23
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THE YAISHNAYITE REFORMERS OF INDIA CRITICAL SKETCHES OF
THEIR LIVES AND WRITINGS BY
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ESPLANADE, MADRAS.
CONTENTS. FACE.
noN
...
...
...
'lamuni
...
...
....
Pundavikuksha
...
...
...
12
ya
...
...
...
2i>
Raroarmjacharya Sri
Vedanta
Chaitanya
1
...
iK'sika
Manavala Mulia
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...
!>7
INTRODUCTION,
These are a
series
the
of Seven Essays on
Lives and Writings of the principal religious reformers of the Vaishnavite or Yisishtadwaita
The treatment
School of India. historical
been given to the activity.
A
literary
clear
Vaishnavaism
is
side of this School's
account of the growth of
intended to be conveyed by
these Lives of Eminent Keformers, and
rence has throughout been
lopment
and
prominence has also
but special
;
is critical
of doctrines.
A
made
refe-
to the deve-
special
chapter
is
devoted to the exposition of the Visishtadwaita philosophy according to Ramanuja.
The growth is
of
Yaishnavaism in Northern India
briefly dealt with in the last Essay, that
Sri
Chaitanya,
career
is
that
great
Saint's
also fully described.
The Vedantic three
wherein
on
main
school of India consists
of
sub-divisions, whose founders, as
popularly understood, are the great philoso-
phers
Sankaracharya,
Eamanujacharya, and
INTRODUCTION.
11
All
Madbwacharya.
these are Vedantists in
the sense that they acknowledge the
Upanishads, and follow
bility of the
infalli-
its
teach-
though
differing in their interpretations
of the same.
All these three systems or at
ings,
two are of considerable antiquity. Sankara was preceded by Gkmdapada, and he, least the first
earlier teachers
by
have branched
and these again seem to from an
without
possibly
The Eamanuja -
;
adwaitic
earlier
which preached the one-ness of
school,
very
off
the
School, as
Grod,
Maya-doctrine.
we show
these
in
pages, had an ancestry of great repute, commencing from the sage Bodhayana, who was perhaps only slightly removed from the author of the
Vedanta Sutras, known
and unanimously
identified
Badarayana by Indian writers
with Vyasa, the author of the
And
if
practical tical
as
the
Visishtadwaitic
and
with the
there
is
as
Mahabharata. school
Sectarian
aspect,
ancient
Bhagavata
every reason to
in
its
iden-
is
School,,
suppose,
then
indeed we shall be justified in sayi?ig that the origin of this school is to be fixed at some
INTRODUCTION. centuries
prior
to the
lift
Christian
era.
It is
impossible to fix the exact dates of the Sutras, or the Bhagavadgita, or the earlier
tra Tantras which are
Bhagavata school
;
their probable dates in
much
Panchara-
the foundation of the
and any speculation
as
to
has not hitherto resulted
But there are enough? existence from which the continui-
positive good.
materials in
ty of the Vaishnavite philosophy and traditions
can be inferred is,
;
and the object of these pages show the outline of the his-
in the main, to
tory of the Vaishnavite religious
movement,
as
may be gathered from the literary works and traditions prevalent in the community. far as
Colebrooke,
whose name
is
unmistakably connected with the origin of accurate knowledge in almost every department of Sanskrit scholarship, has left a clear, if brief, account of
Eamanuja's Bhashya, and the Visishtadwaitic School. Next to him Dr. Thibaut, whose 1
labours in the field of Indian research, have
earned for him the gratitude of '\alue their philosophy, has i
Bhashya
all
Hindus who
made Eamanuja's
accessible to scholars
by
his
monu-
INTRODUCTION.
iv
mental translation of the same.
The Com-
mentary on the Bhagavad-Grita, by Karnanujacharya, has been rendered into English by Mr. A. Govindacharya of Mysore, and is a useful book for reference. But with the exception of these works, the vast Vaishnavite literature,
philosophical and religious,
is
yet inaccessible
to the English-knowing public.
Some
idea of
may be gathered from the references in these pages, wherein the most important works are named and their contents briefly its
extent
described.
The Vaishnavite
literature
of South
India
has been deeply influenced by the Tamil works of the Alwars, of whom a brief account is to
be found in the beginning of the last of the The Alwars were pracessays of this series. tically the earliest Brahmin missionaries to the South.
propagated the devotional aspect of the Vedanta in the Tamil land, and used the language of the people with great effect.
They
The present work does not
deal with
and writings, beyond making the brief reference already alluded to. But the their lives
V
INTRODUCTION.
Tamil poems of the Alwars will repay careful study by Tamil scholars interested in examining the history and progress of Vaishnavaism. in India.
The
teachers and reformers whose lives are
described in these pages comprise, with one exception, the leading Vaishnava philosophers of South India, to us.
from the
earliest
time known
It will be seen that there is a contin-
uity of the list from at least the beginning of the 9th century to the end of the fifteenth
century.
We
have not cared to devote
much
space to questions of chronological nicety, for
the simple reason that the traditional dates of these writers are in
the main extremely pro-
bable and sufficiently accurate.
In one in-
we have, at some length, discussed the date, namely the date of Sri Vedanta Desika's death ; and this we have done, stance, however,
to explain
an apparent discrepancy between the traditional date and the date disclosed by a Srirangam As to the correctInscription. ness of our conclusion on this point we leave it to specialists in Indian chronology to judge.
INTRODUCTION.
VI
In the preparation of these pages,
we have
under contribution many existing works, literary and philosophical, in Sanskrit and laid
Tamil, that have reference to Vaishnavaism.
The Tamil guruparamparas,
of which there
are two or three recensions, are however the fullest biographies available and they have been fully utilized. Among works in English to which we are indebted, we must mention
Mr. A.
Grovindacharya's
numerous works on
Vaishnavaism and especially his extensive Life of Eamanuja. Other works used by us are referred to in the course of these pages,
no
specific
The
and need
mention here.
Life of Sri Chaitariya has been added
here, as an example.,
and a remarkable exam-
ple, of the
product of Vaishnavaism in Northern
India.
is
Ifc
not, however, clear
that he owed
Eamanuja's teachings or anything the works of his School. But we have every directly to
reason to suppose, as we point out in the essay on Sri Chaitanya, that the Vaishnava Eenais-
sance
in
Northern India was the result of
Eamanuja's propagation of
this
faith in the
INTRODUCTION. South, and for
this reason,
growth of Northern
Vll
we have
traced the
Vaishnavaism as an intro-
duction to Chaitanya's Life.
In conclusion, we hope that in placing these pages before the public, we shall induce some at least
ment
who
feel
an interest
in the
develop-
examine the original materials and work out an ample history of of Vaishnavaism, to
which we have ventured to present the barest outline.
MADRAS RAS:
:
^)
T. R. la*
Feb 1909. J -.
Hatbamuni* URING
the latter half of the
9th century A. D. and the beginning of the 10th, there
lived
Trichinopoly,
in the
a
town
of Srirangam, near Vaishnavaite scholar
learned
Ranganathacharya, more Nathamuni, or the sage Natha.
named
in popular tradition,
with
usually
He
having
is
called
credited,
reached
the
fabulous age of over 500 years and to have closed his career at
Chidambaram Taluk,
the Chola rulers
of
the
was a native
modern Mannargudi,
of Yiranarayanapura, the
of the
He
about 920 A. D.
in the
day,
dominions of
who had
not yet
which preceded their final of the 13th century. He was decline in the end
risen to the greatness
probably a descendant of early Vaishnava immigrants, from the banks of the Jumna and other parts of the north,
who
carried the Bhagavata or
the Pancharatra, cult to
the
south and laid the
foundation for the spread of Yaishnavaism during the second to the seventh centuries of the Christian era which were
the palmy
days of the
2
''<*
NATfl^MUNI.
The period
Pallava rule.
just
mentioned was the
period of the Vaishnavaite Alwars,
most revered the last
is
is
Tirumangaialwar. of
of
whom
the
Nammalwar and
or
Satagopa
The
was a
latter
Tirugnana Sam band har,
the Saiva
contemporary and of the Pallava ruler Narasimhavarrnan
saint, I.
of
Kanchi (A. D. 625645). The
earlier
Alwar
must have lived long before this period, possibly in the opening years
of
the Christian era.
He
was a native of the city of Kiu-ukai, now AlvvarTirunagari, near Tinnevell} on the Tambraparni, 7
,
in the
over
Pandyas, and composed thousand stanzas in classical Tamil.
kingdom a
The
of
the
literature of
thorough knowledge
the
Alwars presupposes a Krishna stories and
of the
the stories of the earlier avatars of Vishnu, and to such impassioned references in the of the even earliest of the stories, songs the South show that must have been Alwars,
the frequent
flooded with these marvellous
early
period.
while at
the
The
legends
story goes that
Vishnu
temple
of
at a
very JSTathamuni
Mannargudi,
(Chidambaram Taluk), his native place, heard some Brahmins from the southern end of the Peninsula recite Tamil verses of Satakopa address-
ed to the Vishnu God of
Kumbhnkonam and was
NATHAMUNI.
charmed with
their sense
3
and
diction.
He
also
found that these verses concluded with the words " These
10 out of the thousand, composed by Satakopa." Nathamuni, thus placed in the track of research, seems to have finally
recovered the
whole of Satakopa.'s works, and he then arranged them and the extant works of the other Alwars collections of about a thousand stanzas
into four
He
each.
is
also said to
have brought about the
system of regular recitation of these texts during the festivals of the God at Srirangam and the
system obtains even to this day in most ancient temples dedicated to Vishnu. Nathamuni was, we
may
take
it,
well-versed in
ture cf the day and
is
the
Sanskrit litera-
said to have been an adept
in yoga and to have been the last to in this part of
India.
He
is
said to
practise
it
have com-
posed a work called
Nyayatatwa, and a work on The Yoga Rahasya' Neither yoga philosophy, of the works seems to be extant now, but extracts from the former are given in the Nyayasidhanl
jana,
a
work
of
Venkatanatha, or the famous
Vedanta Desika, a voluminous Vaishnava writer
and Tamil (A.D. 12691370), conwith the equally famous Vidyaranya, temporary The Nyayatatwa the minister. Vijianagar in Sanskrit
4
NATHAMUNI.
seems to have been an elaborate treatise covering field of philosophy from the point of
the whole
view
of the
Ramanuja
Though
possibly a
niuni has
school
writers
further by later
Natha-
good Tamil scholar,
no Tamil work
left
and was developed the same school.
of
of his
own behind,
except a few memorial verses prefixed to the works of three of the Alwars, namely, Nammalwar,
Yishnuchitta and Mathurakavi. Sanskrit verses
malwar are
The of
Certain similar
works
of
Nam-
also ascribed to him.
worship as observed in Vishnu based on two early standard works.
ritual of
temples
One
prefixed
to the
is
them
is
known
as the
Yaikhanasa sutra,
probably belonging to the black Yajur-Veda The other work is the Pancharatra school.
Agama
belonging to the extensive Tantra
litera-
have been composed by God Narayana Himself. In addition to laying down the modes of worship both in temples and ture, popularly believed
at houses, the
Agama
to
contains rules
of
conduct
for the Vaishnavaites and has a peculiar philoso-
phy of its own, namely, that of the Bhagavata cult. The system is, of course, of very ancient date and is
referred in the
Mahabharata
;
and the Badara-
yana sutras on Uttara Mimansa are understood to
NATHAMUNI.
5
refer to this philosophy in the
four sutras that
Nathaconclude Pada II of the 2nd Adhyaya. muni's contribution to the ritual was the provision for the recitation of the Tamil
works of the Alwars came to be
vedas, as the
collectively called,
on appropriate occasions during the main festivals of the God. The immediate effect of such an
arrangement was the
study of the Tirib-
critical
voymozhi as Satagopa's
work
is
called
usually
;
and, from this time forward, a school of combined Sanskrit and Tamil scholarship arose, which devel-
oped into great importance in later days and finally divided the Vaishnava sect into the two forms of the Northern and the Southern or the Vadagalai and the Tengalai sections. The first commentary on the work of Satagopa was,however, written
only
in
the twelfth
the close of Ramanuja's
We
have
Nathamuni
no
means
life
of
century towards by a pupil of his.
ascertaining
whether
was a complete follower of
doctrines that
now go by
the
name
all
of
the the
Ranianuja school, but as he is traditionally conis to be sidered the founder of that school, it
presumed that he was. laid
We
shall see further
on
Yamunacharya has really grandson the foundation for all the doctrines that now
that his
NATHAMUNI.
6
The doctrine pecu-
go under Ramanuja's name. liar to the
and
school
Ramanuja
considerably
elaborated by the religious teachers
who
ed him
or surrender
to
God
the doctrine of Prapathi
is
is
of
Bhashya
but
is
already and
It
Ramanuja.
by
Nathamuni
is
practically
Tantra referred to
a cardinal doctrine of the Vaishna-
is
his
It
practical religion.
said to have practice
This
slight basis
not referred to in the
founded on the Pancharatra
vaite in
faith.
considered to have some
in the Upanishads,
Sri
and
in absolute renunciation
doctrine
succeed-
been
and
accepted
the sage after him.
is,
however,
brought into
Satakopa himself and by
The
details
of the doc-
trine are a fruitful source of
controversy among Ramanuja and a very respectable literature is even now extant on the
the followers of
amount
of
subject.
A
few anecdotes
of
Nathamuni's
life
are not
Readers uninteresting and may bo mentioned. the that of great Ramayana will remember how
work
is said to have been published for the first time by being sung in the court of Rama himself by two musical pupils of Valmiki, the author, who
afterwards turned out to be Rama's sons.
Tamil songs of
Satakopa
are
The
similarly sung to
NATHAMUNI.
this
Nathamuni
and other
Sri ran gam
day at
is
to
said
7
have
set
and
places
them
to
music
The music soon after his discovery of the work. a kind not of celestial easily apprewas, however, ciable girl
by ordinary
of
the
folk.
time
It is said that a
sang
songs
in
dancing
the celestial
tune in the court of the Chola king of the day whose capital was Gangaigonda Cholapuram, in the
Trichinopoly
birthplace of
have
slighted
the
not
District,
far
The king
Nathamuni.
musician
as
he
from is
the
said to
could
not
appreciate the celestial note and to. have preferred
another singer who sang the usual tunes. The former dancing girl soon after reached Yira-
narayanapura and sang before the god of that place and was warmly appreciated by Nathamuni as tho music was after his
own
heart.
The Chola
kir.g, on hearing of the Muni's appreciation, paid a visit to the shrine and meeting Nathamuni
inquired the reason of his appreciation of the unNathamuni It is said that tune.
familiar
directed a
number
of bronze
cymbals of different weights to be sounded together and forthwith described correctly their different weights from a perception of the acute differences of the notes.
The
king,
in
admiring
the pitches his peculiar
NATHAMUNI.
8 powers,
was
celestial
tune to which the Tamil songs had been
set.
It
may
of the
satisfied
superiority
of the
upset chronology, as ascertained at
Gangaikonda Choi apu ram early as the end of the 9th cen-
present, to be told that
was founded tury, as
it is
so
usually associated with Rajaraja the
Paramount of Southern India mount the throne till 985 A.D.;
Great, the Lord
who
did
not
but we may take it that the site of the city was even then an alternative capital of the Cholas Uraiyur, near Trichinopoly, which was no doubt the metropolis of the dominions. Contact
with
with the Chola ruler both in the
life of
son Yamunacharya and ference
is
to the
is
frequently mentioned
Nathamuni and it
is
of
his grand-
clear that
the re-
Chola ruler when he went into
residence at the secondary capital above referred
though no doubt both the sages spent a large portion of their later lives at Srirangam which
to,
was near the permanent
capital Uraiyur.
More
correctly speaking, Uraiyar bad ceased to be the capital by this time. Tanjore had not yet become
the capital of the Cholas.
Another anecdote
in
the
connects him with the Tamil
life
poet
author of the Tamil Ramayana.
of
Nathamuni
Kamban, the It is said that
NATHAMUNI.
9
this future Poet- Laureate of various kings
posed his grand
poem
com-
at the residence of his first
patron Sadagopa Mudaliar
at Tiruvannainallur,
generally assumed to be the place of that name in the South Arcot District, and went about the
country
reading
out
soliciting favourable
portions of his
On
an assembly Nathamuni. It
reaching Srirangam he had of Pandits presided over
to face
would seem that the
was at
latter
work and
scholars.
opinions of
by
first
not ap-
preciative but was finally won over by the intrinsic merit of the production.
It
is
also sup-
posed that an existing poem of over 100 stanzas on Satakopa is by Kamban and was composed to This anecdote honour the Vaishnava Alwar.
may appear of the
nent
Tamil scholars
to be the invention of
Yaishnava persuasion
Kamban
into the
Nathamuni
-Satakopa and
with the general opinion
to
fold of
and that
bring the emithe admirers of is
incompatible
Kamban was
the
Kulottunga I. who reigned from But there is a tradition embodied
court-poet of
1070 A.D.
in an ancient Tamil verse that his
Ramayana
ing to A.D. 885. accurate,
there
Kamban composed
in the saka year 807, correspond-
is
If this is to be relied upon as no inherent improbability in
NATHAMUNI.
10 the
story
of
Natbamuni
young Kauiban meeting the sage must have been then well
vvbo
avdanced in years. In accordance with
the custom of the times,
Nathamuni went on a tour
bo
Northern
visiting the scenes of Krishna's birth
and the neighbouring
places.
His
India,
Muttra
at
ex
travels
tended to the distent Badaii or Baorinath on the north, Dvvarka, Krishna's capital
on
the
coast.
and
west
Natharnuni's
Jagannar.h travel
Kathiawar
in
on the
was
eastern
apparently for
pilgrimage and not for religious propagandists, was that of Sankara before him or of
as
Ramanuja
afterwards.
It
commemo-
was in
ration of this visit, with his son and daughter-in-
law, to the banks of the
Yamuna
or
Jumna, that
born about A. D. 916,
his grandson,
have been named Yamuna.
is
said to
Nathamuni returned
due course via Jagannath and is said to have lived a few years only after the birtb to the south in
of his grandson.
The of
the
story
of
ardent
have been.
Nathamuni's death devotee
One
day
that
a
he
party
is
of
is
worthy
reputed
to-
huntsmen
headed by the Chola king rode past the residence of
Nathamuni
at
Yiranarayanapura.
The
sage,
NATHAMUNI.
1 1
interrupted in his meditations by the
attendant
opened his eyes and, construing the party to be the divine Rama and his brother, on whom r bustle,
we may
suppose, his thoughts
followed
in meditation,
walked
and
steps till the very Ohola capital Gangaikondapuram r dropped down dead through sheer
and there
famous
the track of the party
weary
the
gates of
fatigue.
with
were wholly bent
His son Isvvaramuni, the father of the Yarn una chary a, duly discovered his
whereabouts and did the funeral obsequies which the remains of the illustrious man demanded.
The left
duration
of
Nathamuni's
undetermined, as
life
we cannot accept
must
be
as reliable
the traditional accounts which assign a period of from 350 to 500 years for the sage. must,
We
for the present, be satisfied
the
was
born
of the
9th
sage
quarter
just over a
with supposing that
somewhere century
hundred years,
an
in
the
and that he
first
lived
age exceeded by
by Vidyaranya, and by his Vedanta Desika, if the traditions contemporary, that can be proved to have been current from the
Ramanuja
fifteenth true.
himself,
century
downwards
be
accepted
as
[punbarihafcsba. OTHING
as the high pedestal on
the spiritual teacher cit faith
is
which
placed and the impli-
which the community has
in
him
for weal
Nor
is the feeling one of recent growth. " Only when Chandogya Upanishad says
or woe.
The
Hindu
us so peculiar in
strikes
religious life
:
studied under a teacher does any knowledge be" He who has a teacher come excellent."
Again
The Kathopanishad proclaims " He the Lord intensely and loves his Guru
alone knows."
who
loves
:
Lord Himself, is alone fit to receive the Highest Wisdom." And the Bhagavad Gita in Ch. XIII mentions the worship of the Acharya
as the
as
an attitude worthy
ing devotee.
of
attainment by the aspir-
The puranic
literature,
as
may
be
expected, amplifies these sentiments with exemplary stories of devotion
and blind obedience on
the part of the pupils.
The
the Mahabharata
is
story of Ekalavya in
frequently referred to as to
the efficacy of Guru-worship even
himself
is indifferent.
For
when the Guru
this Ekalavya,
who was
PUNDARIKAKSHA. refused
13 the famous
instruction by Dronacharya
teacher of the Pandus and Kurus, set up an image of Drona and, by ardent practice in the inspiring presence of that image, attained to such eminence in the use of the
bow and arrow that Drona him-
was staggered, and rather cruelly demanded the surrender of his thumb, which order the self
duteously
pupil
It
obeyed.
is,
Hindu
characteristic feature of the
therefore,
a
pupil that he
brought up under a system which places the personal influence and inspiration of the teacher is
more potent
as a
than
all
himself.
pupil
factor in
instruction
effective
the industry and the intelligence of the
And
great
teachers,
geniuses
though some of them have been, have studiously refrained from asserting any doctrine as of their
own
invention
and have always modestly and
Guru
gratefully referred to their of
all
their
and
the
inspirations.
power The word
interpreted to
mean Secret
*
*
'
Upanishad doctrine' or
and the greatest caution teacher will freely impart
as the origin
source
is it
observed
of their
has been *
Rahasya* before a
to a pupil. It appears
moderns a mistaken policy to restrict the spread of knowledge of whatever kind, and the to us
spirit of secrecy
or
disinclination
to teach
the
14
PUNDARIKAKSHA.
greatest truths seeins of a
more worthy
new manufacturing
of the inventor of the
process, jealous
and desirous
infringement of his rights
of turning
knowledge to the best pecuniary advantage. The explanation seems to be, in part at least, his
that in times
when manuscripts were
rare or
possibly writing was unknown, all knowledge was confined in the memory of a few learned men and
the system continued long after the
But there was another
ceased.
need for
it
factor in question
which certainly helped to perpetuate the system of secret instruction. That w-^s the necessity felt
by the teacher to ascertain the fabric of the pupil's mind and ensure its being of a sufficiently close texture for the
purpose both of retaining imparted by him and of afterwards utilizing it for the pupil's further spiritual advanceIt is not a proposition difficult to maintain ment.
what
is
that
certain positions in philosophy appear untenable to minds constituted in one way but
are lucidly self-evident to other minds that have
had a different course
of
preparatory
is
to
some extent true
sciences
as
well
This
:
but
these
dependent on the conclusions
of
the
latter
of
training.
material are
more
observation and
experiment in the external world than the science
PUNDARIKAKSHA. of the soul
and
its
relationship to the cosmos
the universal Self. all
15
Hence
and
in spiritual matters
teachers of the world have insisted
upon the
necessity of a certain reserve in imparting serious
instruction to pupils their
way
who
are
only
yet
feeling
or possibly are adversely inclined.
In
the view of those teachers (and they are a majority) who hold that realisation of the Self is the
ultimate goal of
man
has to be learned bv
an.i
constant practice in seclusion and with the senses
under control, the presence and active advice of one
who
has experience
in
the
'
process
are
absolutely necessary.
It
motto
under spiritual instruction.
is, therefore, riot
strange that for ages India has held the spiritual Guru to be indispensable and " Aekarya devo bhava " the
We
of every student
have been led to make these reflections for
the purpose of explaining the system of maintain-
ing succession
the
Raman uja
of teachers among the followers Hinduism and more especially
lists
of every sect of
School.
The head
of this
list
is
Saint Satagopa, the author of the Thousand Tamil Songs, referred to already, and the next that of ISathamuni himself, of whose
life
name
sketch has been given already in these pages. spite of the long interval of
is
a brief
In
time between these
PUNDARIKAKSHA.
16
two
one being named as the explained by the statement
sages, the fact of the
other's successor
is
made by the followers muni saw the saint
Yogic vision and was
in
We
directly instructed by him.
take
it
Natha-
of this school that
may, however,
that for historical purposes the founder of
both the theoretical and practical aspects of the Visistadwaita school in
outline
its
is
Nathamuni
himself and that this great teacher had a respectable following of pupils
and
of sufficient
imbued with to
learning
his
views
maintain them
in
Sage Nathamuni is said to have pupils, of whom Pundarikaksha was
controversy.
had eight
the most important and
continued ceptor.
the
He
is
spiritual said
to
is
recognised
teachings of
as having his
pre-
have been born about
A. D. 826 at Tiruvallari, North of Srirangam, in Choliah caste of Brahmins. It is said of
the
Pundarikaksha that on
one occasion
deputed by sage Nathamuni
to
escort
he
was
his
wife
Aravindappavai to the residence of her father Vangip-purathachi as he was called. While there,
Pundarikaksha who was of inferior caste was served with stale food, regardless of his being an honoured guest from the residence of Nathamuni.
