Ramanuja (Tamil: ராமானுஜர், Rāmānujar ^[?]; traditionally 1017–1137), also known as Ramanujacharya, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete. He is seen by Śrīvaiṣṇavas as the third and most important teacher (ācārya) of their tradition, and by Hindus as the leading expounder of Viśiṣṭādvaita, one of the classical interpretations of the dominant Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy.

Establishing dates

The traditional biographies of Ramanuja place his life in the period of 1017–1137, yielding a lifespan of 120 years. However, the unusual length and roundness of this lifetime has led scholars to propose that Ramanuja was born 20–60 years later, and died as many as 20 years earlier than the traditional dates. Any chronology depends crucially on the major historical event mentioned in the traditional biographies: the persecution of Vaishnavas under the Chola king Kulothunga and Ramanuja's subsequent 12-year exile in Melkote, in Karnataka.

In 1917, T. A. Gopinatha Rao proposed a chronology based on the traditional lifetime of 1017–1137. He identified the Chola king with Kulothunga Chola I (reigned 1070-1120), and dated the exile to Melkote from 1079 to 1126 CE (Rao 1923 cited in Carman 1974:45). However, this would extend the period of exile to 47 years, and in any case, Kulothunga I was not known for being an intolerate Shaivite.

A different chronology was proposed by T. N. Subramanian, an official in the Madras government (Subramanian 1957 cited in Carman 1974:45). This chronology identifies the Chola King with Kulothunga Chola II, who reigned from 1133–50 and was known for his persecution of Vaisnavites. It puts Ramanuja's exile from c. 1137 to 1148. Subramanian's hypothesis is aided by a fragment from the late Tamil biography Rāmānujārya Divya Caritai, which states that Ramanuja completed his most important work, the Śrībhāṣya, in 1155–56. Nevertheless, temple inscriptions in Karnataka indicate the presence of Ramanuja and his disciples before 1137. Carman (1974:45) hypothesizes that the traditional biographers conflated two different visits to Mysore into one. This later chronology has been accepted by several scholars, yielding a tentative lifetime of 1077–1157.

Whatever the precise dates of Ramanuja's lifetime, it seems clear that all three of the great Śrīvaiṣṇava ācāryas lived under the relatively stable and ecumenical climate of the Chola empire, before its decline in the late 12th and 13th centuries (Carman 1974, p. 27).

Historical background

By the 5th century, the South Indian religious scene was diverse, with popular religion existing alongside Vedic sacrifice and non-Vedic traditions like Buddhism and Jainism. Indeed, the title character of the sixth century Tamil Buddhist epic Manimekalai is advised at one point to study the various Hindu schools of philosophy, such as Sankhya and Vaisheshika as well as Buddhism, Ajivika, Cārvāka, and Jainism. It was in this context that fears of a Buddhist or Jain takeover spurred a large Hindu revival that reached its peak in the 7th century and continued nearly into the 2nd millennium.

The popular aspects of this revival took the shape of several mystical and passionate bhakti movements, represented on the Vaishnavite side by the twelve alvars. The alvars came from a variety of social strata; their ranks include shudras and one woman. The intense devotionalism of their poetry and insistence that caste and sex are no barrier to a relationship with the Divine is uncharacteristic of classical Vedic thought, which laid a strong emphasis on the performance of the social and religious duties proper to one's place in the social structure. Some of these were collected into a definitive canon known as the Nālāyira Divya Prabandha, or "Four Thousand" Divine Composition, by Nathamuni in the 10th century, and came to be seen as a source of revelation equal in authority to the Vedas in the Śrīvaiṣṇava community.

On the philosophical side, this period saw the rise of the Vedanta school of philosophy, which focused on the elucidation and exegesis of the speculative and philosophical Vedic commentaries known as the Upanishads. The Advaita, or non-dualist interpretation of Vedanta was developed in this time by Adi Shankara and later by Mandana Mishra. It argued that the Brahman presented in the Upanishads is the static and undifferentiated absolute reality, and that the ultimately false perception of difference is due to avidya, or ignorance. Sri Adi Shankara was regarded one of the most profound scholars and preached to uphold the basic tenets of Vedic philosophy.

The goal of proving the Vedantic legitimacy of the popular conception of a personal deity and a genuine personal identity essentially characterizes Ramanuja's project, and the Advaitin school presents a natural object for his polemics. It is this synthesis between the classical Sanskrit writings and the popular Tamil poetry that is the source of one of the names of Ramanuja's system: Ubhaya Vedānta, or "Vedanta of both kinds."

Evaluating sources

In dealing with the lives of the Vedantic teachers, there is little in the way of actual history, and it is thus necessary to make reference to the many hagiographical works—both in verse and prose—that form a major genre in both Sanskrit and South Indian vernaculars.

The earliest such hagiographies in prose is the Ārāyirappaṭi Guruparamparāprabhāva, or "Six Thousand" Splendor of the Succession of Teachers (not to be confused with the well-known commentary on the Divya Prabandha of the same length, also commonly referred to as the "Six Thousand"). This was written by Piṉpaḻakiya Perumāḷ Jīyar in the 13th century in a highly Sanskritized dialect of Tamil known as Maṇipravāla. Perhaps earlier was a Sanskrit work of poetry, the Divya Sūri Carita or Acts of the Divine Sages, probably written in the 12th century by Garuḍavāhaṇa Paṇḍita, a contemporary disciple of Ramanuja's.

In later times, a number of traditional biographies proliferated, such as the 16th or 17th century Sanskrit work Prapannāmṛta and, following the split of the Śrīvaiṣṇava community into the Vaṭakalais and Teṉkalais, various sectarian works. The Muvāyirappaṭi Guruparamparāprabhāva or the "Three Thousand" Splendor of the Succession of Teachers by Brahmatantra Svatantra Jīyar represents the earliest Vaṭakalai biography, and reflects the Vaṭakalai view of the succession following Ramanuja. Ārāyirappaṭi Guruparamparāprabhāva, or "Six Thousand" Splendor of the Succession of Teachers referred in the previous paragraph represents the Tenkalai biography.

The various biographies differ in emphasis, facts, and sometimes even entire episodes. In general, the later biographies tend to be more fanciful and elaborate, and the Vaṭakalai and Teṉkalai biographies reflect their sectarian outlook: for instance, the Teṉkalai biographies tend to emphasize episodes that reflect more liberal attitudes toward caste on Ramanuja's part, while the Vaṭakalai biographies generally minimize them. These generalizations are often inaccurate, but the differences in the biographies do at any rate reflect the difficulty of coming up with a single historical narrative. Nonetheless, the traditional biographies agree in most of the facts of Ramanuja's life, and thus an outline of Ramanuja's life and achievements can be sketched.

Formative years

Ramanuja was born Ilaya Perumal in a Hindu family in the village of Perumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India in 1017 CE. His father was Asuri Keshava Somayaji Deekshitar and mother was Kanthimathi in sect of Vadama. To quote from Shyam Ranganathan's article on Ramanuja at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "From a young age he is reputed to have displayed a prodigious intellect and liberal attitudes towards caste. At this time he became friendly with a local, saintly Sudra (member of the servile caste) by the name of Kancipurna, whose occupation was to perform services for the local temple idol of the Hindu deity Vishnu. Ramanuja admired Kancipurna's piety and devotion to Vishnu and sought Kancipurna as his guru-much to the horror of Kancipurna who regarded Ramanuja's humility before him as an affront to caste propriety."

Shortly after being married in his teenage years, and after his father passed away, Ramanuja and his family moved to the neighboring city of Kancipuram. There Ramanuja found his first formal teacher, Yadavaprakasha, who was an accomplished professor of the form of the Vedanta philosophy that was in vogue at the time-a form of Vedanta that has strong affinities to Shankara's Absolute Idealistic Monism (Advaita Vedanta) but was also close to the Difference-and-non-difference view (Bhedabheda Vedanta). ("Vedanta" means the 'end of the Vedas' and refers to the philosophy expressed in the end portion of the Vedas, also known as the Upanishads, and encoded in the cryptic summary by Badharayana called the Vedanta Sutra or Brahma Sutra. The perennial questions of Vedanta are: what is the nature of Brahman, or the Ultimate, and what is the relationship between the multiplicity of individuals to this Ultimate. Vedanta comprises one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy.) "

