Thuppul PiLLai- 57- Other Tamil prabandhams of Swamy

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SrI:

SrImathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namah:

SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |

vedAntAcArya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

 

May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the

lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

Let us continue to enjoy other Tamil prabandhas of Swamy Desikan in summary

form:

 

Adaikkalappatthu -The seventh work, is in eleven verses. It gives a clear

exposition of the doctrine of Sranagathy (surrender) associating the name of

God at Kanchi with each stanza. This is suggestive of the author’s

Saranagathy at the feet of this Archa mUrthy (Sri Satakopan has written a

translation for Adaikaalapaathu and is available in

http://swamydesika.tripod.com

 

The eighth work is Arthapanchakam which details in eleven verses, the five

well known topics which are vital to the philosophy of Vaishnavam. The five

topics or truths are prApyam, the Lord’s nature which is to be attained,

prApta, the nature of the soul who is to attain the Lord, UpAyam the means

for attaining the Lord, prAptivirOdham, the obstacles that lie in the path

of attainment and prApti, the Goal, namely the attainment. The name of the

deity at Kanchi is associated with the last line in each stanza.

 

Sri Vaishnava Dinasari, the ninth work, is in 10 stanzas describing the

routine life of a Srivaishnava. The treatment is based on the five fold

division routine as laid down in Pancharathra Agamam. (Again this

translation written by SrI Satakopan Swamy is available in Swamy Desikan

webpage)

 

The tenth work is Thirucchinna maalai, in 11 stanzas. The author speaks of

the glory of tabor sounded in the temple of Varadan at Kanchipuram.

Incidentally, these stanzas are shown to convey the sense of three rahasyas

Moolamanthra, Dwayam and Charama slokam.

 

Pannirunaamam

 

Eleventh work containing 13 stanzas describing the twelve UrdhvapuNdras,

with the names of deities presiding over each and the parts of the body

where one wears Urdhva puNdram. Each stanza has the name of God at

Kanchipuram included in it. (Urdhva- vertical; puNrdam- mark.) This refers

to the ornamental mark made on the forehead with white vertical lines drawn

with sacred mud and a streak in between them made vertically with a read

ochre or turmeric powder. The white lines are joined between the eye brows.

 

The twelfth work is Thirumanthracchurukku, written in ten stanzas conveying

very briefly, as the name “curukku” in the title indicates, the substance of

Thirumanthram, also called Moola manthram or Ashtaakshara manthram.

 

The thirteenth work, Dwayacchurukku offers similarly in 12 verses, the

substance of the Dwaya manthram. The fourteenth work Charamaslokacchurukku

in 11 verses is on similar line on the charamaslokam.

 

GitArtha samgarha, which is 15th work, contains 21 verses. It offers briefly

the substance of each of 18 chapters of the Bhagawath GitA.

 

MummaNikkOvai is the 16th work, in praise of the Lord of Thiruvahindrapuram.

This work is held to have included mummaNikkOvai, pandhu, ammanai, kazhal.

Oosal, Esal, and NavamaNimaalai. Except for the first and the last all

others are lost. Akaval, veNpaa, kattaLaitthuRai are the three meters in

which this mummaNikkoVai is said to have been composed. Hence the title.

However, the ten verses in akaval alone are available to us in which Swamy

the relationship of the husband (Bhagawaan) and Wife (Jivan) in Nayaka

Nayaki bhAvam.

 

The Navarathina maalai is treated as independent work (17th in number) has

ten verses – all in praise of SrI Devanathan at Thiruvahindrapuram. It is

said in the sixth stanza that those who do not forget the Divine Beauty of

Sri Devanathan will not have rebirth. nin vadivazhaghu maRvaathaar

piRavaadhaarE.. The author mentions in the tenth stanza the work which,

though lost, are part of mummaNikkOvai and states that these were composed

after the achuthasathakam a praakritha sthOthram in 100 slokas before which

he mentions that Devanayaka panchasath was composed by him.

 

The 18th work is Prabandha saaram, in 18 verses, devoted to the

glorification of all AzhwArs. The day, month and Thirunakshathram (star) of

each AzhwAr, their names, the number of poems composed by each of them are

given. Each verse is inestimable value as it gives us what all we have to

learn about the AzhwArs described therein.

 

Ahaara niyamam is the 19th work in 8 verses on the nature of food a

vaishnava should comsume. The ingredients for preparing the food and kinds

of food one has to avoid are all described briefly and carefully so as to

avoid ambiguity in the choice of ingredients.

 

There has never been a writer like Swamy Vedantha Desikan whose life was

spent purposefully and usefully for the uplift of humanity. The 19 works

noted above are in PURE TAMIL. Intention of Swamy Desikan was to make the

Vaishnava tenets attractive and acceptable as well as understandable even to

those who knew only Tamil Language. Philosophy, Prappti, Rahasyas, routine

life, and all other aspects of Srivaishnavam have received treatments here.

Of course, the introductory and concluding verses in some of his other works

are separately put in the form of compositions and treated as separate work.

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Namo narayana

dAsan

kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |

Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

 

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections reside, who is the

teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters

 

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