Debates

[vidya]

In connection with scholarly debates, I would like to add that the various
"digvijayas" tend to be hagiographical. For example, the mAdhavIya Sankara
digvijaya has Sankara debating with abhinavagupta in Kashmir, and bhAskara,
the bhedAbhedavAdin. Neither could have been contemporary with Sankara. On
the other hand, Sankara's debate with maNDana miSra could very likely have
happened in reality. 

Coming to more recent times, the nAyakas of kelaDi seem to have extended
royal patronage to scholars of various schools and organized debates in
their court. bhaTToji dIkshita and appayya dIkshita were among the notable
scholars patronized by the kelaDi nAyakas. I'm sure there are records about
the scholars at the kelaDi court in Karnataka and GOML, Madras. 

Vidyasankar