On Uttamur T. Vīrarāghavācārya

Have you ever seen a copy of the Upayukta Mīmāṃsā?

I already discussed here my admiration and fascination for Uttamur T. Viraraghavacarya and his work. Vīrarāghavācarya is known in his Tamil works as Uttamur (or Uthamur) T. Vīrarāghavācarya (with various graphic variants) and in his Sanskrit works mainly as Abhinava Deśika Vīrarāghavācarya.

He wrote countless books, mostly commentaries on Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta books in Tamil, Maṇipravāḷa and Sanskrit. However, he also wrote directly on texts he deemed important for religious, e.g., stotras and Upaniṣads, theological, e.g., Udayana’s Nyāyakusumañjali, and philosophical reasons, e.g., Kaṇāda’s Vaiśeṣika Sūtra and Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī. His commentaries display his originality and deepness as a thinker, an instance of which has been discussed here.

The Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta community also reveres the figure of U.T. Vīrarāghavācārya, so that one can find on the web several interesting webpages dedicated to him and many of his works have been uploaded on archive.org (mostly under the name “Uttamur T. Viraraghavacharya”, see here). However, I could not find in any library or catalogue a copy of a text he refers to in his commentary on Vedānta Deśika’s Seśvaramīmāṃsā, namely his Upayukta Mīmāṃsā. According to the way he presents it (in his commentary on the beginning of the SM), this should constitute an attempt of making Pūrva Mīmāṃsā consistent with Vedānta, thus a very interesting topic. It is also referred to, for instance, in this and this page dedicated to U.T. Vīrarāghavācārya, still not a copy seems to be available for purchase (or download).

Do readers have suggestions about where to look for a copy of it?
(I already wrote to the Uttamur Swami Trust)

Comments and discussions are welcome. Be sure you are making a point and contributing to the discussion.

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8 thoughts on “On Uttamur T. Vīrarāghavācārya

  1. I’m sure you had the idea already, but in case you didn’t, you could contact Anand Amaladass, maybe he himself could locate a copy in Chennai or knows scholars there (if I understand well, Chennai would be a good location to start looking for it?)

  2. This may be too late and you might have obtained this already but anyways: The upayukta mimamsa is a longish essay that he includes in the preface to his edition of the Sri Bhashyam with Srutaprakasika published as 2 volumes (a new edition was published about a decade or so ago). If you need it still, I believe I can source it.

  3. You mention a commentary on Seśvaramīmāṁsā by Vīrarāghavācārya. Where can I find it? Sorry for intruding on this topic, but I am very interested in Vedāntic views on Mīmāṁsā.

    • Hi Jimi, it has been published in 1971 and it is a pleasure to read and think about. Let me know if you need help locating a copy and let me know about your work on Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta.