चैत्रे चित्रोद्भवं काञ्च्यां देवराजगुरोः सुतम् । सुभद्रांशं गुरुत्तंशं वरदमाश्रये॥
caitre citrodbhavam kAncyAm devarAjaguroH sutam | subhadrAmSam guruttamSam varadamASraye ||
In the year 4977, Kali yugam, Paartiva year, month of Chittirai, when ChitrA nakshatram was in ascendance, SrI Varada DeSikar was born as the amSam of Subhadrar in SrIvatsa gotram to Sri Devarajacharyar at Kanchipuram.
The glories of the lineage (Kulam)
SrIman Nathamunigal had two bhAgineyas (marumAns/nephews). They belonged to SrIvatsa gotram. They were known as MelaiyakattAzhvAn and KeezhaiyakattzhvAn. Their names are Varadacharyar and Krishnamachayar respectively. SvAmi DeSikan celebrated them as “kALam valampuri ennum naRkkAdalaDiyavar”. They debated with majestic voices reminding one of kAhaLa vAdyam and dakshNavartta (Valampuri) Sankham. Their AcAryan, SrIman Nathamunigal was overjoyed with the victorious debates of his nephews. SvAmi DeSikan saluted them as “naRkkAdalaDiyavar " since they had remarkable Bhagavad bhakti. SrIman Nathamunigal performed upadeSam on Yoga Saastram. He also taught them Tamil Vedam (divya Prabandham) with rAgam and tALam. Among the two nephews, Varadacharyar created the Yoga grantham of “SrIdhara yogAbdi”. Krishnamacharyar blessed us with another Yoga grantham named “SrIdharakalpataru”.
SrI Varadacharyar’s son is NirmaladAsar. He created a grantham known as " Yoga Saastra Vrddhi’. J~nAnavarahacharyar is the son of NirmaladAsar. He is the author of another Yoga grantham that pointed out the unison of thoughts between Pathanjali Yoga Saastram and the Nathamuni Yoga Saastram.
J~nAnavarahacharyar’s son was KurukeSar known as Kurukai- kAvalappan. He mastered Yoga Saastram and had many [[92]] accomplishments. Alavandar went to KurukeSar’s home to seek upadeSam on Yoga Saastram. At that time, KurukeSar set up a date for such an upadeSam on abhijit MuhUrtam of the upcoming thai Pushya dinam, the date and time when he was going to shed his mortal coils. He asked Alavandar to receive his upadeSam before thai Pushyam. Alavandar went to Thiruvananthapuram for worshipping the EmperumAn of that divya deSam. He forgot the day set aside by KurukaikAvalappan for upadeSam. It was too late to return home to receive the upadeSam on Yoga rahasyam. He let the opportunity slip and the YogAnushThAnam ended in our tradition after Kurukaikkavalappan.
The son of KurukaikAvalappan was MahAdayAdhISar. KeSava Somayaji gave Ramanujar’s younger sister, KamlAmbha in marriage to MahAdayAdhISar, who himself was a great vidvAn. Thus, Ramanujar became the son in law (jAmAtA) of the family. MahAdayAdhIsar established an agrahAram known as Nadadur agrahAram (near Kanchipuram). The name of NadAdUr came from “naDam”, the lotus flower, which represents the lotus feet of the Lord. NaDAdars are those who enjoy the soft and beautiful feet of the Lord’s feet. The place where such pious and righteous people live came to be known as NaDAdUr:
नडं नलिनमित्याहुः तच्च श्रीशपदाम्भुजम् । तस्यादनं त्वनुभवः नडादास्तेन सात्विकाः॥
naDam nalinamityAhuH tacca SrISapadAmbhujam | tasyAdanam tu anubhavaH naDAdAH tena sAtvikAH ||
MahAdayAdhIsar’s son was VaradavishNvAcharyar (VaradavishNu) known also as NadAdUr AzhvAn. He learnt all Saastrams from his maternal uncle, Ramanuja. He fondly called NadadUr AzhvAn as his dear nephew (Priya bhAgineyar). He was instrumental in helping Udaiyavar very much during the creation of SrI BhAshyam. Scholars have given him the rare title of as “Kulapati”. Mahadevi is the wife of AzhvAn. Their son was named DevasUri and he learnt all the Saastras from his father. DevasUri won over all Paramata vAdis easily and was recognized as “kathakakeSarI” or the “harassing Lion” for the debaters. Lakshmi was his wife.
