Umamaheshvara

Uma-maheshvara (IAST: Umāmaheśvara), also known as Abhinava-Kālidāsa ("the new Kalidasa"), was a Sanskrit-language philosopher and grammarian from present-day southern India. He is variously dated to c. 1465 CE or c. 1750 CE.

For the form of Shiva, see Uma–Maheshvara. For the temple, see Umamaheshwaram.

Biography

Uma-maheshvara was born in a family belonging to the Vellala social group.[1] He was a disciple of Akshaya-suri (or Akkaya-suri) of Mokshagundam family.[2][3]

According to the Rajashekhara-charita (or Shabharanjana-shataka) of his disciple Kavi-kunjara, Uma-maheshvara "put an end to the machinations" of Durjaya, the court poet of the Vijayanagara king Raja-shekhara. P. Sriramamurti of Andhra University tentatively identifies the ruler as prince Raja-shekhara (the son of Deva Raya III), and on this basis, dates Uma-maheshvara to c. 1465 CE.[3] However, Harold G. Coward and K. Kunchunniraja date him to c. 1750 CE.[2]

Works

Uma-maheshvara wrote the following works on the Advaita Vedanta philosophy:[3]

  • Advaita-kamadhenu
  • Tattva-chandrika or Nirguna-brahma-mimamsa
  • Virodha-varudhini
  • Vedanta-siddhanta-sara
  • Santana-dipika

Uma-maheshvara defended Adi Shankara's Advaita Vedanta against Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita.[4] In Virodha-varudhini (or Virodha-varuthini), he proposed to show 100 self-contradictions in the works of Ramanuja and other Vishishtadvaita works such as Satadushani, but fell ill after discussing 27 contradictions. Ramanuja's followers Rangacharya (Ku-drishti-dhvanta-martanda) and Shrinivasa-dikshita (Virodha-varuthini-pramathini) wrote refutations of Uma-maheshvara's criticisms.[5]

Other works attributed to him include:

  • Paniniya-vada-nakshtra-mala (IAST: Pāṇinīya-vāda-nakṣatra-mālā), a work on grammar[2]
  • Shrngara-shekhara Bhana (IAST: Śṛṅgāra-śekhara Bhana), a Sanskrit play[6]
  • Tapta-mudra-vidravana[5]
  • Prasanga-Ratnakara[5]
  • Ramayana-tika[5]

P. Sriramamurti identifies him with the Abhinava-Kalidasa (or Nava-Kalidasa) who wrote Bhagavata-champu, a work on the life of Krishna.[3]

References
  1. David Pingree, ed. (1976). Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Series A. Vol. 3. American Philosophical Society. p. 13.
  2. Harold G. Coward; K. Kunjunni Raja, eds. (1990). The Philosophy of the Grammarians. Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies. Vol. 5. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 371.
  3. P. Sriramamurti (1972). Contribution of Andhra to Sanskrit Literature. Andhra University. pp. 154–155.
  4. K. S. R. Datta (1979). "A New Star in the Advaitic Galaxy". Triveni: Journal of Indian Renaissance. 48: 47.
  5. Surendranath Dasgupta (1991). A History of Indian Philosophy. Vol. 3. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 395–396. ISBN 9788120804142.
  6. V. Raghavan (1970). "Sanskrit: Unceasing flow of studies". Indian Literature. Sahitya Akademi. 13 (4): 76–85. JSTOR 24157165.
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