Teacher, Mediator, Lord: The Ācārya in Piḷḷai Lokācārya’s Śrīvacana Bhūṣaṇam: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

The ācārya, or religious teacher, has been a figure of paramount importance in the soteriological paradigm of the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition since at least the 12th century. He has been considered variously as a spiritual preceptor whose primary task is to teach the knowledge necessary for attaining salvation, as an absolutely essential mediator in the devotee’s relationship to the Lord, and/or even as akin to the Lord himself and revered with the kind of devotion typically reserved for the divine. There are numerous examples from the tradition’s literary corpus that exemplify this, including, but not limited to, the earliest expression of devotion to a teacher found in the tradition’s Tamil scripture, the continuing practice of reciting and composing taṉiyaṉs, single verses that extol the greatness of an aḻvār or ācārya, and several doctrinal treatises, rahasyagranthas that deal specifically with the role and status of the ācārya.