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SrImathE ranga rAmAnuja mahA dEsikAya namaha

SrimathE pAdukA sEvaka rAmAnuja mahA dEsikAya namaha
SrI ranganatha Divya maNi pAdhukAbhyAm namaha

Dear Bhagavathas,

Today Nov. 27, 2002 (Karthigai - Magam) is the Thirunakshtram day of one
of the foremost and illustrious acharyas of Srirangam
Srimath Andavan PeriAsramam, Srimath ChinnAndavan ?
Sri PAdukA sEvaka rAmAnuja mahA dEsikan. 

Adiyen is reposting the postings adiyen had attempted last year. This has been
compiled from Panguni Pushyam malar(1981) during 74th
birthday celebrations of H.H. Srimath Thirukkudanthai
Andavan(Kannan swamigal) and Andavan Asramam varalaru
published in 1967 by Srirangam pEriAsramam.

======================================================

Let us all recite this mahan's thaniyan on His
thirunakshatram day. 

Sriman naatha muneendra yaamuna muni Srisamya
mindraathmanaha
Sri Srivasa muneendra dEsika maNE: praapthaaga
maanthath dvayam
Sri rangEsha padhE thadharpithaBHaram Sri
paadukasevaka
Sri raamaanuja yoginam guruvaram vandhe dayaasaagaram


This mahAn was born in the year sarvadhari (1828), in the month of Karthigai in 
a hamlet called vELiyanallur. His janma nakshatram is Magam. He belonged to 
satamarshana gothra. 

His father, Sri Krishna ThAthAchAryA. named his son as SrinivAsarAghavan. It is 
a great coincidence that two other AchAryas in this illustrious lineage who 
adorned the peetam were also named as SrinivAsarAghavan in their poorvAsramam 
namely Srimath PeriAndavan who was Srimath ChinnAndavan?s directpredecessor and 
the other AchAryA was none other than the famous Srimath Thirukkudanthai 
Andavan who was instrumental in spreading the PeriAsrama parampara to length 
and breadth of the country and made it reach dizzy heightsof glory in our 
sampradaya. 

Younger days of Srimath ChinnAndavan

Sri Krishna ThAthAchArya performed upayanam and other vaithika samskArams to 
his son at the right age. SrinivAsarAghavan swami also underwent veda 
adhyayanam and learnt kAvya alankAra grantham. After havinglearnt them very 
well, He became very eager to learn Nyaya sAstrAs and hence proceeded to 
Mysore. There He met Sri Rama Sastri who was the AsthAna vidwAn of the Mysore 
rAja samsthAnam. He learnt nyAya sAstrAs and advaita philosophy under his 
tutelage and thus became an exponent and a very well qualified pundit. He 
continued to stay with Sri sAstri in Mysore and helped him during his 
researchon sAstras with his radiant brilliance. Sometimes it was such that he 
evencleared the doubts Sri sAstri encountered on sAstraic research and earned 
his awe and accolades. In particular, swami was extremely proficient in tharka 
sAstrAs.

With the rich Knowledge Swami acquired in sAmAnya sAstrAs, He wanted to learn 
adhyAtma sAstrAs under a sadhAchAryan through kAlakshEpams . He went to
Srirangam in pursuit of the same and reached the holy hermitage of Srimath 
pEriAndavan who was the paragon of GnAna and vairAghyA and prayed at His holy 
feet for the same. Observing SrinivAsarAghavan Swami, Srimath PeriAndavan was 
very much pleased with His modesty and His sAstrAic knowledge and accepted Him 
as His sishya. He rendered Grantha chathustayam ( namely Srimath Rahasya thraya 
sAram, Geetha BhAshyam, Sri BhAshyam and bhagavath vishayam)and satha dhooshani 
to SrinivAsarAghavan. Upon the completion of kAlakshEpam. SrinivAsarAghavan 
swami went back to vELianallur.

Incident in kAlakshEpam

More than 70 vidwAns used to attend the kAlakshEpa goshti of Srimath 
pEriAndavan. As a general norm during the kAlakshEpam, goshti would very keenly
observe the rendering of their AchAryan and whatever doubts they may have would 
get them cleared after its completion for that day. They would not indulge in 
any
kinds of discussion or debate when it was in progress. This tradition was 
unfortunately broken once when the sishyAs got engaged in a debate and lengthy
discussions even in the presence of Srimath PeriAndavan. Srimath pEriAndavan 
felt upset and told the audience that he would not render the kAkakshEpamand 
hence left the place. All the sishyAs felt very bad about the incidentand later 
proceeded to their destination. But SrinivAsarAghavan swami was pained beyond 
one can imagine and He never moved from the place where he sat during the 
kAlakshEpam. Obviously he was gloom personified and got very much distressed 
for the apachAram that got committed inadvertently by all the sishyAs in front 
of their revered AchAryA. 

