Good article series appearing in The Hindu from this Friday on Navathiruppathi

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

A good series of articles from this friday (every friday) will appear in The

Hindu on Nava thiruppathi starting with AzhwAr Thirunagari.

For your reading pleasure

Regards

 

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/stories/2002102501050700.htm

 

Namo Narayana

dAsan

***********

Shrines that Nammazhwar glorified

 

Beginning this week, PRADEEP CHAKRAVARTHY takes readers on a pilgrimage to

the nine holy shrines, collectively known as Nava Tirupati. The journey

begins at Azhwar Tirunagari...

 

Nammazhwar... worshipped for his immortal hymns.

 

SPENDING SUMMER vacations in a fairly religious Vaishnavite household in

Tirunelveli, it is next to impossible at not being taken to the nine Vishnu

temples on either side of the Tamiraparani collectively known as the Nava

Tirupati. My first visit was as a teenager. In just a day's visit, I had

become an `addict' of the temples that are repositories of art, sculpture,

architecture, bronze work, frescos and so on. Just to look at the impeccable

craftsmanship gave great pleasure. Their setting amongst lush green fields

bordered by stately trees and the waters of the river soothed the frayed

nerves of a city dweller. The addiction also generated a sense of

helplessness and pity at the destruction time and with it dwindling income

had inflicted on these temples.

 

On my return from vacations, immediate pressures of college pushed back my

memories. The sense of peace and serenity the atmosphere had generated or

the images had inspired resurfaced often enough to make me take an annual

visit to the temples and relive them. Each visit would end with a longing

for the next and also a curiosity about the poems of Nammazhwar. The poems

were not difficult to find, they were a part of the 4,000 hymns on Vishnu

sung by the 12 Azhwars during the bhakti movement. The Tamil was chaste and

the words beyond my comprehension but with a dedicated teacher I could

unravel themEven now, as I make the journey to the nine temples I experience

the same longing to enjoy the serenity and it gets a new meaning as I recite

the hymns of Nammazhwar whose poems speak of the same longing. In other

words, the temples now evoke the same emotion that was felt in the ninth

century. The temples are at the centre of an array of interests, sculpture,

epigraphy, painting, literature, religion and a way of life. Do the temples

owe their glory to the poetry of Nammazhwar or is it vice versa? It is

irrelevant for they compliment each other and create an overriding sense of

peace in the devotee.

 

The Nava Tirupati form an important part of the 108 Divyadesam the 12

Azhwars have sung about. Incidentally, the Irattai Tirupatis are counted as

one divya desam though in the Nava Tirupati list they feature as two.

 

The nine temples can be visited in a day. The best way to do it will be to

stay at Tirunelveli (30 km from the temples), which is well connected by

train and bus. There are frequent bus services from Tirunelveli to Azhwar

Tirunagari and Srivaikuntam, the most populous villages in the group. The

temples are en route to Tiruchendur. From these villages it will be best to

hire a taxi to visit the nine temples for bus services are not very regular.

Thanks to a massive restoration project by the Indian Culture and Heritage

Trust, substantially funded by the TVS group, the darshan timings are

organised and displayed at all the temples. Both Srivaikuntam and Azhwar

Tirunagari open by 6 a.m. It is best to be there about that time and start

the journey. A suggested route could be — Srivaikuntam (25 km from

Tirunelveli on the Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur road) then Varagunamangai or

Natham then Tiruppulingudi (2 km from Srivaikuntam and 1 km from Natham)

then Thirukkulandhai or Perungulam (8 km from Srivaikuntam). These shrines

are on the Srivaikuntam-Tuticorin bus route. Then could be the two temples a

few yards apart called Tulaivillimangalam or Irattai Tirupati. They are in

an absolutely desolate location surrounded by scrub jungle so it is best to

use a taxi or van from Sri Vaikuntam/Azhwar Tirunagari for there is no bus

service either.

 

The gopurams of Adinadha Perumal temple at Azhwar Tirunagari wear a new look

after renovation.

 

These temples are on the one side of the river. On the other side are

Thenthirupperai (31 km from Tirunelveli or 3 km from Azhwar Tirunagari on

Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur road) then Tirukolur (between Azhwar Tirunagari and

Thentirupperai. It is a kilometre off the Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur road

en route to Nazareth). Finally comes Tirukkurugur/Azhwar Tirunagari (28 km

from Tirunelveli on the Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur road). Both Azhwar

Tirunagari and Srivaikuntam are on the rail route but services are

infrequent so it is best to stay at Tirunelveli. The trip can also be done

starting at Azhwar Tirunagari. The route can vary depending on festivals in

the temples. One can check the boards and ask the archakar at

Srivaikuntam/Azhwar Tirunagari, which is where one should start the

pilgrimage. The temples are also sign-posted on the main roads.

 

The Paradise

 

I started my journey on a warm summer's morning at Tirukkurugur, also known

as Azhwar Tirunagari being the birthplace of Nammazhwar. The Moolavar here

is Adipiran and is in his Paratwa roopam — one who has no beginning or end.

Nammazhwar in his song on the deity says, ``When none of the gods or the

Worlds... Or any life in any form existed... He gave life to all the gods...

In Tirukkurugur, with lofty mansions does he stand... Why then, do you seek

other gods? (Thiruvaimozhi, 4.10.1) The sthalapuranam narrates how

Mahavishnu revealed Himself here first after saving the earth in the Varaha

avatar.

