Ramanuja was discoursing on Nammāḻvār’s Tiruvāymoḻi when he came to the hymn cintu pū maḻkum Tiruvēṅkaṭam — the Hills where spilled flowers blossom. Srirangam, he said, is bhoga-maṇṭapam; Kanchi is tyāga-maṇṭapam; Tirumala is puṣpa-maṇṭapam, the hall of flowers. Someone must lay a garden there so that the Lord of the Seven Hills is served with fresh blossoms every day.
The Hills were forest then. Tigers, malaria, and the cold kept even the seventy-four simhāsanādhipatis silent. Anantharya stood. “Svāmin, I cannot see your wish go unfulfilled. Bestow on this humble self the puṣpa-kainkarya of Tiruvēṅkaṭamuḍaiyān.”
Ramanuja embraced him before the assembly: “Anantha, you are the only āṇ piḷḷai here” — the only man. From that title his descendants are called Anantanpiḷḷai vamsasthar. He left for the Hills, and the garden, the lake, and the tank he dug were all named after Ramanuja.