PeriyAzhwAr Birth Day Tribute

[Guest guest]

Dear Fellow BhakthAs :

 

I will follow the cue set by Sriman Sundararajan

for this sacred week noted for its integrated celebrations for

Sri VaishNavAs . Once again, the brilliant and precise

tribute paid by Sri Sundararajan is truly inspirational

in setting the stage for this special week .

 

I will start my salutations to PeriyAzhwAr with the recollection of

Swami Desikan's tribute to him in the ninth verse of his work

revered as Prabhandha Saaram :

 

pEraNintha VilliputtUrAni tanniR

perunjyothi taniRROnRum perumAnE mun

seeraNintha pAndiyanRan nenju tanniR-

riyakkaRamAl paratthuvatthaithh tiRamAsseppi

vAraNamEn Mathuraivalam varavE vAnin

mAl garuda vahananAitth tOnRa vAzhtthu

mEraNipallANdu mudaR paattu nAnUR-

Rezhupatthuon RiraNdumenakkudhavu neeyE

 

( Padha/VakhyArtham ) :

 

per aNindha : famous , known for its glory

 

Villiputthur : in the city of Sri Villiputthur ( then puduvai )

 

aani tannil : in the Tamizh month of Aani

 

prunjyothi tannil : during the asterism , SvAthi

 

thOnRum perumAnE : O great one , who incarnated

 

nee mun : once upon a time , you

 

seer aNindha paandiyan than nenju tannil : In the mind of the

celebrated Pandyan king

 

thiyakku aRa mAl paratthuvatthai tiramA seppi : You inscribed

effectively the supermacy of Sriman NaarAyaNA(in the king's mind )

so that he had no doubt whatsoever over that unassailable doctrine

 

vAraNam mEl valam vara : (then ) you ascended the back of

the royal elephant and went around the streets of southern Mathurai

at the behest of the king in a celebratory ride

 

vaanil mAl Garuda VahananAi thonRa : (at that time ) , Lord Sriman

NaarAyaNA appeared on the back of His vAhanam, Garudan

(to witness) the scene of "Brahma ratham" for you

 

vAzhtthum : (you responded to the Lord's grace ) through your

benedictory verses and performed mangaLAsAsanam for Him

out of your prEma paravasam and concern that there is no dhrishti

dhOsahm for your Lord and His consorts

 

yEr aNi pallANdu : ( you blessed us with) the most beautiful

paasurams known as ThirupallANdu

 

(pallAndu) mudal paattu nAnURRezhupatthu onRu irandum :

The 473 verses starting from ThiruppallAndu

 

yenakku udhavu : please bless me with the knowledge of them .

 

PeriyAzhwAr was born during a Aani SvAthi at SrivilliputthUr .

He was GarudAmsam . He was given the name of VishNucchitthar ,

to suggest that he had Lord VishNu on his mind always .

He was a sahaja daasyar and considered that kaimkaryam

perormed by the florist in Vada Mathurai to Sri KrishNA was

the example that he should follow in his life as the kaimkaryam

for the Lord of SrivillipputthUr , Vata pathra Saayee . He established

a nandavanam and performed flower garland and Tulasi maalai

kaimkaryam to the Lord .

 

One day , the king of the land , Sri Vallabha Paandyan was

going around incognito in the streets of his capital city ,

Southern Mathurai at night . He saw a Brahmin seated on

a pial and asked him as to who he is and what does he do .

The Brahmin replied that he is a traveller engaged

in theerthAdanam and was on his way to bathe in the sacred

GangA river. The king asked the Brahmin to recite a verse .

 

The obliging Brahmin responded with a verse that starts with

" VarshArtthamashtou prayathEtha maasAn " { One should

accumulate what one needs for the rainy season in the other

eight months of the year ( chaathur Maasyam ) , one should

collect what one needs for the night during the day , one should

store things needed for the old age during one's youth and one

should seek what one needs for the other world ( maRumai )

during the stay in this world ( Immai ) . The king was stunned

to the quick by the wisdom incorporated in this slokam recited

by the Brahmin . He said to himself : " I do not have any wantings

in this world . I must now begin to do what is needed for the other

world .

 

The king returned to his palace and consulted with his PurOhithA ,

Selva Nambi , who recommended that the king assemble learned

scholars and learn from their debate about the supreme doctrine

that he wanted ot know , which would be of help to him for maRumai .

