The Advaitin who admired Swami Desikan

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Dear friends,

 

In this posting I am going to tell you about an

Advaitin who, believe it or not, was an ardent admirer

of the VisishtAdvaita 'achArya', Swami Venkatanathan

(Vedanta Desikan). He is Appayya Dikshitar (1554 -1626

AD) and his life is testimony to the fact that the

many differences of opinion or principle between their

respective schools of philosophy did not always come

in the way of Advaitins and VisishtAdvatins respecting

one another for erudition, talent and piety. It speaks

volumes for the nobility and catholicity of 'vaideeka'

minds of those gentlemanly days.

 

The material for this posting of mine is drawn mainly

from an old write-up given to me by Sri.

T.S.Parthasarathy of Chennai, a well-known scholar of

Sanskrit literature and a musicologist of the Carnatic

tradition (he has been a member of the Experts

Committee, Music Academy, Madras for several decades).

Sri.Parthasarathy is a family friend being an avid

'rasika' of my mother (late) Smt.Mani Krishnaswami's

music (It was he who edited the commemorative volume

"Remembering Mani" that was released in early July

this year). Sri.Parthasarathy is a great devotee too

of the other, greater "mani" -- the "ghanta-mani"

(Swami Desikan). After he had read my monograph on

Swami Desikan's life-story ("Art of Living" --

archived now in cyber-lists like 'Srirangasri',

'tiruvenkatam', 'Oppiliappan' as well as in Sri.TCA

Venkatesan's homepage), Sri Parthasarathy, who is now

90 years of age, blessed me warmly and, in

appreciation of my little effort, he gave me an old

note written and published by him some years ago on

the life of this illustrious Advaitin admirer of

Desikan, Sri Appayya Dikshitar. I am deeply grateful

for the kind gesture of Sri Parthasarathy. I dedicate

this posting to the doyen.

 

***********

 

Appayya Dikshitar was born in a village called

Adayappalam near Kanchipuram. His lineage was an

interesting one.

 

His grandfather was a scholar named Vakshasthala

Ganapati of Bharadhwaja 'gOtra'. He had two wives of

which the second was Totadri Amba, the daughter of

RangarAjadhvari who belonged to family of one

VaikuntachArya. This appears to have been a very

unusual "mixed marriage" between Vaishnava and SmArta

families in those days! Appayya Dikshita himself is

reported to have confirmed this.

 

Two sons, RangarAjadhvari (again) and Achan Dikshita

were born of this alliance. Appaya Dikshita was born

to the first one. Achan Dikshita's grandson was the

reputed Nilakanta Dikshitar of later years.

 

Appayya Dikshitar's father RangarAjadhvari was the

author of many Advaita works. He passed away when his

son was only 9 years old. But Appayya Dikshitar even

by that tender age had learnt and mastered all that

his father had taught him by way of Veda, vEdAnga,

vyAkarana and traditional arts and sciences. Appayya

Dikshita's mastery over chandas, nirukta and jyotisha

is said to be easily evident in his works, the

"nakshatra vAdavalli" and "prAkrita manidIpa".

 

Appayya DIkshita was deeply Advaitic in outlook. He

was also a staunch Siva bhakta. In 2 highly

controversial works Dikshita attempted to prove that

the heroes of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were

incarnations of Siva, the supreme Lord of the

Saivites. Though these works stired the proverbial

hornet's nest even in those days, scholars even today

admit that a reading of these classics of Appayya

Dikshita speak volumes about his originality and

mastery over the 2 "itihAsAs".

 

Although Dikshita lived for a long time in Chidambaram

(the Vatican of Saivism in those days), and served in

the temple of Lord Nataraja there by composing many

works in praise of Siva, it did not stop him from also

composing works in praise of Lord Vishnu. Two works

are known today -- "Sri Krishna DhyAna paddathi" and

"Varadarajastava". Diskhita was an indomitable

intellectual.

