Foreword for the Sri MM pages: Part 1

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LIFE AND WORKS OF SRI MANAVAALA MAAMUNIGAL

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Sri ManavALa Maamunigal(MM) revered also under

the names of Sri Vara Vara Munni ,YathIndhra pravaNar

is one of the greatest Sri ViashNavite AchAryAs .

He was born in the village of Kidaram in the year 1370 AD

and ascended paramapadham in the year 1443 AD.He has blessed us

with 19 granthams . Three of them are in Sanskrit . The rest

are in Tamil and ManipravALam .The three works in Sanskrit are :

YathirAja Vimsathi, Sri DevarAja mangalam and Sri Kaanchi

DevapperumAL SthOthram .His ninteen granthams can be classified

under three major categories:

 

(A) VyAkyAna Granthams or commentaries on

the works of earlier AchAryAs like

Sri PiLLai Lokaachaar, PeriyavaacchAN PiLLai

and Thiruvarangatthu Amudanaar .These eight

VyAkhyAna granthams are:

 

1. Sri Vachana BhUshaNam

2. Mumukshuppadi

3. Tattvathrayam

4. AchArya Hrudhayam

5. Jn~Ana Saaram

6. PramEya Saaram

7. PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi

8. RaamAnuja NooRRanthAdhi

 

 

(B) Three granthams known as PramANa Thirattu are:

 

1. Eedu

2. Sri Vachana BhUshaNam

3. Tattvathrayam

 

© His Own Granthams in Sanskrit (3) and Tamil(5)

add up to the remaining Eight :

 

1. UpadEsa Rathna Maalai

2. ThiruvAimozhi NooRRanthAdhi

3. Iyalc ChaaRRu

4. ThiruvArAdhana Kramam

5. YathirAja Vimsathi

6. DevarAja MangaLam

7. Sri Kanchi DevapperumAL SthOthram

8. Aaarthi Prabhandham , his last grantham .

 

He lived for 73 years on this earth performing many Kaimkaryams

and undertook many pilgrimages to many Sri VishNavite Dhivya

dEsams . Most of his life was spent however at Srirangam .

The work known as "YathIndhra pravaNa PrabhAvam " records

the life and accomplishments of this important AchAryA .

His devotion to AchArya RaamAnujA , Swami NammAzhwAr

and NammperumAL was extraordinary. He spent a significant

portion of his life at Srirangam worshipping Sri Ranganaathan

and peforming KaalakshEpams on AzhwAr-AchAryAL aruLiccheyalkaL.

 

When he was 60 , Sri RanganAthA wanted to honor Sri MM

for all his kaimkaryams in spreading the message of

NaalAyira Dhivya prabhandham . He commanded Sri MM

to conduct an year long lecture series on SatAri Soori's

ThiruvAimozhi at Srirangam in His presence . All the regular

uthsavams for the Lord of Srirangam was cancelled that year ,

while He heard the pravachanams on ThiruvAimozhi based on

all the five commentaries starting from aRAyirappadi .At

the conclusion of these pravachanams , a small boy with

dhivys tEjas came from the back of the sadas and sang

a verse that has come to be known as the Taniyan for

Sri MaNavALa MaamunigaL :

 

srIsailEsa dayaapaatram dhIbhakthyAdhi guNArNavam

YathIndhra pravaNam VandhE RamyajAmAtharam munim

 

The audience and Sri MM were wonderstruck after the small boy

disappeared as fast as he came on the scene . Later ,

through His archakAs , Sri RanganAthA revealed that

it was He , who appeared as a boy to pronounce the famous

Taniyan for Sri MM , who is considered as a reincarnation

of AchArya RaamAnujA .Earlier at Thirukkurungudi ,

the Lord had appeared before RaamAnujA and requested

for UpadEsams on rahasyArhtams and took on the name of

Sri VaishNava Nambi as a result of these upadEsams .

 

The early years of Sri MaNavALa Maamunigal

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(To Be Continued )