Illustrious lineage

Kooratazhvan was one of the foremost disciples of Ramanujacharya.

Kooratazhvan and his wife Andal lived a simple life in Srirangam, said Thentirupperai Arvaindalochanan, in a discourse. Every day, Kooratazhvan would eat, only after he had obtained biksha.

One day it rained heavily and Kooratazhvan was unable to go out. The rain kept up till nightfall, and Kooratazhvan had still not eaten. It was the time for the food offering for the night at the Srirangam temple. Andal’s thoughts went to Ranganatha, and she wondered how He could eat, when His devotee was going to go to bed on an empty stomach.

The Lord then told the priests in the temple to take the prasada to Kooratazhvan. When they arrived at Kooratazhvan’s residence, he asked the priests why they had brought him the prasada. They said it was the Lord’s command. Kooratazhvan asked Andal if she had anything to do with what was happening. She confessed that her thoughts had been about Ranganatha consuming food, while her husband did not. Kooratazhvan told her that she must never entertain such thoughts. He took two small portions of the prasada, and gave them to Andal. Andal, who ate the prasada, was blessed with two sons, both of whom were great scholars.

One of the two sons was Parasara Bhatta. Ramanuja came over to Kooratzhvan’s house to name the child, and sent his disciple Embar into the house to bring the baby. Embar said that in order to ward off evil eyes, he had recited dhvaya mantra, while bringing the child. Ramanuja felt that since Embar had shown such concern for the child, he should be Parasara Bhatta’s acharya. Thus Parasara Bhatta not only came from an illustrious lineage, but was also blessed to be named by Ramanuja and had yet another scholar, namely Embar, as his acharya.