[Advaita-l] Any Vishnu temples run by smarthas?

[V Subrahmanian]

2012/1/27 D.V.N.Sarma డి.వి.ఎన్.శర్మ <dvnsarma at gmail.com>

> In Tirupati archakas  are Vaikhanasas. They are not Sri Vaishnavas.
> Sri Vaishnavas as far as I understand cannot enter the sanctum
> sanctorum in tirupati. They are allowed to do only ancillary services
> other than archana,
>

Yes.  This is true.  Even in Bangalore, Melkote, etc. I have seen that the
archakas in Vishnu Temples are Vaikhanasas.  Yet I think they are in the
broad group of Vaishnavas.  That way even in Shiva Temples, at least in
Tamilnadu, I think the majority of the archakas are from the 'GurukkaL'
community.  In Chidamabaram they are 'Dikshitars'.  Generally the smarthas
do not 'mix' with them by striking matrimonial alliances, shrAddha, etc.  I
also feel this is the same case with srivaishnavas and the Agamikas
(vaikhanasas) though I know of exceptions in the case of Varadarajaswamy
Temple at Kanchi.  I also think the Vadagalai, Tenkalai differences exist
among vaikhanasas too.  Just like the archakas in Vishnu Temple are
Agamikas, maybe the Nambudiris too have a sub-sect among them which is
given to temple archaka profession.  It is known that there are  close to a
dozen groups among Nambudiris divided function-wise.  How far these
divisions are valid in the present day is another question.  In Karnataka
smarthas, however, I have not seen the (saiva)Agama/smartha difference
among archaka-non-archaka groups.

subrahmanian.v

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