Predecessor Acharyas
Teachers and saints who lived before Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared. This includes the Madhva line of acharyas, through which the teachings came down toward the Gaudiya line, and other great teachers and devotee-poets whose lives and writings were cherished by Mahaprabhu and His followers.
20 profiles
Srila Madhvacharya
Biography, Dvaita Vedanta & Teachings
Traditionally 1238 CE (some sources: 1199 CE; Srila Prabhupada's purport to Chaitanya-charitamrita gives 1118 CE, noting 1238 CE as an alternate reckoning) – Traditionally 1317 CE (some sources: 1278 CE), age about eighty
6 pastime pages
Padmanabha Tirtha
First Pontiff After Madhvacharya
Not clearly recorded. Sources agree only on his purva-ashrama (pre-sannyasa) name, Shobhana Bhatta; his exact birth year does not appear in any available source – 1324 CE, after heading the community for about seven years. Traditional Sakabda-era Mutt tables place the start of his leadership a century earlier, around 1199-1200 CE. B. N. K. Sharma redates it to roughly 1317-1324 CE, using evidence from old inscriptions. Sharma's dates are followed here, a full century later than the traditional figures.
3 pastime pages
Sri Narahari Tirtha
The Minister and Regent Who Became the Second Head of Madhvacharya's Matha
B. N. K. Sharma's academic history works out his birth as about 1241 CE, from his own inscriptions. Srila Prabhupada's purport to Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya 9.245, instead gives Shaka 1127 (about 1205 CE) as his birth year in its list of the succession. The two sources differ by roughly thirty-five years, and this difference has not been settled. – Traditionally 1333 CE (the cyclic year Srimukha), after nine years as the second head of the matha Madhvacharya founded. Before that he spent roughly three decades in public life as a minister and regent in Kalinga
3 pastime pages
Sri Madhava Tirtha
Third Pontiff of the Uttaradi Matha
Birth name Vishnu Shastri. According to Srila Prabhupada's purport to Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya 9.245, he was born in Shaka 1136 (about 1214 CE). – Not recorded in Srila Prabhupada's list of the succession, which gives years of birth; his tradition's aradhana (disappearance anniversary) is kept on Mahalaya Amavasya
1 pastime page
Sri Akshobhya Tirtha
Guru of Jayatirtha, Fourth Pontiff of the Madhva Peetha
No birth year is directly recorded; born Govinda Shastri (also Govinda Bhatta) in Uttara-Karnataka. Modern scholars (Wikipedia, following B. N. K. Sharma's dating) place his birth at about 1282 CE, by counting backward from his time as pontiff (1350-1365 CE). This is a date worked out later, not a directly recorded one. – Traditionally 1365 CE, at the end of his fifteen years as the fourth pontiff after Madhvacharya (1350-1365 CE, according to B. N. K. Sharma's dating)
3 pastime pages
Sri Jayatirtha
Tikacharya, the Commentator of Dvaita Vedanta
Traditionally about 1345 CE; leader of the Madhva line 1365-1388 CE (23 years). Srila Prabhupada's purport to Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya 9.245, instead places him at Shaka 1167 (about 1245 CE). This difference has not been resolved. – Traditionally 1388 CE, after 23 years as the sixth leader after Madhvacharya
4 pastime pages
Sri Jnanasindhu
A Name Between Jayatirtha and Dayanidhi
Not recorded in any source found – Not recorded in any source found
Sri Dayanidhi
The Disputed Name Just Before Vidyanidhi
Not recorded in any source found – Not recorded in any source found
Sri Vidyanidhi
Guru of Rajendra Tirtha in the Gaudiya List
Not independently recorded under the name Vidyanidhi. If he is identified with Vidyadhiraja Tirtha, Dvaita-tradition sources say he was born Krishna Bhatt around 1269 CE (Shaka 1190). – Not recorded under the name Vidyanidhi. If he is identified with Vidyadhiraja Tirtha, B. N. K. Sharma dates his time as head of the Udupi matha to about 1388-1412 CE. The matha lists give about 1392 as the year of his passing.
