divya dEsam - thanjai mAmaNik kOvil

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srImathE saTakOpAya namaha

srImathE rAmAnujAya namaha

srImathE anantArya mahA guravE namaha

srIman vara vara munayE namaha

 

November 9,2000

 

dear bhAgavathAs,

 

this write-up is on thanjai mAmaNik kOvil. This divya dEsam has

already been adopted by the bahrain srIvaishNava satsangham members.

 

{background posting on the divya dEsam support project can be located

on /message/bhakti-list/10011 . Another

recent update on the divya dEsam support project is on

/message/bhakti-list/10985 }

 

{Note: Most of the details are from the book "108 vaiNava divya dEsa

varalaaRU published bu srI vaiNava sidhdhAntha nUl padhipu kazhagam".

Any pAsuram paraphrasing/rough translation is adiyEn English rendering

of srI. prativAdi bayankaram aNNangarAchAriAr svAmi's divyArtha

dIpikai - mostly the padavurais - Needless to say, any mistake in this

posting is adiyEn's and adiyEn's alone}

 

 

There are three temples(perumALs) in this divya dEsam.

1st temple - thanjai mAmaNik kOvil

mUlavar - nIlamEgap perumaL, east facing, sitting posture

thAyAr - senkamalavallith thAyAr

thIrtham - kannikA pushkaraNi, veNNARu

vimAnam - soundharya vimAnam

 

2nd temple - maNikkunRam

mUlavar - maNik kunRap perumAL, east facing, sitting posture

thAyAr - ambujavallith thAyAr

thIrtham - srIrAma thIrtham

vimAnam - maNikkooda vimAnam

 

3rd tempe - thanjaiyALi nagar

mUlavar - narasimhan, east facing, sitting posture

thAyAr - thanjai nAyaki

thIrtham - sUrya pushkaraNi

vimAnam - vEdasundara vimAnam

 

 

sthala purANam:

mention of this sthalam is made in brahmANda purANam.

 

in krEthAyuga, in the lineage of a king known as madhu, three

asurAs were born as brothers. They were thanjakan, thanDakan

and gajamukhan. The three of them performed severe penance

towards sivA. sivA appeared in front of them and asked for

their desire. They replied that they wanted immortality. sivA

answered that only vishNu has the power to give that boon;

however he (sivA) will grant that the death for the three

brothers will not be through him (sivA)

 

After recieving that boon from sivA, the three brothers, with

a lot of arrogance, started to dominate all the worlds including

indralOka and created havoc. They disturbed all the rishis that

were performing penances and caused untold harm to them. At this

time there was a rishi called parAsura who was performing

worship/penance to vishNu. There was drought in the land at that

time and there was no water anywhere except for a small pond near

where sage parAsara was performing penance/worship. The three

borthers, after they had searched a long time for water, came to

the place where sage parAsara was, and drank water from the pond.

 

On seeing the sage performing penance, they started disturbing

him and started causing harm to him. the sage called out

"Hari Hari Hari" to seek the Lord's help in removing the

obstacles presented by the three brothers. Lord vishNu sent

garuda to help the sage. garudA destroyed all of the asurAs that

were part of the three brothers' army. However, he could not

kill the three brothers.

 

On seeing this, perumAL Himself came in person and with his discus,

cut the head off the first brother - thanjakan. Realising his

mistake, thanjakan regretted his deeds and asked perumAL that the

place where he died be named after him. So, the place became to

be known as thanjakanUr - that became thanjakUr and currently

thanjAvUr. This perumAL is nIlamEgap perumAL (thanjai mAmaNik kOvil)

 

On seeing the death of his brother, the next asurA, gajamukhA

came in the form of an elephant and started to attempt to fight

perumAL. He took the form of narasimha and killed gajamukhA. Just

before he died, gajamukhA realised his mistakes and surrendered to

perumAL and asked for mOksha. Since he surrendered, perumAL granted

him that wish. This perumAL is called thanjaiyALi.

 

On seeing his two brothers die, the third brother, thandakAsuran,

went deep into bAthALam to hide. perumAL took the form of varAha,

chased the asura into bAthALam and killed him. the asurA, realising

his misdeeds just before his death, surrendered to perumAL and

requested that the place be known after him. perumAL granted that wish

and the land directly above where the asura was killed became to be

known as dhandakAraNyam. perumAL came up into the earth directly

above where He killed thandakAsura. that place is called thirumuttam

- srImushNam, where to this day, perumAL graces all devotees with

His kindness in the form of varAha as bhUvarAhap perumAL.

 

There are three temples in this divya dEsam currently. Even though

there are three perumALs, AzhvArs, while performing maNgaLAsAsanams

have taken all three perumALs to be one perumAL.

 

key points about the divya dEsam:

 

1. after perumAL came to this place, it is said that kubEra asked

viswakarma, the architect for the dEvAs, to build a city here.

viswakarma built a city in the form of a garudA that is flying. It

is said that in this city, since it is in the shape of a flying

garudA, garudA protects everyone.

 

2. It is also considered by learned people that the three perumALs,

srI nIlamEgan, srI maNikkunRan and srI vIrasinghap perumAl are with

srIdEvi, bhUdEvi and nILadEvi in this divya dEsam.

 

3. the river here is supposed to be the same as virajA nadhi that

flows in paramapadam. In tamizh, that river is called veNNARu -

a derivative of viN+aaRu.

 

4. At one time, the three temples were in different locations around

thanjAvUr. (nIlamEgap perumAL near maNimuththAru, maNikkunRap perumAL

in the part known as kaLimEdu, narasinghap perumAL near a pond

called singap perumAL kuLam). During the rule of the nAyakkars, all

the three perumALs were moved to their current location.

 

5. Since all the three perumALs are facing thanjAvUr, the perumAL is

called as thanjai mAmaNi - the treasure on thanjai that is protecting

it.

 

 

AzhvAr pAsurams:

thirumangai AzhvAR, periya thirumozhi 1-1-6, 2-5-3, 7-3-9

bUthathAzhvAr - iraNdaam thiruvandhAdhi 70.

 

periya thirumozhi 1-1-6

empirAn endhai ennudaich chuRRam enakkarasu enudai vANAL *

ambinAL arakkar verukkoLa nerukki avaruyir seguththa em aNNaL *

vambulAm sOlai mAmadhiL thanjai mAmaNik kOyilE vaNangi *

nambikAL uyya nAn kaNdukondEn nArAyaNA ennum nAmAm.

 

Oh bhAgavathAs! I found the name nArAyaNa for my wellbeing,

when I worshipped the perumAL in thanjai mAmaNik kOvil -

the kOvil that is in the place that belongs to the one who

is my svAmi, my father, the one who is all relatives to me,

the one who is my master, my prANa bUtha, and the one who killed

the rAkshasAs with his divine arrows.

 

other pAsurams:

 

periya thirumozhi 2-5-3:

thadam parugu karumikalaith thanjaik kOvil thava neRikku

 

periya thirumozhi 7-3-9:

thanjai yaaLiyaip ponpeyarOn nenjam anRu idandhavanaip

pon sey mAlvaraiyai maNikkunRinai

 

iraNdaam thiruvandhAdhi 70:

thamar uLLam thanjai thalai arangam thaNkaal

 

 

---

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

thirumalai anandAnpiLLai varadhan