author
Madhava
d. 1386
A major 14th-century Indian thinker in the Advaita Vedanta tradition, he is often identified with Vidyaranya, the teacher and religious leader linked to the early Vijayanagara Empire. Works attributed to him explore liberation, non-duality, and the spiritual life with unusual clarity and ambition.
1 Audiobook
The Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha
by Madhava
About the author
Often identified with Vidyaranya (c. 1268–1386), this Madhava was a Sanskrit scholar, Advaita Vedanta philosopher, and influential religious figure in South India. He is closely associated with the Sringeri Sharada Peetham and is remembered in later tradition as an important guide to the founders of the Vijayanagara Empire.
Texts attributed to him include influential works on Vedanta and liberation, especially the Jivanmukti-Viveka, which examines what it means to attain freedom while still living. Because medieval authorship can be complicated, some details about attribution are debated, but he is widely connected with a body of writing that shaped later Hindu philosophical thought.
For modern listeners, his appeal lies in the way these writings bring abstract philosophy into direct conversation with inner life: freedom, knowledge, discipline, and what it means to live wisely in the world.