The samadhi or tomb of Sri Bodhendra Saraswathi

Sri Bodhendra Saraswathi

Bodhendra Saraswathi was a 17th-century Hindu pontiff and the 59th Jagathguru of the Kanchi matha, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. He spent his later life in Govindapuram.-Early Life:...

, the 59th Shankaracharya

Shankaracharya

Shankaracharya, is a commonly used title of heads of mathas in the Advaita Vedanta tradition. The title derives from Adi Shankara, a 9th century CE reformer of Hinduism. He is honored as Jagadguru, a title that was used earlier only to Lord Krishna...

 of Kanchi matha

Kanchi matha

The Kanchi math is a Hindu monastic institutionlocated in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, one of the fivepancha-bhUta-sthalas...

 is located in the town of Govindapuram in Thanjavur district

Thanjavur District

Thanjavur District is one of the 32 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur.-Geography:...

 and is an important Hindu pilgrimage destination.

History

Bodhendra Saraswathi, the 17th-century pontiff of the Kanchi matha reached Govindapuram during the course of his wanderings in the Cauvery delta. He was attracted by the beauty of the place and decided to attain samadhi or salvation

Salvation

Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...

 at the spot.

One morning, in the Purattasi(Sep-Oct) month of the year 1692, Bodhendra Saraswathi attained Jeeva Samadhi sitting in an yogic

Yoga

Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...

 state. He attained Videha Mukthi

Videha mukti

Videha mukti refers to the moksha attained by a person after death. This a Hindu view of death....

 at Govindapuram on Full Moon day in the month of Proshtapada of the cyclic year Prajotpatti (1692 AD).

Sri Bodhendra Saraswathi Swamigal

Sri Bhagavannama Bodhendra Saraswathi Swamigal Sri Bhagavannama Bodhendra Saraswathi Swamigal alias Sri Bodhendral was born in Maṇḍana Miśra

Maṇḍana Miśra

was a Hindu philosopher, who wrote on the Mīmāmsā and Advaita systems of thought, and was a student and follower of Ādi Śankara. Maṇḍana Miśra, also known as Suresvaracharya, was a follower of the Karma Mimamsa school of philosophy and a staunch defender of the holistic sphota doctrine of language...

 Agraharam

Agraharam

An Agraharam or Agrahara is the name given to the Brahmin quarter of a heterogenous village or to any village inhabited by Brahmins...

 at Kanchi as the son of Kesava Panduranga. Sri Bodhendral's former name was Purushothama. It was Sri Bodhendral who stressed the efficacy of devotion as a means to liberation in this Kali Yuga

Kali Yuga

Kali Yuga is the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures. The other ages are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga...

m. Sri Bodhendral therefore undertook the Nama Siddhantha, or establishing the supreme efficacy of reciting the names of Bhagavan

Bhagavan

Bhagavan, also written Bhagwan or Bhagawan, from the Sanskrit nt-stem literally means "possessing fortune, blessed, prosperous" , and hence "illustrious, divine, venerable, holy", etc.In some traditions of Hinduism it is used to...

 in many of His writings, chiefly in Namamritha Rasayana and Namamritha Rasodhaya. Sri Bodhendral's mission of Nama Siddhantha was pursued with equal vigor by Sridhara Venkatesa Ayyaval of Tiruvisainallur and by Sathguru Swamigal of Marudanallur

Marudanallur

Marudanallur is a village in the Kumbakonam taluk of Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India.- Demographics :As per the 2001 census, Marudanallur had a total population of 2605 with 1333 males and 1272 females. The sex ratio was 954. The literacy rate was 78.07...

. It was the Nama Siddhanta of Sri Bodhendral that was ultimately responsible for the evolution of Bhajana Sampradhaya as an institution in the religious life of the Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

 community in South India

South India

South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...

. Sri Bodhendral performed Tatanka Pratishtha at Jambukeswaram and while returning to Kanchi

Sanctity

A tomb was constructed by Bodhendra's disciples over his body and yearly aradhanas are conducted at his tomb.