ajAti vAda

ishTasiddhi. This jnAnottama lived in the region of Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu. His full
name in the manuscripts is jnAnottama miSra mahopAdhyAya, which indicates that
unlike the jnAnottama mentioned earlier, he was a householder scholar. There is some
evidence from the last verse of the candrikA that this author later became a sannyAsin by
name sarvajnASrama.
Between the 9th and 13th centuries, SankarAcArya's exposition of advaita came under
attack by rival vedAntin teachers, such as bhAskara (bhedAbheda), rAmAnuja
(viSishTAdvaita), nimbArka (dvaitAdvaita), and AnandatIrtha (dvaita). There was also a
resurgence of nyAya-vaiSeshika philosophy around the same time, culminating in the
fully developed navya-nyAya school of later times. After this period, all later authors in
the advaita tradition concentrate on addressing issues raised by philosophers from
nyAya, and rival schools of vedAnta. This is in contrast with the early authors whose
major concerns were with the tenets of the sAm.khya, mahAyAna buddhists and the
pUrva mImAm.sakas.
SrIharsha, who wrote the khaNDana-khaNDa-khAdya, [5] is an important author in the
history of advaita vedAnta. He mainly addresses the nyAya school, and points out
fallacies in their definitions of various concepts. Such criticisms lead to a later reworking
of the nyAya system, which soon lost its earlier naive realism. After SrIharsha's time,
logical formalism took center stage, culminating in the highly formal logical system of
the navya-nyAya (new logic) school. The khaNDana-khaNDa-khAdya was commented
upon both by advaitins and naiyyAyikas. SrIharsha is also famous as the author of the
naishAda-carita, which relates the purAnic story of nala and damayantI. He is known for
using extremely difficult grammatical constructions in the sam.skRta language, and
constructing sentences using words in such a way as to yield multiple meanings. For
example, the word yAgeSvara can be split as yAgAnAm ISvara:, the lord of sacrifices, or
as yA ageSvara:, the lord of mountains, and both meanings are significant in the same
sentence. SrIharsha's work has been commented upon by many later advaitins, and also
by authors in the nyAya-vaiSeshika tradition.
citsukha, a disciple of jnAnottama, wrote a number of works, including commentaries
on the khaNDana-khaNDakhAdya, brahmasiddhi and naishkarmyasiddhi. His
tattvapradIpikA is more famously known as citsukhI. [6] Like SrIharsha before him,
citsukha also makes effective use of the dialectical method seen in the works of
nAgArjuna, the buddhist philosopher. Both acknowledge this fact, but criticize the
madhyamaka school for not affirming the ultimate reality of brahman. Anandabodha,
AnandAnubhava, akhaNDAnanda and anubhUtisvarUpAcArya are other important
authors in the 13th century. sukhaprakASa, a disciple of citsukha, wrote commentaries
on Anandabodha's and anubhUtisvarUpa's works. amalAnanda, a disciple of
sukhaprakASa, wrote the vedAntakalpataru on the bhAmatI and also a pancapAdikAdarpaNa,
thus forming an early link between the bhAmatI and vivaraNa schools.
Anandagiri (also known as AnandajnAna), a disciple of SuddhAnanda, is wellknown
as the author of a number of TIkAs and TippaNas on SankarAcArya's upanishad
bhAshyas. [7] anubhUtisvarUpa, mentioned earlier, was an important figure in the