Thondardipodi AzhwAr Thirunakshtram : Part 1

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs : Today is Marghazi Kettai ( JyeshtA )

Nakshathram . Today is the birthday of the Ranganatha

PathivrathA , Thondaradipodi . Sri Maadhava Kannan has

postedearlier an enjoyable article on this Azhwar in his series

on Azhwars . Hence , I will focus only on the two

Divya Prabhandhams of this AzhwAr to seek his blessings on

his day of birth .

 

He was a contemproary of Thirumangai AzhwAr . When latter

was building the walls for the Srirangam temple , he found

the building , where Thondaradipodi assembled the flowers to

construct the daily Tulasi and flower garlands for Sri Ranganathan .

Thirumangai redesigned his mathiL ( Rampart ) constrcution plans

and skirted the space used by Thondardipodi , so that there will

be no disturbance to Thondardipodi's Kaimkaryam .

The gratful Thondaradipadi AzhwAr named the goad

he used to pick the flowers from trees as

" aruL mAri " , which is one of the names of Thirumangai .

Such was the mutual respect among the two AzhwArs .

 

Thondardipodi AzhwAr had prArabdha Karmam , which

made him deviate for a few months from the Thiru Maalai

Kainkaryam for the Lord of Srirangam . The divine intervention

of Sri Ranganaayaki and Sri RanganaathA brought him back on

track and established his greatness as one , who was totally

devoted to Sri Ranganathan only . As a result , he did not

perform MangalAsAsanam on any ArchA mUrthy of Divya

Desams other than Sri Ranganathan . He saluted

Sri Ranganathan for his divine intervention this way :

 

: mAtharAr kayirkaNenum valayutp pattazhinthuvEnaip pOtharE

yenru sollip punthiyirp puhunthu tanp paal Atharam peruha

vyttha " azhagan . --- passage from ThirumAlai Prabhandham

 

He composed two prabhandhams revered as ThirumAlai and

ThiruppaLLiyezhucchi . ThirumAlai has 45 pasurams and the

ThiruppaLLIyezucchi has 10 paasurams that awaken the Lord

in a spirit of SuprabhAtham . Just as Sage VisvAmthrA awakened

Sri RamachandrA in Brahma MuhUrtham with the slOkam ,

 

"KausalyA SuprajA RaamA pUrvA sandhyA pravarthatE I

utthtishta nara sArdhUla karthavyam daivamAhnikam II "

 

Thondaradipodi woke up Sri RanganAthan with fragrant

Tulasi mAlai in his hands at the ancient temple of Srirangam .

Sri VaishNavAs use these 10 paasurams of ThirupaLLIyezucchi

to awaken the Lord at home and the temples every day .

 

One of our AchAryAs with the apt name of ThirumAlai AndAn

has saluted Thiondardipodi , who gave us ThirumAlai prabhandham

with the following Taniyan that eulogizes the AzhwAr for blessing us

with the divya Prabhandham of ThirupaLLIyezhucchi :

 

tamEva mathvA ParavAsudEvam

RangEsayam RaajavadharhaNeeyam I

prAbhothakeem yOkrutha sUkthimAlAm

BhakthAngrirENum bahgavanthameedE II

 

(Meaning ) : I salute that Thondardipodi AzhwAr

( BhakthAngrirENu ) filled with superior Jn~Anam

who composed the paasurams that awaken

the king of kings reclining on AdhisEshan at Srirangam

with the power of knowledge that He is none other than

the Para VaasudEvan of Sri Vaikuntam .

 

This AzhwAr born at Mandangudi at ChoLa dEsam

is revered as " VaNdu thiNartthum Vayal Tennarangatthu

ammAnai paLLi uNartthum PirAn " . Thiruvaranga PerumAL

arayar saluted the AzhwAr with the above words . Arayar

described the AzhwAr , who did parmOpakAram through

his suprabhAtham paasurams as the one , who appealed

to the Lord of Srirangam reclining on His serpent bed in

the middle of fertile , green paddy fields at His divya dEsam

( BhUlOka VaikuNtam ) to wake up and bless the bhakthAs

awaiting at dawn for His darsana soubhAgyam .

 

Sri SrikAnth has recently translated the meanings of the ten

paasurams of ThirupaLLIyezucchi for the proceedings of

the Denver sathsangham . Hence , I will focus on the inspiration

that Thondardipodi AzhwAr provided to his successors to compose

their own ThirupaLLiyezucchi Paasurams/Krithis/SlOkams .

 

I will illustrate the unmistakable imprint of AzhwAr's paasurams

on three suprabhAthams , (VIz )., ThiruvenkatamudayAn ,

Sri Oppiliappan and Sri RamachandrA . ANDAL , who preceded

Thondaradipodi has many evocative images of the morning

scene at Srivillip PutthUr as she woke up Her Lord

in ThiruppAvai . The passages in ThiruppAvai paasurams

( 6 thru 8 and 14 ) have beautiful descriptions of the morning

scene that might have inspired Thondardipodi's

ThiruppaLLiyezucchi paasurams .

 

I will start with Saint ThyagarajA's awakening of Sri RamA

on the banks of Cauveri at ThiruvayAru with deep feelings of

love and affection . The bhaavam blended with the words

of the Krithis of SuperabhAtham set in rAgAs BhowLi and

SaurAshtram are testaments to the Hrudhaya BhAshA of

the Saint that he used to address his Ishta Daivatham .

 

In the morning rAgam BhouLi , he prays to the Lord to

wake up : " mElukOvayya mamElukO Raama

mElaina SeethAsamEtha naabhAgyamA "

 

Saint ThyagarajA describes the scene in front of

his pUjAgraham this way in the BouLi krithi :

 

" Oh SeethA RaamA ! Pray , wake up to protect

the universe ! Sages like NaaradA are singing about

Your kalyANa guNAs . It is already day-break .

Rise to partake of butter and milk . Celestial women

are humbly praying for the opportunity to serve You .

The jewele-set lights lit by the deities of eight siddhis ,

ANimA et al ., have become dimmed . DevAs and kings

are waiting to worship You " .

 

In his SourAshtra krithi , Saint ThyagarajA appeals

to the Lord , who is the ocean of mercy to wake up .

He points out that it is the time for Sun rise . He lets

the Lord know that he is waiting with a golden cup

fileld with butter and milk . He begs the Lord to awaken

and accept the naivEdhyam . He lets the Lord know that

sages like NaradA , DevAs , BrahmA and Lord SivA are

waiting to receive His blessings and to serve Him . He

cajoles hte Lord to wake up by pointing out that KubErA

and the guardians of all directions have assembled in front

of the pujA graham to learn statecraft from Him .

 

The assembly of throngs of BhakthAs , DevAs and

demi-gods for the SuprabhAtha darsanam of the Lord is

a theme common to ThiruppAvai and ThirupaLLiyezucchi :

 

thORRamAi ninRa sudarE ! thuyilezhAi !

mARRArunakku valitholaindhu unn vAsark kaNN

aaRRAthu vanthunnadi paNiyumApOlE ----

Thiruppaavai paasuram 21

 

angaNmaa gyAlattharasar , abhimAna

bhangamAi vanthu ninn paLLikkattir keezhE

sankammiruppaar pOl ----

Thiruppavai paasuram 22

 

VaanavarasarkaL vanthu vantheendi

yethir disai nirainthanarivarodum puhantha

irunkaLiRReetamum pidiyodu murasum

athirthalil ----

ThirupaLLIyezucchi : Paasuram 1

 

alangalan thodayal kondadiyiNai paNivAn

amargaL puhundanar ---

ThirupaLLIyezucchi : Pasuram 5

 

In the sixth paasuram, Thondaradipodi decribes

the 12 AdhityAs with their bejewelled chariots ,

the 11 RudrAs , Lord SubramanyA , the 49 Maruth

gaNAs , the 8 Vasus , the 33 crores of dEvAs

assembled in front of Sri RanganathA's front gates and

jostling for positions to get a closer darsanam of the Lord

after He awakens from His yOga NidhrA .

 

The seventh , eigth and the ninth verses describe

the arrival of Indra , Sundarar , VdhyAdharar , Sanga

Nidhi , Padma Nidhi , KaamadhEnu , Holy sages , KinnarAs,

GandharvAs , GarudAs , KimpurushAs , SiddhAs , YakshAs

and Thondardipodi with garlands in hand and waiting for the

Lord of Srirangam to wake up from His NidhrA .

 

We hear the echos of these passages in the suprabhAtham

of Saint ThyagarAjA , PrathivAdhi Bhayankaram's SuprabhAtham

on Lord SrinivAsan of Thirumalai and the Suprabhaatham

slOkams of ThiruviNNagarappan ( Sri Oppiliappan ) .

 

Examples of such anubhavam in Sanskrit are :

 

SlOkams 7 , 8, 9, 14 , 15 &16 0f Oppiliappan"s

SuprabhAtham

 

SlOkams 4, 5, 6 ,9, 17, 18, 19, 25 & 27 of

Sri VenkatEsa SuprabhAtham

 

The presence of AchAryAs in the SuprabhAtha ghOshti

of Sri Oppiliappan is described in the slOkams 15-17 .

 

The fifteenth slOkam in this series describes

AcharyA Naathamuni , YaamunA and RaamunjA

waiting for the Lord's darsanam with folded hands

after their sacred bath in the AhOrAthra PushkaraNi

of Oppiliappan Koil :

 

SrinAtha Yaamuna YatheendhramukhA mahAntha:

ahOrAthra pushkaraNikAvihithAvagAhA : I

dhAmanhtikEanjalibhrutha: prathipAlayanthi

tvAm vyOmapatthanapathE ! tava SuprabhAtham

 

The next slOkam makes particular reference to

Swami Sri Desikan joining with his purvAchAryAs to

offer his salutations to the Lord of ThiruviNNagar .

 

The happenings at the dawn hour at Swami PushkaraNi

at Thirumalai is described in the Sri VenkatEsa

SuprabhAtham :

 

SriswAmi PushkaraNikA -plava nirmalAngA:

srEyOrthinO hara-Virinchi -sanandhanAdhya: I

dwArE vasanthi varvEthra hatOtthamAngA :

Sri VenkatAchalapathE ! Tava SuprabhAtham II

SlOkam 14

 

(meaning ) : BrahmA , MahEsvaran , the sage SanakA ,

SannadhanA and others aspiring for their kshEmams have

now bathed in Your PushkaraNi and are thus sanctified .

They are now waiting at the entrance after being counted

by the cane strokes of VishvaksEnA . O Lord of VenkatAchalA!

Please wake up ! May this be an auspicious dawn to Theee !

 

SEvAparA : SivasurEsakrusAnudharma-

rakshOmBunAtha pavamAna dhanAdhinaatha: I

BhaddhAnjali pravilasannijaseersha dEsA :

Sri VenkatAchalapathE ! Tava SuprabhAtham II

 

( meaning ) : Lord SivA , IndrA , Agni , YamA ,

Nairuthi , VaruNA , Vaayu and KubErA stand with

folded palms over their heads and are desirous of

performng kiankaryam to You . Lord VenkatEsa!

Please wake up ! may this be an auspicious

dawn to Thee !

 

Thus Dhanur Maasam famous for Thiruppaavai

and the birth of Thondaradipodi AzhwAr 's

ThiruppaLLIyezucchi paasurams inspired many

grantha karthAs of SuprabhAthams for the ArchA

murthys of Divya Desams of the Lord .

 

Thondardipodi AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan