Appayya Dikshita

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Appayya Dikshita (IAST Appayya Dīkṣita, often "Dikshitar"), 1520–1593 CE, was a performer of yajñas as well as an expositor and practitioner of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy but with a focus on Shiva or Shiva Advaita.

Appayya Dikshitar was born as Vinayaka Subramanian in Adayapalam, near Arani in the Tiruvannamalai district, in the Krishna Paksha of the Kanya month of Pramateecha Varsha under the Uttara Proushthapada constellation of the Hindu calendar.

His father’s name was Rangarajadhwari. Appaya had the name Vinayaka Subramanya after the Namakarana or naming ceremony took place. Acharya Dikshitar or Acchan Dikshitar was the younger brother of Appayya. Appayya studied the Hindu scriptures under his Guru, Rama Kavi. He completed the fourteen Vidyas at his young age.

Dikshitar travelled widely, entering into philosophical disputations and controversies in many centers of learning. He had the rare good fortune of being revered and patronized in his own lifetime by kings of Vellore, Tanjore, Vijayanagara, and Venkatagiri.

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He was well-read in every branch of Sanskrit learning and wrote as many works, large and small. Only 60 of them are, however, extant now. These include works on Vedanta, Shiva Advaita, Mimamsa, Vyakarana, Kavya vyakhyana, Alankara, and devotional poetry. He was a member of the Advaita school and a devotee of Shiva.^[1] Though the followers of the Shiva Advaita school claim him as belonging to their school, it is not so easy to determine whether he was more inclined to Shiva Advaita or Advaita.^[1] Shiva Advaita is very much akin to Vishishtadvaita of Ramanuja, except for the role of Vishnu being taken by Shiva.^[2]: 67

Dikshitar wrote the Chatur-mata-sara to illustrate the philosophical thoughts of the four prominent schools of interpretation of Brahma sutras. The Naya-manjari deals with Advaita, the Naya-mani-mala with Srikanta mata, the Naya-mayukha-malika with Ramanuja's philosophy, and the Naya-muktavali with Madhva's philosophy. He wrote a commentary on Vedanta Desika's Yadavabhyudaya.

Special issue of Journal of Indian Philosophy (March 2016, edited by Christopher Minkowski):

• Minkowski, Christopher (2016). "Apūrvaṃ Pāṇḍityam: On Appayya Dīkṣita's Singular Life". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 44 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1007/s10781-014-9230-y. S2CID 170955384.
• Bronner, Yigal (2016). "A Renaissance Man in Memory: Appayya Dīkṣita Through the Ages". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 44 (1): 11–39. doi:10.1007/s10781-014-9251-6. S2CID 153827853.
• Rao, Ajay K. (2016). "The Vaiṣṇava Writings of a Śaiva Intellectual". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 44 (1): 41–65. doi:10.1007/s10781-014-9260-5. S2CID 170181275.
• Duquette, Jonathan (2016). "Reading Non-Dualism in Śivādvaita Vedānta: An Argument from the Śivādvaitanirṇaya in Light of the Śivārkamaṇidīpikā". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 44 (1): 67–79. doi:10.1007/s10781-014-9231-x. S2CID 171076332.
• McCrea, Lawrence (2016). "Appayyadīkṣita's Invention of Śrīkaṇṭha's Vedānta". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 44 (1): 81–94. doi:10.1007/s10781-014-9229-4. S2CID 170783184.
• Minkowski, Christopher (2016). "Appayya's Vedānta and Nīlakaṇṭha's Vedāntakataka". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 46 (1): 95–114. doi:10.1007/s10781-014-9252-5. S2CID 170190119.
• Deshpande, Madhav M. (2016). "Appayya Dīkṣita and the Lineage of Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita". Journal of Indian Philosophy. 46 (1): 115–124. doi:10.1007/s10781-014-9254-3. S2CID 170146119.

Other (scholarly journal articles):

• Bronner, Yigal (2007). "Singing to God, Educating the People: Appayya Dīkṣita and the Function of Stotras". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 127 (2): 113–130. JSTOR 20297244.
• Bronner, Yigal (2014). "South meets North: Banaras from the perspective of Appayya Dīkṣita". South Asian History and Culture. 6 (1): 10–31. doi:10.1080/19472498.2014.969008. S2CID 143713505.

Still other:

• N. Ramesan, Sri Appayya Dikshita (1972; Srimad Appayya Dikshitendra Granthavaliu Prakashana Samithi, Hyderabad, India)
• https://web.archive.org/web/20070111220640/http://www.shaivam.org/adappayya_works.htm

• Swami Sivananda on Appayya Dikshitar
• By Descendant of Appayya, Palamadai Nilakanta Dikshitar
• A brief history of Apayya Dikshitar