Sri Vaishnavism: Difference between revisions

The Sri Vaishnavism tradition has nurtured an institutional organization of ''[[matha]]-s'' (monasteries) since its earliest days, particularly from the time of Ramanuja. After the death of Yamunacharya, Ramanuja was nominated as the leader of the Srirangam matha, though Yamunacharya and Ramanuja never met.<ref name="Sydnor2012p20"/> Amongst other things, Ramanuja is remembered in the Sri Vaishnavism tradition for his organizational skills and the lasting institutional reforms he introduced at Srirangam, a system paralleling those at Advaita monasteries of his time and where he studied before joining Srirangam matha. Ramanuja travelled and founded many Sri Vaishnavism ''mathas'' across India, such as the one in [[Melukote]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Jerry L. Walls |title=The Oxford Handbook of Eschatology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1XYXMTe1jYC |year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-974248-6 |pages=182–183 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Brian A. Hatcher |title=Hinduism in the Modern World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IdeoCgAAQBAJ |year=2015|publisher= Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-04631-6|pages=27 }}</ref> The Sri Vaishnavism tradition believes that Ramanuja started 700 mathas, but historical evidence suggests several of these were started later.{{Sfn|Dalal|2010|p=385}}

 

The ''matha'', or a monastery, hosted numerous students, many teachers and an institutionalized structure to help sustain and maintain its daily operations. A ''matha'' in Vaishnvaism and other Hindu traditions, like a college, designates teaching, administrative and community interaction functions, with prefix or suffix to names, with titles such as ''Guru'', ''Acharya'', ''Swami'' and ''Jiyar''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Vasudeva Rao |title=Living Traditions in Contemporary Contexts: The Madhva Matha of Udupi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-utNEpTZWUkC |year=2002|publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=978-81-250-2297-8 |pages=33–45 }}</ref>