Introduction from Vasudha Narayanan

[Guest guest]

[i am forwarding this on behalf of Prof. Narayanan. -- Mani]

 

I am not sure if this message is supposed to go to you or to the whole

list-- if it is to everyone, feel free to forward it.

My interest in the group is only to learn from all of you-- there is so much

and such little time! I am a professor of Comparative Religion at the

University of Florida. My husband is also a professor here and we have two

sons, Desika (15) and Ramanujan (10). I have been trying to learn about our

sampradaya from about 1973 or so. My traditional teachers were K.K.A

Venkatachari (Bombay). I studied Desika's Sanskrit Bhasyas to the Gadya

traya, and Alavandar's stotras under Sriman M.S. Rajagopalachariar of Desika

Bhavanam, Mylapore in 1975. My understanding of the Tenkalai literature

(Periyavaccan Pillai's commentary on Tiruppavai, Pillai Lokacharya's Sri

Vacana Bhusanam and Manavala Mamunikal's commentary on it) came by studying

these texts under Sri C. Jagannathachariar, formerly of Vivekananda College.

In 1978 I finished my Ph.D dissertation on "The Srivaisnava Understanding of

bhakti and prapatti: The alvars to Vedanta Desika." The first part of the

dissertation (Alvars to Parasara Bhattar) was published under the title The

Way and the Goal by Center for the Study of World Religions (Harvard

University) and Institute for Vaisnava studies (American university) in

1987. The other two books I have written are The Tamil Veda: Pillan's

interpretation of the Tiruvaymoli (with John Carman, Chicago: University of

Chicago press, 1989) and The Vernacular Veda: Revelation, Recitation and

Ritual (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1994). The last

book focuses on the notion of revelation of the Tiruvaymoli, the modes of

transmission in modern days and the araiyar sevai at Srirangam. I have also

edited two other volumes. I've written a few articles (about 20-30) on

Srivaisnavism, on topics like Ramanuja and renunciation; the goddess Sri;

Archavatara; Karma, bhakti yoga and grace in Ramanuja and Kurattalvan;

Desika and karma; krtajnata in Srivaisnavism; and Parasara Bhattar's

commentary on the Vishnu sahasranamam. Some articles, like one on Tiruppan

alvar are under review now. It seemed silly to list all these articles here

because they really are my own attempts to understand our rich heritage and

would be fairly simplistic to your circle which seems very thoughtful and

learned.

My latest publication is part of an undergraduate textbook. It is

an introduction to "the Hindu tradition" (pp 1-133) and "The Jain tradition"

(134-175) and is part of World Religions: Eastern Traditions, edited by

Willard Oxtoby, Oxford University Press, 1996. I am currently working on 3

projects: 1, complete translation of the Tiruvaymoli, 2, The Hindu Tradition

(an Introductory text) to be published by Prentice Hall and 3, the

interfaces between Hinduism and Islam in Tamilnadu, especially noting how

similar Tamil Islamic literature is to the Kamba Ramayanam (The Seera

Puranam or the life of the Prophet) follows the Ramayana closely, chapter

and verse sometimes.

Yours in the path of learning and understanding our tradition, Vasudha Narayanan