{"id":1957,"date":"2015-06-05T00:04:43","date_gmt":"2015-06-05T00:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/guruparamparai.wordpress.com\/?p=1455"},"modified":"2015-06-05T00:04:43","modified_gmt":"2015-06-05T00:04:43","slug":"vedhanthacharyar-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php\/2015\/06\/05\/vedhanthacharyar-english\/","title":{"rendered":"vEdhAnthAchAryar"},"content":{"rendered":"

srI:
\nsrImathE satakOpAya nama:
\nsrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
\nsrImath varavaramunayE nama:
\nsrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:<\/p>\n

\"vedanthachariarThiruvallikeni\"<\/a><\/p>\n

srimAn vEnkatanAthArya: kavithArkkika kEsaree | <\/strong>
\nvEdhAnthAchAryavaryO mE sannidhhaththAm sadhA hrudhi || <\/strong><\/h3>\n

[One who is like a lion to any opposing pundits and debaters, one who possesses wonderful wealth (of gyAnam, bHakthi, vairAgyam, and more), and whose thiru nAmam is \u2018vEnkatanathan\u2019, such Sri vEdhAnthAchAryar shall always live in my heart.]<\/p>\n

Thiru avathAram<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Name at birth<\/td>\nvEnkatanAthan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Year of birth<\/td>\nkali yuga year of 4370 (1268 AD)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Month & thirunakshathram<\/td>\npurattasi, thiruvONam (same as that of thiruvEngadamUdaiyAn )<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place of birth<\/td>\nKancheepuram, thiruththanka<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gOthram<\/td>\nvishvAmithra gOthram<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Incarnation<\/td>\nHoly bell of thiruvEnkadamudaiyAn (as he also mentions this in his grantham \u2018sankalpa sUryOdhaya\u2019<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Parents<\/td>\nanantha sUri and thOthArambai<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Age when leaving this vibhUthi<\/td>\nAbout a hundred years.
\nHe left this vibhUthi in about the Kali yuga year of 4470 (1368 AD) from Srirangam.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

He got the name \u2018vEdhAnthAchAriar<\/strong>\u2019 from Sri ranganAthan, and the name \u2018kavithArkika kEsari<\/strong>\u2019 and \u2018sarvathanthra swathanthrar\u2019<\/strong> by Sri ranga nAchiar.<\/p>\n

He had a son named \u2018varadhAchariar<\/em>\u2019. Sri varadhAchariar and a jIyar named \u2018brahmathanthra swathanthrar jIyar<\/em>\u2019 were his sishyas.<\/p>\n

KidAmbi AchAn\u2019s grandson kidAmbi appuLLAr<\/strong> is one of the sishyas of Sri NadAdhUr ammAL.<\/p>\n

\u201cappUL\u201d as mentioned in Thiruviruththam 3 refers to Garuda. The term \u2018appuLLAr\u2019 in his name is based on him being likened to Garuda in qualities. Another name given to him is \u2018vAdhi hamsAmbuvAhar\u201d \u2013 like a cloud that defeats hamsas, he defeats the opposing debaters. His given name was \u2018RAmAnujar\u2019.<\/p>\n

Sri kidAmbi appuLAr\u2019s nephew and sishyar is the world famous Sri VedhAnthachAriar.<\/p>\n

When vEdAnthAchAriar was young he went with his maternal uncle (Sri kidAmbi appuLAr) to attend Sri nadAdhUr ammAL\u2019s kAlakshEpa goshti. vEdAnthAchAriar refers to this and says that Sri nadAdhUr ammAL had blessed him at that time that he will establish well and clear all the oppositions of vishishtAdhvaitha Srivaishnava sidhAntham.<\/p>\n

Granthams<\/h2>\n

As blessed by nadAdhUr ammAL, Sri vEdhAnthachAriar wrote innumerable granthams, won many philosophers and debaters who are against vishishtAdhvaitham.<\/p>\n

Sri vEdhandhachAriar has written more than a hundred granthams<\/strong>, and they are in Sanskrit, Tamil, and maNipravALam (mixture of Sanskrit and Tamil).<\/p>\n

