Biography
From Siruputtur to the Seven Hills
Ananthan, son of Kesavacharya. Āḻvān to the world. Āṇ Piḷḷai to Ramanuja. Madhurakavidāsa to the Lord. Gardener, chronicler, and the man who would not come down.
Bronze of Ananthalvan — from the 1882 biography of Puriśai Srīrāngācāriyār.
A quiet birth, a loud courage
He was born in 1053 of the Common Era — Kali 4154, Tamil year Vijaya, month Cittirai, star Cittirai — at Siruputtur on the Kaveri, near Mysore, to an orthodox Srivaishnava of the Yajur Veda and Bhāradvāja gotra. The child was named Ananthan. Ramanuja, thirty-six years his senior, was already walking the path that would become Viśiṣṭādvaita.
Tradition does not leave the pairing accidental. Ādiśeṣa, commanded to take human birth, came as the preacher and as the practitioner: Ramanuja for upadeśa, Ananthalvan for anuṣṭhāna — as Nara and Nārāyaṇa had once sat at Badari. The boy grew learned and inward, so absorbed in bhagavad-bhāgavata bhakti that the world named him Āḻvān, as it had named Kūreśa.
He went to Srirangam as rivers go to the sea. Ramanuja first directed him to Aruḷāḷapperumāḷ Emberumānār, who sent him back: the charge was a palm-fruit on a sparrow’s neck. From then, every commandment of Emberumānār was gospel.
Olugu of a life
Nine stations
1053 CE
Birth at Siruputtur
Born in Kali 4154, Tamil year Vijaya, month Cittirai, star Cittirai, to Kesavacharya of the Yajur Veda, Bhāradvāja gotra, at Siruputtur (Kirangur) on the Kaveri near Mysore. Named Ananthan. Ramanuja had been born thirty-six years earlier at Sriperumbudur. Tradition holds both as twin aṃśas of Ādiśeṣa — one for upadeśa, one for anuṣṭhāna.
Youth
The silent scholar
He mastered śāstra and Veda and was lost in bhagavad-bhāgavata-ācārya bhakti, unconcerned with the outer world — hence Āḻvān, as with Kūreśa, Engal Āḻvān, and Nādātur Āḻvān.
Srirangam
At Ramanuja’s feet
He went to Srirangam as rivers go to the sea, with Eccan, Tondanur Nambi, and Marudur Nambi. Ramanuja first sent him to Aruḷāḷapperumāḷ Emberumānār, who refused the charge as a palm-fruit tied to a sparrow’s neck. Ananthalvan returned and remained in Ramanuja’s ghoṣṭhi.
The call
Āṇ Piḷḷai
During a discourse on Tiruvāymoḻi 3.3.2, Ramanuja asked who would lay a garden on Tirumala. None of the seventy-four would go. Ananthalvan rose. Ramanuja named him āṇ piḷḷai and sent him to the Hills for puṣpa-kainkarya.
Tirumala
Ramanuja nandavanam
He laid the garden at the south-west of the temple, dug a lake and a tank, and named all three for Ramanuja. Vakula, pāṭala, pannaga, and śenbaga filled the groves. The crowbar līlā and pacchaikarpuram belong to this labour.
First visit
Ramanuja on his knees
Ramanuja hesitated to profane a Hill walked by Āḻvārs. Ananthalvan said that if the Acharya did not climb, generations of disciples would take it as śiṣṭācāra and abandon kainkarya. Ramanuja ascended on his knees. Periṇ Tirumalai Nambi met him with tīrtha — “I searched the four mada streets; there is no one junior to me.” In the garden Ramanuja said, “Having nursed thee, I now reap the fruit,” and gave Ananthalvan his own vigraha.
Third visit
Temple order
With Periṇ Tirumalai Nambi, Ramanuja set the Pedda Jeeyangar Mutt to regulate Vaikhānasa worship. Ananthalvan, eyewitness, wrote the Veṅkaṭācala Itihāsamālā — to Tirupati what Kōyil Oḻugu is to Srirangam. Ramanuja opened the Śrībhāṣya with an invocation to Brahmaṇi Śrīnīvāse.
After 1137
The shrine of the Acharya
After Ramanuja’s passing, Ananthalvan did not worship for a year, then installed the gifted vigraha to the left of the sanctum and obtained a day of Irāmānuja Nūṟṟantāti at Adhyayanotsava. He is presumed to have lived at least eighty-four years. His son Ramanujacharya assisted the last puṣpa-kainkarya.
Āḍi Pūram
Under the magizha tree
He joined the Lord on Andal’s birthday, Āḍi Pūram. His brindāvanam stands in the garden. Each year Srinivasa still visits, honours the magizha (vakula) tree with flowers and Śaṭhakopa, and the tradition treats the tree as Ananthalvan remaining on the Hill.
Puṣpa-maṇṭapam
Ramanuja named three halls: Srirangam for enjoyment, Kanchi for sacrifice, Tirumala for flowers. The garden Ananthalvan laid at the south-west of the temple was named Ramanuja nandavanam, with its lake and tank. He became to Srinivasa what Tirukkacchi Nambi was to Varadarāja — the friend who spoke with the archā as with a person.
He lived long enough to install his Acharya’s image after 1137, and is thought to have reached at least eighty-four years. He died on Āḍi Pūram in the garden, his son Ramanujacharya at the kainkarya. The last name on his lips of the Lord was the one Bhattar loved: Aḻagiya Maṇavāḷapperumāḷ.
Names
How he is known
Ananthan
The name given at birth, at Siruputtur (Kirangur) on the Kaveri near Mysore, to the son of Kesavacharya of the Yajur Veda, Bhāradvāja gotra. Kali 4154, Tamil year Vijaya, month Cittirai, star Cittirai.
Āḻvān · Ananthalvan · Anantārya
The world named him Āḻvān, as it had named Kūreśa — lost in bhagavad-bhāgavata-ācārya bhakti. Sanskrit Anantārya, Tamil Anandazhvar, Telugu Anantalwar: one man, the gardener of the Hill.
Āṇ Piḷḷai
Ramanuja’s title before the Srirangam assembly: the only man who would climb the forested Hill for puṣpa-kainkarya. From this, descendants are Anantanpiḷḷai vamsasthar.
Madhurakavidāsa
The name he claimed before Srinivasa, and the name the Lord Himself took when He walked the path as a young brahmachari. The line still signs itself Madhurakavidāsa.
Māmaṉār of Veṅkaṭavaṉ
Father-in-law of the Lord of the Hill, father of Alarmelmanga — sung in the vaḻi-tirunāmam after he tied the princess under a champaka and she asked to be taken as his daughter.
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 of Ananthalvan