[[93]] Devarajacharyar had no children for some time. His wife, Lakshmi was grief stricken. Her husband had become old. There were decline of AcAryAs to nourish and protect the VaishNavite siddhAntam. Other darSanams began to grow. The sentient (cetanams) suffered from lack of guidance. At this time, the most merciful MahA Lakshmi in SrI VaikuNTham, who does not know how to condemn any one, appealed to Her Lord. She asked Her Lord to energize ViSishTadvaitam and bless Srivatsa kulam that is dear to Her. The compassionate Lord was pleased with His consort’s appeal and asked for one of the nityasUri-s (eternally liberated souls) by the name of Subhadra through Senai MudaliyAr and commanded Subhadra to incarnate as the son of Devarajacharyar and Lakshmi Ammal.
द्विपात्सु ब्राह्मणाः श्रेष्ठास्तेषु विष्णुमताश्रयाः। तेषु सिंहासनाचार्याः चत्वारस्तेषु विशृताः॥
dvipAtsu brAhmaNAH SreshThAH teshu vishNumatASrayAH | teshu simhAsanAcAryAH catvArasteshu vIsrtAH ||
तेषु वत्सकुलीनार्याः ज्ञानदिगुणसिन्धवः। ते तु श्रीभाष्यदीपेन हरन्ति जगतां तमः॥
teshu vatsakulInAryAH j~nAdiguNasindhavaH | te tu SrIbhAshyadIpena haranti jagatAm tamaH ||
Among those with two feet, brAhmaNAs are lofty. Among the brAhmaNAs, VaishNavAs are loftier (SreshTha). Among VaishNavAs, the seventy four SimhAsanAdhipatis are the loftiest. Even among the seventy four SimhAsanAdhipatis, the loftiest are the top four. In this select group of exalted four, the AcAryAs belonging to SrIvatsa kulam are the loftiest. They are the ocean of infinite mercy as AcAryAs. With their lamp of SrI BhAshyam, they destroy the darkness born out of nescience. Thus the importance of this SrIvatsa kulam is celebrated.
There is a story from PurANas to shed light on the glory of SrIvatsa kulam. During an ancient time, Brahma was seated at his kingdom of Satyalokam surrounded by Indra and the devAs, Manu, daksha and [[94]] other creators (srshTi kartAs) along with the group of sapta rishis and other rishis, Sarasvati, Savitri and Gayatri, and others. At that time, they were discussing about the Supreme Being (para brahmam). Some studied Rg and Yajur Vedas, others sAma Veda. There were debates and rebuttals. One such debate was between the highly irritable Durvasa Maharishi and another Rishi by the name of ManpAlan. In the height of his anger, Durvasar mixed up the svarAs of the sAma Veda Mantrams. Brahma kept quiet as if he did not notice the mistake. Others also kept quiet fearing any outburst from Sage Durvasa’s anger will result in curse. But Sarasvati Devi laughed loud. Durvasar flew in to a rage and cursed her to be born in earth (bhUlokam) since She made fun of him.
Because of the curse, Sarasvati Devi along with Savitri Devi was born in BhUlokam on the banks of SoNA River. A few years passed by. She reached the age of marriage. One day, dadhicI maharishi, the son of bhArgava kulatilakam, Syavana Maharishi came to the Syavana ASramam. dadhicI was eighteen years old and was very beautiful. Sarasvati Devi saw him and wanted to marry him. The marriage took place between them.
After some time, a male child was born to Sarasvati. He was named Saarasvatan. As said by Brahma to Sarasvati about her freedom from the curse that she will return to His side at Satyalokam soon after a child was born to her in BhUlokam. After the birth of the child, Saarasvatan, a boon was given to the child that all Saastras will come to him on their own and she returned to Satyalokam. dadhicI was overwrought with sorrow about his wife’s return to Satyalokam. He handed over Saarasvatan to his brother’s wife, AkshamAlA and requested her to take care of the child. She too had just given birth at the same time. She raised both the children without any bias. AkshamAla’s son was given the name “Vatsan”. MahAlakshmi saw once akshamAlA raising Saarasvatan, her adopted son with great affection. Mahalakshmi breast fed him with great fondness. MahAlakshmi blessed Saarasvatan with the name of SrIvatsan, which was indicative of the child’s subtle link to Her. She also blessed that SrIvatsan and his lineage would be great Brahma J~nAnis. Thus, from that day onwards, the name “SrIvatsan” occurred and lasted for ever.
BhagavAn described this incident of SrIvatsan to Subhadrar and revealed His special affection for the descendants of SrIvatsa vamSam. After that, the wife of Devarajar, Lakshmi ammal became pregnant. One night, she dreamt that a divine being arrived at her home and gave her a precious gem and asked her to swallow it. He [[95]] mentioned that the gem was given by Lord DevAdirajan to her. The couple was happy over the thought that a good son will be born to them. During the month of Chittirai, a male child was born to them, when the ChitrA Nakshatram was in ascendance. The couple named the child, “Varadar” because it was born due to the anugraham of Lord Varadarajan. The samskArams (rites) were done at the appropriate age for the child. He learnt all Saastras from his father and shone with Brahma tejas and became a superior VidvAn. He started doing SrI BhAshya kAlakshepam.
One day, the father of VaradadeSikar was explaining the meanings of the mangaLa Slokam at the beginning of SrI BhAshyam, “akhila bhuvana janmastemabhangAtilIle”. At that time, the precocious child asked as why AcArya Ramanuja chose the word “akhila” instead of other words like “sakala” and “nikhila”. The father was impressed with the intellect of his son. He also felt that the child was fearless because of its informal relationship to his father. Latter he decided that his son should be learning in a more formal Gurukulam setting instead of studying at home under him. Accordingly, his father decided to send his son to learn under the great revered scholar, EngaLAzhvAn at the divya deSam of Tiruvellarai. He knew that EngaLAzhvAn would take his son as his student and teach him all that his son wanted to learn. The father sent his son Varadar for completing the rest of the traditional kAlakshepams under EngaLAzhvAn at his home. The AcAryan met with the young boy and recognized from the tejas on Varadar’s face that he will turn out to be a great scholar adept at growing SrI VaishNava tradition. EngaLAzhvAn decided to accept the young boy as his student as long as he made a vow to be his son and Sishya. Varadar obtained his father’s permission and learnt all the sampradAyic granthams under the kAlakshepam tradition. After completing his studies under the AcAryan, stayed with him until the AcAryan ascended to Paramapadam. Varadar performed the last rites for his AcAryan and returned back thereafter to Kanchipuram.