From a young age, his intelligence and ability to comprehend highly abstract philosophical points were legendary. He took initiation from Yadavaprakasa, a renowned Advaitic scholar. Though his new guru was highly impressed with his analytical ability, he was quite concerned by how much emphasis Ramanuja placed on bhakti. After frequent clashes over interpretation, Yadavaprakasa decided the young Ramanuja was becoming too much of a threat and plotted a way to kill him. However, Ramanuja's cousin Govinda Bhatta (a favourite of Yadavaprakasa) discovered the plot and helped him escape. An alternative version is that one of Yadavaprakasa's students plotted to kill Ramanuja as a means of pleasing their teacher, but Sri Ramanuja escaped in the afore-mentioned manner. Yadavaprakasa was horrified when learnt about the conspiracy. Ramanuja returned to Yadavaprakasa's tutelage but after another disagreement, Yadavaprakasa asked him to leave. Ramanuja's childhood mentor, Kancipurna, suggested he meet with Kancipurna's own guru, Yamunacharya. After renouncing the life of a house-holder, Ramanuja travelled to Srirangam to meet an aging Yamunacharya, a philospoher of the remergent Vishishtadvaita school of thought. Yamunacharya had died prior to Ramanuja's arrival. Followers of Ramanuja relate the legend that three fingers of Yamunacharya's corpse were curled. Ramanuja saw this and understood that Yamunacharya was concerned about three tasks. Ramanuja vowed to complete these--

• Teach the doctrine of Saranagati (surrender) to God as the means to moksha.
• Write a Visishtadvaita Bhashya for the Brahma Sutras of Vyasa which had previously been taught orally to the disciples of the Visishtadvaita philosophy.
• That the names of Paraśara, the author of Vishnu Purana, and saint Śaţhakopa should be perpetuated.

Legend goes that on hearing the vow, the three fingers on the corpse straightened. Ramanuja accepted Yamunacharya as his Manasika Acharya and spent 6 months being introduced to Yamunacharya's philosophy by his disciple, Mahapurna although he did not formally join the community for another year. Ramanuja's wife followed very strict brahminical rules of the time and disparaged Mahapurna's wife as being of lower subcaste. Mahapurna and his wife left Srirangam. Ramanuja realized that his life as a householder was interfering with his philosophical pursuit as he and his wife had differing views. He sent her to her parent's house and renounced family and became a sanyasin. Ramanuja started travelling the land, having philosophical debates with the custodians of various Vishnu temples. Many of them, after losing the debates, became his disciples. Ramanuja standardized the liturgy at these temples and increased the standing and the membership of the srivaishnava school of thought. He wrote his books during this time. Ramanuja, who was a Vaishnavite, might have faced threats from some Shaivite Chola rulers who were religiously intolerant . Ramanuja and a few of his followers moved to the Hoysala kingdom of Jain king Bittideva and queen Shantala Devi in Karnataka. Bittideva converted to Srivaishanavism, in some legends after Ramanuja cured his daughter of evil spirits, and took the name Vishnuvardhana meaning "one who grows the sect of Vishnu". However, the queen and many of the ministers remained Jain and the kingdom was known for its tolerance. Ramanuja re-established the liturgy in the Cheluvanarayana temple in Melukote In Mandya District and Vishnuvardhana re-built it and also built other Vishnu temples like Chennakesava temple and Hoysaleswara temple.

Five acharyas

Swami Ramanuja incorporated teachings from 5 different people who he considered to be his acharyas

1. Peria Nambigal who performed his samasrayana
2. Thirukkotiyur Nambigal : who revealed the meaning of Charama slokam to swami on his 18th trip
3. Thirumalai Nambigal : Ramayana
4. Tirumalai Aandaan : Bhagavad Vishayam
5. Thirukachchi Nambigal : The 6 sentences or PErarulAlan

Visishtadvaita philosophy

Ramanuja's philosophy is referred to as Vishishtadvaita because it combines Advaita (oneness of God) with Vishesha (attributes).

Differences with Shankara

Adi Shankara had argued that all qualities or manifestations that can be perceived are unreal and temporary. Ramanuja believed them to be real and permanent and under the control of the Brahman. God can be one despite the existence of attributes, because they cannot exist alone; they are not independent entities. They are Prakaras or the modes, Sesha or the accessories, and Niyama or the controlled aspects, of the one Brahman.

In Ramanuja’s system of philosophy, the Lord (Narayana) has two inseparable Prakaras or modes, namely, the world and the souls. These are related to Him as the body is related to the soul. They have no existence apart from Him. They inhere in Him as attributes in a substance. Matter and souls constitute the body of the Lord. The Lord is their indweller. He is the controlling Reality. Matter and souls are the subordinate elements. They are termed Viseshanas, attributes. God is the Viseshya or that which is qualified.

Ramanuja opines, wrong is the position of the Advaitins that understanding the Upanishads without knowing and practicing dharma can result in Brahman knowledge. The knowledge of Brahman that ends spiritual ignorance is meditational, not testimonial or verbal.

In contrast to Shankara, Ramanuja holds that there is no knowledge source in support of the claim that there is a distinctionless (homogeneous) Brahman. All knowledge sources reveal objects as distinct from other objects. All experience reveals an object known in some way or other beyond mere existence. Testimony depends on the operation of distinct sentence parts (words with distinct meanings). Thus the claim that testimony makes known that reality is distinctionless is contradicted by the very nature of testimony as a knowledge means. Even the simplest perceptual cognition reveals something (Bessie) as qualified by something else (a broken hoof, “Bessie has a broken hoof,” as known perceptually). Inference depends on perception and makes the same distinct things known as does perception.

He also holds that the Advaitin argument about prior absences and no prior absence of consciousness is wrong. Similarly the Advaitin understanding of a-vidya (not-Knowledge), which is the absence of spiritual knowledge, is incorrect. “If the distinction between spiritual knowledge and spiritual ignorance is unreal, then spiritual ignorance and the self are one.”

The Seven objections to Shankara's Advaita

Ramanuja picks out what he sees as seven fundamental flaws in the Advaita philosophy to revise them. He argues:

I. The nature of Avidya. Avidya must be either real or unreal; there is no other possibility. But neither of these is possible. If Avidya is real, non-dualism collapses into dualism. If it is unreal, we are driven to self-contradiction or infinite regress.

II. The incomprehensibility of Avidya. Advaitins claim that Avidya is neither real nor unreal but incomprehensible, {anirvachaniya.} All cognition is either of the real or the unreal: the Advaitin claim flies in the face of experience, and accepting it would call into question all cognition and render it unsafe.

III. The grounds of knowledge of Avidya. No pramana can establish Avidya in the sense the Advaitin requires. Advaita philosophy presents Avidya not as a mere lack of knowledge, as something purely negative, but as an obscuring layer which covers Brahman and is removed by true Brahma-vidya. Avidya is positive nescience not mere ignorance. Ramanuja argues that positive nescience is established neither by perception, nor by inference, nor by scriptural testimony. On the contrary, Ramanuja argues, all cognition is of the real.

IV. The locus of Avidya. Where is the Avidya that gives rise to the (false) impression of the reality of the perceived world? There are two possibilities; it could be Brahman's Avidya or the individual soul's {jiva.} Neither is possible. Brahman is knowledge; Avidya cannot co-exist as an attribute with a nature utterly incompatible with it. Nor can the individual soul be the locus of Avidya: the existence of the individual soul is due to Avidya; this would lead to a vicious circle.

V. Avidya's obscuration of the nature of Brahman. Sankara would have us believe that the true nature of Brahman is somehow covered-over or obscured by Avidya. Ramanuja regards this as an absurdity: given that Advaita claims that Brahman is pure self-luminous consciousness, obscuration must mean either preventing the origination of this (impossible since Brahman is eternal) or the destruction of it - equally absurd.

