A peep into thousand years of the history of Sri VaishNavam : Part IV

[Guest guest]

SrI :

 

Dear Fellow Students of the History of Sri VaishNavam :

 

Northern Kingdoms

**********************

While the Northern part of India's history was being written by

the MouryA kings ( 321-181 B.C.E ) like SaamrAt AshOkaa ,

GupthA Kings (320-550 C.E) like VikramAditya and Samudra Gupthaa ,

Pushya Bahus ( 550-650 C.E) like Harshaa and

Pratihaaras ( 750-1150 C.E ) with their capital in Ujjain ,

the history of the region south of the VindhyA mountains was being

carved out by the PandyAs and CherAs( around 3rd cenury B.C.E) ,

PallavAs ( 5th to 8th Century C.E) and ChOLAs ( 9th to 12th Century C.E) .

We will not focus too much on the northern kingdoms unless they had

an impact on the people of the southern kingdoms , which ended up in

the redrawing of the boundaries of these kingdoms .

 

Central Kingdoms

*******************

Besides the Northern kingdoms were the SEVEN Central Kingdoms :

 

1. SaathavAhanAs (50 B.C.E -- 220 C.E )with their capital in PaithAn in

modern day MaharAshtraa .

 

2. Vakatakaas ( 250-500 C.E) with thier capital in Bandhivardhana , which

ruled over MahaarAshtraa , Andhra PradEsha an dN.Karnataka . It was

absorbed however by marriage with kings of GupthA dynasty .

 

3.Early ChaaLukyAs with VaathApi as their Capital . They ruled from 550-750

C.E.

They were in running battles with PallavAs and PaaNDyAs of the Southern

Kingdoms . None was strong enough to overpower the other and skirmishes

continued .

 

4. RaashtrakootAs with their capital in Achalapura in modern MaharAshtrA :

These rulers were worshippers of Sivaa and built the famous Ellora Temples

for KailasanAth .Their power at times extended all the way to Sri Lanka .

 

5. The Hoysala kings ( 1000-1300 C.E ) had their capital in DhwArakA

Samudhra in modern day7 KarnatakA . King Bitti Devan/VishNu Vardhana ,

the Jain king converted to VaishNavism as a result of his reverence for

AchArya RaamAnujA at ThondanUr and created many agrahArams like

Mandyam for Vaishnavite scholars . These kings built many exquisite

temples for VishNu at places like Belur , Haleibeed and others , many of

which are being covered by Sri Sridhar of Bangalore now .

 

6. Later day ChALukyAs (1050-1150) with their capital at KalyAn

in N.Karnataka.

 

7. Thuglaks ruled central India from 1300-1400 C.E. The Indian Muslim

dynasty of Bhamanis succedded the Tuglaks . Bhaktha Raama Doss

lived during thsi period and built the Bhadraachalam temple .The BhAmanis

ruled from Bidar in N.Karantaka . They were absorbed by the Moghuls

(1556-1718)

during the fanatic Moghul Aurangazeb's time .

 

Southern Kingdoms

**********************

In the South , It was a great cavalcade of kings and Emperors , collision

between them , great patronage of arts , wonderful periods of Temple

building and rivalries between Jainism , Buddhism and Hinduism

energized by these royal households .

 

Between the third and 11th centuries , Bhakthi mopvement had a big boost .

During these times flourished the VaishNavite AzhwArs and Saivaite

NaayanmArs. ChOLA Kingdom reached its zenith in the 10th Century .

Swamy Nathamuni ( 824-924 C.E) , Swamy AlavanthAr (916-1041 C.E) and

his sishyAs ( Periya Nambi, Sri saila PoorNar , ThirukkOttiyUr Nambi et al)

and AchArya RaamAnuja ( 1017-1137) flourished from the 9th to 12th Centuries

..

 

KurEsar , ParAsara Bhattar , Namjeeyar , Embaar , Thirukkuruhai PirAn

PiLLAn, MaDappaLLi AcchAn , NadAthUr AzhwAn , YengaLAzhwAn and

a host of other AchAryAs flourished under the Sun of RaamAnujA . Their dates

are given in the previous posting in this series .

 

NampiLLai , Vadakku Thiruveethi PiLLai , Periya VaacchAn PiLLai ,

PILLai LOkAcchAr , VedAntha Desikan ( 1268-1369 C.E) spread the divine

message of AchArya RaamAnujA from 12th to 14th century .

 

KumAra VaradAcchAr(1316-1401 C.E) , Brahma Tantra Jeeyar , Adhi VaNN

SathakOpa Jeeyar ( 1378-1458 C.E) , Swamy MaNavALa Maa Muni ( 1370-1444 C.E)

fortified the ramparts of Bhagavath RaamAnuja SiddhAntham during the 14th to

the 15th Centuries .

 

The Time line of Source Books

*********************************

These dates are extremely approximate and I am sure that

there will be a lot of disagreements on them :

 

1. Rg Veda : 1500 B.C.E ( Our belief is that VedAs are anAdhi) .

 

1.1: RaamAyaNaa: 1200 B.C.E , when Kousalas and VidEhAs ruled .

 

2. Saama , Yajur , Atharva VedAs : 1000 B.C.E

 

3. Bharata War : 900 B.C.E

 

4. BrahmaNAs & AaraNyakAs : 900-700 B.C.E

 

5. Early Upanishads ( Isa, AitrEya , KaTha , Kena , ChAndhOgya ,

BruhadhAraNyaka ) : 600 B.C.E

 

6. Maha Vira Jaina : 599 -527 B.C.E

 

7. Gouthama Buddha : 560-480 B.C

 

6. Later Upanishads : Prasna , ShvEtasvatAra, MaaNDukya , MahA NaarAyaNa

et al (After BuddhA's Time )

 

7. Laws of Manu 200 B.C.E

 

8. AzhwArs : 300 - 900 C.E

 

9. Aadhi Shankara : 788- 820 C.E

 

10. AchArya RaamAnujA : 1017-1137 C.E

 

11. MaadhvAchArya : 1199-1278 C.E

 

12 . VallabhAchArya B. 1479 C.E

 

We will take up the intersection of the time lines of the kings

with AchAryAs in the next posting .

 

Srimath Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappn Koil V.Sadagopan

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImatE rAmAnujAya nama:

SrI lakshmI narasimha parabrahmaNE nama:

 

poojya SrI sadagopan swami,

 

praNAmam.

 

In your series of history of SrI vaishNavam, you

presented us with the modern scholors' approximate

dates of our AcharyAs and different events. May I

request you to provide us with the dates that

sAmpradAya holds. The opinion of scientists verily

depends only on the AVAILABLE evidence, which may not

be complete always. But on behalf of the believers of

sat-AchAryAs and sAmpradAya, I request you the

above-said.

 

thanking you,

 

dAsOham,

SrIperumbUdUru vEnkaTa vinOd.

 

 

 

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