Śrī Vaiṣṇava Scriptures – An Overview
Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition preserves its sacred literature through two complementary and equally authoritative streams.
One stream consists of the Sanskrit Vaidika and Āgamic granthas, including the Vedas, Upaniṣads, Bhagavad Gītā, Brahma Sūtra, Purāṇas, and the commentarial works of Ācāryas such as Rāmānuja. These texts articulate the philosophical and theological foundations of the tradition.
The second stream is the Tamil Divya Prabandha, the corpus of devotional hymns composed by the Āḻvārs, revered in Śrī Vaiṣṇava sampradāya as the Drāviḍa Veda. These hymns are not viewed as secondary literature, but as the lived, experiential expression of the same Vedic truths, revealed through devotion and divine grace.
Together, the Sanskrit granthas and the Tamil prabandhas form a unified scriptural body — one expressing truth through śāstra and doctrine, the other through devotion and experience. Śrī Vaiṣṇava practice, study (adhyayanam), and worship draw from both streams in harmony.