Lokacharya Panchasat (was Lokacharya Stuti)

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Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

 

Dear BhAgavatas,

 

There was a recent query in this list about a work

called Lokacharya Stuti in praise of Sri Pillai

Lokacharyar and if it might have been authored by

Sri Vedanta Desikar.

 

There is a work called Lokacharya Panchasat that

is in praise of Sri Pillai Lokacharya, but it's

authorship is disputed.

 

BSS Swami in one of his books has mentioned that it

is indeed authored by Desikar and this became a

source of debate in the Srirangasri group a short

while ago. As adiyEn participated in that discussion

I will paraphrase the notes I had posted on this

topic.

 

It was claimed in Srirangasri that this work was

not authored by Desikar and that such a claim was

being made by vested interests because of the fact

that the "seeronRu ..." thaniyan in praise of

Desikar was written by Pillai Lokacharyar. I advised

the group that the authorship of the thaniyan is

not accepted by Thennacharya scholars and any demand

that is made for evidence of the authorship of

Lokacharya Panchasat is applicable to this thaniyan

as well.

 

As evidence for the thaniyan authorship, Sri

Parthasarathi Dileepan presented a post from the

Vadakalai Guruparampara book - published by Lifco

in 1969(?). When I pointed out that Thennacharya

scholars mention that this book has been modified

over the years and as such is not accepted by them,

I was told that I was making a vested claim (even

though I was only pointing out what was being said

by scholars).

 

Sri PBA Swami mentions in one of his articles that

it was around 1925 that the claim of the thaniyan's

authorship originated.

 

Also, in the book quoted, it is said that the thaniyan

was written by Pillai Lokacharyar after hearing the

meanings of Rahasyas from Desikar, according to the

third Brahmatantra Jeeyar. Based on the age difference

between Pillai Lokacharyar and Desikar (at least 60+),

adiyEn finds this difficult to believe. By the time

Desikar was writing his major works, Pillai Lokacharyar

had long published his works and was a very elderly

acharya in Srirangam. Besides Desikar's presence

in Srirangam at the same time as Pillai Lokacharyar's,

is also heavily disputed.

 

Apart from this, Sri Dileepan also claimed that all

Vadakalai scholars were of the same opinion about

the authorship of the thaniyan as well as the

non-authorship of the Panchasat. His point was

also that not all Thennacharya scholars agree on

the authorship by Desikar of the Panchasat work.

 

Shortly after the discussion ended in Srirangasri,

adiyEn came up in an old article some interesting

notes. I tried posting them on Srirangasri (not as

final evidence, but as additional data to the

discussion), but was denied by the moderator. I am

attaching them to this post.

 

I will leave this post as just that: some data in

the discussion. I do not have all the data to make

up my mind one way or the other about the Lokacharya

Panchasat, although I remain convinced that the

seeronRu thaniyan was not composed by Pillai

Lokacharyar.

 

Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

 

--

 

Note sent to Srirangasri that was not approved:

 

At the time of ending this topic, we had left it that

Vadakalai vidwans were likely unanimous in the opinion

that Lokacharya PanchAsat was not authored by Sri Vedanta

Desikar and also that "seeronRu" thaniyan was written by

Sri Pillai Lokacharyar.

 

AdiyEn recently came across a Srivaishnava publication

from yester-years with the following data. In 1969 (22

Sept 1969) a book titled "Srimad Vedanta Desikan Vaibhavam

- per DvidIya Brahmatantra Swami" was published by "Chennai

Asmad Desika Sampradaya Nirvaha Sabha". I will not go into

all the details of the book, but present some of the notes

critical to the issue of Lokacharya PanchAsat.

 

The foreword to the book states that it is based on the

Desika Vaibhavam written in Telugu and published through

Sri Parakala Mutt in 1907. That work was based on the

maNipravALa text by the DvidIya Brahmatantra Jeeyar, which

itself was based on the Sanskrit shloka work by the first

Brahmatantra Jeeyar. The information in the book was also

supposedly verified with some additional works from the

Oriental Library (obtained through the efforts of Srimad

Paramapari Andavan Swami). The book was proof-read by Sri

Melattur Vyakarana Siromani Srinivasa Gopala Desikacharyar

Swami, and was also blessed by Navaneedam Swami.

 

The key points (para-phrased) from this book are:

 

"As Sri Vedanta Desika was approaching Srirangam, at

Thirupper, he heard about the Muslim invasion of Srirangam

and that Sri Pillai Lokacharyar, Sri Azhagiya Manavala

Perumal Nayanar and Sruthaprakasika Bhattar had left along

with Namperumal. Therefore, with great sadness, he stopped

his journey to Srirangam and moving to different places

and eventually reached Satyamangalam."

....

 

"After the Islamic forces were defeated and Srirangam was

freed, Sri Desikar came to Srirangam. While there, to

lessen the sadness of not having met Sri Sruthaprakasika

Bhattar and Sri Pillai Lokacharyar in person, he wrote Sri

Sudarshanacharya Vimsathi and Sri Lokacharya Panchasat."

 

Also, presented in the magazine was the data that in 1904

at Bangalore Thulasi Garden, a Stotravali was published by

a Vadakalai vidwan named Thuppul Venkatacharyar, in which

he presents the Lokacharya Panchasat along with the "Sriman

VenkatanAthArya: ..." thaniyan. There were no further

details about this book.

 

If it is a fact that Sri Desikar did not meet Sri Pillai

Lokacharyar, then one does have to doubt whether Sri

Lokacharyar wrote the "seeronRu" thaniyan (please note

that this takes nothing away from what is said in the

thaniyan; no matter who the author is, the words ring

true). And the book apparently clearly mentions that the

Lokacharya PanachAsat was authored by Sri Desikar.

 

I request the scholars in this forum to take this

information and let us know if they have heard about/seen

this book and what the opinions of the vidwans are on it.

It would be interesting if we can actually get a copy of

the book for further study, as several points in it

appear to be different from many of the popular versions

of Sri Desikar Vaibhavam.

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

TCA Venkatesan

 

 

 

 

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