Biographies of the Sampradaya Acaryas
Addendum to "Guru-parampara: The List of 32"
by Rocana dasa
One of ISKCON's scholars in the field of guru-parampara is Sriman Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa, a disciple of HH Jayaptaka Swami, who resides in Katikati, New Zealand. He is the author of a book entitled The Life and Legacy of Sripad Madhvacarya Bhagavatapada [1], the creator of Hknet.org.nz, and the compiler of various materials on our Brahma Gaudiya Vaisnava Sampradaya, including an "Introduction to and Chronological Order of, the Brahma Madhwa & Brahma Madhwa-Gaudiya Sampradaya" and the accompanying "Detailed Table of the Disciplic Succession" [2]. He has also presented a compilation of biographical information on the members of the guru-parampara [3], excerpted in summary below.
In his compilation of biographies, Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa does not order his content in exactly the same order as Srila Prabhupada's List of 32 from Bhagavad-gita As It Is, but it is generally presented in that order. In some cases names are combined. There is relatively little information available about some of these personalities.
In his presentation of biographies, Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa does not offer citations or source material references for all of the biographical facts being presented, although many can be recognized as coming from well known Vaisnava literatures. For the most part, our comparison here is limited to the information provided in his narrative, which we assume includes the most salient facts available.
Padmanabha:
Padmanabha is 6th on the List of 32, immediately following Madhva. His pastimes are described in the biographical sketch:
"He was a renowned and distinguished scholar of the day, but his proficiency in fourteen branches of learning were silenced in fourteen seconds by Acarya Madhva in 1265 AD. Soon he became one of the most trusted disciples of Madhva. Madhva always praised him, being the senior-most disciple among those outside the Tulu area, and his learning, preaching and seniority enabled Madhva to make him the first to sit on the Pitha after Madhva's disappearance pastime."
Like Padmanabha Tirtha, Srila Prabhupada's scholarship is beyond reproach. Without a doubt, the impact of Srila Prabhupada's preaching on the world has been vastly greater than that of any other disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, qualifying him as the topmost disciple both inside and outside of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's math. And that itself is a vast understatement. Srila Prabhupada's worldwide preaching was predicted by Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself:
"Even if the sinners reject religion or flee to foreign countries, still they will get the mercy. I will send My senapati (military field commander) bhakta to go there and deliver them."
(Sri Caitanya Mangala, Sutra-Khanda by Locana das Thakura)
In the brief span of around 20 years, Srila Prabhupada translated more than sixty volumes of Vedic sastra into English. His Bhagavad-gita As It Is is available in more than sixty languages, and millions of editions have been distributed worldwide. Srila Prabhupada's books are considered preeminent resource books in colleges and universities around the world, including Harvard and Oxford, and they have been delivered to countless world leaders and politicians, and have undoubtedly influenced world affairs. Srila Prabhupada also delivered the Hare Krsna maha-mantra to the entire world. The maha-mantra has been included in many popular records and performances, being included in numerous songs by the world's most popular band, the Beatles. Both Srila Prabhupada's books and the maha-mantra continue to instantaneously make devotees around the globe. Many take up Krsna Consciousness immediately upon receiving Srila Prabhupada's transcendental sound vibration.
Nrhari (Narahari Tirtha):
Nrhari is 7th on the List of 32. According to his biographical sketch, he was divinely chosen by the royal elephant as a replacement for the departed King. He quickly surrendered his role as King, passing it to his 12 y.o. son. As a parting gift, he asked for the now famous Deity of Mula Rama, which was placed in the Uttaradi Mutt. Madhva also gave Narahari a Deity of Kaliyamardana Krsna.
In Orissa there are inscriptions glorifying Narahari's kingly feats of statesmanship and swordsmanship, and even while serving as king, he preached Vaisnavism and made many devotees among the princes and aristocrats in Orissa and Andhra.
