Vallabha, also known as Vallabhācārya or Vallabha Dīkṣita (May 7, 1478 – July 7, 1530 CE), was the founder of the Kr̥ṣṇa-centered Puṣṭimārga sect of Vaishnavism, and propounded the philosophy of Śuddhādvaita.
His biography is depicted in several sectarian Puṣṭimārga hagiographies. Born into a Telugu Brahmin family, Vallabha studied Hindu philosophy from an early age, then traveled throughout the Indian subcontinent, particularly the Braj (Vraja) region, for over 20 years. He became one of the leading figures of the devotional Bhakti movement. He won many philosophical debates against the followers of Advaita Vedānta. He began the institutional worship of Śrī Nāthajī on Govardhana Hill. He acquired many followers in the Gangetic plain and Gujarat. After his death, the leadership of his sampradāya passed to his elder son Gopīnātha.
Vallabha's philosophy promoted the householder lifestyle over asceticism, suggesting that through loving devotion to the deity Kr̥ṣṇa, any householder could achieve salvation. He authored many texts including Aṇubhāṣya (his commentary on the Brahma Sutras), Ṣoḍaśa Grantha or sixteen tracts and several commentaries on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.
Life
Sources and Dating Events from Vallabha's life are recounted in several sectarian Puṣṭimārga texts. Among the Braj Bhasha sources are the Caurāsī Vaiṣṇavan kī Vārtā, Śrī Nāthajī Prākaṭya kī Vārtā, and Caurāsī Baiṭhak Caritra. According to Barz, the most important Sanskrit source is the Śrīvallabhadigvijaya.
According to Alan Entwistle, the Caurāsī Baiṭhak Caritra is a post-early 18th century text, due to internal references to other sectarian texts. According to Saha and Hawley, the Caurāsī Baiṭhak Caritra dates to the mid-18th century. Ṭaṁḍana, Bachrach, and several Puṣṭimārga leaders state the work was composed in the 19th century. Ṭaṁḍana also considers the Gharu Vārtā, Nija Vārtā, and Śrī Ācāryajī kī Prākaṭya Vārtā to be 19th century texts which were based on the older Caurāsī Vaiṣṇavana kī Vārtā and Do Sau Bāvana Vaiṣṇavana kī Vārtā. Bhatt states the Nija Vārtā is "full of interpolations and shows the lack of historical sense", and if it was in fact originally the work of the traditionally accepted author, Vallabha's grandson Gokulanātha, it was far removed from the original text. The Caurāsī Baiṭhak Caritra (attributed to Harirāya) enumerates the 84 baiṭhaks ("seats") of Vallabha across India where he sat and preached Puṣṭimarga tenets. According to Saha, the text seeks to promote Vallabha as an exceptional philosopher and miracle worker who acquires converts wherever; the text does this by portraying Vallabha as a digvijayin ("world-conqueror") who establishes the superiority of his philosophy in the Char Dham.
The Śrī Nāthajī kī Prākaṭya Vārtā in its current form was likely written in the 1860s, although its contents were orally known prior to the 19th century. The Vallabha Digvijaya or Yadunātha Digvijaya claims to have been composed in 1610, however modern scholars state the text was composed around the turn of the 20th century.
Other Sanskrit texts include Gadādhara Dviveda's Sampradāya-Pradīpa (colophon states A.D. 1552–53, but according to Hawley, actually from the latter half of the 1600s), Muralīdharadāsa's Śrīvallabhācāryacarita (c. 1573), Prabhucaritaciṁtāmaṇi (attributed to Devakīnaṁdana, which is baseless according to Bhatt), and the Gujarati poem Vallabhākhyāna by Gopāladāsa (c. 1580). Another Braj Bhasha work, Saṁpradāyakalpadruma, which is claimed to be composed by Viṭṭhalanātha Bhaṭṭa (a grandson of Viṭṭhalanātha's second daughter Yamunā) cannot be considered to be of ancient origin according to Śāstrī. Other texts by Gokulanātha's followers include Kalyāṇa Bhaṭṭa's Kallola, Keśavadāsa's Gujarati Vallabhavela, and Gopāladāsa Vyārāvāḷā's Gujarati Prākaṭya-Siddhāṁta.
