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106 The Višistā-dvaita School
(CH. to Drāviờa-thāşya as being a commentary on the Chāndogy Upanişad, written in a simple style (rju-vivarana) previous to Sankara's attempt. In the Samkṣepa-śārīraka (111. 217–27) a writer is referred to as Atreya and Vākya-kāra, and the commentator Rāmatīrtha identifies him with Brahmanandin. Rāmānuja, in his V'edārtha-samgraha, quotes a passage from the Vākyakāra and also its commentary by Dramidācāryal. While the Vākya-kāra and Dramidācārya, referred to by Rāmānuja, held that Brahman was qualified, the Dramidācārya who wrote a commentary on Brahmānandin's work was a monist and is probably the same person as the Dravidācārya referred to by Anandagiri in his commentary on Sankara’s bhāsyopodghāta on the Chāndogya Upanişad. But the point is not so easily settled. Sarvajñātma muni, in his Samkṣepa-śārīraka, refers to the Vākya-kāra as a monist. It is apparent, however, from his remarks that this l'ūkya-kāra devoted the greater part of his commentary to upholding the pariņāma view (akin to that of Bhāskara), and introduced the well known example of the sea and its waves with reference to the relation of Brahman to the world, and that it was only in the commentary on the sixth prapāthaka of the Chāndogya that he expounded a purely monistic view to the effect that the world was neither existent nor non-existent. Curiously enough, the passage referred to Sarvajñātma muni as proving decidedly the monistic conclusion of Atreya Vākya-kāra, and his commentator the Dramidācārya is referred to by Rāmānuja in his Vedārtha-sangraha, as being favourable to his own view. Rāmānuja, however, does not cite him as Brahinanandin, but as l'âkva-kāra. The commentator of the Vākya-kāra is referred to by Rāmānuja also as Dramidacārya. But though Sarvajñātma muni also cites hiin as l'ākya-kāra, his commentator, Rāmatirtha, refers to him as Brahmanandin and the l'ākya-kura's commentator as Drāvidācārya, and interprets the term “Vākya-kāra" merely as "author." Sarvajñātma muni, how
i Vedārtha-sangraha, p. 138. The l'ākya-kāra's passage is "yuktam tadgunopusanād," and Dramidācārya's commentary on it is "vady-api sac-citto na nirbhugna-daitatam guna-ganam manasā'nudhūvet tathā'py antar-guņām eva devatām bhajata iti tatrā'pi sa-gimai'va devatā prāpyata iti." The main idea of these passages is that, even if God be adored as a pure qualityless being, when the final release comes it is by way of the realization of God as qualified.
MM.S. Kuppusvāmi Sāstri, M.A., identifies Dramidācārya with Tirumarisai Pirăn, who lived probably in the eighth century A.D. But the reasons adduced by him in support of his views are unconvincing. See Proceedings and Transactions of the Third Oriental Conference, Madras, 1924, pp. +68-+73.
