Sri Swayamprakasa Brahmendra Saraswatyavadhuta Maha Swamigal, popularly known as Sendhamangalam Periyava is disciple of Sri Judge Swamigal
He was born in Kalpattu, a village at around 16 kms from Villupuram, on December 28, 1871. His parents were Sri Ramaswamy Sastrigal and Smt. Janaki Ammal. Swamigal's purvashrama name was Krishnamurthy.
Though Krishnamurthy was getting educated through English medium, he also showed equal interest to learn Sanskrit to read the Vedas & Puranas that were available in Sanskrit. While attending the school education, he also attended separate classes to understand the Upanishads, Sanskrit Verses, Puranas, Ithihasas etc.
Ironically, the essence of Vedas, Puranas & Upanishads greatly influenced Krishnamurthy to develop his inner desire for sainthood rather than any jobs.
He went on a pilgrimage to Kashi and became a student of Sri Dakshinamurthy Swamigal.
Searching for a Guru to initiate him to Sanyasa, Krishamurthy hearing about Sri Judge Swamigal, met him and detailed about his thoughts and his preparedness to take up Sanyasam.
He was initiated to Sanyasam and given Deeksha name as Sri Swayam Prakasa Saraswathyavadhuta Swamigal.
Swamigal visited Nerur and worshipped Sadasivar who is the Guru of Sri Judge Swamigal.
After this, he visited the temples in Tanjore, Kumbakonam, Virudhachalam, and Chidambaram and reached Thiruvannamalai.
At Thiruvannamalai, he met Sri Ramana Maharishi, and it is said that they both performed penance together at the hilltop under a mango tree.
Sri Ramana Maharishi had mentioned about Swamigal as a Vairaghya Purusha.
Later he moved Sendhamangalam located at the foothills of Kolli hills in Salem district near Namakkal. Swamigal initially faced hardships there, but later villagers realized that a Mahan is among them and thousands of devotees thronged to get his blessings.
After spending close to 2 years in Sendhamangalam, during his pilgrimage around the country, Bhagavan Sri Dattatreyar appeared in his dream and directed him to build a temple in South India.
As directed, Sri Swamigal built a shrine for Sri Dattatreyar in the year 1931, at Sendhamangalam, 11 kms from Namakkal.
This is the first shrine for Sri Dattatreyar in Tamilnadu. The specialty of the idol in Sendhamangalam is that in all other places, the centre face of Sri Lord Dattatreya will be Vishnu; but here it is Shiva.
In the meantime, devotees slowly forgot and stopped performing pooja at his Guru, Sri Judge Swamigal’s adhistanam.
On knowing about this, Swamigal renovated Sri Judge Swamigal Adhistanam and the Kumbabhishekam was performed on 31-05-1936.
He also sent his prime disciple, one of his four disciples, – Sri Shantananda Swamigal to Pudukottai to take charge of the Adhishtanam.
Shri Sankaranandar, Shri Duriyanandar, Sri Krishnandar and Sri Shantanandar were his disciples.
Sri Swamigal attained Mahasamadhi on December 29, 1948.
As wished by him, His adhistanam is in Sendhamangalam.
Sri Shantananda Swamigal built various Sannidhis and installed the idol of Lord Muruga in this hillock and performed Kumbabhishekam in 20-1-1983.