AavaNi VisAkam : Unique(TOP) Divya Desam : Silver Mantapam-Part 1

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs of Sriman NaarAyaNA :

 

Before I write an article on the greatness

( #1 Status ) of Thiru ViNNagar , as preface ,

I want to refer to the extraordinary roving

Divya Desam at the Ahobila Matam Jeeyar"s aasthAnam .

Here presides one of the nine uthsava mUrthys of Ahobila

KshEthram *, MaalOlan , who jumped into the hands of

the Jeeyar whom he had just initiated into SanyAsa

Asramam on a Purattasi Sukla Paksha Panchami day

of a BahudAnya year ( 1398 AD).

 

Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan

***********************

 

Our MaalOlan* sits on a rathna dOlai in the middle of that

silver mantapam with abhaya hastham in right hand and

embracing His dear consort , Mahaa Lakshmi with His left hand .

On His other two hands are Sudarsanam and Paanchajanyam.

He rushed so fast to accompany the Jeeyar on the yAthrAs

to bless His bhaktha kOtis that he had time only to wear

the sandal on his right foot alone . He left the left foot

sandal behind and did not wait for his servants to bring

it to Him from the inner chambers .

 

KrishNA archA mUrhtys

**********************

 

Our MalOlan of Silver Mantapam prsides over a sathas

consisting of KrishNan* , who came crawling across

the water of a lake in KarnAtakA , when he saw AchArya

RaamAnuja entering that lake for anushtAnam . There is

thus KrishNan , who represents ArchAvathAra mUrthys of

pancha KrishNa kshEthrams* of Tamil Naadu ( ThirukkaNNa

Puram/SowrirAjan , ThirukkaNNa mangai/Bhaktha Vathsalan,

ThirukkaNNangudi/ShyamaLa mEni perumAL,ThirukkAvaLampAdi/

Gopala KrishNan and ThirukkUdalUr/Vaimk Kaatha PerumAL )

along with the other ArchA mUrthys of other divya desams

with KrishNa Bhagavaan at the center. Latter FIVE KshEthrams*

and their ArchA mUrthys are : ThErazhandUr /Gosakan -

Aamuruviappan , DwArakai/KalyANa NaaraayaNan ,

Vada Mathurai/GovardhanEsan , ThiruvAipAdi/Nava-

Mohana KrishNan , ThiruvallikkENi/ParthasArathy

and Thirup Patakam's Paandavar DhUthan, Thiru NarayUr.

Thus 11 Divya desa KrishNans* can be visualized here

in the mind's eye .

 

The KrishNa vigraham of the silver mantapam used in

Dolothsavams has BheejAksharams on His ThirumEni and

is the most sacred one to bless people with santhathi .

 

Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAthar*

***************************************

 

Near the SvarNa Laksmi Narasimhan next to MaalOlan

is Sri RanganAthar and Sri RanganAyaki at His sacred

feet .This mUrthy is the one worshipped by another

AchAryA , KanthADai Sri ANNan Swamy and handed over

to Sri Sannidhi. Thus Sri RanganAthan is part of

the assembly of ArchA mUrthys.

 

This is the representation of Lord , who drove

Thondaradip Podi Azhwar out of his mind with His

beauty and made the AzhwAr ask the SamsAris :

Yenn seyhEn UlahatthIrE ? in one of his ThirumAlaip

Paasuram that Sri Vijay Triplicane spot lighted recently

( Kuda disai mudiyai vaitthu---) .

 

Sri ParimaLa RanganAthan of IndaLUr* is also

here in Veera sayanam poisture is also

accompanying MaalOlan at this silver mantapam .

 

The Sri RanganathAn of the Silver mantapam is

standing in for a total of 27 Sayana ArchA mUrthys* ,

who give us darsanam as Sayana mUrthys including

the Lord of Sri Rangam , AarAvamudhan, Thiru InDalUr

and few reposing Sri Ramachandra Murthys :

Thiru Ananthapuram , Thiru Anbil ,Thiru AadhanUr ,

Thiru VeLLUr ,Thiruk Kadanmallai ,Thiruk karampanUr ,

Thiruk Kavitthalam ,Thiruk KOttiyUr ,Thiruk KolUr ,

Thiruc ChitthirakkUtam , Thiruc ChirupuliyUr ,

Thirut Therriampalam ,Thiru Neermalai ,

Thirup PaaRkadal ,Thirup PullANi Darbha sayanan,

Thirup PuLingudi , Thrup PuLLambhUthankudi ,

Thirup Pernagar/Koviladi and Sri VillipputthUr /

Vatapathra Saayee , Thiru VehhA and ThiruveLLiyankudi.

