On the banks of the river Tungabhadra (Northern Karnataka , India), flourished one of the greatest of kingdoms- The vijayanagar Empire. Under the shelter of Sri KrishnadevaRaya lived KrishnAcharaya. They belonged to Yejushaka, Gouthma gothra, Shashtika Vamsha, BhegaMudra Family. KrishnAcharaya was a renowned scholar and a great musician and was honoured with pearl necklaces and other gold articles by the emperor Krishnadevaraya himself. KrishnAcharaya's son Kanakachala Bhatta was equally good. Its said that the name 'Bhatta' was deserving to Kanakachala.
ThimmaNNa Bhatta was the son of KanakAchala Bhatta, It was the time of SriRanga Raya of the Vijayanagar empire. ThimmaNNa bhatta's wife GopikAmbA was a chaste and devoted wife. Like MadhyaGeha Bhatta who worshiped AnanthaEshwara in Udupi to beget children,ThimmaNNa Bhatta left for Tiupathi to worship Lord Venkateshwara. There, according to Vaishnva dharma and scriptures, Thimmana Bhatta worshipped Lord Venkateshwara, As he continued his stay in Tirupathi, he heard some good news. At that time Kanchi was a famous education center and attracted many scholars, so ThimmaNNa bhatta immediately left for Kanchi and arrived at a nearby place called Kaveri PattaNa. It was the time when Sri Vijayendra Tiirtha sat on the Madhva peetA1 of Sri maTa.
Eventually, ThimmaNNa Bhatta settled in Kaveri pattaNa. Here he was blessed with two children, the elder son was named as Gururaja and daughter as VenkatambE. Those were the happy days for Thimmana bhatta, both GuruRaja and VenkatambE grew up to be scholarly. But in the corner of ThimmaNNa's mind, he hoped for another son. As the saying goes 'having one son is incomplete--it's like having one eye'. So he returned to Tirupathi to continue his service to Lord Venkateshwara. He wanted a son who would have the special blessing of Sri Hari and Vayu (the Mukhya PrANa)2. His daily routines included SandyaVandana,discourses on saRva MoolagramTha's3 of Sri MadhvAchArya. His worship and devotion towards Vekateshwara was niShkAma kaRma4. For such a kind of worship, the fruits from SriHari is enormous. Both ThimmaNNa bhatta and his wife gopikAmbA had a dream - Lord Venkateswara blessing them, that a Devatha gaNa soul will enter the Gharbha of GopikAmbA. As the couple returned to Kaveri pattaNa, a son was born to them and was named as Venkatanatha - who would later be ordained by Sri Sudhindra tiirtha as Sri Raghavendra tiirtha.
When VenkatanaTha was still a child of 3, first lessons were invoked right at that age, also ThimmaNa Bhatta performed Chaula(hair removing ceremony)to VenkatanaTha. His next duty as a father was to find a groom for his daughter VenkatambE, which was fulfilled shortly. Thimmana Dhanayakaru the ruler of Dinkapura was the grandfather of Panishaya, a scholar. Panishaya's son LakshmiNarishimAchraya was a befitting groom for VenkatambE. The marriage took place in a short period. Thimmana Bhatta was happier than ever for he had children and a son-in-law who were Vaishnavas.
Thimmana Bhatta's mundane duties were done and he now spent all his time in pravachana and HariSmaranE. It's said that God will not retain anyone even for a fraction of a second after their given work is completed. So Thimmana Bhatta peacefully finished his ihaloka vyapArA(worldly business) and departed, leaving behind the rest of the tasks to his eldest son Gururaja. From then on venkatanaTha grew up under the care of his elder brother. Like father like son, Gururaja took care of his brother well. Gururaja performed the thread cermony to VenkatanaTha at the age of eight. Gayathri Japa, srimanNarayana aShtAkshara (the sacred srimanNarayana mantra),Pooja and other duties were performed without fail by young VenkatanaTha. From there on GuruRaja sent his younger brother VenkatanaTha to lakshmiNarayanAchar for further studies in Tharka, Vyakarna etc., Madurai was their domicile at that time. Here, under the able guidance of LakshminarayanAchar, VenkatanaTha studied ManiManjari, SuMadhva Vijaya and AnuMadhva Vijaya. VenkatanaTha was very enthusiasitc both in music and studies. Right at that tender age he would do PranaYama5 for long periods.
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