RE: Accusations and Charadu Pandige

[Guest guest]

Mr. Keshava Prasad writes:

>The concept though

>simplistic in nature, stands tall among some petty quabbles that have persisted

>over the years such as the "Vadagalai" - "Thengalai" arguments.

 

My thanks to Mr. Prasad for his interesting explanation of the traditions

and significance of Charadu Pandige. Its message of the sacredness of

marriage is certainly a universal principle that makes this holiday duly

important in the SriVaishnava Calendar.

 

It is interesting to note, however, that this holiday is generally not

prevalent among SriVaishnavas in Andhra, with the exception of the most

orthodox. There is no clear explanation as to why this is so, but I do have

some ideas which I perhaps can share in a later posting.

 

The purpose of this posting, though, is to express some concern for the

above mentioned, albeit justifiable comments. As confirmed by Mrs. Satyan,

the infamous Vadakalai - Thenkalai debate has been more or less settled by

generations of acculturation among our families in Andhra and Karnataka (as

I stated in a previous posting, in my own family, Vadakalais and Thenkalais

have been inter-marrying for generations). However, in my personal opinion,

this harmony should not provide us with cause to just throw aside the

distinctions between the two schools as passe and petty. There a number of

philosophical and epistemological issues in this debate that, at times, are

crucial to the understanding of our Sampradayam. Included in these is how

the two schools view prapatti, which all would agree is the essence of our

religion0. While neither school should (or would) proclaim supremacy over

the other, I would concur with Mr. Sudarshan that a certain level of healthy

conversation would be helpful in furthering our understanding of the

teachings of our poorvacharyas.

 

So, while we all may have our views on the importance of the subject of this

past week, I do not think that it would be wise to use this one topic as a

model to judge the Vadakalai - Thenkalai discussion as a whole.

 

Daasanu Daasan,

 

Mohan