Saturday : June 30, 2001, PeriyAzhwAr Thirunakshathram celebrations at Sri RanganAtha Temple , Pomona , NY

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs:

 

The first major Thirunakshathram celebration

after MahA samprOkshaNam will be that of

PeriyAzhwAr , the foster father of ANDAL

and the father-in-law of Lord RanganAthan .

 

He was born as GarudAmsar at SrivillipputthUr .

 

His ThiruppallANDu and his "Pongum Parivu"

that led to His MangaLAsAsanam of PerumAL

to ward off any Dhrishti DhOsham is central to

our SampradhAyam. His exquisite anubhavams of

Bala KrishNan in his role as the Mother,

YasOdhA pirAtti have no comparison. AzhwAr

incarnated on an Aani SwAthi ; this nakshathram

is also the nakshathram of Lord Narasimhan.

Even today , we see Garudan at the feet of

MalOlan in Ahobila Matam Silver mantapam.

At Srivilliputthur , He (PeriyAzhwAr/Garudan)

stands next to his Lord . He was the Achaaryan

for ANDAL .No wonder , ANDAL incarnated as

Bhumi Devi amsam on the ThirutthuzhAi paatthi

(plot) of PeriyAzhwAr's nandhavanam .

 

Short Summary of His Thirumozhi (

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

1.ThiruppallANDu: Para Tatthva NirUpanam

of Sriman NaarAyaNan : 12 Paasurams

 

PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi : Remaining 462 Paasurams are

housed in Five decads.

 

Here is a summary of the individual decads :

 

2. NaaraNan PiRanthamai :The story of birth Of

KrishNan begins at ThirukkOshtiUr which AzhwAr

considered as Thiru AaypAdi (Gokulam ). ThirukkOshtiUr

is the home of PeriyAzhwar's AchAryan , Selva Nampi.

 

3. Paadha Kamala SEvai/Avayava Anubhavam of Bala KrishNan:

"pEthaikkuzahvi piditthu suvaitthuNNUm

Padha KamalangaL KaaNeerE ! ". The Imagery of

the "helpless baby " tasting its toe in its mouth

with glee is exquisite . From Paadha Kamalam ,

AzhwAr invites every one to come and have

the sevai of the sarvAnga Soundharyam of

the divine child.There are 21 paasurams in

this special decad.

 

4. Thaalapparuvam ( Lullaby to the child in cradle):

This is PiLLai Tamizh at its best:Thaamarik KaNNanE

ThAlElO, Devaki SinghamE ThAlElO, Sundart ThOLanE

ThAlElO , NaaraNA! AzhEl, ThAlElO...".

 

5. Ambuli Paruvam (11th Month): Bala KrishNan is

crawling all over the place and Mother YasOdhA

(PeriyAzhwAr) invites the Moon (Ambuli) to come

closer and play with her Divine Child . PeriyAzhwAr

uses Saama , DhAna BhEdha and DhaNDam approaches

to persuade the Moon to come near the JagannAthan

to play with Him .

 

6. Senkeerai paruvam ( Child moving from side to side

as a form of play) at the request of the Mother):

" Ayya ! YenakkorukAl Aaduha Senkeerai ,

AayarkaL pOrERE ! aaduha aaduhavE ".

 

7. SappANi Kottal( Child clapping by joining both Hands):

OnpathAM ThingaLIR SappANi (Ninth Month)is the time

for SappANi play. "Saram Thotta kaikaLAl SappANi,

Saarnga VirkkaayanE! sappANi ".

 

8. Toddling period of Bala KrishNan ( TaLar Nadai Paruvam):

"Takka MaamaNivaNNan VaasudEvan TaLar nadai NadavAnO".

 

9. YasOdhai begging Baala KrishNan to run to Her and

embrace her(AcchO paruvam) :"ankaikaLAlE Vanthu accho acchO,

AaratthazhuvAi vanthu acchO acchO".

 

10. YasOdhai begging Baala KrishNan to come from behind and

hug her (PuRam pulhuthal): " Atthan vanthennai PuRam PulhuvAn,

AazhiyAn Yennai PuRam pulhuvAn".