 

It was difficult to confirm if the Moolavar's feet are indeed sunk beneath

the floor. In keeping with the pasurams calling for devotees to pray to

Adinatha, I went at a time when Nammazhwar's hymns from his Thiruvaimozhi,

which is equated to Sama Veda, were being recited. The work has been

originally set to music but unfortunately the recitations were at such a

quick pace that it was difficult to savour the euphony of Tamil as

Nammazhwar employs it.

 

A slow pradakshinam of the main shrine pausing at the subsidiary shrines

especially of the thayar(s) brought me to the most significant part of the

temple. Climbing a small flight of stairs, I came to a low but sprawling

tamarind tree with four branches said to represent the four Vedas.

 

The tree was gnarled and the branches had twisted themselves into fantastic

shapes. Fascinated by them and the streams of sunlight dancing through the

gently rustling leaves, I shivered slightly. Despite my passion for the

prosaic, a charged atmosphere was present in the area.

 

Sadagopan, a long time resident of the town and an archakar at the smaller

Venkatesa temple told me the story I had read many times before. Coming from

the descendant of the first person to write the commentary for the

Thiruvaimozhi I could feel a new passion in the ancient story.

 

He was born as Sadakopan, the son of Kari, a chieftain, and his wife in

answer to their prayers to Adinatha for a child. When he was born, he

neither cried nor opened his eyes but when brought to the temple crawled to

sit in meditation under the same tamarind tree. Sixteen years later,

Madurakavi, a resident of nearby Tirukkolur (one of the nine temples), who

was on a journey to the North, was directed by a star to the boy under the

tree. Madurakavi asked the boy, ``If a small thing is born inside a carcass,

what will it eat and where will it exist?" The boy speaking for the first

time replied, ``It will eat the same thing and exist in the same thing."

-Madurakavi, having heard what he wanted, for the boy had implied that for

those who live and live off attachments, salvation would be impossible to

attain.

 

Madurakavi from then on became an inseparable friend and took down all the

verses the boy sang.

 

Madurakavi himself became an icon of the guru-sishya parampara when he

composed only one work in the Prabhandam, ``Kanninun Siruttambu," the small

coil of rope, where he says ``In saying his name I found joy... In finding

his feet I found truth... Of other Gods, I know nothing... I only sing His

name as I roam the world." And Madurakavi who took refuge in Kurugur's Nambi

has this to say ``You devotee of God, Look at Nambi's feet for THAT is THE

paradise!" (Kanninun Siruthambu, 2 & 11).

 

Nammazhwar died at the age of 32. Through a dream Madurakavi found an idol

and consec-rated it in the temple. With the passage of time, the 4,000

verses of the Azhwars were lost until Nadhamuni, under the shade of the

tree, recited Madurakavi's stanzas 12,000 times when they were revealed to

him.

 

My narrator (Sadagopan) went his way and in the few minutes I spent alone

under the tree that neither bears fruit nor closes its leaves at dusk, I

thought I had crossed the centuries and did not find it too hard to

visualise the hazy figure of a seated person.

 

Circling the tree I made note of the now badly eroded sculptures of the 36

deities including all those in the Nava Tirupati temples that Namm-azhwar

has sung about. I reached Namm-azhwar's shrine and paused to admire the

Nayak period sculptures of warriors with fantastic beards. The walls of the

shrine are covered with inscriptions. Unfortunately no one there had a clue

about them or any of the inscriptions found in the other temples of the

constellation. A day's patient reading of the epigraphical surveys threw

some light on a period of the comparatively lesser known Pandya dynasty.

 

As in other temples in the Nava Tirupati, which do have inscriptions, many

are of Maravarman Sundara Pandyan. Most inscriptions record the gift of land

towards the worship of Thiru Nadudaya Piran or Polindu Nindra Piran. An

inscription of circa AD1253 records the dedication of a shrine to Varaha

Naayanar, while another dated Circa1272 records the donation of land to feed

those in the Arulaladasa Matha founded by Kulasekara I. While inscriptions

can be dated from 1215, it is likely that the temple was in existence much

before even 9th C when Nammazhwar is said to have lived. I had just missed

the Vaikasi utsavam, the most interesting of the various ones celebrated.

The archakar spoke of how on the fifth day, the deities of all the nine

temples congregate at Azhwar Tirunagari and listen to the hymns of

Nammazhwar. Nammazhwar is seated on the Hamsa vahana and Madurakavi in the

Parangi Narkali. The Utsavam was apparently started in the early 1800's.

Also famous is the Arayar sevai where the Arayars, enact the Divya

Prabhandam, particularly the four compositions of Nammazhwar, equated to the

four Vedas with graceful abhinaya. He also asked me to pray specially to the

planet Budhan that is associated with Tirukkurugur. Also he spoke of a stone

nagaswaram, which is played on important occasions. An ancient piece, it

needs special skill to produce music out of this unusual version of the wind

instrument, he said.

 

As I left the temple to go on to Tirukkolur, the landscape on either side

was dotted with emerald green paddy fields, fields of tall sugarcane, hedges

of Pandanus palms all of this amazingly is still intact. Again, in a way a

21st century individual could in his own way feel the reverence of a 10th

century poet par excellence.

 

His song on Azhwar Tirunagari ends: ``Maran of Tirukkurugur, who wears the

garland of vakula blossoms, composed these ten verses of the thousand in

praise of Adipiran.

 

For those who master them, The paradise that is Vaikunda, will be theirs...

" (Thiruvaimozhi 4.10.11) Looking around, I wondered which was the paradise

he speaks of — the one above us, or the village itself.

 

_______________

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