India · 1238–1317 (some sources: 1199–1278)
Madhva
Founder of Dvaita, the dualist school of Vedānta
He taught five eternal differences—between God and souls, God and matter, soul and soul, soul and matter, and one material thing and another—so the soul never becomes God, though in liberation it enjoys God’s presence.
Life and thought
Madhva (1238–1317 by the usual dating; some sources give 1199–1278) was born near Udupi on the Karnataka coast. He became a renouncer young, studied Advaita and rejected it, travelled and debated across India, and installed the image of Krishna at Udupi that remains the centre of his tradition. He wrote thirty-seven works, among them commentaries on the Brahma Sūtra, the Upanishads and the Gītā. Most of what we know of his life comes from a biography by the son of one of his disciples.
Madhva’s Dvaita (“dualism”) is the most uncompromising answer to Śaṅkara: difference is real and permanent. He lists five eternal differences—between God and souls, God and matter, one soul and another, souls and matter, and one material thing and another. God (Viṣṇu) alone is independent; everything else depends on him. Souls never become God, even in liberation, where each enjoys his presence in its own degree. He also held, unusually in Indian thought, that some souls are eternally bound and some are damned.
Works
Argued against
c. 700–750 (older scholarship: 788–820)ŚaṅkaraMadhva wrote against Advaita at length, insisting on the real difference between God and souls.Meanwhile, in other traditions
1200–1253DōgenJapanese monk who founded Sōtō Zen1207–1273Jalāl al-Dīn RūmīPersian poet and Sufi teacher in Konya1225–1274Thomas AquinasDominican friar who wove Aristotle into Christian theologyc. 1240–c. 1284 (born 1235–40, died 1281–84)Siger of BrabantRadical Aristotelian master at the Paris arts facultyc. 1266–1308John Duns ScotusFranciscan theologian, the “Subtle Doctor”c. 1287–1347William of OckhamEnglish Franciscan logician who defied the popeOn the record
Madhva lived traditionally 1238–1317.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy and most specialist accounts (Sharma, Bryant) give 1238–1317, the dates followed in the Madhva tradition. Some reference works give 1199–1278 instead. His biography rests largely on the Madhva-vijaya, written by the son of one of his disciples.
Sources: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Madhva” · Wikipedia, “Madhvacharya” (citing Sharma 2000, Bryant 2007)