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Re: Being 'aiyanGAr'.

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sampige srinivasa • February 25, 2002 


Bhagavatha Bandugalige Sharanu,
After seeing so many mails regarding the word Iyengar/ Aiyangar, I think
the mail from Sri. SundaraRajan is Right.

The Word Aiyya / Aiyyan is common in all the Dravidian Languages.
In Kannada generally Elderly Brahmins are called Aiyya Navaru with Respect.

We have many Iyengar Scholars who have written Great Literary works in 
Kannada and One Sri. Masthi Venkatesha Iyengar won the JnanaPit Award for 
his literary works in Kannada.

We have Purohit Tirunarayana Iyengar Narasimhachar(Shotly called Pu. Thi. Na 
)who is from Melukote/ Tirunarayanapuram who has written a great literary 
work called Shree Krishna Charite which is a Mahakavyam in Kannada dedicated 
solely to Shree Krishna Bhakti/ Prapatti.

His Kavyams always contains the touch of Bhakthi to Sri Cheluvanarayana.

These people are called Aiyangaryaru in Respect by Kannada Scholars.

Note the Word Arya in Aiyangaryaru. I think there is a relation between the 
word Aiyangar to Arya and the word has its origin in Samskrit.

So in the word Aiyangar, Ai stands for Five. So the right interpretation of 
the word Aiyangar is one who does
Pancha Samskaram in his day to day life, as highlihted by some of our 
respected members.

But I don't know how many of us do these PanchaSamskaram in our day to day 
life and how can we manage this in this material/mechanical World.

It would be helpful if some one guide us how they manage there time in doing 
all these samskarams daily and work simultaneously. So that the word Iyengar 
in our names will have some significance.

Om Namo Narayanaya

Sharanam
Srinivasa Iyengar




>From: "SundaraRajan" 
>To: 
>CC: "Sumathy Deivachilai" , "Pou" 
>, 
>Subject: Being 'aiyanGAr'.
>Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2002 19:50:32 +0530
>
>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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>




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