Astadasabhedanirnaya. Explication des dix-huit différences (entre les deux branches de l'Ecole de Ramanuja) de Sri Vatsya Ranganatha

by Suzanne Siauve

A controversy of a theological nature on the divergences between the two major schools of Vaisnavism in the South continues even to this day. The debate between the school of the ‘North’ or vad?agalai, founded on the Sanskrit tradition, and that of the South, or ten?galai, which is partial to Tamil tradition, concerns the relations between divine grace and human endeavor and the nature of surren-der to this grace on the part of the devotee. The Astadasabhedanirnaya is one of the texts relating to the eighteen differences between the two sects. It derives from the vad?agalai school of thought and may have originated in the 19th century A.D. It is edited here with a French translation and introduction.