Thread by @MadhvaHistory

1. Today is the 514th ArAdhana of Sri Lakshmi Narayana Tirtha popularly known as Sri Sripadaraja Tirtha (c.1412-1504).

2. Sripadaraja Tirtha is, in a sense, founder of Haridasa movement within Dviata school of Vedanta. He popularised the method of propagating tattva through Kannada language.

3. Though being an ascetic who must be reclusive of worldly affairs, he attended to such mundane matters when the society & country are in dire need of a divine support.

4. One such occasion was the relief provided to Saluva Narasimha, then governor of Chandragiri seema of Vijayanagara Empire. The details of this episode can be read in my articles:

Article 1 : goo.gl/RW6ZC2
Article 2: goo.gl/VN3W3B

6. After getting relieved from the plauging sin, Saluva Narasimha honoured Sripadaraya by making him to sit on royal throne. He also offered a pearl studded armour, crown & set of earrings made with emeralds.

6. As a commemoration of this great event, his disciple Sri Vyasatirtha wrote a kIrtana "mahime sAladE ishTE mahime sAlade" [Isn't this greatness is enough, on this earth to know Sri Sripadaraya]

7. The figurine of Sripadaraya on his brindavana depicts the earrings. But the stone carving made some 300 years ago on an pillar of old manDapa of the Matha situated in Mulbagal town shows Sripadaraja sitting on a throne having the crown & earrings.

8. After Saluva Narasimha became the Emperor of Vijayanagara he gifted many villages to Sripadaraja Matha. These royal donations continued to flow even after dismemberment of Vijayanagara. Mysore Wodeyars too gave many villages as grants.

9. Here are two grants issued during Krishnaraja Wodeyar - II's reign to the then peeThadhipatI-s of Sripadaraya Matha. 2nd grant has the name of Hyder Ali who was the kAryakarta (Agent) of the king.

10. All these archaeological & epigraph evidences confirm that Sripadaraja Tirtha was quite famous among the kings & nobles of his time. But was he equally popular among the masses?

11. This inscription dated 08/05/1496 AD found in Kurijili village of Punganur Taluk, Chittoor Dist, AP has a curious information regarding the popularity of Sripadaraya among masses.

12. Devappa s/o of Timmanna who was a manager of Narasimha temple constructed a tank & allowed another person named Narasimhadeva to cultivate lands coming under the tank's irrigation channel.

13. The donor mentions the names of God Narasimha of Kadiri & Lakshminarayana Tirtha (Sripadaraja) of Mulbagal Kallu Matha as "sAkshi" [witness] to this grant & warns that none should violate the terms of the grant.

14. With this grant inscribed on a stone lying in the premises of an ancient Venkateshwara temple of a small village of Andhra Pradesh exemplifies the popularity of Sripadaraja Tirtha among general public.

15. I prostate before the lotus feet of Sri Sripadaraja Tirtha whom the tradition identifies as an incarnation of Dhruva, the pole star, to guide us on the path of Dharma.

तं वंदॆ नरसिंहतीर्थनिलयं श्रीव्यासराट्पूजितं
ध्यायंतं मनसा नृसिंहचरणं श्रीपादराजं गुरुं