As I am reading up more on the history of Dvaita philosophy, the rise of Madhva's sect, and the traditions around Udupi temple town, I am inclined to think of Madhva-ism as being the "exceptional" Indian creed

Very distinct in so many ways from other Vedantic sampradAyas

A few things that strike me -

1. The incredible organizational robustness of the Madhva religion centered around Udupi and its Ashta maThas

2. Its relative doctrinal unity. At least I am not aware of major philosophical schisms among Madhvas

3. Its curious administrative hold over temples that you don't associate with the Vaishnavite theology of the Madhvas (e.g. many Shaivite ones)

4. Its very distinct theology. E.g. The centrality of Vayu in the Madhva lore.

5. Its unique temple rituals which are based on texts authored by their prime AcArya - Madhva's Tantrasara (as opposed to just the usual Vaishnava Agamas)

6. Its strong association with a single town and the surrounding villages - Udupi and TulunAd.

7. Its somewhat unique soteriology. Among all Indian Vedantic schools, Madhva alone takes the stand that some Atmas are eternally doomed

8. The sheer radicalism of the sect bordering on iconoclasm. A sects where you've recorded history of change of deities in certain temples

Let's discuss each of these briefly

1. Organizational robustness :

The HQ of the Madhva sect is the Udupi kRSNa maTha

The management of this maTha works on a rotational basis with each of the 8 original maThas of Madhva taking turns every two years - a system called paryAya

This system was set up by Madhva himself 700 yrs ago. Though his frequency was 2 months per maTha

The 16th cen Madhva figure Vadiraja changed it to 2 years, from 2 months

And it has stayed that way since!
No conflict. No conquest of one maTha by another

A well oiled machine!

Madhva also set up a system of "dvandva" that remains to this day.

Where two maThas are paired with each other, forming four pairs. Each maTha's "partner" is supposed to help the other out in times of need.

A fraternal arrangement

So the eight maThas have the following dvandva arrangement. Unchanged for 7 centuries (afaik) -

Phalimar - Adamar
KrSnApur - Puttige
Kaniyur - Pejavar
Sirur - Sode

2. Doctrinal unity

The Madhva fold is renowned for its large number of maThas. We've already discussed the eight primary maThas in Udupi

We also have numerous Deshastha maThas in inland Karnataka / Deccan (e.g Uttaradi mutt)

Yet there are no major doctrinal schisms / divisions

This is in sharp contrast to say Sri-Vaishnava sampradAya where you have major doctrinal schism

Between the Vadakalais and Thenkalais

Schisms stemming from deep philosophical differences

Vadakalais and Thenkalais cannot even agree on things as basic as the grace of BhagavAn

On a similar note, Advaita too accommodates a wide range of positions

Madhva fold in contrast is fairly coherent despite its decentralized organization

3. Administrative hold over non-Vaishnava shrines

This is something that marks out Madhvas relative to say Sri-Vaishnavas

Madhva theology is unambiguously Vaishnavite

Yet Madhvas control numerous Shaiva shrines

These include -

Anantesvara temple at Udupi (the rallying center of the Shivalli community to which Madhva belonged)

Chandreshwara temple at Udupi

Dharmasthala Manjunatha'

Durga temple at Vimanagiri

At least the first two temples mentioned above were pre-eminent shrines in Udupi before the foundation of the KRSNa maTha by Madhva

Managed by Smarthas adhering to Panchayatana ritual

Today these are shrines managed by Madhvas!

4. Distinct theology

Madhva theology is not Vaishnavite without a difference. It is distinct. For instance - the centrality of Vayu in Madhva theology is interesting

While among Sri-Vaishnavas, Garuda is an extremely important deity flanking Vishnu, in Madhva shrines, Vayu rises to prominence

Madhvas also pay a great deal of attention to itihAsa personages like Bhima, who is regarded as the son / embodiment of Vayu

Which is interesting

5. Unique temple worship of Madhvas

In Smartha shrines, worship follows Panchayatana. While in Sri-Vaishnava shrines, it adheres to the two Vaishnava Agamas - Pancharatra or Vaikhanasa

But among Madhvas, it is not just Agamic worship, but worship as per Tantrasara of Madhva!

In Madhva temples Pancharatra Agama is still largely adhered to

But in the maThas (notably kRSNa maTha), the old Panchayatana Smartha worship was replaced by Tantrasara (which appears to have been Madhva's own work)

The use of Tantrasara is unique. As it appears to have been the work of a single AcArya, as opposed to anonymous hand-over by tradition (as is the case with Agamic texts)

On a side note, there is another unique aspect of Madhva religion

Many of the so-called "temples" are actually maThas. E.g. The Krishna "temple" in Udupi is a maTha

So the place of worship here is doubling up as a monastic center

6. Association with TulunAd

Madhvas despite their wide presence have their HQ in Tulu territory - region around Udupi

We can't say that about other major sampradAyas
E.g. We can't associate Sri-vaishnavites with Srirangam as strongly as we associate Madhva sect with Tulu land

So despite its broad philosophical messages that have animated the whole country, it retains a special regional flavor

The sect is inextricably linked to the Tulu territory, the Shivalli brahman ethnicity of the region and the city of Udupi

7. Unique soteriology

Madhvas stand out as the most unambiguously dualist of all the Vedantin sampradAyas

But on top of that, their soteriology is unique in other ways.

Madhva posits the view that certain Atmas are eternally damned (maybe not the most accurate translation)

Tamo-yogya in his view

This is a sharp contrast to other schools where no Atma is categorized unequivocally as Tamo-yogya

8. Radicalism and a tinge of iconoclasm

The last thing that marks out the history of Madhvas is the strong streak of radicalism and dare-I-say iconoclasm that is a part of it.

First the institutional radicalism - Vadiraja's revolution in the 16th cen when important Shaiva shrines passed from Smartha to Madhva hands (Ananteshwara, Chandrashwara temples in Udupi)

Then there is an element of iconoclasm (I don't use the term negatively) that is part of Madhva history

Some instances -

- The oldest KrSNa in Udupi was a Venugopala shrine worshipped by Smarthas. It got replaced by the new BalakRSNa deity discovered by Madhva near Malpe beach

- The Odabhandeshvara temple at Malpe, where Madhva installed and consecrated a Bala- Balarama deity he had recovered at Malpe beach

This deity replaced a pre-ecisting Subramanya shrine, which was thrown into a tank! Where it has remained for 7 centuries

To the credit of Madhvas, the tank is also sacred today, and the utsava murti of the temple is the Subramanya not Balarama

But the radicalism and break from the past is unmistakable here.

Madhva indeed created a revolution

That brings us to the end of this thread

Madhva sect is indeed unique in more ways than one.

In its organizational nous, its coherence, its soteriology and yes, its radicalism and slight tendencies to iconoclasm

An exceptional Indian sect in more ways than one

References : The thread owes much to the fine book by BN Hebbar on the Udupi temple

Title -

"The Sri KRSNa temple at Udupi - The historical and spiritual center of the Madhvite sect of Hinduism"

There is a ninth point of exceptionalism that I glossed over.
Added as a post-script

Thats the emphasis on eschatology that exists in the Madhva tradition..

(elaborated in next tweet)

E.g. There is this place of Kadtilla where Madhva's work (Sarvamula) is apparently buried in copper plates.

This will be revived and dug up by one of Madhva's chief disciples Vishnu Tirtha, at some point in future when Madhva religion hits its lowest ebb

Until then the treasure will be buried here!

This is a classic example of Madhva eschatalogy with a peer into the future, coupled with a prediction

You don't see that in all sampradAyas