The Samkara School of Vedanta, as is well known, is a philosophical system that lays the foundation of Absolute Idealistic Monism. It is a system that comprehends Ultimate Reality as Indeterminate, partless and one and consequently believes that all differences and the variegated objects of experience, being phenomenal, are like illusion from the ultimate standpoint. The Reality is not only Brahman and that Brahman is Atman; the individual soul when it realises this truth shakes off its ignorance, the cause of bondage, and becomes free. The real instrument of emancipation has its own importance as a means to the attainment of knowledge. This philosophy aroused virulent criticism from various quarters, especially among those who belonged to Vaisnavite tradition and the chief among them are Madhva and his illustrious followers. The works of Madhvacarya and his followers abound in the criticism of the philosophical standpoints of the Samkara school inasmuch as it was only by disproving the principles of the solid foundations of their theistic realistic pluralism. The Madhva criticism was again discussed threadbare and denounced by the eminent philosophers of the Samkara School such as Citsukha, Nrsinghasrama, Madhusudana Saraswati and others. In the present work the author has undertaken an exposition, of the various problems of philosophy, from the Samkarite point of view, and then discussed exhaustively the criticism leveled against the Samkarite position by the Madhva philosophers and also their counter-reply as given by the eminent post-Samkarite thinkers. As the history of the Madhva criticism and its counter-criticism at the hands of the post-Samkarites is spread over several centuries, the author has limited himself to the period which ends with Laghucandrika, a commentary on Madhusudana’s Advaita-siddhi. This book is, therefore, indispensable for those who wish to decide for themselves as to which of the opposite poles, whether Monism or Pluralism, is ultimately justifiable.
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