Padmanabha Tirtha who lived during the 14th century was a
direct disciple of Madhvacharya. Before he became an ascetic, he was known as
Sobhana Bhatta. He met Madhvacharya when the great saint was returning from
Badari to Udupi. Here Sobhana Bhatta entered into a debate with acharya but he
was defeated.
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| Image of Madhvacharya |
Sobhana Bhatta was convinced by the validity of
Madhvacharya’s philosophy and he became an ardent disciple of Madhvacharya and
took Sannyasa.
Padmanabha Tirtha was a great scholar and was well-versed in
Vedas, epics and Puranas. He wrote commentaries on Madhvacharya’s works. A
total of 15 works are credited to him this includes commentary on
Madhavacharya’s ten prakarnas, Brahmasutra Bhasya, Gita Bhashya etc. His
independent work Sannyayaratnavali is very famous.
As he was the foremost disciple of Madhvacharya, he was made
his first successor. He was head of Madhva Matha for seven years.
His Samadhi is located at Navabrindavan near Hampi in
Karnataka.