Sri Vyasaraja Swamy has a distinct place amongst Madhwa saints. He was a child prodigy who learnt under great Guru Sri Sripadarajaru at Mulbagal, and for some time at Kaanchipuram.He was adopted by Sri Brahmanya Tirtha as a child. Born as Yatiraja to Ramacharya couple at Bannur, Sosale, in April 1447 near Mysore, he widely travelled across nook and corner of India.
The task before Vyas raja was extremely challenging. More scholarly Advaitins were taking cudgels on him. Each one of them was a stalwart. On the other hand, he had Logicians from Bengal like Pakshadhara Mishra, widely known in scholarly circle of those days. They had shut the mouth of Advaitins and Visisht advaitins in their strong, subtle fallacious arguments. Some strong scholar like Vyasa Tirtha was needed for those days to silence them ! it was not an easy task ahead ! They had all studied Nyaya Shastra & had already discovered a new style of argument called Navya nyaya from Navadweep. None in India dared to tackle them.
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| Sri Vyasarjara Guhe- a place where he used to revise what his guru, Sriapdarajaru taught him. |
They landed in Mulbagal to argue with Sripadarajauthe great Guru wanted to show how his young Shishya could easily do this task. He commended Sri Vyasa muni to do this job, which he did it gracefully. Pakshadhara's wings were cut by him effectively. He surrendered his Jayapatram & returned home.
Social services rendered by him were not less, any way. He constructed (Bettakere) Vyasa samudram lake, which helped many farmers. He built many Agraharams for the needy scholars. He honoured Kanaka Dasaru and took him to Haridasa fold.
He was the Raja Guru of Krishnadevaraya, from whom he was honored profusely. When Salva Narasimha II had massacred the erring Archaks of Tirumala, he worshipped Srinivasa there for 12 years and returned the Pooja authority to the members of the family of Priests, who had survived the King's rage. If he had continued Pooja,no one could have objected to him. But as Yati would behave, he handed over the Temple to a surviving Brahmachari, returned back to Karnataka. His Mutt is called Vidya Simhasana as many scholars like Jagannatha Tirtharu of Bhashya Deepika fame, Seshachandrikacharya ( Raghunatha Tirtha) & Kambaloo Ramachandra tirtharu succeeded him.
He is a noted Haridasa of pen name Sri Krishna, bestowed on him by his Guru Sri Sripadarajaru.In fact, he was praised by his own Guru in one of his kritis. ಏಸು ಮುನಿಗಳಿದ್ದರೇನು? ವ್ಯಾಸಮುನಿ ಇರಲಾಗಿ- Esu munigaliddodenu, Vysa muni iralaagi. A Certificate from a great Guru to a great Shishya.
Sri Vyasa Tirtha sings in praise of his Vidyaguru Sripadarajaru- " Vaadigajamastakaankusha Vibudhajanageya Medineesuravandya Sripadaraya". His Suladis and Ugabhogas are deep in philosophy of Madhva thought. He composed Songs in praise of Acharya Madhva, Jayatirtha and Sripadaraya ( Lakshminarayana Yogi)
One of the most popular Devaranama in Yaman Kalyani, ಕೃಷ್ಣಾ ನೀ ಬೇಗನೆ ಬಾರೋ . is confused to be written by him.. Researchers say that it was written neither by him or his dear disciple Purandara Dasaru! with that of Purandara Dasaru. He installed as many as 700 Hanuman statues from Hampi to Tirumala. THe first was at Chakra Tirtha on the banks of Tungabhadra, second at Mulabagilu near Sri NarasimhaSwamy. All the statues have a Bell tagged to Hanuman's tail. That is the style of Sri Vyasarajaru.
Sri Vyasa Tirtha sings in praise of his Vidyaguru Sripadarajaru- " Vaadigajamastakaankusha Vibudhajanageya Medineesuravandya Sripadaraya". His Suladis and Ugabhogas are deep in philosophy of Madhva thought. He composed Songs in praise of Acharya Madhva, Jayatirtha and Sripadaraya ( Lakshminarayana Yogi)
One of the most popular Devaranama in Yaman Kalyani, ಕೃಷ್ಣಾ ನೀ ಬೇಗನೆ ಬಾರೋ . is confused to be written by him.. Researchers say that it was written neither by him or his dear disciple Purandara Dasaru! with that of Purandara Dasaru. He installed as many as 700 Hanuman statues from Hampi to Tirumala. THe first was at Chakra Tirtha on the banks of Tungabhadra, second at Mulabagilu near Sri NarasimhaSwamy. All the statues have a Bell tagged to Hanuman's tail. That is the style of Sri Vyasarajaru.
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| Purushottama Tirthara Guhe in Abbooru. |
We can see a small cave where he did his svadhyaya, revision of what Sripadarajaru taught him daily, in Narasimha Tirtha. (Once I tried to sit for meditation & got fever for 2 days, without my father's permission, as we were daily visitors there before Archaks arrived!!My father had done Nirmalya seva many times, whatever Dakshina he got from devotees for Arati, he promptly gave it to Archakas as he did not need money!)
I can write more about Vyasarajaru. But I am afraid of his radiance still existing in Mulbagal. Well, I should mention his Vyasatraya, Tarka Tandava, Nyayamritam & Tatparya Chandrika, ( Incomplete, later completed by Sri Raghunatha Tirtha of his lineage) which is why he is called Sesha- Chandrikacharya. He entered Brindavanam in March 1539. His Brindavanam lies in Navabrindavanam, with Sri Padmanabha Tirtharu and others. It is one of the most well carved structure among 9 Brindavans there, unfortunately vandalized by antisocial elements, later restructured as earlier.
