Ramanujacharya:
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Sri Ramanujacharya was born in 1017 in SriPerumbudur, Tamil Nadu.
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He was one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism.
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He is famous as the chief proponent of Vishishtadvaita subschool of Vedānta.
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He was also referred to as Ilaya Perumal, which means the radiant one.
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He worked tirelessly against casteism and social hierarchies, proclaiming that all living beings had the right to Realization.
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He also enacted several reforms in temple administration. For instance, at one time the entire administration in the Srirangam Temple in Tiruchirappalli was controlled by a specific caste. He included persons from different castes in the Temple administration. A number of responsibilities were given to women also.
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He wrote nine works that came to be known as the Navratnas including three major commentaries, the Vedartha-Sangraha, the Sribhasya and the Bhagavadgita-bhasya aimed at providing a philosophical foundation for devotional worship.
What is Vishistadvaita?
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Vishishtadvaita is a non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy. It is non-dualism of the qualified whole, in which Brahman alone is seen as the Supreme Reality, but is characterized by multiplicity.
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It can be described as qualified monism or qualified non-dualism or attributive monism. It is a school of Vedanta philosophy that believes in all diversity subsuming to an underlying unity.