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Thirumalai Anandanpillai • October 12, 1995 


Subject: Re: Vadagalai vs Tengalai

Cc:  

 
> early 1900's and went to the Privy Council It was reagrding the
> morning service- Sree Saila Dayapatram, an invocation to Desikha.
> Alos U and Y Namas were questioned. The ruling was in favor

 While reciting the dhaniyan, the thenkalai tradition is to start it as
'Sree sailesa dayapatram' and the vadagalai tradition is to start it as
 'Ramanuja dayapatram'. Most of the temples use the thenkalai tradition
while quite a few including the thiruvaLLoor temple use the latter.
 
 I think, the main difference is the importance given
 to manavaala maamuni 
 and desikar among the two schools. The thenkalais, in my opinion, give a
 higher importance to manavaala maamuni and the vadagalai school gives a
 higher importance to desikar.

 I think the philosophical difference has something to do with the role
 of Lakshmi as perceived by the two traditions. I do not know anything
 about the exact differences though. Also, another difference that I heard
 from others has to do with the interpretation of 'prapatti' by the 
 two schools. Maybe someone with a better  knowledge can explain this.

 Of course, there are lots of other differences in   daily life which
 are not important. A couple of such differences (just as an aside) :
 1. While 'sEvichifying' (prostrating??- any better english word??), the
 thenkalais do just once, while the vadagalis do it more than once (3 or is
 it 4??).
 2. while serving meals, the thenkalais serve the vegetables first and then
 rice, while it is vice-versa among the vadagalais. Of course, this is not
 universally true, but can be seen in orthodox families.


Varadhan


Varadhan