SRIVAISNAVA

member of a sect of Hindus, most numerous in South India, who pay allegiance to Lord Vishnu and follow the teachings of the philosopher Ramanuja. Sri refers to Vishnu's consort, also called Laksmi, to whom Vishnu first taught the doctrine. The sect reached its peak in the late 10th or 11th century, when the passionate devotional hymns of the Alvars (a group of mystics) were introduced into the temple service by Nathamuni. He is called the first acarya (teacher) of the sect and founded a Sanskrit-Tamil school at Srirangam (Tamil Nadu state), which was then and continues to be a great Vaishnavite centre in South India. Ramanuja (11th/12th century), in an exposition of the Vedanta-sutras called Sribhasya (Beautiful Commentary), gave the sect a philosophical doctrine to fit its views and early literature. Sribhasya was the first sectarian commentary ever written on a Hindu sacred text and the model for the many others that followed. Toward the end of the late 14th century, a controversy arose that split the Srivaisnavas into their present two subsects, the Vadakalai (or school of northern learning), which relied more on the Sanskrit scriptures, and the Tenkalai (or school of southern learning), which stressed the Tamil hymns of the Alvars. The Srivaisnava is among the most exclusive of the Hindu sects. They worship only Vishnu and his consorts and attendants and do not acknowledge Krishna's youthful companion, his mistress Radha. Brahman members take the lead in the strict observance of caste regulations in such matters as diet and interdining. Srivaisnava Brahmans are much given to scholarly pursuits and have earned for themselves the honorary title of acarya, or, in Tamil, ayyangar, often spelled iyengar. See also Tenkalai; Vadakalai.