[5][6] The tradition traces its roots to the ancient Vedas and Pancharatra texts, popularised by the Alvars and their canon, the Naalayira Divya Prabandham.

The first is Sanskrit traditions found in ancient texts such as the Vedas and the Agama (Pancaratra), and the second is the Tamil traditions found in early medieval texts (Tamil Prabandham)[18] and practices such as the emotional songs and music of Alvars that expressed spiritual ideas, ethics and loving devotion to god Vishnu.

[19][8][9] The Sanskrit traditions likely represent the ideas shared in ancient times, from the Ganges river plains of the northern Indian subcontinent, while the Tamil traditions likely have roots in the Kaveri river plains of southern India, particularly what in modern times are the coastal Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu region.

[10] Sri Vaishnavism developed in Tamil Nadu in the 10th century, after Nathamuni returned from a pilgrimage to Vrindavan in north India (modern Uttar Pradesh).

[19] Nathamuni's ideas were continued by Yamunacharya, who maintained that the Vedas and Pancaratras are equal, devotional rituals and bhakti are important practices.

[28] This theological dispute between the Vedic and Bhakti traditions traces it roots to the debate between Srirangam and Kanchipuram monasteries between the 13th and 15th century.

[13] This metaphorical description of the disagreement between the two sub-traditions, first appears in the 18th-century Tamil texts, but historically refers to the foundational ideas behind the karma-marga versus bhakti-marga traditions of Hinduism.

[29] Along with Vishnu, and like Shaivism, the ultimate reality and truth is considered in Sri Vaishnavism to be the divine sharing of the feminine and the masculine, the goddess and the god.

[30][32] Sri Vaishnavism's philosophical foundation was established by Ramanuja, who started his Vedic studies with Yadava Prakaasa in an Advaita Vedanta monastery.

[33][34] His ideas are one of three subschools in Vedanta, the other two are known as Adi Shankara's Advaita (absolute monism) and Madhvacharya's Dvaita (dualism).

[40] The other philosophical difference between Madhvacharya's Vaishnavism Sampradaya and Ramanuja's Vaishnavism Sampradaya,[note 2] has been on the idea of eternal damnation; Madhvacharya believed that some souls are eternally doomed and damned, while Ramanuja disagreed and accepted the Advaita Vedanta view that everyone can, with effort, achieve inner liberation and spiritual freedom (moksha).

[34] Ramanuja accepted that the Vedas are a reliable source of knowledge, then critiqued other schools of Hindu philosophy, including Advaita Vedanta, as having failed in interpreting all of the Vedic texts.

[55] Sri Vaishnavism philosophy is primarily based on interpreting Vedanta, particularly the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Sutras and the Narayaniya section of the Mahabharata.

[12] The relative emphasis between the two has been a historic debate within the Sri Vaishnavism tradition,[2] which ultimately led to the schism into the Vatakalai and Tenkalai sub-traditions around the 18th century.

[61] This style of education from one generation to the next, is a tradition called Araiyars, states Guy Beck, which preserved "the art of singing and dancing the verses of the Divya Prabandham" set in the sacred melodies and rhythms described in the Vedic texts.

The aspiration, "May I, having abandoned all suffering, participate freely in infinite bliss", actuates a person whose goal is liberation to study scriptures etc.

[22] Yamunacharya composed a number of works important in Sri Vaishnavism, particularly Siddhitrayam (about the nature of Atman, God, universe), Gitarthasangraha (analysis of the Bhagavad Gita), Agamapramanya (epistemological basis of Agamas, mapping them to the Vedas), Maha Purushanirnayam (extension of Nathamuni's treatise), Stotraratnam and Chathuh shloki (bhakti strota texts).

[72] Ramunaja himself credits the theories he presents, in Vedarthasamgraha, to the ideas of ancient Hindu scholars such as "Bodhyana, Tanka (Brahmanandin), Dramida (Dravidacarya), Guhadeva, Kapardin and Bharuci".

[83] The matha, or a monastery, hosted numerous students, many teachers and an institutionalized structure to help sustain and maintain its daily operations.

A matha in Vaishnvaism and other Hindu traditions, like a college, designates teaching, administrative and community interaction functions, with prefix or suffix to names, with titles such as Guru, Acharya, Swami, and Jiyar.

[88][89] This position typically involves a ceremonial initiation called diksha by the monastery, where the earlier leader anoints the successor as Acharya.

Both these traditions have from 10th-century onwards considered the function of mathas to include feeding the poor and devotees who visit, hosting marriages and community festivals, farming temple lands and flower gardens as a source for food and worship ingredients, being open to pilgrims as rest houses, and this philanthropic role of these Hindu monasteries continues.

[28][96] The philosophies of Pillai Lokacharya and Vedanta Desika, which evolved consequently, were stabilized by Manavala Mamunigal and Brahmatantra Svatantra Jiyar respectively.

[93] From the ancient period, the Sri Vaishnavism movement flourished in Tamilakam owing to its social inclusiveness, where devotion to the supreme deity (Vishnu) was open without limitation to gender or caste, a tradition led by Alvars in the 7th and the 8th centuries.

[100] In contrast, Sadarangani states that it was Vadakalai who were more liberal and who did not recognise caste barriers, possibly because they were competing with the egalitarian Virashaiva Hindus (Lingayatism) of Karnataka.

Raman states, "it can almost be said that the Tenkalai represented the anti-caste tendencies while the Vadakalai school championed the cause of purity of the Vedic tenets.

[131] They lay more emphasis on the role of Lakshmi i.e. Sri, and uphold Sanskrit Vedas as the ultimate "Pramanam" or authority, although Ubhaya Vedanta[note 8] is used to infer from and establish the doctrine of Vishishtadvaita.

The Vadakalai infer that all of the Alvars compositions are derived from the Vedas, and believe that the latter is the ultimate source to reference and defend the doctrine.

[138] The Urdhva Pundra that is vertical and faces upwards denotes that it helps one in reaching Vaikuntha (the spiritual abode of Vishnu), and is also considered to be a warder of evil.

In Vrindavan, the Jankivallabh Mandir of Keshighat is a prominent Vadakalai Sri Vaishnava monastic institution and is associated with the spiritual lineage of the Ahobila Mutt.