AdiyEn's KshEthrAdanam /Seventh Day : Oct 23 , 2005 : ThirumAlirum chOlai : Part I

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear Sri KaLLazhagar BhakthAs :

 

ThirumAlirum Cholai Azhagar , ThirumOhUr KaaLamEgha PerumAl ,

Aanai Malai SingappirAn and Koodal Azhagar blessed this seventh

day of this year's KshEthrAdanam .

 

At ThirumAlirum chOlai , the focus was on the samarpaNam of 100 vessels of

Akkaravadisil to Sundara Raaja PerumAL following ANDAL's samarpaNam

and that of GodhAgrajar , " the elder Brother of ANDAL " , AchArya

RaamAnujA , who fulfilled ANDAL's promise of the samarpaNam of

100 vessels of akkAravadisil prior to his trip to SrivilliputthUr .

 

When AchArya RaamAnuja arrived at NaacchiyAr ThirumALigai ,

Andal rushed from inside Her Grabha gruham to ardha Mantapam

to greet Her " elder brother " , who took care of the SamarpaNam

that She had promised to Azhagar at ThirumAlirumchOlai but

did not have the time to complete inview of Her marriage with

Lord RanganAthan .

 

Early Morning Vigil in front of Azhagar Koil Main entrance

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

The Koil ArchakAs had asked us to arrive at the temple by 5.30 A.M

for Viswaroopa darsanam , SuprabhAtham , SthOthra PaDanam ,

Prapatthi , MangaLam recital and for the morning AarAdhanam .

 

The SamarpaNam of the 100 TaDA akkaravadisil , which had been

cooking in the MadappaLLi from 9 P.M the night before until 3 A.M

the follwing day would follow this Sevaa Kaalam .

 

We had presented the Sannidhi ParichArakr and the MadaapaLLI Swamy

with the ingedients that go in to making the akkaravadisil at

ThirumAlirumchOlai : Lots of Milk and ghee , China kalkaNDu ,

Saffron(Rs.1250 worth) , Almonds , BisthA paruppu ,rice , Payattham

Paruppu , Cashew nuts , Raisins , cardamom et al . The provisions came to

approximately Rupees 8,200 . Patiently , the Sannidhi cook at the MadapaLLi

stirred for more than six hours the akkaravadisil slowly and watch over it

and then let it cool off for ernjoyment by the Lord . With the sambhAvanais

and

the three Pudavais for PerumAL and ubhaya NaacchiyAr ( Moolavars ) ,

KOil KattaNams , and other incidental expenses , another 8,000 Rupees

were added to the budget . adiyEn is mentioning the budget figures

for the benefit of those , who might contemplate offering such a

samarpaNam in future . It is interesting that Moolavar adorns 9 yard

colored Pudavai like His NaacchiyArs instead of Peethaambharam

at ThirumAlirumchOlai . We had brought a beautiful blue Pudavai

for the Lord and a gold colored Pudavai for the Ubhaya NaacchiyArs.

 

Frequency of AkkAravadisil SamarpaNam at ThirumAlirumchOlai

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We were told that approximately three times in a Year Akkaravadisil

is presented to the Lord . The One occasion is in Marghazhi, when Andal

stays before the Lord and offers the Akkaaravadisil personally . This is

a required Kaimkaryam by the temple itself . The other two samarpaNams

are by interested sEvArthees like us during the rest of the year .

 

History behind the Vella Paayasam (Akkaravadisil SamarpaNam

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

We were told that Uthsavar Sundara Baahu was waiting at the ardha

Mantapam especially for recieving the SamarpaNam on a special peetam

to enjoy this special delicacy in the name of ANDAL , who addressed Him as

"Maalirum ChOlai MaNALar " in Her Koodal KuRippu Paasurams .

 

"KarumbhAr Kuzhal KOthai" tempted the " SilambARudai Maalirum ChOlai

NinRa Sundaran" with this offer, if He appeared before Her mind's eye :

 

NaaRu NaRum Pozhil MaalirumchOlai Nambikku , Naann

nURu taDAvil VeNNay vaay nErnthu ParAvi VaitthEn ,

nooRu taDA niRaintha akkAravadisil sonnEn

yERu ThiruvudayAn inRu vanthu ivai koLLunkolO

--- NaachiyAr Thirumozhi(NTM) : 9.6

 

inRu vanthu itthanayum amudhu seythidappeRil , Naann

onRu nUrAyiramAhak-kodutthup-pinnumALum seyvan

tenRal MaNam kamazhum ThirumAlirumchOlai tannuL

ninRa PirAn , adiyEn manatthE vanthu nErpadilE - - - NTM 9.7

 

(Meaning) : adiyEn has made the sankalpam (Vaai nErnthu)

presents VeNNai spread in 100 vessels and 100 vessels filled with

Akkaaravadisil t the KayANa GuNa PoorNan (Nambikku) , who presides

over the fragrant groves of Vrushagiri at ThirumAlirumchOlai .Will this

Lord with growing Iswaryam due to the presence of MahA Lakshmi at

His chest come here today and accept this SamarpaNam ?

 

If the UpakArakan standing at ThirumAlirumchOlai enjoying the fragrant

breeze from the flowering groves there appears before adiyEn , accepts

the akkaravadisil , VeNNai offerings and my Dhaasyam in person , adiyEn

will multiply these offerings many fold and continue with the Kaimkaryams

for Him .