While there is no direct correlation between Nrhari's pastimes as a royal leader and Srila Prabhupada's pre-ISKCON lila pastimes, there is nothing inherent in Nrhari's kingly pastimes that appear to directly relate to his place in the disciplic succession as a perfect transmitter of Absolute Truth, except his preaching activities during that time. Srila Prabhupada's pre-ISKCON lila pastimes as a grihasta and businessman may appear less 'royal' on the surface, but that is a mundane characterization. In fact, Srila Prabhupada was born into a family of Vaisnavas, adventing as a nitya-siddha personality, and he was continuously engaged in devotional service to Krsna from a very young age. His preaching and Krsna Conscious pastimes continued on from his youth, throughout his grihasta years prior to his departure for America and founding of ISKCON.
That Nrhari preached to and made devotees of various princes and aristocratic nobility can be compared to the many famous personalities Srila Prabhupada preached to, and convinced to take up Krsna Consciousness practices: doctors, scientists, lawyers, professors, philosophers, clergymen, politicians, entertainers, etc., what to speak of the thousands of notorieties his direct disciples went on to preach to. Many of these famous personalities also became devotees.
Nrhari once dreamed that a Visnu Deity was at the bottom of tank. He arranged to have the tank dredged, the Deity was recovered, and a temple was built for its installation. In another pastime, Nrhari was said to have dreamed that a deity of Anjaneya (Hanuman) was buried under an anthill. The deity was excavated, and a temple constructed in that place.
While Nrhari Tirtha learned in dreams of the location of two hidden Deities who were reclaimed and temples erected in their honor, Srila Prabhupada's pastimes with the Deities of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna, Sri Sri Krsna-Balarama, Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai, Sri Pancatattva, and Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra are unparalled. During his ISKCON lila period, Srila Prabhupada opened 108 temples and installed many Deities for the Vaisnavas to worship, including large temples with opulent Deity worship in Sridham Mayapur and Vrindavan Dhama. Since his departure, Srila Prabhupada's disciples have opened many more temples, institutes and rural preaching projects around the world.
Sri Nrhari Tirtha wrote fifteen books, offering personal commentary on the Bhagavad-gita (Gita Bhashya) and Mahabharata (Yamaka Bharatha) , as well as a Bhavaprakasika, and various songs in Kannada. His Gita Bhasya and Bhavaprakasika are the only two partially extant manuscripts.
Madhava:
Relatively little information is available on Madhava Tirtha's life. He is 8th on the List of 32, and was the third acarya in charge of Madhvacarya's math after his departure. Previously he lived the life of an ascetic. In one famous pastime, he founded the city of Vijayanagar after the discovery of a huge amount of hidden treasure. As an ascetic in the mountains, he blessed the shepherd Bukka to become a king, which he did, and Madhava later served as a minister under him.
He wrote commentary on the Parasara Smrti called Parasara Madhva-vijaya, and some other books have been accredited to him, although there is some confusion about this, because his name is so similar to Madhvacarya's.
Generally speaking, we find few points of comparison in his recorded pastimes that allow us to draw a parallel between he and other members of the disciplic succession, including Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada is credited with very extensive writings, direct worldwide preaching, and the establishment of the ISKCON temple at Mayapur Dhama.
Again, what is important is not the one-upmanship of comparing apparent successes or external signs like the numbers of temples, devotees, or even books. We are after an understanding of the comparable transcendental qualities that result in these great personalities being included on the guru-parampara List of 32 Sampradaya Acaryas. When considering Madhava Tirtha's recorded pastimes, clearly Srila Prabhupada's pastimes are likewise exalted.
Aksobhya:
Aksobhya Tirtha, who is 9th on the List of 32, gives us our first opportunity in this comparative survey of Sampradaya Acaryas to consider members of the elite disciplic succession from the standpoint of bhasya.
When using the term 'Sampradaya Acarya' to describe Srila Prabhupada, one of the most commonly heard objections is that this term only refers to the founders of the four main sampradayas, all of whom are distinguished by the fact that they established bhasya for the sampradaya.
