Thirumaizhisai Azwaar - thiruk kudanthai mahaathmiyam

[Guest guest]

There are some discussions on Sri chakraththaazhwaar's

incarnation thirumazhisai azhwar being a jyothi mayam

or not. I am being brought up in the place of

kumbakonam would like to present some details on the

kshEthram of kumbakonam and the connections to chakrath

aazwar and this kshEthram. My grandfathers lived here

and do did I and my praents live here currently in the

same place that we dwell for more than 132 years.

 

The name Kumbakonam is due to the fact that during a

pralayam the "gene" for "Srushti" or recreation by

brahma was stored in a pot (pot made from the sand of

thrich chErai) and kept under the pottRaamaRai tank.

The presiding deity Lord Arav"amudan" is also thus known

as one who safe guarded the amutham or gene. The slokam

that explain the fact that "amudam" was stored in a pot

is given below from sthala puraanam.

 

"kumbasya kONadhO yasmin soothaapooram vinisrutham

thasmaaththu thathpatham lOkE kumbakOnam vathanthihi"

 

- chapter 12 of sthala puraaNam

 

Once there was a feud between the (current ?) suriyan

or sun and Srichakrathaazwaar at this place and Sooryan

assumed and challenged that he is the brightest of all

and started to shine brighter and brighter. Sri chakram

took its anatha swaroopam and shined equiavlent 1000

crore (ayiram kodi) suns. This over powered the sun as he

lost his jyothi and was darkened. He was advised by

Brahma to seek Lord Sriman Narayana's blessing at

this place of kumbakonam. And later as directed by HIM

suryan did severe penance seeking the blessings of Sri

chakrathazwaar here in kumbakonam and was blessed by

srichkrathazwaar here and his oli and thEjas was

reinstated. Since sooriyan did kadum thavam or severe

penance and Lord sriman narayana and later srichakrath

azwaar appeared and offered remedy to sooriyan after

making him realize his mistake. Sooriyan requested Lord

narayana to name this place after him to mark the penance

he did seeking Sri chakrath azhwar's blessings and hence this

place is also known as "baskara kshEthram" ever since.

So historically this place is not "new" for shining by sri chakrath

azhwar as such. The name baskara kshethram is referred in the

following Sanskrit slokam from the kumkakonam

mahaathmiyam thala puraanam and also from the

sambaashana between naradha and brahman as

stated in it.

 

"iththam sthuthO dEvadEvO bAskarENE mahAthmanA !

thatha : prasanthO bagavAn chakra roopi janArthana !

chaarnga pAnE rabinnOsow sarva lOkaika mangaLa :

yath, "thEja"sAhrutham poorvam thath thasmai thathavAn puna:"

thatha: Evahi thath kshEthram bAskara kshEthra muchyathE !

 

- Chapter 61 of kumbakona mhaathmiyam

 

please note line 4 above

 

""thEja"sAhrutham poorvam thath thasmai thathavAn

puna:"

 

This thalam is also called as "Oli mayamaana pattinam"

due to this nature of 1000 crore sun's shining light of

sri chakrathaazhwaar displayed here during the feud.

 

Sriman Mani Wrote that "On the authority of this work,

it is demonstrably clear that the brahmins

discriminated against Tirumazhisai Alvar purely because

they saw him as a sudra. There is no mention in the

Divya Suri Charita about being startled by a dazzling

brilliance, the Alvar's sudarsana amsatva

notwithstanding."

 

Considering the fact that the references (brahma

naradha sambasahana) and the nool or literture

"kumabakona mahaathmiyam" are themselves older (around

thrEtha yugam ?) to "Divya Suri Charita" and the fact

that all the other "samayams" also accept "kumbakona

maahthmiyam" as a potential source one should also see

the interesting analysis coming out of "kumbakona

mahaathmiyam". The analysis is such that "kumbakonam"

is the kshEthram for shining and it got its name from

chakrathaazwaar's "anantha kOdi soorya mayam", it is

very possible that when the revisit of this same azwaar

occurred as thirumazhisai azhwaar, his antharyaami

jyothi would have blinded the brahmins when he was

passing them thereby the episode of pausing veda

paaraaynam etc occured. The "history of shining" is deep rooted

for this city of kumbakonam and it is connected to the

very sri charathaazwaar (It was the surya himself who was

darkened earlier). This being the case, one will

definitely consider the history beyond "Divya Suri

Charita" and accept Swami Desikan verses

"thirumazhisai vazhi vantha sOthi" and its

interpretation by navaneetham swamigal as stated by

Srimans AR and Murali. Having read the "kumbakona

mahaathmiyam" it is difficult for me to be so sure of

the accounts as emphasized by Sriman Mani.

 

Sriman Mani also mentioned that "It is unlikely that

this particular set of brahmins would ever see past the

mere body and external appearance of the Alvar

anyhow.". I tend to disagree with this because of the

very fact that when the three nudhal zhwaars approached

a cave there was an enormous light coming from there

and where they found thriumazhisai azhwaar in his

jyothi mayath thuvam. Brahmins by virtue of their

nature are pure and i donot doubt that sri chakrathazwaar

displayed his "flashback" for these holy brahmins when

he revisited this place as azhwar. *One* of the dharmam" and

pradhana sankathi or message if I can research from

this episode is such that even as azwaar thirumazhisai

never violated the varnasara daramam. Though he is the

amsam of the Lord the veda purushan, he never uttered

the veda manthram though he is "aware of" such veda manthram and instead

symbolically helped the brahmins to get restarted where

they stopped.

 

There are other factors for thirumazhisai' episode that

one must consider in their research which point out to

the fact that this is "THE" kshEthram of chakrathAzwaar

and thirumazhisai" (chakra worshippers please take

note) and that anything can happen in this kshEthram to

bring out the pradhanam of Sri chakrathazwaar. Such are

 

1. Thirumazhsai's episode Sri PD mentioned.

 

2. Thirumazhisai being tired of seeing the Lord

"sleeping" in all the other kshethrams in bOga sayanam"

commanded this amuthan in thiruch chantha viruththam as

 

812:

nadandhakaalkaL nonthavO

nadunkuNYaala mENnamaay,

idanthameyku lunkavOvi

lankumaalva raichchuram

kadanthakaalpa ranthakaavi

rikkaraikku danthaiyuL,

kidanthavaaRe zhunthirunthu

pEsuvaazhi kEsanE! (2) (61)

 

 

Oh lord since you walked all the way to SriLanka (in

ramaavatharam) that you felt tired and are sleeping. Oh

lord who appeared as hari and singam, can you wake up

from this bed and talk to me in this kaveri soozhntha

thiruk kudanthai ?"

 

"kidantha vaaRu ezhunthu irunthu pEsu"

 

After these lines the Lord Amuthan woke up and opened his kamala nayanam

and looked at the azwaar. Realizing this Azwaar said

"vaazhi kEsanE" and requested him to be as it is. Even

today one can look at amudhan in his "wide opened eyes"

that the lord showed to thirumazhisai. This sayanam is

called as " uthaayana saynam". There is no other place

where one can see the eyes of syaniththa perumaal wide

(or Ranganatha's) open.

 

2. In naanmugan thiruvanthaathi, it is said that

"chakrpaaNiyallaiyE chaarngapaani yalliayE" thereby

azhwaar is recalling the episode of Lord using the

chakram to teach a lesson to suryan and also making a

temple "chakrapani koil" for chakrath azhwaar through

sooryan.

 

3. Thirumazhisai spent his rest of the life here in

thiruk kudanthai worshipping aravamudhan and meditating

on sri chakrapaani (his athma swaroopma as srichakra)

at a place exactly half way between the two sannithis.

He was sitting here in yoga dasai and was believed to

be "shining always" ("pinnannar vaNangum sOthi"-

referred in his charitham) as he attained jeeva

samaathi here. Thus thirumazhisai attained mukthi at

this kshEthram and his brindavan is there (chakra

worshippers never miss to visit here and get his

blessings, Sri Murali note this please) near Lord Aravamudan sannithi in a

street called "saththaarath theru" named after thirumazhisai

himself as he was the "saathaatha iyengar" (ref Sri K

Srinivasan's article on saththaatha iyengar). Nothing

more is a proof that chakrathazwaar is living in nitya

vaasam in this place than the srichakra pani temple

constructed by suryan and the nitya jyothi that is

appearing from this brindavan itself for the elevated souls.

 

4. After obtaining the permission from

Srichakrathaazhwaar, On the banks of kauveri Sooriyan

constructed this temple for Srickarapaani (who is known

as a varaprasaadhi by all *religions* in this city).

The festivities initiated by sooryan are believed to be

continuing till date for this srichakrathaazhwaar.

