SRI NADADUR AMMAL
ALSO KNOWN AS SRI VATSYA
VARADA OR VARADA GURU OR VARADA DESIKAR
1165 -1275CE
Born in the year Parthiva
in the month of Chitrai with chitrai as his birth star year corresponding to
1165 AD or kali yuga 4977. In the Srivatsa gotra at Kanchipuram
Fathers name Devarajan
Mothers name Lakshmiammal
Grand
Father Nadadur Alawan
Vandeham
varadAryam tam vatsAbhij~n AnabhUshaNam
bhAshyAmrta
pradAnAt yaH sanjivayati mAmapi
Sri
Nadadur ammal (1165-1275 AD) is one of the greatest acharyas in the sampradaya
of Sri Ramanuja. He is an acharya held in high respect by both the Vadagalai
and Tengalai followers of Sri Ramanuja. Sri Nadadur ammal was the grandson of
Sri Nadadoor alawan who was the son of sri Ramanuja’s younger sister Smt.
Kamala. Sri Nadadoor Alawan was a great logician and was also hailed as the
beloved nephew of Sri Ramanuja. Sri Ramanuja gave his Sri Bhashya Simhasanam to
sri Nadadoor alawan on the eve of his departure to the heavenly abode in the
year1137 AD. He also gave him the responsibility of spreading his Sri bhashyam.
Sri
Nadadur ammal originaly named by his parents as Varada was born at Nadadur,
a village near kanchi. He kept up the
tradition of discourses on Sri Bhashyam in the temple of Lord Varada at
kanchipuram and attracted many scholarly students.
Tradition
has it that Sri nadadur ammal obtained the name “AmmaL” because Lord Varada
himself called him mother (ammal) moved by his motherly act when Sri nadadur
ammal offered milk to him at a palatable temperature in the same manner a
mother would to her child.
Nadadur
ammal is the Acharya of both Sudarsana Bhattar ( the great grand son of Koorath
Alawan ) and the author of Sruta Prakasika and Atreya Ramanuja also known as
Sri Appullar (the maternal uncle of Swamy Desikan)
The Sanskrit word Nadam
meaning lotus flower, special for Sri Vaishnavas as the gods are depicted as
standing on the lotus flower etc., brings to mind the lotus feet of the
lord. The devotees who do not want any
thing except the enjoyment of the lotus feet of the lord. Such folks are called
Nadadar and the place of their residence came to be known as Nadadoor. This village was founded by Mahadaya thesa
who was married to Sri Ramanuja’s younger sister Smt. Kamalamba. Mahadayathesa
(also mentioned as Maha karuniaka’s ) son Varada Vishnu alias Sri Sudarshanar
was popularly known as Nadadoor alawan.
Like Koorath alawan, Sri
Nadadoor alawan was close to his teacher, Sri Ramanuja charya. He was one of
the few Disciples chosen by Sri Ramanuja
and blessed with the task of scribing the Sri Bhashyam the commentary to
understand the tenents of Brahma Sutra as and when it was discussed and
dictated by Sri Ramanuja Charya.

Sri Nadadoor Alawan being
conferred the Sri Bhashyam Peetha by Sri Ramanuja.
Sri Ramanuja charya gave
his Sri Bhashya simhasana to Nadadoor alawan the choice being made by Lord
Vardarajan himself. After Sri Ramanujar in 1137 Sri Nadadoor alawan installed
the archa form of his preceptor at Sri Kanchipuram Sri Varadaraja Temple and
continued to do service to Sri Vaishnavas. His son Devaraja Maha desikan ardently followed his
footsteps in the propogation of Sri vaishnavism.
The Family to which
Nadadur ammal belonged is a great one and there are quiet a number of instances
in the life of Sri Nadadur ammal which are very interesting.
The family line.
Sri Nathamuni had two nephews namely Melagatha alawan or
Varada charya and Keelagath alawan or Krishnamachary. These two were very good
in dramatically arguing the points of the discourses during the classes. So
much so that people gathered to watch them with apprehension. It is told that
they were compared to two musical instruments or way of discussion called Kahalavadyam
and Dakshina vratham. The raptures they went to was a discussion in scholarly
get to gether in those times. At the same time it was mentioned that it is with
Gambira that they put their points forward respecting each other. The positive
and competitive spirit with which each of them put their points forward made a
mark in the minds of the audiences.