As we have previously pointed out, there are numerous examples in our own List of 32 wherein the Sampradaya Acaryas are distinguished by the philosophical arguments they introduced during their lifetimes. Madhavendra Puri and Baladeva Vidyabhusana are two excellent examples, what to speak of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself. Some suggest that Sri Madhvacarya is qualified as a Sampradaya Acarya because he introduced a significant element of bhasya to the Sampradaya. Of course, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and Madhavendra Puri who appeared in advance to set the stage for His Appearance, have introduced the most significant bhasya of all -- worship of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna as the topmost expression of bhakti-yoga. In the final analysis, it is not just semantics, or the nomenclature of 'Sampradaya Acarya' that is central to our argument -- we are most concerned with identifying the rarified, exalted spiritual qualifications of those 32 members of the guru-parampara, whatever name is used to describe them.
In a chapter of the coming Sampradaya Acarya book dealing with the four Vaisnava Sampradayas, we will discuss the topic of Madhvacarya's introduction of new bhasya into the Sampradaya, and to what degree he carried forward the already established siddhanta being preached by his predecessors in the line. But for now, let us consider the similarities between the philosophical contributions and pastimes of Aksobhya Tirtha and those of Srila Prabhupada.
Aksobhya was the last of Madhvacarya's direct disciples to sit on the Pitha, and Madhva gave him a Deity of Aja-Vitthal. As described in Jaya Tirtha Charan's paper on the guru-parampara:
"His main "claim to fame" was the way he refuted the philosophy of "tat tvam asi" - "you are the same as". There is an historic incident which is understood to have taken place at Mulbagal near Kolar. His victim was Vidyaranya, the big, big scholar and guru descendant of the Advaita line of Sankara. Aksobhya Tirtha smashed Vidyaranya so badly that in history this was considered the turning point in the new Madhva faith of Dvaitavada. To this day the philosophy of Dvaita (dualism) has not been defeated; even the Advaita Mayavadis, knowing they are wrong, with stubborn determination they have yearly been coming back to get smashed."
While Jaya Tirtha Charan does not specifically state it in this biographical sketch, we assume that Aksobhya did not introduce new philosophy or bhasya into the sampradaya, so much as he very expertly used the established siddhanta to defeat a challenger from Shankaracarya's line. In similar fashion, Srila Prabhupada brought forward the philosophy and applied it in preaching against Darwinism, the modern form of Mayavadism.
Following his defeat of the Mayavadis, Aksobhya spent his time training his famous disciple Jayatirtha in Dvaita philosophy, teaching him to write and argue against Advaita monism, and personally taking to task other modern day representatives of Shankar Mayavadism. Likewise, Srila Prabhupada trained many thousands of disciples, who became competent in defeating the Mayavadis. Srila Prabhupada's young disciples were often found lecturing at the finest universities in the world, like Oxford and Cambridge, delivering Srila Prabhupada's clear and definitive arguments against modern-day Mayavadis in the form of Darwinists, scientists and politicians. Likewise, he taught his disciples how to preach through writing, which was the hallmark of his own preaching work.
Jaya Tirtha:
The biographical pastimes of Jaya Tirtha, 10th on the guru-parampara list, are presented in Jaya Tirtha Charan's paper and are quite remarkable. The stories of Jaya Tirth's transcendental life were recorded by Srila Vyasatirtha, who is 18th on the List of 32. Jaya Tirtha Charan mentions that some do not accept this story.
Jaya Tirtha is described as being, in a previous life, the bullock who pulled Madhvacarya's cart while he traveled and preached. He is said to be a partial incarnation and joint expansion of Lord Indra and Lord Ananta Sesa. While we cannot presume to make any comparisons in this regard, we can keep in mind that the transcendental identities and previous lifetimes of so many of our illustrious Sampradaya Acaryas are simply not known to us, including our own Srila Prabhupada's.
The pastimes of Jaya Tirtha that we do find comparable, in terms of his preaching and surcharging of the Brahma Madhva Sampradaya, include the fact that he took sannyasa at a very young age, at which time he was already a genius at presenting and arguing the philosophy. As Jaya Tirtha Charan writes in his biographical sketch:
"He was a genius, seeing through the foolishness of Mayavada, and even making commentaries on Ramanuja's works. He wrote about twenty books, eclipsing those of his forerunners like Trivikrama Panditacarya, Padmanabha Tirtha and Narahari Tirtha, but he was always humble, giving all credit to Aksobhya Tirtha, the servant of Madhvacarya."
We have elaborated above on Srila Prabhupada's genius in defeating the modern day Mayavadis, and on his prolific writings which, like Jaya Tirtha's, eclipsed those of his godbrothers in the Gaudiya Math, what to speak of his contemporaries outside the math. Srila Prabhupada always gave all credit to his Spiritual Master and the previous Sampradaya Acaryas. While Jaya Tirtha gave commentaries on Ramanuja's work at a young age, Srila Prabhupada wrote, traveled and preached extensively at a very advanced age.
Jaya Tirtha toured all over India several times, destroying the philosophy of the impersonalists and being undefeated in debate. He was therefore known as a pure Vaisnava Acarya. Likewise, Srila Prabhupada traveled the entire world eleven times (some count it as twelve times), and was recognized as a pure Vaisnava acarya everywhere he went in this world.
One of Jaya Tirtha's most famous works was his Critique of Mithyatva or "The Falsity Of The World". As the biographical sketch describes it, in this book:
"…he describes how this world is temporary, not false, and the Mayavadi way as being really false. He points out the differences between real, unreal, temporary and permanent, concluding, "…The co-existing of both their negations, at the same time and with reference to the same locus is, therefore, most illogical and can never be accepted by sane men." I.e. the positive being this world is temporary though genuinely existing, the elements are real, and the action is real but done in connection with material nature causing reaction, which is also real but not permanent. Thus soundly defeating the Mayavadi philosophy around "brahma satyam jagan mithya", various works on subjects of Vaisnava studies and logic were written by Jayatirtha."
We have elaborated above in reference to Aksobhya Tirtha, Srila Prabhupada's comparable preaching against impersonalism.
Vidyanidhi (Vidyadhiraja Tirtha):
The next Sampradaya Acarya in the line for whom Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa provides a biographical sketch is Vidyanidhi, who is 13th on the List of 32. However, the author comments in some detail on the anomalies surrounding the order of disciplic succession at this point, and particularly with respect to Jnanasindhu and Dayanidhi. Relevant quotes on that material are included above in our comparisons of the various early iterations of the guru-parampara list.
With respect to the details of Vidyanidhi's life and pastimes as a great Acarya, very little information is given. Vidyanidhi was a brahmacari, a direct disciple of Jaya Tirtha, and a successor in Madhva's Pitha for some period of time, the details of which are disputed. No other specifics are given, except that he had "seniority in his learning and devotional understandings".
Rajendra:
Rajendra Tirtha is 14th on the guru-parampara List of 32. Like Vidyanidhi, very little information is provided about Rajendra's life and preaching pastimes, so there are no real points of comparison to be made in that regard. In the biographical sketch, Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa describes various issues and disputes associated with the recording of the guru-parampara at this point in history:
"Rajendra was his first disciple and their relationship was always very close. There is one story which tells of how the guru parampara divided at that time. Vidyadhiraja Tirtha was extremely sick so he sent word to Rajendra to come immediately, but he did not arrive in time. The Guru, feeling his life passing, ordained another disciple to guarantee that he would have a successor. This devotee's name was Kavindra Tirtha. Some say he called Kavindra due to a need for the preaching to spread, but one cannot guess the reasons why - a pure Vaisnava acts only to satisfy the Lord, that much we can ascertain. The line coming from Rajendra Tirtha is now represented by Vyasatirtha and Gosale Mutts and that line still continues.
The other line (that from Kavindra Tirtha) continued on to Vagisa and Ramacandra Tirtha, but at the time of Ramacandra there again was some heavy disagreement that apparently nearly stopped the line at that time. Inevitably it caused a split and now those lines come down via his two disciples, Vibudhendra Tirtha of Raghavendra Swami Mutt and Vidyanidhi Tirtha of Uttaradi Mutt."
Jayadharma (Jayadhvaja / Vijayadhvaja Tirtha):
Jayadharma is 15h on the guru-parampara List of 32. Jayadharma lived the life of an exemplary Vaisnava, and his pastimes took place during an important era in the history of the Sampradaya, essentially described as being a precursor to the advent of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in the Brahma Madhva Sampradaya.
