Raghavendra Math (Mantralayam)


Shri Raghavendra Math, better known as Rayara Math is one of the three premier Dvaita Vedanta monasteries descended through Vibudhendra Tirtha and their disciples based in Mantralayam. Raghavendra Matha is located on the bank of Tungabhadra River in Mantralayam in Adoni taluk of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, India.
Raghavendra Math, along with Uttaradi Math and Vyasaraja Math are considered to be the three premier apostolic institutions of Dvaita Vedanta and are jointly referred as Mathatraya. It is the pontiffs and pandits of the Mathatraya that have been the principle architects of post-Madhva Dvaita Vedanta through the centuries.

History

Raghavendra Matha is one of the matha which branched off from the main lineage of Madhva to spread the tattvavada in the southern part of India. It was named Kumbakonam Matha and later it was changed as Sri Vijayendra Mutt after Vijayendra Tirtha or Vijayendra Swamigal by Sudhindra Tirtha, a disciple and successor to the pontificate of Kumbakonam Matha after Vijayindra Tirtha. After Sudhindra Tirtha his disciple, the most venerated dvaita saint Raghavendra Tirtha continued in the pontifical lineage as the pontiff of the matha. After small stay at Kumbakonam, he seems to have gone on a pilgrimage tour visiting Rameshwaram, Ramnad, Srirangam, and Mathura then he moved westwards to Udupi and Subramanya, and thence to Pandharpur, Kolhapur and Bijapur. At Kolhapur, he is said to have made long stay and at Bijapur, he made many converts. After that he returned Ultimately to Kumbakonam. By 1663 he left to Mysore where he got grant from Dodda Devaraya Odeyar. Later he moved to further north and finally settled down at Mantralayam, a village on bank of river Tungabhadra in Adoni taluk in Andhra Pradesh. There on the sacred river he took Samadhi in 1671.
The matha was later named after Raghavendra Tirtha as Raghavendra Matha.

Guru Parampara

  1. Madhvacharya
  2. Padmanabha Tirtha
  3. Narahari Tirtha
  4. Madhava Tirtha
  5. Akshobhya Tirtha
  6. Jayatirtha
  7. Vidyadhiraja Tirtha
  8. Kavindra Thirtha
  9. Vaageesha Thirtha
  10. Ramachandra Tirtha
  11. Vibudhendra Tirtha
  12. Jitamitra Tirtha
  13. Raghunandana Tirtha
  14. Surendra Tirtha
  15. Vijayeendra Tirtha
  16. Sudhindra Tirtha
  17. Raghavendra Tirtha
  18. Yogeendra Tirtha
  19. Sooreendra Tirtha
  20. Sumateendra Tirtha
  21. Upendra Tirtha
  22. Vadeendra Tirtha
  23. Vasudhendra Tirtha
  24. Varadendra Tirtha
  25. Dheerendra Tirtha
  26. Bhuvanendra Tirtha
  27. Subodhendra Tirtha
  28. Sujanendra Tirtha
  29. Sujnanendra Tirtha
  30. Sudharmendra Tirtha
  31. Sugunendra Tirtha
  32. Suprajnendra Tirtha
  33. Sukrutheendra Tirtha
  34. Susheelendra Tirtha
  35. Suvrateendra Tirtha
  36. Suyameendra Tirtha
  37. Sujayeendra Tirtha
  38. Sushameendra Tirtha
  39. Suyateendra Tirtha
  40. Subudhendra Tirtha – Present Pontiff