Sri ANDAL-Sei RanganAthar ThirukkalyANam Part 7.3

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri RanganAtha PrEmis :

 

Today is Friday , the auspicious Sukra Vaaram .

We will cover the next stages of the great marriage

at Sri VillipputthUr .

 

Maangalya DhAraNam , PaaNigrahaNam & the 7 steps around the Fire

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The Varan ( Sri RanganAthA ) and the VadhU ( Sri ANDAL )

arrived at the KalyANa mantapam . The high point of

the vivAha MahOthsavam is about to take place . ANDAL

describes this scene in two paasurams of 10.6 :

 

matthaLam kotta vari sangham ninrUtha

mutthudaitthAmam nirai thAzhntha pantharkkeezh

maitthunan nambi MadhusUdhan venthennaik

kaitthalam paRRak kanAk kantEn ThOzhI naan --NTM:10.6.6

 

vaai nallAr nalla maRai Othi manthiratthAL

paasilai nANal padutthup parithi vaitthuk

kAicchina mAkaLRannAn yenn kaippaRRit

theevalam seyyak kanAk kantEn ThOzhi naan --NTM: 10.6.7

 

This is the time of Subha MUhUrtham ; MangaLa vAdhyams

are playing . Over those sounds arose a Veda Manthram :

 

mAngalyam tanthunAnEna mama jeevana ( loka rakshaNa ) hEthunA I

kaNtE bhadhnAmi subaghE sanjeeva saradha: satham ( tava mE sukham ) II

 

Sri RanganAthan tied the auspicious knots around

the neck of ANDAL to the sound of ghetti mELam

and said : " Oh ANDAL ! This is the Mangala sUthram .

I tie this Mangala sUthram around Your neck for enhancing

my good fortune .You are the light and purpose of my life .

Oh , SoubhAgyavathi ! May Thou be with Me eternally

and grant the most glorious boons to our BhakthAs

and protect them from any and every mishap " .

( I have changed the meanings some what ,

because praying for the life of 100 years as for

us mortals does not make sense for the Lord .

If we use the words Mama Jeevana hethunA , it is

even more poignant ).

 

PAANI GRAHAAM CEREMONY

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After Maangalya DhAraNam , Sri RanganAthA

recited the four manthrAs for PaaNigrahaNam

under " the tutorship " of His purOhithA ,

Chathurmukha BrahmA . During this occasion ,

He lifted His right hand and held inside it

the right hand of ANDAL , which had been folded

together like a kumudhA flower . This mudrA of

ANDAL's hand is called " kuvintha Kumudham "

or the lotus that had folded its petals into

the form of a tight bud . This mudhrai refers to

Her heart lotus. Sri RanganAthA ( and the modern day

bridegroom ) implied that Your heart has now become my

possession/responsibility . From here on , I will protect it with

all the care and cherish it. This is the inner meaning of

PaaNigrahaNam .The four Veda manthrams salute the soubhAghyams

arising from that ceremony of PaaNigrahaNam and

praise the glories of the new queen of the house.

 

The first of the four manthrams recited during this

occasion is famous :

 

grubhNAmi thE soubhagthvAya hastham

mayA pathyA jaradashtir yathAsa: I

BhagO AryamA SavithA puramdhir mahyam

tvAdhur gArhapathyAya dEvA : II--Rg Vedam X.85.36

 

( Meaning ) : Oh My dear One ! I accept Your hand

for good fortune ! I pray that You attain old age

with Me as Your husband . Our Bhagaa( Lord of Grace ) ,

AryamA ( Lord of Cosmic orders ) , savithA-puramdhi

( Lord of creation and wisdom ) have given You to Me

so that I may be the master of the Household .

 

The second manthram starting with " thE ha purvE janAsO--"

is another salutation to the Lord of DevAs , who

presented the bride to the groom .Reference here is

to Bahgan, Agni and SUryan . The manthram suggests

that the best among them gave the bride to the groom .

 

The third manthram starts with a prayer to Sarasvathi

by the groom on behalf of the couple to protect

their marriage .

 

The fourth manthram is a salutation to Vaayu BhagavAN

and starts with the words :" ya yEthi prathisas sarvA

disAnu pavamAna:" and ends with " hiraNya hastha iyrammas

sa tvA manmanasam gruNOthu " . In this prayer , the groom

prays to PavamAnan ( Vaayu bhagavAn ) , who thru his

passage purifies every nook and corner . The manthram

visualizes Vaayu as having Gold in his hand and being

associated with Agni dEvan. The groom prays here to

the all powerful Vaayu and seeks his intercession

to bless the bride to be devoted to him always .

Undiminishing love and affection is prayed for here .

 

ANDAL fondly recalls this scene in Her sixth paasuram

of NaacchiyAr Thirumozhi ( MatthaLam kotta --) .

She hears the auspicious sounds of MattaLams ,

She experiences the purifying , sacrd sound of

Vari Sankhus ( praNava Naadham ).Under the wedding

canopy bent with the load of flowers decorating it ,

She (ANDAL ) recalls the scene of the Lord ( MadhusUdhana

nambi) lifting her hand and covering it with the palm of

His hand .

 

THE SEVEN STEPS AROUND THE SACRED FIRE

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IN THE SEVENTH PAASURAM , ANDAL RECALLS

THE SEVEN STEPS SHE TOOK AROUND THE SACRED

WEDDING FIRE ( Vaai nallAr --theevalam seyya

kanAk kantEn ---) .

 

The groom lifts the bride from the "silk mat/

MaNai ) " she was sitting on by holding her

right hand with his right hand tightly .

 

Then , the groom walks to the right side of

the sacred fire and lifts gently the right

foot of the bride with his right hand and

helps her take a step . The bride makes

seven steps ( Saptha Pathi ) with the help

of her husband . This is the Agni Saakshi

for the wedding .

