Sri Madhvacarya was born around 1238 A.D., in a village called Tulunada, about eight miles south-east of the modern town of Udipi, in the Karnataka State. He is reputed to be the incarnation of Bhima, taking birth in Kali-yuga to destroy the daityas. Others refer to him as Vayu himself and it was his life's mission to defeat the followers of Mayavadi philosophy.

He was born in the family of very elevated brahmins and from his early childhood performed many amazing pastimes, such as the killing of a huge serpentine demon named Maniman, simply with the big toe of his leftfoot. Madhava was only eight years old when he received spiritual initiation and at the age of twelve he accepted the sannyasa order and began to travel the length and breadth of India.

He enjoyed a long life of robust health. He engaged in various forms of sport and physical exercise in his youth, such as wrestling, swimming and even mountaineering, which he kept up to the very end. He had very handsome features with a strong muscular frame, tall and strong-limbed with graceful carriage and dignified bearing. Endowed with a magnetic personality and traditional thirty-two laksanas, he had a deep sonorous voice and good musical talent, which he used to advantage in Vedic recitation and in singing the soulful strains of his own devotional compositions and in giving open air discources on the Bhagavata Purana, with its rolling melody of verses.

His life, as described in the Madhvavijaya, is the narrative of a born leader of men. Madhva recognized the soul of man to be potenially divine; but man, in the ignorance of his true status, has lost his soul to his body and its cravings, and needs to be awakened by God himself or His devotees. He became a student under Acyutapreksa, who came in the order of Ekanti-Vaisnavas of the Ekadandi order. Madhva entered the sannyasa order and was given the name Purnaprajna.

During his study of the sastras he became convinced about the inherent weakness in the Advaita philosophy and developed a keen desire to revive the theistic science of Vedas with his own thorough reinterpretation of the texts.

After only a short time in his studies, frequent disagreements of views arose between himself and his teacher. Acyutaprajna could see that Purnaprajna was destined to make history for himself and made him head of the Math. On that memorable occasion Purn aprajna was given another name "Anandatirtha" and later adopted the name Madhva.

Madhvacarya spent some time teaching and engaging outstanding scholars belonging to Buddhist, Jain and Advaita Sampradayas, in logical and philosophical discussions and vanquishing them in debates. He set out to propagate his teachings and travelled exte nsively throughout South India. He visited Kanyakumari, Ramesvaram and Sri Rangam holding discources on the Brahmasutras and openly criticizing Sankaracaryas Bhasyas on the Sutras. Giving his own interpretations he soundly defeated all he encountered and naturally roused a good deal of opposition from the leaders of the old schools of thought. At Kanyakumari he met with stiff opposition from an Advaitic monk of great learning who challenged him to write a fresh commentary on the Brahmasutras before he ven tured to criticize the time honored one of Adi Sankaracarya. Madhva assured him that he would be doing so, in good time. At Srirangam he came in contact with the followers of Acharya Sri Ramanuja and after exchanging veiws with them, noted his own points of ag reement and difference with them. This South Indian tour gave him great resolve to set out on his first tour of North India.

Madhvacarya was anxious to go to Badarikasrama and receive personal inspiration from a visit to the asrama of Vyasadeva. After staying forty-eight days at Badarinath, fasting, praying, meditating and dedicating his Gita-Bhasya to the Lord, Madhvacarya wa s inspired to go to the hermitage of Vyasa. He went there all alone and after gaining the personal darshan of Vyasadeva himself and learning from him, returned after some months, glowing with divine inspiration and wrote his Bhasya on the Brahma-Sutras.

Journeying through Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, Andhrapradesa, Maharashtra and Karnataka, he returned to Udipi. On his way back from Badarikasrama, Madhvacarya challenged many eminent scholars of the day. Prominent among these were two outstanding scholars, Swa mi Sastrin and Sobhana Bhatta, known as masters of the six systems of philosophy. Madhvacarya soundly defeated these two who subsequently became his disciples known as Narahari Tirtha and Padmanabha Tirtha respectively.

