Thirukkudanthai Desikan's Life
Index
Thirukkudanthai Desikan's life
Birth of Thirukkudanthai Desikan
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Nine generations ago , there existed a great
AchAryA revered by all who knew him as
Thirukkudanthai Desikan . He was given the name
of Sri GopAla Desikan at birth by his father Sri KrishNa
Desikan . He became the sishyar of the great AchAryA ,
Sri SaakshAth Swami considered as the
reincarnation of BhAshyakArar .
Sri Thirukkudanthai Desikan has been recognized
and revered as an aparAvathAram of Swami Desikan
himself . Our ThUppul kula viLakku , Sri NigamAntha MahA
Desikan( 1268-1369AD ) had one regret in his life .
He wished he had had the blessing of being a direct
disciple of BhAshyakArar ( 1010-1116 AD ) . One hundred
and fifty two years had elapsed since BhAshyakArar
ascended parama padham and Swami Desikan came
into this earth as the amsam of the ThirumaNi of the Lord
of seven hills . Hence Swami Desiakn missed the opportunity
of being a direct sishyar of BhAshyakArar . It is believed that
Swami Desikan reincarnated as Sri GopAla Desikan
to fulfil his wish to be the direct disciple of Sri SaakshAth Swami ,
the aparAvathAram of Sri RaamAnujA .
Sri Surapuram VenkatArya MahA Desikan has observed
in this context : " BhakthyAgamAntha gururEva yathAthmanA-
bhUth Gopala Desikamaham saraNam prapadhyE " .
Sri Thirukkudanthai Desikan was born as a result of
the command of Sri Oppiliappan of ThiruviNNagar just
as ThiruvEnkatamudayAn commanded earlier His ghantA
to be born as Swami Desikan at the bank of Vegavathi river .
Sri Oppiliappan's other name happens to be
Sri VenkatAchalapathy and he in turn blessed
us with the bhAgyam of the reincarnation of Swami Desikan
at Thirukkudanthai on the banks of sacred CauvEri this time .
Thirukkudanthai is a kshEthram dear to the heart of many
AzhwArs and AchAryAs . NammAzhwAr , Pey , BhUtham ,
ANDAL , PeriyAzhwAr , Thirumazhisai and Thirumangai
have given us 51 paasurams on this aparyApthAmr*utha
para brahmam . Thirumazhisai ascended to Sri Vaikuntam
from this KshEthram . Thirumangai composed the rare
poem , " ThiruvEzhukUrririkkai " in the ratha bhandham
pattern and laid it at the sacred feet of Amudhan at
this KshEthram . PeriyAzhwAr enjoyed Amudhan as
KaNNan , when he assumed the role of YasOdhA piratti.
ANDAL enjoyed Amudhan as her Lord and begged Him
not to tarry in blessing Her . Naatha Muni ( 824-924AD )
heard the one decade of Paasuram of NammAzhwAr
beginning with " AarAvamudhE adiyEnudalam
ninpaalanpAyE " and went on a holy pilgrimage to
ThirukuruhUr to have the initiation by NammAzhwAr
himself to bring back the NaalAyira Divya prabhandham ,
which had been lost to all around this time .
Many miracles have happened at this divya desam
of Thirukkudanthai . One of them is the birth of
Swami Desikan as Sri Gopala Desikan
to become the Thiruvadi of Sri SaakshAth Swami
( achArya RaamAnujA's aparAvatharam ) .
Those who visit Sri AarAvamudhan's temple at
Thirukkudanthai can be blessed to have the sEvA-
bhaghyam of the archA vigraham of Thirukkudanthai
Desikan at the Sri Lakshmi Hayagreevan Sannidhi
at VarAhapura Street of KumbakOnam . Just as Swami
Desikan"s archA vigraham created by him sits in front
of the YogasikhA Hayagreevan at Thiruvaheendrapuram ,
Thirukkudanathai Desikan sits in front of Sri Lakshmi
Hayagreevan at AarAvamudhan"s KshEthram .
He is saluting AarAvamudhan and KomaLavalli
ThAyar with their dhyAna slOkams
prior to reciting his moving Sri AparyApthAmr*utha
DhyAna sOpAnam :
thrimsath thrikOti vasurudhra divAkarAdhi
DevAthi Deva gaNa santhatham sEvyamAnam I
AmbhOja sambhava chathurmukha gheeyamAnam
vandhE sayAnamiga bhOgini SaarngapANim II
Sakala bhuvana mAthA sAgarAdheesa jaathA
praNamath avana kaamA Bhaskara kshEthradhAmA I
sakalitha bhaya mUlA SaarngadhanvAnukUlA
pravimala mukha BhimbhA paathu maam KomaLAmbhA II
Just as ThiruppANAzhwAr saluted the SarvAngha soundharyam
of Lord RanganAthA through the ten verses of "Amalan Aadhi pirAn"
and provided the inspiration for Swami Desiakn to enjoy the
insatiable beauty of the limbs of the Lord of Rangam in
deva bhAshA to give us " Sri Bhagavadh DhyAna sOpanam " ,
Thirukkudanthai Desikan described the limitless beauty
of the limbs of Sri AarAvamudhan in his " ApayApthAmr*utha
dhyAna sOpAnam " .
Sri Munitthraya siddhAntha padminyullAsa bhaskara: I
GopAla Desika : SrimAn jEjeeyath santhatham bhuvi II
Oppiliappan koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan