Srirangam

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SRIRANGAM VAIKUNTHA EKADASI FESTIVAL

 

[by Sri T.S. Sundararajan, resident of Srirangam and

erstwhile member of our list.]

 

Srirangam, situated on a densely green island in river Kaveri, has historic

claims as the nucleus of the Bhakti movement which originated in the Tamil

region in (circa) 5th century AD, spread to the Maharashtra segment and

gradually reached the Gangetic plains of the north where it emitted

humanistic and egalitarian vibraions during the Mughal times.

 

The Bhakti literature in Tamil had its seeds in the collective body of the

Azhwar hymns known as aruli-cheyal, or the Divya Prabandham. This work is

characterized by a sensitive humanism, philosophic richness, surpassing

literary excellence, and a passionate adoration of the dieties of the 108

Vaishnava temples (divya desam) situated in different parts of the country.

The Great Temple of SRIRANGAM is regarded as the Temple par excellence.

 

Tradition regards Lord Sri Ranganatha as the family deity of Sri Rama. Sri

Ranganatha is worshipped in two forms, the moola (=achala) moorti, the

stationary; and the utsava (=chala) the mobile one. In the moola form, the

Lord is known as Peria Perumal, and is depicted as two-armed and

majestically reclining in serene yoga-avastha (cosmic contemplation) on the

couch of Ananta (Time infinite). The Ananta-Narayana image, and its

imagery, have been popular all over the country such as Tiruppallani near

Rameswaram, Tiruvananthapuram, SRIRANGAM, Mahabalipuram, Namakkal,

Srirangapatnam in district Mandya in Karnataka, Angul in Orissa, Deogarh in

Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh, and in Budha Neelaakaant off Kathmandu in Nepal.

 

The utsava deity is affectionately known as Nam-Perumal, our Lord, and is of

surpassing beauty and unknown antiquity. He, verily like the eternal child

Krishna of Brindavana, has been the unrivalled darling of our sanctified

memories, and had animated the entirety of the Divya Prabandham hymns, and

the subsequent philosophical exegetic (vyakhyana) literature initiated by

Sir Parasara Bhatta, extended by Nampillai and later expounded by Manavala

Mahamuni. He, this Namperumal, is believed to have been the household deity

of the ancestors of Sri Rama, as referred to in the Sri Ramayana

(Ayodhya Kanda) verse, Saha-patnya vishalakshya Narayanam upagamat. A

sculpture each in the third and fourch enclosures of the Great Temple

testifies to installation of the deity by Vibheeshana in Srirangam

(Ikshvaku-kuladhanam labdhva Lankam pryat Vibheeshanah).

 

In his Ram-Charit-Manas, the sain-poet Goswami Tulasidas addresses a

significant prayer to Sri Ranganatha in the lines

 

Baar-baar bar mangoon, harshi dehu Sri Rang

Pada-saroj anapayini bhagati sada sat sang!

 

Guru Arjun Dev's fragment sequel (entitled Sahansar-nama) to the Adi Granth

Saheb refers to 'Srirang, Vaikunth-ke-vasi'. The Rajas of Bundi in

Rajasthan styled themselves as Sriranga-dasa. The Keshav Rai Patan temple

situated on the northern bank of river Chambal (off Kota in Rajasthan) has a

stone tablet of Sanskrit inscription which commences with the invocation,

Sri Ranganatho Jayathu!

 

Sri Ranganatha, or Namperumal as the archa manifestation par excellence, has

been hymned by one and all of the Azhwars, and by the feminine incarnation

of Andal. Azhwar Tiruppan of humble origin, as well as Andal, are believed

to have attained mystic union with Sri Ranganatha.

 

In the Sri Vaishnava tradition, Sri Ranganatha is God Absolute in

communication with man, and just to gaze at him fervently (sada pashyanti

soorayah) is fulfilment itself. He is the Transcendant in proximity of human

sensibilities, the Deity in person who leads men through lfe's mysteires and

the duality of distress and delight.

 

The systematic consolidation of the Great Temple's traditions is owed to the

great personage, Sri Ramanuja, reverently known as Udaiyavar. This great

acharya's mission was accomplished in Srirangam and, in a sense, it was Sri

Ramanuja who made what Srirangam grew to be, the foremost center of

organized worship, the principal center of learning and aesthetic

sensibilities and human values. Outside of the Sri Vaishnava community, Sri

Ramanuja (1017-1137 AD) is remembered as an eminent successor of Sri Sankara

in the Vedic tradition, one who proposed a pragmatic philosophic

modification of Sri Sankara's doctrine of monism and its corollary of

phenomenal illusion (avidya and maya).

 

Sri Ramanuja was, however, much more than a mere dialectician. He had a

natural and abiding faith in the Veda, his dialectics was always informed by

pragmatism and enlivened by a deep humanitarianism, he was lovingly devoted

to the Tamil scripture of Divya Prabandham which represented the peak of

human achievement in philosophic profundity, humanistic solace and literary

elegance. He was, like Gautama Buddha, a charismatic leader of men, a

sensitive organizer and administrator, and he ranks among the best known

apostles of truth. His multifaceted personality is best described in the

words of John Dryden addressed to Shakespeare, as the “large and

comprehensive soul”.

 

Sri Ramanuja was the only personage whose remains were interred inside the

Great Temple precincts. The moola image of the Acharya was fashioned over

his relics and hence is known as the Image Per Se. (This image receives,

twice a year, a coat of camphor mixed with saffron, and this special

observance had continued for the last eight centuries and a half.) The

iconic image at his birth place, Sriperumbudur, vividly captures his

youthful and handsome appearance and is known as the Image Dear to Devotees.

The one in Melkote (off Mandya in Karnataka), cast before his return to

Srirangam, reflects his old age and was blessed by himself; it is known as

the Image Which Pleased Him.

 

Srirangam has earned veneration, not only in the Vaishnava literature of the

Azhwar saints, but in the post-Sangham work Silappadhikaram, and the

venerated classics of other Indian languages, like Samartha Ramadasa's

Dasabodham, Krshnadeva Raya's Amukta Malyada, Goswami Tulasidasa's Ram

Charit Manas, Guru Sri Arjun Dev's Sahansar Nama, etc.

 

It deserves to pointed out that the Great Temple (Peria Koil) of Sri

Ranganathaswami in SRIRANGAM ranks among the largest-sized temples and

religious centers of the world, the others being the Potala in Lhasa in

Tibet, Boroboudor in Indonesia, Angkor Vat in Cambodia, the Vatican in Rome,

and Machu Pitchu in Peru (South America). SRIRANGAM has of course, far

remoter antiquity than the other temples mentioned.

 

The Vaikuntha Ekadasi Festival in SRIRANGAM

 

The major festival of SRIRANGAM occurs in the winter months of

Kartikai-Margazhi and is observed over a span of twenty days. The first

half of the observance is known as pagal-pattu (the diurnal ten) and the

second half as irap-pattu (the nocturnal ten). Vaikuntha Ekadasi marks the

start of the second half.

 

The festival is devoted to a systematic recital of the Divya Prabandham

hymns, accompanied by the classical gestures delineated in the Natyashastra.

Those who render this recitation are known as Araiyar (descended from the

distaff side of the great Sri Nathamuni, the compiler of Divya Prabandham).

The festival itself was started by the unequalled poet saint Tirumangai

Azhwar in the 9th century.

 

On the day of the Vaikuntha Ekadasi, the dear deity Namperumal Sriranganatha

is decked in a suit of rubies, emeralds and diamonds set in gold, and a

command is issued to the Araiyar to commence recitation of the

Tiru-voy-mozhi thousand hymned by saint Nammazhwar. This scripture, like

the Kaushitaki Upanishad, describes the pilgrim's progress towards

liberation and God awareness. On the final day is the Azhwar Moksham which

depicts the beatitude of the saint at the lotus feet of Sri Ranganatha.

 

Text by Tirumanjanam S. Sundararajan, Srirangam.