Among the various fascinating details presented in Jayadharma's biographical sketch are the comments on Sridhar Swami, one of the foremost commentators on Vaisnava sastra, who is often cited in the purports of our recent Sampradaya Acaryas. Interestingly enough, Sridhar Swami himself is not included in the List of 32.
"[Jayadharma's] commentary of Bhagavatam went under the title "Bhakti-ratnavali" and is said to have greatly influenced his disciple, Visnu Puri. In his commentary there are many references to the original compiler, the great Sridhar Swami of the Bhagavat School. Sridhar lived in a very dangerous time to be a Vaisnava, and so kept his meanings covered. Many, even to this day, say that Sridhar Swami was an impersonalist, but actually this is not so. As we have stated, he had to keep the real and personalistic understandings of the Bhagavatam covered for there were many devious Mayavadis ready to corrupt anything that glorified Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Vijayadhvaja (Jayadharma Muni as he is also known) clarified the meanings of Sridhar Swami, bringing out the dualist's point of view from the seemingly hidden meanings of Sripada Sridhar Swami."
Some of the other pastimes of Jayadharma's life that help us to understand his presence on the List of 32 are the fact that as was the custom in Karnataka, he took sannyasa as a very young boy. His youthful pastimes resulted in his following the instructions of Rajendra Tirtha (it is thought) in writing his commentaries on the Bhagavatam, known as Pada-ratnavali, later known as Bhakti-ratnavali, compiled and purported by Visnu Puri, who is said to have influenced Laksmipati Tirtha and Madhavendra Puri.
Brahmanya Tirtha:
Brahmanya Tirtha is 17h on the guru-parampara list. In his compendium of biographical sketches, Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa skips Purusottama, who is 16th on the list, but discusses him later, in the section on Laksmipati. As discussed earlier in this paper, the inclusion of Brahmanya Tirtha and Purusottama on the various guru-parampara lists are anomalous, in several instances.
Very little appears to be known about Brahmanya Tirtha, except that he was descended in the line from Rajendra, from Vidyadhiraja. The author notes, "It is so unfortunate that these great devotees' lives have slipped into obscurity". This statement underscores the importance of our clearly documenting the pastimes and transcendental qualities of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada.
Vyasa Tirtha:
Vyasa Tirtha is listed in the 18th position on the List of 32. A disciple of Brahmanya Tirtha, fortunately much more is known about his life than that of his guru's. There is an interesting pastime from his youth about how he surrendered to his Spiritual Master. His guru departed not long after, and having learned little about the Madhva sastras under his direction, Vyasa Tirtha went to Kanchipuram to study, quickly becoming a renowned pandit. He engaged in Deity worship of Srinivasa (Lord Visnu) at Tirupati for about 12 years, before departing for Vijayanagar, where he became known for making radical statements about Brahmanism, Vaisnavism, varnasrama, and who was qualified to worship the Lord.
It may have been Vyasa Tirtha who preached to the King of Bisnaga, and King Krsnadevaraya honored him for defeating a cadre of pandits who challenged him to debate at Vijayanagar. After 30 days of debate, Vyasa Tirtha soundly defeated them.
Becoming Vyasa Tirtha's disciple, Krsnadevaraya established the Vitthala Rukmini temple with its beautiful Vitthala and Rukmini Deities, and gave Vyasa Tirtha other land, facilities, and jewels.
Srila Vyasa Tirtha was well known for engaging in harinama sankirtan. He established 732 temples of Hanuman all over South India and composed many poems and songs based on the Srimad Bhagavatam, Mahabharata and Ramayana. In one famous pastime, Vyasa Tirtha engaged a farmer who wished to take diksa from him, instructing him to beckon Yamaraja's bull, which he did, engaging the bull to move a huge boulder blocking the local river. After another amazing pastime, wherein Sri Udupi Krsna manifested to assist the farmer's service, to the chagrin of the brahmana disciples, Vyasa Tirtha gave him diksa.
