Srirangam Araiyar Nathamuni.

[Guest guest]

***Srirangam Araiyar Nathamuni.***

 

Araiyar Nathamuni svami passed away on Saturday, January 27, 2001, in

his tiru-mALikai (residence) in East Uttara Street, Srirangam. He was

69 and the distinguished leader of what may be termed as the

'convocation of Araiyars'. To-day (Thursday, Feb 8) will be observed as

the 'Subha-sveekAram' marked by the receiving of 'alankAram' honours

from the periya-sannidhi, followed by the 'sEvA-kAlam' of

'aruLi-c-cheyal' recital.

 

No one had asked me to write this 'in memoriam', but

I wish to share my understanding of what the Araiyar stood for.

 

Araiyar Nathamuni svAmi, truly succeeding his father Araiyar

SaThakOpAchArya svAmi, was an instinctive upholder of the majesty of the

Araiyar tradition. The sacred 'araiyar-sEvai' service in the Srirangam

Great Temple has excited uninformed curiosity of an increasingly larger

section of seekers of spiritual-packages, and the tradition has been

rather blandly lauded as an 'art' or, worse, 'performing art'. To term

something as 'art' relieves one of the effort of knowing about the

object or tradition so identified, and anyone bandying the word 'art'

feels no obligation whatsoever to declare what he understands by 'art'.

 

The temple service of 'araiyar sevai' has been presumed to be some kind

of medieval and limited pageantry, which is what it was not. The 'sevai'

certainly drew upon some elements of nATyam, but only for that much of

("vENDuvana kETTiyEl", as ANDAL counselled) body language as helped

vivify the profound poetry and mysticism of 'aruLi-c-cheyal'

hymns ('divya-prabandham') of the Blessed AzhvAr saints. [One would

certainly invite frustration in looking for the titillations of costume,

tap-dancing and gymnastics dominating to-day's "bharata-nATyam" shows

choreographed to pedestrian compositions 'zung' by gifted voices.]

 

The 'sevai' service is mostly psalmody, with occasional soft

gesticulations to highlight the lyrical-mystical import of a verse, and

more frequent 'viNNappam' (=submission) of the contextual

'tampirAn-paDi vyAkhyAnam' which has been handed down the generations of

the 'araiyar' family. There are those who would not for all the world

miss listening to the 'koNDATTam' (= ecstatic apostrophising of

namperumAL) by the 'araiyar' at the commencement of the day's

service-in-assembly or at the eager moment when the Lord sets out from

the AsthAnam (= sanctum sanctorum) on 'puRappADu' .

 

These are just 'notes' on this ancient and sacred service which truly

constitutes a communication with the Lord in His audience, and NOT a

quasi-religious entertainment. This in the manner that the Jew maestro

Mendelssohn assiduously learnt and rendered as prayer, and not as music

recital, the great Bach composition, "Passion of Christ". It was on

the recent pakal-pattu (Dec 27 2000 - Jan 5 2001) day that I observed a

lady veteran-devotee of the service openly sobbing as she recounted to

another how poignantly had Araiyar Nathamuni rendered the

strident lines of "paNDai nAn-maRaiyum vELviyum" opening the

'periya-tiru-mozhi' decad (5:7) devoted to periya-perumAL.

 

Nathamuni svami had, almost single-handedly, prevailed against repeated

(vulgar) attempts to connect the 'araiyar-sevai' to the ubiquitous

loud-speaker, and to telecast it. No mean achievement this,

considering how joyfully most of the Tamil population loves the unabated

and insane noise pollution that saturates the atmosphere.

 

I would especially like to docket the report I had from a friend, that

it was again Nathamuni svami who stood the ground arguing against a

proposal to commission a mini-golden chariot ('tanga-ratham') as a sort

of fund-raising quickie-taxi service for namperumAL !

 

He was no forbidding 'grey eminence', and was full of anecdotes,

explanations for the episodes marking the Great Temple calendar, and

suggestions for understanding apparent riddles about the Temple. (It was

he who once delineated to me the plausible route taken by ANDAL's party,

from their arrival by barge at what is now the big Rajagopuram in

Srirangam South, and towards the site of their camp, marked by ANDAL

sannidhi in to-day's mElai aDaiya-vaLaindAn (the 'all-enclosing')

street.

 

Araiyar Nathamuni svami had put up with chest illness for nearly three

years. He had made his 'araiyar-viNNappam' (submissions) in the last

tiru-adhyayana-utsavam (Dec 27 2000 - Jan 16 2001) with his customary

reverence and dignity. This was followed just a week later by the

adhyayana-utsavam of Sriranga-nAcchiyAr. It was on the evening of the

fifth (and concluding) day (Jan 26), and I noticed that only his

brothers, Araiyar Ramanujam svami and Araiyar Varadan svami, were in the

'sevai'. I visited Nathamuni svami's home and his wife informed me

that his other brother, Araiyar Sampat, had taken him to the physician

as he experienced discomfort. Next morning, Araiyar Nathamuni passed

away, reportedly without visible struggle.

 

Ever since one remembered, one had looked at or looked for Araiyar in

every 'puRappADu' excursion of namperumAL. He had rendered his

services in the last 'adhyayana' festival, and exited rightaway

thereafter, almost by special leave of Sriranga-nAcchiyAr. Nunc

dimittis, is what the Christians say for this private, ultimate moment

with the Maker. An era has truly ended, as identified with Araiyar

Nathamuni. His own three brothers and their sons, and the collateral

Araiyar family would continue with his service.

 

"Sri-ranga-nAthO jayatu,

Sriranga-Sree-Scha vardhatAm!"

 

aDiyen rAmAnuja-dAsan,

tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sriman Sundara Rajan Swamy:

 

Thanks very much for such a moving tribute

about a great Mahan blessed with mahA Kaimkarya

BhAgyam for Lord RanganAthan . He has now reached

the sacred feet of the Lord in His nithya VibhUthi.

It is very important for all the BhakthAs to know

about the greatness of such souls dedicated to the Lord's

niravadhya Kaimkaryam .The Lord of Srirangam

has heard Sri Naathamuni Arayar's ViNNappam ,

enjoyed the KoNDAttam of His PuRappAdu for many

number of years and has invited the revered Arayar

back to His aasthAnam in Srivaikuntam.

 

It is wonderful to know more about the Arayar Sevai

at Srirangam through your informative postings.

Thanks again.

 

Archaneeyasccha Vandhyasccha KeerthanIyasccha SARVADHAA

dhyAyEth japaEth namEdh BhakthyA BhajEdh abhyARCHAyEnmudhA

UpAyO upEya BhAvEna TAMEVA SaraNam vrajEth

 

RaamAnuja Daasan , V.SaThakOpan

 

At 04:09 AM 2/8/01 +0530, you wrote:

>***Srirangam Araiyar Nathamuni.***

>

>Araiyar Nathamuni svami passed away on Saturday, January 27, 2001, in

>his tiru-mALikai (residence) in East Uttara Street, Srirangam. He was

>69 and the distinguished leader of what may be termed as the

>'convocation of Araiyars'.

[Guest Ranganayaki Srinivas]

Is there any video available of Srirangam Araiyar Nathamuni's Araiyar Sevai? My mother is a big devotee of this swamy and she used to go to Srirangam frequently. Now she is too old to travel and I would like to gift her a CD of this Araiyar Sevai.