Debates

[Vasudha Narayanan]

        Accounts of various kinds of debates are found in the
thirteenth/fourteenth century hagiography GuruparamparAprabhAvam by
Pinpalakiya PerumAL JIyar.  This text is a pious narrative of the Tamil
poet-saints (alvars) and the teachers (acaryas) of the Sri Vaisnava
tradition.  The debates, therefore, obviously focus on Vaisnava-Saiva
sectarian issues and Visistadvaita/advaita controversies.  Needless to say,
in this text, the Vaisnava and Visistadvaita folk emerge as winners.  As far
as I can remember, there are two kinds of debates: (1) vidvat sadas under
the patronage of a ruler ( in this case, the Pandya king) to have a
Paratattva nirNayam and (2) one on one debates ("tarka" is used as a verb in
manipravala here).  The stories describe incidents in the lives of people
who lived anywhere between 500-25 years before the life of the author, so at
best we get an idea of what was prevalent around 13th century.  I don't know
if this is the time span you are looking for.

        Here is short listing of debates I have found in this text.  The
text is in manipravala.  The full citation is ARAyirappaTi
GuruparamparAprabhAvam by Pinpalakiya PerumAL JIyar, published by S.
Krishnaswami Ayyankar, Tiruccirappalli: Puttur Agraharam, 1975.
1. Periyalvar, (c. 8th cent) the Tamil poet is invited by the Pandyan king
for a Vidvat sadas and establishes Visnu as the para tattva in a debate with
a bunch of scholars (pp. 40-42)

2. Tirumankai alvar, (c. 9th- 10th cent.) also a Tamil poet, debates with
Jnana Sambandar (Saiva poet) and wins (pp. 79-80).  Of course, it is highly
debatable whether these guys met, but we do have a good acct. of what they
would have done if they had.

3.  Ramanuja's (11th cent.) debate with Yajnamurti, a mAyAvAdin.  This is
the longest and most detailed of debates filled with traditional tropes --
they engage in debate like wild elephants battling each other for over 16
days, tarka goshtis as cheer leaders, winner takes all, including the other
as his disciple, loser accepts the winner's sandals as his prize; good stuff
here. (pp. 203-206)

4. Parasara Bhattar (Ramanuja's disciple Kuresa's son) debates with another
mAyAvAdin called VedAnti (off and on from 336-345).  VedAnti who is much
older becomes Bhattar's disciple, becomes a sanyAsi and is renamed Namjiyar.

The Ramanuja debate is the most interesting one-- if anyone is interested, I
can translate the stuff and send it to your address.  
Vasudha Narayanan, 
Professor, Department of Religion
University of Florida