Thiru maal irum sOlai - Part 4 - pathinettaam padi karuppaNNaswami mahimai

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Thiru maal irum sOlai - Part 4 - pathinettaam padi karuppaNNa

swami mahimai

 

The pathinettaam padi karuppaNNa swami is very important swamy

and is also a popular kaaval theyvam or protecting demigod in

this area. Once a keralite chEra king, adored the beauty of this

Lord Azhagar and wanted to take away the Lord to his kingdom by

any means. He couldn't do it over a challenge of war between his

kingdom and the rulers of this place, as the rulers of this place

were stronger then. He sent out, 18 paNikkars (persons who are

experienced in mantram and tantrams) and wanted them to somehow

bring this lord from this place to his kingdom. When they all

arrived here and were surveying this place they were observed by

a local priest. The priest who got the suspicion notified some

local strong men. It is said that when the strong men and the

priest arrived at the scene they found these men planning to

abduct the lord from here. They got over the power of all these

men and defeated their purpose and buried them ie each one under

each step on the 18 steps here.

 

Under the control of these 18 paNikkars were a kaaval

theyvam or a protecting demigod who came along with them to this

place originally. This demigod is believed to be real but

invisible and it is said that this demigod fell for the immense

beauty of this Lord Azhagar. It is said that the protecting

demigod told the priest and the strong men that "the entrance to

the Lord Azhagar and the 18 steps (where the paNikkars were

buried) to reach the entrance of the temple will be guarded and

that they don't have to worry for the protection anymore and in

turn asked them to feed him everyday with the "arththa jaama

prasaadham". They agreed. Such "kaaval theyvam" is known as "18m

padi karuppaNNa swami". Thus the karuppaNNa swami got indebted to

Lord azhagar for guarding the azhagar kOil. Even today it is

tradition that the temple arththa jaama pooja is performed and

the 18m padi karuppaNNa swami is offered with the arththa jaama

pooja prasaadham. It is seen that th temple authorities simply

*throw* the keys onto the 18 steps and go home for the night.

No one dares to take this key and enter the temple for stealing

when the keys are passed onto the 1m8 padi karuppaNNa swami.

 

When Srirangam was invaded, namperumal or the ursavar

Ranganathar was brought here twice and was hidden in the well of

this temple. None of the invaders were daring to cross these 18

steps to steal the lord from here. Since namperumaal was here

twice this kshEthram was in many deepest feelings, is equal to

Srirangam in terms of the palan and many other ways.

 

It is also reported in the life history of swami mahA

achAryAL thottaachAryAL of shOlinga puram that once he met with

shiva-advaithin "appaya deekshidhar" here at thiru maal irum

sOlai. Appaya deekshidhar is a siva bhakthar and an ardent shiva

-advaithin. It is said that Swami thottaachAryAL held the arms

of appayya deekshidhar and asked him forcefully "naaraayana paaram

pariaththai vedangaL sollavillai" enRu mana saatchiyudan

sollungaL" ie " please swear with your antharyamin as the

witness, that vedas never said that Sriman Narayana is the ever

existing and only param poruL or causes of all causes" Appaya

deekshidhar was a vedic scholar. however he lived as a shiva-

advaithin due to unknown reasons that no one including the

present day non vaishnavites would know. Due to Lord azhagar's

divine vicinity and due to the fact that no one can lie or deny

the truth in front of 18m padi karuppaNNa swami, deekshidhar

accepted swami thottAchAryAL's darsanam and agreed with the

statement that Sriman Narayana is the only causes of causes and

the only ultimate param described in the vedam. Even today it is

a tradition that goes back to several centuries that the "town

panchAyat" or "small court" is held in front of these 18 steps

and karuppaNNa swami. The cases of lies, cheating (soothu),

stealing (kaLavu) are laid out here and it is seen and believed

that 18m padi karuppaNNa swami punishes such crimes without fail.

It is said that only truth prevails when one is summoned to this

azhagar malai and when asked to reveal their convictions

especially in front of karuppaNNa swami.

 

It is an analysis that suggests the fact that persons

belonging to other faiths that doesn't believe sirman naraayana

is the only param described in the vedam may take this as a

divine input and accept a friendly invitation. Such persons *may*

then goto this place and attempt to swear their convictions in

front of 18m padi karuppaNNa swami and Lord azhagar. It is

believed that similar to appaya deekshidhar who cannot over write

his conscience due Lord azhagar's presence, all the others will

also be made to realize the truth in a fraction the moment. It is

said that aNdAL who finally got married to this Lord due to his

beauty also wondered about the devotion of karuppaNNa swami and

his services for Lord azhagar. (There is a reference to this and

it is conceived that when aNdAL went to Srirangam and got

married, it was this azhagar who came from the periya perumal and

married to her. This will be discussed with quotes in the later

parts)

 

My Salutations to 18m padi karuppaNNa swami who guarded Lord

Namperumal (Sri Ranganathar) twice and who is also guarding the

azhagar temple even today.

 

AndAL thiruvadikaLE charaNam

Sri SridEvi thaayar samEthara Sri azhagar thiruvadikaLE

charanam

 

 

Sampath Rengarajan

 

note: The popular question raised by many atheists was once answered.

"If Lord Vishnu is the ultimate protector of all why must one

need to protect his temple" the answer was given by jeer that it

is the "rasa" that Lord provides a window of opportunity for the

tainted souls to perform this task and purify themselves. In

cases when they fail in this Lord never hesitates to send his

special messengers to carry out this. There were several

instances even in kali yugam that sudharasana azzhwaar (Sri

Chakram) of perumaal was used to intervene situations that

ordinary souls could not handle. Lord also makes us to intensify

our prayers when things such as these go out of control. Two

possible examples are thiru kaNNapuram when lord used his chakram

to punish the chola king who disassembled all 6 mathils or walls

and thiru chiththrak koodam when the nitya kaimkaryam for Lord

Govindarajan was interupted due to shaivite control of the temple in

the past. As of Last week sunday, it will be one year since

amuthan's jewels were stolen. Some of us pray to the Lord Amuthan

that HE will help the investigating authorities and retrieve the

same.