At Kanchi, he led a kAlakshepa ghoshThI at KacchivAyttAn MaNTapam. Here, he taught granthams like SrI Bhashyam to his student like AppuLLAr, Sudarsanacharyar (SrutaprAkASikAcharyar), VaDakku tiruveedhi PiLLai and others. Curious people wondered why the kAlakshepa ghoshThI chose that maNTapam near Lord Varadan’s sannidhi. The AcArya, Varadar answered that the site is close to the birth of “the six words” (ARu vArttaikaL) by the boon granting Varadan. He further said that the growth of the VaishNavaite sampradAyam through kAlakshepams there would please Lord Varadan very much. [[96]] One day, there was a delay in starting the daily kAlakshepam due to the late arrival of one of the students named VyAsAryar (Sudarsanacharyar). The AcAryan delayed the start of the kAlakshepam. Some of the members were getting annoyed about the delay. Sudarsanacharyar arrived and the fellow students made fun of their classmate for holding up the class. Now, the AcAryan, SrI VaradadeSikar intervened and asked Sudarsanacharyar to explain about one of the topics that he has learnt so far in the kAlakshepa ghoshThI. Sudarsanar selected a topic and explained with great clarity the meanings of what the AcAryan taught in the first round and then continued with what was taught in the second and other sessions. The class mates of Sudarsanacharyar were ashamed about their behavior. The AcAryan was very pleased and asked Sudarsanacharyar to write down the material that he had learnt on SrI BhAshyam. The student happily obliged and presented the written material to his AcAryan. Since Sudarsanacharyar illumined the meanings that he had learnt from the kAlakshepams, the AcAryan named the created grantham as “SrutaprakASikA”. This is the first commentary on SrI BhAshyam.
Once, the sannidhi paricArakar (cook) presented very hot milk to Lord Varadan. As VaradadeSikar was very unhappy about this, he cooled the milk to a comfortable level, with great tenderness like a caring mother presented it to the Lord. The atyushNa (too hot) milk was transformed in to comfortable (sukhoshNam) for the Lord to enjoy it. Lord Varadarajan was moved by this and called VaradadeSikar as His mother (ennammA). From that day, SrI VaradadeSikar came to be known as NadAdUr ammAL.
On another day, when kAlakshepam was going on, Kidambi AppuLLAr brought with him his five year old nephew, SrI Venkatanathan, the incarnation of the sannidhi bell of Lord Srinivasa of Tirumala to pay their obeisance to DevAdirajan. At that time, Nadadur Ammal came to the kAlakshepam hall. The AcAryan was moved by the radiance that he saw in the child’s face and blessed the child. AppuLLAr introduced the young boy as his nephew. After that introduction was over, Ammal asked his students to continue the kAlakshepam from the place, where they had stopped. The SishyAs were so mesmerized by the tejas of the young boy, got distracted and could not remember as to where it was stopped. The boy pointed out the place, where they stopped. Observing this scene unfold, Ammal was immersed in the greatest bliss. He embraced the five year old young boy, placed him on his lap and blessed him like Pulastya Maharishi blessed ParASarar:
[[97]] प्रतिष्ठापितवेदान्तः प्रतिक्षिप्तबहिर्मतः। भूयास्त्रैविद्यमान्यस्त्वं भूरिकल्याणभाजनम् ॥
pratishThApita vedAntaH pratikshiptabahirmataH | bhUyAH traividyamAnyaH tvam bhUrikalyAnabhAjanam ||
The great AcAryan blessed the child to defeat avaidika matams (Veda virutta matams), establish Vaidika matams and achieve much auspiciousness.
At one time, Nadadur ammal went on a pilgrimage with his SishyAs to TirumalA. On the way, they met a local chieftain known as KeNDavaran accompanied by his subjects known as lADar-s. He used Kumkumam from Durga devi to make the SishyAs of NadAdUr ammal to loose their minds. Knowing what happened; Ammal recited sudarSana mantra japam and freed his SishyAs from the troubles caused by KeNDavaran. Ammal debated with him and defeated him. KeNDavaran accepted the defeat and sought refuge at Ammal’s sacred feet. Responding to KeNDavaran’s prayers, Ammal established Laadapuram agrahAram and continued thereafter with his yAtrA to Tirumala for the MangaLASAsanam of Sri Venkatesan.