The
latter on hearing of this
fart
and that the
PUNDARIKAKSHA, pupil himself
dignity but
never resented
accepted
it
17
the
apparent as a
cheerfully
in-
favour,
was greatly pleased with Pundarika's indifference to
honour, and,
noting
"
Uyyakkondar or sation," a name by which he
We had
mark
of
high
him by the name of " Saviour of the new Dispen-
spiritual advancement,
"
as a
it
called
is
now
occasion to mention on a
usually known.
previous page
that Sage
Nathamuni made a
Jumna
ir>
the North and had a son, born to Isvara
Muni,
his son,
God
of that place.
visit to the
banks
of
named Yamunaoharya after the We are assured that Nathamuni
foresaw the birth of the child some years before the
event and commissioned his pupil Pundarikaksha to be the spiritual guardian of the
him
of the
in the
new
boy and instruct
Nathamuni, in ways was life, frequently subject to spiritual an ecstatic state known as Samadhi when faith.
his later
trance,
the subject sees nothing but cally
was,
lost
we
to
the
external
are told, in this
periods at
a
God and
world.
Samadhi
time before
his
state
final
is
practi-
Nathamuni for long
end and in
consequence had entrusted to Pundarikaksha the
duty of instructing his grandson whose arrival he had fondly been watching. Pundarikaksha in his turn commissioned his senior pupil
Ramamisra, 2
PUNDAEIKAKSHA.
18
a native of Manakkal, also near Srirangam, to
perform the
office of
Guru
Kamamisra
grandson.
to the long-expected
the next in
is
succession after Pundarikaksha
remembered great
more
the
as
spiritual
known
is
chiefly
the
shall
have
Pundarikaksha
have
to
spiritual is
instructor of
whom we
Yarnunacharya, of Neither
hereafter.
"Ramamisra
and
left
any
nor
literary
We may suppose that their taken up with teaching and chiefly consolidating the doctrines of the New School of
work behind them. time
was
Sri Yaishnavas which had their origin with Sage
Nathamuni
as
we have
and exemplary adoption
of
contributed
community
the to in
ver- increasing
new
lives
see.ti
already.
these
of
being
and
general
group
of
saintly their
must
have
Pancharatra cult their
The
men and
respected
followed
by the by an
ardent followers.
A
religious creed usually courts strong opposi-
by adopting an aggressive attitude, but the early Vaishnavas of whom we are writing
tion
seem to have been very mild and non-aggressive in their ways and to have been treated by the sur-
rounding community with kindliness and respect. The truth is that both the Adwaita and the Yisistadwaita
Schools
were
the
simultaneous
PUNDARIKAKSHA
19
,
expressions of a natural reaction from the fice-ridden
Purva Mimansa
Kumarila, which held the
schools of field
in
sacri-
Guru and
philosophical
during the centuries immediately the times of Sankara, and were in preceding their turn the outcome of the disgust at the
speculation
development of philosophical Buddhism and its The Vaishlevelling and atheistic tendencies. nava School, instead of starting with a daring
new
philosophy, collected the forces of conserva-
tism by accentuating a life of purity and high morality, and ga.ve the death-blow to sacrificial ism
which had out-grown
its
God
to
original
while
begun deny Sankara won the sympathy ;
of
the
purpose
Monism
and of
the intellectual
the community by its all-embracing suband covert denunciation of mere Kaima
among tlety
and Vedic ceremonial under the guise of doctrine of illusion.
the
It is difficult historically to
say whether the subordinate place assigned to Karma-kanda in the two new phases of Hinduism
was the result of an unconscious adjustment to the state of things that had resulted from the sustained attack of
system founders
generally, of
Buddhism on the or,
these
whether systems
the
sacrificial
original
perceived
the
20
PUNDARIKAKSHA.
philosophical
absurdity
worship of various
ef
powers
simultaneously with
Heavens
the
inculcating
Earth and the
of the
doctrine
the
of
Unity of .God which was the corner-stone of each Whatever the reason may be, of the systems. the fact
is
were
observances
clear that sacrificial
relegated to an inferior place in both
these
sys-
tems, though not boldly rejected as inj urious or degrading. To the school of Sankara, the perfor-
mance
of ritualistic
karma It
spiritual progress.
is
may
a hindrance to true
be tolerated
true vision of unity arises, but
no further use. proves of all
is
The Visistadwaitic School
karma which
is
the
till
afterwards of disap-
done for worldly or
transient results and considers that the best anti-
dote to
its evil effects is
the renunciation
of
all
attachment to the fruits thereof. While theoretically
therefore the
Karma Kanda
is
and
valid
binding in the view of both systems, the practical effect
lected
is,
as indicated above, that
by
purposes
Yedantins
it
throughout,
stands
neg-
except for
of deriving exegetical rules for applica-
tion in the later Miinansa. It is for this purpose rather than of
sacrifices
that
the performance Mimansa has been studied in
as a help
the
the ages
to
Purva after
PUNDAR1KAKSHA.
21
Sankara. The study has been a matter of mere academic interest and the maxims evolved from the various sections of the old Sutras were applied to the interpretation of the Upanishads and of
the Smrithis, sometimes relevantly, sometimes as the fancy of the author suggested.
The
latest
and
the best exposition of the subject, in the Bhatta
Dipika of Khandadeva, of about the eighteenth century A. D., learned as it is by the profuse admixture of the terminology of modern Sanskrit logic, makes no attempt to explain the modus of the
rituals,
but, taking
it
the ratio-decidendi,
discusses
always for granted, so
to
speak,
of
each topic with a subtlety, and power of expres" sion which only those trained in the logic school can appredlate. We mention these matters to show
that neither the fact of the continuous study of
the
Mimansa
occasional
in later times nor the performance of
sacrifices
by
Brahmins
under
the
patronage of petty rulers of various States, need blind us to the fact that the sacrificial system lost
its
real
centuries
the effect
hold on
Brahminic India several
back, and that the main
cause
was
antagonism towards that system of both the Sankara and the Ramanuja schools.
of
covert
22
PUNDARIKAKSHA.
The
special
influence of Yaishnavaism
on the
South Indian people, an influence which had its origin in the times now discussed, and has continued
its
action
down
the hold of
its
to the present day, is of a
In the
two-fold character.
first place, it
followers on the various
and goddesses who
loosened
minor gods
were generally propitiated
with a view to the attainment of various worldly objects. An early Smrithi work like the voluminous digest of Hemadri,or the Madhctviya,shows the vast
number
of purainc ceremonies, vratas, fasts,
and
which were observed by the Hindus generin honour of various deities like the sun, the
feasts ally
moon, the planets, etc., on almost every imaginable day on which a particular Tithi or Nakshatra or a stellar or
lunar conjunction happened to fall. Some were considered Nitya or com-
of these ceremonies
pulsory and some were it
But
or optional.
Kamya
became the fashion to resort
to
them
largely
and
no doubt the main motive-power in keeping up the system was the full employment it furnished,
and the remuneration class,
especially
comparative disuse. this
it offered,
when the
Now
elaborate ceremonial
votaries
from the worship
to the
sacrifices
Brahmin fell
into
Yaishnavaism checked by of
interdicting
any
deities
its
except
PUNDARIKAKSHA. the
known
highest
Narayana
of the
The
all things.
to
it,
23
who was
the
God
Upanishads, the primal cause of
somewhat
if
stringent,
illiberal,
observance of the Sri Yaishnavites in not recognising, as objects of worship, deities
Narayana, had
its
to its
conclusion
logical
origin
the godhead
in
other than
the desire to carry
the
of
principle
the
and
the ni'desirability Unity of praying for any worldly benefits in the presence of
the
of
deity.
The
cosmopolitanism
of
the
whom
one personal God was as as another and were simply of phenoboth good
Adwaitin to
*
menal
'
it
importance,
Yaishnavite to adopt, of
the
to
his
Vaishnavite
one Deity
is
is
not
open
to
apparently
of questionable
merit at the present day and has sufficed to
him
as sectarian
Hinduism of
of all
a single
the
Though the exelusiveness in the choice of a name
dub
and bigoted, his attempt to free but the purest form of worship
Deity deserves to be appreciated.
Dr. Thibaut has pointed out that there is nothing sectarian in the philosophy of the Ramanuja school.
In practical religion, devotion to
Deity was the teaching of this object
school,
was to elevate Hinduism to
its
one
and the pristine
purity before non- Aryan influences had played
24 upon
PUNDARIKAKSHA. it
and
instilled
into
Tantric ritual and
it
diversity of divinity.
Again, the rapid conversion to Vaishnavaisni numbers of the masses of the people who were beyond the influence of Brahminism and
of large
mere philosophy school, the
is
germs
another notable feature of this
of
the earliest times.
which we perceive even in While the Vedic Hindu
strove to brand the non-Aryans '
thieves
'
and kept them
minisni improved
*
as
J
Dasyus
or
at a distance, early Brah-
upon the treatment by making
a monopoly of religious instruction and keeping sudras and the lower orders generally outside its pale.
In
fact
both
the
Mimansas have
cons-
tructed what they call the"apa-sudra-adkikarana"
wherein they demonstrate that none but those of the three higher castes are entitled to recite the Vedas or undertake the study of the Upanishads.
The
Smrithis have
further
prescribed
choice
who breaks the rule a Yedic text when being
for the sudra
punishments even listens to
or
chanted. is
In the face of this
strict
monopoly, it it has been
to the credit of Vaishnavaisni that
able to bring the
lower
them the
classes
and extend
to
God and
attaining liberation.
of
into
privilege
of
its
fold
knowing The agencies
PUNDARIKAKSHA.
25
employed by Yaishnavaism in effecting this silent revolution were two in number, referred to already in a different
One
Nathamuni.
of
connection in
the
life of
them was the doctrine
of
prapatti or surrender to God, which was conceived as
no
demanding
qualification.
status
caste
or educational
The other was the adoption
religious purposes of the
works
of the
for
Alwars and
making them the common property of all classes, Brahmins and non-Brahmins alike. The former of these matters will receive
some detailed notice
on a future occasion and need only be referred to slightly at this stage.
We shall
find
in
the succeeding articles that
of Yaishnavaism namely, the tacit discarding of Vedic sacrificial ritual, the worship of a single deity, and the adaptation of
these
special
features
the religion to the needs tures
of
non-Brahrnins
which have been described
once for
in
some
fea-
detail
now, as they have been present at the were constantly kept in mind very beginning each by succeeding generation of teachers and all
popularity and rapid spread of this form of Hinduism.
contributed largely to the
Jl?amunacbav\>a HE
chief
in the life of
incidents
charya are narrated in the
on
the
lives
of these
Yamuna -
existing works
teachers
with an
unanimity which goes far to show that what we now know about him is fairly accurate
amount
and
of
reliable.
He was
born
in
the city of Yira-
narayanapura, the modern Mannargudi, in the South Arcot District, a few years after the begin-
ning of the 10th Century A.D. As the grandson of the great Nathamuni, he was doubtless well cared
and properly educated in the Sanskrit lore of the day. It was Ramamisra, the pupil of Pundarifor
kaksha, initiate
who helped the the boy
father Iswara Bhatta
Yamuna
in the
to
of the
study Yedas, after he was duly invested with the sacred thread at about the age of eight. His intelligence
and retentive memory soon attracted attention and We placed him at the head of his schoolmates. are told that the precocious boy would often slip
from school, and, when chid about his truancy, would reply that he had nothing new to
away
learn for the day, but that his fellow pupils were
simply
going over what
The teacher
of Yamuna
he had already
learnt.
was a scholar who gloried
YAMUNACHARYA. in the expressive title of
27
Mahabhashya Bhatta or
Doctor of Grammar. The doctor, albeit his learnwas but a poor pundit and had to submit ing,
Akki Alwan, the Court Pundit of the Chola King at his capital Gangai Kondapuram. Akki Ahvan, basking in the sunshine of himself to one
royal favour, lorded
over
it
the day, and our Bhatta
all
among
ing a yearly tribute from them. the tribute, school
the
when
purpose
Yamuna
on one occasion,
the pundits of
the rest, by exact-
The
collector of
reached Yamuna's
was away and explained In a spirit of bravado
his teacher of his call.
replied that no tribute
would be given
and that Ahvan might be so informed. The angry reply came in due course that Alwan would not
and that the unruly pundit must stand a contest of ^disputation with him or submit at once. Yamuna quieted his tolerate
the impertinence,
trembling teacher
who was
all for
submission to
the cruel Court Pundit, and sent a spirited verse* in reply intimating that
his
he was capable of holding
own and beating down the enemy
shastraic disputation.
* * TO 2fiTO*g
We TO
are next
?f
TO
in
any
told, that the
YAMUNACHARYA
28
king at
who
.
the instigation of his sagacious consort,
foresaw, not without some relish, trouble for
the
unpopular Alwan, sent the state palanquin
and
a bodyguard to escort the bold scholar
was to beard the
Yamuna, now a large group of
manner usual
who
lion in his den,
a hero to the village, came with friends,
who proclaimed
in the
in Oriental Courts, the learning of
Yamuna and his
matchlessness in
Mimamsa and
Vedanfca scholarship. A romantic touch is given to the succeeding incidents by our being told that the royal pair watched Yamuna entering the palace,
and,
and the queen, prepossessed by the young face of the Brahmin
no doubt, attractive
scholar,
went
in the approaching contest.
supporting
we
are told,
for
him
The king, piqued
into
so far as to claim a victory
his Pundit, staked half his
on
the
event.
escorted to the royal presence and
assigned
to him.
commenced
A
in which,
kingdom,
Yamuna was
duly took the place
Yedantic disputation then
we are told, Yamuna gained Akki Alwan had to accept
a complete victory and
the public defeat.
The story
of
Yamuna's victory
will
not be com-
plete without our adding that Yamuna is said to have propounded three puzzles to Akki Alwan at
29
YAMUNACHARYA.
his own request, and that Akki Alwan, in dismay, was powerless to answer them. These puzzles were in the formof statements of which Akki Alwan
undertook to establish the negative by his arguments. Our king is all supreme, They were :
fyie
queen
is
chaste
;
your mother has
issue.
It is
easily seen that to admit the propositions implied in the
negatives of the
first
and second
of the
above, would have been highly ungrateful and im-
prudent in the Court Pundit, while the absurdity of the negative of the third is patent to all. shall not
waste our time in expounding Yamuna's
supposed answers in support of these rather It is only proper to add that statements. incident of the puzzles of
We
Yamuna's
life
is
silly
the
omitted in some accounts
and may
be a later addition
intended to give zest to the story of the victory. It is more to the purpose to state that the gracious
Chola queen in great pleasure hailed Yamuna as 'Alavandar* in Tamil, meaning the victor,' a name 4
by which
Yamunacharya
has been best
known
ever since, and that the king, true to his promise,
granted him a portion of his territories to rule and enjoy.
The remainder
of
Yamuna's
life is divisible
into
two portions, the respective durations of which wa
YAMUNACHAEYA.
30
have no means of ascertaining. During the first portion, he was in enjoyment of the lands granted
by
the king and lived
a
pleasure
and
married and had 4 sons.
JJe
luxury. lived in
a palace and had a the
forgot
He
large retinue.
lived
life
higher
of
life
He had
by
his
grandsire
poor followers and the presence of the not access to could gain pupils At the Alavandar. last, awakening came. lordly
Nathamuni,
and the
Ramamisra, the pupil ed, after great efforts,
latter's
Pundarikaksha, succeedin gaining an interview with of
Yamuna, and intimated that he was valuable
treasure
of
Nathamuni,
Yamuna. Yamuna agreeing went together to the shrine
Yamuna was
led to the
in charge of a
in trust
to receive
it,
for
the two
of Srirangam,
where
presence of the Deity
by
Ramamisra and made to accept Him as the treasure that Nathamuni had left for his grandson.
Yamuna, whose evils of
led, accepted the lity,
now
eyes were
the unprofitable
duty
life
fully opened to the
that he had hitherto
of love to
Godwin
all
and, throwing up the garb of a Sanyasin, pledged
assumed
wholly spiritual
humi-
his life of a householder,
life.
Srirangam and led a
He
to
a
took up his residence at
life of
absolute renunciation,
composing philosophical works and expounding the
YAMUNACHARYA.
31
doctrines of the Visistadvaitic school.
Srirangam became a stronghold of Vaishnavaism. Worship at the temple and participation in the regular services both in
furnished
and out
of the temple precincts
occupation for a
large
number
of the
ardent devotees, while the lectures of Alavandar
and the frequent discussions held in his presence gave great impetus to Sanskrit study in general and that of the Upanishads and the Sutras in parti-
The Upanishads, the
cular.
Sutras
>
had long
Gita, and the Vedanta
before this
established their
claim to pre-eminence in Hindu philosophy and had '
been styled 'the three Prasthanas or primary works on philosophy. Every offshoot of Hinduism from the time of Sankara doctrines on
its
own
important works vaitism naturally
the
;
interpretation
its
main
interpretations of these three
and the
pioneers of Visistad-
turned their energies towards
task of textual
three works. In
downwards based
interpretation of
the same
Yamuna's time, the work of oral was proceeded with, while the
formal composition of text books on the subject was reserved for the next generation under the
guidance of Sri Ramanuja. It is well to bear in mind in this connection that the Visistadvaita school claims a venerable ancestry
32
YAMUNACHARYA.
for its origin, commencing almost
from the times of
A
the author of the Sutras, Yyasa or Badarayana. sage Bodhayana composed a Vritti or extensive
commentary on the Sutras. The doctrines
of the
Vritti are understood to be refuted in
places
in
the existing commentar}
7
although,
following
etiquette,
the
many
of
Sankaracharya, a well-understood literary
actual author
Bodhayana
is
not
quoted by name. A gloss on the Vritti is known to have been composed by Acharya Tanka who is
quoted frequently in the works of Ramanuja under the style of Vakyakara or glossator. Dramidacharya, a scholar of the Tamil land as his name implies, then wrote a fuller exposition of the
Sucr&s and this came to
The
in
Bhashya Ramanuja's commentary. One Srivatsanka is mentioned as the author of a commentary on
works are also
the Bhashya.
be called
references to the to^this
the Dramida Bhashya.
He
a very ancient writer as he
seems to have been also is
'
Bhagavan,'
styled
a term of great reverence. Another writer Guhadeva by name, also wrote a work on the Visistadvaita philosophy.
works from that
But of
all
that
we
Bodhayana
deva are the names of the authors extracts from the
Vritti
possess of these
to that of arid
and the
Guha-
a few short
Bhashya
in
YAMUNACHARYA. Ramanuja's works.
33 there
However,
no doubt
is
Yamuna's time there
was an extensive
literature of the Visistadvaitic
school continuing
that in
the traditional
interpretation of
Bodhayana and
in important points from that of the Sankara school. Yarmmacharya himself refers, in
diverging
his tiidhi
to be presently mentioned, to a
Traya
series of authors
ceded
him
of the Sutras.
both the schools
of
and
composed
They
who
pre-
works explanatory
are the Bhashyakrit (appa-
rently Dramidacharya) Srivatsankamisra, Tanka,
Bhartrimitra,
Bhartriprapancha
Bhartrihari,
Brahmadatta, Sankara, and Bhaskara. three names belong
the
rest
apparently
to
to
The
the Visistadvaitic, the Sankara
or
first
and
allied
The Dramidabhashyakara, whose naine preceded Sankara and
schools.
otherwise unknown,
is
wrote a rather concise commentary on the Sutras. seems also to have commented on the Upa-
He
nishads, and this
an
commentary seems
to have been
extensive work, so says Anandagiri, the
known commentator
well-
of Sankara's works, in the
opening lines of his gloss to Sankara's Chandogya
Commentary.
We
may mention
Sanyraha
of
Sri
also
that
Ramanuja
the
helps
Vedartha us
some-
TAMUNACHARYA.
34
what to Supplement the information on ancient writers, given by Yamunacharya. Ramanuja mentions a list of over 7 authors, namely,
Bodhayana
Tanka,Dramida,Guhadeva, Kapardi, Bharuchi,etc., and the commentator Sudarsana Bhatta explains that
m
Tanka was
also
fact vouchsafed
his
known
for by
as
Brahmanandin,
Yedantadesika also in
commentary Tatwatika on the is no doubt that Tanka
There
kara referred to
in later works,
Sri is
Bhashya.
the
and
Vakya that
he
preceded Dramida in the exposition of the Sutras. The fact that Dramidacharya wrote an extensive
bhashya on the Upanisbads from the atari. point of Visistadvaita also shows that Sankara was not 1
the pioneer in this kind of work, a fact admitted
by Sankara himself, and also explains why Ramanuja and others of his school before him did not set
about a regular commentary of the Upaniswork has, however, been entirely
hads. Dramida's
and and full only commentary on tha Upanishads possessed by the Visistadvaitic lost
school
convenient
the
is
that of the
learned
Rangaramanuja
Muni, a writer of comparatively recent date, not to be confounded with the great Raman ujacharya. The Sidhi Traya, of which mention has been
made
already,
is
the
first
and most important of
35
YAMUNACHARYA. the works of
It
Yamunacharya.
contains
3
sections called the Atma-Sidhi, the Iswara-Sidhi,
and the Samvid-sidhi and
is
intended to establish
the real existence of the individual and supreme
and refute the doctrine
souls
a
written in
stiff
of
Avidya. It is with terse
prose style mixed
anushtubh Karikas in the manner of early philosophical works of which the Tantra Vartika of
Kumarila Bhatta furnishes a good example. The verse and is somewhat
last section is entirely in
As
incomplete. first parfc of is
age
in
the Sloka
Rumania's work
spirited
tism
may
in
called) the langu-
In one
declining to accept a
of the opponent, " All this
dogma-
carry weight with (blind) believers
are rion- believers (in your doctrines)
* logic to convince us".
A
the
Vartika, (as
and frequently graceful.
place our author says,
mere assertion
is
;
we
and require
most rational position
which every school of Hindu thought, not excluding the anchor's, will do well always to bear
this,
In refuting the absolute-identity doctrine derived by Sankara from the Upanishad
in mind.
text
*
EkMnevadvitiyamJ our author
88 Sidhi Traya, Benares Ed.
makes a
YAMUNACHARYA.
36
He
statement of some historic interest.
" says,
To
say that the Chola king, now reigning in this country, is all supreme and without a second, can only
exclude the existence of another monarch equal (in
power) to him
;
it
cannot imply the denial of
the existence of a wife, sons or servants of such a
monarch. "t
ed by name,
Though the king
we may probably
is
not mention-
identify
him with
Rajaraja the Great (A.D. 985 undoubted Lord Paramount of India at the 1012), the time, who fully deserved the epithet 'Samrai* or
the Chola king
'
'
Emperor
here bestowed on him, as he conquered
the Yengi kingdom, Orissa, and Ceylon, defeated the Rashtrakutas, and was the most powerful of the
whole of the Chola dynasty. It is interesting to list of commentators given above
observe from the
that the great Bhaskara, mentioned after Sankara
and known as
the founder of the
Bheclabheda
Vada, preceded our author. A reference to Souresam Vackas in the Atma-Sidhi, also shows *
'
that our author was well -acquainted with the able
commentary on the Sankara Bhashya by Sures-
\\
YAMUNACHARYA; waracharya, the pupil of Sankara. able
to
no
trace
37
We
references
explicit
have been either
to
Goudapada, the predecessor of Sankara, or even to the Nyayatatwa of Nathamuni, which latter work,
must have known
of course, our author
giving one specimen
We
well.
shall in this connection content ourselves
with
the subject-matter of will at which the same time furnish a Sidhitraya, of
author in philoso-
sample of the style of the
phy metrically treated. " The Individual Soul '
It is
is
a
:
separate entity in
by nature, eternal, subtle, and distinct from the body, the senses,
each body, which blissful.
Says Yamunacharya* '
is
the mind, the vital
air,
and the
intellect,
and
is
The Sidhitraya is quoted frequently by Ramanuja and no doubt was largely the basis of his able refutations of Sankara's views self-contained."
in the Sri Bhashya.
