Noble Personages

[Guest guest]

“The days to remember”

 

All days are blessed days. There are some who believe that the days

make men, and there are others who ask, What is it that men make of

their days? The two statements would indicate that astrology and

astronomy have parted their ways. The five elements (‘panchAngam’)

of the Indian calendar constitute an intricate mindscape of calculations

and beliefs, but the vaishNava faith holds all of the five elements as

vishNu Himself:

“tithi-r vishNu-s tathA vArO nakshatram vishNurEva cha

yOgaScha karaNam chaiva sarvam vishNu-mayam jagat”.

(vishNu is the date of the month, and vishNu the day of the week; the

asterism is vishNu as well; so is the yOgam, so the karaNam.)

 

The next week has some very interesting postings in the ‘SRIRANGAM kOil

vAkya panchAngam’ for the current year Isvara:

______________________

Jly 13 = Ani (mithunam) 29 = Sunday = chitrA.nakshatram

(tiruvAzhi-

AzhvAn).

14 = 30 = Mon. = svAti (periAzhvAr,

and

azhagia-Singar).

15 = 31 = Tues. = viSAkham (mithuna Sukla

EkAdasI).

16 = 32 = Wednes = Sayana-EkAdasI; SrI nAthamunigaL.

 

dAkshiNAyana puNyakAlam.

------

‘tiru-Azhi-AzhvAn’ is, of course, the sudarSana-chakram of

SrIman-nArAyana; the most excellent of weapons (‘hEtirAja’). The

‘tirup-pallANDu’ profiles the SrIvaishNava identity as “being stamped

by the glowing Azhi, generation after generation”. [The ‘sudarsana’

seal had been in use for several purposes of public administration; the

land boundaries were marked by ‘tiruvAzhik-kal’, and the ‘AzhvAr

tIrtham’ tank at the foothills of tirumalai-tiruvEnkatam is so named

after the stone engraving of chakrattAzhvAr which stands there even

to-day. It is a different story that this tank had been renamed

‘kapila-tIrtham’ in recent unrecorded history.] Even someone like

me, though utterly unlettered in ‘astrology’, cannot fail to notice that

the ‘tiru-nakshatram’ (chitrA) of ‘chakrattAzhvAr’ (sudarSanam), and

(svAti for) ‘azhagia-Singar’ (SrInrsimha), occur on successive

days. This ‘togetherness’ occurs also in the tiruppallANDu ~~

“antiam-pOdil ari uruvAgi” (for SrInrsimha) and “tiruc-chakkarattin

kOyir-poriyAlE” (for sudarSanam). The mUla-mUrti iconography of

chakrattAzhvAr and SrInrsimha depicts each in frieze (‘ardha-Sila’),

on either side of each other. This togetherness seems to originate

from the nrsimha-tApanIya upanishat (which, incidentally, is cited by

SrISankara-bhagavat-pAdAh in his sahasranAma-bhAshyam).

 

On the poignant theme of Srinrsimha-avatAram, no single writer, let

alone a dilettante essayist like me, can do justice to it. I however

had executed an exciting assignment in this respect: some years

back, SrI mukkUr lakshmI-narasimhAchar decided on one of his serial

nrsimha-yajna in New Delhi, and I was asked by the yajna-organiser SrI

sAranAthan to compile the material on Srinrsimha (as much as I could lay

hands on), for publishing in the yajna-souvenir. SrI ‘anbil’

SrInivAsan and I went about this quite happily ~~ how much and from how

many languages did we collect! Our reward was not that we compiled so

much for the souvenir (which we joyfully offered as a modest attempt

towards a future nrsimha encyclopaedia) , but that we realised how much

more remained to compile. The exercise gave me a thought: we should

veer off the common pagan-like worship of SrInrsimha as Terror God, and

consider this manifestation as epiphany of ‘pratyaksham’ and

‘saulabhyam’ ~~ cf. “engum uLan kaNNan enRa makanaik-kAindu...”

 

Ani-svAti is common to periAzhvAr and SrInrsimha. The best tribute to

periAzhvAr is in the upadESa-ratna-mAlai lines:

 

“mangaLASAsanattil...pongum parivAlE... periAzhvAr ennum peyar.”

“uNDo tiruppallANDukku oppadOr kalai tAn

uNDo periAzhvArkku opporuvar?”

 

The ‘sayana-EkAdasI’ is among the most precious EkAdasI of the annual

cycle, but this year it coincides with the tirunakshatram of SrI

nAthamunigaL who started the historic part of our ‘guru-paramparA’ ~~

“nAtha-yAmuna-madhyamAm etc”. He is commemorated in the ‘ALavandAr

stOtram’ in emotionally rich terms: “...jnAna-vairAgya-rASayE, nAthAya

munayE agAdha-bhagavad-bhakti-sindhavE”. SrInAthamunigal is the

sacred memory which should sustain our spiritual career.

