The Life of Madhvacarya, Purnaprajna Das

Madhavacharya is the founding acharya of one of the four Vaishnava sampradayas in Kali-yuga. He appeared in the thirteenth century as a Karnataka brahmana, taught a strictly theistic version of Vedanta philosophy, vigorously opposed the advaita-vada philosophy of Sankaracharya, and established the worship of Sri Krishna at Udupi, in South India.

According to the Sri Kurma inscriptions of Narahari Tirtha, his direct disciple, Sripad Madhvacarya was born between 1238 and lived for 79 years, until 1317 A.D. This is confirmed in the Anu-Madhva-Carita. According to the authorized biographies compiled by his disciples shortly after his passing away, Sripad Madhva was born in the village of Tulunada, which is close to the city of Udupi in Karnataka. He came from a family of sivalli-brahmanas and was the son of Madhyageha Bhatta.

In his Caitanya Caritamrta commentary (CC Madhya 9.245), Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami comments as follows: "In his childhood, Madhvacarya was known as Vasudeva, and there are some wonderful stories surrounding him. It is also said that his father piled up many debts and Madhvacarya converted tamarind seeds into actual coins to pay them off. When he was five years old, he was offered the sacred thread. A demon named Maniman lived near his abode in the form of a snake, and at the age of five, Madvacarya killed that snake with the toe of his left foot. When his mother was very disturbed, he would appear before her in one jump. He was a great scholar even in childhood, and although his father did not agree, he accepted sannyasa at the age of twelve." Madhva's sannyasa name was Purnaprajna Tirtha. His deep study of the scriptures was unparalleled, and had convinced him of the uselessness of the Advaita interpretation of Vedanta. He was inspired to revive the original and pure interpretation of Vedanta which promotes personal theism. He was to do this on the basis of a profound and innovative interpretation of the scriptures, for which he was to become famous. This interpretation is known as Dvaita-dvaita-vada, or pure dualism.

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