Thiruvattapparai & Thiruvarasu

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagavathaas,

I am giving below two stories or legends

relating to two places near Tirukkurunkudi, one of the

108 Vaishnavite divya desams. Some of you may find

these interesting.

1) Thiru Vattapaarai.

This is a place just outside (about 3 kms)

The town of Thirukkurunkudi famous for Ninra Nambi,

Amarnda Nambi and Kidantha Nambi. There is a temple

for Sr Ramanuja at Thiruvattaparai where Ramanuja

preaches the Thirumanthiram to Lord Narayana Himself.

The legend runs as follows.

Sri Ramanuja was preaching the Vishishtadwaitha

philosophy at Thiruvananthapuram. He was staying in a

mantapam assisted by his sishya Vaduga Nambi in all

his daily ablutions and chores. Some of the local

people grew jealous of the growing popularity of Sri

Ramanuja and developed hatred and animosity towards

him and finally decided to do away with him. They

approached some practitioners of black magic to help

them achieve their goal. The wizard or witch

transported ( as it were, by air or by helicopter) Sri

Ramanuja, along with the cot on which he was sleeping

during the night, from Thiruvananthapuram to the

eastern side of the Western Ghats and dropped the cot

on a big rock near Tirukkurunkukudi on the bank of

the river, Nambi aaru. Neither Ramanuja nor Vaduga

Nambi was aware of this.

 

Sri Ramanuja awoke the next morning and called

aloud, "Vaduga, Vaduga", but nobody answered the call.

Lord Narayana thought that the call of such a great

Acharyan should not go unanswered and within a moment

He appeared before the master in the garb of Vaduga

Nambi, with folded hands and with the Utthareeyam

round his waist and with all the reverence due to a

great Guru. Sri Ramanuja ordered or commanded the

sishya to attend to his daily duties which included

washing his (Ramanuja's) dhoti and utthariyam,

bringing flowers and thulasi etc for the

Thiruvaradhanam to be performed by the Acharyan.

The sishyan obeyed implicitly. Sri Ramanuja took bath

in the river and wore thr Dwadasa pundram. He used to

adorn his sishya with the remnant of Thiruman and

Srichoornam used by him. He did this to the Lord also

in the guise of the sishya and the Lord was extremely

happy to get this at the hands of the great preacher

or yatirajar.

 

The Acharyan and the sishya went to the main

temple to worship the moolavar. The Perumal in the

guise of Vaduga carried the pookkudalai and

thiruthuzhai in the baskets and went past the dwaja

sthambam,entered the garbha griham, placed them there

and went further inside and vanished. Sri Ramanuja

was not able to find Vaduga Nambi. On seeing the

moolavar closely he noticed that the thiruman on the

Lord's forehead was still wet and that was the same

adorned by him on the forehead of Vaduga. He realised

that it was a 'leela' played by the Lord on him.

 

The Lord revealed Himself with with His

Divyaroopam and Diva Ayudhas. Sri Ramanuja begged His

pardon, but the Lord told him that He was not

satisfied with His own Avataras and that he wanted to

act as a sishya to a great Acharyan and to get

upadesam from him. He requested the Acharyan to

preach Him the Thirumanthiram or Mahamanthiram.

Accordingly Ramanuja sat on a pedastal befitting his

dignity and the Lord seated himself at a lower level

in an obedient posture with his right ear just below

the face or mouth of the Acharyan Sri Ramanuja told

the Lord in His right ear "Om Namo Naaraayanaaya".

Even to-day we can see the great teacher and the Lord

in this position in the Ramanujaa's temple at

Thiruvattapaarai.

 

Ashtaaksharam.

Om ithi ekaksharam'

Nama ithi dwe akshare,

Na, raa, ya, naa, ya ithi panchaksharani

ethadwai narayanasys ashtaksharam padam............

 

 

2) Thiruvarasu.

This is at a distance of about 3 kms from

Thirukkurunkudi. in the midst of fields and groves.

The structure houses the idol of Thirumangai Alwar

with folded hands but without his sword and kedaya.

It is stated that this is the samadhi of the Alwar.

The Azhwar wanted to enter at Bhadari but the Lord of

Tirukkurunkudi desired that he should stay there

itself and was not willing to leave him. So the Azhwar

entered samadhi there itself. This is called Thiru

Arasu here.

Azhwar thiruvadigale saranam.

 

dasan,

T.S. Rajagopalan.

 

 

 

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