Kidambi Aacchaan

My very first post in this blog was about the Kidambi  clan of Srivaishnavas of which I am a part. The following information adds on to whatever I have written there earlier.

Swami Oppiliappan Kovil Varadachari Sadagopan adds:

He (Kidambi AacchaAn) lived from 1057-1157 CE and is a descendant of Athreya Gothra. He was an ardent sishyar of acharya Ramanuja and a great scholar in Visishtadvaitha Vedantham. Acharya Ramanuja honoured his scholarship by conferring on him the title of Vedantodayana. He lived 20 years more after the ascent of Acharya Ramanuja to Paramapadham.

Swamy Desikan refers to him in Srimath Rahasya Thraya Saaram in Chapter 32 and Kumara Varadachar refers to him in his Adhikarana Chinthamani, a commentary on his father’s Adhikarana Saaravali (verse 24). Kidambi Aacchan is the nephew of the wife of Thirumalai Nampi . He was at Thirumalai at his atthimbher’s house, when Pillan was born to Thirumalai Nampi dampathis. Pillan during his childhood never laughed or cried like other children . He was, however listening steadfast, whenever the Kaalakshepam on Dhivya Prabhandham took place . After Pillan’s Upanayanam , Thirumalai Nampi entrusted his son to Kidambi Aacchan to become the disciple of Acharya Ramanuja , the nephew of Thirumalai nampi. Acharya Ramanuja accepted Kidambi Aacchan as His sishyan as well and instructed him on all Saasthrarthams. Kidambi Aachhan took great interest in serving his Acharyan.

There was a time , when jealous Koil kaimkaryaparals at Srirangam tried to poison Acharya Ramanuja . That attempt failed due to the intervention of Sri Ranganathan. Periya Nambi and Thirukkottiyur nambi were alarmed, when they heard about this incident and rushed to Srirangam . Acharya Ramanuja rushed to meet His Gurus as they crossed the sands of Cauvery river in mid day’s heat. Acharya Ramanuja fell down at the feet of his Acharyas and kept on offering his prostrations. Kidambi Aacchan was standing next to prostrating Acharya Ramanuja and could not stand the weakening of the body of his AchAryan. He criticized Periya Nambi and Thirukkoshtiyoor Nambi for not stopping Acharya Ramanujan from repeated prostrations and embraced Acharya Ramanujan to protrect him from the mid-day heat. Thirukkoshtiyoor Nambi said then to Aacchan: ” My dear Kidambi Aacchan! we were testing to see if there is anyone , who is dear to Ramanujan . You are the One . We want you to   protect Ramanujan from any further danger . We appoint you to prepare Bikshai from now on for Ramanujan and he should not go out to get Bhikshai from here on”. Kidambi Aaacchan accepted the niyamanam (Command) of the Acharyans of Ramauja with pleasure and came to be known as Madapalli Aacchan because of his unique Madapalli Kaimkaryam for Acharya Ramanuja. Our Sampradhayam is therefore known as Madapalli Vazhi Vantha Sampradhayam .

Kidambi Aacchan’s works are no longer available to us.

Source: http://www.indiadivine.org/audarya/bhakti-list/133240-cadambi-kidambi.html

Divya Desam Series

This post kickstarts a whole new series of blog entries on information related to the 106 accessible Divya desams as I keep covering them one after the other.

Though I have been visiting the Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane and the Devanathan Swamy temple in Tiruvaheendipuram with great regularity, I have somehow remained oblivious to their stature as Divya-desams despite having prior knowledge about them.

The objective of this series of blog posts is to enlighten the average Srivaishnavan (and all others who are interested) about the richness of the tradition that they have inherited.

The blog entries in this section will try to encapsulate information obtained first hand from the respective temple priests at the various Divya desams along with the information freely available on the web after due authentication.

I sincerely hope that the information contained herein will greatly reduce the travel time for various Srivaishnavas undertaking trips to Divya desams and will help them plan their trips to greater accuracy.

Adiyaen Ramanuja Dasan.

The Village of Serangulam

I have undertaken this little piece of research to know more about the place I hail from. I have presented below the little information I could gather about my roots.