VI. The removal of Avidya by Brahma-vidya. Advaita claims that Avidya has no beginning, but it is terminated and removed by Brahma-vidya, the intuition of the reality of Brahman as pure, undifferentiated consciousness. But Ramanuja denies the existence of undifferentiated {nirguna} Brahman, arguing that whatever exists has attributes: Brahman has infinite auspicious attributes. Liberation is a matter of Divine Grace: no amount of learning or wisdom will deliver us.

VII. The removal of Avidya. For the Advaitin, the bondage in which we dwell before the attainment of Moksa is caused by Maya and Avidya; knowledge of reality (Brahma-vidya) releases us. Ramanuja, however, asserts that bondage is real. No kind of knowledge can remove what is real. On the contrary, knowledge discloses the real; it does not destroy it. And what exactly is the saving knowledge that delivers us from bondage to Maya? If it is real then non-duality collapses into duality; if it is unreal, then we face an utter absurdity.

Even though Bhagavad Ramanuja taught his followers to highly respect all Sri Vaishnavas irrespective of caste, he firmly believed in the tenets of Varnashrama Dharma.

His Saranagati philosophy emphasises that anyone, irrespective of colour, creed, caste, sex and religion can surrender their mind, body and soul to the Lotus feet of Lord Narayana and the God would accept him/her. But if one surrenders to any other deva than Vasudeva, such as Siva or Ganesha, he will have to be reborn as a vaishnava.

Cited from Sri Ramanuja, His Life, Religion, and Philosophy, published by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, India.

Writings

Ramanuja may have written 9 books. They are also referred to as the nine precious gems, the Navarathnas.

• His most famous work is known as the Sri Bhasya or Brahma Sutra Bhasya. It is a commentary on the Brahma Sutras.
• Gadhya Thrayam (three prose hymns). All three are important works in Vaishnava philosophy:
  • Vaikunta Gadyam describing in great detail Vaikuntha, the realm of Vishnu and recommending meditating on it.
  • Sriranga Gadyam, a prayer of surrender to the feet of Ranganatha
  • Saranagati Gadyam, an imagined dialogue between Ramanuja and Shri (Lakshmi) and Narayana where he petitions Lakshmi to recommend Narayana to give him grace. Narayana and Lakshmi accept his surrender.
• Vedartha Sangraha (a resume of Vedanta). It sets out Ramanuja’s philosophy, which is theistic (it affirms a morally perfect, omniscient and omnipotent God) and realistic (it affirms the existence and reality of a plurality of qualities, persons and objects).
• Vedanta Saara (essence of Vedanta) an appendix to Sri Bhasya
• Vedanta Deepa (the light of Vedanta), another appendix/commentary to Sri Bhasya.
• Gita Bhashya ( his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita)
• Nithya Grantham (About the day to day activities to be performed by all Sri Vaishnavas)

Samadhi mandir

Ramanuja's thiruvarasu (sacred burial shrine) is the Ramanuja shrine (sannidhi) located inside the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple (periyakoyil^{[citation needed]} or simply koyil) Srirangam, Tamil Nadu within the temple complex, where he attained his Acharyan Thiruvadi (the lotus foot of his Acharya). His mortal remains (thirumeni) have been interred inside the Sri Ramanuja shrine and on top of it his wax look-alike deity (the wax image has been covered with the saffron robes he had used when he was alive) has been consecrated and it is anointed with chandan (sandalwood paste) and saffron (kungumappoo). Another version says the body of Sri Ramanuja is the one which is seen at Srirangam temple today. When closely observed,the nails etc. of the body can be seen. Sandalwood paste and saffron are used to maintain the body and no other chemicals are added .His shrine is open to the general public for darshan.

Vedanta Desika (1269 – 1370) is considered the second greatest Sri Vaishnava writer. He was a great poet, devotee, philosopher and master-teacher. Ramanuja's death in 1137 A.D. was followed by a sectarian split among the Sri Vaishnava sampradaya. By the end of the 14th century this turned into a permanent division into two sects: Vadakalai ("Northern art" or "Northern learning") and Tenkalai ("Southern art" or "Southern learning"). The followers of the former consider Sri Vedanta Desika as their Acharya (teacher).

