Thirumangai and ThiruppaaNaar

[Guest guest]

We are now in the month of kaartthigai and here is another

great week for sri vaishnavaas.

 

11/18/94 FRI thirumangai aazhvaar krutthigai

11/19/94 SAT thirp paaNaazvaar rOhiNi

 

Thirup paaNaazhvaar's life is illustrative of what sri

vaishnavaas have always conisidered important, i.e. being a

servant of Lord's servants. Namaazhvaar expresses this

concept very forcefully in thiruvaaymozhi 3.7.9:

 

\bt

kualanthaangu saathikaL naalilum

keezizinthu, etthanai

nalanthaa nilaathasaN daaLasaN

daaLarka Laakilum,

valanthaangu sakkarath thaNNal

maNivaNNaR kaaLenRuL

kalanthaar, adiyaar thammadi

yaarem madikaLE.

\et

 

(If an individual is a devotee of Lord Vishnu, then, even if

he belongs to a lowly caste, you must consider his devotee's

devotee as your lord.)

 

Nammaazhvaar's above verse is acted out in Thirup

paaNaazhvaar's life story. Being of low birth, thirup

paaNanaathan was not permitted to enter the thiruvarangam

temple. Yet, aazhvaar's bhakthi was unparalleld. One day,

upon seeing the thiruvarangam temple gOpuram from a

distance, aazhvaar went into a trans. He was standing in

the middle of the road leading to the temple from the

kaavEri river. At that time the chief priest, ulOga saaranga

munivar, was returning to the temple with a pot full of

kaavEri water intended for thirumanchanam (abishegam)

for Lord Ranganaathaa. Upon seeing a paaNan obstructing

his way, he scolded him to move away at once. Oblivious

to the surrounding, aazhvaar did not respond. To draw his

attention the priest picked up a small stone and threw it at

him. It struck aazhvaar's forehead. Coming back to this

world, aazhvaar profusely apologized for the transgression

and ran away. There are two versions for what ensued.

When the priest reached the temple, Version 1: the temple

door was locked from inside even though there was no one

inside; Version 2: blood was streaming out of Lord

Ranganaathaa's forehead.

 

That night Lord Ranganaatha appeared in the priest's dream

and chastised him for striking his bhakthaa with a stone.

He then instructed the priest to carry the aazhvaar upon his

shoulders and bring him to the temple. Realizing his

blunder, uloga saarangamunivar searched out the aazhvaar,

found him and carried him in broad day light for everyone

to see. The priest carried the aazhvaar in a procession

around the temple and finally took him inside the sanctum.

A 'high brahmin' carrying an untouchable in his shoulders

and taking him inside the temple must have caused quite a

stir.

 

Upon entering the sanctum, thiruppaaNaazhvaar sang 10

pasurams. This prabhandam is called amalan aathipiraan.

In this prabhandam, Azhvaar describes, in exquiste detail,

each part of the Lord Ranganaathaa's thirumEni (sacred

body) starting from kamala paadham (lotus feet), to

neeNdavap periya vaaya kaNgaL (long, large eyes). The

bhakthi rasam is unsurpassed by any other aazhvaar.

Consider this,

\bt

kaiyinaar surisanganal

aazhiyaar, neeLvarai pOl

meyyanaar, thuLaba viraiyaar kamazh neeLmudi em

aiyanaar, aNi aranganaar aravin aNaimisai

mEya maayanaar,

seyyavaay aiyO! ennaich

sinthai kavarndhathuvE!

\et

(He is holding his conch and disc, His body is like a long

mountain range, the thuLasi He is wearing is giving out

sweet fragrance, He, my Lord, is wearing an enormous

crown, His mouth is like a red corol, Oh! my Lord

Ranganaathaa is sleeping on the bed formed by

aathisEshan, and this sight has captured my mind. suri

sanganal = conch; aazhi = disc; varai = mountain, thuLba =

thuLasi, aravin aNai = bed made of snake)

 

The last pasuram in the prabhandam is,

\bt

koNdal vaNNanaik, kOvalanaay veNNey

uNda vaayan en uLLam kavarnthaanai,

aNdar kOn aNi arangan en amudhinaik

kaNda kaNkaL maRRonrinaik kaaNaavE.

\et

(I have seen the One whose color is like dark rain bearing

clouds, He is the one with the mouth that swollowed the

butter of cowherds, He is the Lord of dEvaas, He is Lord

Ranganaathaa, He is my nector life, I have seen my Lord,

now I will not see anything else. koNdal=rain cloud; aNdar

kOn = Lord of dEvaas)

 

With 'maRRonrinaik kaaNaavE,' aazhvaar entered the

Lord's chamber and merged with Him as one.

 

It is clear from all this that among sri vaishnvaas there

should be no place for caste differences and prejudice. But

unfortunatly, this is true only on paper. In 1991 we visited

ahObhila madam at sri rangam to pay our respects to sri

azhagiya singar. After having our lunch at the madam we

were about to wash from a hand pump. A sri vasihnava

young man halted us with \bt kaNdavan thotta pumpil En

alambarEL, kiNatthulEndhu jalam edutthu tharEn,

alambikkOngO \et. :-(