The Long ConversationA timeline of world philosophy

Philosopher

Madhva

c. 1238 – c. 1317

Also known as Madhvācārya, Ānandatīrtha

Founder of the Dvaita, or dualist, school of Vedānta, which holds that God, individual selves and the world are really and eternally distinct.

Dark stone image of a seated figure in an ornate silver shrine
Devotional image installed by Vadiraja Tirtha (16th century) at Pajaka near Udupi, traditionally his birthplace.Photo: AR767 · CC0 1.0 · See the original

Madhva founded the Dvaita, or “dualist”, school of Vedānta in thirteenth-century South India. Reading the Upaniṣads, the Bhagavad Gītā and the Brahmasūtra as realist texts, he deliberately challenged the Advaita identification of the self with brahman.

For Madhva, God alone is independent. Souls and matter are real but depend entirely on God’s will, and that dependence marks a permanent distinction between God and everything else. Scripture, he argued, cannot teach that all beings are identical, since that would contradict ordinary perception, which shows us that we differ from one another and from God. His followers call the system tattvavāda, “the realist viewpoint”. His dates are the traditional ones.

Key ideas

Dualism (Dvaita)
The Vedanta texts teach a fundamental and permanent difference between the individual self (ātman) and the ultimate reality, brahman. Madhva vigorously attacked Śaṅkara’s non-dualism.
Argues against Śaṅkara’s self is brahman
Independent and dependent reality
Brahman alone is independent. Souls and lifeless matter depend on its will, and that very dependence makes them distinct. Reality consists of God, souls and insentient matter.
Trust in experience
Perception and inference must be valid in themselves, or we couldn’t know anything, including the scriptures. Our everyday experience of being distinct from one another and from God is real, and scripture must be read in keeping with it.
Devotion and grace
Identifying brahman with Viṣṇu, Madhva argued that any identity between soul and God would strip devotion (bhakti) of meaning. Only Viṣṇu’s grace can free the soul from rebirth.
Tradition
Indian
Region
South India

Influences

Influenced by

Madhvac. 1238 – c. 1317

Influenced by

Madhvac. 1238 – c. 1317

Where these links come from
  • Madhva argued against Śaṅkara. Source: Valerie Stoker, Madhva, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • Madhva argued against Rāmānuja. Source: Valerie Stoker, Madhva, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Terms on this page

Dvaita
Dualism: Madhva’s school of Vedānta, which holds that the individual self and the ultimate reality, brahman, are fundamentally different. Madhva and his followers called it tattvavāda, “the realist viewpoint”.
ātman
The self. Advaita Vedānta reads the Vedānta texts as identifying the individual self with brahman; Madhva read them as teaching a fundamental difference between the two.
brahman
The ultimate reality taught in the Vedānta. Advaita identifies it with the self (ātman); Madhva held that the self and brahman are fundamentally and permanently different.
bhakti
Devotion to a personal God. Rāmānuja argued for its importance for knowledge and liberation, and Madhva held that only a real difference between soul and God gives it meaning.

All terms in the glossary

Sources

  1. Valerie Stoker, Madhva, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy