Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch Volume II Part 25

Madhva travelled in both northern and southern India and had a somewhat troubled life, for his doctrine, being the flat contradiction of the Advaita, involved him in continual conflicts with the followers of San?kara who are said to have even stolen his library. At any rate they anathematized his teaching with a violence unusual in Indian theology.[597] In spite of such lively controversy he found time to write thirty-seven works, including commentaries on the Upanishads, Bhagavad-gita and Vedanta Sutras. The obvious meaning of these texts is not that required by his system, but they are recognized by all Vaishn?avas as the three Prasthanas or starting-points of philosophy and he had to show that they supported his views. Hence his interpretation often seems forced and perverse. The most extraordinary instance of this is his explanation of the celebrated phrase in the Chandogya Upanishad Sa atma tat tvam asi. He reads Sa atma atat tvam asi and considers that it means "You are not that G.o.d. Why be so conceited as to suppose that you are?"[598] Monotheistic texts have often received a mystical and pantheistic interpretation. The Old Testament and the Koran have been so treated by Kabbalists and Sufis.

But in Madhva's commentaries we see the opposite and probably rarer method. Pantheistic texts are twisted until they are made to express uncompromising monotheism.

The sect is often called Brahma-sampradaya, because it claims that its doctrine was revealed by Brahma from whom Madhva was the sixth teacher in spiritual descent. Its members are known as Madhvas but prefer to call themselves Sad-Vaishn?avas. Its teaching seems more rigid and less emotional than that of other Vishnuites and is based on the Pancabheda or five eternal distinctions between (_a_) G.o.d and the soul, (_b_) G.o.d and matter, (_c_) the soul and matter, (_d_) individual souls, (_e_) individual atoms of matter. G.o.d is generally called Vishn?u or Narayan?a rather than Vasudeva. Kr?ishn?a is adored but not in his pastoral aspect. Vishn?u and his spouse Lakshmi are real though superhuman personalities and their sons are Brahma the creator and Vayu.[599] Peculiar to this sect is the doctrine that except through Vayu, the son of Vishn?u, salvation is impossible. Vayu has been three times incarnate as Hanumat, the helper of Rama, as Bhima and as Madhva himself.[600] Souls are separate, innumerable and related to G.o.d as subjects to a king. They are of three cla.s.ses: those who are destined to eternal bliss in the presence of G.o.d: those who revolve eternally in the maze of transmigration: and those who tending ever downwards are doomed to eternal suffering.

This last doctrine, as well as the doctrine of salvation through Vayu, the wind or spirit, has led many to suspect that Madhva was influenced by Christian ideas, but it is more probable that he owed something to Islam. Such influence would no doubt be distant and indirect, for a Brahman would not come into contact with Moslim doctors, though it is said that Madhva could speak Persian.[601] But some Moslim ideas such as the absolute separation of G.o.d from the world and the predestination of souls to eternal happiness and misery may have entered Brahman minds. Still, nearly all Madhva's views (with the possible exception of eternal punishment) have Indian a.n.a.logies. The Yoga teaches that there are innumerable souls distinct from one another and from G.o.d and though salvation through the spirit sounds Christian, yet the Upanishads constantly celebrate Vayu (wind) and Pran?a (breath) as the pervading principle of the world and the home of the self. "By the wind (Vayu) as thread, O Gautama, this world and the other world and all creatures are bound together."[602] Thus the idea that the wind is the universal mediator is old and it does not seem that Madhva regarded Vayu as a redeemer or expiation for sin like Christ.

The Madhvas are still an energetic and important sect. Their headquarters are at Udipi in South Kanara and they also hold an annual conference at Tirupati at which examinations in theology are held and prizes given. At Udipi are eight mat?hs and a very sacred temple, dedicated by Madhva himself to Kr?ishn?a. The head of each mat?h is charged in turn with the supervision of this temple during two years and the change of office is celebrated by a great biennial festival in January. The wors.h.i.+p is more puritanical than in the temples of other sects, dancing girls for instance not being allowed, but great importance is attached to the practice of branding the body with the emblems of Vishn?u. The sect, like the Sri Vaishn?avas, is divided into two parties, the Vyasakutas who are conservative and use Sanskrit scriptures,[603] and the Dasakutas who have more popular tendencies and use sacred books written in Kanarese. Neither the Sri Vaishn?avas nor the Madhvas are numerous in northern India.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 564: Such as the Vishn?u Puran?a, Vishn?u Dharma, said to be a section of the Garuda Puran?a and the Bhagavad-gita.]

[Footnote 565: The Hindus are well aware that the doctrine of Bhakti spread from the south to the north. See the allegory quoted in _J.R.A.S._ 1911, p. 800.]

