Narayana Reddiar
Narayana Reddiar is one of the early devotees who came to Bhagavan during His Virupaksha cave days.
He was working as an agent for Singer&Co. in Vellore. An erudite scholar with a good grasp of Vedanta, he was well known in the Kovilur Mutt. Whenever he travelled to Tiruvannamalai, he would typically stay in Esanya Matam and come up to Virupaksha cave to have Bhagavan’s darshan. Often, he would bring scholars and other Matam heads along. He was affectionately called “Naranna” by all.
In an archival photo of Bhagavan with Alagammal surrounded by some of the early devotees taken near a rock behind Virupaksha cave around 1916, Narayana Reddiar is seated to the left of Eswara Swamy[1]. Apparently, Alagammal sent word through Narayana Reddiar to Nagasundaram (Chinnaswami) in Manamadurai to come serve Bhagavan in Tiruvannamalai.[2]
During the early Virupaksha days, Bhagavan, upon the request of devotees, had translated into Tamil verse the Sanskrit treatise Vivekachudamani. As we recall the perseverance of Gambhiram Krishnayya (Gambhiram Seshayyar’s brother) who, utilizing the monetary donation of Uddandi Nayanar, given to his brother as a token gesture of guru dakshina for Bhagavan a few years ago, published it as a small booklet. Narayana Reddiar, a devotee who was keen on spreading Bhagavan’s name and teachings helped bring out the second edition of that work. Soon, he started printing and publishing any written work of Bhagavan including Aksharamanamalai. It is nice to recall that it was Echammal who bore the expense to get the first edition of Aksharamanamalai published. Narayana Reddiar took over the reins and got many subsequent editions published. Along with Swami Pranavananda(Sarvepalli Narasimham), Narayana Reddiar was also one of those early devotees who made it their mission to publish and propagate Bhagavan’s teachings. These books were sold in one of the stalls in Arunachaleshwara temple corridor and they were manned by devotee volunteers who took turns taking care of the bookstall. The monetary proceeds thus collected helped support the growing needs of the Virupaksha inmates.
Citations
[1] Eswara Swami is seated in front of and below Alagammal and Ayyaswamy is standing on Narayana's right.