Thirumangai AzhwAr

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Respected sri vaishNavALs,

 

SrimAn vEnkata nAthArya kavitArkika kEsari /

vEdAntAchArya varyOmE sannidatthAm sadAhridi //

 

poigaimuni bhoothathAr pEyAzhwAr thaN porunalvarunkurukEsan vittuchitthan/

tuyya kulasEkaran naM pANanAthan thondaradippodi mazhisaivandhajothi/

vaiyamellAm maraiviLanga vALvElEndhum mangaiyarkOnenRivargaL

magizhndhupAdum/

seyyatamizh mAlaigaL nAm theLiyavOdhith theLiyAdha maRainilaNgaL

theliginRomE/ (from AdhikAra sangragam by Srimad vEdAntha Desikan)

 

The Last of AzhwAr series-ThiruvAli nAdu was part of ChOzhA kingdom. There

Ali nAdAr(belonged to the fourth caste), an Army General (ThaLapathi) of

ChozhA king earned the king's goodwill and respect with his devoted work.

He and his wife, vallitthiru were blessed with a beautiful male child, whom

they named neelan (due to his dark (neela mEga) colour. He was born in the

year nala, on a karigai mAsam, kritigai nakshathram, full moon day and was

an incarnation of the Lord's SArngam (Divine bow). Neelan grew up a shrewd

smart boy, learning Tamizh and Sanskrit and mastered them; became well

versed in sword fight(vAL payiRchi), vil viddhai with, Horse riding,

elephant riding, etc. He grew up a young, intelligent, smart, healthy,

strong, handsome lad (and yet simple and modest with a religous mind like

his parents) and not surprisingly, people liked him very much. When

Neelan's father got old, the chOzhA king, having heard about Neelan,

appointed Neelan as the Army General(ThaLapathi). He was agile, dynamic,

young and was good at battle fields; and hence captured the neighbouring

states; The king was immensely pleased and presented him a small portion of

his kingdom, a place called Thirumangai, as a tribute and made him a KING!

(He was thereafter called "Thirumangai mannan".)

That was his first success. And that became the cause for his slipping from

all bhakti, devotion, religion etc., etc., and the success of reaching the

SimhAsanam at such a young age, (with no chance of becoming a king,

otherwise) went to his head. He took to all vices; He was deeply caught in

seeking sensual pleasures. The parent were helpless and could do nothing

but pray to the Lord to correct their son.

 

The Lord Sriman nArAyaNA did listen to them. He had organised such a

situation that made a dEvamAdhu by name sumangalai(who was performing the

kainkaryam of fanning(sAmaram)the Lord) to appear as the most beautiful

daughter of a local doctor in Tirumangai, in the name "kumudhavalli" (based

on a "sApam" given by kapila muni for her laughing at an ugly face and

coarse voice of his disciple). Being an incarnate of dEvamAdhu, she was

exquisitely pretty and could attract even a recluse. Our "new" king,

Thirumangai mannan heard of her alluringly feminine beauty and wished to

see her immediately. When he saw her, he was so much cativated by her

darting glance at him, he fell head over heels for her and proposed to

marry her. Kumudhavalli, through her father, stipulated two prerequisites

for him to qualify for marrying her. They were 1. Her husband should be a

(or become a) Sri vaishNavA, wear ThirunaNkAppu on his forehead, and be a

true bhaktA of Sriman NarayaNan. (Sriman Narayanan Himself spoke through

her) and 2. Her husband should feed daily 1000 (ONE THOUSAND!) vaishNava

bhakthALs. Our mannan, being intoxicated by her looks, agreed after

listening to her conditions immediately. They got married.

 

