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Re: Origin of Iyengar

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suderson • February 18, 2002 


anEka praNAma to all bhAgavathas.
I have heard a different version of the "etymology" of
the term Iyengar.
"IYYAN" as explained by SrimAn Srinivas in general
came to be applicable to all upper caste, particularly
the brahmin community. Today still,  the villagers
will address brahmins as iyer even though he may be an
iyengar or Madhva!!!

The term IyengAr as per what I heard from scholars
refers to brahmins that under go panchasamakAra. They
then subscribe to five angAs towards prapatti and
hence “iyyangAr”. Incidently, VaikAnasa vaishNavas,
who do not adopt panchasamskAra,  do not refer to
themselves as iyyangArs. Now the question is, can we
then call all srivashNavas, irrespective of the caste,
that adopt panchasamskAra,as IyyangArs?

AdiyEn just felt like airing my views.
DAsAnudAsan
Suderson

--- lsrinivas  wrote:
> --- In bhakti-list@y..., "nnarsi" 
> wrote:
> > I remember to have read a scholarly article by
> Late Sri Navalpakkam 
> > Ammini Devanatha Tatacharya, a philologist and a
> recipient of 
> > President of India's award for Sanskrit, about the
> origin 
> > of "Iyengar". This word as well as "Iyer" has same
> origin in the 
> > Tamil word "Aiyan" meaning a respectable one.
> Iyengar is a Telugu 
> > variant of Aiyan (Aiyan + Garu). 
> > 


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