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Re: tErezhundUr

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mani Varadarajan • October 6, 1998 


Sudarshan wrote:
> Dear Mani,
> I've got my version from a local Sankara Mutt friend of mine.
> He generally makes no mistake in getting his historical facts.

This is what I suspected. I have heard from another source
that the late Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati (known to
his devotees of Paramacharya) used to tell this story about
tErezhundUr.  With due respect to the late swami, the story
as told by him does not conform at all to the sthala-purANa,
and the name "aamaruvi-appan" applies only to PerumaaL and
not to Siva.  

Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati was quite learned in 
Sanskrit vaidika Sastras, but it appears that his knowledge
of Divya Prabandham and associated lore (including Vaishnava
sthala purANas) was extremely lacking. His explanations of the 
paasurams of the mudal-AzhvArs and the tiruppAvai, to name two 
examples, show a marked lack of familiarity with the Prabandhic 
corpus and the pUrvAcArya vyAkhyAnams.  Several Sri Vaishnava 
scholars who were his contemporaries have pointed out the flaws 
in his explanations, and a few of these have been mentioned in
the past on this List.

aDiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,
Mani