Life

Desikan was born in Thoopul, near Kanchipuram, (according to legend, on the order of Lord Srinivasa and Padmavathi Thayaar, the God and Goddess of the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple), as the son of Ananta Suri and Totaramba. He was named "Venkatanatha" and belonged to the Vishwamithra gothra (lineage). He was educated and trained by a scholarly maternal uncle of his, Kidambi Appullalar (who was a direct disciple of Ramanuja). Appullarlar also initiated Venkatanatha's Upanayanam (sacred thread ceremony) at the age of seven and made him master the Vedas, Divyaprabandam, Puranas and Sastras. By the age of twenty he was a great scholar without par in the history of Vaishnavism. He got married at the age of 21 to Tirumangai (also known as "Kanakavalli"). The Lord blessed the couple with a son in 1317 A.D., named "Varadarya". Vedanta Desikan rose to the status of an "Acharya" by the age of 27.

Hayagriva Mantra

Tradition regards Vedanta Desikan as the incarnation of the ghanta (bell) of the Lord of Tirupati. On initiation of "Garuda Mantram" (a mantra on Garuda, the celestial kite that served as the steed for Vishnu) by his guru, Desikan went to Thiruvaheendrapuram and performed penance chanting the mantra, when Garuda appeared before him and taught him the "Hayagriva Mantra". (Hayagriva is an incarnation of Vishnu with the head of a horse and the a divine body of a Hindu god (human-like, but with four arms). Hayagriva represents knowledge.) Lord Hayagriva appeared before him and presented an idol of himself to Desikan. It is for this reason that, almost in all Desikan temples, there will be an idol of Hayagriva adjacent to the Desikan idol.

Works

His writings include devotional works on deities and Acharyas, treatises on Vishishtadvaita, commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, secret doctrines of Vaishnavism (Rahasyathrayam), original Tamil poems, epic poems and allegorical dramas in Sanskrit, dialectical works directed against rival religious schools, treatises on daily life and several other miscellaneous treatises. His gloss on the meanings of the Vedas, reconciling the teachings of the Alvars and the PrasthAna-traya created history because it exposed the Divya Prabhandham of the Alvars to a much wider audience and elevated it to a status equivalent to that of the Vedas in the eyes of the Tamil Vaishnava people.

The poem "Sudarshnashtakam" on Lord Sudarshana (Tamil: Chakrathazhvar or Chakrathalvar), the deity that represents the disc-shaped weapon that Vishnu carries in his right hand, and a similar poem "Hayagriva Stotram" on Hayagriva are his most famous works. He composed close to fifty other Sthothrams (sacred prayer poems similar to pslams) on different Vaishnava gods on various occasions. Some of them are: Godha Sthuthi - on the goddess Andal, Nyaya Dasakam, Bhu Sthuthi - on the earth goddess, Kamasikashtakam and Raghuveera Gadhyam - on the valour of the god Rama.

Desika’s writings

His poems contain an incisive clarity of appeal that is instructive to the seeker as well as enjoyable by the connoisseur. The devotional fervour is all transparent and infectious.Every work of his is full of beautiful poetry, superb devotion, conceptual density, philosophy, mythology, poetic gymnastics, lilting rhyme and majesty of language.

The eight-lettered mantra

In talking about the eight-lettered mantra (Ashtaksharam) of Narayana (in modern day Vaishnavism, the gods Vishnu and Narayana are used interchangeably, though this wasn't always the case a millennium ago), he mentioned several things which can also have an eightfold classification – like, eight kinds of devotion, eight siddhis, eight functions of the intellect and so on. In the same strain he described eight flowers for the worship of God; these are: non-violence; sense-control; universal compassion; infinite patience; wisdom; austerity; meditation; and truth.

Transcendence and immanence of God

His explanations of the Transcendence and Immanence of God are illuminating. Transcendence ( bahir-vyApti) means: He is there even where Matter and Spirit are not there. Immanence ( antar-vyApti) means: He is inherent in Matter and Spirit in such a way that you can never say He is not there.

