Thursday, June 24, 2010

Adhishtanams of the Kanchi Periyavas- The main features

I have had the good fortune of visiting a few adhishtanams (final resting places) of the previous acharyas af the Kanchi kamakoti peetam. I thought I would share some features of the same.
Certain important points to remember:
It is said that the sanyasis themselves decide on the site of their adhishtanam whether they want a brindavanam built over it and also what ishta devata needs to be installed on it, and also the type of pooja to be conducted. It is also very likely that many acharyas did not want their adhishtanams glorified . As per our mutt’s accounts, There have been 70 acharyas and 69 adhishtanams so far but very few adhistanams have been identified .Under the blessings of the acharyas' daily pooja’s are being conducted here and aradhanas performed.
All of us are of course familiar with the adhishtanam at the Kanchipuram mutt itself where we can see the adhistanams of Sri.Sureshwaracharya (Mandana mishra) and Shri .Chandrasekhara saraswathi ( Maha periyava) and Sri Jayendra saraswathi(pudhu periyava). The next one is the Adi Shankara Statue in the Kamakshi temple. It is believed that the place is the adhistanam of adi sankara ( debatable as legends say he vanished into Kailasa).There are a set of stone sculptures in the hall way next to this which chronicle the life of Adi Shankara and next time please do visit this when you come to the Kamakshi temple at Kanchipuram( these were put up at the directions of mahaperiyava by my father in law Dr.S.Kalyanaraman and his father Dr.V.Subramanian).
It is believed that there are a lot of adhishtanams in the mutt complex itself and also in the kanchi kamakshi temple. These are as of now un identified. The various acharyas in chronological order and their history, contribution and place of Samadhi can be accessed from the kanchi kamakoti website link


http://www.kamakoti.org/peeth/origin.html#appendix2


Sri Sankara Bhagavatpada : On reaching Kanchi, after the digvijaya tours, Sri Sankaracharya settled down at Kanchi, established a Math for his own residence in that city, gave sanyasa deeksha to a very young boy of Brahmadesam on Thamirabharani bank near Tirunelveli , gave him the name Sarvajnatman, nominated him as successor Acharya of the Kanchi Sankaracharya Math and put him under the care of Sri Sureshwaracharya. A long line of unbroken erudite and pious Acharyas have adorned the Kamakoti Peetham. Some of the most famous in this line of Acharyas are Sri Krpa Sankara, Sri Mooka Sankara, Sri Abhinava Sankara, Sri Paramasivendra Saraswati, Sri Bodhendra Saraswathi and the world renowned 68th Acharya, Pujyasri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swamigal (Maha Periyava), a benign soul who illustrated to us, through His universal tolerance, lofty nobility, profound erudition, towering spirituality and child like simplicity, like what the great Bhagavatpada Himself
Adi Sankara took to sanyasa directly from Brahmacharya asrama. The same order is being followed till now where the Head of the Matham is selected from rig vedic Brahmacharis only. The Acharyas of Kamakoti Peetham have the title "lndra-Saraswati". The Acharyas themselves perform daily tri-kala pooja to Sri Chandramouleeswarar.

16 comments:

  1. Dear Sir,
    Nice to read the articles.
    I am Saamenathan from chennai, my mail id is srisribls@hotmail.com
    please expect some more adhishtanam details.
    Thanks.
    God bless ua all.
    Saamenathan. V

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for your kind words and blessings sir I am honoured

    ReplyDelete
  3. NICE TO SEE UR POSTING.VERY GREAT JOB SIR.MY ID IS PARASURAMSV@GMAIL.COM.FOR ANY FURTHER FUTURE REF.PL.DONT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME.
    REGARDS.

    PARASURAMSV

    ReplyDelete
  4. Excellent blog Sir. I am deeply thankful to you for the information. I have visited Kalavai, Ilayaththangudi and Kanchi. Hope to visit more Brindavanams and Adhishtanams by God's Grace.
    kahanam@yahoo.com
    My name is Dr. M.Narayanan, and I am an MMC aluminus 1969 MBBS batch. I have worked at the Institute of Neurology as Senior House Surgeon in 1977-78 when Prof.SKR was Professor.I later became a Physician.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My name is Dr.M.Narayanan, MMC 1969 MBBS batch. I am now a Physician.I am deeply thankful to you for providing details about the Adhishtanams of so many Mahans. I have visited Kalavai, Kanchi and Elayaththangudi and had Dharshan. I hope by God's Grace, I may be able to visit other holy places also. If you go to Sringeri, please visit the Adhishtanams of three Acharyas in Narasimhavanam there. God bless you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is an excellent Blog Dr. Ravi. Recently when we visited Kanchi HH Bala Periyava wanted to us to visit an Adhishtanam at Keelambi. Please visit this place when you find time, it will be an wonderfull experience. For further details please contact me at karthik.savithri@yahoo.in

    Regards,
    Savithri

    ReplyDelete
  7. Where exactly is this place keelambi? I wud like to visit this adhishtanam. Recently we visited Nerur where poojyasri sadashiva Bhrahmendra saraswathi swami,s adhishtanam is located.We cud also visit the adhishtanam of the 65th periyava in ilayathangudi. 65th periyava is the poorvasrama periappa of Sri mahaperiyava.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's very near kanchi.ser my blog at the link below
      https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2011/12/adhishtanams-of-kanchi-seers-keezhambi.html?m=1

      Delete
    2. Please visit this blog to know about the Keezhambi adhistanam and also many others which I was fortunate to visit
      https://drlsravi.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-have-had-good-fortune-of-visiting-few.html?m=1

      Delete
  8. Very informative. Can u pls share any phone numbers of illathangudi periyava adhishtanam, as we have planned to visit place. Kindly share the details if available.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do not have the number at present will try to get it. Since there is a vedapatashala running here the place is always open and someone will surely be there whenever you visit

      Delete
    2. You can contact sankara mutt at puthu kottai. This mutt is looking after ilaiyathankudi athistanam.you can reach ilayathankudi in two ways one is go to puthukkottai and go from the sankara mutt office or go to karaikudi and take car from karaikudi. Nithya pooja and yearly arathanai are carried out in an excellent manner. We had the fortune of visiting this athistanam twice.

      Delete
  9. Sir can you please say where are the adhishtanam of 52nd and 53rd acharyas. Have you visited. Though it is written as kanchi in mutt people say it is not there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are a lot of acharyas whose adhishtanams are unknown now due to ravages of time. Under the periyavas guidance there are a few qualified people who are looking at reports corroborative evidence and after due processes only it is officially confirmed. So as of now 52 and 53 are as yet unknown to us.
      Once puduperiyava told us that there are so many adhishtanams inot recognized as such in kanchi itself . The mutt records 52 and 53 as attained siddhi in Kanchi . We shall wait for more proof and official news

      Delete
  10. நன்றி அய்யா. எனக்கு மூன்றாவது பெரியவா அதாவது சர்வஞாத சரணர் அதிஷ்டானம் பார்க்க வேண்டும். உதவ முடியுமா. நிறைய அதிஷ்டானங்கள் பார்த்தோம். நெருர் , வடவாம்பலம், கீழப்பி , எழிச்சுர், vadavaambalam, kalavai, Kumbakonam. எல்லா athishtaanangalayum பார்க்க ஆசையாக இருக்கு

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please click on the link at the end of my post above link to adhishtanams I have visited

      Delete