On the history of the School of Ramanuja

Research project P 13382 On the History of the School of Ramanuja Gerhard OBERHAMMER 28.06.1999 The project shall give insight into the interrelations of Visistadvaita-Vedanta with the traditions of Advaita- Vedanta and Pancaratra. Both traditions represent important factors for the development of the religious and philosophical ideas of Visistadvaita-Vedanta. The tradition of Advaita-Vedanta essentially influenced the development of Visistadvaita-Vedanta, because it was one of the main opponents of Visistadvaita-Vedanta in philosphical questions and the tradition of Visistadvaita- Vedanta develops fundamental ideas and teachings in polemical discussions with Advaita-Vedanta. These polemical discussions shall be brought out by means of select themes. The investigation of these polemics shall be limited to passages of the following texts: Ramanuja`s Sribhasya, Sudarsanasuri`s Srutaprakasika, Varadaguru`s Prameyamala and Tattvasara, Narayanarya`s Nitimala, Meghanadarisuri`s Nayadyumani and Venkatandtha`s Satadusani and Nyayasiddhanjana. Firstly, the relevant passages of texts shall be collected and made accessible by translations and analysises. Thereafter these texts shall historically and philologically be interpreted in the light of , the development of the philosophical ideas. Finally, the comparison between the critizised teachings of Advaita-Vedanta and the polemics of Visistadvaita- Vedanta shall help for a better understanding of the teachings of Visistadvaita-Vedanta. The tradition of Pancaratra constitutes the religious surroundings of many representatives of Visistadvaita-Vedanta. Their philosophy of life, religious practice and social and cultural surroundings were essentially characterized by this tradition. Therefore the theological and philosophical conceptions can not be understood and explained without an investigation of the influences of Pancaratra. In order to understand the interrelations between these two traditions it is necessary to know the philosophical and theological teachings of both very well. While the teachings of at least the older Visistadvaita-Vedanta are examined comparatively well, those of Pancardtra are still in the dark. Therefore a not yet translated text of this tradition, the Paramesvarasamhita, shall be made accessible in the form of a study. This Samhita that came into being in South India is particularly interesting, because it belongs to the Ranganathasvarmi Temple in Srirangam, the center of the today`s ~flvais4avas, where famous representatives of Visistadvaita-Vedanta acted as acaryas and because in comparison with the oldest texts of Pancardtra it represents a next stage of development. The aims of the investigations are a detailed and systematic description of its philosophical, theological and cosmological teachings and the exposition of the relations of the Paramesvarasamhita to the two other texts Jayakhyasamhita and Pauskarasamhita on which it is dependent with regard to contents and history.

The project`s aim was to give insight into the relation of the Ramanuja School to the traditions of Advaita Vedanta and Pancaratra. Both traditions were important factors in the development of the religious and philosophical ideas of this school. Thus, an investigation of their influences contributes to the general intellectual history of the Ramanuja School. With regard to Pancaratra, the Paramesvarasamhita (ParS) was examined. This text was written in South India probably about A.D. 1200. It is particularly interesting with regard to the Ramanuja School as it is ascribed to the Ranganathasvami Temple in Srirangam where famous representatives of the school acted as spiritual leaders and which is an important Srivaisnava center still today. The examination of the ParS led to the following conclusions and results: To a great degree the Pars consists of text fragments adopted from other, older texts of the Pancaratra. We were able to identify approximately a quarter of the adopted passages. Thereby, the sources of the ParS could be dated in relation to it. The purpose of writing the ParS was to cope with two fundamental changes in the religious life of the Pancaratrins of its time, namely, on one hand, the religious rites during the five daily time periods (panca kala) that determine the daily ritual routine developed from a prescription for a specific esteemed group to a universal norm, and on the other hand the temple ritual gained emphasis and, as a consequence, became more elaborate. The tradition of the Pancaratra considers its authoritative texts to have been revealed by God Himself. Therefore, the attitude of the authors of the ParS towards their textual sources and their reasons for using specifically these texts were examined. Illuminating here were the ParS`s two narrations about the origin and the transmission of the teachings of the Pancaratra, as well as the attempts of the ParS`s authors to categorize the texts of the Pancaratra. To conclude, the basic teachings of the ParS were systematically described. The research of Visistadvaita polemics against traditions of Advaita Vedanta focused on four central advaitic teachings: the perception of mere being, the refutation of difference, Brahman as the principle of cognition, and the theory of error. The criticism of the perception of mere being was elaborated based on neglected texts such as Narayanarya`s Nitimala, Varadaguru`s Prameyamala, Venkatanatha`s Satadusani and Meghanadarisuri`s Nayadyumani. Further, how the realistic theory of cognition unfolded in this debate about perception was represented by these authors was illustrated. The extensive criticism in Venkatanatha`s Satadusani against the Brahman as being the principle of cognition and as being eternal (nitya), immutable (nirvikara) and without distinction (nirvisesa) was elucidated. In addition, the logical contradictions of these teachings as shown by Venkatanatha in his polemical discussion with Advaitins was demonstrated. Finally, based on the translation of the eighth chapter of Meghanadarisuri`s Nayadyumani the historical development of the visistadvaitic theory of error was described with the help of his polemics against advaitic theories of error.