So there he was. With a bright ThirumaNkAppu, thuLasi mAlai, he paid

obeisance to Sriman NarayaNa. He started the annadhAnam for 1000 Sri

vaishNava bhaktALs. Slowly day by day, our mannan was transfering into a

true, sincere devotee of the Lord and was getting tremendous satisfaction

from feeding Sri vaishNavALs daily. The enjoyment of Bhakti and

BhagavatOttamAL sEvai were really experienced by Thirumangai mannan. While

this was going on, the entire "gajAnA" (treasury) was spent on the

annadhAnam kainkaryam. So he could not even send the "tax" which he was

supposed to send to the chOzhA king every year. So, chOzhA sent a message

to pay the tax; but since our mannan could not pay and sent back a reply

saying that he will not be able to pay. ChOzhA king got wild and sent

soldiers to bring him. Our hero sent them back effortlessly with his

fighting skills. ChOzhA king himself came with a heavy army and attacked

Thirumangai mannan. Even though Thirumangai mannan's army is small, he

fought with tremendous skills and he won the battle. His horse went near

the chOzhA king and he got down from the horse. He said: "Oh pErarasE(Big

king!), I did not send the tax- I don't deny. But did I spend the money on

trivial matters? It was spent for Sri VaishNavALs. How can I stop when your

soldiers came to imprison me?". Our chOzhA king was hurt due to his defeat

and did not listen to all this. He said,"I made you a king. I gave you all

these luxuries. Now you are not even grateful. and you fought with me, too"

Our mannan got hurt very badly by that "grateful" statement. He was very

much grateful to chOzhA king for all that he had done. So Thirumangai

mannan threw away his sword and bowed down before the king and said "

Chozha mannA! what a word you spoke about me! Am I ungrateful? You forgot

all kingdoms which I captured for you. Now I am standing in front of you.

Go ahead and do waht you wish to do with me".

 

The chOzhA king melted and was moved. He hugged thirumangaimannan and said

"Don't worry. I know you. But we should pay respects to

pErarasar-chitRarsar relation and hence, you are to send your tax within 3

days. Till then, you will be imprisoned in the perumAL temple." There was

no way he could get any money and hence, he begged the Lord to help him.

The Lord appeared in his dream and suggested him to go to the banks of

river vEdhavathi near kanchi where he could find a big treasure of Gold

coins and jewels. He narrated the dream to the chOzhA king and

thirumangaimannan and few ministers went to kanchi, vEdhavathi river banks

and did find a BIG TREASURE. Having heard this news, chOzhA king got up

from the throne and whole heartedly bowed down to Thirumangai mannan for

his bhakti and thee Lord's mercy on him. He said" I have done a great

mistake of taxing a great bhakthA for a small tax issue and caused a

hindrance to BhagavathALs' anna dhAna kankaryam. Please take all this

treasure and let me send you back with full Royal honours. You need not

insult me by paying the tax any more!". The mannan came back with more

wealth and with great honours. The citizns of Thirumangai were greatly

thrilled by their king and kumudhavalli was proud of her husband.

 

They revived their kainkaryam for 1000 Sri VaishNanvALs more aggressively

and attained their happiness and satisfaction as usual. Again, they found

themselves left with no wealth for the kainkaryam. With a view to keeping

the promise to his beloved wife, he had to resort to highway robbery from

rich people. With the booty, he continued the kainkaryam. One day The Lord

Sriya: patih Sriman NarayaNan and Vishnu pathni Sri MahAlakshmi appeared on

the highway as a"just married" couple with lots and lots of jewels adorned

them. Our mannan turned robber heard of a new rich young couple's coming on

the Highway and immediately rushed with his adiyALs. He was very happy to

see Them with so many jewels and thanked God(!) for that. They also had a

bag containing more ornaments. Our anti-hero demanded Them to surrender all

they had. They did precisely waht was instructed to Them; all with Their

katAksham on our hero. They put all their ornaments on a piece of cloth.

When Thirumangai mannan tried to lift the bundle of ornaments he just could

not even move it a bit! He was shocked and perplexed as to why it was so

difficult to move it! He went near the Lord Sri mahAvishNu and with a

fierce look into His eyes, asked Him " What is the manthram you have for

lifting this bundle?. Tell me, else, I will kill you both." He threatened

Them with a sword. The Lord and the PirAtti smiled with a gentle

mandhahAsam. He asked Thirumangai mannan to come near Him AND WHISPERED IN

HIS RIGHT EAR "OM NAMO NARAYANAYA". Having heard those EIGHT SYALLABLES

(AshtAksharam) right from none other than SRIYA: PATHI HIMSELF, his mind,

heart became PURE!. All his dirt had disappeared! He was simply electrified

by the AshtAksharam. He got goose pimples all over his body; He got

undescribable blissful happiness! He prostrated fullt at Their Lotus feet

with eyes full of tears at Their mercy to bless him despite his

shortcomings and negative qualities. They blessed him with Their KARUNAI

KATAAKSHAM. Then They disappeared. He realised His ThiruviLaiyAdal and the

purpose of his birth and poured out tamizh pAsurams on the Lordas if it

comes from just opened dam ("madai thirandha veLLam pOl"). He looked at the

sky and kept on crying ceaselessly for Their dayA on his lowly self. His

hands and the legs were shivering with tremendous amount of Bhakti and love

for the Lord.

