Sri Sripadaraja mUla brindavana, MuLubhagalu
kAle phalati surudrumaH chintAmaNir api yAchane daataa |
vararthi sakalam abhiiShTaM darshana
mAtrAt shrIpAdarAjo muniH||
tamvande nR^isimha thiirtha nilayam shrii vyAsarAt pujitam |
dhyAyantam manasA nR^isimha
charaNam shrI pAdarAjam gurum ||
Sripadarajaru life history
(1404 – 1502)
Sripadarajaru is believed to be the incarnation of Dhruva
Birth & childhood
Sri Sripadaraja was born in Abbur, a village in Chennapatna taluk, to a pious brahmin couple, Sheshagiri and Giriyamma, as Lakshminarayana
Once while in the midst of cattle grazing, he was approached by Sri Swarnavarnathirtha belonging to Sri. Padmanabha Teertha samsthana. Abbur was the seat of Sri Brahmanya Teertharu.Sri Swarnavarnathirtha was on his way to Abbur from Srirangapattana, and asked young Lakshminarayana, how far Abbur is. Young Lakshminarayana replied, “look at me, see my herds and gaze at the sky and realize the distance”. No wonder then that this young boy who was so clever with words, would compose devotional hymns in kannada and thus lay the foundation for dasa sahitya.
Sri Swarnavara teertharu was impressed with young Lakshminarayana’s intellect and expressed desire to conduct his upanayaa and take him as his student.
After upanayana, Sri Swarnavara teertharu and Lakshminarayana went to Srirangam
Stepped into sanyaasaashrama
In 1411, Lakshminarayana was taken into ascetic life and given the name, Sri Lakshminarayana teertharu.
He was sent to study under Sri Vibhudhendra teertharu of Sri Raghavendra mutt. At this period, Sri Lashminarayana muni, came in contact with Sri Raghunatha theerharu of Sri Uttaradi mutt.
Lakshmi narayana theertharu became sripadarajaru
Sri Svarnavara teertharu was observing chaturmasya at Koppar, and young Sri Lakshminarayana teertharu was learning Sri-Sudha. It so happened that Sri Raghunatha teertharu observed the young yati explain a difficult verse from Sri-Sudha. Sri Raghunatha teertharu, in admiration, said “we are just sripadaru (pontiffs), but you are Sripadaraja” (raja of all pontiffs). From then on, Sri Lakshminarayana teertharu became to be popularly known as Sripadarajaru.
Mahimas of sripadarajaru
It is believed that Sripadaraja used to offer 64 types of dishes as naivedya(offering to Lord)
Shripadaraya or Shripadaraja 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”
Sri Sripadaraja composed the songs using ‘ranga vithala’ as his ankita.
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 Sri Vyasaraja teertharu composed and sang the famous devarunama
“Mahime Saladhe”).
Works by sripadarajaru
- Vagvajra, his only work n Sanskrit.
- Bhramarageeta, Gopi geeta, Venugeeta
Narasimha theertha
Once Sri Sripada wished to for a holy dip in river ganga, but was unable to make the journey due to his advanced age. It is believed that goddess Ganga appeared in his dream and said that she will be at Narasimha teertha, a holy pond at Mulabagilu and that he can have a holy dip there itself.
Brindhavana pravesha
Sripada rajaru entered the brindavan alive at Sri Narasimha Thirtha near Mulbagal. It was on Jyeshta shuddha chathurdashi.
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