Tamil and Sri Desika Sampradayam

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Sri:

Sri Lakshmi nrisimha parabrahmaNE nama:

Sri Lakshmi nrisimha divya paduka sevaka

srivan satakopa sri narayana yatindra mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dear Bhagavathas:

 

adiyEn is editing Sri Desika Prabhandham for easy

recitation during the upcoming Thiruvadyayana utsavam.

Some of the passages in the Sri Desika Prabhandham

reminded of what some western academics claim to be

the focus of the two branches of Sri vaishnavam.

They state that Thenkalai focused mainly on Tamil

Prabhandam and Vadakalai focused mainly on Sanskrit

Vedas. A corollary derived from this curious theory

is that the difference of opinion between the two

branches stem from this difference in focus. The

funny thing is even some Sri Vaishnavas have

adopted this view without questioning.

 

Let us look at just a small list of facts.

 

[1] Without difference both Vadakalai and Thenkalai

accept Nammaazhvar to be the Prapannajana kootasthar.

The first Acarya in the material world for all Sri

Vaishnavas is Nammaazhvar.

 

[2] Among all Sri vaishnavas Dhivya Prabhandham

enjoys equal status with the Vedas.

 

[3] For all Sri Vaishnavas DP is as much a pramana

as the Vedas. In other words, there is absolutely

no contradiction between DP and Vedas. Thus,

differences between the two branches cannot be

from the proposed theory of polarized focus.

 

[4] Swami Sri Desikan, the preeminent AcArya for

Vadakalai, minces no words when it comes to

reverence for DP. He declares himself to belong

to Dravida Veda, much like jajur vEdi or sama

vEdi, etc. Here are some quotes from Swami Sri

Desikan:

 

" sandhamigu thamiz maRaiyOn " (prabhandha saaram)

(belonging to the melodious Tamil Vedas)

 

" pAN perumAL seydha pAdal paththum

pazha maRaiyin poruL " (amrudhasvathini)

 

(ThiruppaaNaazhvar's 10 verses give the

essence of the old vedas)

 

 

" maasin manantheLi munivar vaguththvellAm

maalugandha Asiriyar vArththaikku ovvA "

 

(The vedas/smrithIs/ithikAsas cataloged by

the blemishless seers are no match for even

one word of the paasurams of the Azhvars.)

 

It is not proper to suggest that Thenkalai's

main focus is Tamil DP and that of Vadakali's

is Sanskrit Vedas. It gives the utterly

nonsensical impression that Vadakalais do

not care about DP.

 

srimad azhagiya singar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

-- adiyEn ramanuja dasan