Question

Ramanuja was influenced by the ----?

Answer 1

Hint: Ramanuja, born in Tamil Nadu in the eleventh century, was deeply influenced by the Alvars. According to him the best means of attaining salvation was intense devotion to Lord Vishnu.

Complete solution:
 Harold Coward describes Ramanuja as "the founding interpreter of the Sri Vaishnava scripture". Wendy Doniger called him "perhaps the most influential thinker of devotional Hinduism". Van Buiten stated that Ramanuja was highly influential by giving "devotion an intellectual foundation", and his efforts made devotion the dominant force within the various traditions of Hinduism.

Modern scholars have compared the importance of Ramanuja in Hinduism to the scholar Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) in Western Christianity.

Ramanuja reformed the Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple complex, conducted India-wide tours and expanded the reach of his organization. The temple organization became the stronghold of his ideas and his disciples. It is here that he wrote his influential Visishtadvaita philosophy text, Sri Bhashyam at one time.

Ramanuja not only developed theories and published philosophical works, but he also created a network of temples for Vishnu-Lakshmi worship. Ramanuja established centres of study for his philosophy during the 11th and 12th centuries, travelling to India in that era, and these affected generations of poet-saints devoted to the Bhakti movement. Regional traditions claim that their travels, debates and discourses accelerated the conversion of Jains and Buddhists into Vaishnavism in Mysore and the Deccan region.

Note:
Ramanuja's birthplace near Chennai hosts a temple and is an active Vishishtadvaita school. His principles inspire a vibrant intellectual tradition in the southern, northern and eastern states of India, with his monastery and temple traditions being carried to the most important and larger Vaishnava centres - the Ranganatha Temple in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu.