Vadirajatirtha

Sri Vadirajatirtha (Tulu/Kannada: ಶ್ರೀ ವಾದಿರಾಜ ತೀರ್ಥರು)1480 - 1600,a Haridasa, is said to have been a Shivalli Tulu Brahmin and native of the village of Hoovinakere, near Kumbhashi in Kundapura taluk, Udupi District in Karnataka state. His parents were Ramacharya and Gauri.Sharma (1961), p414] He is considered the second highest saint in the Madhva hierarchy, next only to Srimad Ananda Tîrtha, even though his guru was Sri Vyasatirtha. He is regarded as an incarnation of "Latavya". He was not only a great poet but also very effective in the administration of the Udupi Matha system. He brought about many changes to the operational system of the Matha which by itself showed his high placing in the Madhva hierarchy.

He became a Sanyasi at the young age of 8. The pre-sanyasa name given to Sri Vadiraja was Bhuvaraha. He worshipped Lord Vishnu in the form of Haya Vadana.

It was Sri Vadiraja Theertha who changed the Paryaya system of Udupi to two years from the earlier practice of 2 months. This extension of each individual Paryaya enabled the Swamis to travel far and wide and spread the message of Madhva tradition. Another of Sri Vadiraja Theertha's achievements is that he lived a life of 120 years and performed Lord Krishna's Paryaya at Udupi 5 times.

In an age that knew great Sanskrit scholars and intellects, Sri Vadirajatirtha who himself was a great scholar, was able to accommodate the needs of the less scholarly, taking the haridasa tradition to the masses by translating many important works into the Kannada language. He was able to explain sophisticated concepts in the form of simple stotras. About the saint, Dr. B.N.K. Sharma writes "In this respect, his work marks a new and necessary phase in the history of Dvaita literature and breathes the spirit of a new age which produced other popular exponents of Madhva-Siddhânta, both in Sanskrit and in Kannada".

Famous extant works

* "Yukti-Mallika" (work on logical analysis of different philosophical systems) - This is his Magnum Opus with 5 Chapters called Sourabhas. Here is "argues in poetry" as late Prof. B.N.K. Sharma puts it. This work has a commentary by Sri Surottama Tirtha the pointiff of Bhandarkeri Mutt and the purvashrama younger brother of the Great Sri Vadiraja Thirtha himself. There is also a a commentary on this by Late Sri Satya Pramoda Thirtha of the Uttaradi Mutt.
* "Mahabharata-Prasthana" (an independent view of Mahabharata by Veda Vyasa)- This work is called Mahabharata Lakshalankara an explanation of hundred thousand difficult words of the great epic Mahabharata.
* "Mahabharata-tatparya-Nirnaya" (commentary on same work written by Srimad Ananda tirtha)with Kannada translation.
* "Rukminisha-Vijaya" (narrates encounter between Krishna and Shisupala)- This is a mahakavya which was written to exceed Maga's Shishupala Vada, which is considered one of the pancha mahakavyas (five great poems) of sanskrit literature.
* "Svapna-Vrndavanakhyana"- This is a sort of auto-biography where he explains his swaroopa (original form) and his Rujutva. Rujuyogis are those jeevas (forms) who are qualified to attain the position of Brahma.
* Devotional songs in Kannada

Stotras
* Dashavatara-stuti
* Shri-Krishna stuti
* Hayagrîva-sampada-stotra
* Haryashtakam
* Nava-graha stotra
* Palayachuta stotra
* Srishrisha Gunadarpanam

His other works are
* Sri Nyayaratnavali
* Sri Srutitatvaprakasika
* Thirtha prabandha
* Sri Sarasa Bharati Vilasa
* Sri Hari Bhaktilata
* Sri Pasandamatakamdanam
* Sri Vivaranarnavam
* Sri Upanyasa Ratnamala

... to name only a few.

He has written sub-commentaries (Tippanis) on Sri Jayatirtha's Nayasudha and Tatvaprakasika called "Gurvarthadipika". He has also written Tippani on Isavasya Upanishad Tika.

Sri Vadirajatirtha's "brindavana" is in Sodhe, Karnataka.

Notes

References

*cite book |last= Sharma|first= B.N.K|title= History of Dvaita school of Vedanta and its Literature |origyear=1961|year=1981,2000|publisher= Motilal Banarasidass|location= Bombay|isbn= 81-208-1575-0
*Sri Vadirajatirtha in [http://www.dvaita.org/haridasa Haridasas of Karnataka]
*Latavya [http://www.dvaita.org/scholars/vadiraja/]