Sadh Vaishnavism (;), also referred to as Madhva Vaishnavism, the Madhva Sampradaya, or Tattvavada, part of the Brahma Sampradaya, is a denomination within the VaishnavismBhagavata tradition of Hinduism.
The tradition traces its roots to the ancient Vedas and Pancharatra texts. The Madhva Sampradaya or Sadh-Vaishnava Sampradaya is referred to as the Brahma Sampradaya, referring to its traditional origins in the succession of spiritual masters (gurus) have originated from Brahma.
Madhva championed the ultimate reality as personal and Saguna Brahman ("the absolute with qualities") and it is Lord Vishnu (Narayana). Hence god Vishnu (Narayana) along with his consort Lakshmi, and their divine incarnations and forms are revered and worshipped in this tradition. In Sadh-Vaishnavism, the creator is superior to the creation, and hence moksha comes only from the grace of Vishnu, but not from effort alone.
Etymology
The term
Sadh-Vaishnavism is derived from
sadh, meaning "true", and the Hindu deity
Vishnu, whose worshipers are known as Vaishnava; this name of the tradition may thus be translated as "true Vaishnavism." The term
Madhva is derived from the name of the tradition's founder, Madhvacharya. The term
sampradaya refers to a Hindu religious tradition.
The followers of
Sat-Vaishnavism are known as
Sat-Vaishnavas.
Philosophy and theology
Tattvavada (Dvaita)
Sat-Vaishnavism's philosophical foundation was established by
Madhva, who started his Vedic studies with Achyutapreksha in an Advaita Vedanta monastery.
But there was constant disagreement between the master and the disciple and the studies soon ended. However, he sought initiation at the hands of this guru under the name of Poornaprajna and wrote his commentaries under the name Ananda Tirtha.
Madhvacharya converted his own guru Achyutapreksha to
Dvaita Vedanta, like Ramanuja converting his Advaita guru Yadavapreksha renaming him Govindasure to Vishistadvaita.
Madhva brought Vedantic and Upanishadic ideas to this tradition, and wrote texts on dualism, called
Dvaita in the Hindu tradition. His ideas are one of three subschools in
Vedanta, the other two are known as
Adi Shankara's Advaita (absolute monism) and
Ramanujacharya's
Vishistadvaita (qualified monism).
According to Madhva, the Divine and the soul are completely distinct from each other.
Madhvacharya was a staunch Vaishnava who pushed strongly the belief that Vishnu was the highest of Hindu deities, and refused to accept any claims that other Hindu deities might be equally as high. Madhvacharya says that in the beginning there was only one God and that was Narayana or Vishnu.
Madhva rejects Shankara's conception of the Nirguna Brahman—that is, Brahman without characterisations—and accepts the conception of the Saguna Brahman—that is, Brahman with characterisations—as the ultimate divine reality. In Madhva philosophy, Brahman possesses all positive qualities; at the root of these are existence, consciousness, and bliss. An impersonal Brahman, such as Shankara's Nirguna Brahman cannot perform these functions. For Madhva, the personal Brahman is not different from Vishnu, whom Vaishnavas consider to be the creator, the maintainer and destroyer of the world. According to the Madhva viewpoint, nothing can condition Brahman. According to Madhva, Brahman is neither the limited infinite divine reality of the Nyaya school nor a being in inseparable relation with matter and selves as in the philosophy of Ramanuja. Rather, Brahman is viewed as completely independent, but whilst the jivas are viewed as dependent upon Brahman for activity, knowledge, and existence. According to the Vaishnava viewpoint, Vishnu creates the world by his will and brings into existence the world of objects and selves. Objects and selves, though real and irreducible to each other, are dependent on Brahman. At the time of dissolution of the world, material and objects are considered to be transformed into undifferentiated matter and selves into disembodied intelligence by Brahman; it is believed, even in the state of dissolution, that Brahman, matter, and the jivas remain distinct from one another, and do not merge with one another.
Haridasa movement
The devotional movement of the
Haridasa of
Karnataka was an expression of
Madhva's religious thought. The Haridasa movement initiated by Madhva has had a deep impact on the people in different parts of the country.
The Haridasas were mostly
Madhwas and almost exclusively of the Brahmin community.
Influence
According to Sharma, the influence of Dvaita Vedanta ideas have been most prominent on the Chaitanya school of
Bengal Vaishnavism, whose devotees started the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (
ISKCON) - known colloquially as the Hare Krishna Movement.
and also in [[Assam]]. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu(1496-1534) is said to be a disciple of Isvara Puri who was a disciple of Madhavendra Puri who was a disciple of Lakshmipati Tirtha who was a disciple of [[Vyasatirtha]](1469-1539) of Madhvacharya's Sampradaya.[[https://gaudiya.com/pdf/Is_the_Gaudiya_Vaishnava_sampradaya_connected_to_the_Madhva_line.pdf Connection between Gaudiya and Madhva Sampradayas](pdf)] Gujarat Vaishnava culture is also influenced by the Madhva philosophy.
