svAmi mudali-ANDAn

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SrImatE rAmAnujAya nama:

 

"pAdukE yati-rAjasya kathayanti yadAkhyayA

tasya dASarathE: pAdAu SirasA dhArayAmy-aham."

 

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svAmi mudali-ANDAn / kandADai dASarathi.

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[Outline sketch written by

tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan.]

 

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svAmi mudali-ANDAn was SrI-ramanuja's bhAginEya

(sister's son), and was christened dASarathi at birth,

his asterism being chaitra-mEsha punarvasu

of SrI-rAmAvatAram. He was born in

'pacchAi-vAraNap-perumAL sannidhi' (referred to as

'pETTai' to-day) situated off the

SrI-perumpudUr==Chennai highway.

 

NAME for SANCTIFIED FEET.

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While the 'tiruvaDi-nilai' (= the sanctified mount

of the footwear ~~ pAdukA ~~ of divinity and holy

personages) of the Lord is named after svAmi nammAzhvAr

as 'SrI-SaThakOpam' or 'SaThAri',

 

the tiruvaDi-nilai (we may also call it pAdukA-

pITham) of svAmi nammAzhvAr is known as rAmAnujan.

==[The exception is that, by the desire of uDaiyavar,

it is named 'madhura-kavikaL' in the AzhvAr sannidhi

established by uDaiyavar himself in SRIRANGAM.]==

 

The name comes from the opening verse of nURRantAdi ~

 

"...pukazh-malinta

pA-mannu-mARan aDi-paNindu u:indavan, pal-kalai-Or-

tAm manna-vanda irAmAnuSan..."

 

Likewise, the pAdukA-pITham of svAmi emperumAnAr

is referred to as 'mudali-ANDAn'. This honorofic

is cited in the 'taniyan' of SrI ANDAn which goes ~

 

"pAdukE yati-rAjasya kathayanti yad-AkhyayA

tasya dASarathE: pAdau SirasA dhArayAmy-aham".

 

svAmi mudali-ANDAn is accordingly referred to as the

rAmAnuja-pAdukA or yatirAja-pAdukA. The short name

is simply 'ANDAn'for svAmi mudali-ANDAn, as 'AzhvAn'

is for SrI-kUrattAzhvAn, 'mA-munikaL' for

SrI-maNavALa-mahAmunikaL,dESikan for svAmi vEdAntAchArya

vEnkaTanAtha,'bhaTTar' for SrI-parASara-bhaTTar,

'uDaiyavar' for svAmi emperumAnAr (=rAmAnuja),

'AzhvAr' for svAmi nammAzhvAr.

 

svAmi dESikan on svAmi mudali-ANDAn.

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The 'sampradAyam' is in debt to svAmi dESikan for

having preserved in his 'rahasya-traya-sAram',

a nugget SrI-sUkti (bon mot) of ANDAn, as the latter's

metaphor for our association with uDaiyavar, as under,

 

~~mudaliyANDAn (a nephew and disciple of rAmAnuja) said:

"When a lion leaps from one hill to another, the

little insects on its body are transported with him.

Similarly, when bhAshyakAra (rAmAnuja) leaped over the

cycle of birth and death, we were saved because of our

connection with him." ~~

 

(The Way and the Goal, 1987, Vasudha Narayanan.)

 

This terse exposition of AchArya-pratipatti stemmed

from ANDAn's unwavering faith in and unsullied devotion to

his preceptor. Hence his unique identity as

'yatirAja-pAdukA', verily the footwear of SrIrAmAnuja.

 

The others with such submissive proximity to uDaiyavar

were embAr gOvindap-perumAL described as rAmAnuja-

'padac-chhAyA' (silhouette of rAmAnuja's feet), and

anantAN-piLLai/anantAzhvAn as 'yati-nAtha-padASrita:'

(the one sheltered in rAmAnuja's feet).

 

What SrI-rAmAnuja did for SRIRANGAM.

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In order to appreciate and reverence ANDAn's place

in the history of SrIvaishNava 'sampradAyam', it is

important to study the spiritual career of uDaiyavar

himself.

 

The city of SRIRANGAM was at all times universally

regarded as the holy of holies of SrivaishNava religion,

but few have paused to ponder in what socio-political

conditions and with what stock of human resources

did SrI-rAmAnuja transform the place

from a univalent pilgrimage centre

 

~~ as tiruvEnkaTam-tirumalai has to-day been changed

into the focal site of votive offerings, as to lose

increasingly its 'sampradAya' animation ~~

 

to an unique seat of philosophic learning,

of sophisticated theological disquisition,

elegant communication and aesthetics, and

sensitively cultured humanistic values.

Verily the Athens of India, that is bhArata-varsham.

 

The backdrop of his times.

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At the time of SrI-rAmAnuja's advent, the north Indian

kingdoms were diminishing into principalities, and the

fabric of polity was wearing off. The brute turk culture

was just making inroads into this ancient civilisation.

 

The only memorable event was the visit of Al Biruni from

Baghdad, the orthodox muslim with unconcealed contempt for

many things Indian as being outside the pale of his 'ummat',

but a profound scholar and veritable chronicler who

admired varAha-mihira's astronomy treatise,

'sUrya-siddhAnta', as well as the UNALLOYED AND STEADY

MONOTHEISM OF VAISHNAVA RELIGION; his comprehensive

'Travels in India' is an important source-book of

our history. In the south, the classical chEra, chOzha

and pANDian kingdoms had steadied themselves, but lacked

a vision of polity beyond territorial suzerainty.

 

The times were however auspicious for SrIvaishNava

history, and the Lord had been so pleased, that the great

AchArya should succeed with such achievements as he did.

 

'divya-trayam' : Three-fold Blessings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The 'divya-prabandham' had been discovered by the venerable

AchArya Sri-nAthamuni ('bhakti' profound personified ~~

"paramArtha-samagra-bhakti-yOga:" ~~ as SrI ALavandAr

characterised nAthamuni),

 

the 'divya-sUri' (AzhvAr-s) had come to be recognized

as the theme of prophecy contained in bhAgavata-purANam

("kalAu khalu bhavishyanti nArAyaNa-parAyaNAh...

dramiDEshu cha bhUriSa:"),

 

but in the century subsequent to the great era of

the AzhvAr-s, the sacred sites hymned by the AzhvAr-s

remained to be irrigated by the surging tide of

devotionalism and thereby come into their own

as 'divya-dESam'.

 

It was SrIrAmAnuja who, inspired by a visit to the

vIra-nArAyaNapuram reservoir of his time (situated in

today's kATTu-mannAr-kOyil), had contemplated and

executed the unique network of devotional irrigation

for all the precious holy sites, enriched their

salt and scent, so to say, and effectively established

these as the precious 'divya-dESam'

envisioned by the AzhvAr-s.