Madhvacarya's fame and prestige had grown considerably and his commentaries on the Gita and Brahmasutras had made their mark and were widely recognized and respected. In his Math in Udipi he introduced strict codes of conduct for his followers, introduce d the system of Pistapasuyagas (offerings made from flowers), in place of actual animal sacrifices in yajnas and imposed the rigorous observance of fasts on Ekadasi. To foster a sense of fellowship among his disciples he installed a beautiful deity of Lor d Krsna.

Once, as Madhva was travelling in the association of his disciples he arrived in Sri Navadwipa and decided to spend some days within the forests of Modradumadvipa.

One night, as Madhva lay sleeping, Lord Gauranga appeared to him in a dream. The Lord told Madhava, "It is well known to everyone that you are My eternal servitor. When I appear here in Navadwipa, I will accept your sampradaya. Travel everywhere and care fully uproot all the false scriptures of the mayavadis and reveal the glories of worshipping the personal form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Later, when I appear, I will personally broadcast your pure teachings." The Lord then disappeared.

When Madhva awoke, he was astonished and as he remembered the Lord he began to cry in separation, saying, "Will I ever see that beautiful golden form again?" A celestial voice from the sky replied, "Worship Me secretly and you will come to Me." Carrying these instructions within his heart, Madhva continued his travels more determined than ever to defeat the mayavadi philosophers."

During a meeting between King Jayasimha, the Ruler of Kumbla and Madhvacarya, a historic disputation developed with the Rulers Court Pandit, Trivikrama Pandit, who was the foremost authority on Advaita-vedanta. Trivikrama engaged Madhvacarya in a vigoro us debate for fifteen days, at the temple of Kudil and was defeated by the Acarya. He sought to become a disciple of Madhvacarya and was readily admitted. He was then commissioned to write a commentary on the Brahma-Sutra Bhasya, and named it Tattva-pradi pa.

An interesting incident took place during his second trip to North India. With the country under tight control of the Persian invaders, travelling became very hazardous. With Madhvacaryas knowledge of Persian, his courage and tact in handling difficult situations and his ability to rise to equal occasions with dignity and complete self-possession, he was able to escape from potentially dangerous encounters. One such episode took place with his meeting with Sultan Jalal-uddin-Khilji. Political hostilitie s were on at the time. Madhvacarya and his party were forced to swim across the Ganges to the other side. They were halted on reaching the shore and were taken to the Ruler who called upon Madhva to explain his conduct in disobeying orders and crossing th e river when hostilities were on. Madhvacarya spoke to the Ruler in his own language, convincing him on the importance of his mission in the cause of Theism.

After completing many commentaries and original erudite works, establishing prominant Maths and sending out well-chosen veterans to preach and propagate his siddhanta all over the country, while seated during a shower of flowers, Madhvacarya disappeared from vision and transferred himself to Badarikasrama. There he still remains.

Sri Madhvacahara's Teachings:

His philosophy is Dvaita. Brahman is Hari or Visnu definable to an extent by the Vedas. He has a transcendental form, Vyuhas, Incarnations are His parts and Laksmi is distinct. The qualities of Brahman are it is fully independent, the cause of all causes , supreme bliss, devoid of false attributes but possesses all qualities. The soul is atomic, it pervades the body by intelligence, infinite in number, Karta and Bhokta. Creation is the actuation of what is in the womb of matter and soul by the action of Brahman. The cause of bondage is the divine will of the Supreme and ignorace of the soul (svarupa). The process of release is through whole hearted devotion, study of the Vedas and detached karma. The goal is to gain release from samsara and restoration of one's own individual form.

Srimad Ananda Tîrtha

from dvaita.org

Srimad Ananda Tîrtha, also known as Sukha Tîrtha, Pûrnabodha, and Pûrnapragnya, is the founder of the doctrine of Tattvavâda. He is the last of the great Achâryas of Vedanta, and is also the 22nd commentator on the Brahma-Sûtra of Veda Vyâsa. His doctrine asserts, as has already been noted elsewhere, that the differences are eternally real, and that hence there is more than one absolute real, and that Hari (Vishnu) is the only entity praised in the Shrutis and their adjuncts. Thus, he always identifies the Brahman of the Upanishads with Vishnu, and forcefully argues against the dichotomy of Shrutis (tattvâvedaka / atattvâvedaka) as claimed by Sri Shankarâchârya, saying that such arbitration of apaurusheya scripture is unacceptable both logically and spiritually. He also emphasizes that it is important to understand and specifically reject other schools' precepts, and hence devotes much time to nitpicking analyses and denunciations of other doctrines.