[Footnote 566: Thus Ramanuja says (Sri Bhashya, II. 2. 43) that the Vedanta Sutras do not refute the Sankhya and Yoga but merely certain erroneous views as to Brahman not being the self.]

[Footnote 567: It has been described as the earliest of the Vishnuite Churches and it would be so if we could be sure that the existence of the doctrine called Dvaitadvaita was equivalent to the existence of the sect. But Bhandarkar has shown some reason for thinking that Nimbaditya lived after Ramanuja. It must be admitted that the wors.h.i.+p of Radha and the doctrine of self-surrender or prapatti, both found in the Dasasloki, are probably late.]

[Footnote 568: See Grierson in _E.R.E._ vol. II. p. 457.]

[Footnote 569: The Church of the Nimavats is also called Sanakadi-sampradaya because it professes to derive its doctrine from Sanaka and his brethren who taught Narada, who taught Nimbarka. At least one sub-sect founded by Harivamsa (born 1559) adopts a doctrine a.n.a.logous to Saktism and wors.h.i.+ps Radha as the manifestation of Kr?ishn?a's energy.]

[Footnote 570: Called the Dasasloki. It is translated in Bhandarkar's _Vaishn? and Saivism_, pp. 63-5.]

[Footnote 571: Also spelt Alvar and Azhvar. The Tamil p.r.o.nunciation of this difficult letter varies in different districts. The word apparently means one who is drowned or immersed in the divine love.

Cf. _Azhi_, the deep sea; _Azhal_, being deep or being immersed.]

[Footnote 572: An educated Vaishn?ava told me at Srirangam that devas and saints receive the same homage.]

[Footnote 573: It is possible that the poems attributed to Namm'ar?var and other saints are really later compositions. See _Epig. Ind_. vol.

VIII. p. 294.]

[Footnote 574: XI. 5. 38-40.]

[Footnote 575: Bhandarkar (_Vaishn?. and Saivism_, p. 50) thinks it probable that Kulasekhara, one of the middle ar?vars, lived about 1130. But the argument is not conclusive and it seems to me improbable that he lived after Nathamuni.]

[Footnote 576: The first called Mudal-ayiram consists of nine hymns ascribed to various saints such as Periyar?var and Andal. The second and third each consist of a single work the Periya-tiru-mor?i and the Tiru-vay-mor?i ascribed to Tiru-mangai and Namm'ar?var respectively.

The fourth part or Iyar-pa is like the first a miscellany containing further compositions by these two as well as by others.]

[Footnote 577: Nitya.n.u.sandhanam series: edited with Telugu paraphrase and English translation by M.B. Srinivasa Aiyangar, Madras, 1898.]

[Footnote 578: The best known is the Guru-parampara-prabhavam of Brahmatantra-svatantra-swami. For an English account of these doctors see T. Rajagopala Chariar, _The Vaishn?avite Reformers of India_, Madras, 1909.]

[Footnote 579: agamapraman?ya. He also wrote a well-known hymn called alavandar-Stotram and a philosophical treatise called Siddhi-traya.]

[Footnote 580: He states himself that he followed Boddhayana, a commentator on the Sutras of unknown date but anterior to San?kara. He quotes several other commentators particularly Dramid?a, so that his school must have had a long line of teachers.]

[Footnote 581: See _Gazetteer of India_, vol. XXIII. s.v. There is a Kanarese account of his life called Dibya-caritra. For his life and teaching see also Bhandarkar in _Berichte VIIth Int. Orient.

Congress_, 1886, pp. 101 ff. Lives in English have been published at Madras by Alkondaville Govindacarya (1906) and Kr?ishn?aswami Aiyangar (? 1909).]

[Footnote 582: He also wrote the Vedartha San?graha, Vedartha Pradipa, Vedanta Sara and a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita.]

[Footnote 583: _S.B.E._ XLVIII. p. 3.]

[Footnote 584: II. 2. 36-39.]

[Footnote 585: II. 2. 43 _ad fin._]

[Footnote 586: Ramanuja's introduction to the Bhagavad-gita is more ornate but does not go much further in doctrine than the pa.s.sage here quoted.]

[Footnote 587: This fivefold manifestation of the deity is a characteristic Pancaratra doctrine. See Schrader, _Int._ pp. 25, 51 and _Sri Bhashya_, II. 242.]

[Footnote 588: See Br. Ar. Up III. 7. The Sri Vaishn?avas attach great importance to this chapter.]

[Footnote 589: Only relatively northern and southern. Neither flourish in what we call northern India.]

