puthUr swAmy 6

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CONTEMPORARY SIGNIFICANCE

 

Sri puthUr KrishnaswAmy iyengar next goes on to prove that 'sanyAsi-s'

of those days were all srEvaishNavites and this has been corroborated

from thol-kAppiyam.

 

The three charactristics of a sanyAsi, are

 

1. yagjnOpavEtham;

2. thri-thaNDam;

3. maNai.

 

Generally, we see that srEvaishnavite jEyar's and pontiffs have

yagjnOpavEtham and thri-thaNDam.

 

The third aspect maNai is mentioned as possession of any sanyAsi. They

should be devoid of any attachments is the significance.

It is indeed surprising that this aspect is very much significant even

today in this contemporary world.

 

The thol-kAppiyam song

 

"nUlEa karagam, mukkOal maNaiyEa,

Ayum kAlai andhaNarkku vuriya" poruL adhigAram.

 

The term "mukkOR pagavargaL" oft quoted in sangam literature should be

understood in the above parlance.

 

I recall thiruch-chandha vrutham pAsuram in this regard:

 

"....siRReyiRRu muRRal mUngil mUnRu thaNdar onrinar,

aRRa pathar suRRi vAzhum andha nEr arangamEA" 52

 

The srEavishNavites who were flocking thiruvarangam were having thri-thANDam.

 

(to be continued)

vanamamalai padmanabhan