Shri Raghavendra Math, better known as Rayara Math (popularly known as Shri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt, formerly known as Kumbakonam Math, Vibhudendra Math, Dakshinadi Mutt[1] or Vijayendra Math) is one of the Dvaita Vedanta monasteries (matha) descended from Madhvacharya through Vibudhendra Tirtha (a disciple of Ramchandra Tirtha) and their disciples based in Mantralayam. It is one of the three premier monasteries descended in the lineage of Jayatirtha the other two being Uttaradi Math and Vyasaraja Math and are jointly referred as Mathatraya.[2][3][4] It is the pontiffs and pandits of the Mathatraya that have been the principle architects of post-Madhva Dvaita Vedanta through the centuries.[5] Raghavendra Matha is located on the bank of Tungabhadra River in Mantralayam in Adoni taluk of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, India.[6][7]
History
Raghavendra Math is descended from Jagadguru Shri Madhvacharya through Vibhudendra Tirtha.[8][9][10] The Raghavendra Math was founded by Vibhudendra Tirtha in Kumbhakonam. So, earlier the matha was known as Kumbhakonam Matha or Dakshinadi Math and later the matha was made popular as Sri Vijayendra Mutt after Vijayendra Tirtha by Sudhindra Tirtha, a disciple and successor to the pontificate of Kumbakonam Matha. After Sudhindra Tirtha his disciple, the most venerated dvaita saint Raghavendra Tirtha continued in the pontifical lineage as the pontiff of the matha. The idol of the Moola Rama is worshipped in this Math. Its headquarters are now in Mantralayam, Andhra Pradesh, although they used to be in Nanjangud, Karnataka. The matha was later named after Raghavendra Tirtha as Raghavendra Matha. Other common names still include Dakshinaadi Matha.
Guru Parampara
The Guru Parampara (Lineage of Saints) of Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt is given below.
^Census of India, 1961, Volume 2, Issue 6, Part 32. Office of the Registrar General Manager of Publications. 1962. p. 86. Sri Raghavendraswamy Mutt at Mantralaya is also known as Kumbhakonam Mutt and Dakshinadi Mutt i.e., belonging to South.
^Siba Pada Sen (1980). Sources of the History of India, Volume 3. Institute of Historical Studies. p. 390. Sri Vibudendra-Tirtha founded the Kumbhakona Matha. This Matha came into existence in the fifteenth century.
Sharma, B. N. Krishnamurti (2000). A History of the Dvaita School of Vedānta and Its Literature, Vol 1. 3rd Edition. Motilal Banarsidass (2008 Reprint). ISBN978-8120815759.