 

On July 15 occurs the ‘mithuna Sukla-EkAdasI’ which is the

‘tiru-adhyayana-tithi’ of SrI kAnchi prativAdi-bhayankaram

aNNangarAchArya svAmi (1891-1983) of blessed memory. He was born on

‘mIna-viSAkham of year vikrti’, in SrIvatsa gOtram, of the noble

‘muDumbai’ descent, same as SrI piLLai-lOkAchArya and his brother SrI

azhagia-maNavALa-perumAL nAyanAr. The title ‘prativAdi-bhayankaram’

was given to his ancestor SrI-hastigiri-aNNA, by no less than Srivarada

nAyanAcharya, the son of svAmi vEdAntadESikan. This PB ‘mUla-purusha’

became one of the chosen ‘ashTa-dig-gaja’ disciples of SrI-maNavALa

mAmunigaL. Thus, the PB lineage represents the confluence of two

eminent AchArya, viz., svAmi-dESikan and SrI mAmunigaL. Hence the PB

‘tanian’:

 

“vEdAnta-dESika-kaTAksha-vivrddha-bOdham

kAntOpayantr-yaminah karuNaika-pAtram

vatsAnvavAyam anavadya-guNai: upEtam

bhaktyA bhajAmi paravAdi-bhayankarAryam.”

 

prativAdi-bhayankaram aNNangarAchArya-svAmi is remembered in Srirangam

simply as the ‘kAnchi-svAmi’. His education commenced under his own

father, PB SrI-rangAcharya who, in the short span of his life, had had

such distinguished disciples as jagad-guru gAdhi anantAchArya-svAmi who

later established the tiruvEnkatam-uDaiyAn sannidhi in FanasvADi,

Mumbai. The education continued under his maternal grandfather (later

the azhagia-maNavALa jIyar alias chatus-shashTi-kalA jIyar) and gAdhi

svAmi himself, giving him an academic pedigree no university could ever

match.

 

In the world of letters, religion and philosophy, kAnchisvAmi was truly

a Renaissance kind of figure. He was a ‘prAtah-smaraNIyah’ (one to

remember at sunrise) to anyone who had had the fortune to meet him, or

even to look at him from a way off, or had read any of his works, or had

attended his discourse. His life, centred in dEvaperumAL

(SrIvaradarAja perumAL) as it was, wrote itself as a commentary on

SrIkrshna’s exhortation,

“tasmAt sarvEshu kAlEshu mAm anusmara yudhya cha

mayyarpita-mano-buddhih mAm Eva Eshyasi asamSayah”.

(SrImad-bhagavad-gItA 8:7)

 

His first publication was the title ‘divyaprabandha-vaibhava-vivEkah’

written in Sanskrit to establish the canonical status of AzhvAr

‘aruLiccheyal’ as equal to the ‘gIrvANa vEdam’. His monumental work

consisted of the first-ever publication of the complete works of

svAmidEsikan, SrIrAmAnuja, and maNavALA-mAmunigaL; his own Sanskrit

translation of the divyaprabandham and of the ‘rahasya’ (esoteric)

classics ‘mumukshuppaDi’, ‘tatva-trayam’ and ‘SrIvachana-bhUshaNam’;

and his own Tamil commentary ‘divyArtha-dIpika’ on the entirety of

divya-prabandham, SrIvachana-bhUshaNam and AchArya-hrdayam. His

‘vEda-lakshana’ works are original investigations into vedic grammar and

semantics, and have not been duplicated.

 

His annual ‘tiruppAvai’ discourses in Madras (now Chennai) city

constituted his most visible service to the ‘sampradAyam’, and these

gave a festive look to the city environs themselves. Besides the

dEvaperumAL ‘adhyApaka-gOshTHI’ in kAnchIpuram, he also adorned

namperumAL gOshTHI as its centrepiece whenever he visited Srirangam.

The ‘iyal-SAttu’ has the verse “Uzhi-torum...nUl Odi, vIthi vAzhi ena

varum tiraLai vAzhttuvAr tam malar aDi en Sennikku malarnda pUvE”

(Watch the devotees in formation walking the streets and reciting the

divya-prabandham; and there be those that bless this ‘gOshThI’, and I

shall carry their sacred feet as a flower of decoration on my

forehead.) This was the very sentiment evoked by kAnchisvAmi’s

gOshThI.

 

He passed away on (June 21 1983) ‘mithuna Sukla EkAdaSI’, the day of

‘Ani-garuDan’ marking periAzhvAr Sattumurai. I had never ceased to

wonder that kAnchisvAmi’s kind of accomplishments were at all possible

in a lifetime. All excellence partakes of divinity (yad-yad vibhUtimat

sarvam: SrImad bhagavad-gItA 10:41), and this is how we are to

understand of the kAnchisvAmi. It is a memory that purifies.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnujadAsan, T.S. Sundara Rajan.