History of Classical Sanskrit Literature c19.s2.1

c19.s2.1

**213. Śrī Madhva Ācārya** or Ānandatīrtha,⁶ was born in the village of Belle near Udipi in an orthodox brahmin family in the year Yuva, 4300 Kali or 1198 A.D.⁷ on the last day of Navarāṭri. That day is now known as Madhvanavami. His mother was Vedavallī. His original name was Vāsudeva. His early life displayed miracles of divine powers. By twenty five,¹ he became learned in all the sciences and Vedas. His knowledge was so profound that he was called Pūrṇaprajña. At that age he renounced his family and became an ascetic on the initiation of Acyuṭaprakāśa under the name of Ānandaṭīrtha. In his tours through-out India he engaged himself in philosophical controversies and became the founder of the Advaita school of philosophy. He expounded his Dvaita doctrine in his Bhāṣyas on Vyāsa Sūṭras, the Upaniṣads, and the Gīta. He spent his last years at the Saridantaram, the duab between the rivers Neṭrāvaṭi and Kumāradhāra in S. Canara and he lived for 79 years, 6 months and 20 days and disappeared in Pingala, 1278 A.D.²