Srimad Ananda Tîrtha is commonly identified with Madhva, the third avatâra of Mukhya PrâNa, the god of life, as given in the BaLitthâ Sûkta of the Rg Veda. The first two avatâra-s are as Hanumân and Bhîmasena, and the third is Madhva, who came down to Earth as a sanyâsî, in order to avoid decimating the forces of evil (as he had done on the previous two occasions, and as he would have done again -- upsetting the flow of Kali Yuga in the process -- if he were not a sannyâsî). Srimad Ananda Tîrtha himself makes the claim to being Madhva in several instances, one of which is in the Vishnu-tattva-vinirnaya verse given on the cover page of this section. It was recognized in his own time, and it has been documented, that he had all two-and-thirty shubha-lakshaNa-s that define a rju-tâttvika-yogî, including the prescribed height of six-and-ninety inches ("shaNNavati angulo.apetam") quoted in the Mahâbhârata-Tâtparya-Nirnaya.

However, he is firmly set against the notion of accepting doctrines because they come from prophets or claimed gods -- he refuses to accept that it is possible to derive a meaningful spiritual system based on any but the apowrusheya texts (the Vedas/Upanishads/Shrutis) and their adjuncts (the Iti-hâsas, PurâNas, etc.). He also dismisses claims that only part of the Vedas are useful, and claims that even the so-called karma-kâNDa portions of them are only meant to worship Hari.

The earliest and most authentic biography of Srimad Ananda Tîrtha is the Sumadhva-Vijaya, a.k.a. Madhva Vijaya, by NârâyaNa Pandita, the son of his close disciple Trivikrama Pandita. There are other English biographies by C. M. Padmanabhachar, C. N. Krishnasvami Ayyar, S. Subbarao, and C. R. Krishnarao, among others, but these are not truly independent efforts, since they draw very deeply upon NârâyaNa Pandita's work.

Madhva was known as Vâsudeva, as a child, and was born in response to a prayer by some brâhmana-s of the Bhâgavata sampradâya, as a result of which Vishnu, who Himself does not incarnate during Kali Yuga, ordered His chief aide Mukhya PrâNa a.k.a. Vâyu to go to Earth, and rescue the mumukshu-s from the unrelenting deluge of the illusionist schools. Therefore, Vâyu was born in Pâjaka-kshetra, near Udupi (in modern Karnataka state), to Madhya-geha Bhatta. Even as a child, he was extraordinary in every respect, and repeatedly astounded his teachers, and performed several miracles, a notable one being when he freed his father from the clutches of a loan shark, by giving him a handful of tamarind seeds which satisfied the latter completely. He also killed the demon MaNimanta, who attacked him in the form of a snake, by crushing the snake's head under his toe.

At the age of eight or thereabouts, he announced to his parents his intention to take up sanyâsa, and on noting their distress at this pronouncement, promised to wait until another son was born to them. Finally, at the age of eleven, upon the birth of a younger brother (who many years later joined his order as Vishnu Tîrtha) he was ordained into sanyâsa, whence he was given the name Ananda Tîrtha by his guru Achyutapreksha Tîrtha, a.k.a. Achyuta-pragnya Tîrtha. Soon afterward, when his guru attempted to educate him, he astounded the former by his knowledge. It is said that when his guru tried to teach him the noted Advaita text IshhTa-Siddhi, he pointed out, to Achyutapreksha Tîrtha's amazement, that there were 30 errors in the very first line of that work, where its author Vimuktâtman pays obeisance to himself by saying something like: "The only truth is the soul's empirical knowledge. In the presence of this truth the world appears to be an illusory play. The essential soul manifests itself as I, you and everything..."

It was this profound knowledge of all subjects that earned him the title of "PûrNa-pragnya," for "the one of complete wisdom." The initially discomfited but finally greatly pleased Achyutapreksha Tîrtha soon gave up trying to educate the master, and himself made a full conversion to Tattvavâda, under the name Purushottama Tîrtha.