According to scholars, the life of Vallabha as depicted in traditional sources contains many miracles, supernatural events, and "patently implausible features". Vallabha is considered by followers of the Puṣṭimārga to be an ideal divine incarnation who was born for a supernatural purpose, and his hagiographies mean to portray a living intimate relationship with Kr̥ṣṇa to serve as an example to devotees. Barz (1992) gives biographical account of Vallabha which includes these traditional elements. His biography has been criticized by Vaudeville for relying solely on English and Hindi Vallabhite sources and a lack of critical analysis of them typical of a Western Indologist. Śāstrī, commenting on the presence of miracles in Vallabha's biographies, notes that the texts authored by the followers of Gokulanātha, a grandson of Vallabha, contain no mention of miracles in relation to Vallabha and his second son Viṭṭhalanātha (Gokulanātha's father) making them valuable sources. This is due to the fact that these followers instead consider Gokulanātha to be God in human form, with Vallabha and Viṭṭhalanātha only being revered ācāryas. No single text contains a full biography of Vallabha, and different sources contain inconsistent and contradictory information, likely due to internal fragmentation of the religious community from the 17th to 19th centuries.
Childhood
According to tradition, Vallabha's family was Velanāṭa or Vellanāḍu Telugu Brahmins who belonged to the Bhāradvāja gotra and the Taittirīya branch of the Yajurveda. Their ancestral village was Kāṅkaravāḍa on the southern bank of the Godāvarī River. Keśvararāma Kāśīrāma Śāstrī identifies the village of Kāṁkara (Kanker, Chhattisgarh) with Kāṁkarapāṁḍhu or Kāṁkaravāḍa.
According to some sources such as the Śrīvallabhadigvijaya, Vallabha's birth occurred in the forests of Campāraṇya, due to his parents fleeing Vārāṇasī in fear of Muslim invasion. These sources depict his birth as miraculous, with his parents initially leaving the seemingly still-born infant beneath a śamī tree, before being recalled by a supernatural voice to see Vallabha alive and surrounded by fire. According to other hagiographies such as Śrī Nāthajī Prākaṭya kī Vārtā, Vallabha appeared in the Agnikuṇḍ ("Pool of Fire") in Mathurā.
Most hagiographies date Vallabha's birth to Vaiśākha vada 11, 1535 V.S. (May 7, 1478 CE). Though conversion of this date into the Gregorian calendar is disputed among scholars (with some putting Vallabha's birth in 1478 and some in 1479), Hawley confirms the year 1478 after adjusting for the calendar used in Braj. The followers of Gokulanātha, one of Vallabha's grandsons, consider Vallabha's year of birth to be 1473 CE. G.H. Bhatt, on comparing the two dates, states that the year 1473 CE is correct. In his view, the sources mentioning 1473 CE are older and more authentic than those mentioning 1478 CE.
Soon after Vallabha's birth his family moved back to Vārāṇasī. His education consisted of learning Sanskrit texts such as the Upaniṣads, Vedas, and Purāṇas.
According to the Śrī Govardhananāthajī ke Prākaṭya kī Vārtā (19th century), Mādhavendra Purī (c. 1420–1490) taught Vallabha in Varanasi, however this is considered "highly improbable" by Entwistle due to the dates of Vallabha's birth and Mādhavendra's death. When asked what he would like as a fee for teaching Vallabha, Mādhavendra asked to serve Śrī Nāthajī, as he had a premonition that Vallabha would establish the formal worship of the deity. When Mādhavendra Purī arrived at Govardhan Hill, the image was being already being worshipped as a snake deity by the local villagers, and as Kr̥ṣṇa by Saddu Pāṇḍe. Mādhavendra Purī adorned Śrī Nāthajī with a garland and turban decoration, and offered him milk (he was told by Śrī Nāthajī that he would only accept solid food when Vallabha arrived). The text also claims that Mādhavendra was appointed mukhiyā of the Bengali priests, which is also considered unlikely by Entwistle since the Śrī Nāthajī temple was built after his lifetime. Mādhavendra Purī later went to South India to get sandalwood, from which he never returned. Other Puṣṭimārga texts and the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition posit contrasting narratives surrounding the identity of Mādhavendra Puri's students and the establishment of the Kr̥ṣṇa image on Govardhana Hill.
