Hindu statesman and philosopher. He lived at the court of Vijayanagar, a southern Indian kingdom.

Mādhavācārya became an ascetic in 1377 and was thereafter known as Vidyāraṇya. He was part author of Jīvan-muktiviveka and Pañcadaśī, works of Vedānta philosophy; Dhātuvṛtti, a treatise on Sanskrit grammar; Nyāya-mālāvistara, a work on the Mīmāṃsa system, one of the earliest orthodox systems of Vedic philosphy; and Parāśarasmṛtivyākhyā, an elaborate comment on the Parāśarasmṛti.

His younger brother Sāyaṇa, the minister of four successive Vijayanagar kings, is famous as the commentator of the Vedas. Sāyaṇa's commentaries were influenced by Mādhavācārya, who was a patron of the scholars collaborating in his brother's great work.