Thiru Adyayana Uthsavam at Srirangam ( December 19,98 to Jan 8,99 )

[Guest guest]

1998 Thanksgiving Day Salutaions

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NamO NaarAyaNA ! NamO NaarAyaNA ! NamO NaaRAYanA !

 

Dear BhakthAs of Sri RanganYaki and NamperumAL :

 

Professor VasudhA NaarAyanan in her scholarly

book , " The Vernacular Veda: Revelation , Recitation

and Ritual " has the 8th Chapter entitled , " Recreating

Heaven on Earth " .This chapter deals at great length

the Pahal Patthu and the Iraa Patthu festival leading

upto NammAzhwAr's Moksham ( Thiruvaimozhi ThirunALL

SaaRRumuRai day ).Srimathi RanganAyaki KaLLappirAn

in her recent book "AchArya Vaibhavam " has a chapter on

Sriranga Vaibhavam , whre she describes the different

aspects of the Thiru adhyayana Uthsavam .

 

I have brought back from Srirangam additional

detailed information on this and other annual

Festivals at Srirangam ( the Sacred Arena )

from my October 98 trip . I have also had the benefit of

discussions with the Arayar of SrivillipputthUr during

the visit to ANDAL ThirumALigaai . I will assemble these

materials over the uthsavam period leading upto Sri Vaikunta

EkAdasi and post them as a series of articles that benefit

from the scholarly works that I have referred to .I will

add intrepretative Texts to provide additional relevant

details.A great Sri Ranganatha Bhakthar , Sri Sampath

Rengarajan and a Tamil Scholar is an authority on these

Pahal Patthu-Irraa Patthu festivals as a UpayakArar .

He has posted beautiful arrticles earlier

in Bhakthi list on the glories of Sri Ranaganthan and

His ThirukkOil . A wealth of Infromation has been

assembled by him there , that you would like to refer to .

 

May I request Professor NarAyaNan , Sri Rengaraajan

and other BhakthAs familiar with this glorious festival

in Srirangam to join with me and add missing details

and clarify particular passages of the posting as

I venture forth on this Thanksgiving day to

offer my salutations to the divya dampathis of

Srirangam with humility and pray to Them to bless

us all with dhruva smruthi of Their anantha KalyANa

GuNAs that are enacted on the divine stage of

Srirangam ?

 

We also look forward to the detailed commentaries on

the ThiruppAvai Paasurams during the Thiruppaavai

season coinciding with the Thriu Adhyayanam

festival from the pen of Sri Anbil Swamin

for the benefit of our access to the NirvAhams

of our AchAryAs on the individual paasurams of

ANDAL in the spirit of excellence housed in

his posting on the second verse passage of

Thiruppavai. These can be added to the Home Page

for ANDAL so lovingly put together by Sri Venakat

Iyengar from his base in Kharagpur . Andal"s

NaachhiyAr Thriumozhi commentaries are taking

their excellent shape from the pen of Srimathi

KalyANi KrishNamaachAri .All in all ,it will be a

feast during this special season .

 

 

ThiruAdhyana Uthsavam starts interestingly

enough on " the Aazhi Mazhaik KaNNA " day

(First day of Pahal Patthu,Marghazhi 4 )

and porgresses to :

 

Sri Vaikunta EkAdasi( Dec 29): "UmkaLL PUzhakkadai" day

NammAzhwAr Moksham day (JAN 8):"anRivvulaham aLanthAi" day

IyaRppA SaRRumuRai day(Jan 9): "Orutthi MahanAi PiRanthu" day

 

The inspiration to write these articles arose from

my last posting on the Patthu Vaarthaikal of EmpAr

to his disciple Parasara Bhattar , the expert in

ThirunedumthAndaka Saasthram that he used to win over

the great scholar from Melokote , who is revered in

our AchArya paramparai as Namjeeyar .Pahal Patthu

Uthsavam is preceded by Thirunedum ThANdakam

on December 18 this year .The Thiru Adhyayana

Uthsavam statrs with the recitation of ThriunedumthAndakam

at the garbha graham of Sri RanganthA on Friday ,

Dec 18 at 7 PM and continues at Santhanu Mantapam

from 7.45 to 9 PM . Araiyar Abhinayam and vyAkhyAnam

( Dance and "performative Commentaries" ) take place

during these 75 minutes . ThiuppaNiyAra naivEdhyam

takes place next ( 9-9.30 PM ) .Ghoshti (9.30 to

10.00Pm ) , ThiruvArAdhanam ( 10-10.30 PM ) is followed

by the special alankAram from ThirukkottAram

(10.30-11.00 PM ).The theertha Ghoshti follows

(11.00-11.30 PM ) and then return to the AasthAnam

to commence next day ( Dec 19th ) the Mudal Pahal

Patthu ThirunALL uthsavam in Dhanur Lagnam at 7 AM .

 

Every thing is big in Periya Koil . Inside the Ranga

VimAnam blessed by the Para VaasudEva Vigraham ,

the Garbha gruham is big ( 30 feet long ) and

the Lord's subhAsryam is big (21 feet long Sayana

ThirukkOlam ) , area of the temple is big(156 plus acres),

number of mantapams are big (108) ,SuRRuk Koils

are big( 51) , Gopurams are many ( 22) , PrAkArams

are big (7) , Garudan is big (35 feet high ) and

the Southern goPuram built by the 44th Azhagiya

Singar is tall (236 feet high ) .

 

I conclude this first posting with the Vaazhi ThirunAmam

excerpts for Periya PerumAl and Periya Piraatti :

 

Peruhi Varum Ponni NaduppiThuinRAn VaazhiyE

Periya perumAL YengaL pirAN adikaL vaazhiyE

 

Panakayap PooviR piRantha paavai nallAL VaazhiyE

Panguniyil Utthara Naall paaruthitthAL VaazhiyE

MangayarkaL Tilatamena vantha selvi VaazhiyE

Maalarangar MaNi Maarpai MannumavaL VaazhiyE

YengaLezhi SENAI MANNARRkk ithamuraitthAL VaazhiyE

Irupattanjutp poruL maal iyampuvaL VaazhiyE

Senkamalc cheyyarangam Sezhikka vanthAl VaazhiyE

Sri Ranga NaayakiyAr ThiruvadikaL VaazhiyE

 

AchAryAL AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

 

 

Every thing is

big in Periya perumAL's temple including the

ThiruppaNiyAram . Our Lord , Periya PerumAL

is revered here as "NithyOthsava SamAyukthar ".

At

 

Today is BhaudhAnya Kaarthikai 10th day , Sukla Paksha

Sapthami day .