Swami as a Tarkika Simham

Swami Desikan's brilliance as a poet was matched only by that as a
philosopher? He was a "tArkika-simham", a lion that struck terror in
the hearts of ideological adversaries.

The word "tarka" in Sanskrit refers to the branch of logic called
dialectics. It is a highly technical method of reasoning based on
complex and formal rules of ratiocination. In Desikan's times it
involved never-ending debate ('vAdA') and discourse between exponents
of rival schools of philosophy. It was the principal occupation of
philosophers in Desikan's times, challenging each other frequently to
debating duels. Around 13th century CE some extreme elements in the
school of Advaitins ('mAyAvAdins') began to undermine, through
aggresive polemics and propaganda, the vast influence which the
school of VisishtAdvaitic Vedanta wielded amongst its followers in
its own bastion viz. the holy temple-town of Srirangam. These
Advaitins began to seriously question the Vedic basis for the
authority and validity of Ramanuja's 'siddhAnta'.

The pundits of SriRangam badly needed the services of a redoubtable
philosopher from within their own ranks who could resist and overcome
the spread of a dangerously specious brand of aggressive Advaita.
They found none amongst themselves until they finally discovered
their man in Swami Venkatanathan at Kanchi. He was summoned to
SriRangam.

Venkatanathan left Kanchi and moved to SriRangam, and during the
50-odd years of his life there, he authored some of the most profound
and formidable works ever to be written in the annals of
VisisishtAdvaitic Vedanta.

The philosophic system of Sri Ramanuja, as constructed in his seminal
work called "sri-bAshyam" about two centuries earlier, found its
fullest and most sophisticated expression in Desikan's philosophical
works some of which were pure treatise and some counter-polemics.
Swami Desikan's most famous works, the "tattva-muktA-kalApA",
'sarvArtha- siddhi' and the 'sata-dUshani' were all authored around
this time. Together they constituted by far the most solid and
irrefutable defense of the school of Ramanuja's Vedanta against every
known rival Vedantic system that dared to challenge his philosophy.

In recognition of Swami Desikan's services to the firm establishment
of one of the greatest schools of Vedantic philosophy -- viz.
'sri-rAmAnuja-siddhAntam' -- he came to be known as "tArkika-simham".

Venkatanathan reputation as a "tArkika-simham" grew for yet another
reason also.

A certain section of Vedic orthodoxy -- we might call them "die-hard"
elements -- in SriRangam during Desikan's times was totally against
the AzhwAr's Tamil "divya-prabhandham" which Sri Ramanuja had
introduced into temple rituals and festivities. They resented the
status given to the Tamil 'marai' by Ramanuja equal to that of the
timeless Vedas that were in Sanskrit.

Desikan, though a deep Vedic adherent himself, stoutly defended the
mysticism of the AzhwAr's Tamil 'marai'. In 2 magnificent works
titled "dramidOpanishad-tArparya-ratnAvali" and "dramidOpanishad
sAram", Venkatanathan demonstrated how NammAzhwAr's "tiruvoimOzhi"
was the perfect and peerless Tamil equivalent of the Vedantic
Upanishads and how together they constituted the bed-rock of a unique
tradition of Vedanta called "ubhaya-vEdanta" -- the twin-fold way to
VedAnta.

Today, if the AzhwAr's "divya-prabhandham" prevails and flourishes in
all SriVaishnavite temples in India, it is due in no small measure to
the efforts of the "tArkika-simham", Swami Desikan.