Fw: [SriParakalaMatham] RE: Origin of Hebbar iyengars

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear Sri RaamAnuja DaasAs :

 

This mail in response to a question about

the origin of Hebbar IyengArs would be of interest to

many of You . Thank you Sri Sampige Srinivasa !

 

The many miracles that happened during AchArya RaamAnujA's

12 Year long stay at Karnataka are amzing . Devout VasihNavAs

from KarnatakA have nourished the flame of devotion to

Seluva NaarAyaNan so very well even today .

 

The contributions of Sri Sridhar from Bangalore in creating

an outstanding and growing web site for VaishNava Temples

in KaranAtaka are most valuable in the sense it demonstrates

the lasting legacy left by AchArya RaamAnuja from that unforgettable

12 year long visit . Swamy Desikan's stay at Sathyagalam and

Adhi VaNN SaThakOpa Jeeyar's avathAram at Melkote and

the establishment of Ahobila Matam at the command of

Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan are other great events associated

with Karnataka .

 

Please do visit the Karnataka Vaishnava trmples .net . Our Thnaks to

Sri Sridhar Lakshmi Narasimhan for growing this site almost

"dhinE dhinE " .

 

V.Sadagopan

-

"Sampige Srinivasa" <sampiges

"'k.s.Balaji'" <kadababalaji

Cc: <parakalamatham>; <>

Thursday, August 11, 2005 5:15 AM

[sriParakalaMatham] RE: Origin of Hebbar iyengars

 

 

> Dear Sri. Balaji,

>

> Yes Hebbar Iyengars were not originally Srivaishnavas as you said and also

> it is true that even Sri. Ramanujacharya was not a Srivaishnava when he

> was

> born. He was born to an advaitin! So when Ramanuja preached

> Vishistadvaita,

> Srivaishnavism became popular in Tamilnadu and as you said, when

> Sri.Ramanjua fled from TN and settled in Karnataka for 12 long years it

> spread to Southern Parts of Karnataka.

>

> The details of Hebbar Srivaishnava origin was published long back in the

> Hebbar Srivaishnava magazine called "Hebbar Kshema" and I remember reading

> this. Also a historical novel written by Smt. Neeladevi about the life of

> Ramanjuja in Karnataka named "Dhanya" gives similar answers to the orgin

> of

> Hebbar Srivaishnavas

>

> During the time when ramanjuja was in Tondanur(Tonnur) near Melukote, a

> group of elderly Kannada Brahmins came to Ramanjua and offered to convert

> to

> Srivaishnava Religion impressed by Ramanujas philosophy of Vishistadvaita.

> Ramanjua affectionately called the group of Hiriya Haruva(Elderly Brahmin

> Kannadigas) as Hebbar and thus originated the sect called Hebbar

> Sivaishnava(Iyengars). So Hebbar Srivaishnavas are originally Kannada

> Brahimins(Advaitins) who got converted to Srivaishnavas impressed by the

> teachings of Sri. Ramanuja and not of backward Caste as you said.

>

> Ramanuja asked them to settle in different places of the Hoysala

> Kingdom(Current South Karnataka) and thus you can find many Hebbar

> Srivaishnavas mainly in the souther districts of Karnatka especially,

> Bangalore, Mysore, Mandya, Tumkur, Hassan, Kolar and Chamarajanagar

> districts.

>

> They have their kuladaivams or Haath perumal in different places of these

> districts. for more info. Please visit www.karnatkavaishanavatemples.net

> <http://www.karnatkavaishanavatemples.net/>

>

> Since their mother tongue was Kannada they still have the affliction

> towards

> kannada. Gradually they learnt to speak Tamil mainlyu to learn the Divya

> Prabhandams.

>

> But still Hebbar Srivaishnavas cannot read and write in Tamil. They read

> the

> Ramanujas philosophical works and Alwars divya prabhandams translated to

> Kannada or English. But they recite Nalayara divyaprabhandams in Temples

> in

> Karnataka forming Gostis. They are called Melnatu Iyengars as they are

> residing in the High plateau of Karnataka. Another sect called Keelnatu

> Iyengars are those who migrated to Karnataka from Tamilnadu, which is

> lower

> than the Plateau of Karnataka.

>

> I request any one in the groups who can give more info on a unique sect

> called Hebbar Srivaishnavas of Karnataka.

>

> Om namO nArAyanAya

> Sampige Srinivasa Iyengar

> Bengalooru

>

>

>

> _____

>

> k.s.Balaji [kadababalaji]

> Thursday, August 11, 2005 1:18 PM

> sampiges

> Re: Origin of Hebbar iyengars

>

>

>

> While i was recently surfing the net, i came across a message to

> Bhakti

> list, in which a very pertinent question of Origin of Hebbar Iyengars, had

> been raised by, one Ranganath Sudarshan some where in march 2000.

> This aspect had been engaging my mind, for quite some time and no credible

> answers have comeforth from anybody. Even the Hebbar Shrivaishnava Sabha

> At

> Bangalore doesn't seem to have made any attempt to find out the roots of

> Hebbar iyengars. My introspection tells me that we must have been, most

> probably, belonging to Backward class community of that period. The reason

> is simple.. When Saint Ramanuja was about to be persecuted in Tamil

> Nadu,

> he escaped the persecution, and came away to a place called Melukote,

> which

> is in Karnataka.I am certain he could not have come with a huge number of

> followers, except may be a few hundreds.

> Its well known fact that vaishnavism spread in Karnataka, after Ramanujas

> coming,as he found that Temple entry was denied to back ward communities.

> In order to ensure entry to back ward class people, he could have

> converted

> a very large number of backward class people to vaishnavism, thro his

> disciples, who came along with him to Melukote. It is likely, that these

> disciples of Ramanuja were asked to spread out to various places of the

> then

> Mysore state, to spread his Philosophy of Vishistaadvaita and also to

> ensure

> temple entry to one and all including backward class, thro conversion to

> Vaishnavism, thus bringing them to forward fold... As these disciples of

> Ramanuja were mostly male members, it is most likely, they might have

> got

> married to these backward women who were inducted into the Vaishnava fold

> and our forefathers could be the off springs of such marriages.

> If u think aloud, u can see that while Hebbar iyengars, can speak Tamil

> interspersed with kannada words, they cannot read and write tamil. . As

> they

> say the first syllables/words learnt by a kid is always thro its mother

> tongue, and the mother while having learnt spoken/broken tamil thro

> marriage, to a pure vaishnavite, knows only Kannada from her child hood

> for

> writing and reading, which had been her langauge before marriage.. Hence

> she

> would have found it a lot more easier to teach her off springs this

> language

> than Tamil, which is not her mother tongue.

> Really i do not know how many takers are there for my introspection.. and

> the Hebbar iyengars may frown at my own findings.. Its better to accept

> the

> realities , if such be the case, than masquerading oneself as pure

> Brahmins.

>

>

>

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> shriimate laksmiihayagriiva lakshmiinaaraayanaabhyaaM namaH

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