Sri Nrisimha Tirtha

The Early Acharyas · Guru Parampara

9.1146 - 1229Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri

With reverence and gratitude to the Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham, which has kept the lives of its Jagadgurus through the centuries and shares them with the world. What follows is the Peetham's own account, exactly as it gives it.

Sri Nrisimha Tirtha (1146-1229 A.D)

श्रुतिमस्तककूटस्थमज्ञानद्विपभेदिनम् ।
श्रीमन्त्रराजमूर्तिं तं नृसिंहं गुरुमाश्रये ॥

The Light effulgent up the Vedic Hill The Power that kills the mammoth Ignorance
The royal sage of Mantras I humbly surrender to that Master Nrisimha!

Sri Jnanottamacharya was succeeded by Jagadguru Sri Sri Jnanagiri Mahaswamiji, who, in turn, was followed by Jagadguru Sri Sri Simhagiri Mahaswamiji, after whom an Agrahara (a locality for priests) near Sringeri has been named. The next two Jagadguru Shankaracharyas were Sri Ishwara Tirtha and Sri Nrisimha Tirtha. They were all eminent polemicists. Independent works on Advaita, elucidations of Sri Shankara’s Bhashyas and Sri Sureshwaracharya’s Vartikas, glosses representing both the Bhamati and Vivarana schools, as well as polemical texts and treatises of the 'Siddhi' genre (such as Ishta Siddhi, Advaita Siddhi, and others), represent the expansive Vedantic literature of this period which laid the standard for future scholars.

The Sharada Peetham stood as the fountainhead of this flourishing of Vedantic thought, drawing sages and scholars from across the land, including Karnataka, the Chola region (modern Tamil Nadu), Andhra, Maharashtra, and Gaudadesha (Bengal). It was not long before other centres of learning came under its influence, and Vedanta was incorporated into their curricula.

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