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Re: Being 'aiyanGAr'.

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Maruthi Pavan • February 24, 2002 


Dear Sri Sundara Rajan,

Thanks for a nice mail on the roots of Aiyangar. Being
a Srivaishnavaite, I am happy to understand these
basics.

The word 'aiya-garu' has been used very frequently to
refer to revered Srivaishnavaite priests in A.P. by
many Srivaishnavaite heads and I picked it up from
there. There is no doubt about the usage and I am not
sure, nor competent as far as the grammatical part of
it goes nor would like to stretch it as it appears dry
for me.

Some corrections, if there was a mis-interpretation of
my mail. In my mail I had written that, "I FEEL" and
it clearly tells that I was not sure while comparing
it. But as far as the word 'aiyya-garu' goes, it is
definitely used in conversation. ( Don't know which
books to refer to for proof ).

Jai Sriman Narayana

Regards
Maruthi Ramanuja Das.

--- SundaraRajan  wrote:
> Friends,
> 
> It is good to have a posting from a native
> Telugu-speaker like Sri Maruti
> Pavan
> with a note on how the words 'aiyan'
> (prathamA-vibhakti/vERRumai in Tamil)
> and 'aiyA' (Tamil prathamA and ashTami-sambOdhanam)
> and 'aiya' (Tamil
> ashTami-sambOdhanam & Kannada prathamA) would
> combine with the Telugu 'gAru'
> and set in Telugu language.
> 
> From what Pavan says, it would be 'aiya-gAru' in
> Telugu,
> and not 'aiyangAr'.   Assuming 'aiya-n' is
> exclusively Tamil
> (which it is not), it is possible it goes as a
> loan-word to Telugu,
> but the loan would be modified as per Telugu
> 'samAsa' rules,
> and 'aiya-n' would not retain the 'a-n vikuti' (the
> 'n' terminal).
> If this were at all to be traced to Telugu 'usage',
> then what were the Kannada and Malayalam coinages
> to denote the Tamil Srivaishnava ?
> 
> And, most importantly, what was the TAMIL
> connotation at all
> for a Srivaishnava ?  The words 'vaishNavan' and
> 'SrivaishNavan'
> occur freely in the inscriptions of the Great Temple
> of Srirangam.
> ('Sri-vaishNava-Sri' A. Krishnamachari, Srirangam,
> has undertaken a systematic study of the
> inscriptions.)
> I can offhand mention the instance of two
> inscription tablets of
> parAntaka SOzha the First (early 10th cent.)
> embedded in the
> tiru-k-koTTAram (cow-pen).
> 
> I have listened to some good recitations of
> Telugu opera recitations (was it of Tyagaraja's
> "prahlAda-bhakti-vijayam"?) and the word used in
> them
> was simply "Srivaishnuvulu", but "aiya-GAru" did not
> figure in them.
> I coud not trace "aiya-GAru" in the famed ANDAL
> classic,
> 'A-mukta-mAlya-dA' of Krishnadeva-rAya (one of the
> Telugu pancha-mahA-kAvyam-s), nor in the minor work
> 'Sri-vEnkaTESa-vachana-Satakamu'
> of Pedda Tirumalacharya (grandson of the revered
> Tallapakkam Annamacharya).
> Can someone browse thro' some standard classics of
> the
> 17th century (when "aiya-GAru" is said to have come
> into usage)
> for corroboration ?
> 
> I am reminded of some single-minded and
> unacademic attempts to derive every expression from
> Tamil,
> as indeed to trace everything to Sanskrit.   One
> such was when
> someone said that the Tamil "pAr-ALu-mannRam" was
> the
> source of the English "parliament".    I pointed out
> that
> "parliament"  was not English but French, from
> 'parler', to speak.
> Secondly, the so-claimed Tamil original
> "pAr-ALu-mannRam"
> had a totally different semantic signal,
> meaning the 'seat of governance' and not 'forum of
> debate'.
> Thirdly, "pAr-ALu-mannRam" did not figure in any of
> the
> Tamil classics, even works of say 1850 before Tamil
> faddisms of 1950's
> replaced all academic direction and research.   This
> ponderous
> mouthful of "pAr-ALu-mannRam" was patently a hurried
> and
> post-1950 synthesis requisitioned from someone who
> was not aware
> of classics, any classics whatsoever.
> 
> 'aiya' is basically dravidic, and there are attempts
> to derive it from
> the Sanskrit 'Arya' and the prAkr`ta "ajja".
> 
> But, attempting to relate the 'aiya' stub of
> 'aiyanGAr'
> to the Tamil 'aiyam' (= uncertainty) is by far the
> most fanciful.
> The appropriate thing here is to remember the common
> law of Philology
> that "sound philology is unsound".
> 
> I have heard that 'aiyanGAr' could be the
> Tamil-Sanskrit hybrid
> for "pancha-samskArin", as per the following from
> Padma-puranam ~
> 
> "tApa: puNDras-tathA nAma mantrO yAga-S-cha
> panchama:
> amee vai pancha-samskArA: pAramaikAntya-hEtava:"
> 
> (The Srivaishnava/paramEkAnti  sacrament is in five
> parts
> -- "ai " and "anGam" --  namely, the Sankha-chakra
> imprint on the
> shoulders, the Urdhva-puNDra lines drawn on the
> forehead symbolising
> the blessed feet of the Lord, the instruction in and
> recitation of
> the esoterics/'mantra', and the 'yAga' or daily
> worship / tiru-ArAdhanam.)
> This verse occurs in several other texts including
> the parASara-samhitA
> of pAncha-rAtra Agama.
> 
> 'aiyanGAr' as a Tamilism for 'pancha-samskr`ta'
> SrivaishNava
> appears plausible.   Pillai-perumal Aiyangar (of the
> gem-like
> 'ashTa-prabandham') was the well-known
> scholar-poet-devotee to whom this honorofic
> attached.
> 
> aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan
> tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan
> at Srirangam.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Maruthi Pavan" 
> To: 
> Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 6:53 PM
> Subject: aiyan in Telugu
> 
> 
> > Dear Sri Venkatesan,
> >
> > the word 'aiyya' in telugu ( 'aiyan' in Tamil )
> > is a word of respect to a highly revered person.
> > The word ending with 'n' is unique to Tamil
> > and thus I feel that its 'aiyan'. ( aiyya + n )
> > or the reverse (aiyan - n = aiyya in Telugu ).
> >
> > Even before this discussion,
> > I used to equate this word 'aiyangar'
> > to aiyya + gaaru  in Telugu.
> > In A.P., many srivaishnavaite archakas and
> scholars are
> > reffered to with the word 'aiyya gaarlu' ( plural
> ).
> >
> > Maruthi Ramanuja Das
> 
> 
> 


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