AdiyEn's Sep 10-17 visit to India : Part VII / ThirukkOshtiyUr Visit ; AzhwAr Paasurams

[Guest guest]

Sri :

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

In this posting , adiyEn would cover briefly the anubhavam

of the AzhwArs about the Lord of ThirukkOttiyUr starting from

PeriyAzhwAr of SrivilliputthUr .

 

 

PeriyAzhwAr's anubhavam

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Twenty two of the 39 paasurams are from PeriyAzhwAr .

The first ten are about the birth of Kutti KaNNan at

ThirukkOttiyUr . AzhwAr recognizes this dhivya dEsam

as Thiru Aayi Paadi and describes the abundant joy of

the shepherds of Gokulam(Aayar and Aaycchiyar)

in celebrating the avathAram of the Lord in their midst .

The scene is one of tumultous joy . Drums sounded .

The people danced out of joy that the Lord was born

amidst them in the idaicchEri .

 

AzhwAr starts his PeriyaazhwA Thriumozhi with

the beautiful description of ThirukkOttiyUr

and visulaizes it as the AaypAdi itself :

 

" VaNNa MaadangaL Soozh ThirukkOttiyUr

KaNNan Kesavan Nambi Piranthanil

yeNNai suNNam yethriyethir thoovida

KaNNan muRRam kalamtaLaRaayirrE "

 

The Joyous Aacchiyars and Aayars assembled at

ThirukkOttiyUr known for its beautiful , multistoried

buildings and went to the palace where Kutti KaNNan

was" born" amidst them. They sprayed scented powder

and fragrant oil on each other to celebrate the arrival of

their darling and made the courts of the palace slippery

with the accumulating paste of oil and the fragrant powder .

They were shouting with joy , " KaNNan Kesavan Nambi

PiRanthAn ".

 

The tumultous scene is described further in the second paasuram :

The celebrating party ran from one end of the palace to the other.

They slipped and fell in thier rush . They embraced each other .

The newly arrived asked about the exact room in which

Kutti KaNNan was resting on His Mother's lap ( " NaaduvAr

NampirAn yenguRRAn yenpAr ". They sang with joy about

the glory of the Lord , who had chosen to be born

amidst them .Some danced to the beat of drums .

The whole AayarpAdi ( ThirukkOttiyUr) floated in

a flood of joy during this occasion of the Lord's birth .

 

Third Paasuram describes the spontaneous outburst of

those , who were blessed to see the Parama soundharyam

and dhivya tEjas of Kutti KaNNan , who hid His Parathvam

and acted just as a beautiful child filled with all SaamudhrikA

lakshaNams . Some observed that there is no male that is

equivalent to Kutti KaNNan in valour and beauty ( AaNNoppAr

Ivan nErillai KaaNN "). Other knowledgable ones(cognizenti )

deduced that this divine child born in SravaNa nakshathram will

rule the universe ( ThiruvONatthAn ulahALum yenpArhaLE ) .

 

The fourth Paasuram describes the intense activities

at the homes of the cowherds and cowherdesses .

Their wealth is Milk , Butter and Curd . They brought

those precious offerings to Kutti KaNNan's residence

as gifts and prayed for His well being . Others poured those

offerings in the courtyard of Kutti KaNNan's house

in a gesture of joy and abandon. They sang and danced

and were immersed in waves of bliss and forgot even

where they were . The joyous experience overpowered them

(" yengum aRivizhanthanar AaypAdi AayarE " ).

 

The fifth Pasuram describes the arrival of the cowherds

from their night watches over their herds .They had

the staff in their hands , their mats made of coconut

palm leaves .They rushed straight from their duties

of the night to NandhagOpan's palace to have the first

look at the divine child and jostled with each other to get

closer .

 

A day or two went by . YasOdhai was now ready to give

a bath to her darling child and slowly stretch out His

tender arms and legs . She prepared comfortingly

warm water and added fragrant essences to it .

She painted the little tongue of Kutti KaNNan with

turmeric paste to eliminate any phlegm . As she

looked into the mouth of her darling during that

exercise , she saw the seven worlds inside the mouth

of that divine child ( " Vyaam yEzhum kaNDAL PiLLai

vaayuLLE") . When she saw this astounding scene

inside the mouth of her little one , YasOdha and

the cowherdesses surrounding her recognized that this

mysterious child can not be the child of NandagOpan

and YasOdha and concluded that this child with

anantha kalyANa guNams is none but the Supreme

Being ( Aayar putthiran allan Arumdhaivam , Baalakan

Maayan yenRu mahizhnthanar )... Paasurams 6 & 7.

 

In the eighth pasuram , PeriyAzhwAr continues

with his anubhavam of shifting the 12th day

celebration happenings at Vada Mathurai to

ThirukkOttiyUr . PeriyAzhwAr visualizes the decoration

of the entire dhivya dEsam with victory pillars

holding multicolored flags and festoons. The cowherdess

took KaNNan in their hands , lifted Him and kissed Him

with great affection in anticipation of the ways

in which He was going to protect them later from

the anger of Indhra by lifting and holding Govardhana

Giri as an umbrella (" Mattha Maamalai taangiya Maindhanai ,

utthAnam seythu uhanthanar AayarE " ).

 

In the ninth paasuram , YasOdhai refers to the adhubhutha

chEshtithams of this divine child and her dismay over those

Baala KreeDais .

 

In the tenth and the final Paasuram , PeriyAzhwAr

instructs us that those who sing these ten paasurams

about ThirukkOttiyUr ArchA Moorthy ( Soumya NaarAyaNan )

as KaNNan will never get admixed with Bhagavath -- anubhava

VirOdha Paapams :

 

" SennellAr Vayal soozh ThirukkOttiyUr

Mannu NaaraNan Nambi PiRanthamai

minnu nool Vittuchitthan virittha

ippannu pAdal vallArkku illai paavamE "

 

AndAL imagined SrivilliputthUr as Vadamathurai.

Her father identified with ThirukkOttiyUr as

AaypAdi(Gokulam ).He saw ThirukkOttiyUr

EmperumAn , Soumya NaarAyaNan , as KaNNan ,

Kesavan , Nambi , NaarAyaNan and performed

MangaLAsAsanam for Him . ThirukkOttiyUr

PerumAl was instrumental in VishNuchitthar's

inspired participation in the debate at the court of

PaanDyan King to eastablish the Parathvam of

Sriman NaarAyaNan . Hence , VishNuchitthar

chose Soumya NaarAyaNan as the object of

the first ten Paasurams of his dhvya Prabhandham

and celebrated His avathAram as KaNNan .

 

In the next posting related to this KshEthrAdanam ,

adiyEn will cover the dhivya prabhAvam (Vaibhavam )

of ThriukkOttiyUr , where PeriyAzhwAr regrets over

the misfortunes of those , who do not reflect on

the ThirukkOttiyUr ThUmaNi VaNNan ( PeriyAzhwAr

Thirumozhi: 4.4) .

 

Sri Soumya NaarAyaNa SwaminE Nama:

Dasan , Oppiliappan KOil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka

Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama: