Ranganik KaaNpatheppO?: Sri Parasara Bhattar's anubhavam : Part 1.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Ranganatha BhakthAs :

 

adiyEn posted on ThiruppANAzhwAr's birthday

( Kaarthigai RohiNi: Nov 24, 99) an article

with a krithi to be sung in VasanthA Raagam

with the pallavi of " Ranganaik KaaNNpatheppO ,

kasthUri Ranganaik KaaNNpatheppo?".

That krithi had four charaNams . In that krithi ,

AdiyEn was following the foot steps of great AzhwArs

and noble AchAryAs like Paraasara Bhattar , who in

his agony over the loss of sevai of Sri RanganAthan

crystallized his anguish through the famous

Sri RanganAtha SthOthram with six slOkams

and two stray verses (Muktakas).

 

A dozen years ago Sri U.Ve. VidvAn Purisai NadAdUr

Sri KrishNamaachAr Swamy had written about this sthOthram

in Nrusimha PriyA .AdiyEn will expand on the theme of that

article , which may not be readily available to many and

provide some additional information points regarding

the anubhavam of PoorvAchAryAs and AzhwArs regarding

their vislEsham ( anguish resulting from separation )

from Sri RanganAthan .

 

We will start this posting with the salutation to

Sri RangEsa PurOhithar , Sri ParAsara Bhattar ,

the precocious son of Sri KuratthAzhwAn :

 

Sri ParAsara BhattArya: Sri RangEsa PurOhitha:

Sri VatsAnga Sutha: SrimAn srEyasE mEasthu bhUyasE

 

SrI Bhattar's Life and Sri Sookthis

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

 

Sri Bhattar was the svIkAra Puthran of Sri RanganAthan.

He was born as a direct result of the grace of

Srirangam Dhivya dampathis .His parents were KuratthAzhwAn

and ANDAL ammayAr. Sri RaamAnujA chose the name of ParAsarA

for the child of his prime disciple, KurEsan .Srirangam

Dhivya Dampathis rocked the cradle of their svIkAra puthran

in front of their AasthAnam and brought up the child .

Hence there is no surprise that Paraasara Bhattar

had the intutive and brilliant insight into the cardinal

doctrines of Sri VisishtAdhvaitham and blessed us

with profound Sri Sookthis in Sanskrit ( AshtaslOki,

Superb commentary on Sri VishNu Sahasra Naamam ,

Bhagavadh GuNadarpaNam, the sixty one slOkams on

Sri RanganAyaki , SriguNarathna Kosam , Sri RanganAtha

sthOthram for our daily recital ,the 232 slOkams of

SrirangarAja sthavam serialized now in Nrusimha PriyA

by Dr.V.N.VedAntha Desikan , TattvarathnAkarA ,

Lakshmi KalyANam ; in Tamil , and maNi PravALam ,

he has blessed us with Thirumnajana Kattiyam ,

Commentary on Kaisika PurANam and many brilliant

nirvAhAs on the terse passages of NammAzhwAr's

ThiruvAimozhi .

 

ParAsara Bhattar's self-exile from Srirangam

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

 

KurEsa had a royal disciple by the name of Virasundara

Brahma Raayan . His fellow sishyar was PiLLai PiLLai

AzhwAn, who was very dear to KurEsan . Latter was living

in a house that was at the middle of Sri RanganAthA's

sannidhi prAkAram known as Thrivikraman prAkAram .

The rampart walls had fallen down and needed to be

reconstructed . Paraasara Bhattar instructed Virasundara

Brahma Raayan to construct a new rampart wall without

destroying the residence of PiLlai PiLLai AzhwAn .

 

Bhattar suggested that the king follow the route

taken by Thirumangai , when he built the wall

of one prAkAram by skirting the nandhavanam of

ThoNDaradip Podi AzhwAr . The king rejected

his AchArya KumAran's suggestion and destroyed

the house of KurEsan's dear sishyan for the sake of

building a straight wall . He hurt deeply the feelings of

Bhattar further by behaving in a haughty manner .

Bhattar decided to leave Srirangam and exiled himself

in ThirukkOttiyUr and returned to Srirangam after

the demise of the king , who had committed parama

BhAgavathApachAram and AchArya apachAram .

 

The RanganAtha SthOthram was born during

this time of Bhattar's exile in ThirukkOttiyUr ,

where the agony of Bhattar's separation form

Sri RanganAthan and Sriranga KshEhtram poured

out in a lyrical form . These six main and two

stray verses are recited by Sri VaishNavAs

daily (nithyAnusandhAnam ).The metres chosen

for the six original verses of Sri RanganAthA

sthOthram are in Sragdhara, SikhariNi , MandakrAnthA

and IndravajrA . Readers are referred to Dr. S.PamanAbhan's

Ph.D thesis on ParAsara Bhattar for a detailed study

of the lyrical beauty of the individual slOkams

of the sthOthram. AdiyEn will focus on the anubhavam

aspects from the point of AzhwArs .

 

(To Be continued )

Daasan, V.Sadagopan