Ramanuja ([ɾaːmaːnudʑɐ]; Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmānuja; c. 1077 – 1157, trad. date 1017-1137), also known as Ramanujacharya, was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and social reformer. He is one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition in Hinduism. His philosophical foundations for devotional practice were influential in the Bhakti movement.
Ramanuja's guru was Yādava Prakāśa, a scholar who, traditionally, is said to have belonged to the Advaita Vedānta tradition, but probably was a Bhedabheda scholar. Sri Vaishnava tradition holds that Ramanuja disagreed with his guru and the non-dualistic Advaita Vedānta, and instead followed in the footsteps of Tamil Alvārs tradition, the scholars Nāthamuni and Yamunāchārya. Ramanuja is famous as the chief proponent of Vishishtadvaita school of Vedānta, and his disciples were likely authors of texts such as the Shatyayaniya Upanishad. Ramanuja himself wrote influential texts, such as Sanskrit bhāsyas on the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita.
