Adisesha /LakshnaNa /Ramanuja

[Guest guest]

manii says:

>

>Yes, some traditional histories have Ramanuja as an

>incarnation of Adisesha. I think Amudhanaar symbolizes

>Ramanuja as a "defender of the faith" by making him

>an incarnation of the divya aayudhaani.

>

>The earliest biographies, though, do not mention

>Ramanuja as an incarnation of anyone. Neither

>Vedanta Desika nor Manavaala Maamunigal mention

>the Adisesha = Ramanuja equation in their poems

>in praise of Ramanuja, so it is likely that this

>story gained currency only later.

> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

>Mani

 

According Guruparapara prabhavam, (written by piLLaan

ar the time of Ramanuja's death), Peria thimulalai nambi,

uncle of Ramanuja is the one who names the child as

Ramanuja, Lakshmana, Ilyaazhvaar etc. all after Adisesha.

Lakshmana is also considered incarnation of Adisesha in

Ramavataram. So the idea is much older, even though

Vedanta Desikar does not mention it.

 

K.Srinivasan

[Guest guest]

K. Srinivasan writes:

> According Guruparapara prabhavam, (written by piLLaan

> ar the time of Ramanuja's death), ...

 

Just a small correction. There are two Guruparampara Prabhaavams

(henceforth GPP), one by Pinpazhagiya Perumaal Jiyar, who lived a

century or so after Ramanuja's passing, and one by the 3rd Brahmatantra

Svatantra Jiyar of the Parakaala Mutt. The former Prabhaavam

is called the GPP 6000, since it has 6000 "padi"-s, each padi

being a set of 32 grantha characters. The latter is called the GPP 3000.

Both are in the Sanskritized Tamil style called maNipravaaLa.

 

The GPP 6000 is the oldest biography of the Alvars and Ramanuja

we have, and is reckoned by some as a Thengalai version, though

it predates any such split. The GPP 3000 is more a Vadagalai

version, since it includes some information on Vedantadesika

and emphasizes some characteristically Vadagalai philosophical

positions.

 

Mani