 

Second Decad:

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

Here again , KrishNa Premi (PeriyAzhwAr )takes on Gopa Janmam

and enjoys YasOdhA's anubhavam of Baala Leelais of KrishNan.

 

1. Appoocchi Kaattal and AmmanE Response : Baala KrishNan

pretends to frighten the children.They pretend to succumb

to the fear and shout "ammanE" in response . "Aayan vanthu

appoocchi KaattuhinRaan , AmmanE! appoocchi KaatuhinRaan".

 

2. YasOdhai PirAtti invites Baala KrishNan to breast feed:

" OdiyOdip pOyvidAthe , UtthamA ! Nee Mulai uNAyE ".

 

3. YasOdha pleading with Baala KrishNan not to run away

and come closer to get His ears pierced to wear ear aabharanam:

"SridharA ! Unn Kaathu thUrum , kaiyil thiriyayaidukidAi--

inninRa kaarikaiyAr siriyAmE".

 

4. ManjanamAttal: "VeNNai aLantha KuNangum--" . YasOdhA

PirAtti cajoles Baala Krishnan to have Thirumanjanam.

"Nee PiRantha ThiruvONam , inRu nee neerAdavENdum,

EmpirAn OdAthE VaarAy".

 

5. AkkAkkAi Koovik Kuzhal Vaaral: Here PeriyAzhwAr as

Mother YasOdhai combs the hair of KaNNan after

Thirumanjanam .He wants to run away from her. She

calls for the crow to come near and distracts KaNNan

to complete the combing of His hair.

 

6. KaNNan had His hair combed and YasOdhai wanted to

decorate His black , curly trsses with flowers.

KaNnan saw the young gOpas heading to the grazing

grounds with the sheperd's crook in hand .He wanted to

join them and looked around for His stick to go with them .

Yasodhai pacifies Him by saying that the crow has taken

away that stick and calls the crow to bring it back .

" kOlappirAnukku Ohr kOl KONDu Vaa

Kudanthaik KidanthARkkOr kOl KoNDu Vaa".

 

7. YasOdhA"s (PeriyAzhwAr's) invitation to KrishNa to

adorn different kinds of flowers: " Paathiri poo

Soota VaarAi, Senkazhuneer Sootta VaarAai ,Kurukkatthi

Poo Sootta Vaarai...".

 

8. Kaapiduthal: After Thirumanjanam , Combing of hair and

adorning the tresses with beautiful flowers , YasOdhai

got worried about Dhrushti DhOsham falling on Kuttik KaNNan.

The time was evening time. The dhivya Desam was ThiruveLLaRai.

YasOdhai wants to do rakshai for KrishNan by tying

a consecrated thread on His wrist.She invites Her son

to come near: " Anthiyam pOthu ithuvAhum , AzhaganE !

Kaapida VaarAI ".

 

9. Gopi's complaints to YasOdhai about the mischiefs

done by Baala KrishNan at the homes of GopAs (stealing

VeNNai, crashing utensils containing curd et al and

tormenting gOpa kannis ):" AsOdhai NangAi! unn mahanaik

koovAi"..YasOdhai calls for KrishNan to come closer

and confesses that she can not bear others criticizing Him.

" Anjaana VaNNA ! asalahatthAr , paribhavam pEsa

TarikkahillEn paaviyEnukku ingE pOtharAyE ".

 

10. The Gopis coming to YasOdhai's house and complaining

directly to her about the injustices done by her son:

" Your son is the One , who rushes to the help all of His

devotees. In our case , he does all injustices and

torments us. How can we put up with the apakArams

of Your son !".

 

We will continue with the rest of the decads in

the subsequent posting .We have covered sofar

the summary of 212 pasurams at a macro level.

Deatiled descriptions of some of the decads like

NeerAttam are in Bhakthi archives.

 

Meanwhile , on behalf of the Sri RanganAtha temple ,

adiyEn invites you to join in the celebrations of

PeriyAazhwAr's Thirunakshatram tomorrow.

 

Sri RanganAtha para BrahmaNE Nama:

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan