Raghavendra Tirtha | |
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| Personal life | |
| Born | Venkatanatha Bhatta 1595 or 1598 Bhuvanagiri (present-day inCuddalore districtTamil Nadu) |
| Died | 1671 Mantralayam (present-day inKurnool district,Andhra Pradesh,India) |
| Children | Lakshminarayanacharya |
| Honors | Parimalacharya |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Order | Vedanta |
| Philosophy | Dvaita Vedanta |
| Religious career | |
| Guru | Sudheendra Tirtha |
| Successor | Sri Yogendra Tirtha |
| Part ofa series on |
| Dvaita |
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Raghavendra Tirtha (Rāghavēndra Tīrtha), also referred asRaghavendra Swami, (c.1595 –c.1671) was aVaishnava scholar, theologian, andsaint. He was also known asSudha Parimalacharya (Sudhā Parimaḷācārya). His diverse oeuvre include commentaries on the works ofMadhva,Jayatirtha, andVyasatirtha, interpretation of thePrincipal Upanishads from the standpoint ofDvaita and a treatise onPurva Mimamsa. He served as the pontiff of thematha atKumbakonam from 1621 to 1671.[1] Raghavendra Tirtha was also an accomplished player of theveena and he composed several songs under the name ofVenu Gopala.[2] His memorial atMantralayam attractslakhs (hundreds of thousands) of visitors every year.
Raghavendra Tirtha was born as Venkatanatha in the town ofBhuvanagiri, present day inTamil Nadu into aKannadaMadhva Brahmin family of Gautama Gotra of musicians and scholars.[3][4] His great-grandfather Krishna Bhatta was a tutor to theVijayanagara emperorKrishnadevaraya. 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 toKanchi 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 atMadurai after the early demise of his father, and he subsequently got married.[7]
In 1624, Raghavendra Tirtha became the pontiff of theKumbhakonam Matha, which was earlier known asVijayeendra Matha orDakshinadi Matha, now known by the name ofMantralaya Sri Raghavendra Swamy Matha.Uttaradi Math along withVyasaraja Math andRaghavendra Math are considered to be the three premier apostolic institutions ofDvaita Vedanta and are jointly referred asMathatraya.[8][9][10]
After a short stay atKumbakonam, he went on a pilgrimage toRameswaram,Ramnad,Srirangam, andMathura. Later, he moved westwards toUdupi and Subramanya, and then toPandharpur,Kolhapur andBijapur. AtKolhapur, he is said to have stayed for a long time and atBijapur, he supposedly defeated manyAdvaitins and converted them toDvaita fold.[11] After that, he returned toKumbakonam. By 1663 he left forMysore where he got a grant from Dodda Devaraya Odeyar. Finally, he chose to settle down inMantralayam.[12]
Raghavendra Tirtha died in 1671 inMantralayam, a village on the bank of river Tungabhadra inAdoni taluk inAndhra Pradesh.[12]
About 45 works written in Sanskrit are 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 ofDvaita in understandable terms.[2][13][14]
HisTantradipika is an interpretation of theBrahma Sutra from the standpoint ofDvaita, incorporating elements fromJayatirtha'sNyaya Sudha,Vyasatirtha'sTatparya Chandrika and the glosses byVijayendra Tirtha.[14]Bhavadipa is a commentary on Jayatirtha'sTattva Prakasika which, apart from elucidating the concepts of the source text, criticises the allegations againstMadhva raised byAppaya Dikshita and grammarianBhattoji Dikshita. Raghavendra Tirtha's expertise inPurva Mimamsa andVyakarana is evident from his works on Vyasatirtha'sTatparya Chandrika, which runs up to 18,000 stanzas. He wrote a commentary onNyaya Sudha titledNyaya Sudha Parimala.[15] Apart from these works, he wrote commentaries on theUpanishads, first three chapters ofRigveda (calledMantramanjari) andBhagavad Gita. As an independent treatise, he wrote a commentary onJaimini Sutras calledBhatta Sangraha, which seeks to interpret the Purva Mimamsa doctrines from a Dvaita perspective.[16]
A legend about Raghavendra Tirtha andSir Thomas Munro was recorded by W. Francis, an Indian civil servant to British India, in 1916, more than 100 years after it happened.[17] The legend as follows: After Sir Thomas Munro was appointed as principal collector for the district of Bellary in 1800,[18] he went to collect the taxes on Mantralaya (Mantsala). It was said that Raghavendra Tirtha appeared from the tomb and spoke with Thomas Munroe while the saint was invisible and inaudible to others. Munroe was convinced and went back to his camp and instructed to keep the endowment of Mantralaya Mutt. Direct documentations of this incident are missing.[citation needed]
Raghavendra Tirtha has been eulogised by Narayanacharya in his contemporaneous biographyRaghavendra Vijaya and a hymnRaghavendra Stotra by Appannacharya. Outside the confines ofDvaita, he is regarded as a saint known for preaching the worship ofVishnu regardless of caste or creed.[19]
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".[20] His humanitarianism is evident in the devotional poems composed in his honour byVijaya Dasa,Gopala Dasa andJagannatha Dasa.[21]
Raghavendra has also seen representation in the popular culture throughIndian Cinema:
| Year | Film | Title role | Director | Language | Notes |
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| 1966 | Mantralaya Mahatme | Dr. Rajkumar | T. V. Singh Thakur | Kannada | The song from the film titled "Indu Enage Govinda" was written by Raghavendra himself |
| 1980 | Sri Raghavendra Vaibhava | Srinath | Babu Krishnamurthy | Kannada | Srinath wonKarnataka State Film Award for Best Actor for the film |
| 1981 | Mantralaya Sri Raghavendra Vaibhavam | Rama Krishna | M. R. Nag | Telugu | Ramakrishna's last film as a Hero in Telugu |
| 1985 | Sri Raghavendrar | Rajnikanth | SP. Muthuraman | Tamil | The film wasRajnikanth's 100th |
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