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saathina, saathaatha muthalis etc..

From the Bhakti List Archives

K. Srinivasan • July 21, 1995 


>
>However, if possible could you send me / post some background on who
>these muthalis were, what were their previliges and duties,

There are a few eposodes, like the one on Kidaambi aachchaan.
But the others are not in that book. I will ask the author sometime.
Some of the episodes are from the earlier works of 12th-15th centuries.
Some episodes are from the "family" stories of their descendents.

So I would not swear on them as 100% fact. But are all the same
very interesting.

As for previlages, I do not know. Their duty was to carry the words of
Ramanuja, I suppose.
> also the
>difference between saathina and saathtaatha muthalis, please. I seem to
>have missed some threads in the discussion that might have clarified these.

saaththaadhavar are those who do not wear a pooNool and perform
vedic duties. naalaayiram is used extensively.
Most likely those of non-brahmin ancestry. It is also
likely that some gave up the vedic duties and the pooNool and vice
versa. Now the saaththaadhavar are a small sub group of then kalais,
mostly in srirangam, srivillipuththoor and mElkottai.

I was talking to one last year. They talk Iyengar dialect. The women wear
Iyengar madisaaru. He said they get full respect in the temple. But
is a poor community almost all in temple duties. He also said,
many saaththaadha sri vaishnavas in srivillipuththoor wear the
pooNool. I do not know if that makes them saaththinavar!.

Mani has posted about a publication in American Journal of Eastern
Philsosophy earlier, which talks of saaththaadha Sri vaishnavas.

There is another sub-group of thenkalai called "sOzhiyar", who
wear pooNool. They are also very devoted to naalaayiram.

K. Srinivasan