Of his overall influence in the disciplic succession, Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa writes:
"Vyasatirtha was, as some say, almost the second founder of the system of Madhvacarya, after the great Madhvacarya. Vyasatirtha influenced many, including the aristocracy, and many of his disciples traveled north preaching his glories to places which included Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Maharastra, and even Rajasthan and Uttara Pradesh."
In the mood of Vyasa Tirtha, our Srila Prabhupada also traveled extensively to preach, not only throughout India, but on every continent on the globe, except Antarctica. During his lila period, Srila Prabhupada's disciples also traveled to preach the glories of Lord Caitanya's Sankirtana movement, traveling with him and alone, worldwide. How history will measure the vast influence Srila Prabhupada had on literally millions of people who got access to his books, we can only guess.
Laksmipati Tirtha:
In his biographical sketch on Laksmipati Tirtha, Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa opens by saying that by divine arrangement, Laksmipati was a 'ground-breaker' for what were to be big changes in the Madhva Sampradaya. In other words, Laksmipati came to prepare the way for Lord Caitanya's advent, even in advance of Madhavendra Puri. The author describes various situations in which the Vaisnavas exhibited intense devotional emotion for the Lord, which was the hallmark of His advent. He writes:
"Obviously these situations are not to be imitated, as some cheaters do. As you will read shortly, these are insights to the personal relationships between the Lord and his pure devotees."
Very little information is given about Laksmipati's life, except that he was a stellar sannyasi of advanced age. There is a story that Nityananda, in His original Form as Lord Balarama, appeared in a dream to Laksmipati and ordered him to give diksa initiation to an avadhuta madman who would later appear. That, of course, was Nityananda, and Laksmipati is said to have fulfilled the order of Balarama in this regard. The author provides this quote:
nityananda prabhu vande
srimad laksmipati priyam
sri madhva-sampradaya
vardhanam bhakta vatsalam
"Respectful obeisances unto You, Nityananda Prabhu, the dear favorite of Laksmipati Tirtha. He (Nityananda) increases the bliss of the entire Madhva sampradaya and He has the innermost needs of the devotees foremost at hand."
Regarding the question of whether Nityananda was the diksa disciple of Laksmipati or of Madhavendra Puri, as noted in the List of 32, the author refers to Srila Prabhupada's purport to Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya lila 3.85:
"Sometimes He is accepted to be a disciple of Laksmipati Tirtha. If He is so accepted, Nityananda Prabhu belonged to the Madhva sampradaya. He did not belong to the tantrika sampradaya of Bengal."
There is also an anecdotal story told by a Gaudiya Math servant who reports that he heard Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati say that Laksmipati came as a sannyasi to the door of Nityananda Prabhu's father, Hadai Pandit, who gave the boy to the sannyasa as his assistant.
Elsewhere in Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya lila 8.128, Srila Prabhupada's purport states:
"Sri Nityananda Prabhu was initiated by Madhavendra Puri, a sannyasi. According to others, however, He was initiated by Laksmipati Tirtha."
Regardless of who actually gave diksa initiation to Nityananda, Laksmipati is understood to be a member of the pure disciplic succession, primarily on the basis, apparently, of his internal devotional ecstasies and pastimes.
Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa includes a biographical sketch for Brahmanya Tirtha, but not one for Purusottama, instead mentioning later, under the Visnu Puri section of the Laksmipati Tirtha bio that Brahmanya and Purusottama are one and the same. He does not offer citations or explain how he comes to that conclusion. More details on this subject can be found below in Addendum.
For our part, we are compelled to accept that Brahmanya Tirtha and Purusottama are two different individuals, as they were specifically noted by Baladeva Vidyabhusana, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, and His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. As Jaya Tirtha Charan writes about anomalies in the line from Madhva:
"The descendants of Madhva are more strictly followers of a diksa line, whereas both Kavikarnapura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati lean more towards siksa lines, though still accepting both on their own validity."
