VIDYARANYA

Swami Vidyaranya was the author of the 14^th century Panchadashi, a book of instruction on Advaita Vedanta.  Vidyaranya was not his family name.  One tradition has him as Sayana Acharya, a well-known commentator on the Vedas, but it is more generally accepted that he was Sayana’s brother, Madhava Acharya.

It seems likely that Madhava was born about 1314 A. D.  From a Brahmin family, he received the best education available, acquiring proficiency in grammar, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and rhetoric.

Madhava went on to become a chief advisor of the early Vijayanagara kings.  Over time, however, he became increasingly aware that despite his worldly power and position, he still lacked the spiritual peace one should achieve in life.  At the age of about fifty-four, then, he renounced his office, honors, and wealth and became a monk under the name Vidyaranya.

Vidyaranya’s most famous works, among his many, are the Sarvadarsanasangraha, a compendium of all sixteen philosophical schools of Hindu philosophy, and again Panchadashi.