The Story of Serangulam

The People of Serangolam are linked with the towns of Karappangadu and Selperi. Once upon a time, 7 devoted Sri Vaishnavas from Kooram and Kidambi set-off on a pilgrimage. On one nightfall, they stopped at the place now known as Karappangadu. That night, they had a dream – in which the Lord directed them to an anthill (marked by a flying Garuda) in which they were to find a deity. The Lord directed the Sri Vaishnavas to build a temple and chant the Divya Prabhandam for HIM. Thus, the town of Karappangadu was formed.

As days went by, the families from Karappangadu settled in the near-by areas. They got settled in Peravurani, Nammankurichi, Idaikadu, and Serangolam – came to be called “The Pancha Gramams” along with Karappangadu.

So in Serangolam, there are Iyengars from Kooram, Kidambi, Karappangadu and Selperi. Serangolam nicely unites the people of different origins.

Worshipping the Sun

This excellent article in The Hindu ‘Religion’ section explains Sun worship. The text of the article is reproduced below:

The Sun is none other than Mahavishnu Himself. He is the God manifest before our eyes. He is known as Aditya. Aditya also means the son of Aditi. Who is the son of Aditi? Vamana is the son of Aditi. And who is Vamana, but an avatar of Mahavishnu? So the Sun is indeed Mahavishnu Himself, said Trichy Kalyanaraman.

That is why we worship the early morning Sun as Vamana. Worship of the Sun in the morning gets rid of our lethargy and laziness, and fills us with energy. Azhvars have extolled the Vamana avatara. Andal celebrates this avatara of the Lord, where He grew in size, and measured the worlds. Thriuvalluvar in kural 610, says a king should be like Vamana in conquering the three worlds. Thiruvalluvar says that if a king were to shed his lethargy, then he can conquer the three worlds that the Lord did. The words ‘Adi Alandaan’, in this verse, refer to the Vamana avatar. And since the Sun is none other than the Lord who took the Vamana avatar, worship of the Sun will help us achieve what seems impossible.

The Sun is the most important among the navagrahas. All planets are controlled by the Sun. The celestial beings, namely the Devas, and all the planets revolve around the Sun. It is important to rise early in the morning and to have one’s bath early too. The Sun is to be remembered through prayer both in the morning and in the evening. In the evening, we worship the Sun as a manifestation of Varuna, or the rain god.

As part of the questions that Yama in the guise of a Yaksha puts to Yudhishtra, there are questions on the Sun too. The Yaksha asks, “Who makes the Sun rise?” Yudhishtra answers that it is Brahmam, the Supreme One, who makes the Sun rise. What makes the Sun set? It is dharma which makes the Sun set. The Sun is anchored in Truth.

What is a daily occurrence, asks the Yaksha. Yudhistra replies that the illusory world may be seen as a vessel, covered with the sky as a lid. Day and night are the firewood, and the fire that lights this firewood is the Sun. Months and seasons constitute the ladle. With this ladle, Time stirs the contents in the vessel, which include all movable and immovable things, and this is a daily occurrence, replies Yudhishtra.

Sharanagathi

We shall consider two of the commonly known parables in Srivaishnavam that explain the importance of Sharanagathi (complete surrender to the feet of the Lord) in attaining permanent salvation.

"If His devotees surrender unto Him shedding their egos, He will come to their rescue"

Gajendra Moksham is a commonly known parable that highlights the importance of shedding one’s ego before surrendering to the Lotus feet of Sriman Narayana.

Mythology has it that Gajendra, a loyal temple elephant, sincerely performed his services to Sriman Narayana by routinely fetching kamala pushpam (lotus flower) from a nearby pond to offer pushpanjali (flower service) to the Lord.

One day, when Gajendra went to the pond to pick flowers, a giant crocodile caught hold of Gajendra’s foot and tried to pull him into the pond and prey on him. Gajendra tried his might to escape from the clutches of crocodile in an effort that lasted an iconic 100 years. Realising that his might was no match to that of the crocodile, Gajendra called for Adimoolam (the avataram of Sriman Narayana), to come to his rescue. Thereby, Narayana appeared before him, saved his life, and offered him Moksham or Mukti (salvation).