Srimad Ananda Tîrtha is known for his skill at debate and repartee, which were amply evident when he roundly trounced all opponents who dared take him on. One early convert to his school was Shobhana Bhatta; after losing to Madhva in debate, he accepted the latter as his Guru, and was given sanyâsa under the name Padmanâbha Tîrtha. Two other noted opponents whom PûrNapragnya defeated in debate and converted to ardent devotees, were Trivikrama Pandita, and Shyâma Shâstri -- the latter accepted sanyâsa as Narahari Tîrtha.

Madhva made two trips to Badarikâshrama, the abode of BâdarâyaNa a.k.a. Veda Vyâsa, and on the first, obtained the imprimatur of BâdarâyaNa Himself for his Bhâshya on the Bhagavad Gita, when the latter made the correction "vakshyâmi leshataH" ("I state infinitesimally"), in place of "vakshyâmi shaktitaH" ("I state as best as I can"). He also founded the Krishna temple at Udupi, when he rescued by his spiritual power a ship in distress on the high seas, and got from its captain the apparently useless gift of a large mound of gopi-chandana mud that had been used as the ship's ballast, and which broke open to reveal the long-concealed icons of Krishna, Durga, and Balarâma. This is believed to be the occasion when he composed the Dvâdasha Stotra, a set of twelve stotra-s in praise of Vishnu that is collectively counted as one of his seven-and-thirty works.

There are many notable incidents on record involving Srimad Ananda Tîrtha, and it is futile to hope that a short piece like this one can capture even the essence of his mission correctly. However, in brief, two of them are the ones where he lifted and displaced a boulder weighing tons that was obstructing some construction; an inscription ("Anandatîrthena eka-hastena sthâpitâ shilâ") made on the boulder at the time attests to the event to this day. On another occasion, he led some disciples to a spot where he showed them the long-buried weapons of the PâNDavas, including the great mace he had wielded to telling effect as the mighty Bhîmasena.

Visual evidence, if one may call it that, of Srimad Ananda Tîrtha being Madhva, the avatâra of Vâyu, was obtained by Trivikrama Pandita when the latter had the great fortune to observe the three forms of Vâyu worship simultaneously -- Hanumân worshipping Râma, Bhîmasena worshipping Krishna, and Ananda Tîrtha worshipping Vyâsa. On that occasion, Trivikrama Pandita composed the Hari-Vâyu Stuti, also called just Vâyu Stuti ("shrimadvishhNvaN^ghrinishhThâ atiguNa gurutama shrimadânandatîrtha ..."). Madhva himself validated the Vâyu Stuti by adding the mangalâcharaNa shloka-s, called Narasimha- nakha stuti ("pântvasmân.h puruhûta vairi balavan.h ..."), to be chanted in the beginning and at the end of the Vâyu Stuti. This very short work of just two shloka-s is counted as one of his thirty-seven grantha-s.

Srimad Ananda Tîrtha disappeared from amidst an audience, after giving a lecture on the Aitareya Upanishad, on the ninth day of the shukla paksha in the month of Magha in 1317, and now is permanently in Badarikâshrama, where he serves his master Bâdarâyana in person.

From kamat.com

He was a brilliant child endowed with prodigious memory and could grasp lessons at one sitting. Most of the time he used to spend in sports and games of the period like trekking, wrestling, weight lifting and swimming. hH out beat his contemporaries in all and was known to be fearless. He had a resonant, pleasant voice and people flocked to listen to his chanting shlokas and discourses in the temple.

He had spiritual leaning from a young age and sought his father's permission to become a monk (sanyasin). The parents were very sad because Vasudeva was their only surviving child and they had nobody to look after them in their old age. Hence Vasudeva waited till a brother was born. This brother, Vishnuchitta, performed the duty of a son, and became an ascetic late in life, being initiated by his elder brother. Vishnuchitta is considered a great exponent of Madhva philosophy.