The king invited the leading scholars of the alnd and requested

them to establish the parataathva nirNayam based on VedAntha

siddhAnthams. He set aside a major purse for the winner of

the debate and displayed it on the top of a pole in his darbhAr.

That was to serve as the sambhAvanai and VidhyA sulkam .

 

The Lord of Srivilliputthur ( VadaperumkoviludayAn) decided to

demonstrate his Parathvam through His servant , VishNucchitthA .

He appeared in the dream of His servant and commanded him to

go to the king's court and bring down the purse from the pole , where

it was hanging . VishnucchitthA was overwhelmed with the Lord's

command and pointed out that he has no formal education of

any kind and therefore was totally unqualified to enagage in any

discussion with the learned scholars at the king's special sadas .

 

The Lord replied : " My dear child ! you go to the court . I will be there

with you " . VishNucchitthar proceeded to the court and was

welcomed by Selva Nambi and the king . The assmbled scholars

did not want to engage VishNucchitthA in debate , since he had

no training in VedAs and SaasthrAs. The king requested

VishNucchitthar to debate the scholars on Para Tattva NirNayam .

Just as the hunter Vaalmeeki was blessed by the blessings of

BrahmA , Just as child Dhruvan became sarva~jnA through the

contact of the Lord's conch on his face , VishNucchittha became

proficient in all aspects of VedAnthA and VedAs and established

without any doubt that the AkAravaachyanAna Sriman NaarAyaNan

is sarvasmath paran " . He defeated the arguments of all the other

scholars and proved that Sriman NaarAyaNan is the supreme

God . At hat time , the purse attached on top of the tall pole bent

over and came to the level of VishNucchitthA for him to take hold

of it .

 

The impressed and grateful king bowed before VishNucchitthA

and placed him on the back of the royal elephant and named him

" Bhattar PirAn " . The Lord with His consorts wanted to witness

this scene honoring his servant and appeared in the sky seated

on His vahanam , Garudan . Bhattar pirAn was overwhelmed by

the Lord's dayA ,anugraham and incomparable beauty and

omniscience ( Sarva~jnthva , Sarva sakthithva , Sarva Raksha-

thva , Soundharya , SoukumArya , LaavaNyadhi guNams) . Before

he could salute the omnipotence , omniscience and omnipresence

and bhaktha rakshakthvam aspects , Bhattar PirAn was overcome

with a fear about any "evil eye " that may befall the Lord during the

occasion of appearing before the jealous mortals in person .

Bhattar pirAn grabbed the bells attached to the neck of

the elephant on which he was riding and used them as the

tALam and sang with great affection the twelve verses

of ThiruppallAndu . This parivu and kanivu born out of Bhattar's

worry about any inauspiciousness coming the way of the Lord is

the basis of the origin of these12 moving verses that arose

spontaneously from this great bahkthA . Sri MaNavALa Maamuni

referred to this pongum parivu in his salutation to Bhattar PirAn

during the occasion of explaining how he got the name of

PeriyAzhwAr : " MangaLAsAsanatthin maRRuLLa AzhwArgaL ,

tangaLArvatthaLavu taananRi --ponghum parivAlE VilliputthUr

Bhattar PirAn peRRAn , PeriyAzhwAr yennum peyar " in his

Upadesa Rathna Maala paasuram .

 

Bhattar PirAn returned to SrivilliputthUr and placed the purse

that he won at the feet of the Lord and spent his life immersed

in thoughts about KrishNAvathAram and decribed to us in sweet

paasurams the baala kreetAs of the Gopi ManOharan . He blessed

us with 473 verses through his Periya Thirumozhi of the MudalAyiram .

He was the foster parent for AaNDAL ( SakshAth KshamA /Bhumi Devi)

and became the father-in-law of Sri RanganAthA . In the house of

PeriyAzhwAr and AanDAL resides even today , the Lord of Srirangam

as RangamannAr . Such is the glory of PeriyAzhwAr !

 

I will translate and comment next on the 12 verses of ThirupallAndu ,

which are equivalent to the DwAdasa Naamams of the Lord in

response to a long standing request from Professor M.G . PrasAd

of New Jersey and his Divya Prabhandha Adhyayana group . They

have expressed interest in ThirupallAndu and NeerAttam paasurams

of PeriyAzhwAr . I will invoke the blessings of PeriyAzhwAr to undertake

this kaimkaryam .

 

Oppiliappan Kovil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

Isvara Samvathsaram , Aani SvAthi .