सदाचारः

श्रीचूर्णम्

पाञ्चरात्र-शास्त्र-निषेधः

असंस्कृतां हरिद्रां यो मुखे लिम्पन् नराधमः।
तन्मुखं न निरीक्षेत चण्डालम् इव न स्पृशेत्॥

इत्याह उत्तमूर्-स्वामी प्रयोगमालायाम्।

कथं स्ंस्कारः?

कुङ्कुमं चन्दनं चैव करूप्रञ्चानुलेपनम्।
विष्णुगात्रपरामृष्टं तद्वै पावनपवनम्॥

इत्याह गोपालदेशिक आह्निकार्थप्रकाशिकायाम्। ईश्वरसंहिता च (आह्निकार्थप्रकाशिकायाम् उद्धृता) -

कुङ्कुमं वापि हारिद्रं
चूर्णं विष्ण्वभिषेचितम्।
ऊर्ध्वपुण्ड्रस्य मध्ये तु
धारयेद् दीपवद् द्विजः।

वैखानस-शास्त्र-निषेधः

अभिषिक्तन्तु यच्चूर्णं विष्णुबेरे तु यो नरः
हरिद्रां धारयेन्नित्यं सोऽश्वमेधफलं लभेत्

इति वासुदेव आह्निकामृते दीक्षितीयोद्धारेण।

Color traditions

महिषूरु-मण्डले सर्वदा सर्वे हि रक्तवर्णभृतः - उत्तरकलार्याश् च।

There used to be PM jiyars sporting red in the past. Iirc one AS (38th pattam TirukkuTanthai azhagiyasingar) also sported red in the past (an exception though). Otoh the Tatacharyas of pandya nadu as well as many vdk acharya purushas of Karnata desha have sported red only till recent past. Many of the parakala matha sishyas use red even now.

Unfortunately now colors hv become almost indicator of sampradaya. Which was not so in the past. Till 1960s, u could see some tenkalais sporting yellow as well. That said, in the 1990s, I have seen tenkalais wearing yellow srichurnam. The numbers have reduced now but I do see a few of them even now sometimes. Now only vaikhanasas with tk namam sport yellow here and there.

I don’t consider red = tk and yellow = vk as valid.

• ravilochana

In spite of 150 year old pramANas for the use of turmeric based shrIchUrNam, many vadakalai shishthas of the previous generation (1950-2020) still wore red shrIchUrNam. My own family was wearing red until some 30-35 years ago and switched to yellow. Back them my mother would say that “vaidIkas wear yellow and laukIkas wear red”.

I myself know of a TK Vaikhanasa priest who wears yellow and Mahamahopadhyaya Srivatsankachariar Swamy has talked about a TK shishtha who only wore yellow.

• विजयः ताताचार्यः

त एव तोण्डैमण्डलदेशस्था उत्तरकलार्याः केवलं आशौच समये रक्तवर्णरेखां धारयन्ति । - श्रीवासः

तिरुमण्

In fact, I would go to the extent of saying that Y = Tk and U = vk itself is a later development (maybe 250 yrs or so). Prior to that, both options were there and neither was wedded to one particular school of thought. You can see both types of tiruman in the temples of Hampi - even from the 14th century (like Hazara Rama). - रविलोचनः