[Footnote 590: Hence the two doctrines are called markat?a-nyaya and marjara-nyaya, monkey theory and cat theory. The latter gave rise to the dangerous doctrine of Doshabhogya, that G.o.d enjoys sin, since it gives a larger scope for the display of His grace. Cf. Oscar Wilde in _De Profundis_, "Christ, through some divine instinct in him, seems to have always loved the sinner as being the nearest possible approach to perfection in man.... In a manner not yet understood of the world, he regarded sin and suffering as being in themselves beautiful holy things and modes of perfection.... Christ, had he been asked, would have said--I feel quite certain about it--that the moment the prodigal son fell on his knees and wept, he made his having wasted his substance with harlots, his swine herding and hungering for the husks they ate beautiful and holy moments in his life."]

[Footnote 591: Also called Ven?katanatha. For some rather elaborate studies in the history of the Sri-Vaishn?avas see V. Rangacharis'

articles in _J. Bombay R.A.S._ 1915 and 1916 and _J. Mythic Society_, 1917, Nos. 2 ff.]

[Footnote 592: Prapatti and acaryabhimana.--The word _prapatti_ seems not to occur in the Sri Bhashya and it is clear that Ramanuja's temperament was inclined to active and intelligent devotion. But _prapatti_ is said to have been taught by Nathamuni and Sathagopa (Rajagopala Chariar, _Vaishn?avite Reformers_, p. 6). The word means literally _approaching._]

[Footnote 593: The Artha-pancaka and Tattva-traya are the best known.

See text and translation of the first in _J.R.A.S._ 1910, pp.

565-607.]

[Footnote 594: Ramanuja set less store than Sankara on asceticism and renunciation of the world. He held the doctrine called _samucchaya_ (or combination) namely that good works as well as knowledge are efficacious for salvation.]

[Footnote 595: Also called anandatirtha and Purn?aprajna. According to others he was born in 1238 A.D. See for his doctrines Grierson's article Madhvas in _E.R.E._ and his own commentaries on the Chandogya and Br?ihad Ar. Upanishads published in _Sacred Books of the Hindus_, vols. III. and XIV. For his date Bhandarkar, _Vaishn?. and Saivism_, pp. 58-59 and _I.A._. 1914, pp. 233 ff. and 262 ff. Accounts of his life and teaching have been written by Padmanabha Char. and Kr?ishn?a Svami Aiyer (Madras, 1909). His followers maintain that he is not dead but still alive at Badari in the Himalayas.]

[Footnote 596: See Padmanabha Char. _l.c._ page 12. Madhva condemned the wors.h.i.+p of inanimate objects (_e.g._ com. Chand. Up. VII. 14. 2) but not the wors.h.i.+p of Brahman _in_ inanimate objects.]

[Footnote 597: In a work called the _Pashanda capetika_ or _A Slap for Heretics_, all the adherents of Madhva are consigned to h.e.l.l and the Saurapuran?a, chaps. x.x.xVIII.-XL. contains a violent polemic against them. See Jahn's _a.n.a.lysis_, pp. 90-106 and Barth in _Melanges Harlez_, pp. 12-25. It is curious that the Madhvas should have been selected for attack, for in many ways they are less opposed to Sivaites than are other Vishnuite sects but the author was clearly badly informed about the doctrines which he attacks and he was probably an old-fas.h.i.+oned Sivaite of the north who regarded Madhvism as a new-fangled version of objectionable doctrines.

The Madhvas are equally violent in denouncing Sankara and his followers. They miswrite the name Sam?kara, giving it the sense of mongrel or dirt and hold that he was an incarnation of a demon called Man?imat sent by evil spirits to corrupt the world.]

[Footnote 598: See his comment on Chand. Up. VI. 8. 7. Compare Bhag.-g. XV. 7. The text appears to say that the soul (Jiva) is a part (amsa) of the Lord. Madhva says it is so-called because it bears some reduced similitude to the Lord, though quite distinct from him.

Madhva's exegesis is supported by a system of tantric or cabalistic interpretation in which every letter has a special meaning. Thus in the pa.s.sage of the Chand. Up. mentioned above the simple words _sa ya eshah_ are explained as equivalent to Sara essence, yama the controller, and ishta the desired one. The reading atat tvam asi is said not to have originated with Madhva but to be found in a Bhagavata work called the Samasamhita.]

[Footnote 599: In his commentary on the opening of the Chand. Up.

Madhva seems to imply a Trinity consisting of Vishn?u, Rama (=Lakshmi) and Vayu.]

[Footnote 600: This is expressly stated at the end of the commentary on the Brih. Ar. Upan.]

[Footnote 601: _Life and teachings of Sri-Madhvacharyar_ by Padmanabha Char. 1909, p. 159. Some have suspected a connection between Madhva's teaching and Manicheism, because he attached much importance to an obscure demon called Manimat (see Mahabh. III. 11, 661) whom he considered incarnate in Sankara. It is conceivable that in his Persian studies he may have heard of Mani as an arch-heretic and have identified him with this demon but this does not imply any connection between his own system (or Sankara's either) and Manicheism.]