AdiyEn's Sep 10-17 trip to Dhivya Desams in Tamil Nadu & Thirumala: Part IV/ Sep 13 , 2004/ THiru Naagai & ThirukkaNNangudi Visits

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

After the most memorable Visva Roopa Sevai of

SrI RanganAthan , there was the whole day left still

to plan an additional trip to a dhivya dEsam not too

far from Trichy . adiyEn was thinking about a visit to

Anbil and AppakudatthAn( ThiruppEr Nagar near

Koiladi) . My nephew , Sri V.Srikanth , the Regional

General Manager for "The Hindu " tilted the decison

scale in favor of Thiru Naagai . His observation was

that the Soundharyam of the EmperumAn of Thiru Naagai

was matchless and that I should not miss the opportunity .

As a bonus , I had the opportunity to add one more dhivya

dEsam ( ThirukkaNNangudi ) during this day long trip .

 

Visit to Thiru Naagai celebrated by Thirumangai

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

Here came Thirumangai Mannan in search of funds

to complete the Mathil Kaimkaryam for Lord RanganAthan .

Buddhism was strong in Naaga PattiNam in those days

and they were rich and led a comfortable , nonascetic life .

There was a big golden statue of Buddha at the Buddha VihAram

at Naagai (SoodAMaNi VihAram going back to 3rd Century

B.C/KIng AshOkA's time ) and it was well protected as well .

Kaliyan , who raided SrIman NaarAyaNan Himself in His

PoorvAsramam to perform TadhiyAraadhanam for

Sri VaishNavAs did not hesitate to enter the Buddha VihAram

at night , silence the alarms and walked away with

the treasure . Thirumangai rushed off to Srirangam ,

melted the huge gold statue , cashed the proceeds and

used the monies to build the PrAkArams ( MathiLkaL)

or Flag mast at Srirangam , which we see even today .

 

Back at Thiru Naagai , Thirumangai was overtaken by

the extraordinary beauty of Soundarya Raajan and

gasped for words to describe that exquisite beauty

and ended his ten paasurams with the two words :

" acchO azhagiyavaa ". We will study the pasurams of

Thirumangai next .

 

Thriu Naagai Paasurams

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

Thiru Naagai Paasurams follow that of

the ThirukkaNangudi Paasurams . The night

before arriving at Thiru Naagai Kaliyan had rested

under a Mahizham tree in the prAkAram of the Lord

at ThirukkaNNangudi after his mangaLAsAsanam

of that Divya dEsa EmperumAn all day. As he rested

under the shade of PerumAL's vimAnam at

ThirukkaNNangudi , Kaliyan worked out the scheme

to enter the Buddha VihAram at Naagai to remove

the golden statue of BuddhA , which was well protected .

 

Thirumangai travelled next day from ThirukkaNNangudi to

Thiru Naagai to accomplish His mission of removing

the golden BuddhA statue . At Naagai , He performed

MangaLAsAsanam first for SoundararAjan . The matchless

beauty of SoundararAjan transformed him into the mind set

of a woman( ParakAla Naayaki) to have samslEsham (union)

with the Lord as " her " Naayakan . At the beginning , Kaliyan

in a state of being blinded by the beauty of Soundara Raajan

is unable to identify the captivating Lord in front of him .

He wonders whether it is Thirukkudanthai AarAvamudhan

in whose beauty he (Kaliyan ) lost his mind earlier ( punal soozh

Kudanthaik- kidantha sEdarkol yenRu terikka maattEn) .

AzhwAr as ParakAla Naayaki is unable to determine

whether it was AarAvamudhan , who was in front of him .

 

In the subsequent paasurams , ParakAla Naayaki

soaks deeper into the aanandhAnubhavam of

the unparalleled beauty of Thiru Naagai EmperumAn and

wonders whether He is the beautiful EmperumAns ,

who have captivated him earlier at Thirumeyyam ,

Kaanchi (VaradarAjan) , Srirangam (RanganAthan ) ,

Neer VaNNan of Thiruneer Malai , UrayUr PerumAl ,

Tenn Madhurai EmperumAn and ThirumAlirumchOlai

Sundara Raajan ( Aazhagar) .Lord's maayam holds sway .

Unable to identify the Lord appropriately , Kaliyan

goes onto think that the most beautiful Lord in

front of him could be either the golden Moorthy inside

the Aaadhithya MaNDalam or VibhavAthara KaNNan

or the Kutti KaNNan in His Baala GopAla roopam as He

floated on the banyan leaf during the time of deluge .

Finally , his confusions are gone and Kaliyan correctly

recognizes the Lord appearing before him as " azhahiyavan "

or Soundara Raajan of Naagai dhivya dEsam .

 

Excerpts from the Paasurams attest to the exalted

enjoyment of the soundharyam of the Lord of Thiru Naagai

by Kaliyan :

 

" pal maNi mutthodu ilangu sOthi, aadaham pooNDa

oru naanku thOLum acchovoru azhahiyavaa " --- --- Paasuram 2 .

 

(Meaning): He shines with many kinds of gems and pearls

as a Param jyOthi with four beautiful shoulders

as Soundarya Raajan .

 

"-- -- perithum iLayar , sempavaLam ivar vaayin vaNNam

dEvar ivarathu uruvam sollil , ampavaLat-tiraLEyum oppar

acchovoru azhahiyavaa " -- -- Paasuram 4

 

(Meaning ): He is very young , nithya yuvA . His lips are

most beautiful and resemble a ripe , red coral . If one

wishes to describe the beautiful form of this divine person ,

it is like that of the soundaryam of a red coral bunch .

 

Kaliyan repeatedly states that he does not recall seeing

this beautiful Lord anywhere before ( " ivar tammai paNDu

kaNDaRiyOm ) . Kaliyan describes the ThirunAgai PerumAL as

" kaNDAr vaNangum anjana maamalai" ( the great mountain

of coleryum before whom every one prostrates in wonderment).

He describes the Lord's lotus-soft ThirumEni as being equal to

the dark rainy clouds ( pankayam anna mEniyum vaanatthu

aNikezhu maamuhilEyum oppar acchovoru azhahiyavaa).

 

In the final phala sruthi paasuram , BhagavAn of ThirunAgai

removes all identity confusions and Kaliyan recognizes and

salutes Him as NaagapattiNatthu SoundararAjan :

 

annamum kEzhalum meenumAya aadhiyai NAHAI AZHAHIYAARAI

kanni nann maamathiL Mangai vEndhan kaamaruseer KalikanRi

kunrA innisaaRc-chonna senchsonnmAlai yEzhumiraNdum onrum vallaar

mannavarAi ulahu aNDu meenDum vAnavarAimahizhvu yeythuvarE

 

(Meaning ): Those who master the ten paasurams of Thirumangai

Mannan's on the Lord of ThirunAgai , who incarnated as Hamsam ,

VarAham and Mathsyam will unfailingly rule this world and thereafter

reach Parama Padham and enjoy the BrahmAnandham there .

 

SthaLa VisEsham

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

This dhivya dEsam is known as Naagai because the Lord of

this dhivya dEsam is prathyaksham to Naaga Raajan .It is a port city

and hence it is called PattiNam . Through the reference to " Naahai

AzhahiyAr " in the 10th Paasuram , it becomes clear that all the ten

Paasurams are about Naagai's most beautiful SoundararAjan .

 

The beauty of the Lord of Naagai is seen to be believed .

His beauty is indeed captivating . A family was performing

ThirukkalyANa Uthsavam for Him on the day of adiyEn's visit .

He was even more radiant during this occasion . The Bhattars are

old fashioned and their upachArams to their Lord are full of

Bhakthi bhAvam . They do not rush anything . The bhattars invited

me to stay after the Lord's ThirukkalyANam and enjoy the KalyANa

SaappAdu. adiyEn gladly accepted and the items were like nectar.

PerumAL's name is Soundarya Raajan . ThAyAr's name is Soundharya

Valli . The vimAnam is Soundarya VimAnam .PushkaraNee is

Saara PushkarNee . The Lord is Prathyaksham to Thirumangai

AzhwAr and Naaga Raajan .

 

In the next posting , adiyEn will describe my visit

to the dhivya dEsam of ThirukkaNNangudi, one of

the Pancha KrishNa kshEthrams of ChOLa dEsam .

 

NamO Sri RanganAthAya ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan

 

Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka

Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama: