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Re: Digest Number 37

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Srimahavishnu Vinjamuri • May 16, 2000 


Srimad venkata lakshmana Yativaraya namah.

Dear Bhagavatas,

Firstly, let me thank Sriman Narasimhacharyar for enlightening the likes of me thru his excellent translation of vyakhyanams of several Acharyas for the divine names of Bhagavan.

Now, let me attempt to answer the question of Sri Agarwal.

In fact, I have read a similar opinion expressed by a novleist in his serial based on historical fiction in a Telugu weekly.

however, there are a few more evidences in SV records to show that Krimikantha was anti vaishnava.

   Ananthalwan, author of Venkatachaletihasamala, and a direct disciple of Sri ramanuja, refers to krimikantha as anyApadESya (whose name is not worth mentioning) in his work. He also gives account of how the temple of lord Govindaraja of Thirucchitthirakoodam (Chidambaram) Divya Desam was demolished by the king and the idol of the presiding deity thrown away into sea. Bhagavadramanuja heard about this, installed Govindaraja in tirupati and got a very big temple constructed for Him.

Author of Thirumalai oLugu, another ancient record of historical events related to Tirupati temple, also expresses similar sentiments in his work.

Vishnu 
>________________________________________________________________________
>
>Message: 5
>   Date: Sun, 14 May 2000 18:10:01 -0000
>   From: VAgarwalV@cs.com
>Subject: Krimikantha
>
>Dear Vaishnavas,
>
>Our tradition states that a ruler called Krimikantha persecuted Sri 
>Ramanuja and his disciples. He is said to have got the eyes of Shri 
>Kuresha plucked out. Are there any publications which identify this 
>king conclusively? Is his bigotry attested from alternate sources? I 
>ask because recently, I read an account which casts aspersions on the 
>traditional understanding of these events. I am reproducing selected 
>statements from the text (see reference at the end). Any help will be 
>highly appreciated. I hope I am not offending anyone.
>
>Vishal
>_____________________
>Persecution of Sri Vaisnavas by Krimikantha
>
>The very details of the incident are doubted by Rao [Ref. 1, pg.
>59-61]. He says: "Though it is correct to say that the Chola monarchs 
>were ardent patrons of Saivism, it need not be conlcuded from this, 
>nor from the account of the persecution of Ramanuja that there was a 
>general persecution of the Vaisnvavas and the Vaisnava temples in the 
>Chola period. From the Chola inscriptions, we know that they extended 
>their patrongage to both the Saiva and the Vaisnava temples". Rao 
>identifies the king Krimikantha mentioned in Sri Vaisnava 
>hagiographies as Kulottuga I (1070-1120 CE) and then states: "There 
>are several inscriptions of Kulottunga I in the Srirangam temple". 
>Rao then lists all these inscriptions, which make it clear that 
>numerous generals of the king made lavish grants to the temple,
>which was the center of the Sri Vaisnava community, and then 
>concludes: "It is significant that a number of generals and officers 
>of Kulottuga I figure as the donors of the Srirangam temple. This is 
>unlikely if the king had been a Saiva fanatic." Hari further 
>says: "In the present state of our knowledge and with the tradition 
>account of the Guruparamparai as the basis, we can only conclude that 
>the persecutor of Ramanuja was not Adhirarajendra but Kulottunga I. 
>It was the audacious statement of Kurattalvan, who made a joke
>of the dictum of the king, viz. 'Sivat parataram nasti' that was 
>perhaps responsible for the blinding order. Ramanuja felt himself 
>unsafe and so he left the Chola territory altogether. For aught we 
>know even the blinding of Kuruttalvan might have been a 
>hagiographical invention, for the Guruparamaparai tells us that Alvan 
>regained his eyesight later through divine beneficence. There is a 
>good reason to believe that the account of persecution is highly 
>exaggerated."
>
>Reference:
>1. V. N. Hari Rao; History of the Sritangam Temple; Sri Venkateswara
>Universtity; Tirupati; 1976 
>
>
>
>




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