Thiru maal irum sOlai - Part 3- noobura ganagi or "silambaaRu" mahAthmiyam

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Thiru maal irum sOlai - Part 3

noobura ganagi or "silambaaRu" maAthmiyam

 

When the Lord took the incarnation as thriuvikrama

avathaaram, HE measured the boolOgam with one feet and

the second feet was placed on ether world or viNNulaham

and such holy feet proceeded and entered beyond the

satya lOgam that naanmugan Lord brahma is governing.

Lord Brahma performed abishEkam with his kamandala

jalam for this holy feet. The theerththam or water that

fell off from the abishEkam became several folded and

descended as several holy rivers in parts of boolOgam of

which the main and a very special one such is river

ganges. The water that washed the holy and golden

silambu (a type of anklet) of the Lord dropped at this

place in azhagar malai area and became the

"silambaaRu". This silambAru is also known as "noobura

gangai".

 

The thirumanchanam for the ursavar of this kshEthram

is performed using only the theerththam from this

silambaaRu in a tradition that goes back several

centuries. It is noted that when such thirumanchanam

was performed using the theerththam from other sources

than this silambaaRu, the ursavar idol used to get

darkened. Hence it is a practice even today that people

will travel 2 miles around the foot hills to get this

puNNiya theerththam from silambaaRu to perform the

thirumanchanam. This puNNiya theertham also flows

around the paddy fields in the surrounding area besides

being used for thiru manchanam. It is not easy to write

about the mahaathmiyam of this river or theerththam in

full.

 

There were several holy persons in the past who had a

holy snAnam or dip in this theerththam and simply

attained vishnu saamebyam or mOksham as sought by them

while dipping in this theerththam. Since this river

offers "itha para sugam", this is also known as "ishta

sidhdhi". This river originated from the holy feet of

the Lord and hence it also cleanses the "samsaara

bandha azhukku" when sought and is known as "puNyach

chruthi" due to this effect. This river clears the

sorrow of death or grief due to mortality for several

common folks. Thus this river is also known as "pava

haari". The holiness of this river is explained in

many tamil literatures including 4000. The great detail

and insights or secretive powers of this "silambaaRu"

river is given in "silamba"dikaaram a tamil literature.

One of the character known as "madalan" (in

"silambadikaaram") worshipped Lord thiru maal in

azhagar malai and is travelling on his way to

srirangam. He met with kOvalan and kaNNagi and kavunthi

adigaL on his way. He explains to them the specialties

of the "3" parts of this theerththam to them. "When you

go left into the woods, you will reach "thiru maal

kunRam". There is a tunnel there (surangam) and if you

go through the tunnel you will see 3 theerththams. They

are "puNNiya sravanam", "pavakaariNI", and "itta

sidhdhi". If you dip in "puNNiya sravanam", and *seek*

then you will receive the "complete knowledge" of the

literature delivered by Lord Indra known as "yainthira

vyaakaraNam". If you dip and have a holy snaanam in

"pavakaariNI", and seek then you will get the knowledge

of your past birth. If you have a dip and snaanam in

"itta sidhdhi", and seek, then you will get all wishes

fulfilled." It is said and believed and conceived that

one gets relieved of all their sins when they also have

a holy dip in this noobura gangai during any dhvaathasi

and in particular in aippasai "vaLar piRai" dvaadasi.

If one do dip and have a snAnam in itta sidhdhi and

pray and seek to the Lord ahazgar, they will

definitely attain vishnu saameebyam known as "mOksham"

as per the saathvika purAnams that narrates this thala

puraanam. The tamil literature "pari paadal" explains

this river as

 

 

"alangum maruvi yaarththu thimizh pizhiyach

silam baaraNintha seer kezhu thiruviR

sOlaiyodu thodar maal irun gunRam"

 

Thirumangai in his paasuram, in peruya thirumozhi

************************************

1836:

valampuri yaazhi yaNnaivarai yaar_thiraL thOLaNnRaNnNnai,

pulampuri nNoolava Nnaippozhil vENGgada vEdhiyaNnai,

chilambiya laaRudai yathiru maaliruNY chOlainNiNnRa,

nNalanNthigazh nNaaraNa NnainNaNu kuNGgoleNn nNaNnNnuthalE! (2)9.9.9

************************************

 

as "silambaaRu udaiya maalirunchOlai" praises that this

kshethram as the one that has silambAru, ie it can be

meant that "the priasing is done due to the kshetram

having silambAru, thereby giving a special status to

this kshethram.

 

and thirup pugazh another tamil literature praises this

river as,

 

"seer siRakku mEni pasEpasElena

nooburath thinOsai kaleer kaleerena"

 

ie sounding the osai of the silambu of thiru maal from

where it originated,

 

periyaazhwaar in his periazhwaar thirumozhi paasuram,

***********************************

alambaaveruttaakkonRu thiriyum_arakkarai

kulampaazhpaduththuk kulaviLakkaayn^inRakOnmalai

silampaarkkavandhu dheyvamakaLir_kaLaadumseer

silambaaRupaayum then_thirumaalirunchOlaiyE. (2) 1.

*************************

 

silambaarkka vanthu deyva

magaLirgaL aadum seer

silambaaRu paayum then

thiru maal irum sOlaiyai

 

"silambAru paayum " ie the place where the silambAru is

flowing. There are only a very kshEthram where in azzwaars

have sung about the theerththams of those khsEthrams. One such

kshEthrma is azhagar malai and one such theerththam is

"silambARu".

 

 

and finally ANdAL in her naach chiyaar thirumozhi

*********************************************

596:

canthodu kaaragilum

cumanthuthadaNG kaLporuthu,

vanthizhi yumcilampaa-

RudaimaaliruNY chOlain^inRa,

cuntharanai, curumbaar

kuzhalkOthai thoguththuraiththa,

centhamizh paththumvallaar

thirumaaladi cErvargaLE. (2) 10

*********************************************

 

"santhodu kaarakilum

sumanthu thadangaL poruthu

vanthizhiyum silambaaRudai

maal irum sOlai ninRa.."

 

Once again ANDAL says silambArudai maal irum sOlai

and gives a prominance for this theerththam known

as "siLambARu".

 

 

ANDAL thiruvadikaLE charaNam.

Sri SridEvi sundaravalli thaayaar samEthara Sri

kaLLazhagar thiruvadikaLE charanam

Sampath Rengarajan