tirukkOvalUr dEhaLISa

[Guest guest]

Ref: SrImAn V. Sadagopan's message of to-day.

 

I am glad he plans a posting on svAmi-dESikan's "dEhaLiSa-stuti"

dedicated to tirukkOvalUr AyanAr. There are certain crucial places and

milestones in the 'sampradAyam' about the course of events leading to

our inheriting the unique 'aruLiccheyal' literature.

 

We all know that SrInAthamuni became aware of the corpus of

'aruLiccheyal' right in his own birth-place, kATTu-mannAr-kOyil

(vIra-nArAyaNa-puram). This was possible when he received from the

pilgrims of mElkOTE/tiru-nArAyaNa-puram the 'key' to the sacred

literature, namely, the tiru-vAi-mozhi decad 'ArAvamudE' dedicated to

the divya-dESam tiruk-kutantai. It was in AzhvAr-tirunagari that he

came into the complete aruLic-cheyal inheritance through the grace of

nammAzhvAr. It was SrIrangam which became the cradle and greenhouse of

aruLic-cheyal. To cap it all, it was in tiruk-kOvalUr that

aruLic-cheyal started getting revealed.

 

When one stands in the AyanAr (ulakaLanda perumAL) sannidhi in

tiruk-kOvalUr, the experience is one of indescribable awe which suggests

the strident (idam vishNur-vichakramE) macrocosmic aspect of the Lord.

The 'sthala-AchArya' is the tirukkOvalUr jIyar who is NOT a san-nyAsin

but a 'gr*hastha'. The (ardha-SilA) sculpture marking the 'tiruvaraSu'

(tomb) of the kUtastha, the first jIyar, is something to admire for its

movement and realistic representation, and which is unlike the heavily

stylised and static sculptures we normally see in the temples.

 

TirukkOvalUr is one 'dEhaLi', and I wish to speak briefly about another

'dEhaLi' (the city of [New] Delhi) where I lived for 35 years. An

eminent SrIvaishNava scholar and Sanskritist, Shri Krshna-datta

Bharadwaj [who has authored an excellent book on viSishTadvAitam], had

explained to me that Delhi acquired this name as it was marked out as

the passage-way from the Indian port-of-entry (dvArakA) to the

Indo-Gangetic plains of AryAvarta. There are many vaishNava tit-bits

about Delhi city which I shall eventually share with the

bhAgavatOttamA-s of 'bhakti list'.

 

Meanwhile, all strength to the shoulders of Shri V. Sadagopan.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnujadAsan, T.S. Sundara Rajan.