A History of Sanskrit Literature c33.s3.t2: (b) Rāmānuja
A History of Sanskrit Literature c33.s3.t2
- Language
- English
(b) Rāmānuja
c33.s3.t2.1
A very different view of the Upaniṣads and Sūtra is presented by Rāmānuja, who died about 1137. Son of Keçava and Kāntimatī, he studied at Kāñcī under the Advaita philosopher Yādavaprakāça, but abandoned his teaching for that of Yāmuna whom he succeeded as head of a Vaiṣṇava sect, and at whose request he wrote his *Çrībhāṣya*⁴ on the *Brahma Sūtra*. Among other works he wrote a *Gītābhāṣya*,⁵ attacked in the *Vedārthasaṁgraha*⁶ the illusion theory, summarized his *Bhāṣya* in the *Vedāntadīpa*⁷ and gave a convenient summary of his doctrine in the *Vedāntasāra*. His views were defended against those of Çaṅkara in the *Vedāntatattvasāra*⁸ of Sudarçana Sūri, and expounded in the *Yatīndramatadīpikā*⁹ of Çrīnivāsa. Rāmānuja claims to represent a long tradition, citing the Vākyakāra, the Vṛttikāra Bodhāyana, and Dramiḍācārya, who was known to Çaṅkara, and he relies on the *Çāṇḍilya Sūtra* as revealing the true doctrine of the Sūtra. In essentials he differs from Çaṅkara; if in a sense there is an absolute whence all is derived, the individual souls and matter still have a reality of their own, and the end of life is not merger in the absolute but continued blissful existence. This state is to be won by Bhakti, faith in and devotion to God. His view of matter permits him to adopt largely the Sāṁkhya principles.¹
c33.s3.t2.2
⁴ Ed. BI. 1888 ff.; trans. G. Thibaut, SBE. xlviii; cf. xxxiv.
c33.s3.t2.3
⁵ Ed. Bombay, 1893.
c33.s3.t2.4
⁶ Ed. *Pandit*, N.S. xv-xvii.
c33.s3.t2.5
⁷ Ed. BenSS. 69-71.
c33.s3.t2.6
⁸ Ed. *Pandit*, N.S. ix-xii.
c33.s3.t2.7
⁹ Ed. ĀnSS. 50; trans. R. Otto, Tübingen, 1916.
c33.s3.t2.8
¹ Cf. Keith, *ERE.* x. 572 ff.
Linked texts (3)
- Vedāntasāra — Sadānanda Yogīndra, Sanskrit
- Vedārthasaṅgraha — Rāmānuja, Sanskrit
- Yatīndramatadīpikā — Śrīnivāsadāsa 1550, Sanskrit