Both Varadacharya and
Krishnamacharya were very good yoga exponents both wrote books on yoga and its secrets. Sidharo yogarthy
written by Varadacharya and sridhara kalpa taru written by Krishnamachary were
books being followed ardently.
Sri varadachary’s son
Gyanavaraha charya grew up in the yoga atmosphere and was responsible in
writing the Nirmala dasa yoga shastra. He was a great teacher, His son Kurukesa
or Kurungai kavalappan was a great yoga exponent too and he attained fame and
siddha by reconciling the great yoga shastra handed down to him through Nathamuni and that of the great yoga
guru Paatanjali. This being a great achievement.
It is said that Alavandar once approached Kuresa and desired to learn Yoga
shastra at a leasurely time. Kuresa informed him that he was likely to die
during the Pushya star in the month of tai and that if Alavandar could manage
to come before that he would impart the secret knowledge of yoga to him. Sri
Alavandar could not make it and as foretold Kuresa passed away taking with him
the secret of yoga and its shastra and the followers of Sri Alavandar were the
misfortunate ones to have lost the great science of Yoga.
Sri Kuresa had a son
namely Maha daya thesa who married the younger sister of Sri Ramanuja charya
and daughter of Sri Kesava somayaji.
Sri Maha daya thesa was
responsible for starting the agraharam of Nadadoor. Nadam being the lotus or
tamarai and the followers of the sampradaya of praying and following the
tradition of praying for the grace of the LORDS FEET were called Nadadar.
As mentioned earlier Mahadaya thes’s son Varada
Vishnu or Nadadoor alawan was a great help to Uncle Ramanuja charya when he wrote
his Sri Bhashyam.
Nadadoor alawan’s son Deva
suri or Devaraja Charya held the title
Kathaka Kesari for his exponents of Sri bhashya His wife was Lakshmi Ammal,
they had no children for a long time. It is said in the scriptures that by the
grace of the Divine Mother who intervened and approached the Lord to bless the
couple with a child.
They were blessed with a
son. They belonged to Srivatsa Gotra and they named their Son and Our Author
Varada, Sri Vatsya Varada or Varada guru. He was a bright lad and was a jewel in the eyes of all members of the
family.
Sri Varadaguru later came to be known as Nadathur Ammal, Varadaguru was well-trained by his erudite
father in all faculties, and the father decided to teach Sri Bhashyam ( Ramanuja's magnum-opus on the
theo-philosophy of Vedanta ) to his son.
On an auspicious day Devaraja Mahadesikan commenced the teaching
with the invocation of the song which began with the words ‘Akhila Bhuvana’.
The young Varadaguru stopped his father with a question, ‘Why should
Emperumaanar choose the word ‘Akhila’ instead of words like ‘sakala ‘nikhila’,
when all of them denote the same meaning? The happy and surprised father,
however, answered his son that Udayavar’s choice of word was to begin his
magnum opus with the first alphabet representing Lord Narayana. Devaraja, at
the same time knew well that he being old did not have enough strength to
appease the intellectual hunger of his boy. So he decided to send him to Engal
Azhvan of Thiruvellarai.Engal Azhvan, called so by Ramanuja himself, had helped
Nadadoor Azhvan in scribing the work as Koorathazhvan had become blind.Engal
Azhvan had a good training under Thirukkurukaippiran Pillan and had retired to
Thiruvellarai, to spend his life in solitude.
An interesting episode between the master and disciple is
illuminating. At Thiruvellarai, Varadaguru found out Engal Azhvan’s residence
and tapped at the door. The teacher asked “Who is that?” The student replied,
“I am Varadan, Kanchi Nadathur Devaraja Mahadesikan’s son.” The teacher
replied,” Whoever it is come after “I” die. The perplexed Varadan returned home
and asked his father. The father explained that the word “I” denotes ego or
ahamkara and the teacher had only asked him to shed off his ego and then
approach him. Moreover according to Srivaishnava tradition, there is no “I” or
“me”, there is only the beautiful word ‘adiyen’. Varadan realized his mistake
and prostrated before Engal Azhvan who adopted him not only as disciple but
also as his beloved son. Both of them traveled together, worshipped the arca
forms in the temples and finally reached a small hamlet Kollagonda, near Srivilliputtur.Engal Azhvan wrote a commentary
to ‘Vishnu Puranam’ and in course of time reached his heavenly
abode. As an obedient son, Varadaguru performed all funeral rites and at
Thiruvellarai installed the arca form of his Acharya. It can be seen in this
image form, Varadaguru is seated at the feet of his master. He has also shown
his deep Acharya Bhakti in the dhyana sloka of his work Tattva sara. Varadaguru
gave the responsibility of looking after the arca forms at Thiruvellarai to Engal Azhvan’s daughter’s
family. Later they came to be known as ‘Ammalacharyas’. Having done his duty to
his guru, Varadaguru returned to Kanchipuram.
