divya dEsam - puLLam bUthankudi

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srImathE saTakOpAya namaha

srImathE rAmAnujAya namaha

srImathE anantArya mahA guravE namaha

srIman vara vara munayE namaha

 

November 8,2000

 

dear bhAgavathAs,

 

after a hectic 3 months at work, perumAL has given me the ability to

resume posting on divya dEsams. The following is on puLLambUthankudi.

 

{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}

 

divya dEsam: thiru puLLambUthankudi

mUlavar: valvil rAman, bujanga sayanam (head resting on His hand)

east facing

thAyAr : poRRamaraiyAL (the one of the lotus pond)

AzhvAr mangaLAsAsanam - thirumangai AzhvAr - 10 pAsurams

location: tamizhnAdu, between thanjAvUr and kumbakONam

 

 

sthala purANam:

mention of this sthalam is made in brahmANda purANam and pAdma purANam.

 

from brahmANda purANAm:

when rAvaNa abducted sItA pirAtti, jatAyu fought rAvaNa to free pirAtti.

Unfortunately, he couldnot match rAvaNA's might, and rAvaNa cut off the

wings of jatAyu. jatAyu fell to the ground with the words "rAmA, rAmA"

coming out of his mouth. while jatAyu was in this state, i.e. with wings

cut off, on the ground, crying rAmA rAmA, rAmA and lakshmaNa heard the

voice of jatAyu and went to where jatAyu was. jatAyu narrates to rAmA

and lakshmaNa that rAvaNa had abducted sIta pirAtti, and that he was the

one who cut of his wings while he was trying to free pirAtti. then

jatAyu

passed away.

rAmA granted mOksham to jatAyu and performed the final rites for jatAyu.

puLLam bUthankudi is where rAmA performed the final rites for jatAyu.

{Note: there is another divya dEsam - thirupputkuzhi, where the same

sthalap purANam is mentioned by pUrvAchAryAs}.

When rAmA was performing the final rites for jatAyu here, He had the

concern that He did not have pirAtti with Him to perform the rites as

per

the sAstrAs. The moment He thought about that, bhUmi pirAtti herself

came

to the lotus pond on a lotus (poRRamarai), and rAmA performed the

final rites for jatAyu with poRRAmaraiyAL.

 

puLLambUthankudi is mentioned as bhUthapuri in rAmAyaNam, AraNya kANdam.

 

key points about the temple:

 

1. In tamizh, a word for a bird is "puL". Since rAmA gave mOksham to

jatAyu (puL) in this kshEtram, this ksEtram came to be known as

puLLambUthankudi. There are two bhUthapuris for srIvaishNavAs -

one is srIperumbUdUr; the other is puLLambUthankudi.

2. when thirumangai AzhvAr visited this sthalam, at first he thought

that since the mUrthy here has only two hands, the mUrthy was some

other dEvatA, not srIman nArayaNa, and he went away without performing

mangaLAsAsanam. Suddenly, as AzhvAr was going away from the place,

he saw a huge jyOthi. he turned around to look at the jyOthi. the

jyOthi was none other than perumAL Himself, with 4 hands, with the

divine conch and discus. then thirumangai AzhvAr realised his

mistake and performed maNgaLasAsanam to this perumAL. In fact he

starts the decade on this perumAL with "aRivadhu aRiyAn anaiththu

ulagum udaiyAn" - i.e. the one who is difficult to know.

3. rAmA here has a very contented face. the reason for contentment is

that He was able to perform the final rites to jatAyu {rAmA always had

the desire to do service to his father dasaratha; he could not do that;

so, when He was able to perform this service to jatAyu, it made Him

contented}. That is why He is known as valvil irAman in tamizh. In

sanskrit, He is called as dhruda dhanvi.

 

 

AzhvAr pAsurams:

thirumangai AzhvAR, periya thirumozhi: 5-1-1 through 5-1-10; 10 pAsurams

 

periya thirumozhi 5-1-1:

aRivadhu ariyAn anaiththu ulagum udaiyAn ennai ALudaiyAn *

kuRiya mANuruvAya kUththan manni amarum idam *

naRiya malar mEl surumbArkka ezhilAr magngnyai nadamAda *

poRikoL siRai vaNdu isai pAdum puLLam bUthankudi dhAnE*

 

the one who is difficult to know, the one who is the master of all

the worlds, the one who has taken me as His servant, the one who came

in the form of vAmana - that One lives in this place - the place

that has beautiful bees that fly around drinking honey from beautiful

flowers, where beautiful peacocks dance, where the bees constantly

sing, that place that is puLLambUthankudi.

 

in the other pAsurams of this pathikam,

puLLu piLLaikku iRai thEdum puLLambUthankudi dhAnE 5-1-2

pUvAr kazhani ezhilArum puLLambUthankudi dhAnE 5-1-3

poRpAr mAdam ezhilArum puLLam bUthankudi dhAnE 5-1-4

poyyA nAvin maRaiyALar puLLam bUthankudi dhAnE 5-1-5

punnai ponnEy thAthu uthirkkum puLLam bUthankudi dhAnE 5-1-6

pudaiyAr kazhani ezhilArum puLLam bUthankudi dhAnE 5-1-7

poRaiyAl mikka anthaNar vaazh puLLam bUthankudi dhAnE 5-1-8

ponum ponni koNarndhu alaikkum puLLam bUthankudi dhAnE 5-1-9

poRRAmaraiyAl than kELvan puLLam bUthankudi adhan mEl 5-1-10

 

 

AzhvAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam,

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

thirumalai anandAnpiLLai varadhan