Ancient Hindu Jurisprudence
About Vijnaneshwara, author of the Mitakshara.
Shri Vijnaneshwara was the prominent jurist in the rich Indian legal tradition, who wrote the book Mitakshara, which was a commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti, the law book expounded by Sage Yajnavalkya of Upanishadic times.
Vijnaneshwara himself furnishes valuable clues regarding his identity in the concluding verses of his monumental commentary, from which we learn that:
- He belonged to the Bhāradvāja Gotra.
- He was the son of the distinguished scholar Padmanābha Bhaṭṭopādhyāya.
- He was honoured with the titles Paramahaṁsa and Parivrājakācārya, indicating his eminence as a philosopher and spiritual preceptor.
- His celebrated work was known as the Ujjvala Mitākṣarā, the lucid and illuminating commentary on the Yājñavalkya Smṛti.
Shri Vijnaneshwara lived in Martur, Kalaburagi District, during the reign of the Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI (1076–1126).
There is a stone inscription in Martur evidencing this fact, and it pays rich tribute to Vijnaneshwara by saying that Emperor Vikramaditya VI of the Chalukya dynasty, wearing his jewelled crown, touched the feet of Vijnaneshwara to honour him.
Eminent epigraphist Shri Sitaram Jagirdar has published the authoritative book Vijnaneshwara of the Mitakshara and the Maratur Inscription, which remains the primary source for the historical study of the inscription and its significance.
Valuable discussions on Vijnaneshwara are also found in Prof. B. N. Sampath’s work Paramahamsa Vijnaneshwara and in Shri Srinivasa Siranoorkar’s Vijnaneshwara Mitakshara.