Umamaheshvara
Uma-maheshvara, also known as Abhinava-Kālidāsa, was a Sanskrit-language philosopher and grammarian from present-day southern India. He is variously dated to c. 1465 CE or c. 1750 CE.
Biography
Uma-maheshvara was born in a family belonging to the Vellala social group. He was a disciple of Akshaya-suri of Mokshagundam family.According to the Rajashekhara-charita of his disciple Kavi-kunjara, Uma-maheshvara "put an end to the machinations" of Durjaya, the court poet of the Vijayanagara king Raja-shekhara. P. Sriramamurti of Andhra University tentatively identifies the ruler as prince Raja-shekhara, and on this basis, dates Uma-maheshvara to c. 1465 CE. However, Harold G. Coward and K. Kunchunniraja date him to c. 1750 CE.
Works
Uma-maheshvara wrote the following works on the Advaita Vedanta philosophy:Advaita-kamadhenuTattva-chandrika or Nirguna-brahma-mimamsaVirodha-varudhiniVedanta-siddhanta-saraSantana-dipikaUma-maheshvara defended Adi Shankara's Advaita Vedanta against Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita. In Virodha-varudhini, he proposed to show 100 self-contradictions in the works of Ramanuja and other Vishishtadvaita works such as Satadushani, but fell ill after discussing 27 contradictions. Ramanuja's followers Rangacharya and Shrinivasa-dikshita wrote refutations of Uma-maheshvara's criticisms.
Other works attributed to him include:Paniniya-vada-nakshtra-mala, a work on grammarShrngara-shekhara Bhana, a Sanskrit playTapta-mudra-vidravanaPrasanga-RatnakaraRamayana-tika
P. Sriramamurti identifies him with the Abhinava-Kalidasa who wrote Bhagavata-champu, a work on the life of Krishna.