The next work notice of
is
the
which
Bhagavata
is
of
Yaounacharya that we shall a work the object
Agamapramanya, to
establish
or Pancharatra
the orthodoxy of tho school.
made of a Kashmira-Agamapramanya *
Mention of the
is
same
38
YAMUNACHARYA.
author at the end of the former work
work
is lost
except that of the
now and nothing it
;
but the
known about
is
it
sought to establish the genuineness
Ekayana Sakha^ the fundamental
text of
the Bbagavata school, as a branch of the Veda.
The Agamapramanya, prose and
is,
like the Sidhitraya, in
the verse being generally in Anushtubh metre and used only when a sententious
verse,
resume or
necessary.
We
pointed
is
exposition
deemed
had occasion to refer to the Pan-
charatra school more than once before, and shall use the present context to
make some
vations in detail about that school.
known
we
obser-
It is well-
that the various Vedas were studied in
different
Sakhas or recensions.
One
of these
was
the Ekayana Sakha probably of the White Yajur
Veda.
The various Sakhas had
different ritual
books, dealing with the domestic rites of
its
follow-
Black Yajur Veda may Apasthamba be mentioned as an illustration. It is an article of of the
ers; the
absolute faith
among the twice-born
of India that
every person should stick to his Sakha and perform only the ceremonials prescribed in it. The
Ekayanins had several such
special rites.
peculiarity in their daily life
may be
The Ekayanin, who,
in austerity of
life,
One
mentioned.
was almost
YAMUNACHARYA. a
monk, but without the
39
restriction of celibacy
divided the day into five periods. period of
Abhigamana
First
came the
or approaching God, which
the Ekayanin did as soon as his daily ablutions
and Japas were over. The next period, from about half-past eight to midday, was allowed to be devoted to wordly life, the earning of one's
was next The Upadana period. period was The Ijya^ literally, sacrifice. Ekayanin
livelihood by irreproachable means, etc. This called the
styled
cared not for the Yedic sacrifices.
was the
His
sacrifice
Pancha-yagna ending with the iridday
prayer to God, the placing before that he had prepared of food
etc.,
Him
of
and included
all
his
meal-taking, which was considered an act of religious
The next period was
nature.
Swadhyaya
that
of
or study, which each householder re-
The last gulated as suited his taste or capacity. of the of 24 hours thus divided was period day called
of the
Yoga or quiet contemplation, when thoughts Almighty engaged the devotee before he
went to
bed.
This simple-living Ekayana sect of
almost prehistoric times seems to have grown into the Bhagavata sect even before the period of the
Mahabharata and large
sectarian
to have developed literature
which
for
itself
came
to
a be
40
YAMUNACHARYA.
known
The Tantra
as the Pancharatra Tantra.
literature of India, with its divisions of the ratra, the
the Sakta branches,
would
fill
Pancha-
Boudha, the Saiva or the Pasupata, and so very extensive that
is
a library by
to describe this, even
itself.
if it
It
it
not proposed
is
were possible to do
so.
enough to say that the Pancharatra appears to have been one of the earliest of these and was It is
was supposed to have been by God Narayana promulgated during It is now only partially extant and a himself. so called
because
it
five nights
small portion only again
Telugu character.
The
is
available in
Tantra,
print in
divided
is
into
Carious Sowihitas which bear the names of various
The most important of them are the Satwata, the Poushkara and the sages or ancient writers.
Jayakhya,
samhitas.
These are
described
Divya or uttered and promulgated by yana
directly.
The others were
as
God Nara-
promulgated
through various sages, whose names, as in the case is legion. In one work alone,
of Smriti writers,
the Pancharatraraksha
many
of
as thirty of these are
Vedanta
named
;
Desika,
as
and many
of
them must have been long, judging from the numbers of the chapters quoted. The chief topics discussed are the modes of service in temples, the details
YAMUNACHARYA.
41
of a Srivaishnava's or Bhagavata's
and the
life,
most suitable general method of salvation, namely, It prapatti, mentioned already in these pages.
much both
speaks
and
its
tively
for the
antiquity of the sect
literary activity that the works are collec-
mentioned in the Mahabharata and some
of the ancient puranas, with approval
and not in
condemnation. The large number of non -Brahmin conversions
made by the
followers of this sect later
on must have reacted on the Brahmin it,
portion of
and practices unusual among the Brahmins of brought some
the day must have crept in, which disrepute on the sect as
why Sankaracharya 'Sutras II. 2. 42 to
refute
the
wherein
a whole.
This explains
commentary on the four 45 treats them as intended to in his
orthodoxy from
it differs
of
the
the
sect
in
rest of the
matters
Brahmin
The Bhagavata, unlike the various heretical philosophers whose views were already criticised
class.
in the second pada,
Yasudeva
as
admittedly upholds Brahman or
alike the material
and the instru-
mental cause, like the Vedantin. Why then is he being refuted ? Sankara explains, " On this point he his
is all
right,
but there are some tenets of
which are unvedic and so Bad a ray an a refutes
him."
What Badarayana
exactly
meant
to
YAMUNACHARYA.
42 state
the
in
four
Sutras
referred
According to Sankara they
clear.
Pancharatra
is
to
mean
not
is
" the
:
unacceptable (1) because it speaks as Sankarshana from
of the creation of the soul
Yasudeva, while the soul eternal; (2) because
it
mind from the
of the
unvedantic
karshana
;
the
in
inculcates the
a
Jiva,
(3) to suppose that
and
the
is
production
thing equally the forms San-
are
rest
Yedanta
with
identical
Yasudeva. would not mend matters, as the fourfold division lastly,
would
still
be purposeless
;
and
(4)>
the Tantra shows mutual contradictions in
itself."
This interpretation of the Sutras as the
statement of four adverse arguments against the orthodoxy of the Pancharatra is elaborately
by Yamunacharya in the Aganiapraraanya, and the Yisistadvaitic view is further set
opposed
forth in the Sri Bashya.
that the four are not
all
From
these
Sutras in the view of
we gather this school
adverse, but that the first two of
them
adverse
prima facie arguments, while the last two refute those arguments and maintain contain
the orthodoxy of the Tantra. " would then stand thus :
four forms, Yasudeva
The (3)
and the
last 2
Sutras
But by taking the rest, as identical
with Brahman, the objection, as to the
soul's being
YAMUNACHARYA. born,
is
removed,
tions, like that of
43
(the purpose of the manifestaAvatars generally, being explain-
able always) and (4) the Tantra explicitly
the
other words
hardly
be
denies
having an origin," In said that the Pancharatra could
the souls
fact of
it is
discredited as
containing
points
of
erroneous philosophy which it has not, as practicadmitted in the 3rd of the Sutras by Sankara
ally
himself.
To
to the question of Sutras and not to dwell
confine ourself
interpretation
of
the
long on a subject v/hich could hardly interest the general reader, one fact may be mentioned which goes far to show that the Yisistadvaitic interpret tation may in this, as in other cases, as pointed
out by Dr. Thibaut, represent an earlier tradition
which Sankara or is,
That
his predecessors ignored.
that the use of the particle 3T in the middle of
the Sutra 3 of the set
is
of a change of side in the
Purvamimamsa and
most usually indicative argument, both in the
in the
We
Yedanta.
Sutras, especially in pada 3 of
instances of instances
are
this
use of the
also so
Adhyaya
particle
numerous
in
can
Vedanta
point out at least 5 other places in the
;
III, as
and such
the Jaimini
Sutras that the argument appears very convincing On the other hand, it has to be said in
indeed,
44
YAMUNACHARYA.
favour of the Sankara view that the Tantra must partake of the philosophies in discussed.
heretical
nature
whose company
Against
this, again,
the other
of
this is
may
also
found
be set Dr.
Thibaut's opinion that it would not be unnatural to close the polemical pada with a defence of that *
doctrine which \7 iewed as
has to be
in spite of objections
the true one/
The next work
of
Yamunacharya deserving summary of the'Gita-teachings styled Gitartha Sangraha. No work of Yamunacharya shows so well as this does, how far Ramamention
is
the
nuja was indebted to his predecessors
in
the
elaboration of the Visistadvaitic system which he so
completely carried
Yamunacharya,
out.
In
the
in the course of about
Sangraha, 30 verses
in anusktubh metre, analyses fully the argument in the Bhagavadgita, as understood by the school
represented by him.
The Bhagavadgita
is
a
work
which, in spite of its great antiquity and sanctity,
and apparent simplicity, has baffled many commentators and critics. To some, it appears full of contraditions
;
to others,
it is
a patchwork of three or
four layers set one over another. To others again, the central theme is clear, while the work is full of digressions and repetitions.
In this state of
45
YAMUNACHARYA. things
it
cannot but be important to know that
as early as the 10th century,
Yamuna,
following
antecedent oral teaching, analysed the
work
as
a consistent exposition of the doctrine of Bhakti supplemented by a description of the Karma
and Gnana Yogas as subordinate to the main Unlike the case of the Vedanta doctrine. Sutras, there
no
is
internal indication
here of
the existence of any specific commentaries of the text, at the
time of Yamuna's writing; but the
probabilities
are that
teachings handed
down
Yamuna summarised to
him
than
We
have
invented his system of interpretation. in the Gita
ample internal evidence
Ramanuja
the
orally, rather
Bha of
that he strictly conformed in his inter-
depicted in Yamuna's scheme of the Gita accordThe general epitome. be to described in a few Yamunacharya may ing pretations to the outline
words.
We are told that the first six chapters of the
18 into which that work
is
and Gnana Yogas, and
with a description the second batch of six
of
the
Yoga
state
;
divided, treat of
Karrna
close
Bhakti Yoga, while the last six deal with subsidiary topics which help towards the
chapters treat of
understanding of the rest, and conclude in verses 65 and 66 of Chapter XVIII with the enun-
YAMUNACHARYA.
46 elation of
what
is
held to be the essence of
secret teachings that have
all
the
Yamuna, gone and following him, Ramanuja, work out the continuity of the thought in the whole work in a
much more
natural
before.
manner than
is
possible to
from Sankara's explanations of the same poem. We cannot of course affirm that there are infer
Ramanuja's commenbut we have found in many places where a
no forced constructions tary
;
in
would suggest itself to his construction speciadopted Ramanuja to suit himself the to plan chalked out by ally Yamuna. We have in mind especially Chapters
different interpretation
us that
VIII and XII mely
of the Gita,
difficult chapters,
interpretation
is
two short but extre-
where Yamuna's scheme
of
closely adhered to, with a result
that can hardly be called satisfactory from the
point of view of the critical reader.
There
.
is
mention
made
of a
work
'
Maha-
'
purusha Nirnaya by Yamunacharya which is now lost to us but of one other existing work ;
we wish
to
make mention, on account
of its high merit the and hold it has on the literary great mind of the religious Vaishnavaite. We refer
to a devotional song or
about 75 stanzas,
Stotra as
somewhat
it is
like the
called of
Soundar-
T AMUNACHAmT A of
yalahari ed, as
may
language ;
is
expected, to
and
simple
natural, and the
work has been and
from
chaste,
he '
styled
The
the imagery
are
sentiments
a,
dedicat-
God Vishnu.
who pours out
imost direct language
ts class,
but
Sankaracharya,
be
earnest devotee
tary
47
.
can
those
is
an
of
his heart in the
The
command.
Stotra-ratnaJ a
gem of by an ample commen-
is explained the erudite scholar and philosopher,
work
Vedanta Desika.*
to this
of
that he com-
Yamuna,
Having regard we may say of him
bined in himself the characteristics of a poet
a philosopher, in a more real
sense than
do so of any other Sanskrit writer such a distinction.
The
personal life of
who
Yamunacharya
and
we can claims
at Srirari-
gam, where he mostly stayed after his spiritual conversion, was simple and without any stirring incidents. Religious persecution was never serious in India, and in
'
the
south,
the Cholas, the
chief reigning dynasty, were, at least at this time
tolerant to the
the saivite
new
faith,
persuasion.
though they were
Yamuna was
devoting himself to religious teaching
of
peacefully
and medi-
* The text and commentary have been recently published at the Ananda Press, Madras, in Nagari character.
48
YAJdUNACHARYA.
He
tation.
once travelled as far as Trevandrum
on the western coast to
there the shrine of
visit
Padmanabha, and returned home after the usual tour round the numerous Yishnu shrines in
/Sri
Tinnevelly and Madura.
Travancore,
reason of this trip that
one
with
engagement
It
was by
Yamunacharya missed an Kurukaikkavalappan, a
Nathamuni, to whom the latter had entrusted the secret of Yoga or quick realisa-
pupil of the great
the
tion of
vision
requested by to himself,
God.
This
to impart the
man,
holy
great secret
had fixed a particular date as that on
which he would do the Yogi
of
Yamuna
had,
by
so,
that being also the time which ascertained to be
his powers,
the date of his death.
Yamuna
discovered
when
too late that he had missed the day assigned,
thereby helped unconsciously, the secret of Yoga pupil of
is said, tt
uja,
is said,
perish for ever
to
and
make
with the said
Nathamuni.
Another his life,
it
trip
which
Yamuna
undertook, late in
was to Conjeeveram, whither he went, it to cast a look on the rising scholar Ha ma-
who, as yet a student, was early distinguish-
ing himself
and attracting the
attention
of all.
Yamuna with the help of Kanchipurna, a Sudra pupil of his at Conjeeveram, who has since become
49
YAMUNACIIARYA.
canonised and has at present a special idol and shrine erected in his honour in the modern town
Oonjeevaram, obtained a view of Ramaas the latter was in the company of -his but nuja, master Yadavaprakasa, an adwaitic teacher, he did
cf Small
not care to send for him or converse with bin). After visiting tbe shrines at Kancbi and spending some time there, Yamuna duly returned to Sri-
rangam. Yamuuacharya lived to a good old age and died, it is said, at about 1040 A. D., having expressed with his last breath an earnest see
Ramnnuja
established
afc
wish to
Srirangam as a
staunch supporter and defender of the Yaishnavaite faith, M \vish which Ramanuja was duly to fulfil
its
el mrya
most
a left,
many*
thorough
manner.
Yamuna-
pupils behind him, some of
whom
had the privilege of instructing himself in various branches of study.
Ramanuja Th^ most
were Mahap'.trna, Goshtiimportant Sri Sailapurna and Mafadhcrra. Chotta purna, Nambi and Pillai Ar/isu Nauibi are named among of such pupils
they are of no importance to the We shall, therefore, student of Yaishnavaism.
his sons, but
address
ourselves
Ramariuja
to
the
life
and
teachings
of
in the next article.
* As many as twenty are mentioned. See Mr. A. iGovindacharya's Life of Rarnanuja, p. 23. Sri Vedanta Desika gives a list of 15 in bis Rahasyatrayasara.
1Ramanujacbar\>a. IE
shall in
describe briefly the
article
this
'chief events in the life of the
nujacharya,
the
Rama-
great
founder of the
practical
Visishtadwaita system, referring to the names and characteristics of the
most important
diate followers, and of
summary
his
of his
imme-
conclude with a short
shall
as
philosophy
disclosed
in
his
works.
We
by the end of the tenth
have seen that
century A.D., Yisishtadwaitism had greatly deveand had obtained a loped under Yamunacharya strong foot-hold in Srirangam with Conjeevaram, Tirupati, and a few other places, as rallying centres
the followers of this
for
that
among
his
one who could ezactly the
New
fill
Dispensation.
his place as
He,
longing eyes around among
surmised from personal report
under
felt
the head of
therefore, cast
the younger
observation
his
men and
and general
young Raman 11 ja, then a pupil intellect and Yadavaprakasa, was, by
that the
character, the
him.
Yamuna
creed.
immediate followers, there was no
He
fittest
did not,
person that
however,
could
succeed
wish to precipitate
RAMANUJACHARY A. matters,
but allowed
them
51
to take
their
own
course, trusting that, under the guidance of Providence, all would end well.
Sri Sailapurna, already ple of
mentioned as a
disci-
Yamunacharya, was established at Tirupati
Hills, in service at the
had two
sisters,
Temple
of that place.
He
one of whom, KantimaH, was
married to one Kesava Somayaji of Sri Perumbudur, about 10 miles from the Trivellore Railway Station, near Madras.
This lady gave birth to
Ramanuja, about the year 1017 A.D., ai)d the Sailapurna came down from the hills
ur.cle, Sri
and was pleased at the benign and intelligent face of the child.
He
looked after the
boy carefully and duly got him invested with the sacred thread at the proper age,
studies in
After the
usual preliminary
which Ramanuja, as may be expected,
showed great capacity, a teacher, Yadavaprakasa by name, was selected for the higher course, and
Ramanuja duly went to sifady with him. Here he was joined by a cousin of his, another nephew of Sri Saila, and the two, in the usual fashion of the day, boarded with the teacher proficiency
in the
came* to the study of
secular
and acquired
sastras.
When
it
philosophy or the Upanishads, Ramanuja found his master's explanations
RAMANUJACHARYA.
52
He
unsuited to his taste.
took
objection to the
more than one passage, and sugown meanings, which hardly pleased
interpretation of
gested his
A coolness arose in consequence between master and pupil we are told that the former, in combination with the other pupils,
the teacher.
;
formed an unholy conspiracy to take Ramanuja on a long journey to Benares and get rid of him
The unsuspecting Ramanuja accompanied
there.
the party
the
;
but while travelling in the jungles of
\r indhyan
outskirts,
Bhatta, into whose ears the
Govinda
his cousin
news
the
of
nefari-
ous intention towards Ramanuja had oozed, apprised him of the impending danger and bade
him escape somehow.
Ramanuja,
in sore straits,
by-path and lost his way. The party proceeded without him and discovered, when too late, that he had slipped away. In great
struck into a
distress
and much fatigued, Ramanuja wandered
over the thickets, for a long time, unable to decide
upon
his course.
an old hunter and
He
then met,
his wife,
as
and
of
if
by chance,
them he
in-
They said that they were going quired the way. to the Satyavrata Kshetra, i.e. Conjeevaram, and bade him night.
follow.
The three
Towards dawn, the
old
travelled
man
nskeu
all
the
Rama-
53
RAMANUJACHARYA. nuja to well.
fet/ch
some water
from a neighbouring
When Ramanuja came back
with the
drink, the pair had mysteriously disappeared, and Ramanuja found to his wonder and delight that
he had miraculously reached Kanchi itself, the tower of whose temple was visible to his eyes.
He
sped home, feeling sure that
God
in his
mercy
had come to his help. In due course the party of Yadava reached Conjeevaram after their travels
and surprised to find Ramanuja, made up to him, if nothing had happened. Ramanuja resumed
as
hesitation.
Yadava, as before, but with some The adwaita interpretations displeased
him more
and more.
his studies with
Yadava, sessed
It
called to exorcise
the
an
also
happened
that
evil spirit that pos-
daughter of the King of the place,
failed to quell
it.
The
spirit,
however, bowsd to
Ramanuja who accompanied Yadava, expressed opinion of his greatness to his wishes.
and departed
its
in deference
This incident embittered
Yadava
towards Ramanuja who had finally to give up his under such an uncongenial master. then attached himself to the service of Ramanuja
studies
the Devaraja Perumal at Kanchi where Kanchipurna, a non-brahman disciple of Yamunacharya,
was
in daily attendance
on the God.
This devotee
RAMANUJACHARYA;
54
had the reputation the
God
in close
of being
of his worship, who,
the ways of
men towards the him in human
discourse with
it
touch with
assumed
is said,
and held
favourite
language.
Meanwhile Mahapurmi, a disciple of Yamuna, who had been despatched by the acharya and his followers to persuade Ramanuja to go to Srirangam and formally accept the new faith, reached Conjee varam
for
Kanchipurna
the
purpose, and with the help of
succeeded in his
object.
Rama-
nuja gladly agreed to pay his respects to the farfamed Yamuna and the two started towards Srirangain. of
the
They duly reached the northern bank Kaveri, when lo a great concourse of !
Vaishnavas made their appearance in mourning procession, and Ramanuja ascertained, to his irreparable sorrow, that the great
ed
his
last
and
was
honours on the banks
Yamuna
being
had breath-
buried with holy
of the Kaveri.
Ramanuja
hastened to have a last look at the body of the great guru and was surprised to see that
the fingers of his right hand
deadly grip. were usually death, the
He so.
asked the by-standers
They
three of
were closed in a if
they
replied that shortly before
veteran teacher had expressed three
wishes and had
closed his fingers
in the act
of
55
RAMANUJACHARYA.
The wishes were that
counting them.
a Visist-
composed on the bhashya that the of Parasara, and names Sutras of Vyasa, be
should
adwaita
the author of the Vishnu Purana, and of St. Sada-
gopa should be perpetuated as a mark of gratitude to the two great men named. Deeply affected, Ramanuja proclaimed that, God willing, he would undertake the duties named and accomplish them No sooner was this statement made speedily. than the fingers opened out, we are told, of their
own
accord, and the assembled Vaishnavas here-
in read a sure sign of the
young
rnan
who
coming greatness
stood before them.
of the
Ramanuja
duly attended the obsequies of Yamunacharya but left Srirangam immediately after, and reaching Kanchi,
company
resumed
of the pious
Ramanuja
was
Kanchipurna.
deeply
saintly character of this
Not caring he invited him
wards him. status,
and instructed
there, in the
duties
his
for for
with the
impressed
man and
felt
his
drawn
to-
inferior social
meals in his house
his wife (for he had
now married
and had
set up house-keeping for himself) to preThe puma, after his temple pare food for him. services,
went up
to
Ramanuja's house and being and de-
pressed for time, took his meals at once
RAMANUJACHARYA
56
.
parted, leaving word for
Raman uja who was away,
that
him
back so suddenly. returned and saw wife clearing the his Ramanuja leaves on which the puma had taken his food, and business
called
washing generally the place and bathing herself to of the
rid
get
of the Sudra's contact'
impurity
Ramanuja, who had, out
of
intended
Kanchipurna and eat
had
he
after
wait
to
felt
brahman)
upon
dined,
greatly
rebuked her for her
he was
ill
-matched
Yamuna's death which old
(a
piety and
thing
unusual for
He
disappointed.
illiberal
spirit
and
a
gently that
felt
in her.
at
Srirangam
his disciples were anxious
ha
to
As chance would have
l<-*ft
fill
Mahapurna was again despatched
Ramanuja.
respect,
it,
to
void
a
up
;
and
bring
Ramanuja
also
thought of going up to Mahapurna for spiritual instruction, now that Yamuna, was dead, and
actually
commenced
his journey south.
The two
Madurancakam, and the impatient Ramanuja requested Mahapurna to instruct him in the mantra of the Vaishnavites immediately. Maharaefc
at
purna complied, and the two proceeded to Kanchi, where Mahapurna (and his wife who had accompanied
him)
lodged
Ramanuja pursued
in
his
Ramanuja's residence. studies under
religious
KAMANUJACHARYA. the
new guru and had
57
happy time
a
of
This
it.
was, however, marred by a petty quarrel
which
Arose between the ladies, and Mahapurna, afraid that if
Ramanuja
will take
it
too
much
further ill-feelings arose, suddenly
with
and
wife
his
left
to
proceeded
to heart,
Kanchi
Srirangam
Ramanuja, who was away at the time of the incident, returned and finding from enquiry that was mostly
his wife's pettiness
quarrel, felt sorely the
to
blame for the master and
to his
affront,
feeling displeased with her altogether, sent her to
her father's home the
house- holder's of
presence
due
with of the
family
the
life.
God
of
He
went
Kanchi
donned
ceremonies,
abandon
to
resolving
finally,
the
the
to
and
there,
robes
red
Hindu Sanyasin, and thus broke
all
his
ties.
From
the temple precincts of Kanchi,
Ramanuja
practised his austere Sanyasin's life and soon at-
tracted followers.
bouring
village,
Kuresa, as he learned
A
was
first to
called,
brahman and
Kwam,
native of
was the
was
became
a
a
be drswn a
neighto him.
wealthy and
life-long
friend
and follower of Ramanuja. Dasarathi, the sister's son of Ramanuja, was another who came to him
and
was one
of his
most beloved
pupils
ev7 er
58
RAMANUJACHARYA,
Other persons sought him out, became his and pupils accepted his teachings. Yadavapra-
after.
kasa, his old teacher, was, of the error
tenets and
of his
position
we are
views, and as
an
persuaded
told,
ariwaitic
Sanyasin,
voluntarily chose to be converted under the of
Govinda Yati and counted
He
his
abandoning
himself
name
among
his
work on the duties
a
composed Sanyasins (Yatidharma Samuchchaya) which exists to this day. We have no means of ascer-
supporters. of
taining whether this Yadavaprakasa
is
identical
with the one mentioned in the Bhashya and later works, as the author of the Bheda-abheda doctrine allied to the
Bhaskara school
but tradition asserts
;
that the two are identical. in
any
There
of the existing lives of
is
no allusion
Ramanuja
that the
Yadavaprakasa under whom he studied and whom he later-on converted was anything but a pure adwaitin of the Sankara School.
