Theistic VedÄnta originated with RÄmÄnuja (1077-1157), who was one of the foremost theologians of ViÅistÄdvaita VedÄnta and also an initiate of the ÅrÄ«vaisnava sectarian tradition in South India. As devotees of the God Visnu and his consort ÅrÄ«, the ÅrÄ«vaisnavas established themselves through various processes of legitimation as a powerful sectarian tradition. One of the processes by which the authority of the ÅrÄ«vaisnavas was consolidated was RÄmÄnuja's synthesis of popular Hindu devotionalism with the philosophy of VedÄnta. This book demonstrates that by incorporating a text often thought to be of secondary importance - the Visnu PurÄna (1st-4th CE) - into his reading of the Upanisads, which were the standard of orthodoxy for VedÄnta philosophy, RÄmÄnuja was able to interpret VedÄnta within the theistic context of ÅrÄ«vaisnavism. RÄmÄnuja was the first Brahmin thinker to incorporate devotional purÄnas into VedÄnta philosophy. His synthetic theology called ViÅistÄdvaita (unity-of-the-differenced) wielded tremendous influence over the expansion of Visnu devotionalism in South India and beyond. In this book, the exploration of the exegetical function of this purana in arguments salient to RÄmÄnuja's VedÄnta facilitates our understanding of the processes of textual accommodation and reformulation that allow the incorporation of divergent doctrinal claims. Expanding on and reassessing current views on RÄmÄnuja's theology, the book contributes new insights to broader issues in religious studies such as canon expansion, commentarial interpretation, tradition-building, and the comparative study of scripture. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Indian philosophy and Religious Studies. | Textual Authority In Classical Indian Thought by Sucharita Adluri, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters