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Re: Prapannamrita-tarpana

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mani Varadarajan • July 9, 1999 


Atmarama Das wrote:
> Is there some english translation of the prapannamrita-tarpana available in
> print format?

> And otherwise, which are the best books on the life of Sripada Ramanujacarja
> and the history Sri Vaisnavism in general,
 
I believe you are referring to the 'prapannAmRtam', a Sanskrit verse
hagiography of the Alvars and acharyas.  The work is by Anantarya,
a descendant of Ramanuja's disciple Tirumalai Anandaanpillai, and
dates from the 16th or 17th century. Unfortunately, there is no English 
translation of this work. However, the prapannAmRtam closely follows
the 14th century Guruparampara Prabhavam, which has been translated.

This translation was recently reprinted and is available from a number
of sources. One reprint is by the Visistadvaita Research Centre in 
Madras (an arm of the Ahobila Matham), and I believe another one
was recently completed. The latter is an offset of the original 
translation of Govindacharya, if I am not mistaken, and is probably
a better version. Venkatesh Elaiyavalli (vke@cypress.com) may be
able to give you more information about it.

These give you the best traditional account of Ramanuja and the Alvars,
but do not much discuss philosophy.

For the best short account of Ramanuja and his philosophy, I suggest
M. Yamunacharya's "Ramanuja's Teachings in His Own Words", published
by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.  Ramanuja's biography is succinctly given,
and there is a very accurate summary of his philosophy at the end,
along with Sanskrit excerpts from his works.

Mani