If this
Yadava
had developed a new philosophy materially differing from Sankara's, it is strange that no allusion is
made
to that fact in
the existing
lives.
however, certain that Ramanuja did
and defeat a Yadavaprakasa
It
is,
controvert
in his life- time,
for
both Anthrapurna, contemporary and disciple of
Ramanuja, and Yedanta Desika, a follower
of
59
RAMANUJACHARYA.
Ramanujn, who
lived in the 14th century, testify
to the truth of this fact in their respective works,
Raman nja.
laudatory of
To
At
proceed.
another
call
this
from Srirangam which
take his place as the leader accepted,
gladly
and
Srirangam was
met
concourse of devotees to the
seat of
reaching
in
advance
who took him
quarters intended
him formally
as their
Yamunacharya.
he, willing to
the
of
community,
He
started south.
Dasarathi with him and of
Raman uja had
juncture
for
by an eager in
procession
him and
spiritual
took
the outskirts
installed
superior
in the
Meanwhile an incident
happened to Kuresa which led him to abandon his riches and migrate to Srirangam followed by This was nothing
his wife.
less
than a report at
Conjeevaram that the rumbling noise
of his
palatial gates closing at nights disturbed the
at Kanchi.
Kuresa was ashamed
huge
God
of the vanity
which the rumour implied and abandoning all his wealth to the poor, went with nothing but the clothes he wore and his wife similarly clad, to join
Sri
the
Ramanuja life
of
at Srirangam.
a mendicant and
There he adopted lived on the alms
which he begged from day to day. It was also now that Eamanuja was gladdened by the news
60
RAMANUJACHARYA.
of the conversion
Govinda Bhatta,
of
and fellow-pupil, who had all staunch Saivite, doing service
the Kalahasti
in
Ra man uja's request,
temple. His uncle Sri Saila,at
converted him after some trouble
him over
to
Tirupati.
his cousin
time been a
this
and brought
Rama-
he joined
Later,
and the garb of + Sanyasin nuja, assumed became an important disciple under the name of
Embar.
About
this
controversy
time
and
also
Ramanuja
defeated
converted
an
in
adwaitic
Yagnamurti by name, who became a Sanyasin on his defeat and Ramanuja's disciple
scholar,
under the style of Devaraja Muni. Even before the date of some of these conversions,
Ramanuja had himself
to
study patiently.
Srirangam mutt, under various teachers, who were the pupils of Yamunacharya, and specially held in reserve, as it were, inafter joining the
structions intended for
was Goshtipurna,
Ramanuja.
eighteen times by compelling him the
way from Srirangam
where
his
place was,
to the
at
exacting promises of secrecy, certain
important
One
who, after trying
teachings.
to
of
them
Ramanuja travel all
Madura
District,
last
deigned,
to
impart to
Ramanuja
after-
him once
RAMANUJACHARYA.
61
in possession of them, straightaway called together
a group of
men and proclaimed loudly the truths much difficulty. The furious
he learned with so
guru asked him
Raman UJM
to
his
explain
conduct,
said that he did not care
if
and
perdition
was his fate for the transgression, but that he men's souls. Thus of valued more the saving did
hearts of even his
Ramanuja open out the
conservative teachers and prepare
teachers of
more
to teach
of the
way
for
of
them
than
Such wore Maladhara
The
purna.
the
narrow prejudices. The other Ramanuja also found that he had
breakdown
the
latter instructed
visit of nearly
a,
uncle Sri Saila-
him
in the course
Ramayana
year
had to impart.
they
and his
the truths
in
an extended
of
which Ramanuja spent at
Tirupati for the purpose.
Ramanuja now thought sophical special
One
of
works
arid
the
first
of
composing philo-
committing to waiting the views which he was developing orally.
works
that
he
was the Vedartha Sangraha wherein the principal Upanishads to ad wjxi tic
that lent
composed he tackled themselves
interpretation, established
the un-
soundness of such interpretation, and expounded his
own
views.
The
very
first of
such passages
62
HAMANUJACHARYA. the famous one of the Ohandogya Upanishad ' occurs the enigmatic sentence, Tat
is
wherein
twain asi
'
ner stone of
adwaitic
all
attacks in this
'
thou art
that
',
work
which
is
the cor-
He
expositions.
the
doctrine of
also
Maya
of
Sankara, and the Bheda-abheda doctrines of the
and
Bhaskara
Yadava
out his view of the his
method
of
Then he
schools.
ultimate
truths
Vedic passages.
reconciling
then takes up the question,
of
sets
and gives
great
He
religious
importance to Hindus, and a matter of severe contention in disputations, whether the Supreme Deity is to be styled Narayana or is to be idsnbiwith Siva or some of the other Gods known
fied
to the Upanishads,
and concludes by establishing
that the former alone
is
named
explicitly
as the
Deity in both his personal and impersonal forms. This controversy of names, it will be seen, is independent of the
dispute
and Visishtadwaitism and confirmed adwaitins to
Narayana
is
between adwaitism there
are
plenty of
as
Vishnu or
whom God
the object of worship.
Ramanuja now
num
addressed himself to his magBhashya on the Vedanta Sutras. explained on a previous occasion that
opus, the
We have
Ramanuja's interpretation followed the Bodha-
63
RAMANUJACHARYA.
yana
Vritti,
a very early
on the Sutras
gloss
composed long before Sankara's time tially representative
To get
Ramanuja expounded. cript of the
Southern travel to
With
Vritti,
and essen-
very views which
the
of
which was it
at
the manus-
unavailable is
Ramanuja, Kashmir with Kuresa and other India,
considerable
he
difficulty,
said,
pupils.
obtained
mission to read the manuscript but
in
had to
per-
not to take
any copy of the same. Kuresa of wonderful memory committed to heart important passages in the simple act of reading them once and relieved
Ramanuja of all anxiety as to his being unable make a copy of the work and take it with him. The party then returned to Srirangam
to
and Ramanuja composed
Bhashya, Kuresa seems that Kuresa, who remembered the Vritli, never actively sug-
being the amanuensis.
the
It
to Raraanuja's Exposition, but where any error crept in, in the nature of a disagreement with the Vritti, he simply would not write down any further, and Ramanuja
gested any objection
took the hint and usually amended the text. We have clear testimony that Ramanuja had access to passages
in
posed the Bhashya, and
the it
Vritti is
also
before he com-
unlikely that
64
RAMANUJACHARYA.
he went
the
all
way
Kashmir once
to
purpose of seeing the manuscript
for the
and again dur-
ing the course of the long tour round the Peninsula to be mentioned later on
he fact
and
before which
said to have completed the Bhashya.
is
be that
may
Romanujn
from some library
Kashmir
;
or
in
the
procured
the North, but his
perhaps
reference
The r \
ritti
not from to
stray
passages was from traditional quotations and he really was enabled to verify his references only
Kashmir
at
work was his
;
or lastly,
we may suppose that
the
composed after his return from and long trip Ramauuja utilised the study
of the
Bhashya there
is
really
VriMi is
in
the
the work of
mature
a
nothing improbable
Ramanuja's views, controversies
The
Sri
intellect,
and
composition.
in
supposing that
settled by the ordeal of frequent
during his
trip,
were
committed
to writing, after his return, in deliberation.
After the
cooiposition
Raman uja composed two a short one,
the
of the
epitomes
Sri
Bhashya,
of the same,
Vedanta Sara
containing the Sutras and a simple gloss, and the Vedanta Dipa, a work on the same model, but fuller in discussion
and exposition.
Both works are valuable aids
to
the study of the Sutras and deserve to be better
RAMANUJACHARYA.
known, though
Bhashya,
must
it
are thoroughly
admitted
be
also
Ramanuja
composed
tary on the Bhagavat-Gita,
Bhashya,
a work
considerable
of
amply expounded by Tatparya Chandrika of
Sri
commen-
a
as the
Gita,
merit, the result of
which the
other works of
known
great
thought,
that they
the masterly
by
eclipsed
65
has
since
been
classical
Sri
commentary Vedanta Desika. The the Gadya-traya>
are
Ramanuja
and the Nitya, works devoted to practical religious purposes and requiring no further notice.
The grand trip of Ramanuja round the Peninsula now requires mention. With a large following of disciples and with visiting various
verting opposition to his arise, first
Ramanuja
the
express
started
views, wherever
from
travelled east, visited
the shrines of the Shiyali Taluk near
Thirumangai Al war's birth. south and visited the shrines in
the
it
Srirangam.
may
He
Kumbhakoriam and
of
Tinnevelly, and
object of
shrines and incidentally contro-
the scene
He
then turned
of
Madura and
latter
district
visited
Alwar-Tirunagari and the neighbouring shrines where St. Sadagopa was born and lived. From here he went
to
Rameswaram.
Tirunagari. he went to Malabar
Returning to and Travancore, 5
66
RAMANUJACHARYA.
visited various
Vishnu
>
shrines
scattered
over
these places and then marched northwards
Dwaraka
the sea-coast to Girnar and
where Sri Krishna
lived
and
went to Muttra, Govarthan, the
memory
went
north
further
He
Badarinath.
etc.,
up
where he
Thence he
From
the
these he
Himalayas
Kashmir
then visited
stopped at Srinagar,
along
Guzerat,
places sacred to
Krishna,
Sri
of
ruled.
in
is
said
to
to
and have
been challenged by Sarasvvati herself, the Goddess of learning.
The pound
text which
Ramanuja was
at Srinaefar xvas "
Chandogya, I. 6.7. rikam Evam Akshini lotus, so
"
asked
famous
the
to ex-
passage in
Yatha Kapyasam punda" As is the lit.
Kapyasa
were his eyes."
The word Kapyasa has
been interpreted by Sankaracharya as the " poste-
Sankara gave this apunaware of any parently and traditional other excused the interpretation, riors of the
monkey
".
literal interpretation,
obvious awkwardness of the comparison by saying was only a simile subsidiary to another ifc
that
simile
and was, therefore, of no harm. His meaning would thus be " The eyes of the Deity
of the text
were
like the
lotus
posteriors of the
which resembled the
monkey."
It will
(red)
be seen that,
RAMANUJACHABYA.
67
apart from the unseemly comparison, Sankara re-
word
quires the interpolation of another
The
which the text gives no room. *
pundarika
'.
'
*
rally implies that
is
kapyasa
Raman uja
'like'
for
text natu-
co-ordinate with
abandoned
therefore
Sankara's meaning and interpreted kapi to mean the sun' or 'the rays of the sun'. This derivative *
meaning had been suggested the early commentators,
*
as
kapyasa',
interpreted
the rays of the sun'.* this interpretation
of
the Vakyakara Tarika,
referred to before in the life of
who
him by one
to
Yamunacharya, '
full-blown
by
Bamanuja improved upon
by exhausting the
possibilities
by the word and which seemed suited to the context. His
of derivative construction
full
explanatory
afforded
as
given
234
of the
meaning
Vedartha Sangraha,
(see p.
Edition and the commentary thereon),
in
is
the
Benares as fol-'
The eyes of the Deity were beautiful lows " like a (red) lotus, grown in deep water, stand:
and full-blown by the rays need hardly say that a com-
ing on a strong stalk,
of
the
*
sun".,t
We
Aditya-Kshipla.
See also the Upanishad Commentary of Rangaramanuja Muni, Madras Telugu Edition, Chandogya, of this passage. Also page 30, for a full exposition t
Srutaprokasika
(p. 458, Vol.
the Sri Bhashya at
I. 1.
21.
I,
Grantha Edition) on
RAMANU JACHARYA
68
munity which nal aspect of
,
sets so much store by the persoGod would consider a construction
like Sankara's as
an affront
to
Him, though
of
course Sankara intended no such thing and only
an
followed
word
*
kapi\
This
interpretation of
ever,
we
Saras wati,
satisfied
sed
popular meaning of the
apparent
him
and
his
roused the
Ramanuja thoroughly
are
told,
Bhashya. ire
the
of
and She
bles-
Ramanuja, howadwaitic
pandits
who, defeated in open controversy, tried to encompass his life by dark means. Ramaof the place,
nuja and his party, however, escaped and descending the Himalayas,
proceeded to Benares.
From
Benares he travelled south-east and reached Puri or Jagannath on the eastern coast and established a
mutt
there.
Unable
ple worship at Puri priests,
Here
to introduce his
owing
mode
of tem-
to the opposition of the
the place and proceeded toTirupati. occurred what is considered a miracle in
he
left
connection with the
God
of the
Seven
Hills.
A
dispute was raging at the time of Ramanuja's visit as to whether the God was Yishnu or Siva. It is claimed
Vishnu
by the Vaishnavas that the God was
in the times preceding that of
as the Saiva saints dedicated
Ramanuja, no stanzas to him,
RAMANUJACH ART A
69
.
though neighbouring Siva shrines were noticed, It also appears that in the times of an early Alwar
who preceded
St. Sadagopa, the God is described as wearing both Vaishnavifce and Saivite symbols. A fruitful source of dispute seems to have existed in ttie
place based on
that in
this dual
Ramanuja's
time
It
aspect.
there was
may a
be
fresh
It was now attempt to oust the Vaishnavites. that both and Siva Vishnu symbols suggested should be placed before the God at night and that
the decision as to the God's nature should follow
any indication that He may give in the matter. This was done by Rarnanuja and the people of the with the result that, early next morning, the God was seen wearing the discus and the conch,
place,
the symbols of
symbols
Vishnu,
to the
neglect of
of Siva also placed before him.
a controversy
the
Thus ended
which has never cropped up again.
From
Tirupati Ramariuja travelled south, Conjeevaram, Tirukoilur, and Tiruvahidrapuram (Cuddalore) and lastly Viranarayanapuram, the birth-place of Nathamurii. He then visiting
reached Srirangarn after completing
successfully
an extended tour of several years, during which he acquired influence.
great fame and largely increased
his
70
RAMANUJACHARYA.
His detail.
life
at Srirangam need not be described in
With
great tact and
ability
he managed
the Srirangam Temple entrusted to him, and at the same time
through his disciples the
affairs of
followers and ministered to their
instructed his
Hundreds
spiritual wants.
of
eminent men and
women surrounded him and hung upon
his words.
His congregation included, we are told, 700 Sanyasins, 74 dignitaries holding special offices of
men and women Raman uja was now an
ministry, and innumerable holy
who
revered him as God.
aged
man
near 70, but was destined to live
years more and was fond of his
the feeling. uncle,
instruct his disciples
One
contemporaries.
He
and they reciprocated
of them, a son of Sri Saila his
was bred up as a son
Kurukesa, after
many
St.
to
Sadagopa,
the pledge to Yamuna's spirit,
him and named in
fulfilment of
which we have
mentioned before.
By
the composition of the Sri Bhashya, he had
redeemed another
of the
pledges.
The
third
pledge was redeemed by Bamanuja naming a son of his friend Kuresa as Parasara, the name of the saintly father of
Vyasa and
the
author of the
Vishnupurana, which is held in great esteem, Kurukesa, otherwise named Pillan, composed a
71
RAMANUJACHARYA.
monumental, though
brief,
commentary
called the
Six thousand, on the 1,000 stanzas of the Tiru-
Parasara Bhattar, vai Mozhi, of St. Sadagopa. son of Kuresa, was a brilliant man, almost a pro-
and has composed various works, one of them being a commentary on the Sahasranama called
digy,
Bhayavad-guna Darpana. Troublous days were in store for Ramanuja. The Chola King (Kulothungachola
I),
persuaded by
the bigoted Saivites of his Court, sent for
Rama-
nuja to ask him for a subscription of his faith in Siva as the Supreme Lord. Kuresa, personating Ramanuja, accepted the summons, wore his master's red robes and went in his place,
accom-
Mahapurna, Ramanuja's earThe two reached the Court of the Chidambaram in all probability,) and
panied by the aged liest teacher.
monarch
(at
attempting to argue out the superiority of Vishnu, were commanded by the cruel monarch This was done and to have their eyes extracted. tho unfortunate pair stumbled out started for Srirangam.
On
the
somehow and
way Mahapurna
pangs of pain, and Kuresa reached Srirangam alone. Finding the repaired to place closed to Vaishnavites, he died,
unable to
Madura
where
bear the
he
lived
near
the shrine
of
72
RAMANUJACHARYA. a
Vishnu
of
great
Meanwhile Ramanuja with a sprinkling
of his
Tirumalirunjolai,
temple
sanctity.
followers left Srirangam
fear
in
and by hurried and nightly outskirts of the Nilgiri culties
of
persecution
marches reached the
hills.
After
great
diffi-
and many adventures, the party travelled
across the forests, and reached Vahnipushkarini, a
place
on
the
Kaveri
about
40 miles west
of
Mysore. Thence the party went east, halting at Mirle and Saligram, about 10 miles eastwards.
Here Ramanuja
spent some
large number, and one rest,
who became
The party
then
a
time
converting a
Anthrapurna among the
devoted
follower
thereafter.
reached Tonnur or
Tondanur,'
where then resided the King Bitti Deva, of the whose capital was Dvvara Hoysala dynasty,
Sam ud ra
or the
modern Halbeid.
These events
may be assigned to about the year 1088 or 1089 A.D., when Ramanuja was over 70 years old. The Rajah's daughter was possessed and the
Queen were
sore distressed
on that
King and
account.
A
common
acquaintance suggested Ramanuja as capable of exorcising the devil by the power of his
austerities.
Ramanuja was
invited to the palace
and luckily succeeded in curing the Princess
of
73
RAMANUJACHARYA.
The King and Queen were greatly
her malady.
advantage of an affront which the Jain community to which the
Ramanuja, taking
pleased.
King belonged had offered to the latter, converted him to Vaishnavism and changed his name to Yishnuvardhana.
A
great disputation followed between the Jains
and Ramanuja
in
plete victory,
It
Rnmanuja won a com-
which is
that
said
Ramanuja,
plied
with the impatient questions of thousands of Jains on all sides, got inside a curtain, and assuming the
form
thousand-headed
the
of
Adisesha,
answered each one, individually and so effectively, that the clamorous rabble fled away in terror.
The
story
ground
gionists in
number
oil -mills,
erased
land-grants,
wise
the zealous convert
that
goes
a large
maltreated
of
his
despoiled their
quondam them
temples,
These
them.
of
and
King
co-reliall
their
other-
statements
of
course must be taken with
B
salt, as it is
that any politic prince
would have
very unlikely
raised so unnecessarily such
tion from his
himself in
considerable grain of
own
people.
Tonnur and
Ramanuja
had. a large
an opposiestablished
and beautiful
lake constructed out of the waste materials of the despoiled Jaina
shrines
;
the
lake
exists to this
74
RAMANUJACHARYA.
day and
is
called
the moti talab
lake of
or the
pearls.
Ramanuja's stay in Mysore extended over nearHe succeeded in creating a strong ly 20 years. and learned Vaishnavite community whose des-
He
cendants exist to this day.
Vishnu
built the
temple
Melukote or Tirunarajanapuram, a few miles north of Mysore, and established in of
at
God Narayana whose statue was discovered him on the spot, from the revelations of a by
it
the
dream.
He
priya,
of the
also recovered a copper
same God, which he
Rama-
idol,
learned, also
from a dream, to be with a Muhammadan princess at Delhi and procured it, after an arduous journey to that place. The panchamas of the place were
him
of great help to
signed them
in
this
business and he as-
in gratitude certain limited rights of
entry into the temple on fixed days, which privilege He then set up, enjoyed by them to this day.
is
with the help of his disciples, various other images a pro-
at Belur and other places, arid established
cedure for worship on a firm basis in
He
resumed
rangam
his religious
in peace
of the ruler
followers.
all
instruction
of
as
them. at Sri-
and serenity, enjoying the favour
and the devotion of his old and new
He
went to Padmagiri, (Sravana Bel-
RAMANUJACHARYA.
75
gola) the Badhistic stronghold, and there obtained
argument over the Budhists of the place and converted a large number, Meanwhile news had reached him that the
victories in
who persecuted him was no more,
Chola King
He having and Kuresa the also heard of the misfortune of fallen a victim to a serious carbuncle.
death of his venerable teacher, Mahapurna. Sorely grieved, he longed to return to Srirangam, and console
Kuresa
lowers.
friends
He, to
and
implored
therefore,
him
let
numerous
his
which
depart,
old
his
fol-
Mysora
they
did
an exact image of Ramanuja, which He then started for set they up for worship. Srirangam and reached it, travelling in rapid
after getting
marches
in the
disciples.
The
of
company of
people
a large group of
Srirangam welcomed
him with open hearts and conducted him to hia mutt in triumphal procession. The successor of Kulothunga
I
Ramanuja was
was a left
pro-Vaishnava ruler and
undisturbed.
his affectionate follower Kuresa,
decrepit,
and
shed tears
of
Ramanuja met now blind and
the deepest sorrow
over his misfortunes.
Yet another journey awaited Ramanuja last days.
Learning that
the
in hi
God Govindaraja,
RAMANUJACHARYA.
76
removed from Chidambaram under the orders the late Ohola ruler, was
of
conceal-
preserved in
at Tirupati, he journeyed to that place and
ment
established a shrine for that deity at the foot of
the
He
hills.
resumed
Sriraugam and After some more years
then returned
his saintly
life.
of useful work, he closed
to
his
career quietly at Srirangarn,
long in
and
active
the year 1137
A. D., having lived for 120 years, a span of life unusual among men, but which, we are assured
from It
all
accounts, was a historical fact in his case.
must
be
added that
his devoted follower
Kuresa died a few years previously, deeply mourned by Ramanuja himself and by all around him. That Raman uja's was an exemplary character no demonstration. There are various
needs
incidents
in his
life
mention) that bring
(which space forbids us to out his broad-mindedness,
burning sympathy for mankind, unselfishness to an extraordinary degree, resourcefulness arid absolute
devotion
to
God.
He
went
further
than any other Yaidic teacher in recognising merit even though combined with socially inferior
the
birth.
human
different
He heart,
was
an
and won
able
interpreter
men and
temperaments to the path
women
of religion
of
of
by
R AMANU JACHARYA suitable
of his learning, of his character. is
remarkable.
where for
his
the vastness
intellect,
and the sincerity and seriousness His moderation in controversy
He
has no
harsh
word any-
His work on the pracHis disciples epoch-making.
his opponents.
tical side is trul} r
were the
His writings
treatment.
sympathetic
show the keenness of
77
.
ancestors
innumerable
of
families throughout the Presidency
Yaishnava
who deem
it
honour that they are so descended. the Vishnu temples are places of large reThat their highest
sort
and centres
of social
and
religious influence,
due entirely to his initiative and prudent foreAbuses creep into the best institutions thought. and they can hardly be ascribed to the originais
tors in
any
case.
Raman uja's
religious
activity
In disPresidency. tant Bengal, a pupil of his was succeeded by the well -known Ramanand who preached Vaishnavaism bore fruit even outside the
and Bhakti, and has created many thousands professing the Vaishnava cult in Bengal and other
Ramanuja, preceded and parts of the North. followed as he was by various reformers of eminence in his own
line,
is
rightly held to be
the
founder of the Yisishtadwaitic system,a brief description of which will now conclude this sketch of
Ramanuja's
Life.
II
pbilosopbs of TRamanujacbar^a. THE TERM
*
VISISHTADWAITA' EXPLAINED
Visishtadwaita
tHEwith
is
so called because
inculcates the adwaita, or
*
4
visesha or attributes.
else that is seen
dual souls and position is
is
His
is
also that
God alone
Herein
between the two views
;
chit or
therefore,
exists
all
;
is
exists
the
the indivi-
The adwaitic
matter.
achit or
manifestation
is,
manifestation, attribute,
Such attributes are
or Sakti.
It
God alone
qualified non-dualism/
it
oneness of God,
and
all else
common element
but the Adwaitin regards
the manifestation as unreal and
temporary, and
Avidya or Nescience. In conseone Brahman is without any attribute, the quence, in his view. Ramauuja and his school regard the as a result of
attributes as real, and permanent,
Brahman
the control of the
one
modifications and
evolutions.
God
is
but subject to in
their
all
The oneness
of
compatible with the existence of attributes,
as the latter are incapable of existing
so do not constitute
alone,
independent things.
and
They
are called the prakaras or the modes, sesha or the accessories,
and niy&mya or the
controlled,
of
79
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYA.
