Regarding Thirumangai Alvar ...

[Guest guest]

Hare Krishna.

 

I recently read of Thirumangai Alvar's prior acts before he obtained the

darshanam of Lord Narayana.

A doubt came to my mind.

 

The narration is as follows :-

 

"TIRUMANGAI ACARYA: In AD 1017 along with his disciples Tola Vazhakkan,

Taluduvan, Nizhalai Mithippan and Nirmal Naddapan he (Tirumangai acarya)

arrived at the temple of Lord Ranganatha. Seeing the temple to be in a

state of total disrepair, "dilapidated and full of bats" he decided to

build an opulent temple to Ranganathji, but there was no money. He

approached every rich man in the vicinity for help, not only did they

refuse to give him "even a small coin" but blasphemed him as well. Finally,

Tirumangai called his disciples to him, "Now then," he instructed, "let us

rob these rascals and use their money for building a temple and feeding the

poor." With the assistance of his disciples, Tirumangai soon became the

leader of a large gang of robbers. For sixty years he raided the

countryside in order to accomplish the building of Sri Rangam, After the

temple was built, the robbers approached Tirumangai acarya (who had managed

to stall them all that time) asking for their share of the loot. In

consultation with his disciple Nirmal Naddapan (who could walk on water),

they planned an assassination. Pretending to lead the robbers to a hidden

stash of wealth, the cunning Naddapan took the thieves out to sea and

drowned them all. Does the building of Sri Rangam, justify the activities

of Tirumangai acarya? Pilgrims to Sri Rangam and those who worship in the

Ramunajacarya line, think that the acarya's association/murder of the

thieves justified the means to an end."

 

How are we to understand these things ? that an acharya committed murder

prior to obtaining the mercy of the Lord ?

that in the pursuit of bhagavad kainkaryam these things maybe tolerated ? it

sounds difficult to understand. I hope that one of the Bhagavatas on the

list can enlighten this poor fool in the manner of understanding the

pastimes of a great Acharya.

 

Are we to compare the Alvar's experience to that of Valmiki's being a robber

before he wrote the Ramayanam, or of Mrgari's hunting cruelty before he met

Narada Muni, or of Ajamila's plight prior to his experience with the

Vishnudutas and Yamadutas ?

 

 

Vaishnava dasanudasan,

R. Jai Simman

Singapore

[Guest guest]

Sri Jaisimman wrote:

> I recently read of Thirumangai Alvar's prior acts before he obtained the

> darshanam of Lord Narayana.

> A doubt came to my mind.

> The narration is as follows :-

 

The account as presented of the traditional life of Sri Tirumangai Alvar

makes the saint out to be a cold-blooded killer. What is worse, the

author of the paragraph implies that Sri Vaishnavas today encourage

murder and assassination as long as it serves a religious purpose.

 

These implications stem from several problems. First, the account is

a poor retelling of the traditional story, with significant errors and

omissions. Second, the account assumes that the legend is meant to

teach Sri Vaishnavas about morality, when in fact the whole purpose

is simply to impress upon the reader the saint's complete dedication

to Lord Sri Ranganatha, much like a comic book hyperbolically states the

exploits of a superhero. I have not met a single person who feels that

Sri Vaishnavas are to imitate the legend, instead of listening to the

teachings of the Alvar as expressed in his poems and elaborated by the

pUrvAcAryas in their commentaries.

 

Let me first go through some of the basic errors, and then discuss

the status and origin of these and other legends. The author of

the "biography" has unfortunately not studied the original material

and has relied on third-hand, unscholarly sources.

 

First, Tirumangai Alvar is traditionally dated in the hagiographies

to 2800 B.C. Scholarly opinion is that he lived circa 9th century

C.E. It is Sri Ramanuja who was born in 1017.

 

Second, the saint renovated the Great Temple at Srirangam much *after*

his beatific vision of Sriman Narayana, in which he received the holy

ashTAkshara-mantra. According to all traditional accounts, he first

finished his pilgrimage of the sacred sites throughout India and then,

seeing the Srirangam kOyil in disrepair, sought to repair it.

 

Third, the saint's life of highway robbery happened *before* his

full conversion as a Vaishnava. The account is that he robbed the

rich so that he could keep the promise made to his wife to feed 1008

Vaishnavas daily.

 

To gild the vimAna of the Great Temple, Tirumangai Alvar is said to

have taken melted a golden image of Buddha at Nagapatnam after a

great deal of effort.

 

Fourth, regarding the killing of the robbers. This account is not found

in many manuscripts of the early biographies, which throws the episode

itself in doubt. In fact, his four "partners in crime" are also not

mentioned in the early manuscripts. Be that as it may, these episodes are

in many subsequent biographies, including the Divya Suri Charitam, so it

has become part of the story of the Alvar. What the author of the paragraph

below has missed is that as the story goes, each and every one of the

robbers who drowned was immediately given moksha and bore no ill-will

toward Tirumangai. This may sound like unneeded apologetics, as killing

*is* killing. But we are dealing with a hagiological legend here, and it

has to be quoted properly to understand the context.

 

The main problem is confusing these colorful accounts with morality

tales. It is worth pointing out that not a single pUrvAcArya mentions

this killing episode, nor does anyone teach that the more interesting

episodes of the Alvar's life are worth emulating. Even today, the

charitram of this Alvar is mentioned more for entertainment value than

for meaning-making. We have to accept them for what they are -- stories

for the purpose of elaborating on the intensity of the Alvar's affection

for Lord Ranganatha. A good comparison here would be the story of

Krishna. I am sure all of us are agreed that we are not kill our

own uncles like Krishna killed Kamsa, no matter how evil they may be.

 

For the best possible picture of the lives of the Alvars, we should rely on

the following, in order of priority:

 

(1) The Alvars' poetry

(2) Inscriptional evidence

(3) Statements by the early acharyas (pUrvAcAryas)

in their commentaries and stotras

(4) Traditional hagiologies and verse biographies, taking note

of later interpolations

(5) Popular belief

 

We find that (4) and (5) are very often thought of as being indisputable

facts, when in reality, the pious imagination of generations has embroidered

what little can be definitively said about the Alvars. There is no way

of knowing for certain whether all that has been attributed to the Alvar

actually occurred. He may have done it all, he may have not. The problem

is exacerbated by the fact that popular beliefs quickly morph from generation

to generation, eventually finding their way in the form of interpolations into

the hagiologies themselves, which are already exaggerated accounts. This

phenomenon is not unique and can also be seen in life histories of saints who

lived as recently as this century.

 

Let us see what we can gather from each of the sources.

 

(1) The Alvars' poetry give us only basic details of their life stories.

They do not indulge in autobiography. For most of them, we are lucky to know

their name, place of birth, and social class, thanks to signature stanzas

which occur at the end of each set of verses. We also gain occasional insight

into their character from their expressions of regret and self-condemnation.

In Tirumangai's case, by his own admission he led a life of debauchery and

indulgence before he was gifted the sacred eight-syllabled Narayana mantra,

the ashTAkshara. We also know from his poetry that after receiving the

ashTAkshara, he was totally immersed in devotion to PerumaaL, travelling

on a pilgrimage of holy sites that literally circumambulated the subcontinent.

His travels took him to Tiruppiriti and Badari in the north and ended at

Tirukkottiyur in the south.

 

This is all we can gather from Tirumangai's own words, so this is all

we can say *for sure* is true about the saint's life.

 

(2) As far as I know, we are not left with any inscriptions contemporaneous

with Tirumangai, so we are out of luck here.

 

(3) The commentaries on the Prabandham are reliable in that they are

relatively free from interpolation. We also find that they are unusually

free of the hyperbole that characterizes the hagiologies and verse

biographies. But the pUrvAcAryas tend to avoid excessive biography,

sticking mostly to interpreting the Alvar's mind. Perhaps this is

because they realized that the life stories as they knew them were

already a hard-to-separate mix of fact and fiction.

 

With respect to Tirumangai, we have one verse from Sri Parasara Bhattar's

"SrI rangarAja stavam" which describes the Alvar's involvement in the

Srirangam temple:

 

We prostrate before the many rampart walls

and bejewelled halls constructed by the poet

Parakala [Tirumangai Alvar] in Ranga's city,

as if making Vedic even the jewelled images

of the Jains and others outside the Vedic

tradition, who were defeated!

 

jita bAhya jinAdi-maNi-pratimAH

api vaidikayan iva rangapure |

maNi-maNTapa-vapragaNAn vidadhe

parakAla-kaviH praNamemahi tAn || (1.36)

>From this we can gather that it was understood in Bhattar's time

that Tirumangai Alvar had taken precious Jain and Buddhist images

and had used their material for decorating Srirangam. We do not

know how the Alvar procured the images. The verse says that the

Jains and others were defeated, so perhaps it was in debate, but

he very well may have stolen them.

 

(4) The important hagiological source for Tirumangai Alvar's life, upon

which all other accounts are based is the 13th century classic, the

"guru paramparA prabhAvam" (GPP) by pinpazhagiya perumAL jIyar. Even

this text is heavily interpolated, but even so, we learn the following

from the original account:

 

Tirumangai was born was born near Tiruvali-Tirunagari at place called

Tirukuraiyalur. A baby of beautiful, dark complexion like baby

Krishna himself, he was given the name Neelan or 'the Dark One'. He belonged

to

a martial clan and was promptly trained by his father in all the military

arts.

As he came of age, his valour was recognized by the Chola king and he was

appointed chieftain of a section of the kingdom and given an army to command.

 

Time passed in this manner. One day, he saw a maiden named Kumudavalli

and instantly became infatuated with her. He immediately collected all

manners of jewelry, garments, and other gifts, and approached her

parents for her hand in marriage, to which they were willing. Upon asking

the maiden, however, she refused, saying she would never marry one who

was not a Vaishnava bearing the marks of Sankha, cakra, etc. He immediately

went to Tirunaraiyur and requested the Lord himself to perform the needful.

