Thennacharyas and Desikar - 2

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

It is claimed by some that Vedanta Desikar wrote the

Padhuka Sahasram - a magnificent work on the padhukais

of Lord Sri Ranganatha - due to a challenge by another

person.

 

It is said that Desikar was challenged to a contest of

poetry writing - apparently, the challenge was to come

up with a thousand shlokas over night - by none

other than Sri Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar, the

younger brother of Pillai Lokacharyar. Over the years,

I have seen some variations to this story. Some times

it is claimed that they both went together to Lord

Ranganatha where Nayanar expressed the desire to write

about the Lord's divine feet; at which point, Desikar

stated that one could even write about the Lord's

sandals. Some people, perhaps realizing that stating

that one acharya challenged another may not sit well

with everyone or sound apropriate, state the story but

claim that Desikar was challenged by 'some person or

some vidwan'.

 

Let us attempt to run a critical analysis of this story.

 

What we need to examine is:

1. Would an acharya challenge anyone, let alone another

acharya, to a poetry contest?

2. If so, would Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar be one

to do that?

3. And, would Vedanta Desikar be one to accept such a

challenge?

 

There is no evidence in our sampradhayam to show that

acharyas would go about creating or participating in

such contests. Guru Parampara has incidents of

acharyas challenging each other. But these are typically

limited to philosophical debates, where they try to win

over the opponent. As examples, we have the case of

Emeperumanar himself debating Arulalap Perumal

Emperumanar (Yagnyavalkar), and Bhattar challenging

Nanjeeyer (Vedanti). But, I don't recall seeing

anywhere that poetry contests were in vogue.

 

Let us next examine who Azhagiya Manaval Perumal Nayanar

was. As stated, he is the younger brother of Pillai

Lokacharyar. Pillai Lokacharyar is one of the greatest

acharyas of the Ramanuja sampradhayam and more than any

other acharya, responsible for the philosophy of

Thennacharya sampradhayam as we know it today. His

younger brother, Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar is

no less an authority in the sampradhayic matters and is

the author of the most amazing work "Acharya Hrudayam",

in addition to writing commentaries for a few works

such as Thiruppavai, Kanninun Siruththambu, etc. And

this is the acharya who is supposed to have jumped

into, or rather challenged someone - nay not anyone,

but challenged another renowned acharya to a poetry

contest.

 

Let us also look at the ages of these acharyas.

 

It is commonly accepted that Desikar lived from 1268 to

1369 CE. Pillai Lokacharyar's period on this earth lasted

from 1205 to either 1311 or 1325 CE. Nayanar is said to

have been born two years after Pillai Lokacharyar and

lived to the age of 100 years. Therefore, his period

would have been 1207-1307 CE. This puts the age

difference between Mayanar and Desikar at 61 years!

And this is the acharya who is said to have decided to

challenge Desikar to a poetry writing contest.

 

Let us look at Nayanar's works. They are all toward

writing prose. His magnum opus Acharya Hrudayam is prose.

His other works are prose commentaries. Why would such a

person decide suddenly that he could write poetry? And, to

top it, decide to challenge Desikar, a renowned poet?

Seems pretty far fetched!

 

Let us see if Desikar would have been one to accept such

a challenge had it actually occured. There is a biography

of Desikar that I read once which stated that at one time

Nayanar challenged Desikar to a philosophical debate and

that Desikar out of respect to another acharya of the

sampradhayam turned down the request. However, it is being

claimed that Desikar later got into a poetry contest with

the same acharya. It is extremely hard to imagine why a

debate, which is a more natural order of things for

acharyas to get into, is said to have been turned down and

yet a poetry contest became acceptable to Desikar!

 

Desikar's life history shows him to be a model of

humility. At one time, when he was living in dire poverty

and surviving on alms, he was invited by his childhood

friend Sri Vidyaranyar to visit the court of the king

where Vidyaranyar was the court poet. For sure, he could

have helped Desikar materially in a long way. However,

Desikar responded with his Vairagya Panchakam - showing

his disdain for worldly things. Yet, such a vairagya

shIla, is suddenly shown to have jumped into a poetry

contest!

 

Finally - Nayanar's grand work Acharya Hrudayam is on

Swami Nammazhvar and was written to prove the validity of

his prabandham Thiryvaymozhi when Azhvar's caste and

thereby his work was questioned by someone. Desikar's

Padhuka Sahasram deals with the maNi pAdhukais of Lord

Ranaganatha which is none other than Nammazhvar. To claim

that the two would have a contest on Nammazhvar is naive

to say the least.

 

There is nothing to show in the history of Nayanar or

Desikar that either would indulge in such antics. The

inevitable conclusion that all this leads to, is such a

contest never took place.

 

It is only when such stories are dropped and an

understanding achieved of the grand respect that our

pUrvAcharyas had for each other, that we would begin to

understand what Srivaishnava sampradhayam truly stood and

stands for.

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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