First pilgrimage Nearing the end of his life, Lakṣmaṇa Bhaṭṭa decided to take his wife and 10-year-old son along on a pilgrimage to southern India. They first stopped at the Vaishnava temple of Jagannātha in Purī in 1489. The local ruler was sponsoring a great philosophical debate where four questions were posed to scholars: "What is the foremost scripture? Who is the foremost deity? Which is the most effective mantra? What is the easiest and best action?", to which Vallabha responded with the Bhagavad Gītā, Kr̥ṣṇa, any of Kr̥ṣṇa's names, and sevā (service) to Kr̥ṣṇa, whereupon Jagannātha wrote a śloka in support of his response and condemning the supporters of Advaita Vedānta.
In 1490, they reached the temple of Veṅkaṭeśvara at Tirupati, where Lakṣmaṇa Bhaṭṭa died, and Illammāgārū began to live with her brother in Vijayanagara.
Grand victory at Vijayanagara When Vallabha was living in his ancestral village of Kāṅkaravāḍa, he heard of a philosophical debate (śāstrārtha) being held in at the court of King Kr̥ṣṇadevarāya of Vijayanagara, and that the Vaiṣṇava schools of thought were being beaten by Advaita Vedānta philosophers. Vallabha immediately went to Vijayanagara to join the debate, and entered the Vaiṣṇava camp led by Vyāsatīrtha of the Mādhva school. Vallabha through his erudition and debate skills defeated the Advaita philosophers, and was rewarded by Kr̥ṣṇadevarāya with large amounts of gold (most of which he distributed among Brahmins).
Vallabha was also offered the prestigious title of ācārya from the Mādhva sampradāya and the Viṣṇusvāmī sampradāya. Vallabha chose to become ācārya of the Viṣṇusvāmī school. Very little is known of the Viṣṇusvāmī school, and by Vallabha's time its followers were few. The majority view among sectarian followers is that Vallabha chose to become ācārya of that school in order to make his own doctrines more prestigious, and that there is likely no real connection between the ideas of Viṣṇusvāmī and Vallabha. A minority of followers believe there is a connection between the philosophies of Viṣṇusvāmī and Vallabha. Modern scholars hold there is no legitimate connection between the two philosophies. According to Keśvararāma Kāśīrāma Śāstrī, Vallabha himself did not claim to belong to Viṣṇusvāmī's school. He notes that in the Subodhini, Vallabha claims Viṣṇusvāmī's devotional path belongs to the tamāsa guṇa, while his own is nirguṇa. Only later writers such as Gosvāmī Puruṣottama, Yogī Gopeśvara, and Gadādharadāsa link Vallabha's and Lakṣmaṇa Bhaṭṭa's philosophical school to Viṣṇusvāmī. It is also stated in traditional biographies that Bilavamaṁgala (a scholar of Viṣṇusvāmī's school) waited 700 years for Vallabha to take his seat. Rather Vallabha himself states that despite Bilvamaṁgala's Māyāvāda tendencies, through his devotion he can achieve mokṣa.
According to sectarian literature, this debate occurred shortly after Lakṣmaṇa Bhaṭṭa's death in 1490 when Vallabha was only 13 years old; however, Kr̥ṣṇadevarāya only became king of Vijayanagara in 1509.
The debate is mentioned in the Caurāsī Baiṭhak Caritra and but is not found in independent historical sources. According to Saha, the Vijayanagara episode is meant to portray "the image of a victorious Vallabha winning the subcontinent for Kr̥ṣṇa". It is also mentioned in the Sampradāya-Pradīpa, whose narrative is described as "clearly counterfactual" by Hawley who posits the episode was written for the purpose of furthering the interests of the Puṣṭimārga in the late 17th century.
Reception of the Brahmasambandha mantra and installation of Śrī Nāthajī