At Kanchi, Varadaguru began his Sri Bhashya teaching near ‘Kachi
vayththan Mantapam’ the eastern side of the temple sanctum sanctorum. He chose
this spot because this was the place where the Lord Himself sowed the seeds of
Sri Bhashya, as answers to the six questions postulated by Sri Ramanuja by
Thirukachchi Nambigal.The answers are:
2.
Jivas are different from each other, they are
different from Me. Hence my philosophy is ‘Bheda’ or differentiation.
3.
Surrender or Saranagati is the best and simple means
to reach Me.
4.
Those who surrender to
Me need not necessarily think about Me in the last moments.
5.
Liberation or Moksha is only possible after shedding the mortal
body.
6.
Sri Periya Nambigal must
be the Guru to Ramanuja.
Varadaguru made several pilgrimages and won in a debate with
Sivasular, a Saivite at Sethu, Ananda Madhavacharyar at the court of the Chola
king and the fanatic Kumbisutan before the king of Kasi.
The Kasi king honored him by placing him on the Sarada Peeth. Varadaguru composed
‘Hetirajastavam’ and saved a possessed Brahmin. After his pilgrimage, he
returned to Kanchi and continued his Sri Bhashya Upanyasa. His sweet rendering
and excellent discourse attracted many disciples like Appullar alias Atreya
Ramanuja,Vadakku Thiruveethipillai, and Sudarsanasuri, the great grandson of Koorathazhvan.
Nadathur Ammal and Thirumala
At one time, NadAthUr ammAl went on a pilgrimage to Thirumalai. He was near ThirucchAnUr and the
hot rays of the noon sun was bearing down on him. AmmAL rested on the pial of a
house and was hungry . At that time, a Sri VaishNavar appeared and presented
dhadhyannam in a golden vessel and mentioned that it was SrinivAsa's Niyamanam.
Once AmmAL and his sishyAls partook the prasAdham, the Sri VaishNavar and the
golden vessel disappeared . Sri Nadathur ammaaL recognized it was the Lord of
the seven hills that gave him and his sishyALs His PrasAdham .Meanwhile, the
sannadhi (sanctum) servants noticed the missing golden vessel and were
wondering as to what had happened. The Lord explained to them that He
personally took it to serve AmmAL and showed them where the vessel was. The
Lord also commanded His sannadhi parichArakAs to bring AmmAL with all honors
(maryAdhais) fromThirucchAnUr to His presence. NadaathUr ammAl arrived
in front of the Lord and performed MangaLAsAsanam (verse chanting) to his
heart's content and returned thereafter to his native Kaanchi . Such is the
relationship of Lord SrinivAsan to His AchAryALs.
Works of Nadathur Ammal
The following nineteen works have been written by Nadadur ammal
1.
Tattvasaram
2.
Prapanna Parijatam
3.
Prameyamalai
4.
Annika Choodaman
5.
Aradhana kramam
6.
Prameya Saram
7.
Mangalasasanam
8.
Jnana saram
9.
Jayanti Nirupanam
10.
Hetiraja Stavam
11.
Rahasya Sangraham
12.
Chaturlakshana Sangraham
13.
Paratattva Nirnayam
14.
Dramidopanishad
Sangraham
15.
Sri Bhashya Sangraham
16.
Prataranusadeya Slokas
17.
Paramartha Slokadvayam
18.
Paratvadi Panchakam
19.
Yatilinga Samartanam
His works have been transalated into many languages both Indian
and Foreign.
Nadadur ammal books transalated to german in the picture above and
also proof of his scribing for sri Ramanuja charya from the library collection
at Chennai .
Nadadur Ammal and After
After a long life of one hundred and ten years, Ammal departed to
his heavenly home on the Shukla paksha Panchami of the Masi month, Yuva year
(1275 A.D.). It is reported that Nadadoor Ammal had four sons, Sri
Varadavishnu, Devarajar, Sudarshanar and Hethisar.
