A Family of Great AchAryAs Of Ahobila Mutt

[Guest guest]

Dear Sriman NaarayaNa BhakthAs :

 

Sriman Dileepan posted an informative note on

the 600th anniversary of Founding of the AhObila Mutt

planned for September , 1998 . I will amplify on that

theme on this special day .

 

The Thirunakshathram of the 25th Jeeyar

***************************************

 

Today is Aani UtthirattAthi . The Thirunakshthram

of the great scholar and savant , the 25th Jeeyar

falls on this day . He reigned as H.H Sri Srinivasa

Yatheendhra MahA Desikan for 35 years and 8 months

This is one of the longest reign as a pontiff

and his reign was marked by one of the greatest

spurt of growth in our SampradhAyam .He was revered as

Periya Srinivasa MahA desikan and also as

SaapAnugraha Swami . I will provide some more details

about his holy life after saluting his santhathis .

 

The 26th and the 27th Jeeyars of Ahobila Mutt

*********************************************

 

The 25th jeeyar was succeeded by his scholarly son

as the 26th Jeeyar of Ahobila Mutt , Sri Ranganatha

Yatheendhra MahA Desikan .He presided over the Ahobila Mutt

for 17 years and 1 month .

 

The 27th Jeeyar was Sri VeerarAghava Vedantha

Yatheendhra MahA Desikan . He reigned only for

2 years and 7 months .

 

This triad of remarkable scholars (25th, 26th qand 27th ),

who occupied the throne of Ahobila Mutt Peetam guided

the destinies of this sampradhAyam altogether for

a total of 54 years and 4 months (i-e) ., 9% of the 600

Years of the founding of the Mutt by Adi VaNN

SatakOpa Yatheendhra MahA Desikan at Ahobilam in 1398 .

 

These three AchAryAs reigned from March 1776 , when America

became an independent Nation to August 1831 , when the British

still ruled over India .

 

Their BrindhAvanams are at Nrusimhapuram not far from

the Divya Desam of AathanUr .Their Vamsam is known

as Ilanagar GathAdharapuram vamsam .

 

The 37th Pattam Jeeyar of Ahobila Matam

****************************************

 

The three Ilanagar Azhagiyasingars were joined at

Nrusimhapuram by a fourth Azhagayiasingar

in the year 1900 . He was the great scholar and

grantha kartha who gave us 26 Granthams on

Sri vaishNavA doctrines in his 55 years of life

on this earth .

 

He occupied the throne of Ahobila Mutt

for only one year and he had already entered

the SanyAsramam at the time of his sveekAram

of the Peetam as the 37th Jeeyar .In the year 1899 ,

he arrived at Nrusimhapuram to pay his homage

to his predecessors and when he opened his eyes

from DhyAnam at the BrindhAvanam ,some one standing

nearby said that there is room for another BrindhAvanam

at the site . He looked up the skies and had the darsanam

of three Garudans circling over the site . He decided that it

was the AchArya Niyamanam for him to join his three

successors at Nrusimhapuram and today we have 4 sacred

shrines there .

 

The 37th Jeeyar , Atthipattu Azhagiyasingar

was a great devotee of ThiruveLLUr VeerarAghavan for all of

his life . He is the one , who responded to the call

of Moolavar at ThiruveLLUr to fix His "ill" right hand resting

over SaalihOthra Maharishi and performed MahA samprOkshaNam

and Sahasra KalasAbhishEkam in the third quarter of the

Ninteenth Century . A little over 100 years later ,

the devout bhakthAs of Sri Veeraraghavan from

the Bhakthi List joined in a similar set of Kaimkaryams

in 1998 and received Sri VeerarAghavan's blessings .

 

Since the 37th Jeeyar reached ParamaPadham without

nominating his successor , there was no one to

succeed him immediately . Number of great scholars

wanted to succeed the 37th Jeeyar and after five and

half years , there was an empty seat at Ahobila Mutt .

AarAdhanam for Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan were carried out by

AaradhakAs without a reigning Azhagiyasingar .

 

There was an "election ' for the sacred peetam

on 1905 and Thirukkudanthai Sri Chakravarthi Swamigal

won the majority of votes from the sishyAs of

the mutt and ascended the throne on July 17 , 1905

and reigned for a short period of 3 years

and 10 months .

 

The 38th Jeeyar of Ahobila Mutt (1860-1909)

*********************************************

 

He was succeded by the 38th Jeeyar revered as

Thirukkudanthai Ilanagar GadhAdharapuram Sri Chakravarthi

VenkatAchhArya Swami .His Ashrama Naamam was Sri Srinivasa

SatakOpa Yatheendhra MahA desikan . It was from his successors

adiyEn had the Sri Hayagreeva manthrOpadEsam that came

via the generations at DevanArviLaagam , the birth

place of the 43rd Jeeyar( 1901-1957) .

 

The SaapAnugraha Azhagiyasingar of the 25th Pattam(1776-1811)

*************************************************************

 

He is the main thrust of this note , since it is his

birthday that we are celebratiing today . He is considered

as the amsam of VynathEyA .A village in SarabhOji MaharAjA

( 1798-1833 ) was ceded to this Jeeyar as a result of a

dream of the king , when Lord Lakshmi NrusimhA commanded

the king to cede a village to the Jeeyar. The king

was thrilled to make the deeds and thus originated

Nrusimhapura AgrahAram named as such by the 25th Jeeyar.

This is the same king , who was the cause of Saint

ThyagarAjA's KalyANi krithi, Nidhi saala SukhamA ? "

 

As in the case of AchArya RaamAnujA , those who were jealous

of this AchAryA tried to poison him as well by mixing visham

in his food. When he came to know of it indirectly ,

he consumed the food and recited the powerful NrusimhAnushtup

manthram and the Mrthyu Mruthyu , Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan ,

his aaradhana mUrthy countered the poison and the AchAryA

returned to his KaalakshEpam and Aaradhanai .Great events

took place in his reign that enhanced the Sri VaishNava Sri .

 

Inview of the shortness of space and time , I will just

recite his Taniyan and conclude this note with a prayer

to this Vara PrasAdhi Jeeyar to bless us all "the neophytes "

to enhance our Bhagavadh-AchArya and Bhaagavatha Bhakthi .

 

SrivAsa Veeraraghuvarya ParAnkusAdhi

RaamAnujArya Munibhi: Guru Saarvabhoumai : I

samprEkshitham karuNayA paripUrNa bhOdham

Sri SrinivAsa YathisEkharam aasrayAma : II

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaraDaachAri Sadagopan

[Guest guest]

At 12:11 PM 7/15/98 -0400, Sadagopan wrote:

>Dear Sriman NaarayaNa BhakthAs :

>

>Sriman Dileepan posted an informative note on

>the 600th anniversary of Founding of the AhObila Mutt

>planned for September , 1998 . I will amplify on that

>theme on this special day .

>

>The Thirunakshathram of the 25th Jeeyar

>***************************************

>

 

 

As usual, Sri Sadagopan has written an excellent article on acharyas :

proving the principle :

 

Gurum prakashayeth dhiman... An intelligent one publicizes his Acharyas.

 

My acharyas & divya dampatis bless him.

 

adiyen Krishna