Vithuvakodu- location

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There is claim that the Vithuvakodu divyadesam is the Mannar Koil near

Ambasamudram, Tirunelveli District. This claim is made in an article by

Mayan in Kumudam Bhakti Special recently. This claim is at variance to the

information published in many books, which say that the Divya Desam is near

Shoranur, Kerala. I have visited this temple which also has Sri Siva

Sannithi. This is now called Mitracodu by local people.

 

i would like some clarification on this matter.

 

Adiyen D balasundaram Ramanuja Dasan

 

 

 

D Bala Sundaram dbsundaram

 

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[Guest guest]

bhakti-list , "Bala Sundaram" <dbsundaram@h...>

wrote:

> There is claim that the Vithuvakodu divyadesam is the Mannar Koil

near

> Ambasamudram, Tirunelveli District. This claim is made in an

article by

> Mayan in Kumudam Bhakti Special recently. This claim is at variance

to the

> information published in many books, which say that the Divya Desam

is near

> Shoranur, Kerala. I have visited this temple which also has Sri

Siva

> Sannithi. This is now called Mitracodu by local people.

 

This is indeed a vexed question. Without taking away anything from

the sanctity vested in the two temples that you have mentioned, I

would like to point out to you couple of indicators:

 

1. tiruvittuvakkOTu has been sung only by kulacEkara AzvAr.

2. Most AzvArs would sing of the shrines near their native villages

rather than those far away from there.

3. PiLLailOkamjIyar in the vyAkhyAnam on upatEcarattinamAlai says

that vittuvakkOTu and vanjikkaLam are near each other.

 

Now for some contra-indicators:

 

1. NammAzvAr has not sung of it. There is not much of a Srivaishnava

presence in the modern Kerala town of vittuvakkOTu.

2. The other shrines sung by kulacEkara AzvAr are araGkam, vEGkaTam,

cittirakkUTam, kaNNapuram. Barring vEGkatam, all are in cOza country.

3. It is not clear if vittuvakkOTu and vanjikkaLam of the West coast

are next to each other. At least not so close that they match the

jIyar's description.

4. A description such as "ghuSyate yasya nagare ranga yAtrA dine

dine" would imply a town near Srirangam rather than far away.

 

Now for some other clues 'unrelated' to above:

 

1. The upatEcarattinamAlai verse 31 gives tiruvanjikkaLam as the

AzvAr's hometown:

 

"eNTicaiyum Ettum kulacEkaran Urena vuraippar vAytta

tiruvaJcikkaLam".

 

Btw, the upatEcarattinamAlai has been translated into Sanskrit by the

AcArya Sri AbhirAmavara SwAmi who is the grandson of maNavALa

mAmunikaL himself. He has translated the above quoted line

as "vikhyAta zrIkulazEkharajanyadezah pradhyAvartA

niculAnAmapurIjaganyA".

 

This has been used to identify tiruvanjikkaLAm with karUr-vanji i.e.,

modern Karur. (niculA = vanjuLam). vanjuLAraNyam is a name for karUr-

vanji but not for the West Coast vanjikkaLam. vanji in Malayalam

means a boat (?)

 

2. Also, there is a vittuvakkoTTagrahAram by the bank of the

Amaravati river near modern Karur.

 

You may want to pursue these leads yourself.

 

Warm Regards,

 

LS