Paasurappadi DasAvathara sthuthi

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

This morning adiyEn had the opportunity to hear

the beautiful DasAvathAra Raaga Maalika kruthi

in 10 RaagAs sung by the late SangItha KalAnidhis

AalatthUr Brothers.This krithi starts with

Mohana Raagam.

 

DasaavathAra Raaga Maalikia krithi

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This krithi is a beautiful one composed by

the former King of Travancore, Swathi ThirnALL

( 1813-47A.D).This king , a contemproary of

Saint ThyagarAjA and ruled KeraLA (ParasurAma KshEthram)

as the representative of Sri Aanantha PadmanAbha Perumal ,

who had received the MangaLAsAsanams from Swamy NammAzhwAr

( ThiruvAimozhi : 10.2.1-11) earlier.

 

The Saahithya KarthA's ankitham (MudhrAs)

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Swathi ThirunALL's main mudhrA as a composer in

his saahithyams ( ParyAya MudhrA) is "PadmanAbhA".

The other MudhrAs that he used to salute the Lord

with reference to the Lotus (Padma )arising from his

naabhi are : Abja NAbha , AmbhOruha nAbha, Ambuja nAbha ,

Jalaja nAbha , Jalaruha nAbha, Kamala nAbha ,

Khanja nAbha ,NaLina nAbha, Neeraja nAbha , Pankaja nAbha ,

PundarIka nAbha , Saarasa nAbha , SarasIruha nAbha,

SarOja nAbha , Vanaja nAbhA , Vanaruha nAbha, Vaarija-

nAbha and Vaariruha nAbha . Such was His devotion

for the Lord of Thiruvananthapuram , his kula dhaivam.

 

Swamy ALavandhAr's anubhavam at Thiruvananthapuram

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Prior to describing the effect of listening to

this beautifully renderd Sanskrit DasAvathAra Krithi of

the MaharAjA of Travancore , adiyEn would like to

dwell briefly on what happened to Swamy ALavandhAr

at Thiruvananthapuram .It all started from Swamy

ALavandhAr hearing and reflecting on the Paasurams of

Swamy NammAzhwAr on the EmperumAn of Thiruvananthapuram.

 

Swamy NammAzhwAr asked all of us to rush to the side of

Sri Hari Lakshmi SamEtha Sri Aanantha PadhmanAbha Swamy

to receive freedom form all samsAric Afflictions . When

Swamy AlavandhAr heard the recital of these paasurams ,

he just took off as an arrow to Thiruvananthapuram and

enjoyed the sevai of the Lord there and stayed there

for a while steeped in the bliss of BhagavAn's

sEvai . In this ecstacy , he forgot the date by which

he should have returned to Veera NaarAyanapuram

to be initiated into Yoga Rahasyam from his grandfather's

(Naathamuni's) sishyan by the name of Thirukkuruhai-

Kaavalappan .

 

Naatha Muni was initated earlier by Swamy NammAzhwAr

on the esoteric Yoga Rahasya anushtAnam as a special

blessing at ThirukkuruhUr. Naatha Muni in turn had

entrusted his disciple ,Thirukkuruhai Kaavalappan (TK)

to receive the upadEsam on Yoga rahasyam. AlavandhAr

was asked by his AchAryan, Sri Raama Misrar to receive

the Yoga Rahasyam initiation (Family property )

from Thirukkurhai Kaavalappan and latter obliged happily.

Sri TK asked Swamy AlavandhAr to return before the coming

Thai Pushyam , since he was going to shake off

his mortal coils during the abhijin muhUrtham of

that special day. AlavandhAr felt blessed and

took a short trip to Thiruvanathapuram to

worship Sri Anantha PadhmanAbhan . There he lost

count of time and suddenly relaized that it was

Thai Pushyam day and could not return to Veera-

NaarAyaNa puram in time to receive the much

longeed-for upadEsam on Yoga Rahasyam. Swamy

AlavandhAr was heart broken over his misfortune .

>From that day , the yoga Rahasyam disappeared

from anushtAnam due to the break in the chain of

UpadEsam. Swamy AlavandhAr returned to Srirangam

and in a trip to Kaanchi prayed to Lord VaradarAjan

to bless Sri RaamAnujA to become his successor

in the AchArya Peetam .

 

Reflections on listening to the DasAvathAra Krithi

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The reflection on the DasAvathAra Krithi of

Swathi ThirunALL brought all these associative

memories. AdiyEn was moved to compose a small eulogy

to the DasAvathArams of Sriman NaarAyaNan using

the words of AzhwAr Paasurams ( Paasurap Padi).

