Devotional tradition names Vishnu Puri as a disciple deeply influenced by the Padaratnavali, though available sources say little more about him. Independent Pejawar Matha records instead name Uttama Tirtha as the disciple who actually took the seat as head of the matha after him. This is a different name from Purushottama Tirtha. But the two names sound close enough that it is plausible they became mixed up over centuries of spoken and written retelling. No source confirms or rules out that possibility.
The Gaudiya Guru-Parampara's Own Claim #
Whatever the truth about that matha record, the Gaudiya guru-parampara list itself is clear about this acharya's place. It names him as the teacher of Purushottama Tirtha. Purushottama Tirtha in turn is remembered as guru to Brahmanya Tirtha. Brahmanya Tirtha's own disciple was the famous Vyasa Tirtha, court guru at the Vijayanagara empire. On the Gaudiya side of the story, Vyasa Tirtha was also guru to Lakshmipati Tirtha, the acharya who gave sannyasa to Srila Madhavendra Puri himself. So, by the Gaudiya list's own count, this acharya stands only five links above Srila Madhavendra Puri in the disciplic line that eventually reaches Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If the links claimed in the list hold, this is a truly important position.
A Real Legacy, Independent of the List #
Even if we set the parampara-list question aside, this acharya's legacy still stands firmly on its own. By every account, the Padaratnavali is still actively used as a reference in Madhva-sampradaya study of the Bhagavatam. It is still printed, and still studied alongside Madhvacharya's own Bhagavata-tatparya-nirnaya. In the Tattva-sandarbha, Jiva Goswami praises him directly and by name. This is a real point of contact between the Gaudiya and Dvaita traditions, and it does not depend on settling any lineage dispute. The Pejawar Matha, the matha he is most reliably connected with, is also still an active institution today. It is one of the eight ashta-mathas that still take turns managing the Sri Krishna temple at Udupi under the paryaya rotation system. According to Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, the Deity of this same temple moved Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself to become "mad in ecstasy" when He visited Udupi during His own travels.
This whole guru-parampara question is discussed most fully on Srila Madhavendra Puri's page, in Life in the Madhva Sampradaya. This acharya's own place in that list, and the gap in the evidence for it, are discussed on Life and Place in the Madhva Lineage. His actual literary work is told on Writing the Padaratnavali.
