Sri Sripadaraja Theertharu

Sri Sripadaraja Theertharu
(Around A.D. 1412 – 1502)
"namah sripAdarAjAya namastE vyAsa yOgine
namah purandarAryAya vijayAryAya te namaha"
Seva by: V. Prabhakar Rao, Singapore, June ‘09

Sri Gurubyo Namaha
It is my humble intention to write about the life and works
of Sri Sripadarajaru, as the aradhana of this Yathiraja is
around the corner (June 6 th ). I seek the blessings of my
Guru Sri Raghavendra Rayaru in this endeavour.

Sri Sripadaraja Theertharu
Sri Sripadarajaru was one of the outstanding Yathis
of the Madhwa Parampara. It is believed that he is
the incarnation of Dhruva. His contributions to the
spread of madhva siddhantha and to haridAsa
sAhitya are considerable. He was also the
vidyAguru of Sri Vyasaraja Theertharu.
Sri Sripadarajaru is considered to be the originator
of Dasakuta. That is why his name stands first in
the following stotra which is sung at the beginning
of any traditional Harikatha discourse
"namah sripAdarAjAya namastE vyAsa yOgine
namah purandarAryAya vijayAryAya te namaha"
He is also referred to as ‘Dasa Pitamaha'
(Grandfather of Dasas). He spread the message of
Bhagavatha Dharma through his devarunamas.
Sri Sripadaraja Theertharu Brindavana

Sri Lakshmi Narayana – Early Days
Born in Abbur, a picturesque village about
60 kms from Bangalore, to a poor couple
Abbur Sri Seshagiri Achar and Smt
Giriamma, the young boy Lakshmi
Narayana was to become the highly
revered Sri Sripadarajaru later on in his
life.
He had his aksharabyasa from his father.
As a boy he was used to taking care of
cattle herd during the daytime to help his
family. Even at that young age he had a
dignified appearance and leadership
qualities. He will organise and stage
Dasavathara plays, along with his friends,
and invariably he will play the main
character in these plays.

Sri Lakshmi Narayana - Destiny
Sri Swarnavarna Theertharu was on his way to
Abbur. The young Lakshminarayana was taking
care of his herd. Sri Swarnavarna theertharu,
anxious to know the distance of the village, made
an enquiry with the boy. Lakshminarayana
answered the question intelligently by saying "see
me, see my herd, gaze at the sky and realize the
distance" and stood calmly. Swamiji was
wonderstruck at his intelligence and was pleased
with his presence of mind. He asked him to lead
him to the ashram of Sri Purushoththama
Theertharu. There the Swamiji was also highly
impressed with Sri Brahmanya Theertha, the
disciple of Sri Purushoththama Theertharu. After
conferring with Sri Purushoththama Theertharu,
Sri Swarnavarna Theertharu decided to take the
young Lakshminarayana under his wings.

Sri Lakshmi Narayana Yogi
Very soon the young man Lakshmi Narayana became a very scholarly pandit. Impressed by the prowess of
his sishya, Sri Swarnavarna Theertharu, in his old age, decided to make him his successor. After taking
the consent of his parents, he gave him sanyasa and named him Sri Lakshmi Narayana Yogi. For
sometime Sri Swarnavarna theertharu was with Sri Lakshmi Narayana, as he was engaged in
pravachana, japa tapa, guruseva .... Reposing full confidence in his shishya, Swarnavarna muni handed
over to him his samsthana with all its grandeur and entered the brindavana there at Srirangam. Thus Sri
Lakshmi Narayana Yogi occupied the peeta.
Brindavana of Sri Swarnavarna Theertharu at Srirangam

Sri Sripadarajaru – How come the name?
Once he occupied the peeta, his lustre grew manyfold. He went
on theerthayatra with Sri Vibhudendra Theertharu (the purva
peetathipathi of Sri Rayaru Mutt) and Sri Raghunatha
Theertharu of Uttaradi Mutt. Sri Raghunatha Theertharu was
far senior to Sri Lakshmi Narayana Yogi and a highly respected
yathi in the madhwa parampara. Sri Lakshmi Narayana Yogi
showed all due respects to him. Sri Raghunatha Theertharu
wanted to test his pandithya. Sri Lakshmi Narayana impressed
him hugely with a flowing commentary on a difficult phrase
from the famous grantha “Nyayasudha”.
The extremely happy Sri Raghunatha Theertharu said “If we are
all Sripadarus (sanyasis) you are truly Sripadaraja (King of
Sanyasis)”. And he blessed him that he will be as famous as
Srimad Acharya and Sri Teekacharya.
Since then Sri Lakshmi Narayana Yogi became known as
Sri Sripadarajaru

Sripadaraja Mutt
Sometime after he became the Pontiff of the Mutt, he set out on travel. He came to
Mulubagilu and made up his mind to stay there knowing well its Historical, Educational and
Dharmic background. At that time Mulubagilu was under the control of Vijayanagar kings.
Sripadarajaru comes in the divine parampara of Padmanabhatheertha Mutt. Sri Padamanabha
theertharu was the direct disciple of Shri Madhwacharya. He was the first to write notes
(Sanyayarathnavali & sattarkadeepavali) on Madhwacharya's great works. He paved the way
for dwaitha sidhanta to scale new heights. Narayana pandithacharya has lot of praise for Sri
Padmanabha theertharu as a lion critic . Sri Jayatheertharu has described him as a pure person
who lived in the ocean of chaste knowledge.
Sri Padmanabha muni saw to it that his monastic order remained wedded to propagation of
dharma. This mutt was called as Padmanabhatheertha mutt before Sripadarajaru, and after
him, because of the alluring personality of Sripadarajaru it became famous as Sripadarja mutt.
Ref: www.sripadarajamutt.org

Sri Ranga Vittala
Having spent considerable time at Srirangam, Sri Sripadarajaru observed the tradition at Srirangam temple
and recognised the divine power of music to carry bhakthi and dharma to common people. Furthermore he
was conscious of the fact that if the lines are kept simple and in the native language, they can be understood
by even simple folks. With these inspirations he started composing many devarunamas in kannada and
started the tradition of singing them during the puja. On the banks of Bhimarathi nadhi, as indicated in his
dream, he found buried a golden box which contained the lovely vigraha of Sri Ranga Vittala. It became his
ankitha (signature) in his devarunamas.
His Bhramaragita, Venugita, Gopigita are said to be beautiful and full of the essence of
Srimad Bhagavatham
Ref: Sri Haridasa Vijayam compiled by Smt Padma Srinivasan

“Mahime Saladhe”
In A.D. 1471, King Chaluva Narasimhan of Chandragiri took refuge under Sri Sripadarajaru
to get rid of the dosha due to his wrong deeds. Sri Sripadarajaru saved him through his tapas
sakthi. In gratitude he seated him on his simhasana and conducted kanakabishekha. On that
occasion his sishya Sri Vyasaraja Theertharu composed and sang the famous devarunama
“Mahime Saladhe”.
The king of Vijayanagara continuously requested Sripadaraja to settle down in his kingdom, and become
his Raja-Guru. Sripadaraja declined to do so due to old age, but agreed to send his beloved disciple Shri
Vyasaraja instead. Thus Shri Vyasaraja became the Raja-Guru of the Vijayanagara empire.

Sri Madhvanama
“Sri Madhvanama” is a legendary composition of Sri Sripadarajaru, which extols
the greatness of Hanuma, Bhima, Madhva “avatharatraya”. The phalastuthi of
this great work was written by Sri Jagannatha Dasaru three hundred years later.
“jaya jaya jagatrANa, jagadoLage sutrANa
akhila guNa sadhdhAma madhvanAma”

Sri Sripadarajaru’s Devarunamas
"Ne ittahange iruvEno hariye ...", "Kangalidyathako kAveri rangana nOdada..", "BhUshanake
BhUshana ...“ are some of the most inspiring devarunamas of Sri Sripadarajaru. Of these,
“Bhushanake Bhushana” has a tremendous personal impact on me. Everytime I listen to it, it
never fails to lift me up.

“Nyayasudhopanyasa – Vagvajra”
This is a literary work ascribed to Sri Sripadarajaru. It is a
commentary on Sriman Nyayasudha. It is a lucid and attractive
commentary in 3500 slokas. The exposition is exhaustive and the
style graceful.
Ref: “History of the Dvaita school of vedanta and its literature”
by Dr. B.N.K.Sharma

Sri Sripadarajaru’s Brindavana
Narasimha Theertha
Sri Sripadarajaru has his brindavana at a place called
Narasimha Theertha, about a mile from Mulabagilu, on the
Bangalore and Madras national highway. There is an
interesting anecdote about Narasimha Theertha which goes
as follows: It is said that when he was in his old age, he
wanted to have Ganga-snana, but could not travel all the
way up north. Ganga then appeared before him and said
that she herself would come to Narasimha Theertha and
stay there for ever. From then on, a dip in Narasimha
Theertha is considered to be equivalent to a dip in Ganga.
The following stotra in honor of Sri Sripadarajaru was
composed by Sri Vyasarayaru:
Tham vande narasimha theertha nilayam Sri vyasaraja poojitham
Dhayantham manasa nrusimha charanam SrIpadarajaram gurum.
Pada Vakya Pramatabhyam Vikreedana Visharadam
LakshmiNarayana Muneem Vande Vidya Gurunmama.

Sri Yoga Narasimha
At Narasimha theertha near Mulubagilu, Sri Akshobhya theertharu,
using angaara sketched Lord Narasimha and later on the murthy was
formed on its own.

BrahmanyaPura Mukhyapranadevaru Temple
It is said that Sri Brahmanya Teertharu, Sri Vyasarayaru and Sri Sripadarajaru installed this
moorthy. The idol of Pranadevaru represents the three avatara of Mukhyapranadevaru viz.,
Hanuma, Bhima and Madhwa. The “Shika” of the pranadevaru represents the Madhwa avatara.
The Saugandhika pushpa in hand represents the Bhimavathara. It’s a very beautiful murthi.
Ref: Jignaasa – Madhwa Youth Forum – Web page

Sri Brahmanya Theertharu
According to a tradition, recorded in the
Brahmanya Tiirtha Vijaya, Sri Brahmanya
Theertharu and Sri Sripadarajaru were
cousins and were roughly of the same age.
It is remarkable that both renounced the
world and devoted themselves to the cause
of their faith and played a conspicuous part
in the spiritual development of their gifted
disciple Sri Vyaasa Theertharu.
Ref: www.dvaita.org
Brindavana of Sri Brahmanya Theertharu
(at Abbur, about 60kms from Bangalore)

Namaskara to Guru Sri Sripadaraja Theertharu
"namah sripAdarAjAya namastE vyAsa yOgine
namah purandarAryAya vijayAryAya te namaha"
Sri Krishnarpanamasthu

Dharma brings happiness
Sri Krishnarpanamasthu