The word Brahman
the one Brahman.
used either to denote the central
is
thus
when
unity,
it
becomes possible to speak of the souls and matter, as its attributes, or to denote the combined trinity
when the whole cribed alone.
may properly be desas consisting of Brahman and Brahman The Visishtadwaitin does not make the universe
unphilosophical statement that the souls are absolutely independent
endowed
entities,
capacity of separate existence and
with the
activity, apart
from Brahman.
THE FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTES. The Brahman (we use the word in the the above senses)
more
it is
is
Intelligence.
the Knower.
denied, and all that exists
It is
Where is
something
attributes are
is
tadwaitin,
But
nothing to know.
Brahman
is
is blissful
;
for a
unimaginable
mixture
in his case.
knowledge,
which
may
be called
such a phrase
may
is
It will
souls
thus be seen
and matter,
the concrete attributes
be used,
fur-
is Bliss, i.e.
of the opposite, pain,
that besides the attributes of *
;
for the Visish-
Brahman
nished by the attributes.
is
knower
a knower, and the variety,
philosophically essential for
he
intelli-
homogenous
gence, as in the Adwaita, there can be no for there
first of
Brahman has
'
if
various
80
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYA
.
abstract attributes, qualities strictly so called, de-
noting his perfection from various points of view.
The Visishtadwaitin
'
'
considers
Intelligence
partaking of the dual character of a concrete attribute
an
as
of
of the
example
attribute.
is
it
;
of
is
this
By
light
of
such an essence
an attribute as well,
is
in
Again Brahman
nature of universal pervasion. real, satya.
'
*
the
possibility
Intelligence
Brahman
an abstract and
and he instances
;
as
understood that he
is
its is
with-
out vikara or modification of any kind. The souls
matter
and
means which
that is
unreal, which again
asatya or
are
they
are
to
subject
modification,
necessarily an element of impurity.
the case of souls, this modification takes of expansion
mineral,
or contraction of Intelligence.
plant,
karmic control,
The
or animal
is
life,
In
universe,
the
dull or of suppressed Intelligence.
creation
and
matter undergoes
of its nature.
In
the soul, under
modifications of matter are of a
kind.
In
the form
S'ich
change
more serious
expansion of tho a
real
is
called
modification
parinama
or evolution, as contrasted with vivarta or appar-
ent variation, which
is
the view of the Adwaitin.
The Visishtadwaitin holds souls
that, in spite of the
and matter being pervaded by Brahman, any
PHILOSOPHY OF EAMANUJACHARYA, modifications of them, though under
touch His
control, do not
essence
81
Brahman's just as the
;
Adwaitin maintains that the operations of Avidya do not affect the one Reality. The unreality of '
*
thus another point of agreement between the Adwaitin and the Visishtadwaitin ;
the cosmos
but
is
must be admitted,
this, it
is
merely a nominal
agreement, considering the important diversity in their conceptions of the unreality. The Visishtadwaitin would thus rest
*
Asat
in
change
its
like
is
'
call
Brahman,
'
and the
Sat,'
narrower sense, he reserves the
in a
;
Asat
'
epithet
essence
'
to
which
Matter,
essence,
the
unlike
undergoes souls
whose
to the Brahman's and never changes.
TWO STATES OF BRAHMAN. There
Brahman.
when
two
are
all
One
is
states
the souls
deep sleep as
it
of
existence
for
the
absolute quiescence or pralaya,
and matter
were.
No
Him
exist in
differentiation
is
in
possi-
ble in that stage
between the souls and matter
these are then, as
it
exists,
were, non-existent.
one without a second/
*
;
Sat alone
Existence
is
the
only phrase that can be applied to the Brahman not to speak of creation, is then, as volition, potential or has not
begins
the
second
commenced stage,
to
work. Then
To the
creation.
6
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYA.
82
Adwaitin, creation It
is
the
Brahman
is
clouding by the
a negative, an unreal, act.
of the
pure Intelligence
inexplicable
Avidya,
of
which
produces the manifestation of apparent diversity. Visishtadwaitin considers creation The as a
volitional effort
positive
to
real
display
the in
for
energy both the
souls
diversity,
the
of
by
Brahman acfualising
whir.h is innate change and matter. 8a Aikshata
He thought, may I bahu syam prajayeya iti. become many, may 1 grow forth.' The antah pravesa en try within' which the Upanishads speak '
l
of as taking place at creation
the Vishshtadwaitin,
it
is
not strictly true.
To
mt-ans only the Brahman's
willing to develop his inseparable attributes, souls
Brahman was within even To the Adwnitin, the antah before creation. pravesa is entirely metaphorical. The language of the Parindma Vada is used in his view, merely and
matter
;
for
'
'
for facility of comprehension.
THE PURPOSE OF CREATION.
The
ethical justification for creation
is
Justice.
(karma) have to be bestowed, and impartially, and Brahman does this equally by endowing souls with appropriate bodies of
The fruits
of actions
various kinds and giving room for further func-
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYA.
83
tioning and display of free-will within limits the further evolution depends on the manner in which ;
the individual uses his opportunities. in the Hindu view,
is,
As karma it
beginningless,
unnecessary to account for
Brahman
objection that
its
becomes
To the
origin.
could have no purpose,
being without wants, in engaging itself in creation, is, in the words of the author of the
the reply
lokavat tu lila kaivalyam (II. 1.33), mere recreation, as in In ordinary life. other words, as no compulsion can be predicated Sutras,
it
is
of the
Brahman
Visishtadwaitin other
possible
recreation for
to
evolve the
accounts
for
that
alternative,
the
Brahman,
the
universe,
it
but
the
by it
is
only
mere
the strictest
justice for the souls concerned. Sankara adds the explanation that His innate nature (svabhava) is to create, which does not carry us much further
and then reminds us that the whole unreal, as
Brahman
discussion
is
never the agent of creation. THE AUTHORITY OF REVELATION. is
To the Visishtadwaitin, as to the Adwaitin, the Vedas and Smritis are the sole and
independ-
ent authority for the
Reason
has
perceptible
no
by the
knowledge
operation senses.
except
of
Brahman. in
matters
Transcendental notions
PHILOSOPHY OP RAMANUJACHARYA;
84
as those with respect to the nature
Brahman and
and attributes
got from This position appears illogical, dethroning, as it does, Reason, the accepted instruof
the souls, can only be
Revelation.
ment
of correct conclusion
thought.
To
dwell a
little
reason
for its
on .the exact
Sankara
by
Reason
in
all
explain this anomaly,
an
is
place
well
as
correctness, on the
of to
have
assigned
as
word.
indefinite
processes
we
to
Raman uja. It
depends
intellectual capacity of
the person arguing, the extent of his information
and other circumstances. Until a fallacy is exposed, an argument is apparently sound. Then it is upset
and
other
reasonings.
mere reason and
is
want
This
finality
in
referred to in the Sutras (II. 1-11)
a sufficient authority in the
Brahman from
as the
design
endowed could
Brahman as
lead
to
at
is
And
sufficiently
rejected.
establish
cause
a highly
or causes, but
so,
the help of mere
competent determining
factor in the establishment of .
of
the conception of a perfect
as first cause.
a
best
first
knowledge
The argument
did.
Nyayikas
may
intelligent
not
reason
cause,
of
the cause of the Vedantic systems rejecting
is
it as
conclusion has to be reached by
the
Brahman, as first not be taken to must This
85
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYA.
mean
Hindu Vedantins
that the
tion in their
in
is
a
monument
the
subtlest reasonings.
standing
them the purpose the
in
has,
which
argumenta-
Every page
writings skill
reject
philosophy.
do
of reasoning
first
not
place,
transcend
of
their
of
their
According to two-fold.
is
It
full scope in
matters
the
In the
senses.
second place, it is a valuable adjunct in ontology, where the texts of the Vedas are to be construed.
As
it
so
happens that most important
texts
liable to be disputed as to their
are
it
meanings, goes without saying that there is full room for logical To say that interpretation with respect to them. explicit
means
them after
Vedic texts are unquestionable authorities one of two things, either that we take
as the conclusions of great
acute
reasoning,
on
minds
feeble intellects could not sufficiently
or
we
consider
them
men who had
our
comprehend,
to be the records
direct experiences of
reached
matters which
of
unique
trained
their
powers of mental perception by methods to which we have no access. Neither position is inconceivable or
necessarily absurd.
positions
are
educated
men
representations
So many
scientific
by the general body of over the world on the faith of
accepted all
that
those
positions have been
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMAN UJACHARYA.
86
by some one by actual experiments. There may be danger of mistakes and mis-statements in either case but those like Sankara and
verified
;
Ramanuja, who do
not
agnostic satisfactory
or comfortable,
feel
the position of an
have pre-
ferred to base their ontological position on
reve-
lation, while fully trusting to their capacity for ratiocination to meet objections on the part of
those
who do not
subscribe to the
authority
the Vedas. Between these two, there difference.
is,
of
however, a
Sankara includes the Srutis and Smritis
among ephemeral things whose purpose is served when once oneness is realised. Ramanuja considers
expressive
them
as always authoritative
of the
eternal
commands
whose breath they are said to be. these difference arises between based on this distinction.
In
and as
of the deity
An important two thinkers,
Sankara's view the
compulsory nature of ordained duties lasts only an individual has realised by thinking his unity
till
with God. Ramanuja considers the performance of such duties obligatory as long as life and physical power endure. (See Sutras III. 4.32-35.)
There are also certain assertions in Ramanuja's religious tenets which must be unacceptable to those
who do not
believe in revelation or adopt his inter-
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMAN UJACHARYA. pretation.
Such are
87
his eternally free souls (nityas),
heaven conceived as a distinct place apart from
and outside the changeable universe (though not outside Brahman),
the existence of the Deity forms of various kinds, the peculiar physical paths of souls on their release from the body, and
in
so on.
Belief in these
b;ised
is
and no reasoning can be called is
Raman uja's
contention that reasoning
And
powerless to disprove them. of these in
as regards
on express texts prove them. It
to
a
is
equally
disapproval
no way affects Ramanuja's conclusions, the nature of Brahman and its rela-
and matter,
tion to souls
as
philosophical
posi-
tions consonant to abstract reasoning.
MODE OF RECONCILIATION.
We
now come
ling Vedic
to
texts.
Ramanuja's mode of reconciWestern scholars have tried to
arrange chronologically the principal Upanishads
and
to discern, in
some
of
others, crude statements
;
them, partial truths
;
in
in others again, the coin-
insight into things transcendental that be How far this discussion may given to man. is convincing we shall not stop to examine. Where
pletesfc
passages conflict,
in
as
the in
Aranyaka, or the
same the
Upanishads Chandogya,
Isa-Vasya,
it is
appear to Brihad-
the
evident that
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMAN UJACHABYA.
88 the
ordinary rules of
resorted
The
to, to
arrive
respect which
must
interpretation at a consistent
be
meaning.
Hindus have entertained
for
the Upanishads on account of their antiquity has
prevented them from considering any of inferior authority to the rest.
of
them
follows that
It
a consistent doctrine has to be attempted at
least
the
principal
as
out of
This
Upanishads.
is
what Sankara and Ramanuja have attempted to do, each hi his own way. And this is indeed what Badarayana, the shads
known
first
interpreter of
to us, has himself
Professor Deussen and
had
that
Badarayana Chandogya and hence
to
it
in the topics
done
the Upaniin the Sutras.
others have conjectured a
the
the
partiality
for
frequent
reference
discusser*.
Indian
scholars
thoroughly equipped with an intimate acquaintance with "the immense and highly technical philosophical literature, which
is only just beginning to be sbudied and comprehended, in part, by Euro-
pean scholars," to use the words of Dr. Thibaut, have ascertained that, in the two Mimansas, the passages discussed
in
each adhikarana
are only
typical and not exhaustive and that the order of
exposition
is
mainly based on logical sequence. It is no justification for the view
follows that there
89
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYA.
that one or two Upanishads are specially intendphilosophical truths
ed as the repositary of
to
of other
the exclusion
Upanishads. Upanishads referring to the supreme Self are of two kinds. Some speak of Him as niryuna, attributeless. Others describe him
The
texts of the
as having
power, al
attributes or qualities
As
etc.
whether these
question arises
must
texts, as the others
texts can be
be
given to
have the
'
Ekam
Hence
one only, without a there is here no diver-
neha nana
are interpreted by him, without
Asti,'
straining, as establishing
Brahman.
And
the
the
absolute
made
an imaginary and inferior Brahman or karya Brahman, its
ja's difficulty
sion of
the
i.e.,
the
much
one-ness
other texts are rele-
gated to an inferior position and
tion with
the
texts
eva Adwaitiyam,
sity, etc.
of the
that
effect of limiting
second,
*"
is
the nirguna
Infinite, which should not be done.
like
wisdom,
Sankara's view
reconciled in any manner.
predominance
like
truth can be only one, the natur-
to refer to
called
Brahman
apara
in conjunc-
power called maya. Raumnuseems to be that this sharp divi-
creative
passRges
the
higher
lower
Brahman
and is
into
those
not
easily
those
referring to
referring
to
and directly
the
infer-
90
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYA.
able from the
On
texts themselves.
hand, the passages are
so
the other
mixed up
that
impossible to say that this
distinction,
was ever prominently kept
His
tion
up.
the
therefore, as follows:
is,
do
Upanishads
Brahman result of
not inculcate
Avidya
reconcilia-
texts of the
an attributeless
the Brahman, as
attributes expound
is
referring to these
the texts
;
it
true,
are real and not the
the attributes
;
if
He
with
is,
the souls and matter as His inseparable modes.
Brahman
is
one.
as described
attributes for
that
He
only in His compound nature,
The
already.
Him
texts denying
are to be taken as
has no low or
i
texts
nauspicious attributes, fsuch
as to creation, as mentioned already,
a real modification
of the
Brahman becomes
suffused
imagines a variety.
The
immanent, both texts which speak
and
mean
that
with Nescience
and
so of
of unity
the totality
of
attributes. Texts, which
mean
that there
is
no
many and God
souls are
them and
in
and
the
The mean
souls
attributes,
matter of the Brahman and do not
is
any
meaning
as liability to changes, death, sorrow, etc.
in matter.
The
deny variety do
Brahman with
deny a second
his
to BratiDian,
other controlling power
in the universe apart from
Him.
l
Texts which
1
PHILOSOPHY OF BAMANUJACHARYA
91
,
deny the possibility of knowing Brahman, do not mean that he cannot be the object of thought, as is no thinker they mean only that His wonderful and priceless excellences or qualities could not be adequately described. Else, accor-
there
;
ding to
Ramanuja,,
hosts of passages
Brahman
of
The
text
and
ascribe
which contains the famous " not
so,
not so" and
teach the negation of
is
all
with
conflict
knowledge
prescribe
Brihad
the
of
would
they
which
Him.
to
qualities
II. 3.
Aranyaka words " neti
taken
"
Sankara to
by
attributes
6.
neti
is
interpreted
by Ramanuja (Sutras. III. 2.21) as merely denying the possibility of adequate knowledge of the " Brahman. " This interpretation says he, " is con-
firmed by the fact that after the negative phrase
comes an epithet of^Brahman as the True of the True, for the Pranas are the True Ramanuja '
V
interprets this text to
mean
that the Pranas or the
individual souls are sntya or 'true'
i.e.,
to change in their essence, while the is altogether real or
fore,
"
unchangeable.
not subject
supreme Self
He
is,
there-
more eminently true than they (the souls) THE THEORY OF CAUSATION.
The theory cised the
of causation
minds
of all
has profoundly
Hiudu
philosophers
are.
'
exer;
the
92
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYA.
Vedantins, like the Sankhyas, maintain the oneness of cause and effect in essence, as opposed to the logicians who maintain that they are differ-
In what sense, then, is the world which is one with its cause ? Badarayana has a
ent.
an
effect,
topic discussing this point. (Sutras,
the
instrumental cause, but also
cause of the
He
universe.
is,
an
give
illustration
A
philosophers. refers
to
the
the cause becomes the effect. -or
owing
to
modification.
the oneness of cause fact that the cause
or subtle state,
undeveloped
and the
to
Sutra,
(I.
the
of the
mud, Indian
4.
27.)
Brahman
as
It is
by 'parivdmo? In Ramanuja's view
effect
arises
Brahman
when the
and
now comprised
is
position,
the
of
which
in
material
the
familiar
succeeding
way
etc.)
not merely
is
the
in
notjnerely of the potter but also to
IV. 23.
I.
Here he maintains that the Brahman
and matter are
souls
effect
Supreme
from the
in the sttkshma
is
Self
Brahman
also,
and the souls
and
matter, the latter in a fully developed state. Sankara, practically admitting the interpretation of the Sutras given above, would, however, explain the modification as 'Vivarta' really,
nal creation by
or Maya.
Brahman as
i.e.,
phenome-
influenced by Avidya
That the two philosophers are entirely
9&
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYAi at variance in their
view of this oneness
is
also
from their respective commentaries on the important Sutra J.I-1-15, (14, in Sankara's numclear
-
discussion of which
a
bering)
would be out
of
We would only draw
place in this brief exposition.
attention to an important and
ment
of
mentary
suggestive statethe close of his com-
at
Sankaracharya,
of the above Sutra, that
his view, omits to contradict the
Badarayana, in reality
of the
manifested world and adopts the language Parindma Vada, for the purpose of
of the
facilitating
the exposition of the saguna on in the work.
meditations
later
THE DOCTRINE OF NESCIENCE. Ramanuja's Sribhashya is remarkable for the lengthy disquisition on various topics by which his actual
commentary on the Sutras
In
disquisition, he treats of various contro-
this
versial points
of
views
most
and expounds fully his
from
important
those of
of
Sankara.
these
objections to the theory of
is
is
preceded.
differences
One
of the
his statement of
Maya or Avidya, which
a fundamental one in Sankara's philosophy and is, at the same time, the most vulnerable point in is
it.
Is
this
Avidya different from or identical ? The former view would seem to
with Brahman
94
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYA.
undermine Sankara's doctrine latter is equally untenable.
of oneness
dian knot by boldly declaring that is
Sadasad&nirvachaniya,
as
either
Maya
account
(the Avidya)
indescribable
Ramanuja
which
of
Ranghacharya's to
Bhashya,
valuable
his
Vol.
to
is
be found in
Analytical outline
'
translation of the Sri
Raman uja's
I.
the
theory, under seven heads,
*
Professor prefixed
it
it is
existing or non-existing.
tenability of the clear
i.e.,
at great length his difficulties as to
expounds a
and the
Sankara cuts the Gor-
objections
are
of
The
Avidya cannot operate on the Brahman, directly, for His nature is intelligence
this
wise
and
this
:
would repel Nescience by its intrinsic it operate on the individual
Nor can
merit.
souls, for these are the
Avidya
outcome of the action
and cannot, therefore, be acted upon
of
in
anticipation. Again, to state that Nescience clouds
the
Brahman
that
destroyed,
Avidya,
a
luminous
position
as
nature
which
defined
is
by
mean
is
thereby not admissible.
Sankara,
is
in
view, inconceivable, as the simultane-
possession
existence of
impossible, for that would
again,
Ramanuja's ous
is
Brahman's
of
two opposite
characters, as
and non-existence, cannot be predicated
anything
in
human
conception.
Ramanuja,
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMAN UJACHARYA.
95
further, does not think as
*
indescribable
Sankara
of
for
;
a thing is absolutely indesbe non-existent as an entity.
if
must
it
cribable,
that to describe Avidya really strengthens the position
'
Then Ramanuja
points out that such an Avidya cannot be proved to exist by any known means of proof including Vedic or Smriti texts if such an Avidya should exist, it is irremovable, ;
says
for
Ramanuja,
the
Brahman required him riot
an
to
impossible
knowledge of attributeless remove it, is according to such
thing,
a
Brahman
such an Avidya is irremovable for another reason. In Ramanuja's being provable.
Lastly,
view the ignorance, being the result of karma, can be removed only by enjoined action and meditation.
Mere knowledge
remove
it.
concludes
For
all
that the theory
and opposed
Brahman cannot
of
these
reasons,
of
Maya
to the tenor of the
Vedic
Ramanuja
is
untenable
texts.
CONCLUSION. It is not the purpose of this sketch to all
Ramanuja's
objections
What
been
views.
has
to
explain
Sankaracharya's
attempted is only the on important
setting forth of Ramanuja's views
points
with
just
so
much
doctrines of Sankara, as
is
reference
to
the
necessary to under-
PHILOSOPHY OF RAMANUJACHARYA,
96
stand Ramanuja. ences,
and
To
really grasp the vital differ-
between these two eminent philosophers,
to arrive at a proper estimate of their relative
merits, would
mean a thorough
discussion of three
important questions, namely, (1) who interpreter of the
is
the better
Upanishads, (2) who has more views of the Yedanta
accurately represented the Sutras, and (3)
who
is
entitled to greater
as a philosophical thinker. of
so
difficult
These are
nature
a
that
respect
questions
they
are
entirely beyond our scope and capacity. Enough has, however, been said to show that Ramanuja,
when he becomes certainly
among the
better
known,
be deemed entitled
to a
would most high
place
world's philosophers and his system,
though not possessing
the
of Sankaracharya's,
simplicity or univeris
yet an
eminently sound one, compatible with an admission of the reality of the cosmos and a high conception of sality
the nature and attributes of the Deity.
Sri IDefcanta IDesifca, spread of Vaishnavismin South India after the days of Ramanuja cannot be adequately dealt with in the short space of an article
sect
is
or two. The literary activity of the borne out by the vast literature that has
come down
to us since Ramanuja's days, and which, though not available largely to the general Sans-
krit-knowing public, of
day
in
is
gradually seeing the
important publications here and
light there.
On
the practical side the characteristics of the sect, distinguishing it from the rest of the people, be-
came accentuated of
exclusiveness
symbol of the in its
own
in course of time,
and an amount
and one-sidedness
class,
interests.
became the
which cannot but be deplored
The spread
of Saivism by the
advocacy of erudite Sanskrit scholars
was a simul-
taneous feature of these days which has to be taken into account in estimating the causes of this exclusiveness.
We
have also to mention that a
schism of an important nature arose followers
of
Ramanuja
in
among
Southern
India 7
the >
a
98
VEDANTA DESIKA.
SRI
couple of centuries after Ramanuja's death, which
has only more fully developed
days have
itself as
gone by, and has not contributed, as may be expected, either to enhance the true religious or moral progress of the community as a whole, or to the increased respect of the communities
secure
around towards the dogmas and practices of the Vaishnavas as a class. It is only necessary to add that of
we
are confining ourselves here to the spread
Vaishnavism
South
in
India,
leaving
future article to give some account of the
nent features of Vaishnavism as in
it
it
to
a
promi-
has developed
Northern India.
The
legitimate
successor
of
Ramaiiuja
in
his
character as head of the
Vaishnavite community
said to be Kurukesa,
a disciple of Ramanuja,
is
referred to already as the author
of
a
comment-
ary on the Tiruveymozhi. Another of his pupils, Pranatartihara of the Atreya Gotra, was a beloved
nephew
scholar.
tion of
He
of
Ramanuja
had the
Raman uja's
sole
himself, and
a great
charge of the prepara-
daily focd, a
function
which,
as Ramanuja was a sanyasin, could not be
charged by any one indiscriminately. of time this Pranatartihara had a
Ramanuja
or Appullar by name.
dis-
In course
great-grandson
Varada Vishnu
VEDANTA DESIKA.
SRI
Ramanuja's pupils whose grandson Varadacharya became a learned scholar. The latter studied under one Yishnuchitta, a Solia
Acharya was another
of
Kurukesa, and the author of a learned commentary on the Vishnupurana, the well-known work of Parasara, besides other works.
Brahmin, pupil
Vishnuchitta thirteenth
of
lived about the early
century
A.
D.,
part of the
a fact accidentally
corroborated by a statement of his in his Vishnu* that at the time of his eor
purana commentary
of the Kaliyuga posilion the forby-fourch century
was progressing. Under Varadacharya whose work Tatwasara is now extant, and who was popularly
known
as
Nadadur Ammal, studied
Hainan uja already mentioned.
bhe Atreya
Many
other
emi-
nent men studied under him, one of whom may be specially named here. This was Sudarsana Bhatta, a great-grandson of Kuresa, Ramanuja's This scholar composed disciple and friend. various works that have come
down
Srutaprakasika, a
commentary on the
modestly named a
*
to
us
:
the
Sri Bhashya,
transcript' of his master's notes,
but of considerable learning and
polemic ability,
a commentary on the Upanishads, another on the * P. 169, L. 14, Madras Telugu Edition of the Vishnupurana with two commentaries.