The entire episode raises a valid question about the significant delay with which the Lord appeared to save His devotee. However, the point to be understood is that Gajendra initially thought that he could fight the crocodile himself, as he was heavily built. For a moment, Gajendra falsely identified himself with his heavily built body and this ego prevented him from surrendering to the Lord for help. When he found out that his struggle was ineffective and that only Sriman Narayana could save him, he shed all his ego and sought for Sharanagathi. Thenafter, the Lord appeared in front of him.

This incident is comparable to the one in which Draupadi, the wife of the Pancha (Five) Pandavas of Mahabharatha, was undraped by Duchasana in his court. Draupadi, a staunch devotee of Sriman Narayana, wasted no time in surrendering herself to Sri Krishna and called for His help. All of Duchasana’s effort in undraping Draupadi proved futile as the Lord came to her rescue.

 

 

“Draupadi did not waste a moment in calling for His help”

We, as Jivatmas (normal human beings) seeking for salvation have plenty to gather from these two stories.

These stories highlight the importance of Bhakti Yoga which prescribes Sharanagathi as one of the key requirements for attaining salvation.

We Jivatmas have been falsely associating ourselves with this material body and we are proud of achievements in the field of education, career and other aspects of life. These achivements veil our true self and project a false image of ourselves in which we associate ourselves to the material body.

The two stories highlight the need to free oneself from one’s ego and surrender unconditionally to the Lotus Feet of Sriman Narayana, which alone can grant us salvation in this world that reeks of materialism and vice.

 

The ‘Kidambi’ Lineage

I was searching the web to mine for information on the ‘kidambi’ family that forms a part of my name. I have posted what I managed to unearth from the web. Though i am referring to Malolan Cadambi below, i’ll try my best to look for more information and update this post with accurate and up-to-date information.

The most common of the above four variants is ‘Kidambi’ – this is the closest Tamil word. As a general rule of thumb, all of the variants belong to the ‘Athreya Gothra’, i.e have a direct lineal descent from Atri Rishi. An analogy might be how Jews these days trace their surname to one of the Jewish tribes of yore. For example, a jew with the name David Cohen, is a descendant of the Cohen/Kohen/Kohn family. The variants are due to linguistic influences with Kohn and Kohen popular in Germany and Cohen in the English speaking world.

The point is quite simple, our example, David Cohen, by virtue of the fact that he is a descendant of the Cohen family, carries a unique DNA signature, identified as the ‘Cohen model haplotype’.

Historically, due to strict rules of intermarriage, the Y-Chromosome, which usually identifies male lineal descent, has some allusions to our ‘gothra’ system. Using the jewish family of Cohen as an example, the history of the Kidambi family could be understood.

In Brahmanic traditions, the lineage carries more weight when passed on from father to son. As a result of general population growth, the gothra pravarthaka, i.e the originator of the gothra, Atri Rishi (1800 BCE), originated the Atri Gothra, to which some Shakas (branches) of the Rig Veda were assigned to.

With the passage of time, and due to migrations, a group of Vaidika Brahmanas (Vedic Brahmins), settled down around the Yathotakaari temple near Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. The sthala purana (history of the temple), alludes to a group of Brahmans, who performed services of carrying water (ambu – in ancient tamil) in ghatams (pitchers) from the Vegavathi River to the temple regularly. This group earned the titled Ghatambi (Ghatam + Ambi), i.e. water suppliers.

Ghatambi, eventually, due to lingustics evolution morphed into Kidambi, and when descendants of this family started migrating, Kidambi, became Kadambi/Cadambi in Karnataka due to influence of Kannada, which refers to the pitcher as ‘koda’ or ‘cada’, and hence the ‘Ghatambis’ came to be called the Kadambis/Cadambis. In the Andhra Region, they came to be called as Kilambis.

One may ask a legitimate question – how is the above analysis true? Well, for starters, we all have the same gothra and most of us are found in a specific region, i.e South India, and religiously we all belong to the same sect, Sri Vaishnavism. Connecting such dots, allows us to paint a composite picture of facts.

The Kidambis started interacting with Sri Vaishnavism around the 11th century CE onwards. Ramanuja’s (1017 CE – 1137 CE), included, Kidambi Achchan – one of his foremost disciples and on whom Ramanuja placed his (Ramanuja’s feet) during the last moments of his life. Kidambi Achchan, was also the personal cook of Ramanuja, who was, due to his service to Ramanuja, called Madapalli Achchan.

Kidambi Appullar, the maternal uncle of Vedanta Desika (1268 CE – 1369 CE), plays a crucial role in the tutelage of Vedanta Desika. Kidambi Appullar’s sister, Totramba was the mother of Vedanta Desika.

Since Vedanta Desika’s father was of the Vishwamitra Gothra, Vedanta Desika becomes a descendant of Viswamitra Rishi, not of Atri Rishi.

Kidambi Appullar, which Sri Vaishnava chronicles, place around 1221 CE – 1290 CE, is acknowledge in the Vadakalai Saarumarai, of belonging to the vamsam of Atreya Ramanuja and Atreya Padmanabha. The Saarumarai, which concentrates on the magnificence of Vedanta Desika, is rich in tribute to the vamsa (family), especially to the Kidambis.

Lets fast forward to the 14th century CE. As the Vijayanagar Empire was being established by the Sangama dynasty, one of the key regents of the Vijayanagar empire, King Mukundadevaraya, was mentored by Kidambi Srinivasacharya (1379 CE – 1458 CE), also known as Adivan SathakOpa Yati, the first Jeeyar (pontiff) of the Ahobila Matham (est 1398 CE).

Kidambi Srinivasacharya was to play the same role as Swami Vidyaranya Tirtha of the Sringeri Matha did, much earlier, to Harihara and Bukkaraya.

Inscriptions about the ‘Van SathakOpa Matha’ are found primarily in the Tirumala / Tirupati temples. Annamacharya, the famous Telugu carnatic musician, was a direct disciple of Kidambi Srinivasacharya.

Ahobila Matham, thence, becomes one of the pre-eminent Mathas of Sri Vaishnavism, influencing the Saluva and Tuluva dynasties to such an extent that Sri Vaishnavism was the official religion of the state, with Emperor Krishnadevaraya formally embracing Sri Vaishnavism under the feet of Pachamatha Bhanjanam Tathacharya – the Srikaaryam (secretary) to Shastha Parankusa Muni (the 6th pointiff of the Matham).

King Krishnadevaraya pens his thoughts on Sri Vaishnavism, particularly, about the Bhakti of Andal and Periyalawar in his magnum opus, Amuktamalyada – which was one of the pioneering Telugu novels. The king also alludes to the Kaisika Puranam, which is enacted in Tirukkurungudi, a divya desam around the Tirunelveli region.

We move forward now to the 15th century, during the twilight of the Vijayanagar Empire, where we have Athreya Venkatadhwari – a famous poet / philosopher / novelist – who pens, what was India’s earliest social criticism in ‘Viswagunadarsa Champu’. In that novel, he provides a bird’s eye view of the Vijayanagar Empire, at times, even being concerned about the excessive temple based culture, instead of intellectual advancement. Some of his works include, ‘Lakshmi Sahasram’ – a thousand hymns on Goddess Mahalakshmi.

Interestingly, he was also a grammatist / linguist par excellence. Some of his works included, ‘Mahabhashya Spoorti’ – a commentary on Patanjali’s ‘Mahabhashya’.

But perhaps, a feat, that none could have matched, was his literary genius. In his ‘Raghava Yadaveeyam’, a unique style is pioneered for the first time. When read in the normal order that we read usually, we get the idea that the tome portrays the deeds of Rama. Interestingly, when the same tome is read in a reverse manner, it portrays the deeds of Krishna! This composition was perhaps the only one of its kind in the history of Sanskrit ever!

Coming down to the 20th century, as the economy and sociology of India changed; the Kidambis branched out into other professions.

We have many Kidambis who have enriched every field of India and richly contributed to the well being of not only the Sri Vaishnava community, but to the nation, and these days, to the globe as a whole.

Sometimes, in the words of the famous historian, Romila Thapar, if you sufficiently know the history of a subject, you would be enriched by being able to control it and hence develop a better normative understanding of your present world.