The biography of Sri Nadadoor Ammal has been compiled from two
works, Varadadesikabhyudayam and Varadadesika
VaibhavaPrakasika. The author of these two works, Mimasa Vallabhar says
that the former Kavya with eight sargas is an abridged form of Charya dipam of
Hemamali Desikar. Both the authors are descendents of Nadadoor Ammal. Mimamsa
Vallabhar has nine works on Nadadoor Ammal alone:
1.
Varadadesika Suprabhatam
2.
Varadadesika Dandakam
3.
Varadadesika gaddyam
4.
Varadadesika Panchashat
5.
Varadadesika Ashtotra
Shatanama Stotram
6.
Varadadesika Vaibhava
Prakasika
7.
Varadadesika Sambhavana
kramam
8.
Varadadesika Prabhava
deepam
9.
Varadadesikabhyudayam
Scholars came from different parts of the country to jata vallabar
or Mimamsa Vallabar,s home for discussions and for correcting and perfecting
their works, and to attend pre arranged discourses and discussions on Vedanta,
taraka mimamsa vyakarna and veda. His house was a store house of all important
works. For him to have written 9 works on Nadadur ammal is indeed a great
revealer of how important our author was in the social circles of those times.
The birth of Srutaprakasika
Varadaguru's students used to listen to his lectures attentively
and by their pertinent questions, now and then got clarification from their
learned master. But Sudarsanasuri alone would remain quiet; he had no questions
to ask. His mates discarded (disregarded) him as dud. One day, as usual, the
students had assembled in the lecture hall. But the teacher was not willing to
begin the lecture since Sudarsanasuri had not turned up. The other students
compelled the master to begin the discourse saying that the presence or absence
of the stone like Sudarsanar during the discourse was one and the same. The
master regretted to hear these words and knowing Sudarsanar’s deep scholarship,
decided to prove it to the class. During the course of the lecture, the Acharya
asked Sudarsanar to explain a simple phrase. To everyone’s surprise Sudarsanar
not only gave the literal meaning but also the in depth meanings given by his
master in the previous occasion. The teacher himself did not expect this. But
Sudarsanar told him that he had a habit of scribing the content of the
discourse every night on palm leaves and presented the script to Varadaguru. It
was ‘Srutaprakasika’- the illuminations of what he had heard, and hence the
name, this Srutaprakasika is the commentary to Sri Bhashya. Later Sudarsana
Bhattar elaborated and completed it in 36,000 grantas. In its survival,
Srutaprakasika saw many vicissitudes in the national scene, including the
invasion by Maliq Gaffor. Sri Swami Desikan did a remarkable service to protect
the script by feigning death and playing dead amongst corpses.
Varadaguru had the deepest Bhakti to Varadraja. One night when he
was worshiping the deity in an ecstatic mood, the priest brought very hot milk
to the Lord as Nivedana. Varadaguru was deeply distressed that such hot milk
would burn the tender tongue of the Lord! He stopped the priest from offering
the hot milk and began cooling it down until it was warm enough to be drunk.
The Lord himself was moved by the Vatsalya of Varada and called him ‘Amma’ – my
mother! From then onwards Varadaguru became Nadadoor Ammal. After this episode,
in a dream one night, Lord Varadaraja commanded Ammal to erect a Mantapam for
His Vasantotsavam. Accordingly Ammal fulfilled the Lord’s desire, just as a
mother would fulfill the wishes of her son in spite of difficulties.
Once Ammal and his disciples undertook a pilgrimage to Tirumalai
hills. Their graceful personality and behavior attracted all. Kandavaran, the
leader of the Lada race was annoyed and irritated to see them. He decided to
disturb them. With his mantric power he made the disciples unconscious. Ammal
meditated and chanted the Sudarsana mantra and his own composition
‘Hetipungavastotram’ and broke the spell. The angry Kandavaran called Ammal for
a debate and when defeated surrendered to the Acharya himself. The benevolent
guru not only excused him but also made him a Srivaishnava by offering him
Panchasamskaras.With the money offered by Kandavaran, Ammal established a
beautiful village and named it ‘Ladagraharam’.Then he continued his journey. On
the way, the Lord himself came as a young Brahmachari and appeased the hunger of
the pilgrims with curd and rice. At the same time, there was a big commotion in
the temple as the silver vessel with the naivedyam had suddenly disappeared.
Lord Venkateswara Himself announced to the temple authorities that He Himself
fed his dear Ammal and his disciples and that they should receive Ammal with
all temple honors.
Benediction to Sri Nigamantha Mahadesikan
Ammal continued his Sri Bhashya Pravachana at the age of 100.
Appullar, one of his disciples, had gone to visit his sister Totaramba at
Thoopul.
When he returned to Kanchi, his five year old nephew,
Venkatanathan also accompanied him. As soon as he reached Kanchi, he went to
see his beloved teacher. At that moment, Ammal was lecturing on Sri Bhashyam
referring to the portion there on the importance of Vishnu Puranam. He was
explaining the greatness of its author Parasarar, by explicating the opening
phrase of a hymn, ‘Patayi Parasarasatam’.The teacher stopped his discourse
abruptly when Appullar and his nephew prostrated before him. Ammal was
attracted by the beauty of the child. On enquiry Appullar told him that the
child was born after his sister’s pilgrimage to Thirumalai hills, when she
dreamt of swallowing the big bell of the temple. No wonder the child had a
divine look. Ammal blessed the child and tried to pick up the discourse from
where it stopped. He could not get the link, nor could anyone present guide
him. To everyone’s surprise, little Venkatanathan prattled the Prakrit phrase
and thus reminded the Acharya. Ammal’s joy knew no bounds and he understood
that the child was an incarnation. He blessed the divine child with all his
heart and soul that he would establish the Vedanta creed and be a terror to the
religiose and their false arguments. Since he was very old, he asked his
disciple Appullar to be Venkatanathan’s guru and teach him Sri Bhashya. That
Ammal’s grace alone had made the ordinary Venkatanatha into Vedanta Desika has been repeatedly stated by Sri Desikan
himself in his works like Adhikarana Saravali, Tattva mukta kalaapam, Nyaya
Sidhdhanjanam and Tatvatika. The same sloka with which Ammal blessed Swami
Desikan has been included by Sri Desikan in his Sankalpa Suryodayam. Sri
Desikan’s son also has recorded in the Mangalasasanam of his father about this
benediction of Nadadoor Ammal. The Blessing reads like this.
Pratisthapita – Vedantah
Pratikshipta Bahimata
Bhuyastrai Vidya maanyastvam
Buri Kalyana Bhajanam.
References
1.
Primary source of this
article on Nadathur Ammal - http://www.nadathurammal.com/nadathurammal.htm
2.
Nadathur Ammal - http://venkateswara.freeservers.com/foreward2.html
3.
Ramanuja Mailing List
Discussions - http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/oct97/0075.html
4.
Nadathur Ammal - http://srirangapankajam.com/Archive_TN_NadadurAmmal.aspx
5.
Sudarsana Suri - http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/571509/Sudarsana-Suri
6.
Vadakku Thiruveedi
Pillai - http://www.ahobilamutt.org/us/acharya/lineage/lineage.asp?file=11-vada.inc
7.
Description of Ladavaram
Heritage - http://www.trsiyengar.com/Ladavaram.shtml
8.
MP3
recordings by class mate Mukundhan Kidambi of the profile and family tree of
Nadadoor ammal. Special thanks to MK for the interesting recordings he has
shared.
9.
The
27th Descendent Family trust
page giving the details of Nadadur ammal.
@ Nadadoor.org.
10.
Special thanks to Dr M A
Alwar for trusting me to put this together for his important project the History of Visistadvaita Project.
works notes of N A
Tattva Saram 101 poems. each ending with "Tatva saram telisikoranna sad guru ni cheri nijam kanugoni labha mondanna."
Nadadur Ammal is considered a Lion in the midst of Elephants for his Sri bhashyam erudition.
Even today a ceiling mural depicting Nadadur ammal in conversation with his disciples can be seen behind the sanctum of Lord Vardaraja of Kanchipuram.
Tattva Saram 101 poems. each ending with "Tatva saram telisikoranna sad guru ni cheri nijam kanugoni labha mondanna."
Nadadur Ammal is considered a Lion in the midst of Elephants for his Sri bhashyam erudition.
Even today a ceiling mural depicting Nadadur ammal in conversation with his disciples can be seen behind the sanctum of Lord Vardaraja of Kanchipuram.
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