Vijayendra Tirtha

Vijayendra Tirtha (1490-1592) was a Vaishnava saint in 16th century India.Literary sources like 'Vijayeendra vijaya', document his life and literary works on Madhva Siddhanta. He is also revered for his triumphs in theological debates, significantly over Appayya Deekshita and Lingarajendra.He is famously known as 'chathushashti kalaakovidaru'[knower of 64 vidyas] and has written over 104 Granthas on Madhwa siddantha.

Birth and early life

He was born in 1514 as Vittalacharya. There are conflicting theories regarding his timeline.^[1] After renouncing the worldly life for the life of a saint, he was given the name “Vishnu tirtha” at the age of eight, ” by Sri Vyasa Raya or Vyasa Tirtha, a scholar noted for his work “Krishna nee bagane baro”. Under the tutelage of Vyasa tirtha, he is supposed to have learnt 64 arts ^[2] and “tarka-meemansha-vedanta” shastra. Later, he was named “vijayendra tirtha” by his second “guru” Shri Surendra tirtha, the pontiff of the Sri Kaveendra Teertha Parampara.^[1]

Literary works

Literary works

Vijayendra tirtha is credited with as many as 104 literary works. He became an active proponent of Dvaita Madhva school of thought in South India during the Nayak rule in Tamil Nadu.At that time,Dvaita school was threatened by a combined onslaught of Advaita,Vishishtadvaita and Shaiva schools,and Vijayendra tried to establish Dualistic realism(Dvaita vaad).Therefore,many of his books are refutation or “khandanam” of other school of thoughts-, shankhya and yoga matha khanadanam,etc.But his trickery was revealed shortly when he was defeated by much greater learned than him Appayya dikshitar at tanjore in front of kings and learned bramhins. He felt insulted and inferior, so he outpoured his insecurity by making few books which were not famous and were not aunthentic as it was only his dismay and pain of defeat as he was humbled in court publicly .Many of his disciple adopted veer shavism. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=uE4-veDrY7AC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=debate+with+Appayya+Dikshitar&source=bl&ots=b-8Vl7BaJT&sig=EtOWYTaw4g7MZxr5X-mtmYvrKtg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfxuT4r67MAhXBmoMKHV2BAdQQ6AEILjAD#v=onepage&q=debate%20with%20Appayya%20Dikshitar&f=false

Debates

Shri Vijayendra tirtha became well known for his debate over one Lingarajendra or Yemme Basava,a Veerashaiva ascetic at Kumbhakona.While the name varies with sources,the veerashaiva scholar was well versed in shruti and smriti and was particularly adversarial towards the rival Vaishnava scholars.The debate lasted eleven days,between kumbakonam and vijayendra teertha and here vijayendra lost to kumkonam as per rules of debate. And later on vijayendra was defeated by Appayya dikshitar.

The purans are made by one veda vyas .and they all are pious but jealous vaisnavs discriminated them falsely ,which is illogical that how can same author differentiate and degrade his own work .this false propaganda was defeated because the temples made by vishnu in reverence to shiva are irrefutable proofs that Vishnu worships his lord his originator. Rmeshwaram gopeshwar etc and several temples and incidents in mahabharat are proofs that krishna always meditated and worshipped shiva. But insecurity and ego bounds few people to refute their own lord vishnu and vishnu himslef says those who worship me but oppose mahadev i dont like them ever and they are sent to hell.this is written in many purans. the vaisnav puran padma details hpow ram worshipped shiva and addressed him as his owner "swamy".he eulogised him and vishnu too worshipped him even his wife worships sphatic shivalinga and did penenaces to get back vishnu when vishnus head was severed and shiva granted boon to her.

Appayya deekshita was the pre eminent Shaivate scholar of the time and the “asthana pundit” (scholar of the king’s court) to the ruler of Tanjore.The discussions between Vijayendra and Apayya inspired many books of the time and apayya diskhitar defeated him in fromt of kings and bramhins vijayendra was defeated and humbled. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=uE4-veDrY7AC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=debate+with+Appayya+Dikshitar&source=bl&ots=b-8Vl7BaJT&sig=EtOWYTaw4g7MZxr5X-mtmYvrKtg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjfxuT4r67MAhXBmoMKHV2BAdQQ6AEILjAD#v=onepage&q=debate%20with%20Appayya%20Dikshitar&f=

Later life

Vijayendra remained the pontiff of Vibhudendra math. He is also credited with being the creator of Kashi Math Samsthan, and he appointed Sri Yadavendra tirtha as its head in 1542. He tutored and appointed Shri Sudhindra tirtha as his successor. He died in 1614. His Aradhana divas is “jyestha krishna Chaturdashi”.

References

1. "Sri Vijayeendra Teertharu". Gururaghavendra1.org. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
2. "Vijayeendra Tirtharu". Sumadhwa Seva. 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2015-08-13.