The seer who rests next to Rayaru

There is a beautiful Brindavana next to that of Raghavendra Swamy in Mantralaya. This is the final resting place of the great grandson of Rayaru himself. Known as Vadeendra Theertha, he was one of the pontiffs of the Sri Raghavendra Matha.

Vadeendra was just two years when Raghavendra Swamy entered Brindavana in Mantralaya in 1671. Vadeendra was the son of Purushottamacharya, who in turn was the son of Lakshminarayana, the son of Raghavendra Swamy.

Vadeendra Theertha’s poorvashrama name was Srinivasacharya. He was a disciple of Upendra Theertha and later in 1728 became the Peetadhipathi of the Raghavendra Swamy Matha. He was the head of the matha till 1750.

Vadeendra Theertha was a noted scholar of his times and he had a large number of disciples. His most outstanding work is Gurugavanastavana, a work on Raghavendra Swamy and his works.

As Srinivasacharya, he wrote Navyadurakthishiksha” He has penned commentaries or tippanis on Tattvaprakashika and Tattvodyota. Two other works are Bhoogola Khagola Vichara

and Raghavendramathagatharchagathikrama.

When Vadeendra Theertha completed Gurugavanastavana, he thougt it fit to read it before the Brindavana of Raghavendra Swamy. When he completed it, the Brindavana shook as if in appreciation. Even today, we can see the Brindavana of Raghavendra Swamy tilted to one side.

In this work, Vadeendra has interspread metres and alankaras with the sragdha metre that he has used throughout. The work deals with the greatness of Hari Vayu and talks about Vyasaraja, Vijendra Theertha, Sudeendra Theertha and Raghavendra Theertha.  

This comprises 36 verses and details the circumstances under which Raghavendra Swamy wrote his works.

During this period, South India was in turmoil. The Vijayanagars had already bowed out and the Adil Shahs of Bijapur had ceased to exist. The Mughals had lost control over south India and many palegars were trying to asset their independence.

The religious institutions, including the Raghavendra Swamy Matha, were finding it difficult to survive. Many of the properties of the Raghavendra Swamy Matha were under threat.

It was during this time that Vadeendra Theertha showed his meetle as an administrator. He first came to Ranebennur where lands of the matha were on the verge of being taken away. He got the lands restored to the matha.

The Nawab of Savanur gifted to the Mutt lands at Rettehalli. The Desai of Havanur, Nadagouda, gifted estates in Moraba village. The seer accepted these gifts and came to Hubli. He visited the village of  Kiritagiri which had been gifted to Raghavendra Swamy. However, the village had later gone out of the hands of the matha. Jayavantabhai Venkatappayya Bahadur Desai Paragane, the Desai, once again gifted the village to Mantralaya Matha in 1734.

When the seer reached Mantralaya, he saw that the matha was about to lose control of the place that had been gifted by Sidhi Masud Khan. The seer then discussed the issue with Muzaffarjung Bahadur, the administrator of Adoni. The administrator handed over the documents reconveying Mantralaya to the matha.

Vadeendra Theertha wanted to go to Tamil Nadu but by now he realized that his end was near and he stayed back at Mantralaya.

He ordained Vasudendra Theertha as his successor and entered Brindavana. This was the Brindavana that Dewan Venkanna had initially built for Rayaru sometime in 1670. Rayaru then told Venkanna that he did not want such a beautiful Brindavana but a much simpler one.

Rayaru himself predicted that an erudite scholar and equally holy person would be the deserving person to occupy the Brindavana and this man was Vadeendra Theertha.  This Brindavana is to the left of Rayaru. By the way, Vadeendra Theertha has written some Devaranamas in Kannada of which some still exist.