 

With each of the seven steps , a particular

manthram is recited . Let us examine these manthrams :

 

First Step : " yEkamishE VishNus tvAnvEthu " is

the first manthram . This says : " O Dear girl !

O ANDAL ! You made the first step as my wife.

May Lord VishNu (Myself will)follow your step to make sure

that you have undiminishing food all your life

( prayer for subhishtam, Akshaya paathram )" .

 

Second Step : " dhvE UrjE " . Here the groom prays

once again to Lord VishNu . he says : " O Dear girl !

You have now taken the second step with me as my wife .

May Lord VishNu ( Myself will ) follow your step and bless you

with pushti (strength ) in your body ( a prayer

for disease-free life ) " .

 

Third Step : " thrINi vrathAya " . Here again ,

the prayer is for Lord VishNu to follow GodhA's

third step and to grant the boon of vrathAnushtAnam

( performance of yaj~nams assigned to GruhasthAs

as Dharma pathnee ) to her during her married life .

 

Fourth Step : " ChatvAri MaayObhavaaya " .

This prayer once again is to MahA VishNu

( Himself ) to follow her during her fourth step and

grant her the boon of conjugal happiness .

 

Fifth Step : " pancha pasubhya : " .The prayer

is : " may Lord VishNu follow your fifth step with me

and grow your wealth of cattle ( cows , Horses ,

Elephants and Isvaryams related to the four-footed )".

 

Sixth Step : " Shat ruthubhya : " . Here

MahA VishNu is beseeched to follow her sixth

step ( be behind her and support her ) for all

auspicious ruthus (six seasons ) during her married

life .Sri RanganAthA hints that He is going to be right

next to Her and make sure that Vasantha Ruthu ,

Ghreeshma Ruthu and all the other four are going to

make Her days with Him plesant .

 

Seventh Step : This is the last of the seven steps .

The prayer is : " saptha sapthabhyO hOthrAbhyO

VishNus tvAn vethu " .The Lord said : " aNi puthuvai

paimkamalt thaNteriyal Bhattar pirAn GOdhE ! When you

recited the seventh manthram and took the seventh step ,

I , MahA vishNu , the former resident of Srirangam will

follow You to help You perform OupAsanai , Agni HOthram

and other Gruhastha Homams and Yaj~nams without deficiencies .

You are the NaacchiyAr of My house now. Sri VilliputthUr

is your MaaLikai ( Palace ) . This is your place of birth .

Therefore , You have more power than me here . I will hence

follow You and bless You to have all SoubhAgyams by

moving over to Your birth place and stay in my

father-in-law's place , Your house . We guess that

PeriyAzhwAr was mighty pleased with the decision of

his Son-in-law so that he could have the aanandham of

seeing his daughter and the Lord , Her husband right

there in Sri VilliputthUr nest to him .Even today , we

see RangamannAr , ANDAL and PeriyAzhwAr ( Garudan )

on One peetam at Sri VilliputthUr .

 

After sapthathi ceremony

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Sapthathi was followed by Agni PrathakshiNam . Then ,

the bridegroom looked at his new bride and recited

three manthrams , whose meanings are as follows :

 

My dear one! With these seven steps that you took ,

You have become my dearest friend . We have cemented

our friendship firmly with these seven steps . I seek

closeness with you as my dearest beloved one . I will

not stray away from this friendship ever . Please do not

diminish the depth of your affection for me . Let us stay united

always . Let us pledge to do together , what we have

to follow as duties .May we have deep love ,May we do things

which please one another ,May we have good intentions

towards each other and enjoy food and strength in

equal measure and partake of life's blessings

equally together . Let our thoughts converge .

 

Let us perform the sanctioned vrathams in unison .

May our desires be united and not pull apart .

I will be Saaman ; Let Thou be Rg rk .

I will be the upper lokam ( Dhyou , the region between

sky and earth ); May Thou be the earth ( pruthvee ) .

I will be the suklam ; May Thou be the bearer of

Suklam .I will be the mind ; Let Thou be vaak ( speech ) .

I will be Saaman ; Let Thou be Rg rks. May Thou follow Me !

O my dear One of sweet speech going to bless me

with wealth and progeny ! Please come ( --manOsmi

Vaak tvam , saamaahamasmi rg tvam , saa maa manuvrathA

bhava , pumsE puthrAya vEthtavai ; sriyai puthrAya

vEthtavA ; Yehi sUnruthE ) ".

 

PradhAna HOmam and its sixteen manthrams

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After the seven steps and Agni pradhakshiNam ,

PradhAna Homam took place .Ammi mithitthal

( stepping on the grinding stone ) , Laaja

Homam ( placing parched rice into the fire ),

Graha PravEsam , Pravisya Homam , Sesha Homam ,

the holding of the child in the wife's lap ,

giving fruits to that child ,Dhruvan-Arundhati

nakshathra darsanams , PrAyscchittha Homams

took place . I will cover them in the concluding

posting on Sri ANDAL-Sri RanganAtha ThirukkalyANam

series over this weekend .

 

Daasan , Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan

Jayathu Sri RanganAtha :! Jayathu Sri RanganAyaki !

 

P.S : This is the point in time after my posting for

the day that I remind you to take part in our

Universal parent's wedding and facilitate their

graha PravEsam.. Please do not forget your

sambhAvanAs and forward them to Sri RanganAthA

Temple , P.O. Box 120 , Pomona , NY 10970

( This address of our parents , I should know now

by heart ) . Please look up the wonderful home page

set up by Sri P.Dileepan for their new home at

Pomona : http://www.geocities.com/~ahobilam/ranga.html

Subhamasthu ; Sarva MangaLAni santhu .