 

I can write a book full of quotes from Brahma and

naradha on the nature of kumbakona vaasam and validate

it. However, I think this is just enough to convey the

"root cause" and truth behind certain interpretations.

 

Coming to Sriman Mani's next statement "There appears

to be reluctance on the part of some of us to accept

the fact that some brahmins in the past have committed

grave bhAgavata apacArams and have generally been

unadmirable people. There is no need to deny the

obvious facts of history by explaining or rationalizing

them away."

 

Actually on contrary the reluctance is not out of

mere sympathy for brahmins but due to the very same

historical past quoted by Brahma to Naradha as stated

in "kumabakona mahaathmiyam" on the bAgawatha

"uththamath thuvam" of kumbakona vasis, not only

brahmins. Following are certain quotes from their

sambaasahana and there are abundant and more quotes but

as this post is already long, I would only provide

some.

 

 

1. What is the prominence of kumbakona vaasis ?

 

"Sri kumbakoNE vasathaam narAnAm kimasthi vakthavya balam subancha

namathi dEva: munaya: cha: yaksha: gandarva mukyAs saththam muneechvaa"

 

meaning:

What is there as a balam for the bagyastha kumbakona

vaasis ? hey, muneechvaraa, devaas and munis and

gandarvaas and yakshaas always pay respects and worship

kumbakona vaasis.

 

2. Who get to live there as kumbakona vaasis ?

 

"janmaanthra thabOyOkaath thathravaasObavEth nruNAm"

 

meaning:

One get to live (kshethra vaasam) here due to several

punniyams of poorva janmas.

 

3. What is the palan for living even "arai kshanam"

i.e. less than half a minute in this city of kumbakonam ?

 

"shNam shNArththmabivaa kumbakOna vasanthihi

mukthi sthOshaam hastha kaahi kimuthaa kilasambatha"

 

meaning:

if one can live here for even less than half a kshanam

they are sure to get mOksham. Such being the case they

will also get all the other palans too prior to

mOksham. ie if one will even pass through this city

they are entitled to this punniyam. If this is the case

for half a kshanam what about those (including

brahimns) who will live here for long ?.

 

 

 

4. What is the effect to those who reads these thala

puraanams of kumbakonam ?

 

"kumbakonasya mhaathmyam nityam bakthiyuthO nara:

ya: patEth chruNuyaath vaabi sarva paabai: pramuchyathE"

 

meaning:

one who reads this thala puranaam with faith and bakhti

will get relieved from all sins.

 

5. What is the effect for those who put one step from

where they are to goto kumbakonam after reading these?

 

"kachchaa meetheesa sankalppam kumbakOnam sabasthalam

ya: karOthi sa tharmaathmaa sakulam dhaarayishyathi"

 

meaning:

who ever goes towards this kshEthram to worship amudhan

and srichakrathaazwaar and put one step on their

journey with such intention will get to be born in good

clan even if they cannot complete or make such a trip in their life

time.

 

Sriman Mani concludes that

 

"At any rate, this story serves to illustrate that

spiritual greatness is in no way determined by jAti."

 

On contrary one of the pradhana sankathi as per the

analysis coming out of swami desikan's verses and the

brahma naradha sambaavanai and kumbakonam mhaathmiyam

and navaneethpuram swamigal's interpretation is such

that varnasara dharmam was never violated even by

certain azhwaars born or brought up in other castes

than brahmins and by the same azhwaars who were also

amsams of Lord and were far superior to any born soul

including brahmins.

 

Sriman Mani ends his post with "We, the Sri Vaishnavas

community, no matter how many stories and how much

proof our own tradition has offered, fail to practice

and perceive this truth to this day".

 

I am a saamaanyaaL and adiyen has lot of kuRai in

myself and hence I submit that I can neither agree or

disagree on this. All that I can submit is that Sriman

Mani's interpretations are thought provoking and offers

the other side of the coin. There *may* be some grain of

truth in his conclusions for the state of *some part* of current day

brahmin society but I donot want to contract an

apacharam by characterizing a generalized statement on

all brahmins. I apologies to Sriman Mani if i have hurt

his feeling in anyway while presenting this

"analysis". I end this with a prayer on

srichakrathaazwaar of kumbakonam.

 

"chakraambujE samaaseenam chakraath yaayutha booshanam

chakra manthraathi thEvEsam chakra raaja mahampajE"

 

Sri Komalavallith thaayaar samEthara sri aravamudahn

thiruvadikaLE charaNam

Sampath Rengarajan