Srimath pEriAndavan came to know about this and called for SrinivAsarAghavan 
swami. He was very happy to see SwAmi?s AchArya bhakti and His VairAghya and He 
gladly resumed rendering kAlakshEpam to his beloved sishyA.

British Raj?s Respect towards swami

Knowing the profound mastery swami had on all the vEdAs, sAstrAs, kalpa sutras 
and other scriptures, british raj made use of swAmi?s immense knowledge on
these subjects, approaching Him and asking for His guidance in their task of 
constituting various laws based on Hindu philosophy specifically in the areas of
manu smriti and yAjyavalkyA smriti.


Taking up sanyAsa

When swami was in vELianallur observing his panca kala
anushtAnams and leading a very regimented life of a true srivaishnava
paramAIkAnthi, Srimath PeriAndavan due to His severe penance and austere life
became very emaciated. For the sampradaya to continue to flourish
and grow, Srimath pEriAndavan wanted to choose His successor and hence
decided to conduct a test for the same. He decided that whoever
successfully qualified in his ?pareekshA? would succeed him as the nextAchAryA 
ofpEriAsramam. So He decided to do this to three of His most qualified sishyAs 
who underwent kAlakshEpams under Him and were explempary scholars in
their own right. 

SrinivAsarAghavan swami was one of those sishyAs,Srimath pEriAndavan wanted 
to test. So He commanded one of his disciples toprepare 3 individual sets of  
?ThirumaNN katti? wrapped in a banana leaf and askedhim to hand it overto 
his 3 sishyAs. He also commanded his disciple to know their reaction and 
feedback upon receiving the same and asked him to duly report back the 
proceedings. Except SrinivAsarAghavan swami, the other two sishyAs
received the material and said to him that it was Srimath pEriAndavan?s
blessings that they received it and kept it as their treasure. 

When SrinivAsarAghavan swami received it, He looked at the "ThirumaNN katti" 
and took it to his gruham and applied "Sri ChoorNam" to it and wrapped the
"ThirumaNN katti" back into banana leaf and prayed to the disciple to 
hand it over to Srimath pEriAndavan. When the disciple went back and reported 
the incident to Srimath pEriAndavan, pEriAndavan was very much pleased and 
decided that SrinivAsarAghavan swAmi was the right person to succeed Himas the 
AchAryA of the pEriAsramam. In the meantime, pEriAndavan's health deteriorated.

After a few days, SrinivAsarAghavan swAmi went back to Srirangam from 
vELianallur and prostated before srimath pEriAndavan and prayed to him that he 
be granted sanyAsA. With great modesty, he went through the explanation of 
qualification of oneself to take up sanyAsA thereby indicating his readinessfor 
the same. Like Vibheeshana's conversation with Lord Sri Rama, swAmi told 
srimath pEriAndavan that he did "Sarvasanga parithyAgam", completely renouncing 
samsAra bhandham and prayed to Srimath pEriAndavan to grant Him sanyAsA. 
Srimath pEriAndavan was filled with extreme happiness to have chosen the right 
successor and granted SrinivAsarAghavan swAmi ,sanyAsA on an auspicious day. He 
was given the title "Sri PAdukA sEvaka rAmAnuja mahA dEsikan". Since both were 
AchAryAs together at the same time, they were fondly called as pEriAndavan and 
chinnAndavan by the sishyAs and admirers alike. This 
period lasted for a very short duration though with Srimath pEriAndavan 
reaching parama padam within 4 months of Srimath chinnAndavan taking up 
sanyAsA. 

Srimath chinnAndavan was serving as guiding light of the sampradaya and 
authored rarest of several granthAs when he was the AchAryA of the periAsramam? 
They are as follows: 

1. AhnikArtha prakAsikai 
2. Sri Jayanthi nirNayam 
3. ukthyAchArya nishtA vichAram 
4. sathpadha rakshai 
5. JanmAshtami nirNayam 
6. thathkrathu nyAya vichAram 
7. AchArya sambhAvanA kramam 
8. yathi dharama samucchayam 
9. Aasowcha sangraham 

Sishya parampara 

Several erudite scholars became the disciples of 
srimath chinnAndavan, foremost being 

1. EyuNNi Sri VaradAchAr swami ( who later became 
ThErezhundur Srimath NammAndavan) 
2. Sri villiputhur AmmALAchAR swami 
3. vidwAn uKKur SrinivAsarAghavAchAr swami 
4. Akkur SrinivAsAchAriAr swami 
5. vidwAn Thenbirai rAmabhadrAchAriAr swami(who later 
became Srimath thenbirai Andavan) 


yAthrA and attaining ThirunAdu

Srimath chinnAndavan traveled to Sri kAnchi from Srirangam and gave 
severalsampradAyic pravachanams( discourses) during His yAthrA and came back to 
Srirangam. 

Srimath ChinnAndavan attained ThirunAdu at the age of 68 leaving behind 
grieving disciples in the year Vijaya(1895), on the sukla sapthami thithi in 
the tamil month of Thai. 
===============================================================



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