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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00144 Oct 2005

 
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Sri:

It is claimed by some that Vedanta Desikar wrote the 
Padhuka Sahasram - a magnificent work on the padhukais 
of Lord Sri Ranganatha - due to a challenge by another 
person.

It is said that Desikar was challenged to a contest of 
poetry writing - apparently, the challenge was to come 
up with a thousand shlokas over night - by none 
other than Sri Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar, the 
younger brother of Pillai Lokacharyar. Over the years, 
I have seen some variations to this story. Some times 
it is claimed that they both went together to Lord 
Ranganatha where Nayanar expressed the desire to write 
about the Lord's divine feet; at which point, Desikar 
stated that one could even write about the Lord's 
sandals. Some people, perhaps realizing that stating 
that one acharya challenged another may not sit well 
with everyone or sound apropriate, state the story but 
claim that Desikar was challenged by 'some person or 
some vidwan'.

Let us attempt to run a critical analysis of this story. 

What we need to examine is: 
1. Would an acharya challenge anyone, let alone another 
acharya, to a poetry contest? 
2. If so, would Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar be one 
to do that? 
3. And, would Vedanta Desikar be one to accept such a 
challenge?

There is no evidence in our sampradhayam to show that 
acharyas would go about creating or participating in 
such contests. Guru Parampara has incidents of 
acharyas challenging each other. But these are typically 
limited to philosophical debates, where they try to win 
over the opponent. As examples, we have the case of 
Emeperumanar himself debating Arulalap Perumal 
Emperumanar (Yagnyavalkar), and Bhattar challenging 
Nanjeeyer (Vedanti). But, I don't recall seeing
anywhere that poetry contests were in vogue.

Let us next examine who Azhagiya Manaval Perumal Nayanar 
was. As stated, he is the younger brother of Pillai 
Lokacharyar. Pillai Lokacharyar is one of the greatest 
acharyas of the Ramanuja sampradhayam and more than any 
other acharya, responsible for the philosophy of 
Thennacharya sampradhayam as we know it today. His 
younger brother, Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar is 
no less an authority in the sampradhayic matters and is 
the author of the most amazing work "Acharya Hrudayam", 
in addition to writing commentaries for a few works 
such as Thiruppavai, Kanninun Siruththambu, etc. And 
this is the acharya who is supposed to have jumped 
into, or rather challenged someone - nay not anyone, 
but challenged another renowned acharya to a poetry 
contest.

Let us also look at the ages of these acharyas.

It is commonly accepted that Desikar lived from 1268 to 
1369 CE. Pillai Lokacharyar's period on this earth lasted 
from 1205 to either 1311 or 1325 CE. Nayanar is said to 
have been born two years after Pillai Lokacharyar and 
lived to the age of 100 years. Therefore, his period 
would have been 1207-1307 CE. This puts the age 
difference between Mayanar and Desikar at 61 years! 
And this is the acharya who is said to have decided to 
challenge Desikar to a poetry writing contest.

Let us look at Nayanar's works. They are all toward 
writing prose. His magnum opus Acharya Hrudayam is prose. 
His other works are prose commentaries. Why would such a 
person decide suddenly that he could write poetry? And, to 
top it, decide to challenge Desikar, a renowned poet? 
Seems pretty far fetched!

Let us see if Desikar would have been one to accept such 
a challenge had it actually occured. There is a biography 
of Desikar that I read once which stated that at one time 
Nayanar challenged Desikar to a philosophical debate and 
that Desikar out of respect to another acharya of the 
sampradhayam turned down the request. However, it is being 
claimed that Desikar later got into a poetry contest with 
the same acharya. It is extremely hard to imagine why a 
debate, which is a more natural order of things for 
acharyas to get into, is said to have been turned down and 
yet a poetry contest became acceptable to Desikar!

Desikar's life history shows him to be a model of 
humility. At one time, when he was living in dire poverty 
and surviving on alms, he was invited by his childhood 
friend Sri Vidyaranyar to visit the court of the king 
where Vidyaranyar was the court poet. For sure, he could 
have helped Desikar materially in a long way. However, 
Desikar responded with his Vairagya Panchakam - showing 
his disdain for worldly things. Yet, such a vairagya 
shIla, is suddenly shown to have jumped into a poetry 
contest!

Finally - Nayanar's grand work Acharya Hrudayam is on 
Swami Nammazhvar and was written to prove the validity of 
his prabandham Thiryvaymozhi when Azhvar's caste and 
thereby his work was questioned by someone. Desikar's 
Padhuka Sahasram deals with the maNi pAdhukais of Lord 
Ranaganatha which is none other than Nammazhvar. To claim 
that the two would have a contest on Nammazhvar is naive 
to say the least.

There is nothing to show in the history of Nayanar or 
Desikar that either would indulge in such antics. The 
inevitable conclusion that all this leads to, is such a 
contest never took place. 

It is only when such stories are dropped and an 
understanding achieved of the grand respect that our 
pUrvAcharyas had for each other, that we would begin to 
understand what Srivaishnava sampradhayam truly stood and 
stands for. 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan 




        
                
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