Iyengar

Iyengar (or Aiyangar) is the name of a small in number caste of Tamil Brahmins of South India whose members profess the Visishtadvaita philosophy codified by Ramanuja. The word Iyengar (Anglicised from the Tamil ஐயங்கார்(Aiyaṅkār)) means "people entrusted with five tasks", referring to the five duties that traditional Iyengars perform (see http://www.ahobilamutt.org/samas.html). The most common spelling is "Iyengar", but "Aiyangar" is the phonetically correct spelling. Iyengars along with Iyers are known as Tamil Brahmins .

Related Topics:
Brahmin - India - Visishtadvaita - Ramanuja - Anglicised

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Although most Iyengars speak Tamil, there is a significant number of Iyengars speaking Kannada or a dialect of Tamil, highly influenced by Kannada in southern Karnataka (popularly known as Mysore, Hebbar, Mandyam, Hemige Iyengars), as well as smaller numbers of Telugu-speakers in southern Andhra Pradesh. There is also a sizeable number of Iyengars in the Purulia district of West Bengal who had migrated from Tamil Nadu a few centuries ago due to an invitation by a Bengal king around Ramanuja's time.

Related Topics:
Tamil - Kannada - Karnataka - Mysore - Hebbar - Mandyam - Hemige - Telugu - Andhra Pradesh - West Bengal - Ramanuja

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Iyengars are primarily Vaishnavites, and as is the case with the majority of Brahmins, are also vegetarians. Today, Iyengars are taxonomised into two sub-communities of Thenkalai and Vadakalai based on the different stresses in religious literature. The Thenkalai community ascribes more importance to the Tamil works while the Vadakalai community deems the Vedas, written in Sanskrit to be more important.

Related Topics:
Thenkalai - Vadakalai - Tamil - Sanskrit

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