Institutions
Madhvacharya established many Mathas by defeating various acharyas of different sampradayas. The followers of
Madhva are of many distinct groups, they are, the
Tulu people, the
Kannada people, the
Marathi people, the
Telugu people, the
Tamil people, the
Biharis, the
Malayali people, and the
Konkani people. Thus there are twenty-four separate institutions of the Madhva-Vaishnava faith.
Tuluva Mathas
The mathas present in the Tulu region are called
Tuluva Mathas.
Most of the
Tulu language-Speaking in the
Tulunadu and Malayalam-Speaking people in the
Kerala region who follow
Madhvacharya's philosophy are followers of the twelve Madhva Mathas. The twelve Madhva Mathas are
Pejawara Matha, Palimaru Matha, Adamaru Matha, Puttige Matha, Sodhe Matha, Kaniyooru Matha, Shiroor Matha, Krishnapura Matha, Bhandarakeri Matha,
Subramanya Matha, Chitrapura Matha, Bhimanakatte matha. Out of these twelve Tuluva mathas, eight are part of the Ashta (eight) mathas of Udupi who take turns once every two years (
Paryaya) to worship Lord Krishna in at Udupi.
These twelve mathas are descended from
Madhvacharya's direct disciples, Adhokshaja Teertha, Hrishikesha Teertha, Narasimha Teertha, Upendra Teertha, Rama Teertha, Vamana Teertha, Janardhana Teertha and
Madhva's brother
Vishnu Tirtha.
Deshastha Mathas or Deccan Plateau Mathas
Along with Ashta Mathas of Udupi Madhvacharya also founded a matha with his disciple Padmanabha Tirtha as its Peetadhipathi to spread
Tattvavada (Dvaita) Vedanta outside the Tulunadu region with instructions that his disciples
Narahari Tirtha,
Madhava Tirtha,
Akshobya Tirtha should be future successors of this matha. According to Surendranath Dasgupta, Uttaradi Math is the main matha of Madhvacharya and it was divided twice, so we end up with three mathas, the other two being Vyasaraja Math and
Raghavendra Math.
All the mathas outside Tulunadu region are one way or other descended from Padmanabha Tirtha. Since Padmanabha Tirtha was from
Desh region all the mathas descended from him are known as
Deshastha Mathas or
Deccan plateau Mathas.
Marathi language,
Kannada language,
Telugu language,
Hindi language,
Bihari language,
Tamil language, speaking people following Madhvacharya outside
Tulunadu and
Konkan Coast are all followers of these ten Madhva Mathas. Most of peetadhipathis who presided over these ten mathas belonged to Deshastha Brahmin community. These ten Madhva Mathas are,
Uttaradi Matha, Vyasaraja Matha, Raghavendra Matha, Sripadaraja Matha, Kanva Matha, Kudli Matha, Tambehalli Matha (also known as Majjigehalli Maṭha), Kundapura Vyasaraja Matha, Sagarakatte Matha, Baligaru Matha.
- Mathatraya of Desh
Mathatraya are the three mathas which are descended in the lineage of
Madhvacharya's direct disciples, Padmanabha Tirtha,
Narahari Tirtha,
Madhava Tirtha,
Akshobya Tirtha.
Jayatirtha succeeded the main matha after Akshobya Tirtha. Uttaradi Matha, Vyasaraja Matha and Raghavendra Math are descended from
Jayatirtha.
Uttaradi Matha, Vyasaraja Matha and Raghavendra Matha are considered to be the three premier apostolic institutions of
Dvaita Vedanta and are jointly referred as
Mathatraya .
It is the pontiffs and pandits of the
Mathatraya that have been the principle architects of post-Madhva Dvaita Vedanta through the centuries.
As a matter of fact, these have taken the lion's share in the task of developing and propagating the philosophy of
Madhva. For this reason they can unhesitatingly be regarded as the intellectual heirs to the legacy of
Madhva,
Jayatirtha and
Vyasatirtha.
| >+ Mathatraya of Desha
|
| Matha | Present Swamiji
|
| Satyatma Tirtha |
| Subhudhendra Tirtha |
| Vidyashrisha Tirtha |
|
Konkani Mathas
Gaud Saraswat Brahmins and other Saraswat Brahmins who follow Madhvacharya and his philosophy
Dvaita Vedanta are followers of two Madhva Mathas. They are mainly concentrated in the
Konkan (including
Goa),
Malabar Coast of Karnataka and Kerala, and
Uttar Pradesh mainly
Varanasi and surrounding areas. These two Saraswat Mathas are
Kashi Math and
Gokarna Math.
Prominent Madhva teachers
Some of the prominent Madhva teachers include:
See also
Notes
Sources
Further reading
External links