 

The Timeless glory of ThirumAlirumchOlai

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

ThirumAlirumchOlai is an ancient dhivya dEsam , where great AchAryAs

and AzhwArs have links . It was from here PeriyAzhwAr ascended to

Parama Padham . This dhivya dEsam was dear to ANDAL . As referred to

earlier , ANDAL enticed the Lord with 100 vessels of Akkaaravadisil ,

if he were to present Himself before Her . That was the reward She

souhgt in return for cooking the sweet AkkAravadisil with Her own hands .

 

There are 128 MangaLAsAsana Paasurams from SIX AzhwArs on Azhagar :

 

PeriyAzhwAr , ANDAL , BhUtham , Pey , Thirumangai and Swamy

NammAzhwAr .

 

adiyEn's Vigil in front of the Raaja Gopuram gate at the early Morning

hours

 

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We had arrived around 5.30 A.M as per the niyamanam of the ArchakAs . Thetemple

was not open yet . The Viswaroopam cow was ready to enter inside forits

kaimkaryam to the Lord and have its breakfast PrasAdham ( PerumALPrasAdham in

the form of ripe bananas ) . It was like GodhAPirAtti waitingalong with us for

Her Lord to awaken and to greet Her . Mercurial monkeyswere jumping all over

the mathiL and on the road leading to the temple .They were eager to join the

service for the Lord like the monkeys atThirumalai . There was time on hand to

reflect on the divine anubhavams ofAzhwArs and Swamy KurEsar (Sri Sundara Baahu

Sthavam) as well as KaLLazhagarKuravanji Naatakam ( Opera) by Kavi Kunjara

BhArathy . The first chapter ofTillAnA MohanAmbhAl describing the Uthsavam at

Azhagar Koil went thruadiyEn's mind .The scenes from the hurried arrival of Sri

RanganAtha attheThirumAlirum ChOlai temple s!

ome 700 years back from Srirangamalong withSwamy PiLLai LokAcchAr flashed thru

adiyEn's mind . It was a cool , pristinemorning to reflect on these happenings

as one waited for the Temple doorsto open to let us in . The anubhavam of

PeriyAzhwAr . It is a good placeto start . PeriyAzhwAr's Paasuram

highlights************************************ AzhwAr addresses the Lord as

"MathilSoozh SOlamalaikkarasE " . The ramparts surrounding the temple got

theattention of AzhwAr as he hastened towards the Sannidhi of Azhagar .

AzhwArenjoyed the Lord as enchanting Baala Gopalan and declared his

unalterablelove for the Lord : " MaRRaruvakku yennai pEsalottEn MaalirumchOlai

yemmMAyaRkkallAl " ( I will not let any one speak of myself being betrothed asa

bride except for the mysterious Aayan at MaalirumchOlai). Naturally ,

Hisdaughter took the cue from Her Father and AchAryan . In the 22 Paasurams

ofhis Thirumozhi ( 4.2 and 4.3) , PeriyAzhwAr loses himself in celebration ofthe

vaibhava!

m of " SilambARu Paayum Tenn ThirumAlirumchOlai" and the Lordwho stand

s there as his " Kula ViLakku ". AzhwAr hears the echos of HisPallANDu all

around sung by the devotees of the Lord at Solai Malai : "Yella idatthilum

yengum paranthu PallANDoli , sellaa niRkkum seert-tennThirumaalirum ChOlayE ".

The salutation of Solai Malai as the abode of theLord by PeriyAzhwAr are moving

: " Kadal VaNNan Malai , MaNi VaNNan Malai ,TanikkALai Karuthum Malai ( the

Mountain desired as the preferred place ofresidenceby that uniquely valourous

Lord as His own) , Azhahan AlankAraMalai , " Kula Malai , kOla Malai , KuLir

Maamalai , KoRRa Malai , NilaMalai NeeNDa Malai ThirumAlirum ChOlai adhE " .

Azhagar and the Solai Malaimerge together in AzhwAr's mind : " Maalirum ChOlai

yennum Malayai udayaMalaiyai " . AzhwAr elevates his gaze now and sees the Lord

as " VedAnthaVizhup- poruLin mEliruntha ViLakku ". AzhwAr enjoys the Lord as

the Svayam-prakAsa Param JyOthi shining as the quintessential lamp of

VedAnthaSaaramon top of Solai Malai . Towards the very end of !

his Thirumozhi and justbefore His valedictory SenniyOngu Paasurams ,

PeriyAzhwAr pours his heartout and expresses his MahA ViswAsam to " ThirumAlirum

ChOlai tannuL NinRaPiRAn ". In these 5.3 decad paasurams , AzhwAr addresses the

Lord ofThirumAlirumchOlai EmperumAn as his caring Father " ThirumAlirum

ChOlaiYenthAi " . In the sixth Paasuram , PeriyAzhwAr , who established

ParaTatthvam at the court of Paandya king declares unequivocally that the Lordof

ThirumAlirum chOlai alone ( not Rudran or Brahma or Indharan) canprescribe the

medicine for the disease of SamsAram and cure us and salutesAzhagar as the most

effective Doctor ( Marutthuvan) against the disease ofSamsAric sufferings .

AzhwAr begs the Lord to intercede , correct hisdeficencies and end the cycles

of births and deaths ( MarutthuvanAi ninRaMaamaNivaNNA ! MaRu piRavi

tavirat-thirutthi unn Koil kadaippuhappeyThirumAlirumchOlai YenthAi ) .adiyEn

will continue with the anubhavam ofANDAL Next .ThirumAlirum ChOlai T!

hirumAl ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,Daasan ,Oppiliappan Koil V. Sadagopan