UpadEsa Rathna Maalai: Part 4( Paasurams 17-20)

[Guest guest]

The Birthday of PeriyAzhwAr

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inRaip perumai aRinthilayO yEzhai nenjE!

inRaikku yennERRam yenil uraikkEn--nanRi punai

PallANDu paaDiya namm Bhattar PirAn vanthu udhittha

nall Aaniyil sOthi naaLL.........(17)

 

(Meaning ): Oh My poor Mind ! Do n't you know the glory

of this day ? Listen ! I will tell you what the glory is

all about .This is Aani SvAthi day , when our Bhattar PirAN ,

who blessed us with the most auspicious PaLLANDu to

the Supreme Lord incarnated on this earth .

 

Comments: Swami Desikan has blessed us with a Prabhandham

of 18 Paasurams known as " Prabhandha Saaram " that pays

tribute to the AzhwArs , who gave us the NaalAyira Divya

prabhandham . Swami Desikan described himself as

"Tamizh MaRayOn" out of his great respect for the Prabhandhams

of the AzhwArs . In his work , Prabhandha Saaram , Swamy Desikan

covered the particulars about the dhivya desams

where the AzhwArs were born , the month of their avathArams ,

the constellations under which they were born ,their glories,

the name of the prabhndhams that they blessed us with ,

the number of total paasurams in their prabhndhams and

the central message ( uyirk Karutthu or sarArtham ) housed

in their paasurams . All these 18 paasurams of Swamy were set in

the 8 lined , majestic yeNN sIr Aasiriya viruttham because

of the many items he had to incorporate in each of these

paasurams . Sri MM chose the simpler , four lined VeNN paa

meter to fit the mood of Upadesam to a sishyan . Swami

Desikan's emphasis was to assemble the facts for the archives

so that there will be no confusion about the facts related to

the AzhwArs and their aruLiccheyalkaLs . Sri MM in his

Upadesa Rathna Maalai (UMR) had topics over and above Azhwars,

such as AchAryAs like Sri RaamAnujA and the others that

folowed him .Hence the size of the UMR swelled to 73

in number , almost four times the size of Swami Desikan's

Prabhandham on AzhwArs alone .

 

The reason for the name of PeriyAzhwAr for Bhattar PirAn

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MangaLAsAsanatthil maRRuLLa AzhwArkaL

tangaL aarvatthu aLavu thaan anRi--pongum

parivAlE VilliputthUr Bhattar PirAn peRRAn

PeriyAzhwAr yennum peyar.........(18)

 

(Meaning ): Bhattar PirAn, who incarnated (as an

amsam of GarudA ) at Sri VillipputthUr received

the name of PeriyAzhwAr as a honorific title.

Why So ? This is because of his intensity in bhakthi

(abhnivEsam ) for eulogizing Sriman NaarAyaNan

exceeded (exhuberantly ) that of all the other

AzhwArs .

 

(comments): PeriyAzhwAr had the rare distinction

of being recognized as the eldest among fellow

AzhwArs ( Periya Aazhwaar).Why did this title stick

to him ? He was not the eldest among them . Poygai

and the other two Mudhal AzhwArs were older than him

( incarnated earlier than him).NammAzhwAr and Kaliyan

had larger number of Prabhandhams than him .Other

AzhwArs had ruchi ( intense desire ) for MangaLAsAsanam

of the Lord as well that poured out of them as moving

paasurams.Yet they did not earn the title of PeriyAzhwAr ?

Why so ? MM points out that Bhattar PirAn won the title of

PeriyAzhwAr becuase of the ghanam and intensity of

his concern for the welfare of the Lord that got

crystallized as PaLLANDu .

 

(Comments): Swami Desikan's salutation of

PeriyAzhwAr is moving : " Aani tannil, perunjyOthi

tannil thOnRum PerumAnE !" ( The One who incarnated

during the Aani, when the great constellation of

SvAthi was in ascendance as perumAn/periyAzhwAr).

Swami Desikan had only one paasuram of 8 lines

for PeriyAzhwAr , where as Sri MM used 12 lines

(3 VeNN Paas) to salute the greatness of periyAzhwAr

inview of the greatness of ThiruppallANDu .

 

 

The reason for the Primacy of ThiruppallANDu

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kOthilAm AzhwArkaL kooRu kalaikku yellAm

Aadhi ThirupallANDu aanathuvum --Vedatthukku

Om yennu madhu pOl uLLathekku yellAm surukkaai

thaan mangalam aathalAl.......(19)

 

(Meaning):Among all the Prabhandhams of the blemishless

AzhwArs,ThiruppallANDu took the top (first) place.Why so?

Just like PraNavam became the essence of the meanings of

all VedAs , ThiruppallANDu stayed at the top of all

Prabhandhams of fellow AzhwArs , since it is the

most auspicous quintessence ( saarArtha Nidhi) of

all Dhivya Prabhndhams.

 

(Comments): The primacy of PraNavam for the Vedams

is equated here to the primacy of ThiruppallANDu among

the dhivya prabhandhams . This is because both share

the common attributes of serving as the Saara Nidhi

and mangaLa BhAshaNam (the most auspicious word )for

the Vedams and Dhivya prabhndams respectively .

 

The Uniqueness of ThiruppallANDu and PeriyAzhwAr

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uNDO ThiruppallANDukku oppathOhr kalai thaan

uNDO PeriyAzhwArkku oppu oruvar --taNDamizh nool

seytharuLum AzhwArkaL tammil avar sey kalayil

paithal nenjE nee uNarnthu paar.....(20)

 

(Meaning ): Oh my mind ! Among the AzhwArs ,

who blessed us with the different Prabhandhams ,

is there One , who is equal to PeriyAzhwAr in stature ?

(No). Is there one prabhandham of all these AzhwArs ,

which is superior to ThiruppallANDu ? (No).Oh my

poor mind ! please reflect on these questions and learn

about the correct answers to them .

 

(Comments): Swami Desikan hailed the ThiruppallANDu

as " yEr aNi nool " or the Prabhandham known for its

exquisite beauty ( artha gouravam and sabdha poushkalyam).

Sri MM went one step further and described ThiruppallANDu

as a Kalai or an exquisite piece of art or Brahma Vidhyai .

 

Daasan , V.Sadagopan

(To Be continued )

[Guest guest]

Dear Sir

Thank you for your efforts to translate Upadesa Ratna Malai. As usual, you

have excelled. I do not have before me your earlier postings. But, may I

place the following for your kind consideration. You may check up again and

do the needful, if needed.

Dasoham

Anbil Ramaswamy

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<< inRaip perumai aRinthilayO yEzhai nenjE!

inRaikku yennERRam yenil uraikkEn--nanRi punai

PallANDu paaDiya namm Bhattar PirAn vanthu udhittha

nall Aaniyil sOthi naaLL.........(17) >>

 

This Pasuram should be numbered 16 as per my copy

 

Pasuram 17 reads as follows:

"mAnilathil mun namm periyAzhwAr vandhuditha

aani thannil sOthiyenrAl aadharikkum - jnAniyarkku

oppAr ilai iv vulagu thanil enru nenjE

eppOdhum sindhithu iru"

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