Mesg from Varada

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Message: 1

Sun, 11 Mar 2001 11:34:43 -0800

Mani Varadarajan <mani

The details on what happened in Srirangam

 

 

>From our old friend Sri T.A. Varadhan, now resident

in Chennai.

 

>

>the whole controversy started when the sthapathi,

>stated that he wanted to make a triangular shaped

>symbol on perumAL's thirumARbu -

>

>all the stahalththArs objected to this - stating

>that there was nothing of that sort on periya

>perumAL's thirumEni before. gaNapathi sthapathi

>apparently quoted from some scriptures/AgamAs

>re: the presence of the triangular shaped symbol

>on perumAL's thirumArbu.

>

>[some people say that the real intentions of the

>sthapathi was to inscribe the thiru maRu (srIvatsa)

>on perumAL's chest - this maRu is a standard feature

>of many perumALs {thillai gOvindarAjan,thirukkOshtiyUr

>etc..}. maRu is the mark on perumAL's chest that was

>created because of brughu maharishi kicking him

>- since perumAL is soulabhyam/kAruNyam/dOsha bOghyan

>personified, the maRu has becaome an adornment to

>Him} - However the way it was put by the sthapathi

>resulted in sthalaththArs understanding the intentions

>differently {i.e. tantric symbol etc..}]

>

>At this time, the sthalaththArs, {srIranga nAraNa

>jIyar, parAsara bhattar svAmi, uttama nambi svAmi,

>among others} and the local srIvaishNavA leaders

>{srIvaishNava srI KrishnamAchAri svAmi, tirumanjanam

>sundararAjan svAmi, thirukkOshtiyUr mAdhavan

>svAmi among others} objected to the triangular mark

>& suggested that the image of mahAlakshmi be restored

>on perumAL's thirumArbu.

>

>At this juncture, there were objections from

>many quarters about restoring pirAtti's image. The

>issue went up to the commissioner of HR&CE to

>decide & multiple petitions were sent across to the

>CM, to the HR&CE department & to the press.

>

>The commissioner of HR&Ce, srI. sAvarkAr had not made

>any decisions yet, as the caretaker of all temples in

>tamizhnAdu. Meetings were set up for all parties to

>present their case.

>

>Prior to this, the HR&CE folks made some inquiries

>aout

>the presence of mahAlakshmi on perumAL. some archakAs

>of the temple denied any such existense and were

>of the opinion that since no mahAlakshmi existed on

>perumAL's chest, no new image be created of Her on

>perumAL's chest.

>

>The sthalattArs and srIvaishNavAs gathered evidence

>for the presence of mahAlakshmi on perumAL's chest -

>

>1. during the fire accident of 1959, it is entirely

>possible that the image of mahAlakshmi also damaged

>and when the subsequent cleaning of perumAL's image

>was done, the mahAlakshmi image could have completely

>disappeared.

>

>2. perumAL is suthai thirumEni {suNNAmbu kalavai

>etc..} - thailak kAppu is done every friday to

>perumAL - over a period of time, the thailak kAppu

>makes the features indistinguishable - in fact, the

>fire accident happened because the thailak kAppu was

>inches thick & since it is oil, at some local pocket,

>the thailak kAppu exploded and the fire spread.

>

>3. The current archakAs had not performed kainkaryam

>to perumAL before the fire accident in 1959.

>

>4. The sthalaththArs obtained statements from

>(a) archakAs who have performed kainkaryam before 1959

>(b) archakas from other temples that helped in

> restoring periya perumAL in 1959

>

>5. An old photo of the mUlavar was also

>produced - the image of mahAlakshmi is faintly visible

>on this photo.

>

>6. quotes from the divyaprabhandham was taken &

>AchAryAs' vyAkhyAnams were used to prove the presence

>of mahAlakshmi on perumAL's chest. The key quotes

>were "agalakillEn" from thiru vAymozhi and "thiru Ara

>mArbu adhu aNrO" fromn amalanAdhi pirAn. The

>commentary of svAmi periya vAccAn piLLai was used to

>illustrate the meaning of thiru Ara mArbu adhuanrO -

>thiruvukku aaram pOlE irukkum...

>

>7. srIranga nAraNa jIyar played a very important role

>in making everyone come together and get the

>discussions going. The final decision was made in a

>meeting at His maTam.

>

>8. once the facts were presented, the commmissioner

>made the only decision that is right - i.e. the image

>of mahAlakshmi should be restored.

>

>I would be remiss if I did not mention about srI.

>sAvarkAr and his excellent service as the HR&CE

>commissioner. He took it upon himself to be in

>srIrangam for 10 days till the samprOkahaNam to

>ensure proper supervision. He arranged a seminar on

>"AzvArgaL kaNda perumAL" today (saturday)

>and he himself spoke on "ANdAL kaNda perumAL" -

>He is a really efficient commissioner that tries

>to understand the tradition of the temple concerned,

>and respects the opinion of elders. He makes his

>decisions with utmost sincerity, giving equal hearing

>to all parties concerned and finally making the

>decision that is in accordance with the scriptures

>and tradition.

>

>The wonderful cooperation between the local

>administration of srIrangam (collector office,

>municipality), the temple administration and the

>local srIVaishNava community led by the jIyar

>and sthalattArs is something that needs to be

>duplicated in every temple town.

>

>adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan,

>Varadhan

>

 

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