 

Even amongst the Advaitins, Appayya Dikshita was a bit

of a maverick and a stormy petrel. His interpretation

of Advaitic 'mImAmsa' and 'alankAra' were entirely

original and for this he had to face loud and bitter

criticism from other Advaitic pandits of the times

like Khandadeva, Somanatha and Venkatadhvari. Appayya

Dikshita's brand of Vedanta also came under attack

from the famous Sri Rangaramanuja muni, the Vaishnava

commentator on the Upanishads.

 

In spite of all these severe critics, everyone who was

acquainted with Dikshita's works, whether Advaitin or

Vaishnava, held no two opinions about his many-sided

scholarship and sincerity of purpose. They considered

him to be a 'sarva-tantra-svantatra', a master of all

arts and sciences, much in the mould of Vedanta Desika

on whose work Dikshita was later to write a

commentary. SriVaishnavas of those times, especially,

had no hesitation whatsoever in proclaiming that even

a scholar belonging to their own 'sampradAya' could

not have written a better commentary on Swami

Venkatanathan's classic Sanskrit opera

"yAdavAbhyudaya".

 

Appayya Dikshita happened to be the poet-laureate

('asthana-vidwan') at the royal court of Chinna Timma,

who was the local ruler of Vellore between 1574 and

1585. The King Chinna Timma came from a lineage of

royal kings of the Raja dynasty and they were great

patrons of literature. Some of the kings like Chinna

Timma also adopted Vaishnavas as personal mentors or

'sadAchAryAs'. It is this Vaishnava connection of his

forbears which probably had made this king familiar

with Desikan's 'yAdavAbhyudaya'. Chinna Timma was

desirous of having someone write a detailed commentary

on this 'mahA kAvya' of Desikan and felt his

poet-laureate Appayya Dikshita was the best suited to

undertake it. It is said the king performed a

"kanakAbhishEkam" on Dikshita for having successfully

completed the royal commission.

 

The 'yAdavAbhyudaya' is a Sanksrit opera of 24

'sargas' or cantos. It is an equal of KalidAsa's

magnificent works like Raghuvamsha or Meghasandesham.

Swami Desikan himself considered it to be his best

poetic work when he attested:

 

"gauda vaidarbha panchala malakaram sarasvatim

yasya nityam prasamsanti santah

saurabhavedinah"

 

(The cognoscenti who realize the true value of

perfumery, extol the poetic muse of Desika who wears a

garland woven out of Gauda, Vaidarbha and Panchala

'riti').

 

It is common among SriVaishnavas to hail the 'stOtra'

of YamunAchArya as "stOtra-ratna" and Desikan's

'yAdavAbhyudaya' as "kAvya-ratna". This operatic

magnum-opus traces the life of Krishna from his days

in Gokulam right upto His ascent unto Heaven at the

end of His avataric sojourn on earth. Scholars to this

day have never ceased marvelling at the breath-taking

beauty of Sanskrit poetry that brims over in this

'kAvya'. Dikshita in his own times, having lost

himself in the enchanting poetry of Desikan, is said

to have declared:

 

"ittham vichintyah sarvatra bhAva santi padE padE

kavi tArkika simhasya kAvyEshu lalitEshvapi"

 

(In the verses of this lion among poets there are

beauties and sentiments of immeasureable beauty, at

every turn of phrase -- however simple they appear to

be... and these are to be fathomed after deep study!)

 

Sri T.S.Parthasarathy writes: "Desika's original along

with Dikshita's commentary has recently been edited

and published by Abhinava Desika Sri Uttamur

Viraraghvacharya swami on behalf of the Ubhaya Vedanta

Granthamala of Madras. The original and the commentary

by two intellectual giants of two different times are

literary treasures deserving to be cherished and

preserved forever".

 

The meaning of this great 'yadAvAbhyudaya' would have

been totally lost to posterity but for the commentary

.... believe it or not... that an Advaitin scholar

called Appayya Dikshita wrote on it!

 

Thanks and regards,

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

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