SriMathe Ramanujaya Namaha:
ಶ್ರೀಮತೇ ರಾಮಾನುಜಾಯ ನಮಃ
About Iyengar | SriVaishnava community
The Iyengar community has its origins in south india. Iyengar’s predominantly speak Tamil, Kannada and Telugu
languages. Basically it is a Sri Vaishnava Brahmin community. Sri Vashinavas worship Lord Vishnu and his other
Dasavatara (Ten Avatars) Swaroopams. The Iyengar symbol are Shanka, Chakra and Nama.
We (Iyengars, Sri Vaishnavas ) are followers of Sri Ramanujacharya . He was a philosopher and we follow his preachings,
culture, tradition, principles, etc. The disciples and followers of Sri Ramanujacharya have created their own mutts/
monasteries. Like Ahobala Mutt, Parkal Mutt, Yathiraj Mutt & Aandavan Swamy Mutt etc., These disciples are called
Alwars & NamAlwars. These disciples composed devotional shlokas (verses) like Nalaiyara Divya Prabandham about
Lord Narayana / Vishnu. There are also 108 important Sri Vaishnava Temples called Divya Desam’s.
Iyengars are of two types. Vadakalai and Thenkalai. One of the symbolic difference is in the nama i.e the base of the
nama is either curved or flat.
In Iyengars there are also many groups like, Hebbar Iyengars, Mandyam Iyengars, Kelnat Iyengars, Kalkunte Iyengars,
Melkote Iyengars etc., and they also belong to different gotras. Iyengars migrated to different small towns (gramas /
villages) in Tamil nadu and Karnataka. In Karnataka Iyengar communities can be found in Belur, Kadaba, Gorur, Shanka,
ShantiGrama, Nonavinkere, Bindingnavaile, Hiremangluru, Eshwarahalli, Molur, Malavalli, Thondavadi etc.,. One of the
hallmark of these places is that most of them have ancient temples of Vishnu or his swaroopams.
Iyengar community may have started off as a very orthodox community but now this community is one of the most
educated / liberal / forward thinking communities. At the same time many from the community are still rooted to its
preachings of humanity & worship.
There are so many famous Iyengar personalities belonging to varied fields.
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