Bōdhāyana (also Bodhāyana) was a seminal figure in the pre-Śaṅkara Vedāntic tradition who composed the Bōdhāyana Vṛtti — an extensive gloss (vṛtti) on the Brahmasūtras of Bādarāyaṇa (Veda Vyāsa). While the Bōdhāyana Vṛtti in its complete form has not survived to the present day, its contents and positions are known partly through Rāmānuja's references in the Śrī Bhāṣyam and through associated tantra-rahasya literature.
The significance of Bōdhāyana in Śrī Vaishnava theology is immense. When Rāmānuja journeyed to Kashmir (according to tradition) to study the Bōdhāyana Vṛtti housed in a library there, he was denied the complete manuscript but managed to memorise a substantial portion. Upon returning to the south, he composed the Śrī Bhāṣyam — his magisterial commentary on the Brahmasūtras — claiming to faithfully expound the tradition that Bōdhāyana had established. By positioning himself as Bōdhāyana's follower, Rāmānuja aligned his Viśiṣṭādvaita interpretation with the older, pre-Advaitic understanding of Brahman as the śeṣī (supreme Lord) who contains all souls and matter within Himself.
Bōdhāyana's vṛtti is understood to have interpreted key Brahmasūtra passages — such as the sūtras on Brahman's nature (1.1.1), the identity of the jīva and Brahman (2.3), and release (4.4) — in a manner consistent with saguṇa Brahman, affirming the personal, omniscient, and omnipotent nature of Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa as the ultimate Reality. This contrasts with Śaṅkara's nirguṇa Brahman reading.
In the formal guru-paramparā lists of Śrī Vaishnava tradition, Bōdhāyana occupies a position as the ādyācārya of the commentary-tradition on the Brahmasūtras before Śrī Rāmānuja. He is therefore revered as one of the intellectual forbears of the sampradāya even though he pre-dates its formal organisation.