2 pastime pages
Sri Rajendra Tirtha
Founder of the Matha Line That Became Vyasaraja Matha
Traditionally around 1332 CE (Shaka 1254), per the South Kanada Manual/Bombay Gazette succession list quoted in Srila Prabhupada's own purport to Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya 9.245; not independently verified elsewhere – Not precisely dated; B. N. K. Sharma's History of the Dvaita School of Vedanta places his headship of his own matha around 1402-1440 CE
3 pastime pages
Srila Vijayadhvaja Tirtha
Author of the Padaratnavali, a Major Dvaita Commentary on Srimad-Bhagavatam
Not recorded; independent Dvaita-tradition sources place his active life in the late fourteenth to mid-fifteenth century – Traditionally observed on Akshaya Tritiya (the third day of the bright half of Vaishakha); commonly dated 1410, though some sources place his death as late as 1448
3 pastime pages
Sri Purushottama Tirtha
The Matha Head Who Vanished Into a Cave at Abburu
Not recorded; the Vyasaraja Matha's own succession record gives his pre-sannyasa name as Srinivasacharya but no birth year or place – Tradition holds that he did not die but withdrew into a cave for tapasya, and that he remains alive in a hidden sense. The Vyasaraja Matha's own published succession list says he headed the matha from 1400-1416. This date does not fit easily with other sources for the succession that follows. They place Brahmanya Tirtha's time as head around 1460-1467, and Vyasa Tirtha's own well-recorded life at roughly 1447-1539.
2 pastime pages
Sri Brahmanya Tirtha
Guardian and Guru of Vyasa Tirtha
Not recorded; he headed the matha in the mid-15th century CE – 1467 CE according to most matha-tradition lists; modern research on Vyasa Tirtha's life places it in the famine of 1475-1476 CE instead. Sources disagree.
4 pastime pages
Sri Vyasa Tirtha
Royal Preceptor of the Vijayanagara Empire
Traditionally 1447 CE, according to Wikipedia's summary of scholarly sources; other sources place his birth closer to 1460 – 8 March 1539, at roughly ninety years of age
4 pastime pages
Sri Lakshmipati Tirtha
The Acharya Named Lakshmipati
Not recorded in any available source; an estimate of 1420, often repeated online without any source, appears to come from a single short Wikipedia article – No date recorded in any available source. A Gaudiya devotional account (gaudiyahistory.iskcondesiretree.com) describes him leaving his body suddenly and without illness, not long after a final vision of Nityananda Prabhu, but assigns no specific year.
4 pastime pages
Srila Bilvamangala Thakura
Poet-Saint Who Composed Sri Krishna-karnamrita
Uncertain: estimates range from the 9th to the 14th century (disputed) – Not recorded in any source found
6 pastime pages
Srila Jayadeva Goswami
Author of the Gita Govinda
12th century CE (disputed) – 12th–13th century CE (accounts differ)
6 pastime pages
Srila Madhavendra Puri
Root of the Gaudiya Bhakti Creeper
Not precisely recorded by tradition; Wikipedia estimates circa 1420 – Not precisely dated in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita itself; Wikipedia estimates circa 1490
6 pastime pages
Srila Ishvara Puri
Diksha-Guru of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Full moon day of the month of Jyestha (exact year not recorded) – Exact date not recorded: he passed away between Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's initiation at Gaya (c. 1509-1510) and the Lord's arrival at Jagannatha Puri after taking sannyasa
5 pastime pages
Srila Sridhara Swami
Jagad-guru & Bhavartha-dipika Author
Not recorded; scholars place his life around 1350 to 1450 CE, most likely near 1400 CE – Not recorded, though he is remembered for his many years as abbot
6 pastime pages