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A brief intro.

From the Bhakti List Archives

K. Srinivasan • May 29, 1994 


Hello everybody,

Here is the introduction to my past. My ancestral origin is to thiru pullaaNi, 
where there is a shore temple overlooking the Palk Strait near Rameswaram. It 
is also one of the 108 divya dhEsam's visited by Sri Ramanuja. I have yet to 
visit the place. One of my ancestors was a Tamil pulavar of the sEthupathi 
King of Ramanadhapuram. He was probably also the ancestor of the two Tamil 
scholars mu. and ra. Raghava Iyengars, also Tamil pulavars of Sethupathi's 
court in the recent years. My father's side carries the name Mudumbai, tracing 
to Mudumbai Nambi, who was one of the 74 disciples of Sri Ramanuja. My 
mother's side is kidaambi, which traces to kidaambi Accaan, who was also a 
disciple of Sri Ramanuja. (kidaambi has become kadaambi in Karnataka and 
kiLaambi  in Andhra).

My grand father, who had no university degree, and no ancestral property spent 
most of his life as a small Railway employee in Hubli, Karnataka. My father 
completed his education in Sri Rangam (Trichy) and migrated to Karachi 
(Pakistan) in the 1938. I was born in Delhi, had most education in Delhi, 3 
years in Bangalore. Then I am in Canada since the last 29 years.

As far as the Sri vaishnnava tradition, or even as south indian culture goes, 
I am also quite new to the field. As a child we memorized Vishnu Sahasranamam 
and thiruppaavai at home. That is about it. Did not know anything more.

Our Delhi Tamil school education did put a lot of Tamil enthuiasm in us. (and 
total ignorance of caste feelings, since our school was about 80% Iyers, 
18% Iyengars, and 2% other. Even a moslem used to be asked, "are you an Iyer 
or Iyengar!"). I took Sanskrit instead of Tamil in the school up to higher 
secondary, (to get high marks, which I did). Our Sanskrit teacher used to pass 
derogatory and demeaning remarks towards Tamil. Our Tamil teacher never passed 
insulting remarks on anything. (Both were Brahmin teachers. The TN caste 
politics were unfamiliar to us then.).

Now a days, we make at least one trip to India every year. I am still 
collecting and reading books. But I like J.Krishnamurthy's view that the 
knowledge is from your within. You can get information from other modern 
authors' writings, but not enlightenment. 

I will be out on vacation till July 2, from today. So if you send any mail, 
please do not expect any replies for a month.

Om namO naaraayaNaaya.

Srinivasan K.