100
SRI
VEDANTA DESIKA.
Vedartha Sangraha of Kamanuja, a commentary * and on the Sri Bhagavata called Sukapakshiya others.
many One
day, in the
lecture-hall
Atreya Ramanuja made
his
of
Varadacharya,
appearance accom-
panied by a young and attractive hoy, whom he This was the future
introduced as his nephew.
Yedanta Desika,t then if
the story
is
abou*; five
to be believed.
years of age,
The boy was
called
Venkatanatha, and gave even at that time, evidence of his precocity by reciting, in answer to a doubt, the passage last touched upon in the lecture which had temporarily stopped on the advent of the boy.
Varadacharya
is
saio
to
have been
impressed by his powers of retention and gence, and to have
prophetic *
blessed
Sanskrit
him
verse. J
in
a
intelli-
neat and
The boy
as
he
Our
authority for this statement is Manavalamahamunigal, scholar and saint, a very reliable authority in the matter of references see page 110 of his commentary on the Tatwatraya of Filial Lokacharya. Tamil Edition. ;
tVedantaDesikaor (Vedantacharya) lit. Teacher of Vedanta, though originallly a title, has pracically become by general use the proper name of this scholar, and hence is frequently used in this article instead of Venkatanatha. his real name.
VEDANTA DESIKA.
SRI
101
grew up was duly instructed by his uncle in the usual learning of the Vaishnava scholars.
all
He
early impressed his contemporaries with his greatness, and a belief grew up, based on the dreams of his parents, that he
was an avatar
of
the
God
of Tirupati, and that his birth
was inspired by the Ohanta or bell for the
Deity sending out his This belief was
purpose. life of
his
Yenkatanatha, as
allegorical
drama,
rife
even
during
the
we
see a reference to it in
the
Sankalpa Suryoda,
*
to be subsequent!}? mentioned.
Venkatanatha, born the
it may be mentioned, was suburb of Conjeevaram about September in the year 1268
at Tiippul, a
month
A. D.
His
of
father
was
Anantasuri,
and
his
mother Tofcaramma, sister of Atreya Ramanuja mentioned already. The boy is said to have been born after a visit of the parents to Tirupati and to have therefore been called by the
God
name
of
the
of that place.
his uncle,
Duly instructed by Ramanuja the young man became very learned and
exemplary in as the
his
conduct and
was looked upon
coming leader of the Yaishnava community.
SIET IT.
102
VEDANTA DESIKA.
SRI
After spending some years at Kanchi, his native Yenkatanatha travelled south and took up
place,
his
at
residence
Tiruvahindrapuram,
near
His great ability some years Cuddalore, and in composition acquired disputation for him the title of Kavi Tarkika-si'mha, lion of for
poets and logicians. crafts obtained for
His
skill in all arts
him the
Svatantra or expert in
Sarvatantra
of
title
all arts,
and
and handi-
later on, the
title of Vedantacharya or Yedanta Desika svas bestowed on him in admiration of his wonderful
ability
To
and powers
of exposition
in.
the Vedanta.
this day, the site of his house at Tiruvahindra-
puram
is
and an
pointed out as evidence of his stay there,
old,
which he
is
but
well-preserved,
exists
who
objected to
universal
expert
many works
at
of
composed
still
own hands
to satisfy an importunate artisan his title
well
said to have built with his
chiefly stotras or
of the place.
hymns of One of them
in Prakrit, in
a
highly
!
Yedanta Desika
Tiruvahindrapuram, praise on the Deities is
Achyuta Sa,taka whose style,
difficult
with the spoken dialects of the time remains to be investigated. A Tamil work of his
affinity
the Paramata Bhanga
review
of
all
known
is
an able and exhaustive
philosophies and systems,
VEDANTA DESIKA.
SRI
103
number, somewhat on the plan of Sarvadarsana Sangraha, but that work, a mere statement of the doc-
about 16 in
Madhavacharya's not, like trines,
but
of the
condensed and
a
tenets
of
Vifiishtadwaita.
Tamil
learned other
every system It is
refutation
practically
a
than
summary
the-
in
of the vast learning contained in the author's
Sanskrit works and
is
not special students of mrtisati is a
useful
to
the latter.
popular Sanskrit
who
those
hymn
are
The Gopalaof
20 stanzas,
in perhaps the sweetest language that this learned
om
writer ever employed,
Sri
Krishna and
his
early exploits.
Venkatanatha now spent his time there sition.
With
various
hymns on
his
returned to Kanchi and
in instruction
usual
facility,
the Deities
and he
compo-
composed
of that place, the
of which is the Varadaraja Panchaon the God at Kanchi, which is a work of con-
most important sat,
Every stanza, as may be ex-
siderable merit. pected, bears
and deep
the
piety.
impress
He
also
in
numerous
his
vast learning
composed here Nyasa-
dasaka, a short work on of surrender,
of
Prapatti,
the
doctrine
which Vedanta Desika elaborated later
works.
He
further composed
various works in Tamil verse and prose, embody-
104
VEDANTA DESIKA.
SRI
ing in easy language the substance of his teachings for the edification of those devoid of Sanskrit learning.
Vedanta Desika now northern tour.
He
started on his inevitable
Tirupati, where
first visited
he composed and dedicated to the God the work called Dayasataka, a hundred and odd stanzas,
and resounding metres
in long
of various kinds,
rather harsh in style and obscure in the expres'
sion
of thought, a combination frequently
vading his more
elaborate
per-
works, especially of
the earlier period.
From
Vedanta
Tirupati,
Desika proceeded
northwards and travelled, we are the
of
site
fnd
sanyasin
and
great
though each
career.
Prime
future
the Vijianagar Kings, political
had
The two
scholars
as
of different schools,
other very fully.
proceeded north
told, through Vidyaranya, the
Vijianagar.
to
Minister
of
not yet begun
his
we
met, both
of
are told,
them
were,
must have appreciated
From
Vijianagar, Desika
Muttra and JBrindavan, and
came to Benares, passing through on his way. From Benares he turned southAyodhya east and followed the usual route of the pilgrims to returning,
the
eastern
coast
at
Puri or
Purushotamam.
VEDANTA DESiKA.
SRI
Thence
he
turned
via
south,
105
Sri
Kurmam,
Ahobilam and Tirupati, and reached Kariehi duly, after a prolonged tour of some years. While at
we are told, the great Vidyaranya, Minister of influence at Yijianagar, sent a message to Yedanta Desika who was reputedly Kanchi,
now
a
him
that he could introducs
poor,
so
if
nage,
was
Desika
The
desired.
short
to royal patroof
Yedanta
He
cared not
reply
arid complete.
for riches or for the favour of kings.
and
the
in
His
aims
were quite otherwise. The reply was form of 5 stanzas,, now preserved, which
ideals
and utter
breathe his independence to the
charms of wealth. riot
is
message
works,
as
tracted in
clusively
historical,
was
Yidyarvmya
Even
certain
if
callousness
the fact of the
we have evidence with
acquainted verses of
the
that
other's
Yedanta Dcsika ex-
Madhava's Sarvadarsana Sarcgraha* conshow. Yijianagar was founded about
1335 and Yedanta, Desika may be taken to have been in his
during the period of his tour. call from Srirangam where the leading scholar, Sudarsana, above menfifties
Yedanta Desika had MOW a
tioned,
was
Yaishnavism *
getting
old,
and the doctrines
badly wanted a
of
defender, learned
pp. 51 and 53 of the Calcutta Edition of Jibananda.
106
VEDANTA DESIKA.
SRI
and
Desika
powerful. to
proceeding
the
associations
as
Raman uja
and
residence
his
and
and
with the holiest
rich
the
of
took
a
produced
of
up
entered upon a
instruction and
ot
labours
predecessors,
He now
there.
vigorous career position,
scen
his
and
complied,
gladly
Srirangam
com-
further
number
of scholarly
philosophical works, expounding the Visish-
doctrines
tad \vaita
He
other schools.
and combating the views of said to have expounded the
is
Bhashya 30 times and on the 28fch occasion of lectures, composed a work called Tatwatika,
Svi his
a lengthy commentary on the Sri Bhashya, a part
which
of
only
is
now
He
available.
also
wrote
the Tatparya Chnndrika, a simple and extensive
commentary on the Gita Bhashya. Three controversial works were next composed, namely Satadushani, Tatwamukta Kalapa, s\\\<\NyayaSidhanjana,.
The 500
with the
views
verses
the
of
work
first is a
Adwaitic
of
;
refutations
in prose
is
hundred objections
flowing
doctrines
third
of a
the second metre,
contains,
a
over
development
of the Visishtadwaitic of the
to the
in
views of others
system ;
while
a text book of general philosophy
from the Visishtadwaitic point of view. Desika also composed two other
Vedanta
one
works,
important
them
of
Sesivara
tries to
author
where the
of Jaiimni,
the
commentary on the
direct
a
mimamsa, being Sut-as
107
VEDANTA DESIKA,
SRT
show that Jaimini accepted the existence of the not to is generally supposed Deity, which he Adhikaranahave done and the other, the ;
series
a
saravali,
Sanskrit
of
verses
in long
metre summarising the discussions on the various
the
work
latter
this
The language
the Vedanta Sutras.
of
topics
facility
great
simple and
is
clear
of
and shows
the author possessed
which
in metrical composition on philosophical subjects. work which the author The last,
philosophical
composed waita
and
system
Prapatti, It
Tamil Text-book on the Yisishtad-
is a
named
that
of
variety or
mean
order.
from
topics
the
Silpa,
practical
He
has
arts,
an
life of
Sri
composed
allegorical
Krishna,
drama
in
Desika
on
Geography was a poet a
a to
of
no
long and
in 21 interesting poem, Yadavabhyudciya,
on the
of
number
in
Tamil
and
Sanskrit
in
Vedanta
hundred
a
exceed
works are
and
doctrine
the Rahasyatrayasara.
must be mentioned
whose
its
especially
cantos,
Sanlcalpasuryodaya,
10 Acts where Love and
are the Hate and Discrimination, and Ignorance
108
SRI
VEDANTA DESIKA.
Dramatis personae, a small poem in imitation of
sandesa,
Kalidasa's
Hamsa
called '
Meghaduta', but sufficiently original in conception and delina curious poetical work in very simple language on the sandals of God, Paduka-Sahasra by name, and a didactic work of 144 stanzas in eation,
his
most
difficult style, called
All the above works and
the Subhashitanivi. a
number
of others
and Tamil were composed by him during his residence at Srirangam where he spent many years of life. His learning and piety,
in Sanskrit
his absolute unselfishness
racter ensured
respect
even
and
meekness
of cha-
the love of his followers and the of
those
who
differed
from
his
His early years were perhaps characterby an aggressive confidence in his own views
views. ised
and a certain
distinct vigour in the expression of In later days, he became maek and kind
them. to all
aid avoided disputations
not hope to convince. doubt,
among
He
where
he could
created enemies, no
those Vaishnavaites,
who followed
other teachers and found differences in the views
Such people tried to harass him in various ways. Vedanta Desika however received their insults with meekness and subser-
expounded by him,
vience,
and
tried to
unarm hatred
and jealousy
VEDANTA DESIKA.
SRI
as far as he could.
We
109
have reason to state that
the schism in views
among the followers of Ramacommenced about this time the teachers, who advocated other views
nuja referred to before, land that
from those of Vedanta Desika, differed from him chiefly in their view of the nature and condition of Prapatti 01 the secret doctrine of surrender to
God.
Pillai Lokacharya and Peria Achan Filial were the lending exponents of these views and they have composed works of great and.
learning mostly in Sanskritised Tamil, indicating fully their views. A pupil in the second generation ability,
of
the former of these
Mahamuni, a sanyasin
was the great Manavala extreme South India,
of
who
is the recognised head of the Tengalai sect of the Ramanujiyas, as Sri Vedanta Desika is of the
Vadagalai
Various differences
sect.
in
practice
and doctrines cropped up between these sects, which have become sharper as time passed, and
now
divides the
between
whom
community
into
two
factions
reconciliation seems to be out of the
We believe however that, even in the days of Manavala Mahamuni, the split was yet a narrow one and we are glad to note that Manavala
question.
Mahamuni
himself appreciated Vedanta Desika's
merits as
he
quotes him more than once with
110
SRT
VEDANTA DESIKA.
approval and usually describes pellation
and
ed
of
abhiyukta
differences
him
by the ap-
which means a respect-
reliable author of one's
doctrinal trivial
'
*
between
own
school.
The
the
schools
are
and are not much appreciated
must suppose that the innate differences
systems
is
love
of
but
;
we
parading
a characteristic of degeneracy in all
founded
on
soundest
the
bases
and
general fate dogmatically carried to only a matter of melan-
Vaishnavaism has not escaped the of religious
doctrines
excessive detail.
choly satisfaction
It
is
few
that
practical religions
have preserved themselves unsullied by unseemly advance and the disputes and schisms as times ceases inspiration of the original founder
to
be
of
our
felt.
We
now
propose to
give
some account
Sankalpa Suryodaya, mentioned already. Passion-plays and mysteryin Europe, but seem to be plays are well-known author's allegorical drama,
confined to the incidents Christ.
In
in
the
life
of Jesus
Sanskrit literature there are but three
are dramas of this allegoriprincipal works* which One of them cal nature as far as we know. * Chaitanya Chandrodaya, of Karnapura, in addition to the two we are now mentioning.
SRI
and possibly the '
Ckandrodaya,
Ill
VEDANTA DESIKA.
earliest of
The
them
rise of the
is
the Prabodha
moon
of
know-
by Krishnamisra, who is stated to have about the end of the llth Century. * Of
ledge',
lived
Professor Macdonell says t that ifc is " one of the most remarkable products of Indian
this work,
Though an
literature.
allegorical play
of theo-
logico-philsophical import in which only abstract
notions and symbolical is
full of
at
figures
act as persons,
power and vigour. orthodox Brahminism
dramatic
glorifying
it
It
aims
in
the
Vaishnava sense just as the allegorical pl?ys of the Spanish poet Calderon were intended to exalt the catholic faith."
The learned
that Prabodha Chandrodaya is
inaccurate,
play
is
to
the
as
the
exalt
is
scholar's opinion
a Vaishnava play
express purpose
Adwaita
faith
of
the
which
cannot be usually identified with Vaishnavism. The play is however of moderate proportions in fairly simple style,
the
humour
contrasts
show the
and the lightness
of touch
and
displayed in exhibiting the practical
among the great
followers of
various tenets
dramatic power of the author
* His alleged personal interview with Vedanta Desika must, if this date is correct, be only a myth. t Vide page 250, Vol. II, Imperial Gazeteer, Indian
Empire.
112
VEDANTA DESIKA.
SRI
in fitting for the stage a subject.
or 'The Rise
'
the
of
drama on an abstract
The Sankalpa Suryodaya Sun of Divine Will work
a
on
the
Desika
is
with
similar purpose, to
a
before
soul
Divine Truth, the
done for
Desika's purpose
the
to
is
ex-
the toils and troubles of the
hibit dramatically
human
and
lines
do for the Visish-
tadwaita what Krishnamisra had
Ad \vaita. Vedanta
Vedanta
of
same
it
obtains an insight into
difficulties in its
gress to liberation created by
path of
passions like
pi-o-
Love
and Hate, the saving power of Divine grace at every step of this progress, and the final triumph of
the soul over
in
a
serious
its
enemies.
style,
The author
writes
except in some Acts where
is room for humour, and the language is sublime and generally neither harsh nor obscure. The play is rather long and some portions could
there
well have been curtailed, ,
tists T
except perhaps Kalidasa, do not do
to the sense of proportion, is
a
but Sanskrit
sinner in
this
not cient
there
the
is
enough
audience's,
justice
and even Bhavabhuti has
It
respect.
been acted in India and the plot that
drama-
of action.
interest
is
is
however
so contrived
The
reader's, if
kept up by suffithe domi-
variety of sentiments, though
SRI
nating author
hero
is
Queen
VEDANTA DESIKA.
sentiment to be
King is
maintained
is
Santi
113
JKasa
or
by
the
Quietism.
The
Viveka or Discrimination, and his
Sumati or Wisdom.
In their purpose
to free the Purusha or Soul from of
Karma,
passions, of is
which Mahamoha or
The
the head.
latter
is
(Love), Krodha, (Anger),
Kama the
and
Darpa I,
(Pride),
Kam
Dambha
and some
verses of our author describe
and
Then Yiveka
by
after the prologue,
his followers are introduced
finest
vauntings
Deep Ignorance
supported
(Vanity), and so on. In Act
of
the bondage
these are opposed by the whole set of
threats
enters,
and
the
against
his
Purusha.
gives, in reply
to the questions of his wife, a statement oP purposes and
procedure in liberating Purushn. In Act IT, the author depicts a controversy on the stnge in
which the
spiritual
adviser
Viveka and a
of
pupil of his, intended to represent Sri
and our author respectively, and are confronted with
Rnmannja
discuss the situation
opponents of various
schools
whom
easily enough.
they dispose of
by argumentation, In Acts III and IV, the characters
Attachment, Hate, Jealousy,
and
their
activity
are introduced
etc.,
among men
Act V, Pride surveys the world
is *
detailed.
In
from China to
SRI VEDANTA DE3IKA.
114 '
Peru
and
finds
We
in favour.
no spot on earth where lie, is not have here many humorous pas-
sages-at-arms between Pride, Vanity and Deceit,
and the poet has succeeded
in
giving a
realistic
touch to these abstract notions by the fecundity of his imagination and the felicity of the situations
Much
introduced. in
Acts
these
satirical
in
power
exposing
is
displayed
the
abuses
of
and South-
various classes of society in Northern
ern India, and the poet must have laughed in his sleeves when he made D.u-pa (Pride) rebuke *
7
Dambha
(Vanity) thus
" :
You
I
fool,
simply
from kicking you on the head, out of Know you not respect for your Brahminhood. that the great Tondaimandala is my native
abstain
country and the famous suburb of Little Kanchi is my place of residence. The head of my is (daily) adored by King Skanda and I famous for the number of my Sishyas (pupils
family
am
You despicable, or followers) all over the world. old frog-in-the-well, * you alone are ignorant of
my
powers of
irresistible
argument
and
probably neither seen nor heard of Me."
It
have
may
* A well-known Indian epithet applied to an ignorant stay-at-home boor, unaware of the outside world and its news.
VEDANTA DESJKA.
SRI
115
Skanda Bhupala of tin's some lingering Palhwa Chief
passage refers to
who continued
'
*
be surmised that the
to
live
in
Kanchi, after
the
power had been crushed by the Ciiolas ; Skandavarnian is a frequent nrme in the
Pal-lava for
'
'
In- another place, dynastic list of that family. our author makes Dambha (Vanity) say that he visited the precincts of the residence of Brahma
in the Satyaloka,
when the Great Creator rushed
out of his palace to receive him, and, after washing duly his own hands seven times to remove all possible
water, as a
impurity, procured himself the arghya of deep respect. This reference
mark
to the frequent washing of the
come home
touch that will
inted with Yaishnavas,
to
who
hands
a satiric
is
most people acquahave carried cere-
monial purity to the length of a science. The Act ends with a humorous description of the
noon-day sun
in
words that
compare him
to
a
and
glutton flying from are appropriately put in the mouth of a followcounter-foil to er of Mahainoha, the King
one pleasure to another
Viveka.
VI, is described an serial voyage of charioteer Reason his Viveka and
In Act
*
King when
all
India
is
>
surveyed and places of inter-
116
VEDANTA DESIKA.
SRI
Vaishnavite
the
est
to
The
object of the party
are
pilgrim
depicted,
was to seek out a quiet samadhi or meditation, and the perfectly
place for
sane conclusion
reached that, after
is
secondary, and
roundings are
the
sur-
all,
real seat
of
own
heart, wherever one contemplation moral and religious the seat of one's nuiy live, is
one's
sense and the abode
Act
Viveka
"VII,
of the
Supreme
to fix the
strives
Self.
In
wandering
thoughts of his charge, the Purusha, en some definite form of the Deity, to help concentration
and secure victory over Viveka and with the
now
Act VIII,
his enemies.
describes a stage-warfare
between
and concludes
the opposite part};,
final victory of the
the party of
former.
The Purusha
undisturbed by conflict enters on meditation
"(Act IX) and
finalty,
with the
help of Vishnu-
Blutkti or devotion to Vishnu surrenders himself to
God and
obtains final liberation (Act X).
Thus
King Viveka accomplishes fully the purpose that he set before himself. The Author concludes in
the
work
happiest
that
prayer as
He
style of his later days with
the Great Vasudeva is
the
real
may
a
accept his
author of the play and
the Audience for the same.
To return
to
Vedanta Desika
;
after
years
of
117
SKI VEDANTA DESIKA.
and
simple
retired
life
spent in instructing bis
followers, and occasional tours to sacred shrines, Vedanta Desika closed his career about 1369
A. D.j having lived the full life of a hundred years and a little more, with vigour and activity.
He
a
left
became
a
son,
Varadacharya by name, who and was the author of
great teacher
various works, and a
Tantra Swatantra
famous the
of
man and Parakala
is
Brahma
sanyasin disciple,
r Ji} ar.
who became an
equally
considered to be the founder
Mutt
at
M}*sore.
Desika's further descendants are
not
Vedanta
known
to
fame, but this able writer and teacher lives in his
works and
is
further
worshipped in images in South India,
the principal Vishnu shrines of
all
with an assiduity which will perhaps bear greater fruit if used in the study of his voluminous anA edifying \voiks.
An
event, of great importance to South
India
politically, occurred during Yedanta Desika's
life,
which we have purposely refrained from referring to till now, and which requires a brief mention, before we conclude. About 1310 A. D., Malik Kafur, a General
an invasion
He
Emperor Alaudin, undertook the Dekkan with a large army.
of the Delhi
into
speedily reduced the kingdoms of
Warrangal
SRI
VEDAXTA DESIKA.
r.nd
D.varasamudrn, and pushed sout.li up to the extremity of the Peninsula, spreading devastation,. and" In 1312 plundering everywhere. or, according to some accounts, 1326 A.D., an army of Mulmmmadans invaded Srirangam and pillaged
the temple and
city.
The Yaishnavas
of
the city
Anticipated this, however, and removed the copper image of the Deity to Madura, just in time to save it
from
The conquering army masnumber (12,000, according to one
spoliation.
sacred a large
account) of Vaishnavas,and
The inner
the place in ruins..
left
shrine of the temple had however been
blocked up from view, and destruction.
From
this
so,
it
is
said, escaped
for a
period of the districts of nearly forty years, Trichinopoly and time,
Madura, were under the rule
of
Muhammadan
Deputies, subject to the Delhi Emperor. 1361 A. D., the Vijianngnr Bukka
About
King T, having Hindu kingdom on the banks the Tungabhadra, commenced to conquer the
established a stable of
southern portions of the country recently occupied by Muhammadan Generals. He succeeded through
KampannaOdnyar, his son and General, in conquering the greater part of the southern country and bringing it under Vijianagar rule. who Kampanna,
es'ablisLed himself at Madura, was greatly assisted,
SRI
1!9
VEDASTA DESIKA.
by one Gopannarya, a Brahmin and a Gopanna was tbe Governor of Girgee,
in bis wars
warrior. in
North Arcot, which bad
hands
fallen into the
We
have stated above of the Vijianngar Dynasty. the Srirangam of the idol A. that about 1326 D.,
God had
to be taken out to
Madura
to escape the
The God was fury of the Muhammadan invaders. to Tirupati and worshipped duly taken gradually there.
WhenKampanna completed
the south,
his conquests in
Gopanna, who was no doubt
Vaishnavite, thought
it
a devout
a suitable opportunity to
restore the idol to Srirangam.
He
brought
it
out
from Tirupati and kept it at Gingee for a time. He then took it to Srirangam and restored it to and directed the its place in the shrine proper
(which had ceased) to be commencThis fact is ed in connection with the idol.
visual festivals
recorded
an
in
inscription
wall of the temple in the
on
eastern
the
form of two Sanskrit
meaning and the " Bandkuverses are preceded by the chronogram " In the Suka year Sakabde" which means
slokae,*
of
nearly
identical
priye
A
Tamil work Koilolugu is 1293," i.e.,A.D. 1371. details of the account, and the responsible for the
same
is
*
also
mentioned, without dates,
Vide Epigraphica Indica, Vol.
vi. p,
in
330.
the
120
SRI
VEDANTA D3SIKA.