AdiyEn has started this series with the Paasurams of

PeriyAzhwAr and ANDAL's pORRIt Thiruppavai( 24th Paasuram ).

 

 

AdiyEn presents it as samarpaNam at the sacred

feet of Sri Hari Lakshmi SamEtha Sri PadmanAbha Prabhan.

 

DasaavathAra sthuthi (Paasurappadi )

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1. anthiyam pOthilariyuruvAhi ariyai

azhitthavan guNam pORRI --(ThiruppallANDu )

 

2. thEvudaya MeenamAyAmayAi yEnamAi ariyAik KuRaLAi

Moovruvili RaamanAik KaNnanAi KaRkkiyAI MudippAn

puhazh pORRi-- Periya Thirumozhi: 4.9.9)

 

Here, PeriyAzhwAr salutes all the ten avathArams

of Sri RanganAthan . He starts with the MatsyAvathAram

and points out that it was "ThEvudaya Meenam ".

The lustre of that fish (mathsyam )grew bigger and

bigger as it grew in to larger and larger sizes.

 

The second avathAram is KoorMAvathAram and is

saluted as "AamayAi". The third in the order is

VarAhAvathAram and is described as " yEnamAi".

The fourth avathAraam is that of Narasimhan

(ariyAi) , which was saluted first in ThiruppallANDu.

The fifth avathAram is that of the dwarf brahmachAri

(KuRaLAi) , who measured the universes later as Thrivikraman.

 

The sixth , seventh and the eighth avathArams of

Sri RanganAthan are those three , which have the Raama

nAmam in common ( ParasuRAAMA , Dasaratha RAAMA and

Balabhadra RAAMA ). The ninth avathAram is that of

Lord KrishNA ( KaNNanAI) and the final avathArAm

that is yet to happen is that of Kalki ( KaRkkiyAI).

 

3. annamum meenruvmALariyum KuRaLum Amayum aanavanE

AayarkaL Naayakan aDi pORRi --( Periya Thirumozhi: 1.5.11)

 

Here PriyAzhwAr is enjoying the senkeerai aadum

stage of Baala Gopalan and has the vision of some of

the dasAvathArams (Mathsyam , Narasimhan, Vaamanan

and Koormam ) of the Lord of the GOpAs.

 

4. KaaLiyan uchciyilE thooya nadam payilum

Sundaran thALL poRRI --(Periya Thirumozhi 1.5.6)

 

The dance lessons on the hoods of the serpent KaaLiyan

by Baala GOpAlan is saluted here.

 

5. Panchavar thUthanAi BhAratham kai seythavaa pORRi

(Periya Thirumozhi 1.8.1, AcchO paruvam)

 

The act of serving as the PaaNDava DhUthan and

the management of the Bhaaratha yuddham

to lighten the load of the Earth is saluted here.

 

6. Maavali vELviyil Sukkiran KaNNait thurumpAl

KiLariya Vaamana nampI ninn thiRal pORRi

(PeriyAzhwAr : 2.10.7 & 2.3.8)

 

Here, the piercing the eye of SukrAcchAr (asura guru)

by Vaamanan who took the form of a bee to block

the flow of water from the GhiNdi of MaahA Bali

is sluted here.Vaamana mUrthy took a dharbham

and with its sharp edge pierced one eye of the

asura Guru to stop him from interfering.

 

7. yEnatthuruvAi immaNNinai iDantha VarAha NampI

ninn sathirp pORRi (PeriyAzhwAr: 2.10.9 )

 

The pictureof BhUvarAhan lifting BhUmi Devi

on His incisor is visualized here.

 

8. Tankayai mookum tamayanait talayum taDittha

yemm Daasarathy nin kaiyil vill pORRI

(PeriyAzhwAr : 4.7.1)

 

Lord RaamachandrA's cutitng the nose of SoorpaNakai,

who offended JaanakI maathA and the cutting of

the heads of RaavaNan , who offended Jaanaki dEvi

is referrd to here.

 

Naathanai Narasinghanai navinREtthuvArkaLuzhakkiya

paatha thooLi paduvathAl ivvulaham bhAkkiyam seythathE

( periyAzhwAr : 4.4.6)

 

We will conclude this posting with a tribute to

Lord Narasimhan as we started with and remember

PeriyAzhwAr's word that this earth is blessed

to have the connection with the dust of the feet of

Sri VaishNavAs , who worship Lord Narasimhan through

their sthOthrams and AarAdhanams like Srimath

Azhagiya Singar .

 

NaarAyaNa , NaarAyaNa , NaarAyaNa,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil SatakOpan