After the age of sri sankarabhagavathpada there were many followers of advaita vedanta in kerala too. Among them the most acknowledged is Brahmasri vidyadhirajatheerthapadaswami who was well known as Chattambi swamikal.Among his disciples who were lucky enough to study yogajnana saadhanas and adhyatmavidya were sri Narayanaguru swamikal, sri Neelakantatheerthapada swamikal and sri Theerthapadaparamahamsa swamikal. Sri Vidhyananda theerthapada swamikal was the foremost disciple of sri theerthapada paramahamsa swamikal.
He was born in ‘Thengum thottathil’ family on 1911 January 5 at Pullad village near the famous Aranmula temple which is blessed by Bhagavan Parthasarathy.
He received mantra deeksha from sri Achuthananda Swamikal in his childhood itself. After that he joined ‘pourasthya kalalayam’ in pullad for his studies. His main subject there was Astrology.For studying higher texts in Jyothishastra he went to to theerthapadaswamikal who was then at Theerthapada asram at Vazhoor. He stayed there for a week with swamiji discussing many subjects. Soon he renounced all his material relationships and became the disciple of theerthapada swamikal. At the age of 24 Sri theerthapada swami gave him sanyasa deeksha and the name “Vidhyananda theerthapada”. After the mahasamadhi of his Guru swamiji was the secretary of asram. Later he was made the “paramaacharya” of theerthapada sambradaya.
His wish was to leave his body preaching Vedanta. As he wished, in 1984 JUNE 11 by interpreting mantras from Panchadasi, Gita and Upanishads and also by chanting“om” 3 times he attained mahasamadi.
He was very keen in spreading the knowledge he realized. By residing at different places in Kerala, satsanga, through disciples, writing in spiritual magazines he spread Vedanta. He had a number of disciples too.