Sri Ramanuja Acarya appeared around 1017 A.D in a pious brahmana family. He became the formost Acarya in the Sri Sampradaya and was reputed to be the incarnation of Laksmana, the younger brother of Lord Ramacandra. He was a boy of extraordinary intelligence and placed himself under the charge of Yadavacarya, a renown Sankrite scholar. Later Ramanuja took sannyasa and travelled throughout India vigorously defeating atheists and impersonalists by preaching the Vasistadvaita doctrine. He never failed to win over a rival in spiritual disputations.