[Footnote 579:  Agamapramanya.  He also wrote a well-known hymn called Alavandar-Stotram and a philosophical treatise called Siddhi-traya.]

[Footnote 580:  He states himself that he followed Boddhayana, a commentator on the Sutras of unknown date but anterior to Sankara.  He quotes several other commentators particularly Dramida, so that his school must have had a long line of teachers.]

[Footnote 581:  See Gazetteer of India, vol.  XXIII. s.v.  There is a Kanarese account of his life called Dibya-caritra.  For his life and teaching see also Bhandarkar in Berichte VIIth Int.  Orient.  Congress, 1886, pp. 101 ff.  Lives in English have been published at Madras by Alkondaville Govindacarya (1906) and Krishnaswami Aiyangar (? 1909).]

[Footnote 582:  He also wrote the Vedartha Sangraha, Vedartha Pradipa, Vedanta Sara and a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita.]

[Footnote 583:  S.B.E. XLVIII. p. 3.]

[Footnote 584:  II. 2. 36-39.]

[Footnote 585:  II. 2. 43 ad fin.]

[Footnote 586:  Ramanuja’s introduction to the Bhagavad-gita is more ornate but does not go much further in doctrine than the passage here quoted.]

[Footnote 587:  This fivefold manifestation of the deity is a characteristic Pancaratra doctrine.  See Schrader, Int. pp. 25, 51 and Sri Bhashya, II. 242.]

[Footnote 588:  See Br.  Ar.  Up III. 7.  The Sri Vaishnavas attach great importance to this chapter.]

[Footnote 589:  Only relatively northern and southern.  Neither flourish in what we call northern India.]

[Footnote 590:  Hence the two doctrines are called markata-nyaya and marjara-nyaya, monkey theory and cat theory.  The latter gave rise to the dangerous doctrine of Doshabhogya, that God enjoys sin, since it gives a larger scope for the display of His grace.  Cf.  Oscar Wilde in De Profundis, “Christ, through some divine instinct in him, seems to have always loved the sinner as being the nearest possible approach to perfection in man....  In a manner not yet understood of the world, he regarded sin and suffering as being in themselves beautiful holy things and modes of perfection....  Christ, had he been asked, would have said—­I feel quite certain about it—­that the moment the prodigal son fell on his knees and wept, he made his having wasted his substance with harlots, his swine herding and hungering for the husks they ate beautiful and holy moments in his life.”]

[Footnote 591:  Also called Venkatanatha.  For some rather elaborate studies in the history of the Sri-Vaishnavas see V. Rangacharis’ articles in J.  Bombay R.A.S. 1915 and 1916 and J.  Mythic Society, 1917, Nos. 2 ff.]

[Footnote 592:  Prapatti and acaryabhimana.—­The word prapatti seems not to occur in the Sri Bhashya and it is clear that Ramanuja’s temperament was inclined to active and intelligent devotion.  But prapatti is said to have been taught by Nathamuni and Sathagopa (Rajagopala Chariar, Vaishnavite Reformers, p. 6).  The word means literally approaching.]