Guest guest Posted July 7, 1997 Report Share Posted July 7, 1997 Dear Sri Nrusimha PaadhukhA SevakAs : In this posting , I will cover the MangaLa moothys worshipped by the Azhagiya Singars at their Matam daily . These moorthys have as their shrine , the silver mantapam that travels with the Azhagiya singhars . An article that appeared in the special issue associated with the samprOkshaNam at Chembur Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan temple is the source of information for this posting . The Divya mangaLa Vigrahams of AhObila Mutt **************************************************** There are 24 Aaradhana Moorthys of our poorvAchAryas as well as a number of rare SaaLigrama Moorthys that have the silver mantapam as their garbha graham . They receive the worship of the Azhagiya singars daily and bless us . It will be a great bhAgyam to stand close to the Mantapam and have the darsanam of these archA moorthys during the times of daily worship by the Jeeyar and the Sri Sannidhi aaradhakar . The central spot in the silver mantapam is occupied by the ArchA bhEram of Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan ( malOla Narasimhan) of upper AhObilam 1. Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan ( MaalOlan ) The chief archA morthy worshipped by the Jeeyars of AhObila Mutt is Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan known otherwise as MaalOlan . After the first Jeeyar , Adhi vaNN SatakOPa Jeeyar was initiated into sanyAsAsramam , he stayed at AhObila KshEthram and performed aarAdhanam for the Lord there. One day , he had the instructions from the Lord to travel with Him from village to village and bless the devotees , who would come to worship Him during such sanchArams and to spread the Bhagavdh RaamAnuja SiddhAntham . The Jeeyar was instructed to perform SamAsriyaNams, BaranyAsam and ManthrOpadesam to His dear devotees and to nourish the ubhaya vEdanthA tradition . The Jeeyar was happy to receive this message from the Lord . He was not however sure as to which one of the nine uthsava Nrusimha moorthys of AhObilam to take with him on the sanchArams . The Jeeyar seated all the nine ArchA bhEra Nrusimhans in one mantapam and prayed for guidance regarding the choice among them . These nine Nrusimha moorthys of AhObilam are : JwAlA , AhObila , MaalOla , KrODa , Kaarancha , Bhargava, yOgAnandha , ChathravaDa and Paavana Nrusimhans . The sannidhis of Bhargava Narasimhan , yOga Narasimhan and ChathravaDa Narasimhan are at lower AhObilam . The sannidhis of the remaining six Narasimhans are at upper Ahobilam . All of them gave their adhbhutha sEvai to Sri SatakOpa Jeeyar . When the Jeeyar closed his eyes in dhyAnam , MaalOla Nrusimhan appeared on the hands of the Jeeyar with a most beautiful smile. The Lord thus made the choice easy for the Jeeyar . This archA bhEram of MaalOlan has a sandal on His right foot indicating that He was ready for the travel from village to village with the Jeeyar. He has the most beautiful smile and embraces MahA Lakshmi with His left arm . That ArchA bhEram sits at the center of the silver Mantapam in a swing ( dolai) . He has AdisEsha over His head and Garuda Bhagavan at His sacred feet . 2. Sri SvarNa Azhagiya Singar ********************************* This is an ancient ArchA moorthy . During IjyAradhanam ( mid day aarAdhanam ) , He is carried to the ThirumadaipaLLi ( kitchen , where the food is prepared for the Lord ) and He is offered NaivEdhyam there. The prasAdham blessed by Him is what is offered to us in the tadhiyArAdhanam of the day . The legend related to this SvarNa Nrusimhan is a sacred one. There was once a king by the name , PrathApa Rudran , who was a great Siva Bhakthan . Every day , his gold smith cast a fresh image of Lingam from the die for the king's pujA . The king performed his pujA , gave food , clothes and cows to the Brahmins and then partook prasAdham . During his travels , he was one day at AhObila KshEthram . He asked his gold smith to make a svarNa siva lingam for that day's pujA . When the gold smith completed his casting , he was surprised to find the cast image form the die for Lingam came out as Nrusimhan. The gold smith tried two more times and each time , he had the same result. The king understood the message of the Lord of AhObilam and worshipped the svarNa Nrusimhan that day and had prathishtA for that vigraham at the AhObilam temple and set aside funds for the daily aarAdhanam of that SvarNa azhagiya Singar . This moorthy is the one , we have the darsanam today inside the silver Mantapam . 3. MangaLagiri Nrusimhan ****************************** He is revered as Paanaka Nrusimhan . PanakAradhanam is an ancient tradition every night at Ahobila Mutt , just as in MangaLa Giri kshEthram in Andhra PradEsh . He is sitting in a mantapam of His own inside the Silver mantapam , which was offered by Kuricchi SanthAnam Iyengar in memory of the paramapadha Vaasi , Sri InjimEttu Azhaghiya Singar , the 42nd Jeeyar of AhObila mutt. 4. Lord KaNNan ****************** He is the one , who enjoys dOLOthsavam or the oonjal (swing ) uthsavam at the home of devotees during the sanchAram of the Azhagiya Singars . This Mangala Vigraham has bheejAksharams ( GopAla Manthram ) on His ThirumEni .It is believed that AdisEshA performs daily aarAdhanam to this divya mangaLa moorthy . It is also well known that AchArya RamAnujA conducted daily aarAdhanam to this ancient Moorthy . 