Places nearby Kanchipuram:
Sriperumbudur Sriperumbudur is the birthplace of great Vaishnava acarya Sripad Ramanujacarya. It is midway between Kanchipuram (32 km) and Chennai on the Chennai-Bangalore Highway (NH 4). On the way to Kanchipuram a huge arch can be seen with an inscription ‘Bhagavat Ramanujar Avatharitha Sriperumbudur’, birthplace of Srimad Ramanuja, the great philosopher of Vaishnavism. This leads to the temple Sriperumbudur Adi Kesava Temple, also called Ramanujar Temple. Sripad Ramanujacarya appeared in 1017 AD in Sriperumbudur to Kesava Somayaji and Gandhimathi couple. The elder uncle of the child, Sri Tirumalai Nambi, was serving in Tirupati temple. As the child looked like Lakshmana, the younger brother of Lord Ramachandra, he named the child Ilaya. ‘Ilaya’ means younger. Anujan means younger brother. As he is attributed to Sri Lakshmana, the younger brother of Lord Rama, he was named Ramanuja – meaning the younger brother of Lord Rama. Sri Ramanuja is also praised as Yathiraja. ‘Yathi’ means ascetic and ‘raja’ stands for leadership.

Pastime: The Bhootha ganas, an army like division of Lord Siva’s empire, approached Lord Vishnu for relief from a curse spelt on them by Lord Siva. Lord Vishnu created a spring through his serpent carrier Anantha (Anantha saras thirtham).He gave darshan to the Bhoothas from its bank and relieved them from the curse. As a token of gratitude, the Bhoothaganas set up this temple for Lord Vishnu. Hence, the place is called Bhoothapuri. The Lord is Sri Adikesava Perumal.

There is a mandap in front of the temple where Sri Ramanuja was born. During the tenth day Chithirai festival in April-May, Acharya graces from this mandap. On his tithi birthday, he is placed in a cradle as a child and fed with milk in a conch. During this festival, the Parivattam – a turban linen – is brought from thirty six Vaishnava shrines (Divya Desas) as a courtesy to the Acharya.

Mandap where Sripad Ramanujacarya appeared

Lord Sri Adikesava Perumal at Sriperumbudur

Sripad Ramanujacarya