Appayya Dikshita

Samkhya	Kapila;
Yoga	Patanjali;
Vaisheshika	Kaṇāda, Prashastapada;
Secular	Valluvar;

Appayya Dikshita (

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

.

Life

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

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

Tanjore, Vijayanagara, and Venkatagiri

.

Works

He was well-read in every branch of

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.