Yadava Prakaasa

Yadava Prakaasa was an Advaita scholar and a contemporary of Vaishnava Acharya Ramanuja. He was one of the teachers of Ramanuja during the latter's early years in Kanchi. It is said that Ramanuja joined Yadava Prakaasa's school while he was only sixteen years old.

However severe differences rose between them early on, over the interpretation of several Vedic texts and scriptures on Hinduism like Chandogya Upanishad. This eventually led Ramanuja to break away from Yadava Prakaasa and expound his own school of thought known as Vishishtadvaita.

When Ramanuja was a student under Yadava Prakasa, the latter grew jealous of Ramanuja's rise to fame. So Yadava Prakasa tried to get rid of Ramanuja during a tour to the Ganges in north India. Govinda, Ramanuja's cousin came to know of this sinister plot and warned Ramanuja who then left the group and escaped to Kanchi with the help of an elderly hunter couple. Later Yadava Prakasa realised his folly and became a disciple under Ramanuja.