Thirumalai · 11th century
The man of courage who laid the garden of the Lord. Disciple of Sri Ramanuja, gardener of Srinivasa, father-in-law of the Lord of the Hill.
Taniyans
Six taniyans open the shrine. The first two Srinivasa recited Himself, walking the path as Madhurakavidāsa. The rest remember the crowbar, the garden, and the bee at Yatiraja’s feet.
01
अखिलात्मगुणावासम् अज्ञानतिमिरापहम् । आश्रितानां सुशरणं वन्देऽनन्तार्य देशिकम् ॥
Akhilātmaguṇāvāsam ajñānatimirāpaham Āśritānāṃ susaraṇaṃ vande Anantāryadeśikam
I bow to Acharya Anantharya, dwelling of every noble quality, who dispels the darkness of ignorance, the sure refuge of those who take shelter in him.
First taniyan — recited by Srinivasa as Madhurakavidāsa
02
श्रीमद् रामानुजाचार्य श्रीपादाम्भोरुहद्वयम् । सदुत्तमाङ्गसन्धार्यम् अनन्तार्यमहं भजे ॥
Śrīmad Rāmānujācārya śrīpadāmboruhadvayam Sadhūttamāṅgasandhāryam Anantāryam ahaṃ bhaje
I worship Anantharya, who is equal to the two lotus feet of Sri Ramanuja, and whom the good bear upon their heads.
Second taniyan — recited by Srinivasa as Madhurakavidāsa
03
आम्नायवाचामपि मृग्य भूमा श्रीवेङ्कटक्ष्माधर दिव्यधाम । देवोऽनुतावन् प्रदधाति यस्मै स्रजं भजेऽनन्तगुरुं तमाद्यम् ॥
I worship that first Ananta-guru, to whom the Lord of the divine abode of Venkata hill — the fullness sought even by the words of the Vedas — gives the garland.
04
यतीन्द्र पादाब्ज चञ्चरीकम् श्रीमद् दयापाल दयैकपात्रम् । श्रीवेङ्कटेशाङ्घ्रियुगान्तरङ्गं नमाम्यनन्तार्यमनन्तकृत्वा ॥
I bow endlessly to Anantarya, a bee at Yatiraja’s lotus feet, the sole recipient of the grace of Dayapala, intimate with the pair of feet of Sri Venkatesa.
05
जायासहायकरणीय महातटाक मृत्पारवाहि वटु वेष वृषाचलेन्द्रम् । श्रीवेङ्कटेश धृत दत्त मनोज्ञगन्ध स्रक्कण्टिकण्ठरमनन्तगुरुं प्रपद्ये ॥
I take refuge in Ananta-guru, on whose neck hangs the lovely fragrant garland worn and given by Sri Venkatesha — he who, with his wife, carried earth for the great tank, before whom the Lord of Vrishachala came in brahmachari form.
06
श्रीवेङ्कटेशमचिरस्मयमान निर्यात सौरभ्यकुम्भसुमनोऽपिरनन्यबुद्ध्या । आह्लादयन निजघनोपवनोदितापि श्रीमान् अनन्तगुरुरन्वहमाविरस्ताम् ॥
May the blessed Ananta-guru appear every day — delighting Sri Venkatesha with undivided mind by flowers whose fragrance pours as from a jar, risen from his own dense garden.
1053 CE
Born at Siruputtur, Cittirai star, Bhāradvāja gotra
Āṇ Piḷḷai
The only man who would climb the forested Hill
Pacchaikarpuram
Camphor on the chin, from a crowbar’s blow
Āḍi Pūram
The magizha tree still receives the Lord’s honour
The twin aṃśa
As Nara and Nārāyaṇa took twin births at Badrinath, Ādiśeṣa is said to have come twice in that century: Ramanuja at Sriperumbudur, to preach; Ananthan at Siruputtur, to practise. One churned the Śrībhāṣya. The other dug a lake on a Hill no one would climb.
When the Acharya walked the finished garden — vakula, pāṭala, punnāga, śenbaga, bees in the bunches — he said, “O Anantharya, having nursed thee, I now reap the fruit.”
Līlās
The call
When Ramanuja asked who would climb the malaria-haunted forest of Tirumala to lay a flower garden, only Anantharya rose.
Read the story
Pacchaikarpuram
A young brahmachari helped a pregnant woman carry mud. Ananthalvan struck him with a crowbar — and found the Lord bleeding in the sanctum.
Read the story
Madhurakavidāsa
When the Lord summoned him mid-garland, Ananthalvan finished the flowers first. He would rather be banished than disobey Ramanuja.
Read the story
Tiruvandaadi
A male elephant in musth pulls a bamboo shoot, dips it in a honeycomb, and extends it to its mate. Ananthazhvar heard Ramanuja’s discourse on Dvayam in that paasuram.
Read the storyStill on the Hill
Vaḻi-tirunāmam
Malaiyil Veṅkaṭavarkku māmaṉār vāḻiye Alarmelmangai tiruvukku appaṉār vāḻiye
Glory to him who is father-in-law of the Lord of the Hill. Glory to him who is father of Alarmelmanga.
He tied Alarmelmanga to a champaka for spoiling the nandavanam. By morning she was his daughter, and Srinivasa his son-in-law. On the eighth day of Purattasi Brahmotsavam the Lord still wears the father-in-law’s silk.
Works
Seven stabakas · Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi
The garland of historical tales of the Hill of Venkata, in full — not seven cards. Aiyangar’s 1937 English running account of every stabaka, and Anantārya’s Sanskrit grantha in Devanagari, Telugu, and Tamil scripts, with Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu prose beside it. Edited for the TTD from a rare Telugu edition.
Four verses + phala · Sanskrit
Four verses of victory on Ramanuja — one for each of the places dear to him: Srirangam, Tirumala, Kanchi, and Melkote — and a phala-śloka. Śrī Tirumalai Anantārya Svāmi anugṛhītā. The full hymn is on this page and on Stotras.
Four verses and four nitya-maṅgalas · Sanskrit
Śrī Tirumalai Anantārya Svāmi viracitā. Four verses on Āṇḍāl (Godā), then four nitya-maṅgala verses. The hymn of the turmeric-in-the-tank līlā: Ananthalwar as Ādiśeṣa praising Bhūmi-pirāṭṭi. The full hymn is on this page and on Stotras.
Recitation · Sanskrit and Tamil
Six Sanskrit taniyans, including the two Srinivasa Himself recited as Madhurakavidāsa. Ten mangala shlokas by his son Varadacharya. The Thirumanjana Kattiyam — Sanskrit invocation and three Tamil pasurams — still recited at his sacred bath. The Rāmānuja and Godā Catuḥślokīs in full.
Śrīraṅga Sūri · Ānanta Sūri vamsa · prose
A prose hymn to Srinivasa, composed by Śrīraṅga Sūri of Śrīśaila Ānanta Sūri’s line — Ananthalvan’s vamsa. Cūrṇikā 5 names the tank of Anantārya’s spring. Cūrṇikā 28 names the scar on the chin, made an ornament by the crowbar. Printed here in full from the Veṅkaṭeśa Kāvyakalāpa.
Still on the Hill
He breathed his last in the garden he had dug. Srinivasa still comes in the evening of Andal’s birthday, and honours the tree as if the gardener had not gone.
Living legacy
