Emberumanar Sannidhi in Thirumalai

[Guest guest]

Varadhan,

 

Thanks for the info. That's exactly the kind of historical evidence

I was looking for. I am not sure I agree with some of your conclusions

(TKT seems to be more on the mark) but I'll leave it at that.

 

Suffice it to say that the Bhashyakarar Sannidhi we have *now* dates

from a much later period, and whatever sannidhi was constructed

earlier, even if by Anantazhvan, is not the same one was what we

see today. This is clear from the facts as presented by Varadhan.

 

The only comment I would like to make is that the conventionally

accepted year of 1137 for Bhashyakarar's ascent to paramapada is

probably also not correct. For one, the Ramanujarya Divya Charitai

(by Pillai Lokam Jeeyar?) has a very different date, probably 20

or 30 years later, if I recall correctly. Also, the inscriptional

evidence from Bhashykarar's Karnataka sojourn indicates a slightly

later date than 1137.

 

Finally, I don't know about the rest of you, but I really resent

innocent questions being twisted into Vadagalai/Thengalai debates,

or used as excuses to bring up Vadagalai/Thengalai controversies.

There's really no need for that. I know Varadhan is saying that

he meant no harm, but there's no doubt it's inflammatory. Let's

leave those debates aside and concentrate on the issues at hand.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

Mani

 

P.S. Guna -- I agree with you that the Alvars' Sri Suktis are

divine and should not be considered corrupt in their original.

However, the Sri Suktis have been transmitted over time by humans,

who are very much prone to error, and therefore we have to be

vigilant in ensuring that corruptions do not propagate. Sri Kanchi

PBA Swami was among the forefront of those who insisted on pristine

transmission of the Sri Suktis as we have them. This is why I am

pained when I attend some casual goshti gatherings, no doubt inspired

by devotion, but where the devotees simply mechanically read difficult

texts such as Ramanuja Nurrandadi without any prior practice or preparation.

The diligence with with our pUrvAcharyas protected the text is missing.

The cacophony that results is indeed a disservice to both Amudanaar and

Sri Ramanuja, since the resultant recitation bears little resemblance to

the words of the original. I hear many of our goshtis even unable to

recite Tiruppavai properly together. I wish our no doubt sincere and

devout brethren would take more care in this regard.

[Guest guest]

--

Dear Sriman Mani,

 

I fully agree with you that Divya Prabandha - the foremost Srivaishnava

scriputre - needs to be properly chanted. However, I cannot comment further

since i dont know Tamil thought we consider ourselves to be Tamil. I would like

to only add that chanting stotras (which are considered to be given by AchAryas

to expose non-Tamil people to Srivaishnavism), is horrible.

 

For example, in Madhurakavi Alwar's SirutthAmbu Thaniyan, we normally recite:

 

avidita vishayAntarah SatArEh (pause)

upanishdAm upagAna mAtra bhOgah

 

The meaning if chanted like this is - Sri Madhurakavi Alwar is simply interested

in singing upanishats and does not know those other things of Nammalwar. Do any

of us agree with this?

 

To chant in the true spirit of the meaning, which is - Sri Madhurakavi Alwar

enjoys only singing Sri Nammalwar's Upanishats (in Tamil) and does not know

anything else, we have to say:

 

avidita vishayAntarah (pause) SatArEh

upanishadAm upagAna mAtra bhOgah

 

Acctually chanting Divya Prabandha mechanically starts right from the Acharya

thaniyan, where instead of saying "ramya jAmAtaram munim", many say "ramyajA

mAtaram munim" and thus salute mother ramyajA than AchArya mAmunigal! Just going

thru the meanings once in mother tongue will help a lot in correcting ourselves.

 

better not to speak of Gadya trayam, stotra ranta etc.

 

dAsAnudAsan

Vishnu

 

PS: Kinldy take my suggestions in right spirit. By chanting properly we will be

preserving the great treasure called our PoorvAchAryas' works, in the right

shape.