Prapatti

When he explains the theory of surrender (prapatti) he analyses the situation of man’s sins vanishing after the surrender of Man. The sins acquired before surrender vanish at the point of surrender. Afterwards, sins done because of inevitability will not accrue to the doer. Sins done involuntarily or unconsciously certainly will not accrue to him. On the other hand, sins done consciously, in the sense they were not inevitable, will vanish in the following manner: one-fourth of them by a proper remorse; one-fourth by a determination not to repeat the sin; one-fourth by a preparation to do the regretful ritual ( prAyshcitta )and the last one-fourth by the actual doing of that ritual! In accordance with this concept of "Prapatti", the Vadakalai sect of Iyengars, follow it till this day, on the divine guidance of their respective Acharya.

Paduka-Sahasram

Paduka (pronounced 'paadukaa') Sahasram means one thousand verses on the sandals, is in praise of the sacred sandals of Lord Sri Renganatha's lotus feet at Srirangam. The whole work is a monument for supreme devotion and superb poetry, all in one night’s intuition, - an overnight miracle of one thousand verses! It was composed by him in response to a challenge by another learned scholar in Srirangam. Legend has it that while the other learned scholar composed his verses on the divine lotus feet of the lord, Swami Desika decided to go "one-up" by deciding to compose his verses on the divine sandals of the lotus feet of the lord. All this was composed by Desika (as he puts it, by the Grace of the paduka of the Divine) in just one quarter of the night, actually the third quarter. The earlier two quarters were devoted by him, as soon as he accepted the commitment, to yoga and yoga-nidra (=sleep induced by yoga and resulting in intuition). The wonder of this work is the ability of Acharya to compose 1000 verses on just the divine sandals of the lotus feet of Lord Renganatha and that too in different ways, ultimately capturing the interest of the audience.

Eulogy of Divine Sandals

The spirit of the Paduka-sahasraM is unequalled in any religious literature. The paduka of the divine is equal to the guru or the AcArya whose grace is more powerful than the grace of the Lord. The Acharya implied in every verse of the paduka sahasram is Nammalvar, the great author of Tiru-vAi-mozhi, who is generally considered as the paduka of the divine. Here are a few examples of this unusual eulogy.

Perumāl and Śaţhāri

The Tamil word Perumal (pronounced 'PerumaaL') is used by Vaishnava tradition to denote the Supreme Divinity as well as the idol -- arcA -- of the Divine. The two words which compose to make perumal are perum, which means ‘the great’ ‘the gigantic’ ‘the supreme’ and `aaL’ which means ‘personality’. The corresponding Sanskrit word is ‘purushottama’. The sandals of Perumal are known as the Śaţhāri. The Śaţhāri is like a crown placed reverentially on the heads of devotees in all Vaishnava temples, and they receive it with humility, with one hand on the mouth as if to keep it shut.

Desika's depiction of Bharata receiving the Paduka

The classic instance of this act was first done by Bharata (in the Ramayana) when he received the sandals of Lord Rama. But before he receives it, he requests the Lord to wear the sandals once and remove it. The act of Rama that is requested here is to step on the sandals and step down. This drama does not find a place in either the Tamil Ramayana of Kamban or the Hindi Ramayana of Tulsi. But the original poet Valmiki describes it. ‘Oh Lord’, says Bharata, ‘Please step on these sandals and step down. These sandals are the ones which support and sustain the welfare of the three worlds’. And Rama obliges. Imagine this scene in your mind. What does it mean? Does it have an esoteric significance? The obvious significance that suggests itself to us is that Rama is requested to step on the sandals and step out so that the sandals may receive the spiritual vibrations from the Lord and therefore become sacred so as to be venerated and be able to receive the honour of being the object of worship from Bharata for the next fourteen years, the period of Rama’s exile. This is what Vedanta Desika, also thinks and weaves in his verse No.113 of his paduka-sahasram. But three verses later he eulogises the paduka to such heights that this scene of Rama's stepping on and stepping down from the sandals obtains an enormous significance, revealed only by the great intuition of the super-devotee Vedanta Desika. The why of that divine act as explained by the master-poet is wonderful.