 

He came back galloping on his horse to narrate the ENTIRE EXCITING INCIDENT

to the beloved kumudhavalli. Kumudhavalli, before he started even, asked

him as to why his face looked so bright, serene, divine and beaming that

day. He said "kumudhA, I have reached the purpose of my manushya janmam

kumudhA. I have seen NARAYANA, kumudhA. (nAn kaNdu koNdEn NARAYANAnai). He

was too excited to even complete his statements in a coherent manner.

(After all, he has been initited by SarvEswaran Himself!). Kumudhavalli

said, "Then, I have also reached the purpose of my deputation (by Lord

through kapila muni)" and she narrated her story. Our AzhwAr became all the

more blissful and happier to know that The Lord Sriya: pathih sent

Kumudhavalli only to set him right from his wrong path and

"ThadutthAkoLLified" him. He could not control his tears and sobbed heavily

at the Lord's mercy on him. Then he sang GREAT PASURAMS (on NARAYANAN's

name) and visited almost about 80 temples (out of 108 Divya dEsams). He

built the fort and kOttai (ramparts) of Srirangam without affecting ar

spoiling ThoNdaradippodiAzhwAr's nandhavanam. ("pAdi pAdi paraparappAi

thirinthAr")

His compositions were : 1. Periya thirumozhi 2. Periya thirumadal 3. SiRiya

thirumadal 4. Thiru nedunthANdakam (TNT) 5. Thiru KurunthANdakam(TKT) 6.

Thiru vezhuk kurrirukkai. His pAsurams are marvellous; excellent and have

unsurpassed beauty in them. parAsara Bhattar made use of his TNT to win

over his counter part, a advaitin scholar in his arguments and later the

advaitin became his disciple 'nam jeeyar'. Sri RanganAtha himself heard and

was greatly pleased with that argument reenacted from Bhattar quoting from

TNT (Please read excellent posts of Sri V. SadagOpan on TNT and TKT during

Feb 96 from Bhakti Archives - a real feast to each one of you).

 

Thirumangai AzhwAr (a KING, a person who enjoyed the bhOgams so much)

walked all the way and VISITED almost all temples. He is simply GREAT, my

dearest brothers and sisters. He is JUST S U P E R B AzhwAr. His wordings

are his outpourings straight from his heart.

 

We will conclude this post with my favourite pAsuram of this AzhwAr:

Here is one of his periya thirumozhi pasurams:

vAdinEn vAdi varundhinEn manatthaal/

perun thuyaridum idumbaiyil piRanNdhu/

koodinEn koodi iLaiyavar thammOdu/

avar tharum kalaviyE karudhi/

OdinEn Odi uyvadhOr poruLaal/

uNarvenum perumpadhan therindhu/

naadinEn nAdi nadi nAn kaNdukoNdEn/

nArAyaNA vennum nAmam.

 

Being born into this body, a reservior of profound sorrow, I am repenting,

melting and crying, I am filled with pathos and self-pity;I have let myself

run after beautiful women, seeking the sensual pleasures from their union;

Through the grace of our Lord I have now realised that there is a greater

goal and That will deliver me into eternal happiness;I have been searching

for this state and have now found it IN THE SWEET NAME NARAYANA.

 

This pASsuram will bring tears to the eyes of any Vaishnava for AzhwAr's

Bhakti and love and his heart longing for the lotus feet of our Lord

Narayana.

 

Thirumangai AzhwAr thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

Ram Ram

 

adiyEn madhava dAsan

 

(P.S. I saw on "Sun TV", a couple of months back ThirumangaiAzhwAr's

portion from the movie ThirumAl perumai; I was literally crying when SivAji

Ganesan acted the sequence of "coming back after initiation from Sri

Narayana and narrating to kumudhavalli thAyar- His face became bigger; eyes

widened; hands shivered; and gasping for breath; and one can imagine

dialogue delivery capacity of sivaji. It was very good. - Sorry it is not

to talk about sivaji; but to visualize the RICH SCENE OF AZHWAR.)