Article on Tirumanghai Alwar - by Prof. Bhuvarahachariar -part 1

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>Sun, 7 Dec 1997 14:55:56 +0500 (GMT+0500)

>Bharat A <kbharat

>kkalale

>Cc: sbelur

>from BHARAT

>

>Dear Sri Kalale

>

>Dec 12th happens to be the Tirunakshatram of

>TIRUMANGAI AZHWAR.He was the last of the Azhwars

>and was closely associated with the development of

>Srirangam Temple.He built a rampart around it and

>also started the Tiru Adhyayana Utsavam.His final

>work Tiru Nedun Dandakam has been very influential

>in the history of Srivaishnavism.

>

>Sri E.S.Bhuvarahachariar has been kind enough to

>write an article about the Azhwar to mark the

>occasion.He has made it into three sections to

>comprise the above topics.

>

>I,m enclosing the first and main part about his life.

>The other two are shorter ones which I hope to receive

>(he,s at present in Tiruk kovalur) during the next 2-3

>days.I'll pass them on immly.

>

>If you want to you could put them on the net.

>with best wishes.

>BHARAT

>

>

> SRIMATE RAMANUJAYA NAMAH

> SRIMATE BALADHANVI MAHAGURAVE NAMAH

>

>

>

> THIRUMANGAI AZHWAR (Kaliyan)

>

> (by Sri E.S.Bhuvarahachariar)

>

> ( A) His Life

>

> "There is always a woman behind every successful man"

> This saying is true in every letter in the case of this

> Azhwar.Born of a low caste family,he got the admiration of

> the Chola king and rose to the rank of a tributory king

> through his supreme valor.Naturally enough bravery led to

> pride,lust and other evil qualities.He was then called

> NEELA.His associates were NEER MEL NADAPPAN (one who could

> walk on water),NIZHALIL ODUNGUVAN (one who could hide in

> the shadow of another), TAAZH OODUVAN (who could open a

> lock by whistling) and TOLA VAZHAKKAN (who could never

> be vanquished in an argument).These names clearly indicate

> that all their abilities helped them and their king NEELA

> only to rob others of their wealth and to act as spies

> to the king.While wandering around these associates came

> across a very beautiful girl by name KUMUDA VALLI,who

> had been brought up by a physician.Informed about her by

> them and allured by her bewitching beauty NEELA openly

> expressed to her father his earnest desire to marry the

> girl.He however left the choice to his daughter.She told

> NEELA in unequivocal terms that for her to accept him

> he has to change his way of life,become a very sincere

> devotee of Lord Vishnu,obtain the Shankha-Chakra

> imprints on his shoulders from a Guru and also host

> one thousand devotees of Lord Vishnu every day for one

> year.The infatuated NEELA implicitly obeyed thereby

> causing bankruptcy of his exchequer.Now he had no way

> left except to again resort to robbery to obtain the

> money needed to host the devotees.

>

> This finally culminated in his getting the grace of

> Lord Narayana,who assuming the form of a brahmana and

> accompanied by Sri Lakshmi and carrying a huge quantity

> of wealth,allowed NEELA to rob Him.When NEELA could not

> lift the huge bundle of wealth,he,prompted by the misgiving

> that the Brahmana must have been using a magic spell (mantra)

> urged Him to teach him the same.This proved to be a golden

> opportunity for the Lord who promptly initiated him into

> the Eight syllabled Mantra (Tiru Ashtaksharam) which would

> totally erase from the mind of the listener the darkness of

> ignorance.He became an Azhwar- an ardent aspirant for

> salvation.This was the purpose for which Kumudavalli,originally

> a divine damsel,had come to this mortal world.By the time NEELA

> had become TIRUMANGAI AZHWAR and thus acceptable to her,he

> had lost all lust and desire for worldly objects and had

> realised the futility of mundane objects.Now both of them

> loved each other shedding all physical fascinations.They

> thought they were made for each other and that is quite

> true.A detailed study of his life is recommended to all

> devotees to understand the inner meaning of the Azhwar's

> mode of life in order to correct ones own life pattern in

> this age when lust greed jealousy animosity and so many

> evils crowd and cloud one's mind.

>

> The most essential points to be remembered in respect to

> TIRUMANGAI AZHWAR are given under:

> 1.This Azhwar became a king of Tirumangai country and

> hence got that title.Though he appears to be a thief

> his thefts were not for filling up his belly but in

> the service of the Lord and His devotees which fact

> led to finally transforming him also into an ardent

> devotee and raising him to the status of an Azhwar.

> He robbed the rich-blackmarketeers only; this was

> pardonable according to the Lord.

>

> 2.He had the unique good fortune of getting initiated

> into the most efficacious mantra,whose meaning if

> understood and translated into action is sure to

> deliver a human being from worldly bondage.It's

> final purport is to advise the devotee to do service

> to the different Archa-forms (holy idols) of Sriman Narayana

> residing in the 106 Divya Desams(holy shrines).This the Azhwar

> did.

>

> 3.He is quite different from the other Azhwars in this

> respect,namely,in his ardent desire and admiration in

> respect of the Archa Murthis in all the temples.Travelling

> from the Himalayas to the Southern tip of India he

> glorified and extolled several Divya Desams.Such was

> his deep love for the Archavatara he could almost be

> said to have no desire to exchange them even for

> Vaikuntha Loka.Our Sri Vaishnava commentators declare

> "Just as a young prince used to luxury requires a

> spoonful of ghee with every mouthful of rice,so does

> this Azhwar the Archavatara glory to add taste and flavour

> to every line of his poem."

>

> 4.By way of illustrating the four divine poems of SWAMI

> NAMMAZHWAR this Azhwar composed SIX poems:

> PERIYA TIRUMOZHI

> TIRUK-KURUN-TANDAKAM

> TIRU-VEZHU-KUTTIRUKKAI

> SIRIA TIRU-MADAL

> PERIYA TIRU-MADAL and

> TIRU NEDUN_TANDAKAM.

>

> 5.Even in the temple dedicated to him at his birthplace

> TIRU NAGARI he is now in the form of an idol with exquisite

> charm,accompanied by his beloved spouse Kumudavalli- who

> was responsible for his fortune."A lady can make or mar a

> man". While other girls spoiled him only Kumudavalli made

> him an Azhwar.Considering that this debt of gratitude could

> never be cleared he keeps her permanently at his side.This

> is the lesson that every woman should learn- she is meant

> to add greatness to a man,as Kumudavalli did.

>

> His BIRTHDAY falls on Friday 12.12.97.This essay is meant

> to offer our humble homage and mental prostrations to the

> great Azhwar.

>

> Think of TIRUMANGAI AZHWAR.

>

>

>

>