Same gothrams (of same rishis) found both in Iyer and Iyengar then why is there a difference?

[Padmanabhan Janakiraman]

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Same gothrams (of same rishis) found both in Iyer and Iyengar then why is there a difference?




To know the reason for this you should know the order of developement of sampradayas.


We can say it as culture in other words. Man was uncultured in the stone age, day by day he became cultured by learning something and adding it as a cultural development to his community. In this order, Rishis are the oldest. Their followers lived in several places! At that time there were no separations except gotras according to the rishis. Then they have moved to several places for several purposes! There they have advanced their culture with some new customs. Their followers had a difference of opinion in the matter of worshiping God.


Three major 'tatvas' were announced by three great Acharyas called "Ramanujar", "Sankaracharyar" and "Madhvachariyar".


People who followed the I one are called as "Sri Vaishnavites" or "Iyengars" their philosophy is known as : "Visishtadhvaidham" People who followed the II one are called "Smarthas" or "Iyers" and their Philosophy is known as "Adhvaidham". The III one's followers are called as "Madhwas" and their philosophy is : "Dhvaidam" Due to the difference of philosophy, the worshipping of main god also changed and the method of worship also changed.


The sects like "Vada Kalai - Then Kalai" in Iyegars and "Vadamal, Vathimal, Brahacharanam, Ashtasahasram" in iyers are the later development. Due to the affection with their own community, they have developed different cultures among them and stopped sharing relations between them.

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Source; braminset.

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[OKO]

The order of the acharyas are: Shankaracharya, Ramanujacharya and Madhavacharya.

Before Ramanujacharya, the "Brahmanas" were not codified based on who they follow and there was a great deal of leeway in terms of ishta devta (of course kula deivam is always central even back then). The order of the TB's were based on migration. The Vathimas and Ashtasahrams were the "local" TB's and then came the Brihacharanams and finally the Vadamas. Now, an interesting thing to note is that the vathimas and ashtasahasrams are mainly shaivites (including the majority of the brihcharanams, but they have to worship vishnu per tradition) and then you have the vadamas who lean more towards vaishnavite traditions. Post-Shankaracharya the vadamas and some brihcharanams become followers of Smarta tradition which is not being followed by most "iyers".

Now, Ramanujacharya is a vadama who studied the Smarta tradition and then formulated his own theory based on the various texts and revived the Pancharaatra agama tradition. Ramunjacharya believed that the traditional structure amongst the aforementioned Brahmanas was restrictive and took in disciples from different varnas as his students and called them "Sri Vaishnavas". The non-brahmin students (thenkalai) of his who learned "took on" the gothrams of their guru (not Ramanucharya alone but also other people in his ashrams who were brahmnas and had xyz gothrams). Now, the vadakalai's are nothing but the vadama brahmans, and therefore as brahmnas they already have their respective gothrams which would obviously be similar to a lot of the gothrams the "iyers" have.

I do not have much knowledge about the Madhavas and may not be the best to answer that.