Following are some of the most important of his granthams.<\/h4>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 thAthparya chandhrikai<\/strong> which is a gIta bhAshya vyakyAnam<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 thathvateekai<\/strong>, vyakyAnam for a part of Sri Bhashyam<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 nyAya sidhdHanjanam,<\/strong> which analyses the philosophy our sampradhAyam<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 sadha dhUshani<\/strong> which argues against adhvaitha philosophy<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 adHikarNa sArAvaLi<\/strong> related to groupings in Sri Bhashya<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 thathva mukthAkalApam<\/strong> that explains our thathvam; its vyAkyAnam named \u2018sarvArtHa sidhdHi<\/strong>\u2019<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 bhAshyams in Sanskrit for<\/strong> sthOthra chatuslOki and gadhya thrayam<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 sankalpa sUryOdhayam<\/strong> which is in the form of drAmA<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 dhayA sathakam, pAdhukA sahasram, yAdhavabhyudhayam, hamsasandhEsam<\/strong>;<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 rahasyathraya sAram, sampradhAya parisudhdhi, abhayapradhAna sAram, para matha bhangam<\/strong><\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 munivAhana bhOgam<\/strong> which is a vyAkyAnam on amalanAdhipirAn<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 AhAra niyamam<\/strong>, a tamil text on recommended food habits<\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 sthothras like dasAvathAra sthothram, godha sthuthi, srI sthuthi, yathiraja sapthathi<\/strong><\/p>\n

o\u00a0\u00a0 dhramidOpanishad thAthparya rathnAvaLi, dhramidOpanishad sAram<\/strong>, that provide meanings on thiruvoimozhi, and so on and more.<\/p>\n

The content so far in this article is mostly based on a malar published by Puthur Swami.<\/p>\n

\"SriVedanthachariar_Kachi_IMG_0065\"<\/a><\/p>\n

kAnchi Sri Thoopul vEdAnthAchAriar during avathAra uthsavam<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

vEdAnthachariar and other Acharyars<\/h2>\n

0\u00a0\u00a0 vEdAnthAchAriar has a written a wonderful prabhandham named lOkAchArya panchAsath<\/strong> glorifying piLLai lOkAchAryar. vEdhAnthAchAryar was atleast 50 years younger to piLLai lOkAchAryar and had great admiration for piLLai lOkAchAryar which can be easily understood from this grantham; this grantham is recited regularly in thirunArAyaNapuram (Melkote, Karnataka) even today. A simple English translation to lOkAchArya panchAsath written by Shri U.Ve T. C. A. Venkatesan swamy based on Shri U.Ve V. V. Ramanujam swamy can be downloaded from http:\/\/acharya.org\/books\/eBooks\/vyakhyanam\/LokacharyaPanchasatVyakhyanaSaram-English.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

0\u00a0\u00a0 vAdhikEsari azhagiya maNavaLa jIyar <\/strong>in his grantham \u2018Tatvadeepa\u2019 and others, has referred to vEdAnthAchAriar\u2019s granthams2<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

0\u00a0\u00a0 Sri maNavALa mAmunigaL<\/strong> in his vyakyanam for thathvathrayam and mumukshupadi (which were written by Sri piLLai lOkAchAriar), refers to the words of vEdanthAchariAr; and maNavALa mAmunigaL fondly refers to vEdhAnthAchAriar as \u2018abhiyukthar<\/strong>\u20193<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

0\u00a0\u00a0 Sri ErumbiappA<\/strong>, one of the ashta dikgajangaL of maNavALa mAmunigaL, in his \u2018vilakshaNamOkshAdhikAri nirNayam<\/strong>\u2019 references vEdhAnthAchariar\u2019s \u2018nyAyavimsathi<\/strong>\u2019, and provides summary of its meaning as well3<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

0\u00a0\u00a0 Swami Dhoddachariar<\/strong> of Cholasimhapuram (Sholingur)<\/strong> wrote a commentary on vedAntha dEsika\u2019s \u2018SatadhooshaNi<\/strong>\u2019, called \u2018ChandamArutham<\/strong>\u2019. Hence he was referred to as \u2018ChandamArutham Dhoddachar\u2019, and his descendent AcharyAs are also referred so to this date.<\/p>\n

0\u00a0\u00a0 The devotion of PrativAthi bhayankaram aNNa<\/strong> and his sishyas and descendents for vEdAnthAchAriar is well known. The descendents living in ThiruvindhaLUr and other southern centres even bear the name of vEdanthAchAriar\u2019s son referred to as \u2018nAyinAchAriar\u2019, thus extending their devotion down to his son.<\/p>\n

0\u00a0\u00a0 Many other AchAryAs and vidwAns have written commentaries on or referenced vEdAnthAchAriar\u2019s granthams.<\/p>\n

\u00a0. . . . . narasimharAjAcharya<\/strong> swami who is Sri dhoddAchAriar\u2019s disciple has written commentaries on \u2018nyAya parisuddhi<\/strong>\u2019;<\/p>\n

. . . . . Mysore (maNdayam) ananthAzhvAn who lived in the early part of nineteenth century has made several references to vEdAnthAchAriar\u2019s granthams in his writings;<\/p>\n

. . . . . KunrappAkkam<\/strong> swami who lived in Kancheepuram in latter part of nineteenth century has in his work \u2018Tatwa-RatnAvaLi\u2019 has fondly referred to vEdAnthAchAriar as \u2018Jayati Bhagavan Vedantarayas sa tharkika-kesari\u2019.<\/p>\n

()\u00a0\u00a0 Sri vEdanthAchAriar too, had a deep love and regard to purvAchAryas and contemporary achAryAs, as evidenced in his \u2018abhithistavam<\/strong>\u2019, \u201cKvachana rangamukyE vibhO! paraspara-hithaishiNAm parisarEshu mAm varthaya\u201d<\/em> , (O Lord!, let me reside in Srirangam at the feet of the great ones who are mutual well-wishers)2<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

()\u00a0 \u201cIn the last verse of his \u2018bhagavad-dhyAna sOpanam<\/strong>\u2019, Sri vEdAnthAchAriar pays a glowing tribute to the erudite scholars and art-lovers of Srirangam, who imparted clarity in his thoughts and enabled him to develop a facile and pleasing style\u201d.2<\/sup><\/p>\n

()\u00a0 Sri vEdAnthAchAriar\u2019s devotion to Sri rAmanujar is very well known; in his \u2018nyAsa tilakA\u2019 in the verse starting \u2018ukthya dhananjaya\u2026\u2019 he pacifies perumAL for having indirectly told him that mOksham need not be granted by Him, as it had already been guaranteed to him by his connection with Sri rAmAnujar.<\/p>\n

These go to show that vEdanthAchAriar and other scholars held mutual respect, love, and reverence for each other, and paved ways for harmonious discussions on our srivaishnava sampradhAyam.<\/p>\n

AchArya-champu<\/h2>\n

Sri. S. Satyamurthi Iyengar, Gwalior<\/strong> (also referred to as \u2018Gwalior swami\u2019), mentions in his 1967 book \u201cA critical appreciation of Sri Vedanta Desika Vis-\u00e0-vis the Srivaishnavite World<\/em>\u201d, about other sources of information to learn about Sri vedhAnthachAriar. Most of the following text is attributed to the mentioned book.<\/p>\n

He refers to a work called \u2018VedAntAcharya Vijaya\u2019<\/strong> also known as \u2018AchArya-champu\u2019, <\/strong>written in Sanskrit in the form of prose and verse, by a great scholar and poet named \u2018Kousika KavitArkikasimha VedanthAchariAr\u2019<\/strong>, who lived around 1717 AD. This work is considered the oldest historic record of VEdAnthAchAriar\u2019s life history and most authentic.<\/p>\n

This work starts in first<\/em> Stabaka (Chapter, or Section) with a benediction, then speaks about author\u2019s family, about the city of Kancheepuram, and about Sri Pundarika Yajwa, grandfather of VEdAnthAchAriar.<\/p>\n

The second<\/em> Stabaka deals with the birth and marriage of Ananta-Suri (Sri Desika\u2019s father) and the entry of divine Bell into his wife\u2019s womb.<\/p>\n

The third<\/em> Stabaka describes the birth of VEdAnthAchAriar, his childhood, his accompanying his maternal uncle to Sri Vatsya Varadacharya\u2019s school, and securing the latter\u2019s blessings, getting the sacred thread, initiation to the study of literature, vedhas, and more; marriage, winning the grace of Lord HayagrIva, composition of various works including \u2018nyAya sidhdhAnjana\u2019, and gaining the title of Kavitarkikasimha.<\/p>\n

