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MAY, 1874.)
THE TWO SECTS OF VAISHNAVAS.
125
NOTES ON THE TWO SECTS OF THE VAISHNAVAS IN THE MADRAS
PRESIDENCY. BY THE REV. CH. EGBERT KENNET, VEPERY, MADRAS. THE worshippers of Vishnu are designated grasps its mother to be conveyed to safety, and
1 Vaishnavas, but this name comprises represents the hold of the soul on God. The a great variety of secte, who while assigning to latter use the cat-argument, the marjála wydya, Vishnu a supremacy over the other gods of which is expressive of the hold of God on the the Trimûrti, yet differ among themselves in soul; for the kitten is helpless until the motherthe religious and other practices founded on the cat seizes it nolens volens and secures it from nature of their belief, and in their use of the danger. No two analogies can better illustrate sectarian mark. These differences, as described the difference of opinion between the Calvinists by the late Professor Wilson in his Sketch of and Arminians of Christian Europe: and the the Religious Sects of the Hindus, relate mostly very existence of the facts suggesting the anato the Vaishnavas of Northern India. Bat logies may be suggestive of the possiblo har. in this Presidency the Vaishnavas aremony of difficulties in religion, according to some divided into two great parties, known as the secret law unknown to us, when the same or Vada kalai and Tenkalai, or the Northern similar ones are found to exist in nature, if learning and the Southern learning or doctrine. both religion and nature own one and the same This division of the Vaish ņavas is said Author to have been occasioned mainly through Vedanta | It may be interesting to notice here how Tesikar, a Brahman of Conjeveram, who is re- abstruse polemical arguments filter down and ported to have lived about six hundred years ago, enter into the common life of the people of a and laid claim to a divine commission to re- country. For the late Major M. W. Carr, who form the customs of Southern Brâhmans, and to was an unobtrusive but highly accomplished restore the old Northern rules and traditions. Oriental scholar, inserts in his large collection
While both the sects acknowledge the Sans. of Telugu and Sanskrit Proverbs the two followkrit books to be authoritative, the Vadakalai
ing:uses them to a greater extent than the Ten. No. 304. The monkey and its cub. kala i. The former also recognizes and ac- As the cub clings to its mother, so man seeks knowledges the female energy as well as the divine aid, and clings to his God. The doctrine malo, though not in the gross and sensual form of the Vadak alais. in which it is worshipped among the Saivas, but No. 313. Like the cat and her kitten. as being the feminine aspect of deity, and repre- The stronger carrying and protecting the senting the grace and merciful care of Provi. weaker; used to illustrate the free grace of God. dence; while the Tenkala i excludes its agency The doctrine of the Tenkalais-pp. 442, 444. in general, and, inconsistently enough, allows it Leaving the speculative differences between co-operation in the final salvation of a human these two sects, I have now to mention the soul. But the most curious difference between practical one which divides them, and which the two schools is that relating to human salva- has been, and continues to be, the principal cause tion itself, and is a reproduction in Indian of the fierce contentions and long-drawn law. minds of the European controversy between suits between them. And this relates to the Calvinists and Arminians. For the adherents exact mode of making the sectarian mark on of the Vada kala i strongly insist on the con- the forehead. While both sects wear a represencomitancy of the human will for securing salva- tation of Vishnu's trident, composed of red or tion, whereas those of the Tenkalai maintain yellow for the middle line or prong of the trithe irresistibility of divine grace in human sal- dent, and of white earth called nama for those vation. The arguments from analogy used by on each side, the followers of the Vadakalai the two parties respectively are, however, pecu- draw the middle line only down to the bridge liarly Indian in character. The former adopt of the nose, bat those of the Tenkala i draw what is called the monkey-argument, the markata it over the bridge a little way down the nose nyáya : for the young monkey holds on to or itself.* Each party maintain that their mode of
• See page 136.
