Dating The dating of Vidyaranya is unclear. According to Jackson, Vidyaranya was born between 1280 and 1285. According to the records of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Vidyaranya was born in c. 1296 CE in Ekasila Nagara (present-day Warangal). According to Sringeri matha, Vidyaranya was ordained as a
sannyasin in 1331. According to Goodding, Vidyaranya ordained at old age; Rosen Dalal mentions the year 1377. He was the
jagadguru (spiritual head) of the
Sringeri Sharada Peetham (Sringeri matha) from ca. 1374–1380 until 1386 CE. According to Slaje, "[t]here is positive epigraphical evidence that he must have been in charge as the head of Sringeri from at least 1374/75 - as the successor to Bharatitirtha who died in 1374 - until 1386, the year of his own death." According to Clark, "The first genuine epigraphic mention of Vidyaranya is dated October 25, 1375."
Identification with Madhava Vidyaranya, who is thought to have been named Madhava before taking ordination as a
sannyasin, is usually identified with Madhavacharya, the author of the
Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha and the
Shankara Digvijaya. According to the Sringeri accounts, Vidyaranya was the elder brother of Bharati Tirtha, who preceded him as the acharya of Sringeri. Vidyaranya composed, or contributed to, a number of texts. The
Panchadashi may have been finished by Bharati Tirtha, and some sources argue that Vidyaranya and Bharati Tirtha were the same person. Yet the Sringeri records clearly identify them as two different persons. Some accounts identify Madhavacharya or Vidyaranya with Madhava, the brother of
Sayana, a Mimamsa scholar. In his attempt to clarify the identification of Madhava with Vidyaranya, Narasimhachar (1916, 1917) named this Madhava [B], distinguishing him from Madhava [A], a device also followed by Rama Rao (1930; 1931; 1934), and Kulke (1985). Mid 14th century, Madhava [B] served as a minister in the Vijayanagara Empire, and wrote several works, including, according to Rama Rao, the
Jivanmuktiviveka, a work usually attributed to Vidyaranya, due to his identification with Madhava [B]. According to the Sringeri account, the brothers Madhava and Sayana came to Vidyaranya to receive his blessings, and completed his unfinished Veda bhashyas.
Role in the Vijayanagara Empire The role of Vidyaranya in the founding of the Vijayanagara Empire is not certain. According to tradition, Vidyaranya played an important role in the establishment of the Hindu
Vijayanagara Empire (1336–1646) of South India, which emerged as a culmination of attempts by the southern powers to ward off
Islamic invasions by the end of the 13th century, as a successor to the Hindu kingdoms of the
Hoysalas, the Kakatiyas, and the Yadavas. According to tradition, Vidyaranya supported and inspired the empire's founders Harihara Raya I and Bukka Raya I to fight the Muslim invasion of South India, and served as a prime minister to
Harihara Raya I, the first king of the
Vijayanagara Empire and named after
Harihara, the fused
sattvika characterisation of
Vishnu (Hari) and
Shiva (Hara), and then to
Bukka Raya I and
Harihara II. There are several versions of Vidyaranya's role in the Vijayanagara Empire. The Andraha or Telugu version depends on Sanskrit sources written 200 years later, and is often repeated in historical works, such as Nilakanta Sastri's
A History of South India. According to this narrative, the empire's founders Harihara Raya I and Bukka Raya I were two brothers belonging to the
Kakatiya dynasty, serving the
Kampili chief. After Kampili fell to the Muslim invasion, they were taken to Delhi and converted to
Islam. They were sent back to Kampili as the
Delhi Sultan's vassals. After gaining power in the region, they met Vidyaranya, who converted them back to the Hindu faith. After receiving his blessings, they founded their kingdom at ca. 1336. An alternate Kannada narrative is that Harihara and Bukka were serving the
Hoysalas. The date of 1336 for the founding of the Vijayanagara Empire is unreliable, based on copperplate inscriptions from the 16th century, forged by Sringeri math "when the Vijayanagara kings shifted their interest from the Saivite matha to the Vaisnavite sect, and the leaders of the
matha wanted to reassert their prestige by connecting themselves directly with the founding of the empire." In this view, 1346 is more likely, based on an inscription mentioning the
manotsava, or great festival, of Harihara and Bukka, held at Sringeri matha. No mention is made here of a role of Vidyaranya. The historical authenticity of the Andraha or Telugu account has been questioned. The contemporary documents, including the inscriptions issued by the earliest rulers of Vijayanagara, do not mention this account. The contemporary Muslim records refer to Harihara (as "Harip" or "Haryab"), but do not mention anything about his conversion to Islam, although they contain details of other converts from Deccan. The first works to mention this narrative were written over 200 years after the establishment of Vijayanagara. According to studies by Filliozat, Kulke and Wagoner, Vidyaranya was not involved in the founding of the Vijayanagara Empire. Texts describing such an involvement date from the 16th and 17th century, and the involvement of Vidyaranya is a "political foundation myth, an ideological attempt to represent the authority of the Vijayanagara state as deriving directly from that of the Sultanate." Vidyaranya's role as an advisor to Harihara Raya I and Bukka Raya I "was imagined probably at least 200 years afterward." His supposed political status may be based on a misidentification with Madhavamatrin, a minister to Sangama brother Mallapa I. Vidyaranya is not mentioned in inscriptions from before 1374.
