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.

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. 1 2 3 Harold G. Coward; K. Kunjunni Raja, eds. (1990). The Philosophy of the Grammarians. Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies. Vol. 5. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 371.
  3. 1 2 3 4 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. 1 2 3 4 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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