Tamil Vadngali Gurnparainpara, as ifc is called, a work of about the end of the 15th century, which
we have
sacre,
Yedanta
largely utilised in our articles.
would seem, escaped the general masbeing hidden by a mass of dead bodies, and
Desika,
it
betook himself with his followers to Mysore, spent several years there
and then went
lie
to Satya-
Coimbatore.
his separation
Here, in sore grief at from the precincts of Srmvngam, he
composed the
hymn
mangalam
in
expel danger/
He makes
to the invasion of
*
Abhiti-Stava or
the
hymn
reference in this
Muhammadans and
to
work
to the cessa-
tion cf worship at Srirarigam, and lamenting over " his this great grief of his in his old age when
head has become his enemies
fully grey," prays to
and return to
his seat.
God
to,
expel
In due time
he heard, we are told, of the conquests of Gopanna and the return of the God, and himself hurried to
Srirangam
to enjoy the
favour of the Hindus.
happy turn
of the tide in
It is said that the
first
of
the verses inscribed on the wall was composed by him, The Guruparampara above mentioned further narrates that Desika lived some years after this event, built or repaired the
Chidambaram Govinda-
raja Temple with the help of Gopannarya referred to already, and,
composed the Rahasyatrayasara
SRI
VEDANTA DESIKA.
121
mentioned already, and certain otlier works, finally died in the Kartikai month of the year
and
Soitmya> which
corresponds
A.D. The correctness for
by other accounts,
and could net be
to
November, 1369, is vouched
of the last date
also of a traditional nature,
disputed.
It will be seen that
in
the above account the
date of Saka year 1293 or 1371 A.D., for the actual restoration of the idol to Srirangam does in, for
if
not
fib
Desika died in 1369, he could not comThis
pose the verse of the inscription in 1371.
a discrepancy which has to be got over. Hultzsch in the <; Epigraphica Indica " (Vol.
323) points out another
Vedanta Desika
difficulty.
It
is
is
Dr. vi.
p.
that
if
not have
lived in 1371, he could
been born in 1269, in the Sukla year as stated in the Guruparampara; for according to him a
life
of
100 years and more is a great improbability and the date of birth muse therefore, he says, be *a pure invention.' This is perhaps a small matter. We have reason to think that the age of 100 years
and upwards
not necessarily
false,
as excep-
tional people in those times, as well as
now, lived
long.
is
Their spare seem
intellectuality lives, as
otherwise
diet,
to
many
pure habits arid
have
prolonged
reliable accounts,
high their
some of
122
SRI
VEDAXTA DESJKA.
them almost contemporary, have to be treated as Bub even supposing that Vedanta spurious. Desika was born
a couple of decades later, there is a
great agreement in
up
to
accounts that he lived only
all
1369 A.D., and honce, ho could not have lived
to see the restoration
Therefore,
we nay
if it
Authorship of the verse
But there
rejected.
ation of the chariar,
really took place in 1371,
coin hide that the story of his
God was
Vedanta
apocryphal and must be
is
is
a difficulty. in
Desiku's
special motive, as far ns
If the restor-
of
Varada-
son, there
was no
the
time
we could
see, in anticipat-
ing it, as the account does not in any way connect Dcsika with the actu il achievement of the
show that his prayer would therefore sug-
restoration, except perhaps to
had immediate
We
effect.
gest that the actual
restoration
of the
idol
was-
some years before the death of Vedanta Desika in 1360 A. D., say about 1364 or 1365. There this, as Kampanna'sby way of conquest commenced in 1361-62, (p. 325 vi. ISpigv&phica Indica) and he is said to have made some repairs at Srirangam, so is
nothing improbable in
activities
that the inscription may have been ergraved on the wall on the date mentioned, the actual restoration and
consecration
having occurred a few
123
SHI VED.VSTA 0123 IK A.
The
years b afore.
two verses
inscription
of identical
recording
barely
meaning
with, a date in
chronogram prefixed to them, does not look as if it was put up u ruler the superintendence of
Goparma or of the authorities of the temple for the purpose of celebrating the restoration. miss the full commencement, usual in inscriptions,
We
expressing the cyclic year,
the event, purposeless
intended
to
of
repetition
two successive
be
month, and day of and the recorded ;
the
seerns to
verses,
same
facts
in
justify the con-
elusion that memorial verses already in existence
were simply engraved in an unauthorised manner with the date of engraving prefixed by the sculptor.
No
doubt,
ib
may
be said that the Kovilolugu
account goes into great detail and gives the same
Saka 1293.
We
reply that that narative i a late simply reproduction of the apparent purport of the inscriptions and that it is inaccurate in at date,
two particulars, one being the date of the invasion, where it errs by about 100 years as
least
pointed out in the foot-note, and the other, that Saka 1293, whether taken as current or expired,
cannot correspond, under any circumstances, tothe 17th Vikasi (Solar) of the year Faritapi, a stated in theKovilolugu and in some later account
124
SRI VEDANTA DESIKA.
evidently based upon
r
the 2nd
Kielhorn's authority that
bright half of
tlie
month Chaitra
tapi corresponded to the 7th
was
in
Saka
have
\\ e
it.
sarrivat
1
Professor
tithi
of
the
of the year Pari-
March 1372 A.D., and
294 expired.* Hence
it is
im-
possible to rely on the year Piiritapi or even the
previous year, Virodhikrit, which would correspond
Saka
to
1293 expired,
as the date of the actual
return of the idol to Srirangam. It should also be noted that, according to the Verses, the victory
over
was
Turushkas
the
after
the
bringing of the God to Gingee, which might have taken place any time after 1361 A. I).,
when Kampanna's activities in the South seem have commenced or even before that date.
to
"We are therefore probably nearer the truth in conjecturing that Desika returned to Srirangam soon after the restoration of the
idol, in
about 1364
or 1365 A.D.,and lived a few more years only, till
November 1369
i.e.,
or the year Soumya, the year
of Lis death as preserved in the
Guru Parampara Brahma Tantra
Prabhava, the work of the third Jiyar, probably
not
much
later
than the end
of the fifteenth century.
*See No. 15 of the Vol.
Ti.
list
of inscriptions at p. 326 of E.I.
SRI
125
VEDANTA DESIKA.
In confirmation
of
an
earlier date
than 1371,.
herein suggested for the actual restoration of the idol to
Srirangam,we would also refer to the 'Yatin-
drapravanct Vaibhavam' of Filial
Madras Edition, 1907,
at p. 25
Lokarya Jiyar, where the events
stated above are also narrated and the Verse
the inscription
is
quoted as composed by an
'
yiilcta,
The
evidently
referring
'
of
1
Abhi-
Vedanta Desika.
to
writer then stites that the restoration was in
the Saka year Bahupriye, which for 1283 Sika or 1381, A. D.
is
a chronogram
if this is
the correct
reading and. not Bctfidhupriye as the inscription has the date of the composition of this Verse and
it,
that of the restoration must be that year, rather
than the later years 1364 or 1365, as suggested in the preceding paragraphs.
As Chronograms, besidesmade to mean
serving their purpose, were usually
*
*
something appropriate, Bahupriya ', beloved of the many would be a more suitable name for the '
year in which such an important event took
than 'Jfandhupriya* Moved by
relations.'
dition as to the year being 'Paritapi
peated in this
work
is
placfr
The
tra-
however
also, a year which doss not
refib
in with any suggested. Saka year, as we have explained already, but was about the date of Malik Kaf ur's invasion, which may have been the cause of the-
con fusion.
flfeanavala C*j
flfcafoa
flTwnu
MONG the
;^L
r.uja
^tl
younger contemporaries of RainaCharyo, mention has been marie
already of Parasara Bhatht, son of Kui-e^a,
I
as a learned scholar
and author.
Bom
about
1074 A. D., Parasara had an exceedingly bright scholastic caiecr. arid was duly initialed in tho sacred
loie,
by Rnmannja's cousin and
pupil,
After Ramanuja's death, he became a vigorous defender of the Faith and engaged in many successful controversies. In one of these,
Oovinda.
he
it is said,
cf
the
l
sought oub an
Western
'
country
eminent scholar or
the
modern
Mysore, who was a reputed Ad \vnitin and was, in It would fact, known by the name of Yedanti.
seem that Yedanti was a rich
man and
usually
Brahmins every day. Parasara amongst the crowd dieted like a com-
fed hundreds of
went
in
mon man; but on reaching where the
who
feast
was
*
bhikfcha
'
approached YecUnti and asked him to grant
held,
vras present there,
him the
the inside of the hous3
or alms of disputation.
Tho
127
MANAVALA MA1IA MUNI.
controversy, for ten
commenced, we days, in which
He
then converted
and
scholar could not resist a
fire told,
Pa rasara became the Vcdanti
to his faith,
important
disciple.
victor.
so
and the
Some yeais
became an
latter after,
Yedanti de-
serted his native country, and
gam with ed
it
all
going to Sriranthat remained of his wealth, bestow-
on Pa rasara, and became a sanyasin un-
der the
name
of
4
bisNaiijiyar.' 'our sar.yasin'.
:towed upon him by Pa rasara. The family of the Bh attars its
Sanskrit
scholarship arid
well
is
known
for
copious contribution literature of the
to the religious and philosophical Kuresa, the founder, has himself composed day. on the Deities of various shrines, five siotras,
for
which are well-known
power
of expression.
Two
their
erudition
and
of these the Vaikuntft*
Stava and the Atiinamisha Stava, are especially are justly favourites with very readable and Parasara Bhalta has also Vaishnavite scholars. contributed two
hymns
to the
one on Goddess Lakshmi, who
stotra is
a
literature,
personality
with the Vaishnavas. second only to Narayuna en the God of Srirangam, himself, and the other
whom in
Parasara looked upon almost as his father
flesh
and blood.
The poews
are,
however,
MANAVALA MAHA MUNI.
128
rugged and not easily understandable, but the former of the hymns, the Sriguna Ratna Kosa, contains several stanzas
Among
language.
may
be mentioned the
sophy,
now
of
other
good poetry in sublime
works
of
this writer
Tatvaratnako,ra on philo-
practically extinct but largely quoted
from by Sri Veclanta Desika, and the commentary on the Vishnu Sahasra Namn, already mentioned. Nanjiyar also composed seme works, in Tamil ife is to b^ presumed, one of which seems to have
named
been
known
the
thousandsi'
on the
He
Tatwadipana.
as the author of a
commentary
Tiruvo}*mozhi,
is
better
the 'Nineso-called
as
the quantity of syllables in the \vork is computed to be Nine- thousand Gmnthas, a grantha being equivalent to 32 syllables or an anushtubh verse. It has become usual to adopt this" mode of com-
putation
in
when they
Sanskrit
and Tamil
are in prose, on
works even
the analogy of the
Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Puranap, whose grantha computations are carefully preserved in the Colophons. It
is
now proper
period, the
study
to
mention
of the last
that,
during this
named
work of
received considerable attention Sadhagopa from the Vaishnava scholars of the day. Speciali-
St.
MANAVALA MAHA MUNI. sation
129
was adopted and while one set of scholars to expound and comment upon the
continued
Sribhashya and the set took to
allied
Sanskrit works, another the study of the Tamil works of the
Alvvars, which gave
them full employment. These Tamil hymns, not being argumentative treatises but merely the devotional of various songs
men
of all
castes
and creeds (one
pious
them was a
of
Paraiah), poured forth out of love and deep faith, being couched in language which is often ancient and abstruse, lent themselves to ai.d
ample and the Vaishnava scholars, many of were good Sanskritiste as well, lost no
comments
whom
;
time in writing learned commentaries on the
diffe-
rent portions of them,
Nanjiyar was succeeded by a disciple Kalivairi Nampillai^bo taught the Tamil hyrrns largely and composed a commentary on a small or
portion
out of them.
A
Tii u-Vedhi-Pillai
extensive
by name,
is
commentary known
Thousand.' storehouse
disciple of Nampillai,
This
work
of traditions
is
Vadakku-
the author of an
as the
an
*
Thirty-six-
inexhaustible
on the different inter-
us a good idea pretations of the text and gives of the amount of industry and learning that was brought to bear on the study of these Tamil 9
MANAVALA MAHA MUNI.
130
Periavachchan
works.
Nampiliai's pupils
was another
Pillai
who wrote
full
of
commentaries,
on the Tiruvoymozhi and the other hymns as well and was a most prolific and well-informed
As
writer of the day.
is
inevitable,
differences
on points of construction as well of doctrine between the above set of
of views arose
as on details
who came
writers
to
be
called
School or the Tengalais and
the Southern
the writers of the
Northern School, generally known as the Vadawho, though more largely patronising galais, Sanskrit works, had
still
an equal regard for the
Tamil hymns and expounded them in their lecVedanta Desika himself, as representing tures. the latter
Tamil
class,
was, as
we have
author and
scholar and
composed a commentary which
is
now
not
after his date
seen, an able is
said to have
on the Tiruvoymozhi,
extant.
have written
But
various authors
such commentaries
now, which are studied by various sections of the orthodox Vadagalai class.
and
at least
5
exist
To the next generation of writers belonged Pillai Loka Charya, son of the author of the 'Thirty-six'
Thousand commentary, but a pupil of Nampillai and author of various works in Sanskritised Tamil ;
j.he
most important
of these
are the Sri Vachana
MANAVALA MAHA MUNI.
131
Bhushana and the Tatwa Tray a. These works are in terse and elliptic style and were evidently meant summaries
as
in
of
pithy language
doctrines
which were
expounded orally at great length. was an elderly contemporary Loka Charya Pillay and the latter, in his of Sri Yedanta Desika ;
works, especially, the Rahasyatraya Sara, alludes in various places to his views and purports to
The Tatwatraya
controvert them. tion
of
the
principles
philosophy and universe
and
of
the
is
an exposi-
Visistadwaita
view of the development of the
its
the
inter-relationship of the souls
and God. The other work, the Vachana Bhushana^ is
held in extraordinary veneration by the fol-
lowers of this school, as
and
esoteric
a repositary of secret
doctrines, incapable of being under-
stood except under the direct teaching of a duly qualified preceptor.
book are
The
chief
the doctrine of
features
of the
surrender to one's
Acharya or Guru, advocated by this writer as a sufficient means of salvation, the emphasis given to the doctrine of Grace by the assertion that even the sins of
men
are agreeable to God, and
the somewhat unceremonious superiority as a
otherwise
ground
equally
rejection
for respect
venerable
of caste-
among men
as lovers
of God.
132 It
MANAVALA MAHA MUNI, will be
perceived that the
last is a
feature
which must ensure the adherence of non-Brahmin Yaishnavites generally, who form a majority those of the Southern School. The exces-
among
sive adoration of the
Southern
Guru, as yet theoretical in
India, has become, as we shall
see,
a
permanent feature of Northern Vaishnavaism as developed by Rarnanand and his followers, who from the necessities of their
also, all
distinctions to
caste
the
position,
winds, and
threw
drew
followers from every class .and creed.
The next writer
note in
of
this
school
Vaishnavas was the well-known Manavala
Muni, whose name heading
this
of
lias
of
Maha
been appropriated for the
paper.
He
was
born
near
Alwar-Tirunagari about 1370 A.D., and is said to have lived for 73 years, i.e., up to 1443 A.D.
Of well-built proportions
and
extremely fair, he soon attracted
almost white, in appearance, his
attention by
came
and
ability
and
eminent scholar.
He
intelligence
to be recognised as an
Pittai,
one Sri Sailesa or Tiruvoymozhi a teacher of the Tamil hymns, as the
name
implies.
was a pupil
Tirunagari holy city
of
He
spent
and then moved of
so
his
early
years at
to Srirangam, the
many eminent
divines.
Here
MANAVALA MAHA MUNI.
133
he permanently established himself and acquired a large
following of
tion,
followers
his
of
pupils and admirers.
His
work was partly composition and instrucand partly the systematic organization
life's
under
the acquiring of control
ment
and
ritual
in
various centres or Sees,
over
various
temple places,
manageand the
repair of shrines in various districts out* of funds collected
from the richer of his followers or paid
voluntarily by devotees.
Among
other works, Manavala has composed,
commentaries on the two works of
Loka
Filial
His commentaries
Charya mentioned already.
are characterised by great clearness and fulness of
He
in
the
great
merit,
few other Hindu writers of
giving
exposition.
found
possesses
references to the quotations spread throughout Thirty-siximportant Tamil works like theThousands' commentary, and always quotes the sources of the texts that he himself extracts. *
His range of studies must have been large and he was an eminent scholar, in Sanskrit and Tamil.
His original works are however few
in fact only three or four are
One
of
them
is
known
;
to posterity.
the Yatirajavimsati or 20 verses
in Sanskrit in praise of Sri
Ramanuja, and
is
in
MANAVALA MAHA MUNI.
134
We
simple style, tion
of
initial
find here the curious introduc-
rhyme
in
the stanzas
of
many
;
the second syllables of the four lines of each verse are identical, a feature univerthat
to say,
is
sal in
Tamil prosody but unknown
readers is
;
though
final
other
works,
rhyme, as
met with
occasionally
the
in
English poetry,
a
of
list
the
and
Upadezaratnamala,
names
of
The
Sanskrit.*
in
the
The former
Arthiprabandha are in Tamil verse. is
to Sanskrit
and chief
Alwars
Teachers with some account of their works. The latter
is
Raman uj*
a passionate appeal to Sri
in
end his days and liberate him from the to have worried him ills which seem physical late in life, and the torment of worldly existence heaven, to
which
every
Hindu
is
expected
to
detest.
Manavala Maha Muni had a son Ramanuja who seems to have died before him and a grandson Jiyar
Nayinar,
numerous himself.
who
survived
disciples,
some
One of the
lay
of
them
him.
He
had
sar-yasins like
pupils was
one Prativ-
vadibhayamkara, who, as his name implies, was *See its use, with great effect, in the Kamayana, Sundara Kanda, Cantos V and VII, and in the poem Nalodaya attributed to Kalidasa, where the last 5 syllables of each of four lines are identical. '
'
MANAVALA MAHA MUNI. a scholar of some
now
exist; one, a
poem
Two
eminence.
and the other
of
70 verses on
Desika.
We
work
the growing dissensions
of
his
of
works
commentary on the Ashta Sloki
of Parasara Bhatta,
laudatory
135
a vigorous
Yedanta
Sri
have clear indications in this latter
between
The author
adherents of the two schools.
the
of the
70 verses asserts his indebtedness to the teachings Vedanta Desika and his son Varadacharya
of
(1317 to 1414 A.
D.),
pupil of the latter.
It
and is
states
that
he
he later became an adherent of Manavala
The
Muni. the
first
the are
is
a
understood however that
chief disciples of
of
Maha whom
Manavala, was Vanamarnalai Jeer, the founder
of
Mutt of that name in the Tinnevelly District, known by the name of Ashta Diggajas or '
'
the eight
elephants,
guarding the eight quarters' the strong support which
in evident allusion to
they gave to their chief in
the
promulgation of
his doctrines.
There are various points in theory and practice in which the two schools, which are now known as the Yadagalais and Tengalais, differ is
the
well-known
caste- mark
as
Vadagalais
using a
worn
in
parabolic
the
;
the
in
distinction
one such vertical
forehead,
form,
the
the base of
136
MANAVALA MAHA MUNI.
which
is
nearly in a line with the brows, the other
using two somewhat in
slanting
opposite
base
which
to both,
But the two
and
marks
outwards,
is
itself
and
a small
upwards, with the vertex lower
down, about the apex or of the nose.
straight
directons,
supported on a base triangle,
broad
The is
some
in
cases the centre,
central red streak
meant
to
represent
chief item of controversy
is
common Lakshmi.
between these
which has engaged the attention of Magistrates and Judges, is the claim of either schools,
sect to officiate exclusively in the
temple rituals
and worship, to the accompaniment of certain recitations commencing with what has come to be
known
Tamil
The
as the patrains.
songs of the
A
1
wars
recitation of the
has been connected
with temple ritual from the time of Ramanuja,
and possibly from
The pair am however, for each community, a single stanza in annshtubh-wetre, which sets forth the name of earlier times also.
is
its
leading Teacher,
one
and
is
peculiar to him.
The
used
by the Vadagalai community commences with* the words Ramanuja-daya-patramJ *
meaning 'recipient of
of the kindness
(i.e.
teachings)
Ramanuja, 'the Ramanuja referred to herf being the Atreya Ramanuja, uncle of Vedanta Desika
MANAVALA MAHA MUNI. immediate teacher.
iind his
on
the same plan but
137
The other verse
has for
its
wovds
first
the teacher of Manavala and
Srisailesa,
to the latter as
his pupil.
the
commencement
There
is
refers
nothing in the verse of either party to wound the susceptibilities of the followers of the other but of course is
;
of
right as
eagerly,
the
is
other rights in
cise of is
party
it
which
it
the
others
participating for
relish
them
works
who
either
have
two
menage
allegiance
The sect
no
Engilsh
and those chances
of
It is to be
hoped that, as
and the
spirit
sects
learn greater toler-
may
to live in peace,
of their teachers, instead
parrot-like,
neither
temple emoluments have no unseemly disputes, and regard
increases
develops, the
ation and
up
in
such
as deplorable.
education life
may imply an
of
exer-
the recital of
to
stoutly refuses to grant.
educated community
among
it
the
the temple and listen
out
fought
to
prelude
willing to use or
the other's verse, as
is
and engaging
of
national
studying the
of getting
in
such trivial matters as the patrams.
them
free-fights
on
Sree
<Xbaitan\>a.
'HE
development of Vaishnavaism has now been traced, though only in the form
of
sketches of
the
pal exponents, from the
lives of
the
earliest times
princi-
to about
the middle of the Fifteenth In South Century. it is clear that from the early years of the Christian era, this cult flourished under
India
the strong impetus given by the Alwars, their Tamil songs, inculcated Bhakti
who by and Krishna-
The Alwars were saints or worship mainly. Bhaktas of various castes, who were unique in their devotion to and led lives God, remarkable for
their
religious
fervour and indifference to
worldly pleasures. Three early Alwars named respectively the Poykni Alwar, the Bhutathalwar, and the Peyalwar were mythical in their origin and are said to have met at the modern Tirukkoilur, where they had a vision of God and poured forth their joy at the sight, in Tamil verses of a each. These Alwars of
hundred
Narayana
as the
highest God, allude frequently to the- early
Ava-
speak
139<
SREE CHAITANYA, tars of
Vishnu
especially the
Tiruvikrama or the
are eloquent in their admiration of They presuppose the chief the Krishna- Avatar. to all the rest of the anterior Puranas and are
Vamana and
ancient Alwars. They adore the idols of the more at Srirangam, shrines of South India, like those etc. They speak with resTirupati, Alagarkoil, the worship of the teach but pect of Vedic lore, of His names, services at the Deity by recitations of his personal forms. temples and contemplation
of time Tirumalisai Alwar was the next in order Of the stanzas. 200 about and he has composed
has Sadhagopa or Nammalwar these in been mentioned already more than once
later Alwars, Saint
the pages. Of
rest
Vishnuchitta or Perialwar,
Kulasekaralwar, who was
a ruler
of
ancient
are the most Travancore, and Tirumangai Alwar extensive songs. The noted and have list of
composed Alwars included a lady, Andal, daughter
of Vishnuchitta. a pariah devotee,
Tiruppanalwar,
who has composed but 10 stanzas, and a pupil of Nammalwar, Madhurakam who was a worshipper of his Guru, exclusively. We find nowhere among these Alwars any denunciation of Brahmins as they such or protests against the caste system ;
represent in
no sense any
rise of
the lower castes
HO
SREE CHAITANYA.
against the
Brahmin
Priesthood and the frequent denunciations of Budhists and Jains show who
their contemporaries were. It seems reasonable to
conclude that these Alwars cr the earlier of them
were the offshoots or
lives to pious
'God,
and
of the
and
Vaishnavites
worship to
visits
Northern Bhagavatas
that
they
devoted
their
of the personal forms
the shrines of Vishnu.
Bhagavad-Gita was well known
to
Bhagavata in some form
for their
also,
are saturated with Sri Krishna's
of
The
them and the
early
works
life
and
miraculous incidents.
its
The form
Acharyas from the
Vaishnava as the
next
phase
Nathamuni downwards of
development in
the
faith, and. represent the intellectual,
Alwars do the emotional
side.
A
construct-
ion of Philosophy which was fit to be placed before the best intellects of the land and which
same time gave room for the absorption Alwars and the doctrine was the chief feature of this work. Bhakti,
at the
of the teachings of the of
Caste was firmly supported, all heresy wa.? eschewed and the shastras were fully upheld by these Acharyas, while at the same time purity of life, superiority of
Narayana
devotion,
and fervid adoration
of
in his Avatars and idol manifestations
SBEE CHAITANYA.
