Raghavendra Tirtha

Raghavendra Tirtha
Personal
Born	Venkatanatha Bhatta 1595 or 1598 Bhuvanagiri (now in Tamil Nadu)
Religion	Hinduism
Spouse	Sarasvati Bai
Children	Lakshminarayanacharya
Organization
Order	Vedantha
Philosophy	Dvaita Vedanta
Religious career
Guru	Sudheendra Tirtha
Successor	Sri Yogendra Tirtha
Literary works	Bhatta Sangraha, Nyaya Sudha Parimala, Tantradipika
Honors	Parimalacharya

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Raghavendra Tirtha (Rāghavēndra Tīrtha), also referred as Raghavendra Swami, (c.1595 – c.1671) was a Vaishnava scholar, theologian, and saint. He was also known as Sudha Parimalacharya (Sudhā Parimaḷācārya). His diverse oeuvre include commentaries on the works of Madhva, Jayatirtha, and Vyasatirtha, interpretation of the Principal Upanishads from the standpoint of Dvaita and a treatise on Purva Mimamsa. He served as the pontiff of the matha at Kumbakonam from 1621 to 1671.^[1] Raghavendra Tirtha was also an accomplished player of the veena and he composed several songs under the name of Venu Gopala.^[2] His memorial at Mantralayam attracts lakhs (hundreds of thousands) of visitors every year.

Raghavendra Tirtha was born as Venkatanatha in the town of Bhuvanagiri, Tamil Nadu into a Kannada Madhva Brahmin family of Gautama Gotra of musicians and scholars.^[3][4] His great-grandfather Krishna Bhatta was a tutor to the Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadevaraya. His grandfather was Kanakachala Bhatta,^[5] and his father Thimmanna Bhatta (also known as Thimmannacharya) was an accomplished scholar and musician.^[6] After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, Thimmanacharya migrated to Kanchi with his wife Gopikamba. Venkatanatha had two siblings—Gururaja and Venkatamba. Venkatanatha's education was taken care of by his brother-in-law Lakshmi Narasimhacharya at Madurai after the early demise of his father, and he subsequently got married.^[7]

In 1624, Raghavendra Tirtha became the pontiff of the Kumbhakonam Matha, which was earlier known as Vijayeendra Matha or Dakshinadi Matha, now known by the name of Mantralaya Sri Raghavendra Swamy Matha. Uttaradi Math along with Vyasaraja Math and Raghavendra Math are considered to be the three premier apostolic institutions of Dvaita Vedanta and are jointly referred as Mathatraya.^[8][9][10]

After a short stay at Kumbakonam, he went on a pilgrimage to Rameswaram, Ramnad, Srirangam, and Mathura. Later, he moved westwards to Udupi and Subramanya, and then to Pandharpur, Kolhapur and Bijapur. At Kolhapur, he is said to have stayed for a long time and at Bijapur, he supposedly defeated many Advaitins and converted them to Dvaita fold.^[11] After that, he returned to Kumbakonam. By 1663 he left for Mysore where he got a grant from Dodda Devaraya Odeyar. Finally, he chose to settle down in Mantralayam.^[12]

Raghavendra Tirtha died in 1671 in Mantralayam, a village on the bank of river Tungabhadra in Adoni taluk in Andhra Pradesh.^[12]

Forty works have been attributed to Raghavendra Tirtha.^[2][13] Sharma notes that his works are characterised by their compactness, simplicity and their ability to explain the abstruse metaphysical concepts of Dvaita in understandable terms.^[2][13][14] His Tantradipika is an interpretation of the Brahma Sutra from the standpoint of Dvaita incorporating elements from Jayatirtha's Nyaya Sudha, Vyasatirtha's Tatparya Chandrika and the glosses by Vijayendra Tirtha. ^[14] Bhavadipa is a commentary on Jayatirtha's Tattva Prakasika which, apart from elucidating the concepts of the source text, criticises the allegations against Madhva raised by Appaya Dikshita and grammarian Bhattoji Dikshita.Raghavendra Tirtha's expertise in Purva Mimamsa and Vyakarana is evident from his works on Vyasatirtha's Tatparya Chandrika, which runs up to 18,000 stanzas. He wrote a commentary on Nyaya Sudha titled Nyaya Sudha Parimala.^[15] Apart from these works, he has authored commentaries on the Upanishads, first three chapters of Rigveda (called Mantramanjari) and Bhagavad Gita. As an independent treatise, he has authored a commentary on Jaimini Sutras called Bhatta Sangraha which seeks to interpret the Purva Mimamsa doctrines from a Dvaita perspective.^[16]

While Rayaru had his Brindavana Pravesha around 1:30 pm in the 17th century, it is recorded in the Gazette of then Madras Presidency that he gave darshan and spoke to Sir Thomas Munroe, a civil servant of British Government and discussed with him the restitution of the Inam Lands to the government which was being proposed then, meaning that Mantralaya would have become part of the restituted lands. After such a conversation, which Sir Thomas Munroe dutifully transcribed, the restitution was withdrawn.^[17]

Raghavendra Tirtha has been eulogised by Narayanacharya in his contemporaneous biography Raghavendra Vijaya and a hymn Raghavendra Stotra by Appannacharya. Outside the confines of Dvaita, he is regarded as a saint known for preaching the worship of Vishnu regardless of caste or creed.^[18] Hebbar notes "By virtue of his spiritual charisma, coupled with the innumerable miracles associated with him, the pontiff saint may very well be said to possess an independent and cosmopolitan cult of his own with his devotees hailing not only from all walks of life but from all castes, sects and even creeds as well".^[19] His humanitarianism is evident in the devotional poems composed in his honour by Vijaya Dasa, Gopala Dasa and Jagannatha Dasa.^[20] Raghavendra has also seen representation in the popular culture through Indian Cinema.

• Sharma, B.N.K (1961). History of Dvaita school of Vedanta and its Literature, Vol 2 (3rd ed.). Bombay: Motilal Banarasidass. ISBN 81-208-1575-0.
• Sharma, B. N. Krishnamurti (2000). A History of the Dvaita School of Vedānta and Its Literature, 3rd Edition. Motilal Banarsidass (2008 Reprint). ISBN 978-8120815759.
• Hebbar, B.N (2005). The Sri-Krsna Temple at Udupi: The History and Spiritual Center of the Madhvite Sect of Hinduism. Bharatiya Granth Nikethan. ISBN 81-89211-04-8.
• Callewaert, Winand M. (1994). According to Tradition: Hagiographical Writing in India. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3447035248.
• Rao, Krishna, M.V (1966). Purandara and the Haridasa Movement. Dharwad: Karnatak University.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Pandurangi, K.T (2004). Bhatta Sangraha. Bengaluru: Dvaita Vedanta Studies and Research Foundation.
• Aiyangar, Krishnaswami (1919). Sources of Vijayanagar History. Chennai: University of Madras.
• Shah, Giriraj (1999). Saints, gurus and mystics of India. Vol. 2. Cosmo Publications. p. 473. ISBN 978-81-7020-856-3.
• Rao, Raghavendra (2015). The Proceedings Of The Indian History Congress 8th Session. The General Secretary Indian History Congress Allahabad.
• Hebbar, B.N (2004). The Sri Krsna Temple at Udupi. Nataraj Books. ISBN 978-1881338505.

• Official website of Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt Mantralayam

• Raghavendra Vijaya: A Biography of Raghavendra Tirtha