will ever make the fire
cold, or will any sane person accept such a position.
The above view of the Tattva-vaadin, is again questioned by the Maayaa-

vaadin, by drawing our attention to the various perceptual cognitions such as the
perceptual cognition of blue color in the sky and the small size of the moon.
These perceptual cognitions, as we all know, are contradicted by inferences and
scriptural statements, respectively. The perceptual cognition of blue color in the
sky, is sublated by the inference that 'the sky is not blue, as it is all-pervasive'.
The perceptual cognition of the small size in the moon, also is stultified by
several scriptural statements that describe the vastness of the moon. Similarly,
the Maayaa-vaadin argues that our perceptual cognitions grasping the world as
real, also can be sublated by the anumaana put forth by him and several Shrutis
such as 'neha naanaasti kichana'.
Refuting the above contention of the Maayaa-vaadin, Shri Madhwa

remarks, tersely- 'Chandrapraadeshatvaadivishayam tu
doorasthatvaadidoshayuktatvaadapatu' - 'The perceptual cognition grasping the
small size of the moon etc., is rather weak as it is incapacitated with the defects
such as 'grasping a thing that is far away from us'. The significance of this
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statement by Shri Madhwa, has been beautifully brought out by Shri Jayatirtha,
illustrating the nature of various kinds of perceptual cognitions that happen to us
in our day-to-day life. The gloss of Shri Raghavendratirtha, on the exposition of
Shri Jayatirtha, on the present issue, is an illustration of his crisp style, which is
amazingly brief, yet inclusive of all the essential points. The following are the
words of Shri Raghavendratirtha, in his Tippani -
'..... Praadeshikatvajnaanaat praageva

praadeshikatvaabhaavagocharavipareeta-samskaarabhaanaaditi bhaavenaaha-
yaditi. yad yad doorasthatva-atisaameepyaadi-doshasahakrtakaranajanyam tat
tadayathaarthamiti vyaapter bhaavaat tanmoolakaanumaanena vaa sahakrtena
saakshinaa doshajanyajnaaneshu apraamaanyasya vishayaapahaarasya
nishchitatvena taadrshasthale jaayamaanam jnaanm shankhapaityajnaanamiva
svaarthamanishchaayayadeva jaayata ityarthah.'
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Works On Shri Madhwa Siddhanta by Shri Raghavendratirtha: - Prof. D. Prahladacharya

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Downloaded from Sri Raghavendra Saptaaha Mahotsava

Works on Shri Madhwa siddhanta

More than forty works have been ascribed to Shri Raghavendratirtha.

1. Commentaries on the Teekas on the Prakarana texts of Shri Madhwa.

important of the Dasha- prakranas, mainly contains a severe criticism of Advaita

Vaadaadayh prakaranasphulingah tanavopyalam.

'Maayaavaada-khandana etc., sparks-like Prakaranas are very small in

Among the ten commentaries on Prakaranas, by Shri Jayatirtha, the four

As already state, the main characteristics of the writings of Shri

The following is an instance from his gloss on the Tattvodyota Teeka-

The above view of the Tattva-vaadin, is again questioned by the Maayaa-

Refuting the above contention of the Maayaa-vaadin, Shri Madhwa

'..... Praadeshikatvajnaanaat praageva

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