Vedāntadeśika

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Vedāntadeśika (Skt., ‘teacher of the Vedānta’). One of the most outstanding figures in post-Rāmānuja Śrī-vaiṣṇavism. His real name was Veṅkaṭeśa or Veṅkaṭanātha, and he died c.1370 CE, aged nearly 100. He became regarded as the figure-head of the Vaṭakaḷai (see TEፈKAḶAI). More than a hundred works in Tamil and Skt., on every aspect of Śrīvaiṣṇava thought and practice, were written by him. These include not only theological treatises like the Rahasyatrayasāram or Tattvaṭīkā (a commentary on the Śrī-Bhāṣya) or philosophical works like the Nyāyasiddhāñjana and Nyāyapariśuddhi, but also poetic works (including a drama, two mahakāvyas, and thirty devotional poems in kāvya-style).