Sri:
Sri Vimal had raised some questions on some supposed
events in Desikar's life which show Thennacharyas
in a rather poor light. adiyEn will try to answer
them with a couple of personal notes as well as an
article by Sri PB Annangaracharyar Swami.
It is my belief that a misplaced notion has been the
cause of such stories - stories that attempt to
glorify one's acharya by putting down another. This
approach takes us far away from the spirit of our
sampradhayam and will not be condoned by the very
acharyas who we seek to glorify. Such stories also
maintain the rift between the sampradhayams as they
continue to hurt the sentiments of many. Only when
we lose such stories and spend our time in looking
at the great achievements of our acharyas and the
nobility of their souls can we truly move forward.
Azhvar Emberumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam
adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan
----
Pillai Lokacharyar and Desikar - seeronru thaniyan:
There is a thaniyan dedicated to Sri Vedanta Desikar
that goes
seeronRu thUppul thiruvEngadamudaiyAn
pAronRaich sonna pazhamozhiyuL - OronRu
thAnE amaiyAdhO thAraNiyil vAzhvARku
vAnErap pOmaLavum vAzhvu
A beautiful and very appropriate thaniyan for Desikar.
However, there are question marks surrounding the
authorship of this thaniyan.
3000padi (Vadakalai Guru Parampara Prabhavam) states
that this thaniyan was authored in praise of Vedanta
Desikar by Pillai Lokacharyar.
Thenkalaiyars roundly disagree with this statement.
So, let us examine this case and see if we can
validate this claim.
To do that, first we have to understand what a
thaniyan is all about.
A thaniyan is a verse of praise. On that basis, one
could not have an objection to a verse of praise to
Desikar by any one. Desikar was a remarkable scholar
and acharya and verses in his praise are common.
However, a thaniyan is not any general verse of praise.
It is specifically dedicated to an acharya by a specific
person - most of the time, by a direct disciple or one
who takes himself/herself as a disciple to that acharya.
The thaniyan is sometimes given during the lifetime of
the acharya himself and some times at a later time. In
some rare cases, a thaniyan is dedicated to a disciple
by that disciple's acharya himself.
So, if this is a thaniyan authored by Pillai Lokacharyar,
then we have to examine the relationship between Desikar
and Pillai Lokacharyar.
This is a part of history that is not clear or acceptable
to all. However, let us go by the popular version - that
the two indeed lived together in Srirangam at the same
time - prior to the islamic invasion.
So, the question is: did Pillai Lokacharyar and Desikar
have a acharya-sishya relationship (either way)? That is,
was Desikar a sishya to Pillai Lokacharyar or was he an
acharya of Pillai Lokacharyar?
The answer would be a resounding no from both sides for
both cases. There is no evidence to make such a claim.
In fact, if anything, there is evidence that the two had
some disagreements with each other, at least early on, in
matters of philosophy and interpretations. Desikar has
written that there may be philosophical disagreements
between the Lord's devotees but that it does not diminish
the respect they have for each other. It is said that this
was specifically targeted toward the disagreements he had
with Pillai Lokacharyar in the beginning.
So, we can clearly state that the two did not share this
kind of relationship.
Is the acharya-sishya relationship critical for a
thainyan? That it is, is clear from the fact that
vadakalaiyars do not accept the "srishailEsha dayApAtram"
thaniyan to have been authored by Azhagiya Manavalan
Himself - precisely because of the fact that it leads to
the conclusion that Lord Ranganatha took Mamunigal as His
acharya.
Nevertheless, let us examine whether Pillai Lokacharyar
could have written the thaniyan not as a salute to his
disciple or acharya, but as a general praise.
To answer that question, let us examine an important
point - the age difference between Desikar and Pillai
Lokacharyar.
It is generally accepted that Desikar lived from 1268 to
1369 CE. 6000padi Thennacharya Guru Parampara Prabhavam
states that Pillai Lokacharyar was born in the year 1205
CE and lived for 105 years in this world (though some
accounts state that he lived for 120 years).
Going by this, there is an age difference of 63 years
between Desikar and Pillai Lokacharyar. There are some
accounts that claim that Pillai Lokacharyar was closer in
age to Desikar. But I think, in general, we can accept
that there was a considerable age difference between the
two. We can discard certain modern accounts that place
them at almost the same age, as there appears to be no
factual reasons behind them.
Considering this and accounts that state that Pillai
Lokacharyar was the established senior acharya at
Srirangam by the time that Desikar arrived there, we can
safely state that Pillai Lokaacharyar had written many if
not all the works of his ashtadasa rahasyams before
Desikar started working on his rahasya granthas.
In addition, there is no evidence to show in any of Pillai
Lokacharyar's works that he ever accepted the positions of
Desikar in the points of disagreement between the two.
On the other hand, latter works of Desikar seem to
indicate that he was somewhat reconciled to Pillai
Lokacharyaar's position. There are many articles by
Thennacharya scholars that delineate this very well.
Being this the case, it is very hard to see why the
3000padi would state that 'Lokacharyar wrote this
thaniyan after listening to rahasyArthas from Desikar'!
Finally, it is not clear why Pillai Lokacharyar would
write a single verse of praise on Desikar and thereafter
say nothing more about Desikar - in his works or in other
verses.
In addition, Sri Kanchi PBA Swami has indicated that the
name "thUppul" itself was a derivation of the
name "thumbai vanam" and that thumbai vanam was an
agrahAram established by Appaiya Deekshithar who came
after the times of Pillai Lokacharyar and Desikar. If this
were true, it is not acceptable that Pillai Lokacharyar
would have used the word thUppul, even if we claim that he
wrote this thaniyan.
In conclusion,
1. Pillai Lokacharyar and Vedanta Desikar did not share a
acharya-sishya relationship.
2. Pillai Lokacharyar was senior to Vedanta Desikar by
nearly 63 years.
3. Pillai Lokacharyar did not accept Vedanta Desikar's
philosophy (his earlier philosophy when he was likely
living in Srirangam with Pillai Lokacharyar).
4. There is no reason to believe that Pillai Lokacharyar
listened to Desikar on rahasyarthas.
5. The name "Thuppul" itself was likely created at a
latter time.
Based on this analysis, it can be seen that it is highly
unlikely that this thaniyan was authored by Pillai
Lokacharyar. We can only reach the conclusion that a
misplaced notion and zeal was the cause to introduce the
claim that it was authored by Pillai Lokacharyar.
The sad part is that the thaniyan itself is a beautiful
verse and is an apt praise of a great acharya, which can
be recited by all without entering into this needless
claim and the controversy following it.
adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan
--- vimalkumar ranganathan <panardasan@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Sri:
>
> Sri VEdAntAchAryar is one of the most beloved achAryAs
> for both Ramanuja Sampradaya, as well as dEsika
> sampradaya followers. For me personally, he is one of the
> greatest geniuses ever to have set foot on this planet.
> He is the avAtAram of the gaNTA (bell) of Lord Srinivasa
> Himself, he tolled the bell of Knowledge, Bhakthi,
> Humility, and many more qualities and the strong sound of
> that bell is still ringing in our glorious sampradAyA!!
> His satha dhUshani tore the concept of advaithA apart -
> akin to what periyAzhwAr said ("pEsuvAn pugil nambara
> manrE"), endless would be the duration if one starts
> talking about the glories of Swami VedAntAchAryar.
>
> Having said that, it pains me when one starts to
> trivialize Swami vEdAntAchaAryar with incorrect
> information and childish stories. I eagerly read the
> biography of Swami vEdAntAchaAryar by ...
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