Gopala Desikan (1700-1783 A.D.), an all time great savant was reverentially called as Tirukkudanthai Desikan, by virtue of his having settled down in Tirukkudanthai (Kumbakonam). Considered as a reincarnation of Vedanta Desika, he engaged himself in propagating Vaishnavism through his prolific writings and through his illustrious disciples, who carried the torch forward.
Birth of Thirukkudanthai Desikan
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 :
भक्त्या ऽऽगमान्तगुरुर् एव यथात्मनाऽभूत्
गोपालदेशिकम् अहं शरणं प्रपद्ये॥
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 :
त्रिंशत्त्रिकोटिवसुरुद्रदिवाकरादि-
देवादिदेवगणसन्ततसेव्यमानम्।
अम्भॊजसम्भव-चतुर्मुख-गीयमानम्
वन्दे सयानमिह भोगिनि शार्ङ्गपाणिम्॥
सकलभुवनमातासागराधीशजाता
प्रणमदवनकामा भास्करक्षेत्रधामा।
शकलितभयमूला शार्ङ्गध्वानुकूला
प्रविमलमुखबिम्बा पातु मां कोमलाम्बा॥
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 " .
श्रीमुनित्रयसिद्धान्त-पद्मिन्य्–उल्लास-भास्करः।
गोपालदेशिकः श्रीमान् जेजीयात् सन्ततं भुवि॥
Works
Sri AparyApthAmr*utha DhyAna sOpAnam< Desika Sahasranama
Oppiliappan koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan