ThirukkuRungudi& Kaisiki Natakam Revival: Srimathi Anita Rajyalakshmi Rathnams' mahOpakAram : Part I

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

Among the 108 dhivya desams dear to Sri VaishNavas,

there is one in Paandya Naadu , which has deep links

to Sri VaishNava sampradhAyam. This dhivya dEsam is

27 miles from ThirunelvEli .It is not far from

AzhwAr Thirunahari ( ThirukkuruhUr ) , where Swami

NammAzhwAr , our Kula Pathy was born and blessed us

with the four Dhivya prabhandhams . This dhivya dEsam

is none other than Thirukkurungudi.

 

The Mahimai of this KshEthram

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

 

ThirukkuruhUr SatakOpan was born due to the blessings

of the EmperumAn of this dhivya kshEthram .The parents of

NammAzhwAr (MaaRan and Udaya NangayAr) prayed for

the blessings of a child and Thirukkurungudi Nampi

responded to that prayer .Thus incarnated NammAzhwAr.

 

It is at ThirukkuRungudi , Thirumanagai , who blessed

us wth the six Tamizh VedAnghams for the four Tamizh

MaRais (VedAs) of Swamy NammAzhwAr ascended to paramapadham .

Thirumangai blessed us with 25 of the 40 paasurams

associated with ThirukkuRungudi Nampi. Swamy NammAzhwAr

performed MangaLAsAsanam with 13 paasurams. PeriyAzhwAr

and Thirumazhisai blessed us with one paasuram each.

 

Here came AchArya RaamAnujA for mangaLAsAasanam

and to enjoy the SubhAsraya ThirumEni of ThirukkuRungudi

Nampi . The Lord of this dhivya dEsam was so pleased that

He took on the form of Sishyan and approached

AchArya RaamAnujA for kaalakshEpam on VedanthA

meanings in general and the esoteric meanings

of Thiru AshtAksharam in particular . The stone by

the river side,where AchArya RaamAnujA sat and

performed UpadEsam to ThirukkuRungudi Nampi is known

as Thiruparivattap-PaaRai and it is still there for

us to touch and have AchArya Sambhandham . ThirukkuRungudi

Nampi was "initiated into the Sri VaishNava fold"

by AchArya RaamAnujA himself in the traditional manner

and received the daasya nAmam of VaishNava Nampi

from AchArya RaamAnujA . Mysterious indeed are

the leelais of Sriman NaarAyaNan based on His

Soulabhya GuNam , when it comes to honoring

the Sri VaishNavite AchAryAs !

 

The KshEthram Deatails:

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There are six sannidhis . PerumAL gives us

His darsanam as Sri ViashNava Nampi, MalaimEl

Nampi, Iruntha Nampi, Kidantha Nampi , ThiruppARkkadal

Nampi and ThirukkuRungudi Nampi .ThAyAr has

the naamadEyam of KuRungudivalli NaacchiyAr.

The VimAnam is panchakEtaka Vimanam. The theertham

is panchathuRai .The river is ThiruppARkkadal.

PerumAl stands in NinRa ThirukkOlam and faces

East. He is prathyaksham to Lord Sivan , His

grandson, who is standing nearby. Lord Siva

as AhirbudhnyA is at His temple between the two temples of

NinRa Nampi and Kidantha Nampi .

 

The sannidhi for Malai mEl Nampi is at MahEndra Giri,

a hillock, some six miles away from the Main sannidhi.

ThiruppARkkadal Nampi is at His temple on the river bank.

The main temple is a big one with beautiful sculptures.

Untill recently , there was a colony of bats at

the temple and the TVS Family under the leadership of

Srimathi Anita (Raajyalakshmi) Rathnam drove out

the bats and the Sannadhi is now free from

" the bat bhakthAs " who had their own kOlAhalam for

a few years .

 

The TVS family

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

 

This family has been at the forefront of many

Sri VaishNavite philanthropies. The founder of

the TVS Establishment is Sri T.V.Sundaram Iyengar

who is legendary . His eldest son was SriT.S.Rajam

and his son was Sri T.R.Rathnam and Srimathi Anitha

Ratnam is latter's daughter. Thus Srimathi Ratnam ,

on eof the top exponents of Bahratha Naatyam

and other dance forms is the great grand daughter

of Sri T.V.Sundaram Iyengar of PeriyANDavan

AchArya paramparai. Our family (my father and

grand father) had strong connections to

Sri TVS family for four decades now.

 

Srimathi Anita Ratnam has done a mahOpakAram by

reviving(reconstructing) the ancient dance-drama

known as Kaiski Natakam . Three years of tireless

work led to ther first performance on the last

Kaisiki natakam (November 19, 1999)based on

NampAduvAn's unique worship of Thirukkurungudi

Nampi on Kaisiki Ekadasi day.

 

In the Varaha PurANam , our Lord tells MahA Lakshmi

about His great joy in being worshipped through

dance and music. The Kaisiki Natakam is a dance-

music-drama going back to seven hundred years .

The story of NampAduVan born in a chandaLA caste

and his promise to the Brahma Raakshasan about

being his food AFTER the worship of ThirukkuRungudi

Nampi and the happy resolution with the intervention

of the Lord is a pious story that transcends

the divisions of class and caste, when it comes to

the BhakthAs of BhagavAn.

 

The Kaisika EkAdasi is as sacred as Sri Vaikunta

EkAdasi ; AasthikAs fast that day and listen to kaisika

PurANam being read at Srirangam or the Kaisika Naatakam

performed at ThirukkuRungudi and listen to the music

and dance in praise of Nampi PerumAL .There is an

audio casette rendition of this kaisika PurAnam by

the Sri Vaishnavite scholar ,Dr.VenakatakrishNan of

ThiruvallikkENI.

 

Since the passing away of Sri T.V.Sundaram Iyengar ,

the Kaisiki Naatakam performance was discontinued and

in 1999 , after a 44 year hiatus , thanks to the great

efforts of Srimathi Anita Ratnam , this dance drama

has been performed in the Nampi's sannidhi. The scale

of this effort has to be understood and appreciated

in the context of nonavailability in full form ,

the script , music, movement and style. The previous

performers of the old Kaisiki Naatakam group have

become old and had to be encouraged to come back

on stage and share it with others from TanjAvUr

as well as those from MelattUr Bhaagavatha Melam

community .

 

Srimathi Anita ratnam has written a special article

on the Novemeber 19,99 Kaisiki Naatakam performance

at ThirukkuRungudi in Sruthi magazine ( July 2000 issue)

and from there ,one can understand the magnitude of

the effort to reconstrcut the Naatakam after such

a long time of lapse. There wer 3,000 persons , who enjoyed

the 3 hour and 15 minutes performance with a total

of 22 actors and musicians. The age of the oldest actors

from previous times was 84 , who took a brief role.

The reconstruction process continues and Nampi

PerumAl had a preview on November 19, 1999.

During this year, the next version of Kaisiki

Naatakam will be performed for ThirukkuRungudi

Nampi by Srimathi Anita Ratnam's group. I request

her to let us know of the date of performance for this year

so that BhakthAs traveling from here to India as well

as the BhakthAs in India can join in the celebrations.

Thank you Anita for your marvellous contributions

to reconstruct this dance-drama !

 

The great ParAsara Bhattar and Kaisika PurANam

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

 

The precocious kumArar of KurEsar ,ParAsara Bhattar

has written a commentary on Kaisika PurAnam , which

forms the 48th chapter of Varaha PurAnam (VAP).

This section of VarAha purANam celebrates

the importance of singing the glory of the Lord

at Brahma MuhUrtham .

 

There are 92 slOkAs in the 48th chapter of VAP.

On one Kaiski EkaAdasi day , ParAsara Bhattar

recited and intrepreted the Kaisiki PurANam before

Lord RanganAtha , who was immensely pleased

and accorded the honor of Brahma ratham

( Carriage in a palanquin by Brahmins) at

the end of that recital. This tradition is

carried out at Srirangam temple even today

by the descendants of ParAsara Bhattar.

 

May this tradition of Bhakthi thrive forever !

 

Daasan , Oppilaippan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan

[Guest guest]

Dear Sir,

Your note. I can only recall with ecstasy

arulkondAdum adiyavarinbura

arulinan avvarumaraiinporul...(Madurakavi- Kanninunn siru..).

May the great Anita continue to Bat,along with those great and aged BaghavathAs

for long and ever.

Regards

V.Narasimhan

 

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of bats at

the temple and the TVS Family under the leadership of

Srimathi Anita (Raajyalakshmi) Rathnam drove out

the bats and the Sannadhi is now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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- SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -

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