INTRODUCTION
Venkatamba(16th century AD) was the affectionate sister of Venkatanatha, who was known as Guru Raghavendra after becoming a saint, and she and her husband Sri Lakshminarasimhacharya played a vital role towards upbringing Venkatanatha in a proper manner at his younger age. After the death of her father Sri Timmanacharya and mother Smt.Gopikamba, she invited her brother Venkatanatha to Madurai and took care of him properly, and her husband Lakshminarasimha, a great scholar, had taught all the divine subjects to Venkatanatha.
Venkatamba used to take Venkatanatha to the nearby temples, and invoked the bhakti spirit to her brother. She used to tell divine stories to him, and never used to scold her brother, and till her death, she was very kind with him.
They treated him as their affectionate son, and due to their kindness, Sri Venkatanatha had somewhat consoled himself from the worries caused due to the death of his parents.
Venkatamba arranged for the marriage to his brother Venkatanatha to a pious girl Saraswati, and gave all the necessary support to the couple. After some time, Venkatanatha went to Kumbakonam and due to the wishes of the great saint Sri Sudhindra Tirtha, he has become a great saint, and known as Sri Raghavendra Swamy, and attained Jeeva Samadhi at Mantralayam and till today he is showering his grace on his devotees from the holy shrine.
Let us worship the holy brother and sister and be blessed.
“OM MATA VENKATAMBA NAMAHA”
“OM SRI RAGHAVENDRAYA NAMAHA”
“JAI SRIRAM”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR