Appayya dikshitar.

Appayya Dikshitar was born in a village called Adayappalam

near Kanchipuram. His lineage was aninteresting one.

His grandfather was a scholar named Vakshasthala Ganapati of

Bharadhwaja 'gOtra'. He had two wives of which the second
was Totadri Amba, the daughter of RangarAjadhvari who
belonged
to
family
of
one
VaikuntachArya. This appears to have been a very
unusual "mixed marriage" between Vaishnava and SmArta
families in those days! Appayya Dikshita himself is
reported to have confirmed this.
Two sons, RangarAjadhvari (again) and Achan Dikshita were
born of this alliance. Appaya Dikshita was born to the first one.
Achan Dikshita's grandson was the reputed Nilakanta Dikshitar
of
later
years.
Appayya Dikshitar's father RangarAjadhvari was the author of
many Advaita works. He passed away when his son was only 9

years old. But Appayya Dikshitar even by that tender age had
learnt and mastered all that his father had taught him by way
of Veda, vEdAnga, vyAkarana and traditional arts and sciences.
Appayya Dikshita's mastery over chandas, nirukta and jyotisha
is said to be easily evident in his works, the
"nakshatra vAdavalli" and "prAkrita manidIpa".
Appayya DIkshita was deeply Advaitic in outlook. He was also a
staunch Siva bhakta. In 2 highly controversial works Dikshita
attempted to prove thatthe heroes of the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata were incarnations of Siva, the supreme Lord of
the Saivites. Though these works stired the proverbial hornet's
nest even in those days, scholars even today admit that a
reading of these classics of Appayya Dikshita speak volumes
about his originalityand mastery over the 2 "itihAsAs".
Although Dikshita lived for a long time in Chidambaram (the
Vatican of Saivism in those days), and served in the temple of
Lord Nataraja there by composing many works in praise of Siva,
it
did
not
stop
him
from
also
composing works in praise of Lord Vishnu. Two works are known
today -- "Sri Krishna DhyAna paddathi" and "Varadarajastava".
Diskhita was an indomitable intellectual.
Even amongst the Advaitins, Appayya Dikshita was a bit of a
maverick and a stormy petrel. His interpretation of Advaitic
'mImAmsa' and 'alankAra' were entirely original and for this he
had to face loud and bitter criticism from other Advaitic pandits
of the times like Khandadeva, Somanatha and Venkatadhvari.
Appayya Dikshita's brand of Vedanta also came under attack
from the famous Sri Rangaramanuja muni, the Vaishnava
commentator on the Upanishads.
In spite of all these severe critics, everyone who was
acquainted with Dikshita's works, whether Advaitin or
Vaishnava, held no two opinions about his many-sided

scholarship and sincerity of purpose. They considered him to be

a 'sarva-tantra-svantatra', a master of all arts and sciences,
much in the mould of Vedanta Desika on whose work Dikshita
was
later
to
write
a
commentary. SriVaishnavas of those times, especially, had no
hesitation whatsoever in proclaiming that even a scholar
belonging to their own 'sampradAya' could not have written a
better
commentary
on
Swami
Venkatanathan's classic Sanskrit opera "yAdavAbhyudaya".
Appayya Dikshita happened to be the poet-laureate ('asthanavidwan') at the royal court of Chinna Timma, who was the local
ruler of Vellore between 1574 and 1585. The King Chinna
Timma came from a lineage of royal kings of the Raja dynasty
and they were great patrons of literature. Some of the kings like
Chinna Timma also adopted Vaishnavas as personal mentors or
'sadAchAryAs'. It is this Vaishnava connection of his forbears
which probably had made this king familiar with Desikan's
'yAdavAbhyudaya'. Chinna Timma was desirous of having
someone write a detailed commentary on this 'mahA kAvya' of
Desikan
and
felt
his
poet-laureate Appayya Dikshita was the best suited to
undertake it. It is said the king performed a "kanakAbhishEkam"
on Dikshita for having successfully completed the royal
commission.
The 'yAdavAbhyudaya' is a Sanksrit opera of 24 'sargas' or
cantos. It is an equal of KalidAsa's magnificent works like
Raghuvamsha or Meghasandesham. Swami Desikan himself
considered
it
to
be
his
best
poetic work when he attested:
"gauda vaidarbha panchala malakaram sarasvatim
yasya nityam prasamsanti santah saurabhavedinah"

(The cognoscenti who realize the true value of perfumery, extol

the poetic muse of Desika who wears a garland woven out of
Gauda, Vaidarbha and Panchala 'riti').
It is common among SriVaishnavas to hail the 'stOtra' of
YamunAchArya
as
"stOtra-ratna"
and
Desikan's
'yAdavAbhyudaya' as "kAvya-ratna". This operatic magnumopus
traces
the
life
of
Krishna
from
his
days
in Gokulam right upto His ascent unto Heaven at the end of His
avataric sojourn on earth. Scholars to this day have never
ceased marvelling at the breath-taking beauty of Sanskrit
poetry
that
brims
over
in
this
'kAvya'. Dikshita in his own times, having lost himself in the
enchanting poetry of Desikan, is said to have declared:
"ittham vichintyah sarvatra bhAva santi padE padE
kavi tArkika simhasya kAvyEshu lalitEshvapi"
(In the verses of this lion among poets there are beauties and
sentiments of immeasureable beauty, at every turn of phrase -however simple they appear to be... and these are to be
fathomed after deep study!)
Sri T.S.Parthasarathy writes: "Desika's original along with
Dikshita's commentary has recently been edited and published
by Abhinava Desika Sri Uttamur Viraraghvacharya swami on
behalf
of
the
Ubhaya
Vedanta
Granthamala of Madras. The original and the commentary by
two intellectual giants of two different times are literary
treasures deserving to be cherished and preserved forever".
The meaning of this great 'yadAvAbhyudaya' would have been

totally lost to posterity but for the commentary ... believe it or

not... that an Advaitin scholar called Appayya Dikshita wrote on
it!
Thanks
Sudarshan

and

By
swamigal

VILLIAMPAKKAM

regards,dAsan,

Govindarajan