The group arrived by midday at Tirucchanur with great difficulty as it was very hot. The group sought shelter at a place near by. Now, a VaishNava appeared with cool curd rice held in a golden vessel and said that he was bringing it at the command of Lord Srinivasan. Once Ammal received the prasAdam, the visitor disappeared. Reflecting on the kindness of the Lord of Seven Hills, Ammal partook the prasAdam with his SishyAs. Tears of joy were running from his eyes. The golden vessel also disappeared now in to the sky. At Lord’s sannidhi, the temple administrators were searching for the disappeared golden vessel. Lord Venkatesan announced through the temple priests that He took the golden vessel with curd rice to Varadadesikar and that vessel was inside the sannidhi. The Lord then commanded the arcakAs and temple administrators to go down, meet with the ghoshThI of VaradadeSikar with all honors and bring them up to His sannidhi. They followed the command of the Lord and brought the ghoshThI for BhagavAn’s sevA and tIrtha prasAdams. VaradadeSikar was filled with bliss and started going down the hills of the Lord. At that time, there was a celestial voice (AkASa vANi) that commanded Varadaguru to go north to Kasi and take control of Saarada pITham there. Varadaguru [[98]] accordingly went to Kasi and won over the scholars at the pITham and brought it under his control.
At Kasi, there was a vidvAn by the name of daNDadhara Visvanathan. He had a Sishya with the name of Kumbheesutan. There was a debate between Kumbheesutan and Ammal in front of the King of Kasi. SrInidhi PaNDitar served as a mediator/judge. The discussion was about ParadevatA nirNayam. The Sishya of daNDadhara Visvanathan was a mAyAvAdi. SrInidhi PaNDitar, the judge announced that the Sishya was soundly defeated by Ammal (Varadaguru). This enabled Varadaguru to ascend the Saarada pITham and receive all the honors from the King. Varadaguru returned to Kanchipuram from Kasi. On hearing the incidents at Kasi, the residents of Kanchi welcomed Ammal with pomp and celebrated. Varadaguru performed MangaLASAsanam of Lord Varadarajan.
On the way, Varadaguru asked the question as to who is the One that carries this Universe with earth and AkASa? He cited the passage from AraNyakam asserting that the entire universe is carried by VishNu as per the doctrine of SrIvatsa Maharishi, the kulapati of SrIvatsa vamSam (विष्णुना Aविधृते Aभूमि Aइति Aवत्सस्य Aवेदना vishNunA vidhrte bhUmi iti vatsasya vedanA). It is well known that the MahAns from SrIvatsa gotram have been famous PaNDitAs in the past and in that kulam more such vidvAns will arise in future (नास्याऽब्रह्मवित् Aकुले Aभवति nAsyA’brahmavit kule bhavati).
Nadadur Ammal’s son was Devaraja Perumal. His son was GaTikASatam ammal, who composed one hundred Slokams in the short interval of one gaTikai (24 minutes/one nAzhikai). GhaTikASatam ammal was the AcAryan for Adi VaN SaThakopa Yatindra MahadeSikan. GaTikASatam Ammal’s son was VaradavishNAvacharyar who was the Sishya of Adi VaN SaThakopa Yatindra MahadeSikan. It is not an exaggeration to say that the AcArya paramparA starting from the nephews of SrI Nathamunigal to VaradavishNavAcharyar through the lineage of sons, and grandsons is the loftiest paramaparA belonging to Nadadur Ammal.
The granthams created by Nadadur Ammal are:
- tattva sAram 3. PrameyamAlA 2. PrapannapArijAtam 4. AhnikacUDAmaNi www.sadagopan.org AcArya Vaibhavam 99
- ArAdhanakramam 11. Rahasyasahasram 6. PrameyasAram 12. caturlakshaNasangraham 7. MangaLASAsanam 13. paratattva nirNayam 8. J~nAnasAram 14. dramiDopanishad sahasram 9. JayantI nirNayam 15. SrIbhAshya sangraham 10. hetrirAjastavam
His taniyan -
वन्देऽहं वरदार्यं तं वत्साभिजनभूषणम् । भाष्यामृतप्रदानाद् यः सञ्जीवयति मामपि॥
vande’ham varadAryam tam vatsAbhijanabhUshaNam | bhAshyAmrtapradAnAd yaH sanjIvayati mAmapi ||
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