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Re: kamba rAmAyanam

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Mani Varadarajan • October 23, 2002 


Sri Padmanabhan,

I cannot agree with your implication that the Valmiki Ramayana
itself is a second tier scripture for Sri Vaishnavas. The
comparison to Tiruvaymoli, if one must compare, should be taken
only as 'na hi ninda' -- not to put down one but merely to
praise the other.  Sri Ramanuja studied Srimad Ramayana from
Srisaila Purna (Periya Tirumalai Nambi) 18 times and for this
reason the latter is regarded as the greatest of Ramanuja's
five teachers (SrI-bhAshyakAra-uttama-deSika according to
the taniyan).  It is also established practice for the devout to
recite Srimad Ramayana regularly, even in the Sri Vaishnava
community.  This hardly lends credence to the view that only
'selected slokas' are worthy of consideration in Valmiki's
great epic.

None of this of course explains why Kamban is neglected, which
was the original question. If anything, Kamban, being a formal
Sri Vaishnava, should be even more acceptable, since he 
writes his Ramayanam as a devout Rama-bhakta with the unquestionable 
desire to depict Rama as the Supreme God.

regards,
ramanuja dasan,
Mani


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