वल्लभाचार्य — {vallabhâcārya} m. N. of a celebrated Vaishṇava teacher (successor of a less celebrated teacher Vishṇusvāmin##he was born, it is said, in the forest of Campâraṇya in 1479##at an early age he travelling to propagate his doctrines, and at the court of Kṛishṇadeva, king of Vijaya-nagara, succeeded so well in his controversies with the Śaivas that the Vaishṇavas chose him as their chief##he then went to other parts of India, and finally settled down at Benares, where he composed seventeen works, the most important of which were a commentary on the Vedânta and Mīmāṃsā Sūtras and another on the Bhāgavata. Purāṇa, on which last the sect rest their doctrines##he left behind eighty-four disciples, of each of whom some story is told, and these stories are often repeated on festive occasions. He taught a non-ascetical view of religion and deprecated all self-mortification as dishonouring the body which contained a portion of the supreme Spirit. His followers in Bombay and Gujarat, and their leaders, are called Mahā-rājas##they are called the epicureans of India) RTL. 134-137##{-vaṃśâvalī} f. N. of wk