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Srimathe Ranga Ramanuja Maha Desikaya Namaha
Sri Ranganatha Divya Mani Padhukabhyam Namaha



Acharya parampara of Srimath Andavan Ashramam continues in this posting with 
Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan - Sri Vedantha Ramanuja Mahadesikan

 

Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan: Thirunakshatram: Panguni - Pushyam

 

Thanian:

Srimath vedhantha ramanuja munikarunalabdha vedhantha yugmam
Srimath Srivasa yogeeswara gurupadhayorarpithaswathma bharam
Srimath Sri ranganathahvaya munikrupaya praptha mokshasramam tham
Srimath Vedhantha ramanuja munimaparam samsraye desikendram




Given below is the history of   Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan ? Srivedantha 
ramanuja maha desikan,who took Srirangam Srimath Andavan periAsramam to 
glorious  heights of growth spreading it literally across length and breadth of 
the country.



Avataram
Srimath Thirukkudanthai Andavan was in the born in a small village  called  ? 
karukudi? (situated next to Thirukkandiyur in Tanjore district) in the banks of 
river Kaveri in the  Parabhava year - Panguni month ?with  pushyam as his birth 
 star -( 1907) to Sri. U.Ve. Padmanabhachariar and Komalavalli devi. He was 
named as ?Srinivasaraghavan? He was fondly called by everybody as ?Kannan?.

Kannan swami was taken to Srirangam periAsramam many a times by his father 
during His childhood days. He used to observe the paduka Aradhanam being 
performed there and when he came back to kudanthai, he will play with  friends 
of his age posing himself as an acharya, wearing a cloth up to knee height and 
will have a dhandam in his hand and proclaim himself as Andavan. He will carry 
the water in ?kottankacchi? ? a dried coconut shell ( Srirangam periAsramam is 
also called kottankacchi Asramam) and distribute the ?theertham? in the same 
way Srimath thErezhundur Andavan used to do ( focusing both His eyes in one 
direction). He will do all this with out the knowledge of his father.

Sri Padmanabhachar swami taught him the arulicheyalgals of Alwars ? Nalayira 
divya prabhandham at a tender age and swami mastered  the tamil vedham , before 
he completed 14 years. He also learnt sAstras in Kottaiyur , under the tutelage 
of Sri. Seshasayee
Sri padmanabhachAr swami sent his son to Raja patasala in Kamakshi josyar 
street for some time to learn more on sastras. Later swami learnt tharka,and  
meemamsa,vyakarana sastras under shri devanagar vilagam swami . He stood as a 
paragon, gaining extensive knowledge in all the sastras  . He also qualified 
for Sanskrit Sironmani fromThiruvaiyaru Sanskrit college. Whenever Nammandavan 
and Engalandavan visited Thirukkudanthai in their respective times, Sri Kannan 
swami performed kalakshepams on adhyatma sastras under their lotus feet. One of 
those times, Srimath Engalandavan performed ?Bhara samarpanam? to Sri Kannan 
swami in Amudhan sannidhi. Swami had been performing kainkaryam to divya desam 
perumals even much before becoming Andavan. 

 

Life as a Gruhasta
By the age of 14, swami having mastered the whole of Divya prabhadham became a 
leading member in the adhyapaka ghosti.  At the age of 16, He got married to 
Sri vedavalli ammal. She was the sixth daughter of Neduntheru krishnaswamy 
Iyengar. For his livelihood, swami started giving upanyasams at a very young 
age. 

Swami used to visit Tanjore , every Sunday to render kalakshepams on Geetha 
Bhashyam.
 Four sons and two daughters were born to swami in his gruhasthasramam. After 
his father?s demise, swami with the blessings of his Acharya, went  to Chennai 
to take care of his family needs.



Move to Chennai
When swami went to chennai, Akkur varadachar swami, an ardent devotee of 
sreemad Akkur Andavan,and a great business magnet , requested Him to stay in 
his thirumaligai and arranged  for swami?s rendering of kalakshepams in various 
sabhas through out the city. 

Kannan swami had His own distinct and inimitable style of rendering upanyasam. 
It simply mesmerized the listeners who were always seeking more at the end of 
His upanyasams. At that time His contemporaries in upanyasams were stalwarts 
such as karppangadu
venkatachariar swami, kanchi vidwan prathivadhi bhayankaram Annangarachariar 
swami. 
As a parent, Swami performed his duties very well by giving good education to 
his children and led his gruhastasrama in a blessed manner



His Acharya Bhakti which was so deep rooted in his heart prompted him to visit 
Srirangam several times to seek the blessings of Srimath Thembarai Andavan. 
Srimath Thembarai Andavan,seeing his Acharya bhakthi not only ordained him to 
look after the administration affairs of the Asramam ( by appointing him as Sri 
karyam of the Asramam) but also commanded Him to stay permanently in Srirangam.

 

In 1963, Srimath Thembarai Andavan became very weak and emaciated due to strict 
Ahara niyamams and old age and wanted to nominate His successor to adorn the 
Acharya peetam. Sri Kannan swami who  had  unassuming Acharya bhakthi,  
rigorous observance ofanushtanams, and great administrative skills immediately 
came to his mind. This very thought made Srimath Andavan feel happy and His 
Holiness apprised Sri kannan swami about this and was optimistic that Sri 
Kannan swami would oblige.  

 

Taking up sanyasam
Srimath Thembarai Andavan became weaker as the days passed by. So His Holiness 
gave upadesam on ?Preksha manthram? and ?Mokshasrama Ahnika Anushtanam? to 
three vidwans of the Asramam - U.Ve. Sri. Kannan swami(the incumbent for the 
succession,) U.Ve. Sri. Mysore GopalachAr swami( who later on became Srimath 
Mysore Andavan in the year 1988) and  Mannargudi Ganapadi vidwAn U.Ve. Sri. 
Narasimhacharya swami , to be ready and take up sanyasam any time when called.

 

When swami was in chennai, Srimath Andavan?s niyamanam  kept on occurring to 
his mind and  swami  appeared to be reluctant in  taking up sanyasam due to 
family circumstances.,.

 Sri. Kannan swami?s son, Sri. Gopalan told his father that he had dreamt about 
Srimath Thembarai Andavan telling him that He had gone to viraja nadhi and come 
back and asked him to send his father immediately and take up sanyasam. GopAlan 
also told his father that he would take care of his mother (swami's dharma 
pathni) and asked him to proceed to Srirangam. Sri Kannan swamy  finally 
decided to  prepare  himself for sanyasam and accept Srimath Thembarai 
Andavan?s Niyamanam.

 

On April 4th 1963, Srimath Andavan's condition became worse Sree karyam Sri. 
U.Ve. kannan swami was informed of Srimath Andavan?s health and immediately 
kannan swamy 
rushed up to Srirangam. On His arrival, arrangements were speeded up for His 
thureeyasrama sweekaram. 

Early morning the next day i.e. on 5th april, 1963 (Friday, sukla dwadasi, 
makam star), in the presence of sishyas, His Holiness Srimath Thembarai Andavan 
ordained the ascetic order to Sri U.Ve. Kannan Swami who was named as Srimath 
Vedanta Ramanuja maha
Desikan and within few hours on the same day (April 5th 1963) Tembarai Andavan 
adorned  Thirunadu . 

This illustrious Acharya Peetam of Srimath Andavan,developed centrally on His 
Holiness Thirukkudanthai Srimath Andavan vedantha ramanuja maha desikan.

He was a great scholar in Nyaya, Vyakarana, and so much he was at ease in the 
recitals of Nalayira Divya Prabhandham, Srimath Ramayanam, Bhagavath Vishayam 
and sukthis, Having taken to ascetic order,   casting away plentitude of wealth 
, this great Acharya had assimilated in himself extreme, rigid and rigorous 
life of a sanyasi, the strict austerity and highly puritan life of his 
predecessors scorning all luxuries. 

Sancharam
Poorvacharyas like Sri Periandavan, Sri Nammandavan and Sri Akkoor Andavan went 
by padayatra to places such as Melkote, Mysore, Kanchi, Ariyakkudi,sethu. 
Srimath Andavan covered over 30000 km by foot from sethu to Himachalam through 
out the length and the
breadth of the country and set up various Asramams in places very far away from 
South India.

During His time, Srimath Andavan Asramam grew leaps and bounds throughout the 
country. This was truly a golden period in the annals of the Asramam as it 
witnessed itself a phenomenal growth and a meteoric rise. His Holiness 
constructed many Asramams
throughout the country during His period and also conducted many Temple 
samprokshanams,Yagnams, Homams and performed mangalasasanams of various Divya 
desams, Vijaya yathras from Kanniyakumari to Badrinath and held Many Vidvath 
Sadas to name a few.

Srimath Andavan observed 26 chathurmasyams spanning 26 years from 1963 to 1989 
and reached Thirunadu on Vibhava varusham ?panguni madham-Krishna panjami day 
(10-04-1989) leaving behind thousands of grieving disciples and admirers, whose 
divine anubhavams with His Holiness during His life time remain carved  in 
their memory forever.

In the next posting adiyen will continue with the history of acharyas beginning 
with Srimath Mysore Andavan.

Srimath Andavan Thiruvadi

Perungadambanur Parthasarathy Sreenivasan 

(of  Besant Nagar)



                
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