SOAS Research Online

Abstract

In the General Introduction a brief sketch of Remilinuja's life is given concluding with a few remarks which introduce Part I and II of the thesis. Part I attempts to survey the many forces which contributed to Ramanuja's view of the Deity, and accordingly deals in Chapter I with the conception at the Deity in the Upanisads, in Chapter II with that in the Bhagavad-gita, in Chapter III with the conception of the Deity in Pancaratra and Puranic literature, and in Chapter IV with the religion of the alvars. Each of these chapters falls naturally into three sections, the first dealing with the Nature of the Deity, the second with the relation of the Deity to the world, and the third with the relation of the Deity to the finite self. Part Ilk concerns itself with Ramanuja's view of the Deity. It is introduced by a few remarks regarding the place which Ramanuja assigns to empirical reason in matters pertaining to the Deity. The three chapters into which this Part is divided correspond with the three sections above enumerated, and deal with the same three topics.