Saints of Arunachala · The golden-handed saint

Seshadri Swamigal: the saint who revealed Ramana

The town says it has three lingas ~ the hill, Ramana, and Seshadri. The wandering, seemingly half-mad, wholly-liberated saint who lived forty years on Tiruvannamalai's streets, called himself the Mother, and first found the young Ramana in the dark of the vault.

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There is a saying in Tiruvannamalai that the town has three lingas ~ three forms of the sacred presence ~ and they are the hill itself, Ramana Maharshi, and Seshadri Swamigal. That a wandering, unpredictable, seemingly half-mad ascetic should be named in the same breath as Arunachala and Bhagavan tells you at once how extraordinary Seshadri Swami was. And there is a debt owed to him that few visitors know: it was Seshadri Swami who found the young Ramana half-buried in the temple vault, and helped reveal him to the world. He deserves to be far better known. Here is his story.

The saint with the golden hand

Seshadri Swamigal was born on the 22nd of January, 1870, at Vazhur near Vandavasi, into a family of the Kamakoti lineage devoted to the Goddess. He showed his nature early. As a small child, the story goes, a toy-seller found that every toy in his tray sold the moment the boy Seshadri had touched one ~ and so he was called Thangakai Seshadri, “Seshadri of the Golden Hand,” a name that followed him all his life, and by which the shops and homes of Tiruvannamalai still know him. He was a brilliant boy, learned in scripture and music; but a deep renunciation was rising in him, and after receiving initiation from a wandering yogi, and following the death of those closest to him, he left the settled world entirely.

Forty years on the streets

He made his way, through many towns, to Tiruvannamalai ~ drawn, like so many, by Arunachala ~ and there he remained for some forty years, until his death. He lived as a wandering ascetic on the streets of the town: he never owned a home, never built an ashram in his lifetime, never formally took disciples, and refused all comfort. To ordinary eyes his behaviour was baffling ~ unpredictable, abrupt, sometimes wild; the townsfolk called him a “wise lunatic.” But those with eyes to see recognised a jivanmukta, a soul wholly liberated while still in the body, whose strange outer conduct was the overflow of an inner state utterly beyond the ordinary. He worked quiet miracles, gave pointed spiritual instruction to those ready for it, and above all held up, always, the glory of the Arunachala kshetra ~ the sacred field of the hill.

The one who revealed Ramana

And here is his great, mostly-forgotten service. When the sixteen-year-old Ramana first arrived and sank into that profound absorption ~ sitting motionless in the dark, insect-ridden Patala Lingam vault, oblivious to his own body ~ it was Seshadri Swami who recognised what he was. The tradition holds that Seshadri found the young sage in the vault, understood at once the greatness of the being sitting there in silence, and helped protect and reveal him ~ so that the boy who would become Bhagavan was, in a sense, first “discovered” by the elder saint already living on the streets of the town. The one whom the world came to know as Ramana was pointed to, at the very start, by Seshadri of the Golden Hand.

Mother and son

The relationship between the two saints was tender and strange and much loved by the town. Seshadri Swami would often declare, “I am Parvati” ~ the Mother, the Goddess ~ and would speak of Ramana as his child, Skanda (Lord Murugan, the son of Shiva and Parvati). The townsfolk took up the image with delight: here were the divine Mother and her divine son, both walking their streets at once. Seshadri, for all his wild unpredictability, visited Ramana with real affection. Each, when asked, spoke of the other's greatness ~ two fully realised beings, utterly different in outer manner, recognising in one another the same Self. When Seshadri Swami attained his samadhi on the 4th of January, 1929, Ramana himself attended the final rites ~ the son honouring the mother, the town said ~ and over Seshadri's resting place on Chengam Road grew the ashram that bears his name.

The town has three lingas, they say ~ the hill, Ramana, and Seshadri. And it was Seshadri who found the young Ramana in the dark, and knew him.

His ashram today

The Seshadri Swamigal Ashram stands on Chengam Road, close to Sri Ramanasramam, holding his samadhi. It is quieter and far less visited by foreigners than its famous neighbour, which is part of its charm ~ a place of genuine devotion where the town's love for its “golden-handed” saint is palpable, and where free meals are offered to visitors. For the pilgrim who wishes to understand Tiruvannamalai fully, a quiet visit here, to the mother of the divine pair, completes the picture that a visit to Ramana alone leaves half-told. See our guide to the ashrams of Tiruvannamalai.

Last updated 14 October 2026. Following the documented record preserved by Sri Ramanasramam and his devotees; where an account is traditional, it is told as such.