Jayatirtha

Sri Jayatirtha or Jayateertharu (also known as Teekācharya) (c. 1365 – c. 1388) was the sixth pontiff of Madhvacharya Peetha. He is considered to be one of the most important seers in the history of Dvaita philosophy on account of his sound elucidations of the works of Madhvacharya. He is credited with structuring the philosophical aspects of Dvaita and through his polemical works, elevating it to an equal footing with the contemporary schools of thought.

He was born as Dhondupant (a.k.a. Dhondurao) to Raghunath and Sakubai Deshpande. His birthplace is Mangalavedhe which lies near Pandharapur in today’s Maharashtra. Because he was born to a local Brahmin chieftain’s family, he had all the wealth, power, affection. He was very handsome, healthy, intelligent, endowed with physical vigor, and given to outdoor activity such as horse riding.

Sri Jayateertha was supposed to have been born as a bull in his previous life – the bull that traveled with Sri Ananda Teertha (another name of Sri Madhvacharya), carrying the volumes of his philosophical works. His Moola Roopa is Indra Deva and he had an Avesha of Sesha Deva With such close proximity, the bull would stand and listen to Sri Ananda Teertha’s teachings. When some disciples approached Sri Ananda Teertha to seek the privilege of writing commentaries on his works, he told them it would not be any of them but the bull that would get the privilege. This resulted in jealousy amongst some of the disciples and the bull being cursed by them to die of a snakebite. Sri Anand Teertha came to know about this and changed the wordings of the curse such that the snake that bit the bull would die, and not the bull!

Once, a young Dhondupant was crossing the river Bheema on horseback, chasing a group of bandits. Tired as he was, he bent down without dismounting or even stopping the horse and drank water directly from the river. Sri Akshobhya Teertha, a direct disciple of Sri Ananda Teertha, who happened to witness the event, addressed him in Sanskrit “kim pashuH pûrva-dehe?” meaning “Were you an animal in your former body (birth)?”. This triggered the memory of the previous birth within young Dhondupant and reminded him of his duties to Sri Ananda Teertha. He was overcome by a desire to renounce material life and devote his life to the services of his master. Sri Akshobhya Teertha then initiated him in to Sanyasa. When Raghunatha Deshpande, Dhondupant’s father, came to know about this, he was very angry with Sri Akshobhya Teertha and he forcibly took his son back home in order to get him married. Forced into marriage against his wishes, Dhondupant took the form of a snake on the first night, causing the newly-wed bride to scream and run away from the room; this made his father realize that his son was no ordinary being, but someone born with a divine purpose. He acquiesced to Dhondupant’s sainthood, for which he was blessed with another son who would continue the lineage. Later, Dhondupant attained to sainthood and became Sri Jayateertha.

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Nyayasudha is known as Sri Jayateertha’s magnum opus and is the exhaustive and detailed commentary (Teeka is Sanskrit for commentary, hence he also known as Teekacharya) of Sri Madhvacharya’s Anuvyakhyana which in turn itself is a commentary on Brahma Sutras by Veda Vyasa. Sri Jayateertha has brilliantly and, more importantly, sincerely captured the pithy statements of his master in a lucid and simple language. It is universally admitted in the Dvaita tradition that the depth and breadth of the philosophical ocean of Tatvavada can only be appreciated with the help of the Nyaya Sudha. In a very attractive and lucid style, Sri Jayatirtha not only presents and strongly defends almost all the important philosophical and epistemological issues from the Dvaita point of view, but also severely criticizes other major philosophical systems of India such as the Bauddha, Jaina, Nyaya-Vaisesika, Bhatta-Prabhakara Mimamsa, Advaita and Visishtadvaita. Thus, in the Dvaita tradition, the work is held in very high esteem and it is believed that scholarship in Dvaita Vedanta is incomplete without a thorough study of this monumental work.

Sri Jayateertha's Brindavanam is the much debated topic. There are two locations that are being ascribed to be the original place of his Brindavanam (1) Brindavana is at Malakhed near Gulbarga on the banks of river Kagini and (2) Navabrindavana Gadde near Anegundi in the middle of the Tungabhadra river course.. For the last many decades Madhva scholars and historians are debating on the actual place of Sri Jayateertha's Mula Brindavanam. A research book [1] has been published in the year 2014 by Sri Suayami Raghavendra Samshodhana Kendra, Nanjangud & Bangalore. The editors for this book are Vidwan K.L. Pushkaracharya and Vidwan G.V. Navalagunda. The book is titled as "Sri Jayatirthara Mulabrundavana sthala Gajagahvara". Sri Narahari Sumadhwa from www.sumadhwaseva.com has critically analysed the contents of the book. Sri Vyasanakere Prabhanjanacharya, a learned scholar and researcher of Madhva community, has published a rejoinder titled "Sri Jayatirthara Mulabrundavana sthala Malkheda" in October, 2014.

There are totally 18 works accredited to Sri Jayatirtha, most of them are direct commentary (Tika) on Sri Madhvacharya's work. Some well-known works of Sri Jayatirtha are

• Nyaya sudha (Nectar of logic) - a commentary on Sri Madhvacarya's Anuvyakhyana
• Tattva prakashika (The light of truth) - a commentary on Sri Madhvacarya's Brahma Sutra Bhashya
• Prameya deepika (The light of object of knowledge) - a commentary on Sri Madhvacarya's Geeta Bhashya
• Nyaya deepika (The light of logic) - a commentary on Sri Madhvacarya's Geeta Tatparya

He is also credited with commentaries on Sri Madhva's Dasaprakaranas and two out of ten Upanishad Bhashyas.

His independent works are Vadavali, Pramana Paddati and Padyamala.