Tirumalai Krishnamacharya - A Brief Biography

Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (TK) was born on 18 November 1888 in Muchukundapuram village, Chitradurga district to T. Sreenivasa Thathacharya and Ranganayakamma. They were orthodox brahmins hailing from Tirupati (Tirumalai) and were descendants of Yogi Nathamuni – a famed 9th century Sri Vaishnava saint. Krishnamacharya’s father was a great exponent of the Vedas. An ancestor in the family line had been a chief pontiff of the Parakala Matha. Krishnamacharya was the eldest of six children. He had two younger brothers – Narayana and Appalacharya & three younger sisters – Alamelu, Tangamma and Chudamani. The family spoke in Telugu at home and were fluent in Sanskrit also.

Early Years & Education

Tirumalai Krishnamacharya’s circle of friends included Rallapalli Ananta Krishna Sharma, Bagepalli Sreenivasacharya, Laxmipuram Sreenivasacharya and Tirukulagundam Sudarshanacharya – all renowned exponents of music, Sanskrit and Vedanta in their own right! His father taught him Sanskrit at home. Among the precious few things handed down to Krishnamacharya was a treasured volume of Valmiki’s Ramayana (in Sanskrit). This was held in reverence by his grandfather and would remain by Krishnamacharya’s side till his very end.

Krishnamacharya’s family moved to Mysore when he was 12 years of age. He joined Parakala Matha for his studies. Here, he spent time between 1909 and 1914 learning Logic (Tarka) and Vedanta among other things. During these years, he also learnt Veena from Vidwan Veena Seshanna.

In 1914, he set out to Benaras, where he continued further studies in Sanskrit & Tarka (logic) from Brahmasri Shivakumar Sastry. He attended classes at Queen’s college under......

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Mitramela - Abhinava Shankaralaya (1966) - Mysore

 

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