Ramanuja Vaibhavam : 11 : Ananthazhwan

  After Swami Ramanujar brought about reform in the Sri Rangam temple, he was getting ready to take leave to Kanchipuram. He visited the lotus feet of Ranganatha Perumal to inform Him that he would be taking his leave. Ranganatha Perumal then told Swami Ramanujar to stay in Sri Rangam and make it his headquarters. Swami Ramanujar thus made Sri Rangam his headquarters. At around the same time, there was a Hoysala king in Karnataka by the name Bittideva who was a Jain. His wife Shantala was a Vaishnava. She came to Sri Rangam to see Swami Ramanujar and asked him to reform her husband into Sri Vaishnavism. Thus Swami Ramanujar went to see Bittideva and converted him to Sri Vaishnavism. Bittideva then took the name of Vishnuvardhan and built the famous Channakeshava Temple at Belur. Time passed and Swami Ramanujar was looking for a troupe he could take along with him to Tirumala. Tirumala at the time was densely forested inhabited by many varieties of poisonous snakes and many wild animals. It was considered to be a journey once made would send the person straight to Sri Vaikuntham as rarely one would return from making the journey up the hill. In such a situation Swami Ramanujar held an open forum meeting with anyone whomsoever wished to listen to him. Swami Ramanujar asked in the forum as to who would make the journey with him to Tirumala. Only one person volunteered from the entire forum. This man was Ananthazhwan.

Ananthazhwan used to sincerely perform puspha-kanikaryam and theertha-kainkaryam to Sri Tiruvenkatamudaiyaan. Ananthazhwan had constructed a pushpa-brindavanam and named it after Swami Ramanujar. One day, he was constructing a tank for the temple with the help of his wife who was expecting at the time. Ananthazhwan used to till the soil with the help of a crowbar, place the mud into a mud-tray and give it to his wife who used to place it on her head and dispose of the mud at a slightly far distance. One day when the same routine was running, a small boy approached Ananthazhwan's wife and told her that he would help her dispose of the mud without her husband noticing what was happening. Anathazhwan's wife accepted the help. Soon Ananthazhwan saw the boy and chased after him saying the work was being done in the name of the Lord and he wanted nobody to help him. The boy seemed to run away but soon came back to assist Ananthazhwan's wife. When Ananthazhwan saw the boy again he started to chase the boy again. The boy started running and ran into the temple and soon inside the garbha griha. Seeing the boy run inside the garbha griha, Ananthazhwan threw his crowbar in the direction of the boy and soon noticed blood flowing out of the garbha griha. When he went to check on the boy, he noticed a scar on the chin of Lord Tiruvenkatamudaiyaan. He immediately realized that the boy was none other than the Lord Himself who had come to assist Ananthazhwan in his work. Ananthazhwan is said to have cleaned the wound and applied camphor on the Lord's chin to give a soothing and cooling effect. The crowbar can still be seen in the temple to this day.