56th Acharya at Vadavambalam (58th according to the mutt records)
- mahendramangalam
- Nov 12, 2024
- 2 min read
Swamigal visited the small village of Vadvambalam, situated near the Chendhanur railway station, south of Vizhuppuram. The 56th Acharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam, Sri Atmabhodhendra Saraswathi Swamigal attained siddhi in this town. He had stayed in Kasi for a long time and was known for his commentary on Rudra mantram. There was no marking in that town to identify the place where the Acharya had attained siddhi. Our Swamigal roamed the village’s fields, groves looking for signs and finally stopped at a place and asked the ground to be dug there. The village folks were following Swamigal around during his search. They said that they had dug places around here for various other reasons and did not see any signs of anyone attaining siddhi there, but there was a well in that place. However, Swamigal insisted and ordered that place to excavated. A few feet into the ground, a skull was found. At that time, one of persons who was digging Kumaramangalam Samabamoorthy Shastri fell down shouting “Stop, Stop”. He regained consciousness after a long time and recanted the amazing vision that he saw.
“I saw a sannyasin wearing saffron robes, having a dhandam in his hand, wearing rudraksha mala around his neck and was as tall as the sky. There were several Brahmins around the sannyasin chanting Upanishads. The huge figure then ordered the chanting to be stopped and I repeated that order to stop. Moreover, I heard the figure say, “Don’t dig, don’t dig” in my ears. The figure became smaller and smaller and disappeared. I just heard someone chanting “ Sadasivam, Sadasivam” in my ears. And that too stopped in a little while, at which point I regained consciousness”. The village people were astonished to hear his vision, prostrated before Swamigal and requested his guidance on how to proceed further. As per Swamigal’s wish, the piece of land was donated to the mutt and a brindavan was built there with the help of one of the local Reddy. On 17th of January, 1927, the brindhavanam was established by Swamigal and daily pujas are being conducted there. Swamigal makes it a point to visit and have darshan at the brindhavanam during his south tours.
The above is an excerpt from “Pujya Sri Mahaswamy Divya Charitram” by Sri Sambamoorthi Shastrigal, Sri Kuppuswamy Iyer, “Sollin Selvan” P. N. Parasuraman – 1957
Vijaya Yatra
The peetathipathis of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam had taken upon themselves as part of their pontifical duties, traveling around, giving audience to people, giving them advice and encouraging their spiritual growth.
Our Swamigal also wanted to take on such a journey after becoming the Peetathipathi.
