The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hindusim vol 2
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Shrishaila<br />
644<br />
traces its spiritual lineage through the<br />
poet-saint Ramananda to the southern<br />
Indian philosopher Ramanuja, who is<br />
claimed to have been Ramananda’s guru.<br />
This claim can also be seen in the name<br />
<strong>of</strong> the sampraday, since Ramanuja’s followers,<br />
the Shrivaishnavas, focus their<br />
worship on Vishnu and Shri (Lakshmi).<br />
Yet the Ramanandi ascetics worship an<br />
entirely different pair <strong>of</strong> deities—Rama<br />
and Sita—and the claim <strong>of</strong> any connections<br />
between the Ramanandis and the<br />
Shrivaishnavas was formally renounced<br />
at the Ujjain Kumbha Mela in 1921, at<br />
the insistence <strong>of</strong> the Shrivaishnavas. As<br />
with another Bairagi order, the Brahma<br />
Sampraday, the claim to be connected<br />
to a famous religious figure seems to be<br />
a way to gain the authority and prestige<br />
<strong>of</strong> an ancient and established tradition.<br />
Even without this claim, the Shri<br />
Sampraday is the largest and the most<br />
important <strong>of</strong> the Bairagi Naga orders.<br />
For further information see Peter van<br />
der Veer, Gods on Earth, 1988.<br />
Shrishaila<br />
(“holy mountain”) Sacred mountain in<br />
the center <strong>of</strong> the state <strong>of</strong> Andhra<br />
Pradesh, about 185 miles south and<br />
slightly east <strong>of</strong> Hyderabad. <strong>The</strong> site is<br />
remote and difficult to reach but is<br />
famous for a temple sacred to the god<br />
Shiva, in his manifestation as Mallikarjuna,<br />
“[Lord] White as Jasmine.”<br />
Shiva’s image as Mallikarjuna is in the<br />
form <strong>of</strong> a linga, the pillar-shaped image<br />
that is his symbolic form, and the<br />
Mallikarjuna linga is one <strong>of</strong> the twelve<br />
jyotirlingas, a network <strong>of</strong> sites deemed<br />
especially sacred to Shiva, and at which<br />
Shiva is uniquely present.<br />
Shrivaishnava<br />
Southern Indian religious community<br />
who are devotees (bhakta) <strong>of</strong> the god<br />
Vishnu and Shri (Lakshmi), and whose<br />
religious life is rooted in the devotional<br />
hymns <strong>of</strong> the Alvars, a group <strong>of</strong> twelve<br />
poet-saints who lived in southern<br />
India between the seventh and tenth<br />
centuries. All the Alvars were devotees <strong>of</strong><br />
Vishnu, and their stress on passionate<br />
devotion (bhakti) to a personal god,<br />
conveyed through hymns sung in the<br />
Tamil language, transformed and revitalized<br />
Hindu religious life. Two centuries<br />
later, the Alvars’ devotional outpouring<br />
was organized and systematized<br />
by the philosopher Ramanuja,<br />
considered the Shrivaishnava founder.<br />
Ramanuja was convinced that Brahman,<br />
or Supreme Reality, was a personal<br />
deity, rather than an impersonal<br />
abstract principle, and was also convinced<br />
that devotion was the most<br />
important form <strong>of</strong> religious practice.<br />
Vishishthadvaita Vedanta, his philosophical<br />
position, stressed both <strong>of</strong> these<br />
convictions, and thus opposed the<br />
Advaita Vedanta school founded by the<br />
philosopher Shankaracharya, which<br />
stressed that the Supreme Being was<br />
impersonal and that realization (jnana)<br />
was the best spiritual path. In the time<br />
after Ramanuja the Shrivaishnava community<br />
split into two smaller groups, the<br />
Tengalai and the Vadagalai. <strong>The</strong> schism<br />
stemmed from a disagreement over<br />
whether human action was necessary to<br />
attain final liberation, or whether the<br />
hope came in complete surrender (prapatti)<br />
to God’s grace; the Vadagalais held<br />
the former position, and the Tengalais<br />
the latter.<br />
In practice, the Shrivaishnava community<br />
has been strongly influenced by<br />
the doctrine <strong>of</strong> divine “emanations”<br />
originated by the Pancharatra religious<br />
community, particularly the notion that<br />
a properly consecrated image becomes<br />
a form <strong>of</strong> the deity itself. Shrivaishnava<br />
piety has tended to center around<br />
temples, and particularly the service <strong>of</strong><br />
the temple’s image, which is considered<br />
a genuine form <strong>of</strong> the deity. Given<br />
this stress on learning and templebased<br />
worship, it is not surprising<br />
that the community has been dominated<br />
by brahmins, and the few nonbrahmins<br />
in the community have<br />
distinctly inferior status. For further<br />
information see K. Rangachari, <strong>The</strong><br />
Sri Vaisnava Brahmans, 1931; and