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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00066 Aug 2002

 
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Respected Ramanuja Bhaktas,

I am not sure where this thread began, but I have learned another theory on
how this word came into being.

Being US raised, I have no partiality towards one language or the other, what
to speak of fluency in any of the languages. However, I feel it is
important to start by pointing out that the clear differentiation that we now
see between Telugus and Tamils was not as distinct in the past, particularly
among SriVaishnavas. We must remember that this was all one kingdom for
centuries, so there was tremendous overlap and borrowing between between
cultures, languages, and traditions. Thus, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada played
tremendous roles in the growth and preservation of our faith. Indeed, you
may find it interesting to know that there are places in what is now the
interior of Andhra Pradesh where SriVaishnavas continue to speak only in
Tamil, while the script they use for reading and learning divya prabhandam is
Telugu. I have also heard that many great Tamil scholars have used Telugu
lipi as a means of recording manipravAlam, as many of the Sanskrit consonants
are unavailable in Tamil.

Keeping that in mind, I have read that both the terms, Iyer and Iyengar,
emerged from the root "Ay", which is the root for the number 5 in both
Kannada and Telugu. Some have theorized that this was in reference to the
pancha maha yagnyams that every Brahmin male is responsible for performing on
a daily basis.

However, unlke the term Iyer, Iyengar has been used as a title by people of
all communities. One famous example is Kandadai Ramanuja Iyengar, a sAthada
SriVaishnava who was responsible for the renovation of Thirumalai during the
Vijayanagaram dynasty. Because of his kainkaryam to Srinivasa, he was not
only conferred the title of Iyengar, but also was allowed to adopt his
achArya's family name, as well.

Consequently, it has been suggested that the reference to five in the case of
Iyengar refers to panchasamskAram. And as Smt. Jaysree has stated, the
ending suffix is "gAru", meaning Sir or Respected One in Telugu.
Consequently, a true bhAgavatha, a true SriVaishnava, should be called yengar
our of reverence for his dedication to bhagavad and bhAgavatha kainkaryam.

In this day and age, however, any one born into such-and-such- family takes
on the name Iyengar, and in the US, the once honorable title is now merely
being used as a convenient last name and, sometimes, as party conversation to
tell people how we are different from Iyers. Consequently, there are many of
us, including myself who would prefer to no longer use this term when
speaking about SriVaishnavam with others or even amongst ourselves.

And personally, what greater title can there be but Ramanuja dAsan?

I hope this helps.

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
Mohan



jasn sn wrote:

> SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA.
>
> Dear sow nappinai,
> I have heard someone telling that 'iyaru karu' (karu
> stands for mariyadai, like sir)bacame iyengar.
> the term iyer had been in vogue for sometime. And with
> the mix of Telugu and tamil speaking population in
> Greater Madras thoses days, the srivaishanavites,
> whose tradition many Telugus followed, were started to
> be called with a reverential suffix 'karu' and thus
> the term iyengar came into place.
> I don't know whether any other explanation is there.
>
> regards,
> jayasree.s.
>
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