ThiruvahIndrapuram RathnAngi Kaimkaryam:Part II, Kaliyan's Paasurams

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

Thirumangai Mannan had AshtAkshara Manthra Upadesam

from SrIman NaarAyanan Himself and headed straight

thereafter to the dhivya desams of Thiruppirtithi,

BadarikAsramam , SaaLagrAmam, NaimisAraNyam , SingavELkunRam ,

ThiruvEngaDam , ThiruveLLUr , ThiruvallikkENi ,

Thiruneermalai, Thirukkadalmallai(MahAbalipuram),

Thiruvidaventhai, Thiruattabhuyakaram , ParamEswara

ViNNagaram , ThirukkOvalUr and reached finally

ThiruvahIndrapuram.

 

ThirukkOvalUr and ThiruvahIndhrapuram are known as Nadu

Naattu ThiruppathigaL . Kaliyan started with the Vada Naattu

Thiruppathis ( Northern Dhivya desams starting from

Thiruppirithi and ending up with ThiruvEngadam) ,

continued on to ThoNDai MaNDala Thiruppathis

( ThiruveLLUr to ParamEswara ViNnagaram) and

then performed mangaLAsAsanam at the two Nadu

Naattu Thirupathis of ThirukkOvalUr and ThiruvahIndhra-

puram . After that , he went on to perform worship

at the many ChOLa Naattu dhivya dEsams.

 

ThiruvahIndhrapuram is the 15th in the order of

the MangaLAsAsanams of the 86 dhivya desams that

he worshipped at and sung about.

 

The ThiruvahIndrapura Paasurams

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In these 10 paasurams , Kaliyan salutes the Lord

DhaivanAyakan of ThiruvahIndhapuram as the Sarva-

Jagath KaaraNan as per the definition of the Brahma

Soothram :" JanmAdhyasya yatha: ". He is recognized

as the Sarava Jagath Kaarana Para Brahmam , who is

the Omniscinet , Omnnipotent DayALu and from whom the universe

and its beings originated . He salutes Lord DhaivanAyakan

as " MoovarAhiya Oruvan " , who is responsible for

the origin , sustenance and dissolution of this

varied and wonderful universe.

 

The Essence of the Individual Paasurams

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

In the individual paasurams , Kaliyan described the Lord

of DevAs ( Dhaiva Naayakan ) as the one who incarnated as

Adhi Varahan and blessed us with VarAha Charama SlOkam ,

as the Sarva Veda vEdhyan ( Omniscient One who instructed

His son Brahma on the four Vedams and their inner meanings ;

as the One who slept soundly on a pupil leef (VaDapathra Saayee)

after safely placing all the universe in His stomach for

protection during the time of Pralayam ; as the One , who

destroyed HiraNyan for offending His Parama BhAgavathan ,

PrahlAdhan; as the One who incarnated as the MaayAvi Dwarf

(Vaamanan) to destroy the pride of MahA Bali ; as the Lord

Raamachandran ,who sacrificed His kingdom and roamed

for 14 years in the forests like DaNDakAraNyam to keep

His pledge to His father;as the Veera Raaghavan , who cut

off the ten heads of the King of Lankaa for the offenses

he committed against His Devi, SithA PirAtti; as the One ,

who broke the Siva Danus and restored Ahalya from her

stony form back to that of a beautiful women to join

her husband; as the One , who through BhAratha Yuddham

lightened the load borne by BhUmi Devi.In the final

(Tenth) paasuram , Kaliyan salutes the JagadhAdharan

as the Thrivikraman , who measured the Universes

with His three strides and points out that no sins

will stay with those , who recite these ten paasurams

on SrI Dhaiva Naayakan sanctifying Thiruvaheendhrapuram.

 

The exquisite descriptions of the flora and fauna

and the natural scenery of ThiruvahIndhrapuram in

Kaliyan's paasurams are beautiful to experience.

 

Our earth is normally divided into four categories

in Tamil poetry :(1)Neythal (2) Kurinji (3)Mullai

and(4)Marutham .

 

Kaliyan finds a blessed combination of the best features of

all these four kinds of lands at ThiuvahIndhrapuram .

He recognizes therefore This Dhivya Desam as Naa-nilam

(nAnku nilam) or having the integrated essence of

the features of the above four kinds of lands .

Kaliyan's specific references to these four kinds of

lands have been pointed out by SrI UtthamUr Swamigal

in his commnetary :

 

(1)Kurunji Naadu: " ampozhilUdE serunthi nANmalar

senraNainthu uzhi taru ThiruvayeendhrapuramE"

-- First Paasura Passage

 

Here is thereference to Serunthi Pushpam , which

is typical of Kurunji Naadu; Kaliyan sees the joyous

honey bees (Nithyasooris) travelling in dense patterns

amidst the groves of Serunthi trees , while singing

the thousand names of the Lord . This band of bees had

feasted earlier on the honey from lotuses in the pond ,

where MahAlakshmi stays and are now engaged in

BhagavannAma sankIrthanam .The bees embrace the new

blossoms of Serunthi and travel hither and thither

in their groves.

 

(2)Mullai Naadu: " MoykoLL Maadhavi SeNpakam muyankiya

Mullaiyam kodiyAda "

--Third Paasuram Passage

 

The LakshaNam of Mullai Naadu is woven in this paasuram.

Kaliyan sees the Mullai creeper embracing dense thickets of

Maadhavi, SeNpakam and Kurukkatthi trees , which themselves

are flowering trees.

 

(3)Neythal Naadu(nilam): " SaaRu koNDa menn karumbu iLam kazhai

tadai visumbuRa maNi nizhal sERu koNDa taNN pazhanamathu

yezhil Thihazh ThiruvayeendhrapuramE"

--Fourth Paasuram passage

 

The dense forests of towering sugar cane crops , which

through the shade of their leaves keep the ground as moist

and fertile are being saluted here. Sugar cane crops

are one of the lakshaNams for Neythal naadu. Even today ,

the region around Thiruvaheendhrapuram is known for its

cash crop of Sugar cane and sugar mills.

 

4)Marutha nilam : " anna-mAmalar aravindhat-tamaLiyil

pedayodum inithu amara , sennelAr kavarik-kulai veesu(m)

taNN ThiruvayIndhrapuramE

-- 7th Paasuram passage

 

Here , annams are Thiryaks or birds; the red rice crops

are sthAvaram . The ripe stalks of red rice are waving

in the wind and that appears like the fan service is

renderd by them to the pairs of Swans resting on red

lotsues sprouting out of those rice fields.This is

an aspect of Marutha nilam .

 

another cue to the identification of Marthua nilam at

ThiruvahIdhrapuram is indicated by the passage in

the 9th paasuram:" sElkaL paay taru sezhu nadhi

vayal puhu ThiruvayeendhrapuramE". Here Kaliyan

sees the fat fish jumping up and down in rivers

irrigating fertile fields .

 

adiyEn will cover the individual Paasurams of

Kaliyan on Thiruvaheendhrapuram in the subsequent

postings.

 

SrI HemAbhjavalli SamEtha SrI DhaivanAyaka

ParabrahmaNE Nama:

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchaari Sadagopan