Śrī Bharatāzhvān — the suffix āzhvān meaning "he who is immersed" or "he who rules through devotion" — is Bharata, the second of King Daśaratha's sons, born of Queen Kaikeyī. In Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition, Bharata is celebrated not merely as a figure in the Rāmāyaṇa but as a living embodiment of Āchārya-abhimāna — the spiritual attitude of total dependence on, and identification with, the Āchārya. Just as Śrī Lakṣmaṇa embodies śeṣatva in the mode of personal attendance, Bharata embodies it in the mode of viśrambha-bhakti — intimate, trustful devotion that reaches Bhagavān through the Āchārya's grace.
When Śrī Rāma departed for the forest, Bharata was absent from Ayodhyā and had no part in the conspiracy that sent his brother into exile. Upon his return, he was devastated. He refused the throne of Ayodhyā for himself; he refused all the comforts and prerogatives of kingship; and he went to Nandigrāma, just outside the city, to live as an ascetic. There, he placed Śrī Rāma's very pādukā (sandals) upon the throne and governed the entire kingdom for fourteen years in Rāma's name alone — as Rāma's vicar, acknowledging himself as nothing more than the caretaker of his Lord's dominion.
The Āchāryas draw a profound teaching from Bharata's conduct: the highest form of devotion is not to seek Bhagavān directly through one's own effort, but to live entirely under the abhimāna — the loving, protective identity — of the Āchārya who has himself attained Bhagavān. Bharata did not go to Śrī Rāma himself; he lived according to Rāma's sandals. In this, he models the disciple who, trusting utterly in the Āchārya's grace, does not reach for liberation through personal striving but surrenders to the Āchārya's own vision and care. This is why Śrī Bharatāzhvān is held as the patron exemplar of Āchārya-abhimāna — a path the Tenkalai masters regard as among the most elevated of all.