Source: TW
SrI UttamUr VIrarAghavAchArya (1897-1983 C.E.) was born, after Lord VIrarAghava of TiruvaLLUr answering the prayers of his parents in the lineage of “Tirumalai NallAn Chakravarti” of SrIvatsa Gotra at UttamanallUr, a village near MadhurAntakam, Tamilnadu, during the Tamil month of Thai in SwAti star (26th January). He had his SamASrayaNam (initiation into the SrI-VaishNava sampradAya) from SrI Tirupati SwAmi (SrI VEdAnta RAmAnuja MahAdESika) and underwent Bhara-nyAsam (Prapatti) apart from studying VEdanta under SrI KOzhiyAlam SwAmi (SrI Ra~ngarAmAnuja MahAdESika). Later, he became the successor of this lineage.
At Sanskrit College, ThiruvaiyAru, he mastered NyAya (Indian Logic) under SrI Swacchandam SrInivAsAchArya SwAmi and MImAmsA under SrI ChinnaswAmi SAstri, the champions in those respective SAstras. He later became a walking encyclopedia in various systems of Philosophies and was revered by scholars allover India, as a great authority especially in NyAya-VaiSEshika (Indian Logic, both Old and New Schools), ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta and Advaita VEdAnta.
He had the unique and rare distinction of having attained a high and equal authority over both Upanishads (VEdAnta) in Sanskrit, as well as Divya Prabandhams of the AzhwArs in Tamil, hailed as Dravida VEdas with NammAzhwAr’s ThiruvAimozhi being the DramidOpanishad (Tamil VEdAnta). He commented upon both the Principal and few more authoritative Upanishads, and also the whole of Divya Prabandhams with equal ease, adding great clarity and profound insights. Hence, he is revered as one of the all time great Ubhaya-VEdAnta (Sanskrit and Tamil VEdAnta) scholars.
He served Sanskrit college,ThiruvaiyAru for a while and even taught SAstras at Pushkar,RAjasthan. He served SrI VEnkatESwara Oriental College, Tirupati for the major part of his career (1928 -53 C.E.) before settling finally at Madras. He has trained many students from both North and South India especially in NyAya SAstra and ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta.
His outstanding commentary in the style of Navya (New) NyAya, to UdayanAchArya’s (10th Cent.C.E.) NyAya-KusumAn~jali, a very terse text in the style of PrAcIna (Old) NyAya won the hearts of innumerous scholars and students alike for its amazing clarity and insights with ample lucidity. His unique commentary to “Tarka Sa~ngraha”, a fundamantal manual of Navya-NyAya, presents the “SAbdhabOdham” for the entire text. His incomplete profound commentary on NyAya-SUtras of Sage Gautama (Or on NyAya-BhAshyam) is awaiting publication from the manuscript stage.
His work “VaiSEshika RasAyanam” as a brilliant commentary on the SUtras by Sage KaNAda, won deep admiration of eminent scholars for the revival of VaiSEshika Philosophy.
His excellent commentary for “MImAmsA NyAya-PrakASa”, an important text in mImAmsA, was very well received by scholars since it makes the learning of BhATTa DIpika easier. His lucid commentaries for (*) SrI VEdAnta DESika’s SESwara MImAmsA and MImAmsA PAduka speak volumes on his mastery of mImAmsA SAstra.
His elaborate gloss “AchArya BhAshya TAtparyaH” to SrI VEdAnta DESika’s commentary on ISAvAsya Upanishad, not only dispels various criticisms on it, but also reveals his profound scholarship in various SAstras as well as his immaculate dialectical skills.
He commented upon terse works in VEdAnta like Siddhitraya of SrI YAmunAchArya for the benifit of scholars interested in the comparitive study of ViSishTAdvaita and Advaita.
His scholarly Polemic work “ParamArtha PrakASika”, a refuttal of “Advaita AamOda” - a criticism on Bhagavad RAmAnuja’s SrI-BhAshya by SrI VAsudEva Abhayankar SAstri - obtained him laurals from many quarters of the world of scholars.
His hair splitting lengthy Polemic work “ParamArtha BhUshaNam” written in refutation to his friend SrI AnantakrishNa SAstri’s “SatabhUshaNI” - a criticism on SrI VEdAnta DESika’s SatadUshaNI, is recognized as his magnum opus. Its a classic from the pen of a matured genius stamping his authority as a champion in VEdAnta with enormous originality and logical acumen and also making evident his extrordinary mastery of the various intricate issues in both ViSishTAdvaita and Advaita VEdAnta, contributed by several scholars spanning many a centuries.
In 1960, he was honoured as the very first recipient of the “President’s Award”, for scholarship in Sanskrit, by the then President His Excellency Dr.RAjEndra PrasAd.
His detailed commentary on SrI VEdAnta DESika’s “NyAya PariSuddhi” serves as a milestone in the exposition of Epistemology adopted by ViSishTAdvaita. His commenatry and detailed Introduction to SrI VEdAnta DESika’s “NyAya SiddhAn~janam”, and commentary on SrI VEdAnta DESika’s “SarvArtha Siddhi” are cherished by eminent scholars for their lucid, brilliant and insightful presentation of simple to even very advanced aspects of ViSishTAdvaita Metaphysics, Ontology, Epistemology, Cosmology, Eschatology and Theology.
Two of his well celebrated classics with marks of his scholarly genius in ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta, which shed more light on the comprehensive and advanced understanding of VEdAnta SUtras by Sage VyAsa are (i) “SrI-BhAshyArtha DarpaNa”, a commentary to SrI BhAshyam , the magnum opus of (**) Bhagavad RAmAnuja and (ii) SArArtha Ratna-prabhA, a very detailed commentary on SrI VEdAnta DESika’s masterpiece “AdhikaraNa SArAvalI”.
His mastery in various SAstras like NyAya-VaiSEshika, MImAmsA, VyAkaraNa, Yoga, SA~nkhya, Advaita, ViSishTAdvaita, Buddhism, Jainism etc are easily evident in his various works and his tamizh commentary to SrI VEdAnta DESika’s “Paramatha Bha~nga” adds ample testimony to it.
His bhUmikas ie.Introductions to his works in general are very scholarly in nature. Special mention must be made about his two outstanding elaborate bhUmikAs of very high order information content: (i) For SrI MEghanAdAri SUri’s NayadyumaNi : This very elaborate bhUmika is a treatise in itself with brilliant summary and expositions of various technical concepts of ViSishTAdvaita (ii) For Bhagavad RAmAnuja’s GIta BhAshya and SrI VEdAnta DESika’s TAparya chandrika : This is an outstanding comparitive study on the three commentaries to Bhagavad GIta,viz. by SrI SankarAchArya, SrI RAmAnujAchArya and SrI MadhvAchArya.
His majestic scholarly commentary upon SrImad Rahasya Traya SAra, the magnum opus of SrI VEdAnta DESika, makes very evident that he was an authority in the “rahasya” granthas of SrI VaishNava AchAryas expounding the esoteric meanings and significances of the three mantras held in high esteem by SrI VaishNava SampradAya. He has also written independent works on Prapatti Or SaraNAgati (self-surrender to Lord LakshmI-NArAyaNa as the direct means to moksha) and allied “rahasya” works apart from commenting upon various works on this field by previous AchAryas like Prapanna PArijAtam of SrI VAtsya Varadaguru (NaDAdUr ammAL).
In addition to his commentaries on works like pAn~carAtra Raksha of SrI VEdAnta DESika, his independent treatises on the authority and teachings of PAn~carAtra and VaikhAnasa Agamas are rich contributions to the Agama Literature.
His tamil commentary to the Sa~nkshEpa RAmAyaNa is a wonderful treat for the devotees of Lord SrI RAma.
Like SrI VEdAnta DESika, he was also a very gifted and talented Poet. He has composed many stotras, apart from commenting upon all the well celebrated kAvyas of SrI VEdAnta DESika viz.YAdavAbhyudaya, PAdukA-Sahasram, Hamsa SandESa, Sa~nkalpa SUryOdaya and SubhAshita NIvI. Being a master of Poetry, he could even summarize and explain the terse philosophical concepts with ease, as evident in his ParamArtha BhUshaNam.
