Sripada Sri Vallabha | |
|---|---|
 Sripada Sri Vallabha | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | 1320 Pithapuram |
| Died | Unknown |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Hinduism |
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Sripada Sri Vallabha (Telugu:శ్రీపాద శ్రీవల్లభ) (born 1320) is an Indian guru who is an incarnation ofDattatreya. He is considered as one of the first completeavatars (incarnations) of the deity Dattatreya inKali Yuga.Narasimha Saraswati,[1]Manik Prabhu,[2]Swami Samarth[3][4],Sai Baba of Shirdi believed to be other incarnations of Dattatreya that followed Sripada Sri Vallabha.[5][6]
Sripada Sri Vallabha was born and lived inPithapuram, formerly known as Pitikapuram, a town in present-dayAndhra Pradesh in India.[7] The grandparents of Sripada Srivallabha belonged to the Malayadri village ofPalnadu District of Andhra Pradesh state in India.[8] Malladi Bapanna Avadhanulu ofHarithasagotra is the maternal grandfather of Sripada. His wife Rajamamba also belonged to a scholar's family. Her brother was Malladi Sridhara Avadhanlu. It is said that once the two scholars went to Ainavilli, a remote area in the Godavari district, and conducted ayajna during which they actually madeGanapati appear. The god declared that as a result he would be reborn as Sripada Sri Vallabha onGanesh Chaturthi. Later, both went to Pithapuram village and settled there.[9]
Sripada Sri Vallabha tooksannyasa the age of 16 years and took jalasamadhi at the age of 30. Some of the noted holy places that Sripada Sri Vallabha visited during his lifetime include Kashi (Varanasi),Badarikashram,Gokarna,Srisailam andKuravapura.[10] Sripada Sri Vallabha stayed in Kurupuram much of his life. The religious significance of Kurupuram is mentioned in the bookShri Guru Charitra and other holy books associated with Dattatreya. It is believed that Sripada Sri Vallabha ischiranjeevi (immortal) and that he tookjalsamadhi in Kuravapura or Kurugaddi, a river island on river Krishna near Raichur, Karnataka, where he resides in "tejorup" (pure energy form).[11] On the opposite bank of the river isVallabhapuram in Telangana, which is also sacred. It is believed that Sripada Sri Vallabha use to come from Kuruvapuram to Vallabhapuram by walking on the river.
Sometime after Sripada Srivallabha disappeared, a Brahmin named Vallabhesh vowed to go to Kuravapur and feed 1,000 Brahmins if he earned more than his usual profit.[12] Near Kuravapur, Vallabhesh encounteredbandits in disguise who robbed and beheaded him. Sripada Srivallabha suddenly appeared from nowhere and killed the bandits with hisTrishula; one, who appealed to the saint asShiva, was spared. Being told, the person spared reattached Vallabhesh's severed head to his body to be brought back to life by the grace of Sripada Srivallabha.
Vallabhesh Brahmin is considered themula-purush (founder) of the Hedgewar family.K. B. Hedgewar, founder of theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was a ninth-generation descendant of Vallabhesh.[13][14]
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