To any modern student of sociology interested in an academic study of the community of Sri Vaishnavas in India, it is very likely that it would appear as though the question of their identity — i.e. “who are we really?”, “where did we come from?”, “how have we changed and adapted”?… and, “where are we really headed towards?” — is hardly of any great importance to them in their daily lives. It is in fact quite irrelevant to the general laity within the community of “ubaya-vedantins“. And if the question, on the other hand, does perhaps somewhat preoccupy the minds of their spiritual leaders — i.e. Acharyas and Jeeyars of the various Muttams and Ashrams or the “svayam Acharyas” — it will be found that they remain extremely reticent about the whole matter and will hardly ever make any pronouncements openly or publicly on it.
In the not so distant past and in the present as well, we come across however a few exceptional but well-meaning Sri Vaishnavas who did choose to come forward to fearlessly express themselves on the very same question…. even though they perhaps knew quite well that their forlorn voices would eventually end up being no more than introspective cries in the wilderness… unheeded and unappreciated by their own ilk and brethren.
In the following passages are being reproduced — wholly in facsimile (rather than in extracts) — such fearless views expressed by two outspoken Sri Vaishnavas on the complex question of Sri Vaishnava identity.
One wrote his piece way back sometime in the 1960s in an unpublished pamphlet titled “Sri Ramanuja and Sri Vaishnavas” that to this day remains rather obscure. (A copy of it, as chance would have it, was passed on to me by the well-known Sanskrit-scholar and musicologist, T.S.Parthasarathy). Its merit as a very useful and insightful contemporary commentary on Sri Vaishnavism remains wholly unacknowledged. The pamphleteer’s name was M.A.Doraiswamy Iyengar who was a lawyer by profession and had been a practicing advocate at the Madras High Court more than sixty years ago. He was a very deep scholar of Sri Ramanuja “sampradaayam” and had penned his piece to vent his well-meaning and truthful views on the subject which unfortunately were considered maverick back then 60 years ago as perhaps they do today too.
The second outspoken view expressed on the subject is being reproduced below as facsimile again (rather than as extracts). It is an extremely trenchant editorial titled “Your Attention, please!” which appeared in the May’2022 issue (English edition) of the Chennai-city based magazine “Vainavan Kural” (The Voice of the Sri Vaishnava). This piece is extraordinary indeed in that it has without a trace of fear introspected deeply on the troubled self-identity of whole Sri Vaishnava community at large in the present-day and virtually holds up a mirror to its face.
Reproduced below first is the May 2022 editorial. It will be followed thereafter next in Part-52 by facsimile reproductions from M.A.Doraiswamy Iyengar’s pamphlet.
Both are very impactful readings indeed:
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(to be continued)
Sudarshan Madabushi