Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Dear BhAgavatas,

There was a recent query in this list about a work
called Lokacharya Stuti in praise of Sri Pillai
Lokacharyar and if it might have been authored by
Sri Vedanta Desikar.

There is a work called Lokacharya Panchasat that
is in praise of Sri Pillai Lokacharya, but it's
authorship is disputed.

BSS Swami in one of his books has mentioned that it
is indeed authored by Desikar and this became a
source of debate in the Srirangasri group a short
while ago. As adiyEn participated in that discussion
I will paraphrase the notes I had posted on this
topic.

It was claimed in Srirangasri that this work was
not authored by Desikar and that such a claim was
being made by vested interests because of the fact
that the "seeronRu ..." thaniyan in praise of
Desikar was written by Pillai Lokacharyar. I advised
the group that the authorship of the thaniyan is
not accepted by Thennacharya scholars and any demand
that is made for evidence of the authorship of
Lokacharya Panchasat is applicable to this thaniyan
as well.

As evidence for the thaniyan authorship, Sri
Parthasarathi Dileepan presented a post from the
Vadakalai Guruparampara book - published by Lifco
in 1969(?). When I pointed out that Thennacharya
scholars mention that this book has been modified
over the years and as such is not accepted by them,
I was told that I was making a vested claim (even
though I was only pointing out what was being said
by scholars).

Sri PBA Swami mentions in one of his articles that
it was around 1925 that the claim of the thaniyan's
authorship originated.

Also, in the book quoted, it is said that the thaniyan
was written by Pillai Lokacharyar after hearing the
meanings of Rahasyas from Desikar, according to the
third Brahmatantra Jeeyar. Based on the age difference
between Pillai Lokacharyar and Desikar (at least 60+),
adiyEn finds this difficult to believe. By the time
Desikar was writing his major works, Pillai Lokacharyar
had long published his works and was a very elderly
acharya in Srirangam. Besides Desikar's presence
in Srirangam at the same time as Pillai Lokacharyar's,
is also heavily disputed.

Apart from this, Sri Dileepan also claimed that all
Vadakalai scholars were of the same opinion about
the authorship of the thaniyan as well as the
non-authorship of the Panchasat. His point was
also that not all Thennacharya scholars agree on
the authorship by Desikar of the Panchasat work.

Shortly after the discussion ended in Srirangasri,
adiyEn came up in an old article some interesting
notes. I tried posting them on Srirangasri (not as
final evidence, but as additional data to the
discussion), but was denied by the moderator. I am
attaching them to this post.

I will leave this post as just that: some data in
the discussion. I do not have all the data to make
up my mind one way or the other about the Lokacharya
Panchasat, although I remain convinced that the
seeronRu thaniyan was not composed by Pillai
Lokacharyar.

Azhvar Emperumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

--

Note sent to Srirangasri that was not approved:

At the time of ending this topic, we had left it that
Vadakalai vidwans were likely unanimous in the opinion
that Lokacharya PanchAsat was not authored by Sri Vedanta
Desikar and also that "seeronRu" thaniyan was written by
Sri Pillai Lokacharyar.

AdiyEn recently came across a Srivaishnava publication
from yester-years with the following data. In 1969 (22
Sept 1969) a book titled "Srimad Vedanta Desikan Vaibhavam
- per DvidIya Brahmatantra Swami" was published by "Chennai
Asmad Desika Sampradaya Nirvaha Sabha". I will not go into
all the details of the book, but present some of the notes
critical to the issue of Lokacharya PanchAsat.

The foreword to the book states that it is based on the
Desika Vaibhavam written in Telugu and published through
Sri Parakala Mutt in 1907. That work was based on the
maNipravALa text by the DvidIya Brahmatantra Jeeyar, which
itself was based on the Sanskrit shloka work by the first
Brahmatantra Jeeyar. The information in the book was also
supposedly verified with some additional works from the
Oriental Library (obtained through the efforts of Srimad
Paramapari Andavan Swami). The book was proof-read by Sri
Melattur Vyakarana Siromani Srinivasa Gopala Desikacharyar
Swami, and was also blessed by Navaneedam Swami.

The key points (para-phrased) from this book are:

"As Sri Vedanta Desika was approaching Srirangam, at
Thirupper, he heard about the Muslim invasion of Srirangam
and that Sri Pillai Lokacharyar, Sri Azhagiya Manavala
Perumal Nayanar and Sruthaprakasika Bhattar had left along
with Namperumal. Therefore, with great sadness, he stopped
his journey to Srirangam and moving to different places
and eventually reached Satyamangalam."
....

"After the Islamic forces were defeated and Srirangam was
freed, Sri Desikar came to Srirangam. While there, to
lessen the sadness of not having met Sri Sruthaprakasika
Bhattar and Sri Pillai Lokacharyar in person, he wrote Sri
Sudarshanacharya Vimsathi and Sri Lokacharya Panchasat."

Also, presented in the magazine was the data that in 1904
at Bangalore Thulasi Garden, a Stotravali was published by
a Vadakalai vidwan named Thuppul Venkatacharyar, in which
he presents the Lokacharya Panchasat along with the "Sriman
VenkatanAthArya: ..." thaniyan. There were no further
details about this book.

If it is a fact that Sri Desikar did not meet Sri Pillai
Lokacharyar, then one does have to doubt whether Sri
Lokacharyar wrote the "seeronRu" thaniyan (please note
that this takes nothing away from what is said in the
thaniyan; no matter who the author is, the words ring
true). And the book apparently clearly mentions that the
Lokacharya PanachAsat was authored by Sri Desikar.

I request the scholars in this forum to take this
information and let us know if they have heard about/seen
this book and what the opinions of the vidwans are on it.
It would be interesting if we can actually get a copy of
the book for further study, as several points in it
appear to be different from many of the popular versions
of Sri Desikar Vaibhavam.

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan
TCA Venkatesan


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