How much does the divinely created statue of Ramanujacharya resemble him?

Question

The Alwars are a group of 12 ancient Vaishnava saints who lived in Tamil Nadu and are famous for their poetry in praise of Vishnu. The collection of their 4000 poems, known as the Naalayira Divya Prabhandam, is considered by many to be the "Dravida Veda", or South Indian Veda. The Alwars are crucially important figures in the history of Vaishnavism; it's the beliefs and principles embodied in the Alwars' poems that ultimately gave rise to the Sri Vaishnava sect (of which I'm a member).

Now as I discuss in this answer, one of the most famous Alwars was Nammalwar, who spent his short life under a Tamarind tree in the town of Kurugur, modern-day Alwar Thirunagari. Despite his young age, however, Nammalwar had a disciple, another Alwar called Madhurakavi Alwar, who was an old man. One of their notable stories goes roughly as follows. One day Madhurakavi Alwar asked Nammalwar for a small statue of Nammalwar so he could remember him. Nammalwar instructed him to boil water from the nearby Tamaraparni river, and when Madhurakavi Alwar did so a statue emerged. Nammalwar said that the statue was of a future Vaishnava Acharya who would follow in Nammalwar's disciplic succession. To this day, the statue is there in the Bhavishyadacharya (future Acharya) temple in Alwar Thirunagari.

Sri Vaishnavas believe that the statue is of the famous Sri Vaishnava Achararya Ramanujacharya; he was taught by five disciples of Yamunacharya, grandson of Nathamuni, who is said to have been a shishya of Nammalwar as I discuss here. My question is, how much does the statue resemble Ramanujacharya? Thankfully, Ramanujacharya's body has been preserved in the famous Udayavar Sannidhi in the Sri Rangam temple, so it's possible to easily compare the two with photos.

It is a popular misconception that the idol of Ramanujacharya in Srirangam is his actual body. It is merely an idol fashioned out of plaster that is installed over his Brindavanam. See https://ramanuja.org/sri/BhaktiListArchives/Article?p=apr99/0108.html — hashable, Feb 23 '19 at 07:22

Keshav Srinivasan · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-12T17:19:06.667

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They're pretty close. They have the same long low-hanging ears, round face, and thick fingers. Here is the statue found in the Bhavishyadacharya statue in Alwar Thirunagari:

And here is the actual body of Ramanujacharya preserved in the Udayavar Sannidhi in Sri Rangam:

Note that the statue is quite small.

edited Aug 12 '15 at 17:19

answered Aug 08 '15 at 04:28

Keshav Srinivasan

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@@Keshav - It is not low hanging ears. They are ear rings or kundalas. Unfortunately, many people get it wrong. – Dec 23 '15 at 13:20
Is this the real thirumeni of Ramanujacharya? – Sarvabhouma Dec 04 '16 at 18:12
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@SreeCharan Yes, it is his actual Thirumeni. I've seen it in real life, you can see the nails growing. – Keshav Srinivasan Dec 04 '16 at 18:22
someone dies around a thousand years ago, it is claimed his body has been preserved using no known scientific preservation methods and the corpse's nails are still growing. Sure makes a lot of sense. – S K Dec 20 '17 at 14:45
@SK The nails of corpses growing is not some supernatural phenomenon, it's what naturally happens to corpses. – Keshav Srinivasan Dec 20 '17 at 14:48
Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Keshav Srinivasan Dec 20 '17 at 18:49

How much does the divinely created statue of Ramanujacharya resemble him?

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