A pilgrim’s jottings on a 3-day whirlwind pilgrimage, May 4th, 2024 (Tirunelveli-Tuticorin) of Nava Tirupati temples ************ The summer heat-wave was rising, and on my journey by road towards Azhwar Tirunagari, the mid-morning hour seemed to send torrid blasts from a furnace towards us. Thankfully, Rajah, my thoughful rental-car cab-driver, turned up the vehicle airconditioning.Continue reading “குயில் நின்றார் பொழில் சூழ் குருகூர்: Part-4: A pilgrim’s jottings at “Azhwar Tirunagari Kshetra””
Tag Archives: Kanchipuram
Sri Vaishnava Tenkalai-Vadakalai: Sectarian Fault-lines
SYNOPSIS Of the book, “A Tale of Two Cities: The Decline and Fall of the “ubhaya-Vedantins” – An Outline of the History of Sri Vaishnavas of Tamil Nadu that was never written” M.K.Sudarshan(2023) WESTWOOD BOOK PUBLISHING ATLANTA, Ga, USA) ___________________________________________________________________________ PREAMBLE: Thus, it can be said that Ramanuja’s Sri Vaishnavism was a religious system ofContinue reading “Sri Vaishnava Tenkalai-Vadakalai: Sectarian Fault-lines”
The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedantins”: Part-56
The animus that has been existing between the two Sri Vaishnava sects for more than half a century shows little sign of abating even today i.e. in the first two decades of the 21st century CE… and most certainly not at all in the principal Tenkalai and Vadakalai temples of Tamil Nadu viz. Sri RangamContinue reading “The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedantins”: Part-56″
The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantins”: Part-45
Hereditary and/or traditional rights of control over temple wealth and administration (continued) In the decades after Independence, in the democratic, socialistic and secular republic of India, successive elected governments of the State of Tamil Nadu realized the enormous potential for extracting great and steady revenue-streams and wealth — not to mention enormous leverage in electoralContinue reading “The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantins”: Part-45″
The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantins”: Part 39
The small religious community of Sri Vaishnavas for several centuries, have always been apolitical. As priests, religious scholars, spiritual seekers, temple up-keepers, poets, litterateurs, philosophers and theologians, “ubaya-vedaantins” kept themselves away from most of the affairs of kings, kingdoms, the state and the government. Their indifference to matters of politics was the norm. Exceptions wereContinue reading “The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantins”: Part 39″
The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantins” – Part 38
Between 1925 CE and about the turn of the 21st century CE, the Sri Vaishnavas of the community of “ubaya-vedantins” suffered, in various degrees of intensity, the severe trauma, as it were, of a deep identity crisis brought about by profound social churning all around them in the larger outside world that simply overtook andContinue reading “The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantins” – Part 38″
The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedantins”: Part 37
Three significant historical movements both catalyzed and exacerbated a great social churning and upheaval in Tamil Nadu — gradually at first but later increasingly during the course of decades following end-19th and beginning of the 20th century CE. Each of them left a deep and acute sense of impoverishment and disenfranchisement within the community ofContinue reading “The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedantins”: Part 37″
The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantin-s”: Part-28
“The first expedition of the English East India Company (EEIC) to India was led by William Hawkyns, who landed in Surat on 24 August 1608 CE…. And thus began endless bloody wars between Islam and British Imperialism on India’s soil…. Many wars followed in the following two hundred and fifty years that ultimately gave theContinue reading “The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantin-s”: Part-28″
The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantin-s”: Part-27
In 1732 CE, the Persian marauder, Nadir Shah, invaded the Mughal capital of Delhi and carried out sheer unspeakably barbarian-scale mayhem, slaughter, loot and plunder for 57 days! The historian William Dalrymple writes (in his book, “The Anarchy”) that at the end of his expedition, the value of the loot that Nadir Shah took backContinue reading “The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantin-s”: Part-27″
The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantins”: Part 10
Discerning the commonalities in Tenkalai and Vadakalai narratives — and after understanding how they actually diminish, not enhance their stature as “ubaya vedaantins” in the eyes of Indian Civil Law and today’s modern society as well — it is important next to examine a few of the major dissonances between them. “Dissonance“, according to theContinue reading “The Decline and Fall of the “ubaya-vedaantins”: Part 10″