Parama Bhattara Vidhyadhiraja Sri Chattambi Swami

A great soul and an equally brilliant mind, Chattambi swamigal was a remarkable religious peripatetic who lived in the historic Travancore state from 1853 to 1924.Born and brought up up in penury and privations, Chattambi swamigal became a mastermind by his own inborn genius and prodigious intellectual industry.Chattambi swamigal mastered many branches of indigenous learning and acquired skill in music and arts.

Childhood
Chattambi swamigal was born on 11 Chingam 1029 M.E (1853 A.D) at Kollur, a village on the outskirts of Trivandrum.His father was an impecunious Brahmin named Vasudaeva Sharma and his mother Nanka Devi of Ulloorkot house. Though he was named Ayyappan and later known as Kunjan.He had no means of attending school. He learned Malayalam alphabet from his father. In the evening he used peruse the books of boys who attended the village school and thus learned Malayalam and Tamil.Kunjan made it his daily habit to overhear the lessons which a Sanskrit taught the Brahmin boys of the Madam. His thirst for knowledge and his aptitude for study prompted a near relative of his to send him to a school kept by Raman Pillai Asanin pettai Trivandrum.Here he won the good will and confidence of his teacher, so that he was made “Chattambi” or the monitor who in the absence of teacher took his place.

Education
Travancore Diwan appointed his as a Kanakkapillai ,after realizing his skills.Intial salary was 4Rs at the end of the month the salary was raised to Rs.10 in recognition of his abilities. But the fair minded swamigal returned 6Rs explaining that he deserved only four.Chattambi did not long remain a Govt .Servant .He resigned from service and joined an organization whose members met periodically at Pettai to discuss religious questions and to conduct music lessons.Ayyavu the manager of the residency, used to deliver lectures on Vedanta to the society. From him swamigal learned Yogasanas.Tamil had a special fascianation for swamigal. He mastered all the great masterpieces of ancient Tamil literature. He mastered in sidha and marma vidya.

Travels
With the transfer of his relative Kesava Pillai to Moovattupuzha, Swamiji got the chance of visiting North Travancore.On the way he visited Ettumanoor.The temple and its premises at Ettumanoor specially fascinated him and he started a bhajana Madam near the western gate of the temple.In these days Swamiji delighted in bathing in the Meenachil river at Peroor.He would come to the river early in the morning and return before sun grew warm.He used to practice a kind of yoga in water

His stay at Movattupuzha is noble because it was here that his first acquaintance with his favourite disciple Nilakanta Theerthapada swamigal began.During this time he also acquired proficiency in the treatment of snake bite and in mantras

Swamiji sowed the seeds of revolution in the fields of belief and custom in Kerala.He emboldened non-Brahmins to range freely in the prohibited areas of scholarship.He himself learned the sastras of Thanthra and Manthra of which no one had heard, and he helped others to enter these realms of new knowledge.It was his encouragement that enabled Sri Nilakanta thirthapadar to write Devarchapaddhathi.Swamiji also endeavoured to dispel the ignorance of the Malayali in the great truths of Vedanthahis lucid interpretation of them.He tried to break down the communal barriers that divided people . The world was his family.His idea of new social structure composed of all mankind united by the bond of love has since his time gained much ground.He shook of the people of Kerala out of their moral and mental lethargy and gave them the message of Ahimsa and universal love.

Ref: [Sri Chatttambi Swamigal By Dr.K.P.K Menon ]