SWAMI SRI VEERABRAHMENDRA

A Monograph on Pothuluru Veerabrahmendra Swamy

As early as in 1918 A.D. the scholar, T.V. Raghava¬charya went to Banaganapalle and visited the house of Garimireddi Atchamamba, the place where Veerambhotlayya grazed the cattle and the cave in which he practised yoga and composed maxims of Kalajnana. He went to Kandimallayapalle and visited the house in which Veerabrahmam resided and the Samadhi which he entered. The scholar had carefully gone through the Kalajnana written on palm leaves, to arrive at the date of Swamy’s birth. But he found it difficult to arrive at a date since the internal evidence was not clear. He felt sorry to note that even the tombs of Brahmam, his sons and his granddaughter, con¬structed in the mutt did not contain any inscriptions which 3peak of the details of birth etc, “How helpful the inscriptions with such details would be, to arrive at the historical data I” the scholar writes in dismay.

Further he made mention of a book in English entitled ‘Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism’ He happened to see this book in the American Mission Library of Bezawada (Vijayawada). Raghavacharya states, that in the year 1909, two Government Officers, one Mr. Elmore and the other Mr. Carton went to Madhavaram, a village in Darsi Taluk where the Archaka at the Veerabrahmam’s temple presented them a statue of the Swamy which was later kept in Rachister museum.

The two English Officers further recorded in this book, Mr. Raghavacharya adds (page 11), that Veerabrahmam, the god-incarnate was being worshipped by millions of people who set aside ail differences of caste and creed. The method of worship was also very peaceful without any sacrifice of living beings. The Officers observed that Veerabrahmam was born in a carpenter’s house and as he grew up he performed wonderful miracles.

This book entitled “Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism” which contains the above contents is found useful to some extent to write a monograph on the Swamy.

I have quoted these lines only to show that Raghavacharya had all the curiosity of a researcher to gather authentic information for his monograph on Veerabrahmam.

Another authentic book on the Swamy is “Mana Guru Devudu” written by Kala-prapoorna Dr. K.V. Raghavacharya, a well-known scholar in Sanskrit and Telugu, He had devoted much of his time to collect the material for the biographical details of the Swamy and has carefully arrived at the date of birth of the Swamy. He made an intensive study of the philosophy of the Swamy and wrote a number of articles on the Kaiajnana and other works of the Swamy to establish the fact that the maxims of Veerabrahmam came true to a great extent. He wrote a monograph on Siddayya too, the famous disciple of the Swamy who carried out the mission of his Guru most faithfully even after the Sajeeva Samadhi of his Guru.