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Indian PhilosophyOS

Dvaita Vedanta · Vedanta · Bhakti traditions

मध्वाचार्य

Madhvacharya

Traditionally 1238–1317 CE; some scholars prefer 1199–1278 CE.
Editorial overview

Historical context

Madhva, also called Anandatirtha and Purnaprajna, founded the Dvaita ('dualist') school of Vedanta in the Tulu-speaking region of coastal Karnataka, where he is associated with Udupi. His tradition regards him as an incarnation of Vayu, the wind deity. He wrote commentaries on the Brahma Sutras, the Upanishads, the Gita, and summaries of the Mahabharata and Bhagavata Purana, together with polemical treatises against Advaita. His school strongly shaped later Vaishnava devotion, including the Haridasa poets of Karnataka.

Core ideas

  • Five real and eternal differences (pancha-bheda): between God and souls, God and matter, soul and soul, soul and matter, and matter and matter
  • Vishnu is the independent reality (svatantra); everything else is dependent (paratantra)
  • Souls are innately different in nature and capacity, a doctrine of gradation (taratamya)
  • The world is real; knowledge and perception are, in principle, reliable
  • Liberation comes through devotion grounded in right knowledge and divine grace, and the soul remains distinct from God

Major works

Textब्रह्मसूत्रभाष्यBrahma Sutra Bhashya (Madhva)Madhva's concise commentary on the Brahma Sutras, founding the Dvaita school, which holds that God, souls and matter are eternally distinct.Textगीतातात्पर्यनिर्णयGita Tatparya Nirnaya (Madhva)Madhva's work determining the 'purport' of the Gita, written in addition to his shorter Gita Bhashya, reading it as teaching devotion to Vishnu within Dvaita.Textअनुव्याख्यानAnuvyakhyanaMadhva's verse work supplementing his Brahma Sutra commentary, developing its arguments and responding to rival schools at length.Textऐतरेयोपनिषद्Aitareya UpanishadA short Rigvedic Upanishad telling how the Self created the worlds and entered the human body, and concluding that consciousness is Brahman.Textश्रीमद्भगवद्गीताBhagavad GitaA 700-verse dialogue in which Krishna counsels the warrior Arjuna, who has collapsed in despair on the battlefield, on action, the Self and devotion.Textब्रह्मसूत्रBrahma SutrasA collection of terse aphorisms that systematises the teaching of the Upanishads about Brahman and defends it against rival schools.Textबृहदारण्यकोपनिषद्Brihadaranyaka UpanishadThe longest and probably oldest Upanishad, a collection of dialogues and debates, many featuring Yajnavalkya, on the Self, Brahman, death and rebirth.Textछान्दोग्योपनिषद्Chandogya UpanishadA long prose Upanishad of the Samaveda, best known for Uddalaka's teaching to his son Shvetaketu that the Self is one with the underlying Being of all things.Textईशोपनिषद्Isha UpanishadA very short verse Upanishad that opens by seeing the whole world as pervaded by the Lord, and tries to reconcile renunciation with a life of action.Textकठोपनिषद्Katha UpanishadA dialogue in which the boy Nachiketa, sent to the realm of Death, asks Yama what happens after death and learns about the undying Self.Textकेनोपनिषद्Kena UpanishadNamed from its first word, 'by whom?', it asks what directs the mind and senses, and answers that it is what cannot itself be made an object of knowledge.Textमाण्डूक्योपनिषद्Mandukya UpanishadTwelve short prose statements that map the syllable Om onto waking, dream, deep sleep and a fourth state (turiya) identified with the Self.Textमुण्डकोपनिषद्Mundaka UpanishadA verse Upanishad that distinguishes 'lower' knowledge of the Vedas and sciences from the 'higher' knowledge by which the imperishable is known.Textप्रश्नोपनिषद्Prashna UpanishadSix seekers each put one question to the sage Pippalada, covering the origin of beings, the vital breath, sleep and dreaming, meditation on Om and the Self.Textतैत्तिरीयोपनिषद्Taittiriya UpanishadAn Upanishad in three sections covering recitation and student ethics, Brahman as truth, knowledge and bliss, and the five 'sheaths' of the person.

Also: Gita Bhashya · Commentaries on the principal Upanishads · Mahabharata Tatparya Nirnaya · Bhagavata Tatparya Nirnaya · Dasha Prakaranas (ten short treatises, including polemics against Advaita)

Concepts

Conceptईश्वरIshvara — GodThe Lord — God as ruler, creator and object of worship.ConceptजीवJiva — the individual soulThe living, embodied individual who acts, experiences and transmigrates.Conceptब्रह्मन्BrahmanThe ultimate reality, the ground from which everything arises.Conceptभक्तिBhakti — devotionLoving devotion to God, as a path and as an end in itself.Conceptअनुग्रहAnugraha — graceDivine grace — God's freely given favour that frees the soul.Conceptप्रकृतिPrakriti — naturePrimal nature or matter — everything that changes, including the mind.

Philosophical disagreements

Presented so you can understand each side — not to declare a winner.

  • With Adi Shankaracharya

    Madhva's works are sharply critical of Advaita: he rejects the unreality of the world, the doctrine of maya and the identity of jiva and Brahman, reading key Upanishadic statements so as to affirm difference.

  • With Ramanujacharya

    Madhva shares Ramanuja's realism and theism but rejects the idea that souls and the world are God's body in a qualified unity; for him difference is fundamental, not subordinate to unity.

Lineage of ideas

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Related thinkers

आदि शङ्कराचार्यAdi Shankaracharyaरामानुजाचार्यRamanujacharya

Traditions

द्वैत वेदान्तDvaita Vedantaवेदान्तVedantaभक्तिBhakti traditions