Vasudeva underwent rigorous training under a great guru named Achyutapreksha. But he had doubts about interpretation of earlier scholars on the nature of God. He evolved his own theory of dualism (dwaita) which is also known  today as "tattvavada." He undertook country-wide tour of India, from Kanyakumari in the South to Badari in the Himalayas to propagate his teachings. As was the tradition, every new exponent had to give new interpretation to the sacred texts and establish its superiority in the assemblies of the learned. Vasudeva who by now had assumed the name Madhvacharya succeeded wherever he went due to his clear thinking, oratory, debating skills and earned not only fame, but distinguished disciples as well. Of them Padmanabhateertha from Godavari region, and Narahariteertha from Kalinga region are more famous.

India was having troubled times, not only politically, but on religious front as well. Islam was spreading and Muslim rulers in Delhi were getting firmly rooted. There were squabbles among various religious sects to establish superiority. Madhva's appearance on the scene provided a healing touch to many harassed and confused devotees and his simple and effective way of preaching, helped the real devotees to realize the path of devotion and finally liberation.

"There is one God, the embodiment of positive Divinity. He is "Narayana." He is also Ishwara Brahma, Vishnu, and has many other names. You can address Him by any name." -- he preached.

"This world is God's reflection. Through this reflection only one has to try hard to realize God." -- he  exclaimed.

"The entire nature extols God. His existence is evident in the sounds of sea, in the wind in singing of birds and howls of beasts. These all pay homage to God. his existence should be recognized which is possible after self-training." he advised. He gave new interpretation to caste system prevailing during his times. (Actually he was nearer to Vedic seers in this aspect.) The caste was related more to one's nature than his/her birth. Birth was not important to determine caste. It signified one's behavior or nature. A spiritually enlightened chandala (outcaste) was better than an ignorant brahmin." People were drawn to his teachings.

By the time Madhva returned to Udupi he had good number of followers. The installation of Lord Krishna's image in the Udupi temple and establishment of eight mathas (known as the ashamathas) marked his great achievement of this period. 

Legend exists that there was a ship-wreck near the town of Malpe when a storm broke. Madhva had a dream that there was an idol of  Lord Krishna in the ship and he had to salvage it from the seabed. He got the fisher-folk into the waters and could get the ancient image which he got installed at the temple, which is a great shrine today.
See Also: Town of Udupi -- Photo album of the elephants, temples, arts, and people of the town of Udupi in Karnataka

As was the practice, establishment of mathas  near the temple came up. Not one, but eight in consecutive order! These are Palimar, Admar, Sirur, Kaniyur, Pejawar, Krishnapur, Puttige and Sode, each headed by versatile disciples of the great acharya. The peculiarity of the Ashtamathas is that, the management of these mathas is by turn (paryaya) and each swami or Pontiff has to manage administration for two years. Perhaps the great preceptor evolved his own democratic way of managing complete hegemony over a religious establishment.

Philosopher Madhvacharya
 

Dwaita philosophy became very popular in the south, west as well as east. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of Gouda  (present day Bengal) was highly influenced by dualism, so were many saints of west India. Karnataka has great saints and preachers like Purandaradasa and Kanakadasa who had faith in Madhva tenets.  Madhvacharya wrote about forty books including commentaries on Upanishads, Gita, analysis of Mahabharata and Purnanas, and Rigveda. Curiously enough Tantrasara Sangraha, a book on iconography is ascribed to him, as also one on mathematics, proving his versatility. His musical composition Dwadasa stotra is quite popular among Vaishnava devotees. 

Madhvacharya had to face a lot of opposition due to his preaching which were quite opposite to established norms of worship and belief. Tradition exists that his commentaries (on palm leaf books) were stolen and destroyed. There is a story depicting his fearlessness in crossing a flooded river, facing armed robbers in a forest and a Muslim king who had no sympathy towards Hindu monks. He spoke to the sultan in Persian, convincing him that his Allah and his own Narayana are one and the same. " We are all citizens of His Kingdom."

At the age of 79, the acharya left for his final pilgrimage from Udupi  to Badari--never to be seen again. Madhva Navami is observed in his memory. The temple town of Udupi bears Madhva's memory at every step with eight mathas and innumerable followers, who throng everyday throughout the year.