A peep into thousand years of the history of Sri VaishNavam : Part IV

[Guest guest]

SrI :

 

Dear Fellow Students of the History of Sri VaishNavam :

 

Northern Kingdoms

**********************

While the Northern part of India's history was being written by

the MouryA kings ( 321-181 B.C.E ) like SaamrAt AshOkaa ,

GupthA Kings (320-550 C.E) like VikramAditya and Samudra Gupthaa ,

Pushya Bahus ( 550-650 C.E) like Harshaa and

Pratihaaras ( 750-1150 C.E ) with their capital in Ujjain ,

the history of the region south of the VindhyA mountains was being

carved out by the PandyAs and CherAs( around 3rd cenury B.C.E) ,

PallavAs ( 5th to 8th Century C.E) and ChOLAs ( 9th to 12th Century C.E) .

We will not focus too much on the northern kingdoms unless they had

an impact on the people of the southern kingdoms , which ended up in

the redrawing of the boundaries of these kingdoms .

 

Central Kingdoms

*******************

Besides the Northern kingdoms were the SEVEN Central Kingdoms :

 

1. SaathavAhanAs (50 B.C.E -- 220 C.E )with their capital in PaithAn in

modern day MaharAshtraa .

 

2. Vakatakaas ( 250-500 C.E) with thier capital in Bandhivardhana , which

ruled over MahaarAshtraa , Andhra PradEsha an dN.Karnataka . It was

absorbed however by marriage with kings of GupthA dynasty .

 

3.Early ChaaLukyAs with VaathApi as their Capital . They ruled from 550-750

C.E.

They were in running battles with PallavAs and PaaNDyAs of the Southern

Kingdoms . None was strong enough to overpower the other and skirmishes

continued .

 

4. RaashtrakootAs with their capital in Achalapura in modern MaharAshtrA :

These rulers were worshippers of Sivaa and built the famous Ellora Temples

for KailasanAth .Their power at times extended all the way to Sri Lanka .

 

5. The Hoysala kings ( 1000-1300 C.E ) had their capital in DhwArakA

Samudhra in modern day7 KarnatakA . King Bitti Devan/VishNu Vardhana ,

the Jain king converted to VaishNavism as a result of his reverence for

AchArya RaamAnujA at ThondanUr and created many agrahArams like

Mandyam for Vaishnavite scholars . These kings built many exquisite

temples for VishNu at places like Belur , Haleibeed and others , many of

which are being covered by Sri Sridhar of Bangalore now .

 

6. Later day ChALukyAs (1050-1150) with their capital at KalyAn

in N.Karnataka.

 

7. Thuglaks ruled central India from 1300-1400 C.E. The Indian Muslim

dynasty of Bhamanis succedded the Tuglaks . Bhaktha Raama Doss

lived during thsi period and built the Bhadraachalam temple .The BhAmanis

ruled from Bidar in N.Karantaka . They were absorbed by the Moghuls

(1556-1718)

during the fanatic Moghul Aurangazeb's time .

 

Southern Kingdoms

**********************

In the South , It was a great cavalcade of kings and Emperors , collision

between them , great patronage of arts , wonderful periods of Temple

building and rivalries between Jainism , Buddhism and Hinduism

energized by these royal households .

 

Between the third and 11th centuries , Bhakthi mopvement had a big boost .

During these times flourished the VaishNavite AzhwArs and Saivaite

NaayanmArs. ChOLA Kingdom reached its zenith in the 10th Century .

Swamy Nathamuni ( 824-924 C.E) , Swamy AlavanthAr (916-1041 C.E) and

his sishyAs ( Periya Nambi, Sri saila PoorNar , ThirukkOttiyUr Nambi et al)

and AchArya RaamAnuja ( 1017-1137) flourished from the 9th to 12th Centuries

..

 

KurEsar , ParAsara Bhattar , Namjeeyar , Embaar , Thirukkuruhai PirAn

PiLLAn, MaDappaLLi AcchAn , NadAthUr AzhwAn , YengaLAzhwAn and

a host of other AchAryAs flourished under the Sun of RaamAnujA . Their dates

are given in the previous posting in this series .

 

NampiLLai , Vadakku Thiruveethi PiLLai , Periya VaacchAn PiLLai ,

PILLai LOkAcchAr , VedAntha Desikan ( 1268-1369 C.E) spread the divine

message of AchArya RaamAnujA from 12th to 14th century .

 

KumAra VaradAcchAr(1316-1401 C.E) , Brahma Tantra Jeeyar , Adhi VaNN

SathakOpa Jeeyar ( 1378-1458 C.E) , Swamy MaNavALa Maa Muni ( 1370-1444 C.E)

fortified the ramparts of Bhagavath RaamAnuja SiddhAntham during the 14th to

the 15th Centuries .

 

The Time line of Source Books

*********************************

These dates are extremely approximate and I am sure that

there will be a lot of disagreements on them :

 

1. Rg Veda : 1500 B.C.E ( Our belief is that VedAs are anAdhi) .

 

1.1: RaamAyaNaa: 1200 B.C.E , when Kousalas and VidEhAs ruled .

 

2. Saama , Yajur , Atharva VedAs : 1000 B.C.E

 

3. Bharata War : 900 B.C.E

 

4. BrahmaNAs & AaraNyakAs : 900-700 B.C.E

 

5. Early Upanishads ( Isa, AitrEya , KaTha , Kena , ChAndhOgya ,

BruhadhAraNyaka ) : 600 B.C.E

 

6. Maha Vira Jaina : 599 -527 B.C.E

 

7. Gouthama Buddha : 560-480 B.C

 

6. Later Upanishads : Prasna , ShvEtasvatAra, MaaNDukya , MahA NaarAyaNa

et al (After BuddhA's Time )

 

7. Laws of Manu 200 B.C.E

 

8. AzhwArs : 300 - 900 C.E

 

9. Aadhi Shankara : 788- 820 C.E

 

10. AchArya RaamAnujA : 1017-1137 C.E

 

11. MaadhvAchArya : 1199-1278 C.E

 

12 . VallabhAchArya B. 1479 C.E

 

We will take up the intersection of the time lines of the kings

with AchAryAs in the next posting .

 

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappn Koil V.Sadagopan