Madhva’s works often quote from Pa ̄ñcara ̄tra texts which he considers as author-
itative as the Veda because, according to him, these two originally formed one
tradition (Siauve 1968: 16). His Tantrasa ̄rasan.graha seems to follow the
Pa ̄ñcara ̄tra mode of temple worship.
Madhva maintains that the Brahman is the only independent (svatantra)
entity; the world consisting of sentient beings (cit orjı ̄va) and insentient
(acit) objects does not have an existence independent of the Brahman (they
areasvatantra). The five differences (pañcabheda) which exist between God and
matter, God and sentient beings, matter and sentient beings, between sentient
beings, and between material objects, prove the reality of multiplicity. While
Madhva insisted on the absolute superiority of Vis.n.u on S ́iva and other deities,
his works and his hagiography do not show conflicting relations with S ́aivas.
Several Ma ̄dhva followers composed hymns in honor of S ́iva. Till today, some
Ma ̄dhva families maintain a S ́aiva domestic temple. These facts seem to
confirm ancient connections of the milieu of Madhva with S ́aiva worship.
His family may have belonged to a Sma ̄rta group (today known as the
Bha ̄gavatasamprada ̄ya) (Sharma 1960; Siauve 1968: 1–36). Other major
authors of Dvaita are Jayatı ̄rtha (1365–88) and Vya ̄sara ̄ya (Vya ̄satı ̄rtha,
1460–1539). The latter’s mastery ofs ́a ̄straswon him great fame. Called to the
Vijayanagar court, he may have been the preceptor (guru) of Krs.n.adevara ̄ya
(Sharma 1961: 30).
According to the Madhvavijaya, Madhva ordained his brother and seven
other disciples as renouncers, directing them to perform the worship of Kr.s.n.a at
the Mat.ha founded by him in Udipi. These eight ascetics established their own
lines of succession by ordination which resulted in the foundation of eight
monasteries (mat.has) in Udipi. Until today the heads of these monasteries are in
charge of the worship in Kr.s.n.a Mat.ha in turn for two years each, an arrange-
ment known as parya ̄ya. Other direct or later disciples are attributed with the
foundation of monasteries outside the Udipi region. The Ma ̄dhva tradition had
a following mostly in the Tul.u country (today a part of Karnataka), but in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a rather significant number of people con-
verted to the Ma ̄dhva tradition in Tamil Nadu and in Kerala, including several
local rulers and members of the Nambudiri Brahmin community (Sharma
1960; 1961; Hari Rao 1964: 133).
The Harida ̄saku ̄t.a (to be distinguished from Harida ̄sasamprada ̄ya, a later
north Indian tradition) was closely associated with the Ma ̄dhva tradition. These
wandering devotees spread all over the Kannad.a region, held Vit.t.hala, the image
of the temple of Pandharpur (in the southern part of the present Maharashtra)
as their deity. They praised devotional, moral, and renunciative values in an easy
nonliterary Kannad.a language which appealed to the common man. While the
Harida ̄saku ̄t.a tradition is said to have started with Acala ̄nanda Vit.t.hala (ca. 888
ad) and others before Madhva, the earliest known poet-saint connected with the
Harida ̄saku ̄t.a is Naraharitı ̄rtha (fourteenth century), perhaps a direct disciple of
Madhva. Like him, many prominent figures of the Harida ̄saku ̄t.a were distin-
guished Sanskrit scholars and held high positions in Ma ̄dhva monasteries.
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