The Deśika-Dīpāvalī

On the holiest of occasions of Deepavali in the year 2024, I take this opportunity to share a document that I had prepared a few years ago. The Deśika-Dīpāvalī is a selection of 12 verses drawn from across Swāmī Nigamânta Mahādeśikan’s multilingual œuvre, all filled with the imagery of lamp-lights—and hence very appropriate for the festival of Deepavali! They were originally selected by Śrī U.Ve. D. Ramaswamy Ayyaṅgār, a very prominent 20^th-century scholar of the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition renowned for his penetrating insights and beautiful English translations of Swāmī Deśikan’s works.

In this attached PDF, I provide translations for each of the 12 verses of the Deśika-Dīpāvalī. I have also provided short descriptions of the different texts from which D.R. Swāmī selected these verses, as well as a little bit about the temple deities celebrated in them. Another appendix provides a brief introduction to the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions of prosody (chandas or yāppu). The PDF additionally includes some of my own idiosyncratic reflections on the deeper meanings of the Deśika-Dīpāvalī, interpreting the verses as harmoniously illuminating different facets of the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition as a whole.

Desikadipavalitranslationgokulmadhavan

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A translation of the twelve verses of the Deśika-Dīpāvalī (selected from Swāmī Nigamānta Mahādeśikan’s œuvre by Swami U.Ve. D. Ramaswamy Ayyangar), along with extended reflections on their meanings as well as two appendices introducing the texts from which the verses are drawn, the temple deities celebrated in them, and finally the poetic meters in which they are composed.

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This Substack post includes a recording of the twelve verses of the Deśika-Dīpāvalī as well as a few more verses before and after. (All of these verses are translated, with ample footnotes, in the attached PDF.) As a brief outline:

• My recording begins with 4 benedictory verses to Swāmī Deśikan, in 3 different languages (transliterated and translated on pp. iv–v of the PDF):

  • The first verse is the famous Rāmānuja-dayā-pātram verse. This is the opening verse of the pŏdu-taniyans or Common Benedictions recited by Vaḍakalai Śrīvaiṣṇavas at the beginning of every recitation of the compositions of the Āḻvārs. It was composed by Brahmatantra Svatantra Jīyar (depicted in the painting above).

  • The second is the standard Sanskrit verse Śrīmān Veṅkaṭanāthâryaḥ that is invariably recited before every recitation of Swāmī Deśikan’s Sanskrit compositions.

  • The third is the standard Tamil verse śīr-oṉḏṟu Tūppul Tiruvēṅkaṭam-uḍaiyān that is invariably recited before every recitation of Swāmī Deśikan’s Tamil compositions.

  • The fourth is the standard Prakrit verse Siri-Veṅkaḍa-ṇāhajjo, recited before every recitation of Swāmī Deśikan’s sole Prakrit composition, the Accu^ya-Sa^ya^yam (or Acyuta-śatakam).

• Next come the 12 verses of the Deśika-Dīpāvalī proper (transliterated and translated on pp. 2–13 of the PDF).

• Next, in order to celebrate Swāmī Deśikan himself as being a lamp unto the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition for all of us, I recite two verses (transliterated and translated on pp. 16–17 of the PDF) that describe him as such from the Piḷḷai-^yantādi composed by his own son, Kumāra Varadācārya (depicted in the picture above).

• Finally, I recite a few of the closing benedictions to Swāmī Deśikan that are chanted at the end of the sāṯṯṟu-muṟai chants by Vaḍakalai Śrīvaiṣṇavas, as well as the concluding benediction Kavi-tārkika-siṃhāya that wraps up recitations of his Sanskrit compositions as well (transliterated and translated on pp. 44–46 of the PDF).

Swāmī Vedānta Deśika

|| śīr-ār Tūppul Tiruvēṅkaṭam-uḍaiyān tiru-^vaḍigaḷē śaraṇam ||