Pilgrimage as a Religious Process

Abstract

This article attempts to explore the scope of pilgrimage as a normative concept as well as a religious practice for the Srivaisnava community from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. The Srivaisnavas are a distinct Vaisnava community in South India confined primarily to Tamilnadu and southern parts of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The community considers Visnu and his consort Laksmi as their supreme godhead and Ramanuja as their spiritual leader. The Srivaisnavas regard the Sanskrit Vedas and the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, which is a corpus of 4,000 hymns composed by the Alvars, the early Vaisnava saints, as their main scriptures. The present day Srivaisnavas are divided into sects. They are the Vatakalai and the Tenkalai. The Vatakalais represent the Sanskritic tradition. Kancipuram in Tamilnadu is their institutional centre and Vedanta Desika (AD 1268–1369) their spiritual preceptor. They give preference to the Sanskrit Vedas over the Dravida Vedas, the Tamil hymns of the Alvars. Therefore, they are considered brahmanical and conservative in their outlook. The Tenkalais on the other hand, represent the Tamil tradition. Srirangam in Tamilnadu is their centre and Manavala Mamuni (AD 1370–1442) their religious leader.