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ERRATA:
As a subsection under Laksmipati Tirtha, there is a brief biographical sketch of Visnu Puri, previously mentioned in the section about Jayadharma. In his Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, Kavi Karnapura wrote:
"Vidyanidhi's disciple was Rajendra. Rajendra's disciple was Jayadharma Muni. Among Jayadharma Muni's disciples was Sriman Visnupuri, the famous author of the Bhakti-ratnavali. Another disciple of Jayadharma was Brahmana Purusottama."
However, neither Baladeva Vidyabhusana in his Prameya-ratnavali, nor Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati in his Sri Guru-parampara poem mention Visnu Puri, nor is he included in Srila Prabhupada's List of 32.
Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa writes:
"Filling in the details over the past couple of generations, the Gaura Ganoddesa Dipika (Text 22) of Kavikarnapura says: "Rajendra's disciple was Jayadharma Muni. Among Jayadharma's disciples was Sriman Visnu Puri, the famous author of the Bhakti-ratnavali. Another disciple was Brahmanya Purusottama." But in the Kantimala, it states:
iti sri purusottama-caranaravinda-
krpa makaranda-bindu pronmilita-
viveka-tairabhukta-paramahamsa-
sri visnu-puri grathita-sri
bhagavatamrtabdhi labdha-
sri bhaktiratnavali kantimala samapata
This indicates that Visnu Puri had some kind of disciple relationship with Purusottama Tirtha (Brahmanya); at least this confirms the time, if not his particular kind of guru-disciple relationship."
Jaya Tirtha Charan prabhu does not offer a citation for this Kantimala. He also doesn't mention how anomalous Brahmanya is in the various recensions of the guru-parampara list. As we mentioned above, there are a few names that have been particularly anomalous through nearly all iterations of the guru-parampara list: Dayanidhi/Mahanidhi, and Purusottama/Brahmanya. Just to reiterate, here are the key variations:
Kavi Karnapura wrote: "Another disciple of Jayadharma was Brahmana Purusottama. Purusottama's disciple was Vyasatirtha".
Baladeva Vidyabhusana wrote: "Rajendra, Jayadharman, and also Purusottama,
Brahmanya, and Vyasatirtha."
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's Guru-parampara verse in Sanskrit: sri-vidyanidhirajendra-jayadharman-kramadvayam | purusottama-brahmanya-vyasatirthams ca samstumah"
In his Bengali poem version of the Sanskrit, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta wrote:
"jayadharma-dasye khyati, sri purusottama yati, | ta'ha ha'te brahmanya-tirtha suri"
The English translation of the Bengali (translator unknown) states: "His disciple was Rajendra Tirtha, whose principle disciple was Jayadharma, also known as Vijayadhvaja Tirtha, the famous Bhagavatam commentator. His disciple was Purusottama Tirtha, whose foremost disciple was Brahmanya Tirtha."
Based on this chain of evidence, we see that Kavi Karnapura is the earliest recorded source who has combined the two names as "Brahmana Purusottama". But Baladeva Vidyabhusana clearly indicates they are two different individuals, and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta does the same, most specifically in the lines of his Bengali poem.
Srila Prabhupada follows Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, including both names as separate numbered items in his List of 32 in Bhagavad-gita As It Is. He mentions only Purusottama in Caitanya CaritamrtaAdi 6.40, specifying that Vyasatirtha is the disciple of Purusottama (not Brahmanya). He again omits Brahmana in his letter to Upendra (Feb 13, 1968), but includes Purusottama twice.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] The Life and Legacy of Sripad Madhvacarya Bhagavatapada by Jaya Tirtha Caran dasa
[2] "Introduction to and Chronological Order of, the Brahma Madhwa, & Brahma Madhwa-Gaudiya Sampradaya", "Detailed Table of the Disciplic Succession", and "Biographies of the Sampradaya Acaryas" by Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa
http://www.hknet.org.nz/guru-parampara-contents-page.htm
[3] "Summary Biographies of the Sampradaya Acaryas" - excerpted and paraphrased from "Biographies of the Sampradaya Acaryas" by Jaya Tirtha Charan dasa
http://www.hknet.org.nz/guru-parampara-contents-page.htm
RETURN TO:
Guru-parampara: The List of 32
