Mahapurna (Sanskrit: महापूर्ण, romanized: Mahāpūrṇa), also called Periyanambi, was one of the teachers and maternal uncle of the medieval Vaishnava philosopher Ramanuja. He was responsible for initiating Ramanuja into Sri Vaishnavism.

Biography

Mahapurna was born in a Choḻiyar family and lived in the eleventh or twelfth century CE. He was a disciple of Yamunacharya, whom he helped with the management of the Ranganathasamy temple at Srirangam.[1]

He was instrumental in bringing Ramanuja into the Sri Vaishnava fold. According to tradition, Ramanuja is described to have heard the chanting of the Stotra Ratna of Yamunacharya by Mahapurna. He leant much of Yamunacharya from Mahapurna, and travelled to Srirangam to meet him.[2] Mahapurna initiated Ramanuja with the performance the Pancha Samskara ceremony at Madurantakam, a place located 40 km from present day Chennai.[3] Yamunacharya passed away before they met each other. Mahapurna is described to have been blinded under the orders of the Chola king Kulottunga I or Rajendra Chola, who adhered to Shaivism.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Smt. Latha Balasubramanian. Sri Ramanuja Pictorial. Sri Ramakrishna Math.
  2. ↑ Dasgupta (1940). A History of Indian Philosophy: Volume 3. Cambridge University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-521-04780-7.
  3. ↑ Madabhushini Narasimhacharya. Sri Ramanuja, Makers of Indian literature. Sahitya Akademi, 2004. p. 21.
  4. ↑ Sharma, Chandradhar (2000). A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 335. ISBN 978-81-208-0365-7.

See also

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