10. Whether the good of other (unregenerate) castes should be tolerated according to their graduated social statuses, or should be venerated without reference to caste inequalities;
11. Whether karma (works, rituals, etc.) should or not be bodily and wholly abandoned by those who have adopted prapatti.”
The points of difference between Vadagalais and Thengalais are thus described by Mr. V. N. Narasimmiyengar[104]:—“The Tengalē schismatists deny to Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, any participation in creation, and reduce her to the position of a creature; omit to ring the bell when worshipping their idols; salute each other and their gods only once; make use of highly abstruse Tamil verses in room of Sanskrit mantras and prayers; modify the srāddha ceremony materially, and do not shave their widows. The principal texts cited by the Tengalē Sri Vaishnavas in support of the immunity of their widows from the rite of tonsure are the following:—
Widows should avoid, even when in affliction and danger, shaving, eating of sweets, betel nut, flowers, sexual intercourse, conversation with men, and jewels (Sāndilyah).
A woman, whether unmarried or widowed, who shaves her hair, will go to the hell called Rauravam. When the husband dies, the widow should perform his due obsequies without shaving. She should never shave on any occasion, or for any purpose whatever (Sambhuh).
If any woman, whether unmarried or widowed, shave (her head), she will dwell in the hell called Rauravam for one thousand karors of kalpās. If a widow shave (her head) by ignorance, she will cause hair to grow in the mouths of her ancestors’ ghosts on both sides. If she perform any ceremonies inculcated by the Srutis and Smritis with her head shaved, she will be born a Chandālī (Manuh).
There is no sin in a devout widow, whose object is eternal salvation, wearing her hair. If she should shave, she will assuredly go to hell. A Vaishnava widow should never shave her head. If she do so through ignorance, her face should not be looked at (Vridd’ha Manuh in Khagēsvara Samhitā).
If any one observe a Brahmachāri beggar with his kachchē (cloth passed between the legs, and tucked in behind), a householder without it, and a widow without hair on her head, he should at once plunge into water with his clothes (Ananta Samhitā).
It is considered highly meritorious for Vaishnava widows to wear their hair, as long as they remain in this world (Hayagrīva Samhitā).”
In a note on the two sects of the Vaishnavas in the Madras Presidency, the Rev. C. E. Kennet writes as follows[105]:—“While both the sects acknowledge the Sanskrit books to be authoritative, the Vadagalai uses them to a greater extent than the Thengalai. The former also recognises and acknowledges the female energy as well as the male, though not in the gross and sensual form in which it is worshipped among the Saivas, but as being the feminine aspect of deity, and representing the grace and merciful care of Providence; while the Tenkalai excludes its agency in general, and, inconsistently enough, allows it co-operation in the final salvation of a human soul. But the most curious difference between the two schools is that relating to human salvation itself, and is a reproduction in Indian minds of the European controversy between Calvinists and Arminians. For the adherents of the Vadakalais strongly insist on the concomitancy of the human will for securing salvation, whereas those of the Tenkalai maintain the irresistability of divine grace in human salvation. The arguments from analogy used by the two parties respectively are, however, peculiarly Indian in character. The former adopt what is called the monkey argument, the Markata Nyāya, for the young monkey holds on to or grasps its mother to be conveyed to safety, and represents the hold of the soul on God. The latter use the cat argument, the Mārjāla Nyāya, which is expressive of the hold of God on the soul; for the kitten is helpless until the mother-cat seizes it nolens volens, and secures it from danger. The late Major M. W. Carr inserts in his large collection of Telugu and Sanskrit proverbs the following:—