 

 

PeraruLAlan of Kaanchi*

***********************

Near Sri RanganAthA is the Atthigiri Varadar ,

who was worshipped by NadAthUr ammAL , his

grandson GatikA Satham ammAL , who in turn

blessed his prime disciple Aadhi VaNN SatakOpa

Jeeyar , the first Jeeyar of AhObila Matam .

 

This is the Lord , whom Swami Desikan

described as Visva adhisAyi Sukha rUpan

( The One with the most beautiful and delectable

soundharyam ).Swami begged for the most merciful

glances of this ArchA mUrthy to fall on him

and redeem him ( Unnidhra madhrA: dayALO:

thE katAkshA; mayi pathanthu--Sri Varada Raaja

Panchakam: 38 th slOkam ) .

 

This ArchA mUrthy is also representing pEraruLALan

of Thiruc Chemponnsey Koil* divya desam near ThirunAngUr .

 

 

Sri SeshAdhri Sekhara Vibhu*and ThiruviNNagarappan*

***************************************************

 

Close to Sri Atthigiri Varadar is ThiruvEnakatamudayAn

with AlarmEl mangai ThAyar on His Vakshasthalam .

Swami Desikan followed KulasEkhara AzhwAr's foot steps

and prayed for the blessing of residence in the foothills of

ThiruvEnakatam thru a prayer to the DayA dEvi of

Sri VenakatEsA :

 

vrushagiri katakEshu vyanjayathsu prathIthai:

Madhumathana dayE tvAm vaari dhArA visEshai:

 

(Meaning : Oh DayA dEvi , who is the embodiment

of the DayA of the Lord , who destroyed the asuran ,

Madhu ! May I be bkessed to be at the foothills

of ThiruvEnkatam known for their beautiful water

falls that remind me of Yourself ! )

 

Sri SrinivAsan stands in for the ArchA mUrthys

of ThiruviNNagar and Annan Koil as well .

 

Thiru nArAyaNapuram EmperumAn*

******************************

 

Close by is the Chellap PiLLai with Yathugiri

NaacchiyAr of ThirunAraayaNa puram ( DakshiNa

BadarikAsramam ) , where the first Jeeyar

was born and three more Jeeyars of Ahobila

matam besides the first Jeeyar (2nd, 10th and the 12th

Jeeyars ) have their BrindhAvanams . This ThirunArAyaNan

is representing other NaarAyaNans of other divya dEsams

a s well( Thirukkatit ThAnam / Adhbhutha NaarAyanan ,

ThirukkOttiyUr /Soumya NaarAyaNan , BadarikAsramam/

Badari NaarAyaNan ).

 

Other EmperumAns of Divya Desams* in the sathas

***********************************************

 

BhU VarAhan of Svayam Vyaktha KshEthram , Sri MushNam,

and Thiruvidaventhai ,Sri Lakshmi VarAhan of TampraparaNI

tatam , Sudarsana BhagavAn of Srirangam , ANDAL SamEtha

Sri RangamannAr of Sri VilliputthUr , Sri AarAvamudhan

of Thiruk Kudanthai , HayagrIvan of ThiruvahInrapuram

and Aadhi Kesavan of ThiruvAttARu , SithA LakshmaNa

sahitha Sri Raamabhadran of AyOddhi .

 

SvarNa Narasimhan , who came before a King

*******************************************

When a Siva Bhakthan named PrathApa Rudran

cast a Golden Sivalingam for his daily puJa ,

the statue that came out of the dye was that

of Narasimhan . However much he repeated his castings,

he always got Narasimha MUrtham at AhObilam .

He understood the power of the KshEthram and

presented the SvarNa Narasimhan to the Azhagiya

Singhar of his time and that ArchA mUrthy

visits the ThirumadappaLLI during the IjyArAdhana

kaalam .

 

There is a MangaLagiri Narasimhan in the Rajatha

mantapam known also as Paanaka Narasimhan . These

Narasimhans stand for the narasimha mUrthys

of Thiru VeLUkkai , GatikAchalam , ThiruvallikkENi's

TeLLiya Singham , ThiruvAli Narasimhan and TanjayALi

nagar .

 

Thus inside the Silver mantapam housing the Koil

of MaalOlan , we can have the darsana soubhAgyam

of Sri RanganAthAn , VaradarAjAn , SrinivAsan/

ThiruviNNagarappan , KrishNan , ThirunArAyaNan ,

HayagrIvan , Raamchandran and a host of other

Divya Desa MUrthys . SaaLagrAmams worshipped by

great yathIsvarALs are also enshrined there.

SampradhAya AarAdhanam for these mUrthys

for many hundred years now have enhanced their

Saannidhyam .

 

Hence , The Silver Mantapam is one of the top most

divya dEsam having the integrated essence of

many divya dEsams put together .

 

MaalOlan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , V.Sadagopan