Dear Madhuri and Mohan, I said the word Ayyagaru is used specially to denote Sri Vaishnavas in our Telengana parts of Andhra Pradesh by common folk. This is not used in the Circar regions or Rayalaseema. But Iyengar no doubt is a word mostly used by Tamil and Karnataka Sri Vaishnavas. There are many Sri Vaishnavas in Andhra Pradesh whose origin should have been in Tamil speaking regions or Tamil Kingdoms of yester years which is clear from their surnames like Kandadai, Mudumbai, Nallanchakravathi etc and some of them use the title Iyengar even though they do not speak Tamil at all. I agree that mostly the word Acharya or Acharyulu is used at the end of their names in AP. Even the title "Chari" as it is used in Tamil areas is not used in AP mostly. The name "Ayya" itself should have been derived from ARYA in Sanskrit to address an exalted person (not to be confused with word Aryas and Dravidas as used by Christian and Marxist historians to divide and rule). In Telugu we have many Sanskrit words called Tatsama Padas. They are referred to as Prakriti which might also be words from Prakritam or equivalent Sanskrit words. The equivalent colloquial words are called Vikrutis. For example Bhojanam is Prakriti (the noun form of food or the verb form for the act of eating) and the Vikruti is Bonamu in Telugu. Vikruti itself can mean distorted. There are other words in Telugu which are not Sanskritised but are akin to Tamil. The old Telugu and Tamil are very similar and should have been sister languages. Similarly the word Hrishikesa is made to sound Irudeekeysan in Tamil poetry. Sri becomes Thiru. Even the word "Ayyar" or "Iyer", which is the title used by Tamil speaking Vaideekas, should be a distorted form of "Aryar". I personally feel that the titles have more mundane origins rather than some deep philosophical origins. Regards, Ramanujam. >From: Madhuri and Mohan <mmsagar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> >Reply-To: ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >To: ramanuja@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >Subject: [ramanuja] What does "Iyengar" mean? >Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 21:57:28 -0600 > >The term "garu", as Sri Ramanujam and Smt. Jayasree have said, is a term >of respect akin to "avar" in Tamil. However, while Ayyagaru is used to >refer to Brahmins in general, Iyengar is not at all used by SriVaishnava >families in Andhra Pradesh. In fact, the term Iyengar is used to refer >only to Tamil speaking SriVaishnavas. Vaishnavas in Andhra generally >refer to themselves and are referred to by others with the term >Acharyagaru, or in more colloquial term simply as Charigaru. The only >unique variation on this is the term "Jeeyengar", which is used by >traditional families to address Jeeyars. > >Be that as it may, however, I think it is important to note that >historical references do not limit the use of the term Iyengar just to >Brahmin SriVaishnavas alone. Indeed, there was one Kandadai Ramanuja >Iyengar of non-brahmin origin who was instrumental in convincing the >Vijaynagaram kings to renovate and support Thirumala. He took the name >of Kandadai from his acharyan, but Iyengar was a title that I personally >feel could only have been conferred upon him because of his dedication >to Sri Vaishnavam. > >adiyen Ramanuja dasan >Mohan > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/.itolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ramanuja/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: ramanuja-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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