Importance of Sringeri math and influence on Advaita tradition of his guru Vidya sankara. Sringeri matha became a powerful institution in the 14th century, when it started to receive patronage from the kings of the Vijayanagara Empire. The Vidyashankara temple in Sringeri is the samadhi of Vidya Shankara , Guru of Vidyaranya, which was built over his grave by his disciple
Harihara.
Paul Hacker notes that no mention of the
mathas can be found before the 14th century CE. Until the 15th century, the timespan of the directors of Sringeri Math are
unrealistically long, spanning 60+ and even 105 years. After 1386, the timespans become much shorter. According to Hacker, these
mathas may have originated as late as the 14th century, to propagate Shankara's view of Advaita. Goodding concurs with Hacker on the prominence of Sringeri
matha in the Vijayanagara Empire, but argues that Sringeri matha already existed, but rapidly gained prominence in the second half of the 14th century. The key event according to the Kannada narrative is the
manotsava of 1346, which marks the beginning of Vijayanagara patronage of Vidyatirtha, the Shankaracarya of Sringeri math, who legitimized their kingdom with his blessings, receiving a land grant in return. According to this narrative, the Sangamas were retainers to the Hoysala royal house, and the 1346
manotsava "marks the inheritance of the Hoysala domains by the new Sangama dynasty." Until 1374, the earliest possible date of Vidyaranya's installment as
jagadguru, Sringeri math was granted substantially more land and money, and the prestige of the
jagadguru had subsequently changed too. This may have aided the further dissemination of Advaita views, and the production of Advaita texts. Vidyaranya had a central role in repositioning Shankara and his view on Advaita Vedanta. Vidyaranya enjoyed royal support, and his sponsorship and methodical efforts helped establish Shankara as a rallying symbol of values, spread historical and cultural influence of Shankara's Vedānta philosophies, and establish monasteries (
mathas) to expand the cultural influence of Shankara and Advaita Vedānta. Advaita Vedanta's position as most influential Hindu
darsana took shape as Advaitins in the Vijayanagara Empire competed for patronage from the royal court, and tried to convert others to their sect. Vidyaranya's works have been explained as a response to the devastation caused by the Islamic
Delhi Sultanate, but his efforts were also targeted at Srivaisnava groups, especially
Visistadvaita, which was dominant in territories conquered by the Vijayanagara Empire. Sects competed for patronage from the royal court, and tried to convert others to their own sectarian system, and Vidyaranya efforts were aimed at promoting Advaita Vedanta among Srivaishnavins. This promotion was aided by the production of new texts. Vidyaranya and his brothers wrote extensive Advaitic commentaries on the Vedas and Dharma to make "the authoritative literature of the Aryan religion" more accessible. In his
doxography Sarvadarśanasaṅgraha ("Summary of all views") Madhava presented Shankara's teachings as the summit of all
darsanas, presenting the other
darsanas as partial truths which converged in Shankara's teachings, which was regarded to be the most inclusive system. The Vaishanava traditions of Dvaita and Visitadvaita were placed just above Buddhism and Jainism, reflecting the threat they posed for Vidyaranya's Advaita allegiance. Bhedabheda wasn't mentioned at all, "literally written out of the history of Indian philosophy." In the late 15th century, the patronage of the Vijayanagara kings shifted to Vaisnavism. Following this loss of patronage, Sringeri matha had to find other means to propagate its former status, and the story of Shankara establishing the four cardinal
mathas may have originated in the 16th century. Most of Shankara's biographies were created and published from the 15th to the 17th century, such as the widely cited
Śankara-digvijaya, in which legends were created turning Shankara into a "divine folk-hero who spread his teaching through his
digvijaya ("universal conquest") all over India like a victorious conqueror." Vidyaranya is also said to have visited
Varanasi and installed a Shiva Linga there which can still be found inside the premises of the Sringeri mutt at Varanasi. ==Works==