He never showed any sign of slackness and was ever brisk with his publication activities through “Ubhaya VEdAnta GranthamAlA”. Striking originality, dispassionate analysis, well researched writings, profound knowledge, healthy criticisms,lucid explanations of terse original texts and establishment of authentic readings from manuscripts remain as hallmarks of the invaluable Philosophical works by this genius. His total number of known works mainly in Sanskrit and Tamil amounts to around 185, discounting his various learned articles in different souvenirs and magazines. Apart from this, he has also edited around 30 works which are mainly by earlier AchAryas. Currently, his publications are invariably used in many spheres of Philosophy inclusive of the traditional SrI-VaishNava kAlakshEpams(private discourses) and upanyAsams (public discourses).
Though he never compromised upon his own principles and Philosophical convictions, his high order intellectual skills with proficiency in various SAstras, combined with his excellent personality of noble qualities made him a very good friend of many eminent scholars of even other systems of VEdAnta, who rather admired his genius and held him in high esteem, similar to how he was revered by scholars within the SrI VaishNava tradition.
He was a leading guiding star of ViSishTAdvaita VEdanta alias Bhagavad RAmAnuja DarSana. Besides being a prolific writer and a well accomplished teacher, he also presided numerous Seminars and Meets of Scholars (Vidvat Sadas).
His phenomenal devotion to Lord VishNu especially in the form of Lord SrInivAsa of Tirupati was befitting to his awesome scholarship. He never longed for name and fame and lead a simple life offering all of his spiritual pursuits with humility as a selfless service to Lord LakshmI-NArAyaNa and the AchAryas of the past. He made alive the Indian culture and tradition having its roots in VEdas by his writings and pure conduct and was an inspiring personality for others to follow. His signal service to the languages Sanskrit and Tamil are cherished by one and all. It was a golden era for Indian Philosophy, with his invaluable Publications taking the ViSishTAdvaita VEdAnta to new higher and greater heights. No wonder that in recognition of his Super-Human activities, he was and is being hailed by one and all - AchAryas to Scholars to Layman as “abhinava dESika” - A Newer VEdAnta DESika in their midst. ———————————————————————
(*) Bhagavad VEdAnta DESika alias VE~nkaTanAtha (1268-1369 C.E.), a genius and versatile Polymath, adorning a unique place in the history of India as one of the all time great Philosophers cum Poets.
(**) Bhagavad RAmAnuja (1017-1137 C.E.), one of the all time great Philosophers and Religious Leaders of great intellect from India.
Some of the Awards and Titles conferred upon SrI UttamUr SwAmi :
-
President’s Award for Scholarship in Sanskrit : First recipient after the institution of this award during 1960.
-
“abhinava dESika” : By SrI VEdAnta DESika SampradAya- SudhAsvAdinI SabhA, 1957.
-
“Ubhaya MImAmsA Vallabha” : By his AchArya SrI KOzhiyAlam SwAmi, 1942 {60th thirunakshatram of SrI KOzhiyAlam SwAmi}
-
“PaNDita MArtANDa” : By SrI Abinava Ra~nganAtha ParakAla- YatIndra MahAdESika of ParakAla Muth.
-
“PaNDita BhUshaNa” : By SrI Madhva SwAmijI, MantrAlaya RAghavEndra Muth.
-
“DESika SarSana Durandhara” : By SrI VaishNava Scholars.
-
“Ubhaya-VEdAnta Vijaya dhvaja” : By SrI VaishNava Scholars,1977; {80th thirunakshatram of SrI UttamUr SwAmi}
-
“SarvAtma RakhAmaNi” : By SrI VaishNava Scholars,1977; {80th thirunakshatram of SrI UttamUr SwAmi}.
-
“PUrva-Uttara MImAmsA PradIpa” : By SrI DESika SabhA,Tirupati.
-
“PrakASikA PrakASaka” : By SrI VaishNava Scholars.
-
“TarkArNava” : By Ayodhya Parishad.
-
“PaNDita Ratna” : By Sanskrit SAhitya Parishad,North India. ——————————————————————-
aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan, KOmANDUr ELayavilli KaralapAkkam anantapadmanAbhan (alias Anand).