Sri Vadeendra Teertharu (1728-1750)

Sri Vadeendra Teertharu (1728-1750)



We all know Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy Brindavan is located in Mantralayam. But Mantralayam has one more brindavan for another Guru Sri Vadeendra Teertharu. Brindavan of Guru Sri Vadeendra Teertharu is located just adjacent to Guru Raghavendra Swamy brindavan. Whoever visits Mantralayam should also bow in front of Sri Vadeendra Teertharu.

When I first visited Mantralayam, I was not aware much of Sri Vadeendra Teertharu and I was also not aware that his Brindavanam is located next to our Guru Raghavendra Swamy. After some research in the internet and reading few books, I was able to find more details of Sri Vadeendra Teertharu. So thought of writing this post which would be helpful for other devotees.

We all know Laksminarayanacharya is the poorvashrama son of our Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy. Purushottamacharya was the son of Laksminarayanacharya. His son was Srinivasacharya. Due to inheritance from the family elders, he had acquired great knowledge on vedas and teached students in the Mutt. By seeing his knowledge and skills, Sri Upendratheertha decided that he was the only deserving person and named him as Vadeendra Thertharu and bestowed him to sanyasa.

During this period there were lot of political turmoil in southern india due to small and big rulers.
Due to this there were situations raised where the lands gifted to the Mutt were at risk. Sri Vadeendra Theertharu worked with adminstrative persons to restore the same in favor of Mutt.

Coming back to the original reason of this post,  Diwan Venkanna ( called as Venkannapath) was a very strong devotee of our Guru who stayed with Guru for several years. He was the one who worked with Nawab to get Mantralayam to our Guru which is very holy place. Click here to know why Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy choosed Mantralayam. Hence Diwan Venkanna's name will live till the universe is there.

Our Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy did the penance at Panchamukhi for almost 12 years during which he got the blessings of Lord Hari , who blessed and directed our Guru to stay in Mantralayam to bless the devotees.

After this Guru, requested a help from Diwan Venkanna to bring a rock from a near by mountain which is 20 kms from Mantralaya and he gave the exact location and details of the rock. Our Guru also informed Diwan Venkkanna that this rock should be used to build his Brindavanam. Once Venkanna heard this he was in tears. Our Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy informed him that this is the order of Lord Hari and every one in the universe should follow the directions of Lord Hari.

Diwan Venkanna requested his people to bring the rock and started to construct the brindavanam in Mantralayam. One fine day, after finishing the work, Diwan requested our Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy to visit the place where Brindavanam was built. When Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy saw the place and brindavanam, he informed Diwan, that this is not the rock what he wanted and also our Guru gave more details and requested Diwan to bring the rock which he wanted for his Brindavanam.

When Diwan, heard this, he felt bad that he did not do the job rightly and asked Guru that what is special of that particular rock and his work on this bridavanam that he took so much care is of now use now.

For this, our Guru informed Venkanna that during Rama avatar in Tretya Yuga, Lord Rama came to this place in search of Sita devi and sat in this particular rock to take some rest and hence this rock is so special. Our Guru almost informed Diwan that the brindavanam that he built will not be waste and this will used by 5th Teertharu after him. This made Diwan happy and he went to bring the rock that Our Guru mentioned.

This was the brindavanam that was redied for our Guru was later dedicated to Sri Vadeendra Teertharu. Our Guru Sri Raghavendara Swamy was aware of this and hence left this brindavanam for him.


This Brindavan was installed on  the left side and very near to our Guru Sri Raghavendar Swamy's Brindavan. The very thing that his Brindavan could be located near Sri Gururaja’s Brindavan speaks volumes for Sri Vadeendra’s greatness.

Sri Vadeendra Teertharu also authored Guru Gunastavana, his magnum opus to our Sri Guru Raghavendra Swami. When Sri Vadeendra Teertharu read this Guru Gunastavana in front of Sri Raghavendra Swami's brindavanam, our Guru was so impressed which his work and showered the flowers on him by shaking his Brindavanam. This proves and speaks to the greatness of Sri Vadeendra Teertharu

Following are the works of Sri Vadeendra, that are available in book format.
1. Tattvaprakashika Tippani (Meemamsa Nayadarpana)
2. Tattvodyota Tippani
3. Bhoogola Khagola Vichara
4. Raghavendramathagatharchagathikrama
5. Gurugunastavana
6. Navyadurakthishiksha (written in poorvashrama)

I hope this post is helpful to the devotees who were not aware of Sri Vadeendra Teertharu and the reason for his brindavanam in Mantralayam on the left side of our Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy.

 [ஸ்ரீ கிருஷ்ணார்ப்பணம்]