Thiruvallikeni

[Guest guest]

sri parthasarathi thunai

srimathe ramanujaya namaha

 

Dear members,

pranams,

 

I herewith send my postings on Thiruvallikeni which appeared in

Oppiliappan groups some days back.This is a series of 7 postings.The

following is the first among them.

 

Thiruvallikeni-1

Adiyen really felt very bad for not being able to experience the

association, with the Divya Dhampathis on the Panguni Uuthiram day of

this year, as the other lucky bhagavatals have got. But I have to get

partially satisfied with myself, as this was only this year we are in

America, I can still cherish the experiences of my previous sevais

the Divya Dhampathis have given me in the previous years. I saw a

posting on the Divya Dhampathis in Srirangam and also about Kalyana

Ranganathar of Thiruvali-Thirunagari in 's

Bhakthi-list.

You may wonder, about whom I am going to speak now. It is about the

Divya Kalyanam of Ranganathar (Sri Mannatha Perumal) with Sri

Vedavalli Thayar in Thiruvallikeni.

 

Here Ranganathar came for the very purpose of marrying Sri Vedavalli

thayar. On the Panguni Uthram day a grand Thirumanjanam for the

Dhampathis on ekasanam is done and then Ranganathar purapadu on

kannadi garudan is performed. This is a unique vahanam on which only

Mannathan has purapadu, and that too only once in a year. During

this purappadu Mannathan is dressed like a mappilai and the purappadu

signifies the mappilai azhaypu ritual in our marriages. Mannathan is

a mappilai for all the thiruvallikeni vasees since Vedavalli is a

girl of our place. The mappilai is welcome at each and every house,

and then with all the greetings his majesty comes to the thayar

mandapam ready to take part in the marriage.

 

Then comes the marriage (Even though the original marriage is on

masi dwadasi day) , today the main occassion is the gadyatraya

ghosti. Acharya Ramanauja takes his seat at the side of the Divya

Dhampathis and the gadyathraya ghosti starts. I need not tell much

about the greatness of the ghosti in Thiruvallikeni. Even if the

ghosthi is at 12 in the mid-night the sound of gadyam will reveberate

everywhere. You cannot imagine such a crowd at this time of the

night anywhere else in the world. Even you can see small kids taking

part in all ghostis so enthusiastically in Thiruvallikeni. Can you

imagine this taking place, in this modern age of the Pentiums, where

the kids in the age group of 7-10 fighting with their parents to do

their upanayanams fast so that they can attend sandhai? If you are

surprised just come and experience this in Thiruvallikeni. In many

ghostis the voice of the small boys will excel, even their grand

fathers. It is really a great scene during the brahmotsavams, to see

tiny boys, who do not even know to wear a Dhothi, with sleepy eyes,

but with full of joy, come to see the purappadu of Sri Parthasarathi.

 

Another special mention at this period of time is that, Sri Ramanujar

whose gadya trayam which revebrates all over the world on this

panguni utram day, is supposed to be the incarnation of the lord Sri

Parthasarathi himself. The Geethacharyan wanted to give the bhasyam

himself so that it will be easy for manda buddis like us to

understand the inner meanings of the Geetha Shastram. So don't

ever

miss Acharya's Utsavam in Thiruvallikeni. To hear the yatiraja

vimsathi ghosti and also to see mangalasasana utsavam of Sri

Ramanujar at every sannadhi u really need thousands of ears and eyes

(Kaana Kan Kodi vendum). I really feel very bad to miss all these

kolakalams this year. Even if you are there for once, the next year

I bet, u will never tend to miss it. The kattiyam during

Acharya's

Thirumanjanam will be out of the world.

 

I think I have started somewhere and gone somewhere. Every utsavam

in Thiruvallikeni requires a voluminous posting on their own and mere

words can never replace the live experience of being on the site.

Now, coming back to the panguni uttaram day after the gadyatraya

ghosti, comes the serthi sevai. This sevai prolongs for the next day

also but only for a brief period of time. Then Ranganathar and Thayar

have an oorgola utsavam in the evening. With this the curtains are

drawn on the utsavam (Actually Panguni Uttiram is the final day of

this utsavam called as pallava utsavam). This is Vedavalli

Thayar's

home ground and so she has great powers to render to her sincere

bhaktas. So here, her purushakaram gains lots of significance.

Mannathan is highly impressed by Vedavalli's charm and grants

everything she asks for. So, the best place on this earth, to do

saranagathi is here, so that the Divya Dhampathis will over look all

our sins. Even Thirumangai Alwar in his mangalasanam

says 'oppavarilla madargal vazhum madamamayilai thiruvallikeni

kandene'. First in his list of `opavarilla madar' were Sri

Vedavalli

Thayar and Sri Aandal, in search of whom Sri Mannathan and Sri

Parthasarathi have settled down here.

 

Another highlighting feature inside the sannadhi of Sri Mannathar is

that, we can find Sri Bhoovaraagar and Sri Lakshminarasimhar who were

supposed to have come to attend the marriage of Sri Ranganathar and

Vedavalli thayar. I think it has become a big posting already.

Bhagavat anubhavam is never ending so I pause now to continue later.

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai

Sumithra Varadarajan