Vaishnavism & Saivism

[Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian]

Krishna Kalale <kkalale1 at SAN.RR.COM> wrote:

> There may be some tamil works on this topic, which I am not familiar
with.
>  Personally I prefer sanskrit books since I am not comfortable in
tamil.

The following may be useful:

1. Sivadvaita of Srikantha, by S.S.Suryanarayana Sastri, University of
Madras, 1972.

2. The Sivadvaita Nirnaya of Appayya Dikshita, Edited with an
Introduction, Translation and Notes, by S.S.Suryanarayana Sastri,
University of Madras, 1974.

3. Saivaparibhasa of Sivagrayogin, English translation by
S.S.Suryanarayana Sastri, University of Madras, 1982.

Generally, Saivite authors (at least in the Sanskrit) are more
inclusivistic than Vaishnavite authors. This fact has been noted for
eg., by Jan Gonda. For example, the Saiva Nilakantha, who has also
written a brahmasUtrabhAshhya, considers vishhNu to be the cit-shakti
of shiva and hence fit to be adored. The same view point is adopted
(previously held?) by bhaTTa-bhAskara mishra in his
taittirIya-AraNyaka bhAshhya. Prof. S.S.Suryanarayana Sastri gives the
relevant details about the astounding similarities between Srikantha's
views and Bhatta bhAskara's views in his books.  bhaTTa bhAskara
mishra's commentary on the yajur-veda has been edited and published by
Alladi Mahadeva Sastri. It has been reprinted by Motilal also. The
above books have some details about the supremacy of shiva over
vishhNu, but not too much.

A more polemical author seems to be haradatta shivAchArya. I have not
read any of his works.  A brief summary of his life and the relevant
polemical works can be found in:
"Haradatta misra and Haradatta Sivacarya," Collected Papers of
S.S.Suryanarayana Sastri, pp. 375-380, University of Madras, 1961.

If you have any other references on this topic, I'd appreciate it if
you could post them.

Rama