141
were also inculcated. Raman uja represents the climax of these teachings and in him we have the philosopher and the devotee happily combined. The philosophy is healthy and sympathetic, the devonot degenerated to fanaticism or irra-
tion has tional
The doctrine
worship.
render was inculcated
Ramanuja
of Prapatti or Sur-
to suit inferior
intellects.
no place countenances the
in
slightest
departure from strict Shastraic injunction.
uncompromising
in
He
is
denying the privilege of Vedic
study to Sudras and women and the latter were never permitted to mix with men in devotion or
abandon their usual household duties much
less
to assume the character of nuns. Bhajanas, Sankirtans, festive songs, etc.,
were practically unheard
and religious fervour never took the form of violent demonstrations or indecent
of in those days
exhibitions.
In the centuries following that in which Ramanuja lived, i.e., the twelfth and the two succeeding centuries, these features
greatly preserved.
doubt increased
in
of the
against
the
protest
assertion
permanent
of
of
Yaishnavaism were
Non-Brahmin adherents no number but we hear nowhere the caste restriction and
general
feature
of
equality
modern
which
is
a
Vaishnavaism
SREE CHAITANYA.
142
\
as
seen
the
in
North.
It
must be
admitted
however that the germs of these doctrines began to be visible about the beginning of the Fifteenth
v
Century in the preachings cf certain of the VaishWe have navaite teachers in Southern India. alluded in the
Manavala Maha Muni
life of
emphasis given to the spiritual equality
to the of
the
Brahmin and the Sudra Bhakta and the assertion Guru was the ultimate
of the doctrine that the
A curious
Saviour.
mode
of expressing the differ-
ence of views in the operation of God's grace was some asserted that divine grace acted like the this :
monkey,
i.e.,
the souls must exert themselves to get
saved, as the its
young
uf the
monkey
actively seizes
mother during the latter's evolutions from tree Others more indolent or more hopeful
to tree.
according as one .grace
was
like
may view the
cat,
young, unaided by any
it,
asserted that
which
God's
safeguarded its God's
efforts of the latter.
this latter school, was irresisgraces according to tible and required nothing but an attitude of re(^iptivity
to
freely
flow
" Hence the maxim, as Barth points out,
the deepest sinner.
to
fatal to *
that
many Hindu
the acts of
sects
"
the true
and that devotee, of the Bhakta, are indifferent, the man who has once experienced the effects of
143
SREE CHAITANYA. Grace, whatever he
may
can sin no longer/
do,
Such doctrines, carried to their
logical conclusions,
dangerously minimise responsibility and beget a familiarity with sin, and an audacious disregard of purity in
life.
Another doctrine equally
fatal to progress
was
the Guru-worship or deification of the immediate With regard to the founders of the preceptor.
various systems, there
justification
deification of every later
may
be, to the pupil,
theoretically disciplinary is
be some
and powers. Guru, however
for ascribing to
But the
may
them divine it
origin
rational thought and the largely destructive of
and encourages superstitious veneration for persons who may have lost all claim /
spirit of self-reliance,
for respect.
It
is
to the above causes that
the degeneration
of
India, in later days.
we must
ascribe
Vaishnavaism in Northern In the South, doctrines like
those mentioned above found little practical supto the levelling of the castes port and never led The grip of the or question able habits. adoption social established and rules, was too of the Shastra
the Brahmin Vaishnavites, strong to be shaken by and the Sudra followers were generally inferior in
importance and never
asserted themselves.
Any
\
144
SREE CHAITANTA.
show
by the higher castes was valued and the respect for the Brahmin a&
of equality
as a privilege
Brahmin, born
in the flesh
never forgotten. of
from Mann's
clays,
was
The comparative
the South also
political quiet contributed to preserve the
higher castes, from disruption or admixture with the lower. But in the North, Vaishnavaism first affected
the lower strata of society and pro-
ceeded upwards
in its conversions. In Bengal r had taken Saktaism deep root among the Brah-
mins who practised their horrible mystic rites in secret and excluded the lower castes. Tn Benares and Western India, the Brahmins were generally enlightend advaitees to
and
faith
whom
the cult of devotion
had no attractions. Hence the
first
con-
verts to Yaishnavaisra were there also the lower castes.
It
was therefore
and customs
ine\ itable that the habits
of the converts should react on
the
religion newly adopted and present phases of it which are alike strange and inexplicable to the earlier
adherents of the same faith in the South.
perhaps not quite true that all the Vaishnavaism found in the North was imported from It
is
the South after Ramanuja's days.
The land
of
was by frequent
Krishna's birth, overrun as
it
devastating armies, was
a place of resort to
still
145
SBEE CHAITANYA. vast crowds as a holy centre.
And
the Krishna
cult that had taken such a deep root there in
the Christian
early centuries of
era,
the
was not
altogether without power during the intervening
But any how
its potency was slumbershone forth again, it had to be fanned anew by a fresh breeze of Vaishnavaism from the Southern lands, where it was thriving,
centuries.
ing and before
it
thanks to the Alvvars and sedulously fostered
The
Acharyas who
had
it.
chief Vaishnavites of
Northern India are
the Ramanandis, the Yallabacharis, and the Chait-
Ramanand,
anyas.
these sects,
is
the founder of the
said to have been the
fifth
first
in
of
apos-
from Ramanuja and to have lived the 1 4th Century. There is nothing
tolic succession
in the
end
of
improbable in the story usually given that Ramanand, insulted by Vaishnavites of the South among
whom led
he
lived,
North and
for his social inferiority, travel-
established a
He
had numerous followers. trine of Bhakti of course, efficacy
of
Rama
the
social distinctions. Rvi ma- worship
Krishna
is
as
unknown
It
Mutt
at Benares
and
advocated the doc-
asserted
the supreme
mantra, and discarded may be mentioned that
distinguished in the South,
from that
and
it is
10
of
there-
146
SREE CHAITANYA.
fore incorrect to
Ramanuja Ramanand
as
say,
some writers
that
do,
A
inculcated Rama-worship.
pupil of
one of his successors, Nabhaji by
or
name, wrote the Bhaktamala or the lives of which is practically the scripture of the
saints
The famous Tulsidas (1532 1623 " one A.D.) seventh in descent from Ramanand, of the greatest reformers and one of the greatest Ramanandis.
poets that India has produced." in the
opinion of
the author of the Hindi
Rama-
Dr. Grierson,
is
yana, which
a text-book of religious philosophy
for
millions
Ramanand of
is
in
them was
a
The
India.
Upper
are from various
pupils
of
One weaver named
lower castes.
Muhammadan
system whose object was to amalgamate Hindus and Muhammadans. Rama was the god of worship but forms and mantras
Kabir and he founded
a.
;
When
were excluded.
Kabir died
his corpse
was
claimed by both sects and the remains, miraculously converted GO flowers,
were
shared
by Hindus
and Muhammadans. Nanak carried out the ,same purpose of reconciliation of Hindus and Muham-
madans clans,
in the
Punjab and gave
literally
described as
sishyas.
rise
Sikkisrn
Muhammadanism minus
and cow-killing and plus
faith
to the Sikh
has
been
circumcision
in the divinity of
SREE CHAITANYA. the Gurus.
wane and
It
is
is
said that
147
now on
the
some form
of
Sikkism
being absorbed
into
is
The Adi Granth, the Bible of the contains Hindu doctrines and is worshipped
Hinduism. Sikhs,
as a divinity by itself.
The other two
sects of
Yaishnavaism and their founded on
innumerable sub-sects
are
worship of Krishna.
In the Vallabha religion,
all
the
Balagopala, the child Krishna gorgeously dressed, The Bhagavata is the is the object of worship.
foundation of the Krishna exploits of Krishna.
Leela or the early
Krishna
is
worshipped along with or in conjunction with the Gopis but JKatha, the unmarried consort of Krishna, is not usually ;
associated with him.
Yallabhacharya, the founder of this sect or at
most famous exponent, was born about 1749, A.D., in Telingana and settled at Muttra to
least its
teach
doctrines.
his
The worship
of
Krishna
the
the and the indulgence rhapsodies of Bhagavata and the Gita-Govinda tended to increin
ase luxury
and licentiousness
Priests
or
High The worst forms became
Many
tolerated
of
this sect
of sexual
in
the Maharajahs
and
love
and commended
of tke immoralities of this
followers.
its
and immorality as
rich
religious.
and highly
SREE CHA1TANYA.
148 influential
were exposed in a case which Supreme Court of Bombay in 1862.
sect
to the
went-
up The Obaitanyas who now remain
to be Described
now branchthem made up of the
are most general in Bengal. They are ed into various sects. s-me of
richer and ohe higher classes while the
seem
to be
of the
lowest
classes,
worst dregs of the population. of this sect
the
was the adoption
object of worship.
of
The
majority
containing the special feature
Radha Krishna,
as
Jayadeva's Gita-Govinda
mentioned already gives a good idea of the influence which the erotic sentiment commenced to exercise
on Hindus even so early as the 12th Century. The most commendable attitude of the soul to God was represented by the
position
of the beloved to her
lover. Married love was considered of a lower form,
being interested, the love towards the gallant, subversive of worldly duty and propriety as it was, was considered the highest kind of sentiment that the soul can entertain towards the Almighty.
Radha-worship was inculcated by Chaitanya the beginning of the is
16l.h
Century.
in
But there
reason to think that this kind of worship
is
as
ancient as the beginning of the Christian era, if not Krishna's amours had been spiritualised earlier.
from the
earliest times.
The ardent longing
of tho
149
SREE CHAiTANYA,
of the Gopis for Krishna was considered typical and souls' longing for God, and sages poets who
cannot be suspected of favouring moral lapses have as symbolic of agreed to regard the Krishna Idylls is possible to that devotion the highest spiritual
man.
Many
of
Nammalwar's hymns and those
other saints in the Tamil devotion,
of
land typify this phase of
and other religions have adopted the due to
ideal of female love as typical of adoration
the Most High. popularity of the the full
human
However Radha
it
play nature.
is
no doubt
may
be, the chief
from
gave to the amorous side of In the earlier stages and in tfce
case of those adherents
there
this
cult arose, of course,
it
But human nature
who were morally
led
of the
to
strong,
no excess or abuse. type which
yielding
it
can hardly resist long the insinuawhich such excessive hankerings no wonder to are bound produce, and it is therefore
generally
is,
tions to moral fall
that the Radha-Krishna devotion, and the promis-
cuous mingling of the sexes which
it
permitted,
have degraded to a pitiful degree vast crowds of whose ignorance and Chaitanya Vaishnavites superstition give
Many
of the
them no chance
of reformation/.
Chaitanya sects adopted the repreof the Tantrics or Saktas and
hensible practices
150 hence
SREE fell
moral
CHAITANYA.
into those very
sins
wrath of
and
Chaitanya attempts at reform. It
was in the
city
of
which moved the
Navadwip
prompted or
his
Nuddea on
the Ganges that the boy Nimai or Visvambhara,
the future Chaitanya, was born about 1485 A.D. His father Jagannath Misra was a high-caste
Brahmin and an immigrant Sylhet.
He married Sachee,
a learned it
man
of
Nuddea.
has been ever since, the
philosophy
;
Nuddea from
into
daughter of Nilarnbar, Nuddea was then, as
home
of
the
Nyaya
and Pundit Sarvabhauma was teach-
ing subtle syllogisms there during the early years of Visvambhara's of
life.
Visvarupa, the elder brother
Visvambhara was Sarvabhauma's
yet a boy,
Visvarupa suddenly
resolved to become an ascetic.
many
settled
He
While home and
pupil.
left
wandered over
at
places, finally Pandharpur in Western India, and seems to have died there. There are however some mysterious hints in Chaitariya's lives, that Visvarupa was identical
with the ascetic friend and constant companion,
Nityananda of Chaitanya. But the better opinion seems to be that the two are different. Visvambhara's early
life
was frolicsome, mis-
chievous, and worrying to his parents in a high
SREE CHAITANYA.
He
degree.
became a
151
and
spoilt child
freely in-
whims, one of which was frequent
dulged in his
weeping and dancing. About the ninth year he was invested with the sacred thread, and he then went to attend the tole of Gangadas, a pandit of
There he studied Grammar, and,
the place.
great proficiency in
said, acquired
attended
the
Nyaya
where he came
in
pupils who, later,
He
it.
it
is
then
College of Sarvabhauma,
contact with several advanced
became
his companions.
One
was Raghunath, the author of the commentary Didhiti on the Ghintamani, the modern of these
text-book of
author
of
*
We are assured by the Nyaya. Lord Gauranga,' that Visvarnbhar
himself wrote such a subtle it
excited the fear and
that the former please
work on
wonder
thereupon
of
tore
logic,
that
Raghunath and to pieces to
it
Raghunafh who was ambitious to be unIt is perhaps likely that Visvambhara
rivalled.
did not obtain
bhauma, that
if
any great proficiency under Sarva-
he read under him at
Sarvabhaurna,
whom
of
any eminence.
Chaitanya as the son of
He
is
certain
Visvambhara
some years after, did not recognise pupil
It
all.
in
met
him, a former
simply
his former
recognised friend and
companion, Jagannatha. Then Visvambhara. start-
152
SREK CHAITANYA.
a
school of his
grammar
own
at the early age
He
of sixteen and attracted followers and pupils.
was now married
to
one Lakshmi, daughter of a
Vallabhacharya, hut the lady died 2 or 3 years He then married again Vhshnu-
after marriage.
and
priya, a girl of great gentleness of character
devotion to Chaitanya.
Visvambhara was now about 20 years of age. had been initiated into the Vaislmavite faith
He
He now
by one Isvarapuri, a pious devotee.
The
took a tiip to Gaya, the holy place.
under-
sight of
Vishnu's foot- prints there produced a wonderful
change
iii
sensitive nature.
his
He
lost
himself
frequent thought and yearned deepty for a sight of Sri Krishna. Here he again met; Tswnrain
puri and the contact of the ascetic for
Krishna the wore.
his friends to
He
Nuddea ann But
made him long
was taken back by
tried to
commence
his
was found impossible and he bad to give it np entirely. He found himself constantly talking of Sri Krishna and the Gopis, school work.
this
the Brindavan and possibility of life
apparent. visions,
He
its
attractions
;
and the im-
under normal conditions became
became
and, wore than
tained to the presence
subject to once,
seemed
of Krishna.
trances to
have
The
and at-
friends
153
SREE CHAITANYA.
Chaitanya who have recorded in various works in Sans-
=and followers of Sri
the details of his
life
krit and Bengali, feel no doubt
whatever that in
these days Visvambhara's body
was subjected to
a
Krishna himself.
pervasion
spiritual
by
Si'i
During these moments when the Lord came upon In his orhim, he was not Vis vain bhara at all. dinary moods he danced and sang and was delirious with Bhakti or devotion. He imagined himself to
be
Radha and
But when he Avesa,
overpowered by Krishna's knew not what he did. He was a
he
medium and shna and
acted her part to perfection.
was
the followers perceived only Sri Kri-
his
Thus on one
miraculous doings.
an
occasion he entered the puja house of
friend Srivas a wealthly householder, and his seat
on the dais reserved for the
command that and wanted Abuhekam or the out
in tones of
"
elderly
taking
idols,
He
called
had come,"
He
sacred bath.
was duly bathed, dressed and worshipped. All around fell at his feet and were rewarded with gracious replies.
and then Nimai
The fell
seance lasted several
down
in a
swoon.
awoke he was dumbfounded At another time recollected nothing. at the
hours
When
situation
he
and
his friend
Nityananda beheld his beauteous form, expanded
154
SKEE CHAITANYA.
into
with six bands, two of
large proportions,
which bore the bow and arrows
like Rama, and two others were playing on the flute like Krishna, while the remaining two held the staff and
the waterpot, It
state.
may
typical
of
his
future
sanyasin's
be added that the typical figure of
Chaitanya or Goumnga in tha numerous places where he is worshipped, is the six-headed figure, the body representing on the right Sri Krishna and the left R*dha. Nityananda is devoutly believed to be Balarama himself, elder brother of
Krishna, whose avatar was Visvambhara
Sri
himself.
A
most important follower acquired in these
days by the future Chaitanya was Adwaitacharya, an elderly Vaishnavite pundit and scholar. He had frequent opportunities of seeing Visvambhara in his trances
Krishna.
and
it
H is
and
had
was reserved to Visvambhara
moods, to proceed to his miles
visions of
him
as Sri
cultivated mind, however doubted, in
one of his
Santipur, some
village
down the Ganges, from Nuddea, and
ly boat the truth of his divine
head of Adwaita.
The holy
the chastisement as a most
nature
m>tn,
it is
literal-
into said,
the
took
pleasurable exercise
and was duly and thoroughly cured
of his linger-
155
SREE CHAITANYA. ing scepticism
achieved
Another miracle which Gauranga
!
was
the
conversion
of
the brothers,
Jagannath and Madhava, two notorious sinners, who had great influence in Nuddea and whom
Gouranga openly humbled. It is said that he took upon himself their hideous sins and saved them completely. Gouranga brought about a dramatic representation
at
the residence of one
Chandrasekhar, a relative of
in
his,
which
Ad-
waita played the part of Sri Krishna, Gouranga himself that of
Radha and
Sri Vas, that of Narada.
The subject of the play was the meeting of Radha and Krishna in the Brindavan and the characters were Krishna, and his friends and Gopees. this representation,
characters
we
are
told
entered
represented,
the
In
various
spiritually
the
bodies of the respective actors ar.d the play was really a
grim reality, was re-enacted.
A now
in
which Krishna's early
life
most important change in Visvambhar's life This was nothing less than his
occurred.
renunciation
of
worldly
sanyasin under the name
life
and
of Sri
nya, his future designation.
initiation
as-
Krishna Chaita-
The
initiation
was
a by one Keeava Bharati, an ascetic who lived at from Nuddea and to whom village some 18 miles
156
SREE CHAITANYA.
Nimai went up
in great secrecy,
having given the
and family.
His friends and
slip to his friends
relations
impede
however traced him hut were unable to
his progress to
Chaitanya
sany;*sinhood.
himself considered his ordination as the
bonum
summum
and an inexpressible joy and Krishna-madness seized him at once. For three of his life
^ays he wandered about, thinking van and spend his remaining life his friends followed
him back mother, ble
to
life
and
settle at
him with
Nuddea. at
fco
reach Brinda-
there.
Some
of
difficulty
and brought
To the great
grief of his
Nuddea was
considered objectiona-
it was arranged that Chaitanya should Puri or Jngannath. a place not too far
off and sufficiently sacred to satisfy his spiritual cravings.
.a
To Jagannath, then, he went, accompanied by few trusted followers. Jngannath was in the
dominions of Pratapa Rudra, King
Hindu Monarch
who
of great power,
of Orissa, a
ruled from
1532, and whose capital was Cutt&ck. The King's favourite Pundit and Principal of the
1504
Sanskrit College at Puri was
Sarvabhauma under whom, Chaitanya himself had
.Sarvabhauma
was
all
the great logician,
it lias
read for in
all
been mentioned, a short
with
time,
the temple
157
SREE CHAITANYA. authorities, and, through his help, his
access to the
friends had!
Chaitanya feasted lost
his eyes
Gouranga and
innermost shrine r
on the holy image and
Gopinath Acharya, a bro-
himself in ecstasy.
ther-in-law of Sarvabhauma, was well aware of Chiiitaiiya's greatness
was
much
of
givafc
use
scholar
verted
by j
to
and divine indications and
Chaitanva
due time the
In
him.
himself
Sarvabhanrna a.nd
became
was
con-
an humble
follower. '
i;
Lord Gouranga says that there w?s a great Sastraic disputation between the two y ami Chaitanya, was completely victorious. TheTl)9 author of
Chfdtanya-chandrodaya. Sivananda, a
of
contemporary
Karnapura,
of
son O
Gouranga, does not
mention the disputation but narrates that the conversion was the miraculous effect of God Jagannadh.Vs
*
'
Holy
Prasad
or
food-offering,
which
Sarvabhauma one morning, and imperiously compelled him to swallow. Anyhow a complete conversion of Sarvabhanma to Chaitar.va
took
to
the doctrine of faith in
Krishna was the
result.
King Pratapa Deva's conversion duly followed and Chaitanyn, who was new more obviously an avatar tha,n
he had ever been before, and whose spiritual
power had become
irresistible,
established himself
158
SREE CHAITANYA.
and propagated his faith throughout the length and breadth of Orissa and Bengal. Two other events in the life of Chaitanya were
at Puri
of great importance
One was to
his trip to
in extending his influence. South India, when he is said
have visited Yijianagar
Ramanand
and
converted one
Roy, a Brahmin official of some under Krishnadeva Raya. This
importance Southern tour seems to have been extensive one and
connection with
many
it.
rapid but
a
miracles are
related in
The other event we would
was the
visit of Chaitanya to Benares and Prakasananda, an advaitasanyasin of great scholarship who subsequently became a follower of Chaitanya under the name of Probo-
refer to
his victory over
dhclnanda.
After
staying
some
dozen
proper arrangements
at
years
Ohaitanya seems to have travelled a.gain and thence to Benares and Brindavan.
to
for the teaching of
Puri,
Nuddea
He made his
doc-
trine of Krishna- Prein or love to Krishna. Adwaita
and Nityanand were stationed to work in Bengal. Rupa and Sanatana, two other pupils, were sent to
Muttra.
He
himself lived a strict
life of religi-
ous fervour and constant devotion and finally disappeared about 1527, having converted many
SREE CHAITANYA.
159
millions of people to the Krishna faith in Bengal and Orissa, the chief scenes of his activity. Whatever may be the truth about Chaitanya's
Divinity,
it is
clear that he was, in actual
life,
the
Krishna for the 16th Century. Writing in 1872, Hunter, in his Orissa, says: The adoration of Ohaitanya has become a sort of
Sri
family-worship throughout Orissa. In Puri, there is a temple specially dedicated to his name and many little shrines are scattered over the country. But he is generally adored in connected with Vishnu and of such joint temples there are at present 300 in the town of Puri and 500 in the districts At this moment Chaitanya is the apostle of the common people in Orissa. The death of this reformer marks the spiritual decline of Vishnuworship.
Chaitanya who, as Barth calls him, was perhaps but a poor enthusiastic visionary,' had a few converts from Mahomedanism among his followers. It does not appear, however, that he ever preached all
'
any Mahomedan doctrine or tried to assimilate, like Kabir or Nanak, the two essentially different Within religions, Hinduism and Mahomedanism. the pale of Hinduism, he recognised apparently no caste distinction. He seems to have preached a mild and unobjectionable forua of Krishna-worship and his personal charaetei- was attractive and We have absolutely no reason to highly lovable. his mode of worship, he countethat, by suppose nanced or wonld have countenanced the disgraceful excesses which now characterise the lower orders among his followers, and a reckless ambition to spite his rivals and persecutors at Nuddea,
by developing a counter-cult to Saktaism, does not, as has been supposed, appear. to be a natural part
160
SREE CHAITANYA.
of his character as disclosed in the extant accounts of his life. Chaitanya is said to have built many
shrines at Brindavan and his native district of Nutidea contains, as Orissa does, many Chaitanya i mnges under actual worship. Dr. Bhattaeharya ;
writing of the Chaitanya sect says The sect that he has founded has developed into a gigantic body which threatens to throw into shade the representatives of his old enemies, if not to make them all humble followers. :
Assuming that Clusitnnya wns no divinity but a simple religious reformer, impelled by the strength to proclaim liis doctrines, we of his devotion have in him another instance of deification so thorough and complete, tihwt, even before he Hied, his image was installed for worship and the incidents of his life w*-re modified ard magnified into
There miracles which proved his divine nature. nothing strange if we remember that snch has been the rule in the case of every great reformer is
from Buddha down
to
Kamakrishna
Farama-
Saint of Dakshineswar, who is the most recent instance of this process of deificaTn Chaitanya we have the three clearly tion. marked stages, first, the simple boy, then the devout Bhakta, nd lastly the powerful Avatar, lording it over his men by the force of his will and the snintliness of his life. Divine honours having been paid to much less remarkable men, it wonder that the saint of Nuddea, the is no apostle of quietism and devotion, is enshrineo in the hearts of many as the Lord Gouranga, or the hanisa, the
white-bodied Krishna.
-n
*
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Indian Speeches. Morley's AN ENLARGED AND UP-TO-DATE COLLECTION,
CONTENTS Indian Budget Speech for 1906. Indian Budget Speech for 1907. Speech at Arbroath. The :
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