Avathaarikai

This blog is dedicated to Sri Pranathaarthihara, popularly known as KidAmbi AchAn or madapaLLi AchAn, the personal cook to EmperumAnAr and one of the 74 simhAsanAdhipathis appointed by Him as a Rahasya simhAsanadhipathi.

AchAn was EmperumAnAr's second cousin, in the sense, he was Periya Tirumalai Nambi's wife's nephew, and hence was PiLLAn's maternal cousin. It was after the (in)famous poisoning incident, witnessing AchAn's acharya bakthi, TirukOshtiyur Nambi ordered(blessed) him to take charge of EmperumAnAr's bikshai. From then on he was revered as madapaLLi AchAn. He had the bhagyam of having vedanta kAlakshepam under EmperumAnAr 12 times, and he was honoured by Swami as "veDAnta dyana Acharyan". Though none of his works are available today, he is fondly remembered for his closeness and service to EmperumAnAr, and for being the kootasthar for the KidAmbi family, the lineage in which were born illustrious stalwarts like Atreya RAmAnuja PillAn, KidAmbi AppullAr (KidAmbi RAmAnuja, the maternal uncle of Swami Desikan), Kidambi Srinivasachar(popularly known in his SanyAsashrama name AdivaN Satagopa Yatindra MahAdesikan, the founding Jeeyar of Sri Ahobila Mutt) and Gopala Desikan (15th descendant of AppuLLar, Munitraya Pravarthakar).

I have seen in a couple of places on the web that AchAn's pages were attributed as cook-blogs, I do not have any authority in cooking to write a full-fledged cook-blog, though I am regarded as a person with a good cooking-sense. But, definitely, one day, I would like to identify myself with madapaLLi kaimkaryam to Him.

I have been a jack of all trades since childhood, right from music, sports, art, speaking, and many more and almost of all them, I have shed with just a couple of years of interest and involvement. In the last few years of living away from home, some force (Sri:) has braught me to the fold I originally belong to.

Though I do belong to a sampradaically 'significant' lineage, I wasn't braught up in an agraharam or a temple atmosphere; I was so ignorant that I did not even know the meaning of the words "mandahapadi" or "rA-patthu"! until I was 22. Thanks to the likitha-kaimkaryam of Oppiliappan Koil Dr. Sadagopa Iyengar and his group, I was blessed with the opportunity to learn about Sampradayam, allied history, philosophy, theism, discipline, more advanced topics like aagama, and above all, I fell in love with Perumal Koil without having ever been there. Last vacation, I was almost branded crazy by many dear ones around, for the spree I was in, throughout, visiting temples. Despite enjoying the bliss that I am being subjected to, I do have a fear that this too should not pass like those childhood 'one-year-passions'. Sriman U.Ve. VeLukkudi Krishnan often says "spiritualism is best enriched by sharing thoughts with the like-minded and members of the family must get together atleast once a week and talk bhagawadvishayam". I can do that only with my mom during the long phone calls in the weekends. Other than mom, I wish to share it with the medium thorugh which I learnt most of whatever I know today - The Interent, to keep me going.

நன்றும் திருவுடையோம் நானிலத்தில் எவ்வுயிர்க்கும்*

ஒன்றும் குறை இல்லை ஓதினோம்* - குன்றம்

எடுத்தான் அடி சேர் இராமானுசன் தாள் *

பிடித்தார் பிடித்தாரைப் பற்றி

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பிள்ளை உறங்காவில்லி தாசர்

Acharya Vandanam

Swami Desikan - Tiruvahindrapuram

உன்னருள் அன்றி எனக்கொரு நற்றுணை இன்மையினால்*

என்னிரு வல்வினை நீயே விலக்கி இதம் கருதி*

மன்னிய நல் திருமந்திரம் ஓதும் பொருள் நிலையே*

பொன் அருளால் அருளாய் புகழ் தூப்புல் குலவிளக்கே 

- குமார வரதாசார் (பிள்ளை அந்தாதி - 15 ) 

unnaruL anRi enakkoru naRRuNai inmaiyinAl

enniru valvinai neeYe vilakki idham karudhi

manniyanal thirumanthiram Oadhum poruL nilaiYe

pon aruLAl aruLAi pugazh thoopul kulaviLakke

-  Kumara Varadachar (Pillai andhAdhi - 15 )

It is a privelage to begin this blog with a pasuram by Kumara Varadachar (popularly called Nainachariar), on his Father, Acharyan and God - 'Sarvatantraswatantra' Swami Thoopul Vedanta Desikan.

It is fitting to quote Kumara Varadaaryan here, since he is one of the iconic examples for Acharya nishtai after Madurakavigal and Kidambi Aachaan (his great-great-grandfather), for he mostly sang about his Father, his preceptor as God Himself. He even performed prapatti(saranagathi) under the sacred feet of his dad, which is one of the three methods for saranagathi falling under Swami's Prapatti doctrine(sva-, ukthi- and acharya-nishtai). Incidentally it is the method practised by the MuniTraya Sampradaya, for which one of the descendants of the Kidambi family(Swami Tirukkudandai Desikan) was the pravarthakar.

[We shall see more about Kidambi Aachaan and the Kidambi Family shortly ]

Our Swami was a preceptor-peerless leaping beyond all mortal superlatives, next only to Sri Emperumaanaar. Within the limitations of my reading, I am still to find a topic that Swami has left untouched. It is questionable whether someone could match his literary compositions and Baghwat kaimkaryam, even if blessed with a life ten times longer than what he has done (Sri U.Ve. Velukkudi Krishnan's words in many of his mentions about Swami). Works ranging from Kavya-Nataka to Mimamsa Granta to Nyaya Granta to Ubaya Vedanta Bashya to Gita Bashya (Tatparya Chandrika) to Rahasya Granta to Stotra granta to Tamil Prabandha to physical kaimkaryam of saving PramaNas during foreign invasion to Sri Bashya Kalakshepam made over 30 times (still unmatched) to Debating in defense of Emperumaanaar Darshanam when faced with serious challenges to upholding Dramidopanishad and adhayayana utsavam in Srirangam and Tiruvahindrapuram to bridging the gap between two primary Agamas in Vaishnavam to holding the disctinction of being the only acharyan to have sung in nAyika Bhavam to a lot more to uphold Emperumanaar Darshanam in firm footing.

Acknowledging all the above, Sri Pillai Ulagaaryan, his senior contemporary, has rendered a thaniyan summing his value up as 

சீரொன்று தூப்புல் திருவேங்கடம் உடையான் 

பாரொன்றச் சொன்ன பழமொழியுள் - ஓரொன்று

தானே அமையாதோ தாரணியில் வாழ்வார்க்கு

வானேறப் போமளவும் வாழ்வு 

which is rendered before recitation('sevithal') of his Tamil Prabandhams.

For a lot more un-expressable and non-existant reasons, Swami is my most favourite Acharyan after Emperumaanaar, and all the above crap, which are my expositions, are no better than a Zero watt bulb stating "Sun is a real bright source of light"

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SarvatantraswatantrObayaVedantachaarya dAsAnudAsan

Konerirajapuram Asuri Sudarsanan