01Venkatanatha who became Raghavendra
Venkatanatha was born in 1595 at Bhuvanagiri in the Tamil country, into a family of scholars and musicians, and studied at Kumbakonam under Sudhindra Tirtha, who gave him sannyasa in 1621 with the name Raghavendra Tirtha. As head of the matha he wrote commentaries on the works of Madhvacharya and Jayatirtha, and travelled across the south. Devotees count him an avatar of Prahlada. In his last years he asked for the village of Manchale on the Tungabhadra, which the governor of Adoni granted, and there he chose his resting place.
02The brindavana
On the second day of the dark half of Shravana in 1671, he sat in the brindavana, a stone enclosure, in meditation while his disciples chanted, and it was closed over him. Mantralayam keeps his Aradhana on those days each year, the greatest festival of the town. The mutt also worships Mula Rama, the murti of the lineage. Devotees offer seva by rolling around the brindavana, and the mutt’s annadana feeds thousands daily. His shloka, “Pujyaya Raghavendraya satyadharmaratayacha”, is recited in Madhva homes everywhere.
The life of this place
- 1595Venkatanatha, later Raghavendra Tirtha, is born at Bhuvanagiri.
- 1621He takes sannyasa from Sudhindra Tirtha.
- 1671He enters the brindavana at Mantralayam.
Mantralayam Road station is about 15 km away on the Mumbai–Chennai line; Kurnool is about 100 km. Men remove shirts in the inner precinct.
