Swami Sri Manaval Mamunikal’s YATHIRAJA VIMSATI - English Vyakhyanam by Sri U.Ve. S.Satyamurthi Iyyengar - Introduction

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Swami Sri Manaval Mamunikal’s YATHIRAJA VIMSATI

Vyakhyanam in English: Sri U.Ve. S.Satyamurthi Iyengar Swami

 

Introduction

 

Saint Vara Vara Muni, the last of the ‘poorvacharyas’, that grand galaxy of

preceptors, was known as azhakiya maNavALa nAyanAr, before he took the holy

order of Sanyasa. One day, his immediate preceptor (Acharya)

thiru-vaimozhip-pillai (Sri sailEsar), while meditating on the great qualities

of saint Ramanuja, pondered over those stanzas of Thiruvarangath-amudanar

(Amudanar of Arangam) depicting Ramanuja as a staunch devotee of Saint

Nammazhvar (Maaran), proclaiming to the inhabitants of this wide world, end to

end, the great glory of the Azhvar’s hymns and running riotous with the joy

spouting from those hymns like unto the intoxication of an elephant in rut.

This, in turn, led Srisailesar to think in terms of raising a fitting memorial

for Sri Ramanuja, right in the birthplace of Nammazhvar (Azhvar Thirunagari).

This took concrete shape soon thereafter. A temple was built and the image of

Ramanuja installed therein, duly consecrated. The surrounding streets, named as

“Sri Ramanuja Chaturvedi Mangalam”, were permanently inhabited, exclusively by

the ardent worshippers of Ramanuja.

 

The zealous disciple, Azhakiya Manavala Nayanar, was called upon by Srisailesar

to stay in this new colony and look after the daily routine of the temple.

Nayanar’s extra-ordinary devotion to this great cause earned the unstinting

approbation of Srisailesar, who started calling him a “Yateendra Pravanar”,

signifying the enormous love and devotion borne by him for Saint Ramanuja, the

Prince of ascetics- a name which soon gained currency and became widespread.

Srisailesar did not stop at that. At his behest, Nayanar composed twenty

Sanskrit slokas in adoration of Ramanuja, known as “yatiraja vimSati”. In the

penultimate sloka, “Sreeman Yateendra! tava divya padaabja sevaam”, the author

has gratefully acknowledged the grace galore of his loving Master

(Srisailanatha), which alone enabled the former to worship the lotus feet of Sri

Ramanuja unremittingly. The author’s profession of love and depth of devotion

for Saint Ramanuja are very much in evidence in the fourth sloka, which keeps

the hymnographer riveted to the Great Acharya by word, deed and thought.

 

Nayanar’s co-disciples composed a verse to commemorate the birth of these twenty

slokas, eulogizing the hymnographer and his hymns, which could sustain the vast

multitude of devotees and make them flourish. As regards the grace and

sweetness of these slokas, the reader will, apart from his or her own enjoyment,

do well to refer to Sri Prativadi Bhayankaram Anna’s Varavaramuni Satakam

wherein he has paid glowing tributes to the grandeur of these laudatory hymns.

Some might, however, question the propriety of Nayanar, himself an incarnation

of Ramanuja, extolling Ramanuja and reducing himself to abject humility c.f.

slokas 6 to 15. The answer to this is that this is quite in keeping with the

tenor of any Avatar c.f. Sri Rama, an incarnation of Bhagavan Narayana,

worshipping the idols of Narayana (i.e.,) Lord Ranganatha – ‘Sahapatnya

Visalakshi Narayanamupagamat’. It is noteworthy that the author desires to move

from one extreme to the other, that is, from the utter distraction of sensual

pleasures to utter devotion unto the one who stands last in the chain of Sri

Ramanuja's devotees, vide sloka 16. The author’s implicit faith in Saint

Ramanuja, as the sole Support and the great Redeemer, is fully reflected in the

last three slokas,

 

Here then is a string of stanzas twenty,

Hymns bespeaking the sweet bounty

Of Sri Ramanuja, the ascetic Prince,

Deep from the heart that doesn’t mince,

Of Manavala Mamuni, the votary par excellence.

 

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Retyped from the book by Sri Kesavan Srinivasan of Chicago

(The Grandson of Sri U.Ve. Satyamurthi Swami.)

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