5. Sri RanganAthan ********************** Next to SvarNa Lakshmi Nrusimhan , we have the darsanam of Lord RanganAtha resting on AdisEshA in Yoga NidrA pose. At His sacred feet , Sri Ranga Naayaki is seen offering kaimkaryam to Her Lord. It is believed that this Vigraham was in the aarAdhanam of Kovil KandAdai Sri ANNan Swamy and was given by him to the Matam . He was the renowned temple administrator and PurOhithA at the Periya Kovil at Srirangam . 6. Atthigiri VaradarAjan ************************* His MangaLa Vigraham was worshipped by the great Sri VaishNava AchArya , NadAthoor AmmAL , who earned his name as AmmAL (Mother ) of the Lord because of his deeply moving milk naivEdhyam kaimkaryam to Sri VaradarAjA at Kaanchi . He made sure that the hot milk offeed to the Lord was of the right temperature for His enjoyment . The grand son of NadAthoor AmmAL , Sri KatikAsatham AmmAL was the AchArya for the first Jeeyar of AhObila Matam, Adhi vaNN SatakOpa Jeeyar. Sri KadikAsatham AmmAl gave his family aarAdhana Moorthy ( Sri VaradarAjA with Bhu Devi and Sri Devi ) to his dear disciple , when he learnt about the blessings of Nrusimhan to his sishyan . 7. Sri SrinivAsan of Thiruppathi *********************************** In the silver mantapam , we have next the sEvai of Sri SrinivAsan with Sri AlarmEl Mangai thAyAr on His chest . 8. Sri Sampath KumAran of MelkOte( ThirunArAyaNapuram) ***************************************************************** Sri Sampath KumAran ( Selva Pillai ) is the presiding deity of ThirunArAyaNapuram in KarnAtakA . The first Jeeyar was born at MelkOte during the year 1369 AD . Sri RaamAnujA and Swami Desikan had spent many years there worshipping Thiru NaarAyaNan . The first Jeeyar's brindhAvanam ( place of internment ) is at MelkOte. Inview of all these reasons , it is not surprising to see Sri Sampath KumAran residing with His Devi, Yathugiri NaacchiyAr inside the siver mantapam and going on sanchAram with the SanyAsis of AhObila Mutt to honor the native son of His KshEthram . 9. Sri ParimaLa RanganAthan with Bhumi and Sri Devis ************************************************************** Sri ParimaLa RanganAthan is the anthima Rangan among the Pancha Rangans , who rest on the banks of Cauveri starting from Sriranga Pattinam( aadhi Rangan ) , Thiru Anbil , Srirangam ( Kasthoori Rangan ) , Thirukkudanthai/ KumbakONam ( Hema Rangan ) and Thiru Indaloor ( ParimaLa Rangan ) . At Thiru Indaloor , the sacred river Cauveri ( Mother-in-Law of Sri RanganAthA ) joins Her Lord , samudhra Raajan after offering upachArams all along to Her son-in-law ( MappiLLai ) , Sri RanganAthA . The Divya MangalA moortham of ParimaLa Rangan is resident in the silver mantapam with other Rangans . 10. Sri AarAvamudhan of Thirukkudanthai ********************************************** Hema Rangan is another of the blessed ArchA moorthys sanctifying the silver Mantapam of Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan . This moortham reminds one of Kaarancha Nrusimhan in the sense that latter wears Saarangam and chakram like Sri AarAvamudhan ( Sri Saaranga PaaNi ) . The other Divya MangaLa Vigrahams housed in the most holy silver mantapam are : 11. Sri Lakshmi VarAhan reminding one of Thiruvidaventhai Divya Desam . 12. Sri BhUvarAhan reminding one of Sri MushNam , the svyam- Vyaktha KshEthram . 13. Sri Adi Kesavan with ubhaya NaacchiyAr reminding us of the Lord of ThiruvAttAru , so dear to NammAzhwAr. 14. Sudarsana Moorthy 15 -16 . Srivilliputtoor AaNdAL and Sri Ranga MannAr , who came from Srirangam to wed Her . 17.Sri SeethA LakshmaNa samEtha Sri Ramachandran 18. Sri Hayagreeva BhagavAn 19 . VishvaksEnar 20 . NammAzhwAr 21. Kaliyan ( Thirumangai AzhwAr ) 22 . Sri BhAshyakArar of Sri Perumpoodoor 23 . Sri VedAntha Desikan of Thuppul 24 . Srimadh Adhi vaNN SatakOpa Jeeyar , the founder of Ahobila Mutt at the command of BhagavAn NarasimhA Himself. Many SaaLagrAma Moorthams of a rare kind as well as silver and gem-bedecked gold Sataris are also seen inside the Silver Mantapam , where MaalOlan swings in His dolai . The silver SatAri is used for honoring AzhwArs and AchAryAs and the gold SatAri is used to bless all of us. I conclude this posting with the prayer of PrahlAdha to Nrusimha Moorthy : yathra kuthra kulE vaasO yEshu kEshu bhavOsthu mEh I tava daasyaika bhOgE syAth sadhA sarvathra mEh mathi : II (Meaning ) : Whatever kulam befalls my lot , whatever janmam I am ordained to take , May I be blessed with the bliss of servitude to You , my Lord , and may my mind be forever and at all places be fixed in You . Bhadhram KarNEbhi: SruNyAma: I Bhadhram pasyEma akshabhi : II Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha Para BrahmaNE Nama : Oppiliappan Kovil VaradAchAri Sadagopan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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