What is thedifference between Iyers and Iyengars?- FORWARD Answer by Mr Ramaswamy Sundaram, Former Retired HRManager at The One Group of Companies (1967–2001) Fri in Quora digest.
Friend - Since youbeing a Mechanical Engineer of the present generation has asked for clarifyingand augmenting your Academic Knowledge I am trying to explain the difference between Iyers andIyengars briefly, without going deeply into ideologies and what not - ok? Broadly Hinduism isdivided into two factions - Saivists- worshipping Lord Shiva as their main deity; and Vaishnavites - worshipping LordMahavishnu as their only deity and consider all other Hindu Gods areDevathas abetting, assisting and coordinating with him.. Similarities between Iyers and Iyengars - Both arecalled Brahmins generally Almost all thepeople from Non-brahmin communities call them both as Iyers or Brahmins becausethey dont see any differences between these two divisions. Both follow theirtraditional culture as was advised by their ancestors, meticulously Both eat onlyVegetarian foods and never touch non-veg foods Both follow cleanerhabits of bathing everyday; chanting Manthras in Sanskrit praising theirdeities and do Pooja to the deities they have in their Pooja room ardently Both keep awayfrom doing sins and try the maximum to help others who are in distressirrespective of Caste-feelings! Control their wardsto trek only in the auspicious paths adhered to by the family tradition Differences between the two factions: Iyers wear theirReligious symbol namely smearing the Holy Ash (Vibhoothi) on their foreheads anarms like this: Iyer ladies wearthe saree in a distinct style like this; Iyers go toShiva and Shakthi Temples more than they go to Vishnu Temples.All the Shiva temples give prominence to Shakthi - Goddess Parvathy - consortof Lord Shiva. Famous Shiva Temples in Tamilnadu are popular only by the nameof the Goddess worshipped there - namely Meenakshi Temple; Kamakshi Temple;Akilandeswari Temple; Karpagambal Temple etc. In Tamilnadu Shiva’s idol will bein the Lingam format in the Sanctum Sanctorum known as Moolavar; and the deitymade up of metal called Uthsavar will only be taken on Procession outside theTemple on Festival Days. The biggestShiva Temple in Tamilnadu is built by Raja Raja Chozhan and is known as BigTemple located in Thanjavur, inside Tamilnadu: All over India,especially in North India, you can see only Iyers smeared with Holy Ash doingService in Temples as Priests and Iyengars are a rarity. Kasi (Varanasi) SriViswanath Temple: Iyengarswear Thiruman (Namam) as the symbol of Vaishnavas hereditarily from the periodof Ramanuja thus - There are two“styles” of wearing Namam - namely Vadagalai Namam- the design of English Letter U Thengalai Namam- the Design of English Letter Y Vadagalai Iyengarsare following the Vedic Rituals in Sanskrit and recite only Sanskrit Manthrasin Temples. ThengalaiIyengars are following the traditions existing only in Tamilnadu - the SouthernIndia - and recites only Thamizh Manthras in Temples. Iyengar Ladies weartheir sarees exactly opposite of the style of Iyer Ladies - where the end ofthe sarry will go through their left shoulders - see Picture; The biggestVaishnavite Temple for Lord Mahavishnu is at Srirangam (nicknamed as Bhoolga Vaikuntam -Heaven on Earth) in Tamilnadu: Idol of LordRanganatha at Srirangam! In Tamilnadu thereare nearly 40,000 Temples for Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Iyengars traditionally worship108 important Temples of Vishnu (namely Divya Desams) of whichSrirangam Temple is the first. Almost 80% of these 108 Divya Desams are locatedin South India - Tamilnadu and Kerala - and only a few are located in NorthIndia. Some funnytit-bits about beliefs of Iyers and Iyengars: If you go to any Vaishnavite Temple you will get onespoonful of Holy Water; leaves of Tulsi; and delicious mixed rice varietieswhich will make your tongue-buds watering - all ofthem first offered to the deity in the Temple and distributed among devotees. In contrast inShiva Temples you get only a bit of Holy Ash and nothing else.The age-old belief is if anyone takes the property of Shiva it is a sin thatwill destroy his generations. (Sivan Soththu Kulanasam). OrthodoxVaishnavites will avoid going to Shiva Temples. They say (Madha Yaanai Thuraththinaalum ShivanKoilukkul Nuzhayaathey) even if you are chased by a wild tuskar elephantyou should not enter a Shiva Temple. The centuries oldtussle between Vadagalai Iyengar and Thengalai Iyengar about which tradtionshould be followed in the Temple rituals is very famous in Kanchipuram and even bothsides approached Supreme Court of India. The SC Judges gave a via-media orderthat for 6 months of a year the Vadagalai Tradition and for the next 6 monthsthe Thengalai Tradition can be followed. The poor creature -the Temple Elephant also did not escape this tussle - whether it should wearVadagalai Namam or Thengalai Namam! The same SC Judgement applies here also.See the Kancheepuram Elephant; Elders in bothsects are wise to say “Hariyum Shivanum Onnu; Ariyaathavar Vaaiyile Mannu”” (Both Shiva and Vishnu are one and the same; mud in the mouths of thosewho do not know or recognize this!) Fortunately theyounger generation of Brahmins today have phoo phooed all this nonsense andthey are keen to get foreign jobs and fly away from India! Dear friends, I found the readingbrief and quite interesting. A few points I like to add. 1- Tirupathi Balajitemple Iyengars- They are either vadakalai or thenkalai. 2. In Kerala LordKrishna temples are also there. Hindudevotees of iyer subcaste go toall temples. My home temple is Lord Krishnatemple. I am named Gopalakrishnan as the deity’s name 3. In Kerala Lord Sivatemples also gives tulsi leaves andtheertham and sandal wood paste. Koovalm leaf and holy ash is more preferred inSiva temples. Gopalakrishnan19-7-2022 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thatha_patty+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/237314529.2399182.1658188431192%40mail.yahoo.com.
