iyer/iyengar

From the Bhakti List Archives

• May 6, 1999


Namaskaram

Iam really confused by the terms srivaishnavas ,iyengars,iyers etc.

All iyengars are srivaishnavas but all srivaishnavs are not iyengars.Am i
right?

Like people get  converted into chiristianity ,islam and buddhism can
anybody get officially converted as iyengar or srivaishnava.I think the term
srivaishnavas can be used for all brahmins
as even most smarthas worhip sriman naryana.

Suyamacharys is term used for srivaishnavas who where th e descendants  of
the original 74 disciples  of ramanuja  and who donot have an acharyan
outside their family?

Where these 74 brahmins?

Are  most iyengars   brahmins  by birth?.Because some people say that
ramanuja converted people belonging to different race, caste and even
religion as brahmins and called them as iyengars and so if u trace out the
hereditory of iyengars none of them would have been brahmins by birth.Is it
true?

srimath