The fourth<\/em> Stabaka describes the Uthsavam at Kanchi, the composition of \u2018VaradarAja panchAsat\u2019 by VEdAnthAchAriar, his encounter with Advaitha scholar named Vidyaranya and winning him; and pilgrimage to vEnkatAdri.<\/p>\n

The fifth<\/em> Stabaka provides details of the pilgrimage, his composing \u2018dayAsatakA\u2019, and his \u2018Vairagya-panchaka\u2019 as a scoring-of-the-riches reply to an invitation to royal court by Vidyaranya; pilgrimage to kshethras in the north; return to Kancheepuram; delivering judgment in the debate between Vidyaranya and Akshobhya muni a Dwaita scholar); pilgrimage to shrines in the south; his living in ThiruvEndhipuram for some time; his bringing out several works; pilgrimage to sri mushnam; and getting invitation to visit Srirangam.<\/p>\n

The final and sixth<\/em> Stabaka of \u2018AchArya-champu\u2019<\/strong> describes vEdAnthAchAriar\u2019s journey to Srirangam, his having darsan of Sri Ranganathan; composing of \u2018Bhagavad dhyana sopana\u2019 etc.; winning an advaithi named Krishnamisra after a long debate of 18 days and earning the title of \u2018vEdAnthAchAryA\u2019 , \u2018Sarvatantra-Swatantra\u2019, etc.; composing \u2018pAduka sahasram\u2019 when challenged by a vain Poet; the sack of Srirangam by Muslims, VEdAnthAchAriar\u2019s stay in the western part of the country, composing Abhitistava; his visit to other kshetrams; composing \u2018GaruadAndaka\u2019 to meet the challenge of a snake-charmer, birth of a son to VEdAnthAchAriar; and composing of \u2018RahasyatrayasAra\u2019.<\/p>\n

This book \u2018AchArya-champu\u2019<\/strong> commanded wide popularity, eagerly studied by Sanskrit scholars of yore; there is not much attempt to bring out a reprint of this valuable book.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Sources: <\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Puthur Swami\u2019s pOn vizhA malar<\/p>\n

2. Sri. S. Satyamurthi Iyengar, Gwalior; \u201cA critical appreciation of Sri Vedanta Desika Vis-\u00e0-vis the Srivaishnavite World<\/em>\u201d; c 1967.<\/p>\n

3. \u2018Thamizhar thozhu vedhanthavAsiriyan\u2019 (Tamil) by Sri P.B.Annangarachariar swami.<\/p>\n

4. English translation to \u2018lOkAchArya panchAsath\u2019 written by Shri U.Ve T. C. A. Venkatesan swamy based on Shri U.Ve V. V. Ramanujam swamy\u2019s work in Tamil http:\/\/acharya.org\/books\/eBooks\/vyakhyanam\/LokacharyaPanchasatVyakhyanaSaram-English.pdf<\/a> taken on Sep 25, 2012.<\/p>\n

5. Photo courtesy an informative email from Koil Aaththan Kasthurirangan swami, ThiruvallikENi.<\/p>\n

6. Additional photos courtesy https:\/\/picasaweb.google.com\/113539681523551495306\/<\/a>\u00a0 \u2013 taken on Sep 25, 2012.<\/p>\n

adiyen ragurAm srInivAsa dasan<\/p>\n

Originally written at https:\/\/acharyar.wordpress.com\/2012\/09\/25\/sri-vedanthachariar-vaibhavam\/<\/a><\/p>\n

archived in https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php<\/a><\/p>\n

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\nsrIvaishNava Education\/Kids Portal \u2013 https:\/\/pillai.koyil.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

srI: srImathE satakOpAya nama: srImathE rAmAnujAya nama: srImath varavaramunayE nama: srI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama: srimAn vEnkatanAthArya: kavithArkkika kEsaree | vEdhAnthAchAryavaryO mE sannidhhaththAm sadhA hrudhi || [One who is like a lion to any opposing pundits and debaters, one who possesses wonderful wealth (of gyAnam, bHakthi, vairAgyam, and more), and whose thiru nAmam is \u2018vEnkatanathan\u2019, such … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,48],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-1957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-other-acharyas","tag-guruparamparai-english-tag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acharyas.koyil.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}