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Koorathalvan was the chief disciple of saint Ramanuja. He was a humble man who assisted Ramanuja in all of his endeavours. He was born in a small hamlet 'Kooram' near Kanchi, in the year of 1010 A.D in an affluent family. He belonged to the clan of Haritha, who were popular landlords. Koorathalvan was married at a young age to Andal, a devout & pious lady. Both of them have led a happy & peaceful life. They were deeply devoted to Varadaraja Perumal. The couple were renowned in the holy town of Kanchipuram for their unstinting philanthropy & kindness. Their children were Parasara Bhattar & Veda Vyasa Bhattar.
Kuresan was heavily influenced by the teachings of Ramanuja & became his disciple. A bond was established between them & under the effective guidance of Ramanuja, Kuresan was initiated into the rigorous study of Vedic scriptures.
According to popular tradition, Varadaraja Perumal & his consort Perundevi heard the heavy sound of a door being closed. Kuresan had closed the brass doors of his home, after completing his daily routine of feeding the poor. By the order of this deity, who appeared in the dream, the chief priest arrived at the door step of Kuresan to usher him towards the deity. On hearing this news, rather than feeling happy, Kuresan was extremely saddened, as he believed that it was a sin on his part to disturb the deity and his consort during the night by 'announcing' his charity activities. This incident stirred up a turmoil in the mind of Kuresan, which was a turning point in his life. At once, he & his wife decided to renounce all their belongings & move to Srirangam, where Ramanuja was staying. On reaching Srirangam, the couple were given a warm welcome & Ramanuja was very happy to meet his old friend again. Kuresan became a disciple of Ramanuja and assisted him in all his works such as spiritual study, management of the temple, philosophical compositions and many others. Soon, Koorathalvan became the most indispensable attendant of Ramanuja.
One of the main aims of Ramanuja was to compose the Sri Bhasya. To compose this work, he wanted to refer Bodhayana's vritti, an ancient work known as Brahma Sutras. This work was available in the royal library of Kashmir. Ramanujacharya & Koorathalvan, along with other disciples, undertook the tedious journey to Kashmir and met the king of that state. The king was very much pleased with these pious men and immediately granted them access to the library. But the pandits of the region were not pleased with the outsiders & troubled them incessantly. They put forth a condition that the 'vritti' shall not leave the library. So, Ramanuja & Koorathalvan acquiesced to read the 'vritti' within the premises of the library itself. To cause more trouble, the pandits went still further to place a condition that no notes must be taken while reading the vritti. Afterwards, Ramanuja decided to return to Srirangam. Ramanujachraya was disappointed for not making an adequate reading of the vritti. But after reaching Srirangam he realised that he had forgotten nothing. Koorathalvan had read the entire text of the vritti and had memorised it completely. He was able to recall the vritti, instantly and accurately word-for-word. With a great sense of fulfillment, Ramanuja completed the Sri Bashya, which was a commentary on the Brahmasutras. Thus, the completion of the Sri Bashya was mainly because of the involvement of Koorathalvan. His works include Sri Vaikuntha Stavam, Athimanushastavam, Sundarabahustavam, Varadarajastavam and Sri Stavam. These five works were collectively known as Panchastavi.
After a certain period of time, the glory of Sri Ramanujacharya spread far and wide. Since Ramanuja had provided citations from authorised scriptures to prove the supreme authority of Narayana (Vishnu), the contemporary Chola King - Rajaraja Anabaya Kulothunga Chola II (Second Kulothangan) also called as Thiruneetru Chola Boopathy or Krimikanta Chola - who was a devotee of Shaivism, was deeply offended. He had also executed several Vaishnavas for not converting to Shaivism in his realm. The reason for his vengeance towards Vaishnavas was due to the Govindaraja Swamy idol present in Chidambaram. The feet of Govindaraja reclining in the snake Adisesha were directed towards Lord Nataraja, which Kulothunga felt was an insult to his Shiva. first, he made the footpath for devotees to visit the deity.