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XXV) Important Madhva Works
87 The Vişnu-tattva-nirnaya of Madhva had a comment called the Visnu-tattva-nirnaya-țīkāby Jaya-tīrtha, Visnu-tattva-nirnaya-tīkātippañī by Keśavasvāmin, Vişnu-tattva-nirnaya-țippaņīby Śrīnivasa and Padmanābha-tīrtha, Bhaktabodha by Raghūttama; it had also another commentary, called Vişnu-tattva-nirnaya-țīkopanyāsa. Besides these there were independent works on the lines of Vişnu-tattva-nirnaya called Vişnu-tattva-nirnaya-vākyārtha and Vanamāli Misra's Visnu-tattva-prahāsa'.
The Nyāya-vivarana of Madhva is a work of more than six hundred granthas, which deals with the logical connection of the different chapters of the Brahma-sūtra. A number of commentaries was written on it, by Vitthala-sutānanda-tīrtha, Mudgalānandatīrtha, and Raghūttama; Jaya-tīrtha also wrote on it the Nyāyavivarana-pañjikā. Rāghavendra, Vijayındra and Vādirāja wrote respectively Nyāya-muktāvalī, Nyāya-mauktikamālā, and Nyāyaratnāvali, on the lines of Madhva's Nyāya-vivarana. Madhva wrote it after he had finished his Bhāsya, Anubhâsya and Anuvyākhyāna; it is needless for us to follow the work in detail, but we may briefly indicate Madhva's manner of approach. He says that the Brahmasūtra was written in order to discredit the monistic interpretations of the Upanisads. Thus with the monist Brahman cannot be subject of enquiry, because He is self-luminous; in opposition to this view the Brahma-sūtra starts with the thesis that Brahman, being the supreme person who is full of all qualities, can hardly be known by our finite minds. There is then a natural enquiry regarding the extent of the greatness of the supreme being, and in the second sūtra it is shown that Brahman cannot be identical with the individual selves, because He is the source from which the world has come into being and it is He who supports the world also. In the third sūtra we learn that the Brahman-causality of the world cannot be known except through scripture; in the fourth we read that the scriptures from which we can know the Brahman cannot be any other than the Upanişads. In this way, all through his first chapter, Madhva tries to show that, if we interpret the doubtful śruti texts on the basis of those whose meanings are clear and definite, we find that they too declare the superiority and transcendence of the supreme Lord. The same process of reconciling the śruti texts with
ato jñātr-jñeyābhāvāt jñānam api sünyataiva; atah sūnya-vādān na kaścid višesah; na ca jñātr-jñeya-rahitam jñānam kvacid drstam. Op. cit. p. 275 (17).
