Self-Surrender (prapatti) to God in Shrivaishnavism

<p>Filling the most glaring gap in Shrivaishnava scholarship this book deals with the history of interpretation of a theological concept of self-surrender-prapatti in late twelfth and thirteenth century religious texts of the Shrivaishnava community of South India. This original study shows that medieval sectarian formation in its theological dimension is a fluid and ambivalent enterprise where conflict and differentiation are presaged on sharing whether of a common canon saint or rituals or two languages (Tamil and Sanskrit) or of a meta-social arena such as the temple.</p><p>Srilata Mueller a member of the Shrivaishnava community argues that the core ideas of prapatti in these religious texts reveal the description of a heterogeneous theological concept. Demonstrating that this concept is theologically moulded by the emergence of new literary genres Mueller puts forward the idea that this original understanding of prapatti is a major contributory cause to the emergence of sectarian divisions among the Shrivaishnavas which lead to the formation of two sub-sects the Tenkalai and the Vatakalia who stand respectively for the cat and monkey theological positions.</p><p>Making an important contribution to contemporary Indian and Hindu thinking on religion this text provides a new intellectual history of medieval Indian religion. It will be of particular interest to scholars of Shrivaishnava and also Hindu and Indian religious studies. </p>