The power of Padukas

When the Lord is on the point of embarking on a commitment to walk through the forests of the country for the next fourteen years, he was relying on the power of the paduka to protect him and his feet. Now that Bharata is asking for the padukas, and that means separation from them, as far as Rama is concerned, He is now stepping up on them and stepping down so as to receive the spiritual vibrations from them and thereby the energy for him to sustain the challenge of walking barefooted through the entire forest. So the poet says: If he did not do it, how could he have walked through the rough ground and dense shrubbery of the Dandaka forest with bare feet for so long? Is this not the height of devotion to the divine sandals on the part of Desika?

The paduka is greater than even Vibhishana and Sugriva - says the poet in another verse. (Verse No.231) You are even greater than Rama, continues the poet again: Oh sandals, You are even more glorious than Rama whose glory pervades all the three worlds. For, if not, how did Bharata, who wanted only Rama, accept you as security for Rama’s return? (Is it not common knowledge that a thing accepted as security for money promised to be returned, must have a value greater than the money lent?) (Verse No.108)

Sri Sthuthi

Sri Desika wrote a sloka on Perundevi Thayar of Kanchi Varadaraja Temple at the request of Bramhachari. The bramachari requested Swami to help him to get married. At the conclusion of this sloka gold coins started pouring from the air and the bramachari took them for his marriage and swami did not even keep a single coin for himself. It is the belief of every materialistic vaishnava that the daily recitation of this sloka means that sri lakshmi is sure to reside in such a house. This incident is however, not fundamental to the basic philosophy of "Sri-Vaishnavism" which honours Sri (Lakshmi) as the "Iswarigm sarva bhootanam" i.e. the Supreme goddess and not just the goddess of wealth.

Swami Sri Vedanta Desikan and Srirangam

Swami Desikan by the beginning of 14h century, had arrived at Srirangam and sought the blessings of Sri Sudharashna Bhattar and on his command decided to debate with the Advaitis there. This work of Swami on the debate which went on for seven days was popularly known as "Shathadhushini". Swami Desikan's eloquence and deep reasoning and exumberant debating skills stood no parlance, that Sri Renganatha Swamy of Srirangam, conferred on him the title of "Vedanta Desikan" and Goddess of Srirangam, Renganayaki, the title "Sarva Tantra Svatantra". He was rightly called "Kavitharkika Simham".

Swami Vedanta Desikan's period in Srirangam is said to have been a defining moment in the "Vaishnava" philosophy for many reasons. The Islamic forces invaded Srirangam in 1311-12 and stole away the Idol of the presiding deity to Delhi. The people of Srirangam after a prolonged struggle returned back with the God. There was more shock in store, when the second invasion followed in 1327 with such an intense force led by Mallik Kafur and General Alauddin, that swami Desikan decided to send the Utsava Murthi of Srirangam with a group led by "pillai lokacharayar" and in the same way the Goddesses of temple were also protected. Swami Desikan decided to save the Sanctum Sanctorum by covering it with a brick wall.

Finding the whole of the temple town perturbed by the attack, he composed the "Abheethi Stavam", which was recited by the people to fear not the blatant invasion. Almost 13000 Sri Vaishnavites were killed in the prolonged battle in Srirangam. Sri Sudharshna Bhattar also sacrificed his life in the struggle, not before requesting Swami Desika to bring up his children, who were very young then.

Along with the children and that most precious treatise on Sri Vaishnavism, the "ShrutaPrakasika", Swami moved to Thirunarayanapuram, presently in Karnataka, in search of the idol. Swami stayed in Satyakaalam for a period of 12 years and returned to Srirangam and it was Swami who broke the wall and thereby placed the SRIRANGAM presiding deity in the Sanctum Sanctorum and initiated again the festivals. Thus Swami protected the temple and handed it over for generations to come.

Apart from Paduka Sahasram, he composed three hymns exclusively on Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam. They are : Bhagavad Dhyana Sopanam, Abheethi Stavam and Nyasa Tilakam.

Swami Desikan attained paramapadam (heavenly abode) after living for 101 years in Srirangam. The place where Swami lived can be seen in Srirangam even today and is known as "Vedanta Desikan Thirumaligai".