Thiru Arangan Ula- the sojourn of the Lord. – 8. namperumAL joined by a special friend

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Thiru Arangan Ula- the sojourn of the Lord. – 8. namperumAL joined by a

special friend

 

namperumAL continued staying at JyOthishkudi for a month, before the

SriVaishnavAs decided to continue with their original plan of getting to

ThirumAlirunchOlai near Madurai. There is an interesting background to this:

Thirumangai AzhwAr in one of his pasurams had glorified both namperumAl and

kallazhagar (the deity of ThirumAlirunchOlai) to be the same. Once they safely

arrived at ThirumAlirunchOlai, the SriVaishnavAs didn’t want to leak the

information of namperumAL’s stay for the fear of Islamic invaders getting

cognizant. They dug a well (which can be seen even today, popularly known as

Azhagiya manavALan Thirukkinaru) and placed namperumAL inside the well, taking

him out only during prayer times – they wanted to hide namperumAL from the

invaders at any cost; kallazhagar is safe anyway, as he was very dear to the

kaLLars who were warriors and would fight for him with their lives.

 

Thus, namperumaL spent some time in hiding inside the well at

ThirumAlirunchOlai. His devotees then decided to take him towards the mountains

and hide in Kerala for some time. The path is strenuous yet not too long. The

route from Madurai to Kerala goes through the valleys of the town called Kambam

and cross the river named moonAru; the SrivaishnavAs rushed to Kerala in

full-speed without any breaks in the middle, they reached the present day city

of kOzhikkOde. namperumAL stayed at kOzhikkode for many months. But, there was a

pleasant surprise for namperumAL, for his special devotee is visited him. Who is

that special devotee?

 

Just like his Lord, nammAzhwAr also left his location of AzhwAr Thirunagari at

the south and traveled to Kerala just to escape the Islamic armies. The question

arises: What is so special about this idol of nammAzhwAr? The answer is

significant. The idol of nammAzhwAr at AzhwAr ThirunagarI is not sculptured.

During the times of nammAzhwAr, his dear disciple Madhurakavi AzhwAr expressed

his anxiety and sadness about missing his beloved AchAryA in case he attains

parama padam (Salvation). Sensing the love of his disciple, nammAzhwAr

instructed Madhurakavi AzhwAr to collect the water of the thAmaraparani river in

a utensil and boil it, which the disciple did.

 

As the water started to boil and evaporate, there was a beautiful idol in the

utensil, but to his surprise Madhurakavi AzhwAr noticed that the idol didn’t

resemble nammAzhwAr. It seemed to replicate a noble sannyAsi (renunciant) – it

was the idol of Saint rAmAnuja!! nammAzhwAr explains, “this is the idol of the

great saint who will deliver the whole world”, thus predicting the greatness of

rAmAnuja long before his advent. nammAzhwAr then instructed Madhurakavi AzhwAr

to repeat the process – the idol got this time was that of Swami nammAzhwAr’s,

and that is the idol that has now traveled to kOzhikOde.

 

Once, as they were sailing on the backwaters of kOzhikOde, due to imbalance in

the boat, the idol of nammAzhwAr fell into the deep water. As they were unable

to pin-point the location where he fell, an Eagle (which had been following them

all along) came close to the water and poked its beak as if it was trying to

point something. As the SriVaishnavAs dived in that exact spot, they finally

recovered the idol of nammAzhwAr. The eagle continued to follow the devotees.

 

Hence, namperumAL and nammAzhwAr enjoyed the company of each other in Kerala

till they reached a town called thEnaikkidambai. namperumAL desired to visit

ThirunArAyaNapuram, the place dear to Sri rAmAnujA. He instructed SwAmi

nammAzhwAr to get back to the south and proceeded to ThirunArAyanapuram and

stayed there for many months before finally arriving at Thirumalai. By the time

he reached Thirumalai, only 2 VaishnavAs were remaining to take care of him and

carry him, the rest had all died because of the old age and hardships (more on

that later).

 

nammAzhwAr was heading south, along with a huge group of vaishnavAs. As it so

happened, they were under constant attacks from the dacoits and lost many

expensive jewels and utensils of Swami nammAzhwAr. They realized that it was not

safe to carry him anymore and hence decided to hide the idol in a safe enclave,

just to collect him back when the time is right. Outside the boundaries of a

town named mundhirippoo was a mountain, the other side presenting the sight of a

deep valley. They placed the idol of swami nammAzhwAr inside a cave-like

enclosure of the valley. They left the place, only praying for the quick arrival

of the day when nammAzhwAr would safely return to AzhwAr Thirunagari.

Astonishingly, the eagle was not following them anymore; instead it stayed back

guarding nammAzhwAr’s deity.

 

Back in AzhwAr Thirunagari, the news of nammAzhwAr’s hiding reached Sri

ThOzhappar, an ardent devotee of the AzhwAr. Unable to bear the situation, Sri

ThOzhappar immediately left for Madurai and had to wait for one month before

meeting to Sri Thirumalai AzhwAr (ThiruvAimozhi piLLai, who was they very

powerful minister of the PAndyA kingdom). Hearing the news, Thirumalai AzhwAr

sent a letter addressed to the emperor of the ChErA dynasty of KEraLa, along

with 100 soldiers for security. The ChErA king readily obliged; he also sent 100

of his men to go along with the party in order to safely secure the idol of

SwAmi nammAzhwAr. After a long search that took many months, the rescue party

was finally able to locate the valley where the idol of SwAmi nammazhwAr was

kept hidden. But, they couldn’t locate the exact location; since it had been

many months, the deity of Swami nammAzhwAr was now buried because of the effects

of seasonal weather. What to do?

 

They engineered an elevator made of chains, pulleys and a makeshift swing. Sri

ThOzhappar readily volunteered to go down the valley in the elevator- it was a

very risky mission, but he was still enthused to rescue SwAmi nammAzhwAr,

because of his strong devotion. When he descended down the valley, he was having

a difficult time in locating SwAmi nammAzhwAr. Fortunately for him, he found an

eagle standing on a particular mound, below which was the idol of SwAmi

nammAzhwAr hiding. Sri Thozhappar immediately understood the signal and rescued

SwAmi nammAzhwAr. He sent the deity up on the elevator, and the VaishnavAs were

delighted to see SwAmi nammAzhwAr again. But, as the elevator was coming up

carrying Sri ThOzhappar, the chains broke and Sri ThOzhappar fell down the steep

valley and attained paramapadam (salvation).

 

Although they mourned for the loss of Sri Thozhappar, the villagers and

devotees were very joyous for having recovered the most important idol of SwAmi

nammAzhwAr. They had grand celebrations in the village of mundhiripoo and many

vaishnavAs from different areas and backgrounds – namboodiris, tattvavaadis, etc

assembled and celebrated SwAmi nammAzhwAr’s return. Because of the love and

devotion of the devotees of mundhirippoo, the idol of SwAmi nammAzhwAr stayed in

the village for 1 year.

 

(To be continued………..)

 

 

 

 

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Adiyen,

have no words to explain thanks to Shri Vimalkumar

for this wonderfull explanation.

adiyen,

senthil.b