Take a map of the country and mark out all the important centres of Sanskrit and Vedantic learning, and you will find that Uthamur Viraraghavachariar, reverentially referred to as Uthamur Swami, has left his imprint in every one of them.
Uthamur Swami’s tryst with traditional texts of learning began early, with Vedic studies and with his study of champu nataka granthas from Garudapuram swami and vyakharana from Tiruvengadachariar.
Enrolment in the Madurantakam patasala brought him under the tutelage of Swachandam Swami, a great authority on tarkka. This was to prove to Uthamur Swami’s advantage, when he later refuted the arguments of other schools of philosophy. When Swachandam swami moved to Tiruvaiyaru college, Uthamur Swami accompanied him.
Tiruvaiyaru brought him another teacher - Brahmasri Venkatasubramania Sastri, who was so impressed with Uthamur Swami’s quick grasp that he gave his student his unpublished manuscript Mimamsa Kaustubha to study. Evenings saw Uthamur Swami on the banks of the Cauvery poring over various texts. A keen debater, Uthamur Swami was a member of the debating club in college. He secured the first rank in the Madras Presidency in the Siromani exam, and was appointed research scholar at the Tiruvaiyaru college.
Uthamur Swami studied Sri Bhashya from Kozhiyalam Swami, who composed the thaniyan (invocatory verse) for Uthamur Swami, a rare instance of an Acharya doing so for a sishya. Uthamur Swami was keen to educate people on Desika’s works. This turned out to be a peripatetic mission, for requests for instruction came from different places.
Uthamur Swami’s journey to Calcutta shows that he was no ordinary traveller. Night was set aside for travel, while the day was spent giving discourses on the works of Vedanta Desika. As a result, it took him four months to reach Calcutta. Mangniram Seth, a devout Vaishnavite in Calcutta, arranged for Swami to go Pushkaram. Then came a long stint in the Tirupati college as professor. Uthamur Swami’s students prized their association with him, and many moved to Tirupati from Pushkaram, to continue studying from him.
His students like Srivatsankachariar - a scholar in all four branches of Sastras, Karappangadu Venkatachariar, Perukkaranai Chakravarthiachariar and many others did him proud. Uthamur swami’s prediction with regard to his student N.S. Ramanuja Thathacharya proved to be prophetic. Uthamur Swami, despite being a strict examiner, awarded Thatacharya full marks in the exam. He explained to the principal, “I have given him hundred marks, since anything more is not possible! This young man will, one day, be the foremost authority on Nyaya (logic).” Uthamur Swami was examiner for Sanskrit in the University examinations of Mysore, Madras, Andhra and Benaras Hindu Universities.
During his travels, Swami found that people in North India knew little about Visishtadvaita, and he felt the fault lay with the Sri Vaishnava community for not taking the trouble to disseminate the philosophy. He therefore began to publish books expounding Visishtadvaita. K. Bhashyam, former Congress Minister, helped in proof reading and editing. But Bhashyam’s eyesight began to fail. So V.T. Krishnamachari, advocate D. Ramaswamy Iyengar and Anantasayanam Iyengar started the Visishtadvaita Pracharini sabha for publication of works on Visishtadvaita, with the focus on publication of Uthamur Swami’s works.
Uthamur Swami took part in many scholarly debates (sadas), fielding questions from the assembled scholars. At a sadas in Mannargudi, Advaitic scholars said that they learnt many subtle aspects of Advaita by reading Uthamur Swami’s ‘Paramartha Bhooshanam,’ a work that ran to more than 1,000 pages. The book was prescribed as a text for advanced studies in Vedanta by Beijing University.
While Uthamur Swami wrote elaborate expository works, he was a master of the art of conciseness too, as seen from his book Paramartha Prakasika. Philosophical writings often leave one mystified.
That is why G.K. Chesterton wrote about the importance of combining intelligence with being intelligible, in the context of philosophy. There are articles by Uthamur Swami that show how he combined the two, thereby simplifying philosophical tenets for the non- cognoscenti.
Uthamur Swami knew the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable. Kanchi Paramacharya used to say that even when he argued against other systems of philosophy, Uthamur Swami was never offensive. At a function in Sanskrit College, Mylapore, Chennai, Paramacharya said that he had never come across anyone as scholarly as Uthamur Swami. In 1960, the Government of India constituted a Presidential award for Sanskrit and consulted Brahmasri K. Balasubramania Iyer, who had no hesitation in recommending Uthamur Swami for the award.
Goshtipuram Swami had seen Uthamur Swami as the lodestar guiding Sri Vaishnavas. Srimad Thirukkudandai Andavan observed that Uthamur Swami’s commentary Alabhyalaabha, helped in comprehension of Vedanta Desika’s Tatvamuktaakalaapa and Sarvaartha Siddhi. Because Uthamur Swami was as prolific a writer as Vedanta Desika, the title of Abhinava Desika was conferred on him, at Desikan sannidhi, Mylapore, which, significantly, is the only temple known by the name of the Acharya.
His interpretation of Tiruppavai was unique. He said it reflected the panchakala prakriya - the daily five fold religious duties of Sri Vaishnavas. Tirukkallam Swami used to say that if he read just one page of Uthamur Swami’s Tiruppavai commentary, he could give a discourse for a month! In 1953, Uthamur Swami gave three-hour Tiruppavai discourses in three different places in Madras.
More than 150 of Uthamur Swami’s Sanskrit and Tamil works have been published. His commentary on Divya Prabandham runs to more than 5,700 pages! His forewords for the books of others are so scholarly, that they could be compiled together and published, for the insights they offer into Visishtadvaita. Swami was also a great poet, whose epistles to his father and scholar friends were in verse!
Uthamur Swami’s 120th birth anniversary was celebrated on January 20. A seminar on his works, organised by the Sanskrit and Vaishnavism Departments of Madras University, took place from January 21 to 23.
