the eleventh century however, the hostility of the
Chola King Kulottunga, who was an intolerant Sivaite, forced him to
retire to Mysore. Here he was protected by King Vittala Deva whom he
converted from Jainism and on the death of Kulottunga in 1118 he
returned to Srirangam where he ended his days. In the temple there his
tomb and a shrine where his image receives divine honours may still be
seen. His best known work[582] is the Sri Bhashya or commentary on the
Vedanta sutras.

The sect which he founded is known as the Sri Sampradaya and its
members as the Sri Vaishnavas. As among the Sivaites revelation is
often supposed to be made by Siva through Sakti, so here the Lord is
said to have revealed the truth to his consort Sri or Lakshmi, she to
a demigod called Visvaksena, and he to Namm'arvar, from whom Ramanuja
was eighth in spiritual descent. Though the members of the sect are
sometimes called Ramaites the personality of Rama plays a small part
in their faith, especially as expounded by Ramanuja. As names for the
deity he uses Narayana and Vasudeva and he quotes freely from the
Bhagavad-gita and the Vishnu Purana. Compared with the emotional
deism of Caitanya this faith seems somewhat philosophic and reticent.

Ramanuja clearly indicates its principal points in the first words of
his Sri Bhashya. "May my mind be filled with devotion towards the
highest Brahman, the abode of Lakshmi; who is luminously revealed in
the Upanishads: who in sport produces, sustains and reabsorbs the
entire universe: whose only aim is to foster the manifold classes of
beings that humbly worship him."[583] He goes on to say that his
teaching is that of the Upanishads, "which was obscured by the mutual
conflict of manifold opinions," and that he follows the commentary of
Bodhayana and other teachers who have abridged it.

That is to say, the form of Vishnuism which Ramanuja made one of the
principal religions of India claims to be the teaching of the
Upanishads, although he also affiliates himself to the Bhagavatas. He
interprets the part of the Vedanta Sutras which treats of this
sect[584] as meaning that the author states and ultimately disallows
the objections raised to their teaching and he definitely approves it.
"As it is thus settled that the highest Brahman or Narayana himself
is the promulgator of the entire Pancaratra and that this system
teaches the nature of Narayana and the proper way of worshipping him,
none can disestablish