Chattampi Swamikal was known as much a social reformer as a saint. Narayana Guru, today known as the country’s champion of the downtrodden was mentored by Chattampi Swamikal.
Profile
Chattampi Swamikal was born as Ayyappan on 25th August 1853 at Kollur and was fondly called Kunjan Pillai. His father Thamarassery Vasudeva Sharma was Brahmin while his mother Nangamma Pillai was a Nair. His initial exposure to formal education was only from other children in his neighbourhood or by overhearing the classes conducted in Brahmin houses. It was his uncle, understanding his thirst for knowledge took him to a school conducted by Pettayil Raman Pillai Asan and had his education free of cost. He was a brilliant student and the monitor of the class. The word ‘monitor’ translates as ‘chattampi’ in Malayalam and he was called this; this name stuck on. When he was still a very young boy in the 1870s he formed a scholarly group called “Jnanaprajagaram. This group had people from different fields and through the interaction with these scholarly people,ChattampiSwamikkallearnt Tamil, Philosophy, Yoga and more.His activities for learningwere shortlived as he had to earn money for the family. He worked as a labourer, clerk, document writer but the call for learning the scriptures got the better of Kunjan Pillai and he decided to pursue his calling. From then he travelled to Tamilnadu and all over Kerala, meeting people and soaking up all the knowledge they offered. His gurus were many but the person who initiated him into the path of realisation was an avadutha he met at Vadaveeswaram village in Tamilnadu. Chattampi Swamikal returned to Kerala and began his work of teaching his followers and finally settled in Panamana. He attained Samadhi on May 5th 1924 after a brief illness.
Philosophy Propounded
During his travel to many places, Chattampi Swamikal spent a lot of time with a Christian priest and with an old Muslim. He became proficient in the Bible and Quran and he professed that the core of all the religions were one and the same. But he wrote and spoke a lot about Advaita Vedanta and he was also a great devotee of Muruga.
Work Done to Spread the Philosophy
Chattampi Swamikal conducted informal classes for his devotees. He has written many books on Yoga, rituals, devotion, Advaita, languages, history. The book ‘Sarva Mata Samarasyam’ was about the oneness in different religions. Though Chattampi Swamikal was known mostly in southern part of India, his followers have become world renowned like Narayana Guru and Swami Chinmayananda.