Having secured the holy marks of a Vaishnava, he returned, but Kumudavalli

further demanded Neelan agree to offer meals daily to 1008 Vaishnavas,

eat the remnants of their food, and purify himself by sipping holy water

obtained by washing their feet; only then would she accede to his request.

Neelan once again immediately agreed, and the marriage was conducted with

great pomp.

 

True to his word, Neelan began feeding countless Vaishnavas every day.

He slowly drained all the wealth he had acquired, and resorted to highway

robbery to keep his promise. One day, PerumaaL and Thaayar decided

to bestow their grace upon this servant of Vaishnavas, so they donned

the robes of a rich couple and strode through the woods which Neelan was

known to rob. Neelan sprang upon the couple and one by one removed all their

jewelry and riches and placed them in a bag. As he was about to make his

getaway, he found himself suddenly unable to lift the bag. He indignantly

asked the rich man what "mantra" he was using to make it so heavy. PerumaaL

said he would tell the bandit, whom he addressed as 'Kaliyan', only if

he would show him his right ear. Kaliyan did, and to him was revealed the

mantra of all mantras, the essence of all the Vedas, the ashTAkshara

mahA-mantra.

 

The Alvar now was overcome with divine grace and broke forth in poetry,

describing his inner experience. He composed six works beginning with

the Periya Tirumozhi and went on a pilgrimage of sacred sites through

the country, singing benediction to Sriman Narayana in each place.

 

Upon his return to Srirangam, he noticed that the temple was physically

in very bad condition. With great difficulty and some verbal sleight,

he managed to steal a golden image of Buddha from Nagapatnam. He melted

the idol and used the proceeds to renovate the gopura-s and build new

ramparts for the Great Temple, carefully working so as to not disturb

Sri Tondar-adi-podi Alvar who was resident there at the time.

 

 

Many later aspects of the legend are absent here, though they are present in

some interpolated versions of the GPP.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,

Mani

 

[ tortured account posted earlier follows: ]

> "TIRUMANGAI ACARYA: In AD 1017 along with his disciples Tola Vazhakkan,

> Taluduvan, Nizhalai Mithippan and Nirmal Naddapan he (Tirumangai acarya)

> arrived at the temple of Lord Ranganatha. Seeing the temple to be in a

> state of total disrepair, "dilapidated and full of bats" he decided to

> build an opulent temple to Ranganathji, but there was no money. He

> approached every rich man in the vicinity for help, not only did they

> refuse to give him "even a small coin" but blasphemed him as well. Finally,

> Tirumangai called his disciples to him, "Now then," he instructed, "let us

> rob these rascals and use their money for building a temple and feeding the

> poor." With the assistance of his disciples, Tirumangai soon became the

> leader of a large gang of robbers. For sixty years he raided the

> countryside in order to accomplish the building of Sri Rangam, After the

> temple was built, the robbers approached Tirumangai acarya (who had managed

> to stall them all that time) asking for their share of the loot. In

> consultation with his disciple Nirmal Naddapan (who could walk on water),

> they planned an assassination. Pretending to lead the robbers to a hidden

> stash of wealth, the cunning Naddapan took the thieves out to sea and

> drowned them all. Does the building of Sri Rangam, justify the activities

> of Tirumangai acarya? Pilgrims to Sri Rangam and those who worship in the

> Ramunajacarya line, think that the acarya's association/murder of the

> thieves justified the means to an end."

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Dear Sri Mani,

 

What a beautiful write up on Num Kaiyan. Thanks for sharing the excellent and

brilliant account of ThirumangaiAzhwAr's biography.

 

enhaL gathiyE! iraamanusa muniyE!

sankhai kedutthANda thava raasaa!

mangaiyar kOn maRai aayiram anaitthum

thangum manam nee enakkutth thaa.

 

Regards

Narayana Narayana

adiyEn Narayana DAsan Madhavakkannan

 

Also furnished below is another Bhagawatha by name Sri Shrinath (of Singapore)'s

admiration:

=========================

Srimathe rangapriya mahadaSikaya nama:

Srimathe ramanujaya nama

Srimathe lakShmi narasimha parabrahmaNe nama:

 

Dear Shri maNi,

Your reply to Shri jayasimhan on kalian was really beautiful and

superb. It brought tears to adiyen's eyes. may lord Sri

lakshmihayagriva bestow his grace on you to attain vakpaTutvam and

jnyanam to do this holy kainkaryam of this sacred list.

Dasan,

M.K.ShrinaTH

[Guest guest]

Hi,

 

Many thanks to Sri Mani for his detailed and careful response to Sri

Jayasimhan's query on Sri Thirumangai Azhvar. It reminds me that our

Srivaishnavam is not a closed ism that won't tolerate critical scrutiny!

 

My humble thanks to Sri Satakopan for his delectable Hayagriva Stotram

postings and to Sri Madhava Kannan for his Thirumozhi postings.

 

Thanks,

Srikanth