tiruvaNpuroDottamam (tirumangai AzhvAr’s Periya tirumozhi 4.2) – tirunAngUr divyadEsam

[Guest guest]

SrIH

SrImate ra’ngarAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

 

tiruvaNpuroDottamam (tirumangai AzhvAr’s Periya tirumozhi 4.2) – tirunAngUr

divyadEsam

 

Preface to this Series:

 

PerumAL has taken His abode in eleven divya kshetrams in tirunAngUr (in the

vicinity of SIrkAzhi), providing easy access to His devotees. These eleven

divya dEsam-s located in the town of tirunAngUr, are collectively called the

‘tirunAngUr divya dEsam-s’. The tirunAngUr divya dEsam shrines are

tirumaNimADakkoyil, tiruvaikuntha viNNagaram, tiru arimEya viNNagaram,

tiruttEvanArtogai, tiruvaNpuruDOttamam, tiruccemponseikoyil, tirutteTriambalam,

tirumaNikkUDam, tiruveLLakkuLam, tirukkAvalampADi and tirupparthanpaLLi.

 

In the following link, u.vE. SrI uppiliappan varadAcAri SaThakopan svAmi talks

about all the eleven tirunAngUr divyadEsams:

 

http://www.sundarasimham.org/ebooks/reflection5.pdf

 

and covers in extensive detail, seven of these tirunAngUr divyadEsams:

 

http://www.ahobilavalli.org/vaikunta_vinnagaram.pdf

 

http://www.ahobilavalli.org/thiru_thevanar_thogai.pdf

 

http://www.ahobilavalli.org/semponsei_koil.pdf

 

http://www.ahobilavalli.org/arimeya_vinnagaram.pdf

 

http://www.ahobilavalli.org/thirutherriambalam.pdf

 

http://www.ahobilavalli.org/thiruvellakkulam.pdf

 

http://www.ahobilavalli.org/tkvmpadi.pdf

 

Pictures of some of the tirunAngUr divyadeSams are available in SrI Senthil

Kumar’s following blogs:

http://thiruvaikuntavinnagaram.blogspot.com/

http://thirusemponseikoil.blogspot.com/

http://thirunangur.blogspot.com/

 

SrI Senthil Kumar’s tirunAngUr 11 garuDa sEvai pictures are at:

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/b.senthil2002/ManjalkuliAnd11GarudaSevai#

 

For the write-up on tiruppArthanpaLLi, please refer to:

 

http://www.srihayagrivan.org/html/ebook047.htm

 

Next, aDiyEn will attempt to throw some light on tiruvaNpuruDOttamam -

tirunAngUr divyadeSam using the following commentaries on tirumangai AzhvAr’s

periya tirumozhi 4.2:

1. SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan's vyAkhyanams

2. SrI PeriyavAccAn PiLLai's (SrI PVP) vyAkhyAnams, rendered by SrI puttUr

kRshNasvAmi iyengAr

3. SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriAr's (SrI UV) vyAkhyAnams and

4. SrI P.B. aNNangarAcAriAr's (SrI PBA) vyAkhyanams

 

vAN puruDOttamam – The best among men (purusha/puruDa) lives here showering

His bountiful benevolence in poignantly protecting His devotees (vaLLal tanmai

– vaNmai) [from the book, “108 vaiNava divyadEsa varalARu by Dr. vaiNavac

cuDarAzhi A. etirAjan].

 

SrI KRshNa calls Himself “purusha uttamaH†(24th nAma in SrI vishNu

sahasranAma stotram) in His gitA upadeSam to arjuna (gItA.15.17,18).

 

(Please set your encoding to Unicode UTF-8)

 

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDigalE SaraNam,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

=================================================

 

Introduction to tiruvaNpuruDOttamam (Periya tirumozhi 4.2) - tirunAngUr

divyadEsam:

 

mUlavar: puruDOttaman, standing posture, east facing tirukkOlam

tAyAr: puruDOttama nAyaki

tIrtham: tiruppARkaDal tIrtham

vimAnam: sanjIvi vigraha vimAnam

mangaLASAsanam – tirumangai AzhvAr – 10 pAsurams

darSanam by: upamanyu, Sage vyAghrapAda

 

A. SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan:

tirumangai mannan is cherishing the natural beauty of tiruvaNpuruDOttamam

divyadEsam where sarvESvaran lives. He extols the activities of emperumAn, who

created brahma and other devA-s, relieved the devA-s from their self-inflicted

troubles and protected the worlds by defeating the asurA-s.

 

B. SrI UV: vaNpuruDOttamam is the fifth divyadEsam in tirunAngUr. AzhvAr is

describing some of the best avatAra leelA-s of emperumAn to show that He is the

purushottaman [exceptional among men].

============

tiruvaNpuruDOttamam - Periya tirumozhi 4.2.1:

 

kamba mAkaDal aDaittu ilangaikku man

kadir muDi avai pattum

ambinAl aRuttu arasavan tambikku

aLittavan uRai kOil

Sembal Anirai Sembagam mAdhavi

CUtakam vAzhaigaL SUzh

vambulAnkamugOngiya nAngUr

vaN puruDottamamE.

 

A. SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan:

A big ocean; an ocean with waves that will dissolve any object dropped in the

ocean; empepurmAn built a bridge on this ocean. He cut off the ten heads of

rAvaNan who was boasting himself as the king of ilangai with its three forts,

the ocean being one of them. Those heads were wearing crowns and had been to

several places for conquests of other territories. EmpeurmAn severed the heads

strengthened from rAvaNan's boons with His khsatriya arrow. Not giving a chance

for anyone to say, " He vanquished the demon and ruled over his kingdom " , He gave

that kingdom to rAvaNa's brother. The temple where that puruDOttamma emperumAN

lives is vaNpuruDOttamam.

 

In the second half of the verse, AzhvAr sings about the natural beauty of the

place - there are lines and lines of red, palA (jack) trees, cembaga

(champak/Michelia champaca) trees, kurukkatti (flowering creeper) trees, mango

trees, banana trees and areca palm trees that have grown in all the four

directions and spreading a nice smell.

 

B. SrI PVP:

rAmapirAn went to ilangai and vanquished rAvaNa in the battle. Displaying this

grand splendor, He is staying permanently in tirunAngUr - vaNpuruDOttamam so

that future generations can worship Him.

 

kamba mAkaDal aDaittu – He built a bridge over the huge ocean that contains

perilous waves. rAvaNa was extremely proud about his ilangai with its secure

forts. rAma broke the sea fort by building a bridge over it.

 

ilangaikku man kadir muDi avai pattum ambinAl aRuttu – He severed ilangai

king’s ten heads adorned by brilliantly shining crowns. rAvaNa’s heads were

strengthened by the boon that even brahmAStram cannot sever them ; but, rAma cut

them off with His kshatriya arrow.

 

arasavan tambikku aLittavan – rAmapirAn bestowed the kingdom of ilangai to his

brother (vibhIshaNan) ; He was extremely happy that vibhIshaNa who was so close

to Him was the most appropriate person to receive the wealth of the rAkshasa

kingdom

 

uRai kOil – He lives (with great happiness) in the temple

 

Sembal Anirai Sembagam mAdhavi CUtakam vAzhaigaL Suzh vambulAnkamugOngiya nAngUr

– tirunAnguR with its natural beauty of red, palA trees, cembaga trees,

kurukkatti trees, mango trees, banana trees and fragrant areca trees

 

vaN puruDottamamE – it is the divyadESam called tiruvaNpuruDOttamam.

 

C. SrI UV:

SrI vAlmIki calls SrIrAmapirAn “purushottama†as he has the most important,

opulent six divya guNams showing soulabhyam (ease of attainment).

 

AnRSamsyamanukroSaH Srtam SIlam damaH SamaH |

rAghavam Sobhayantyete shaDgunAH puroshottamaH ||

(ayodhyA.33.12)

 

This does not in way reduce His paratva guNam. Look at the setubandam that He

did so that future generations will benefit. Who else can achieve this? The

monkeys handed over lots of mountain pieces to naLa, who built the bridge over

the ocean. We cannot ask what rAma’s part in this is. That ocean is a

kambamAkaDal – How did the monkeys enter the dangerous ocean with furious

waves to build a bridge? When the ocean waves keep coming continuously, can any

one go near? First, perumAL, as per His soft nature, tried to get the help of

samudra rAjan for three nights and only when the adamant rAjan did not show up,

He got ready to aim His arrow at the ocean and subdued it. samudra rAjan

surrendered to rAma; perumAL explained how He wanted to cross the ocean and

reach lanka. The ocean stayed calm so that He could build the bridge. This

incident proves that He is purushottaman.

 

rAvaNa’s heads kept reappearing; in order to stop that, perumAL aimed His

vaishNava arrow at the secret life source in his heart and killed him. Because

of that also, He is purushottaman.

 

He acquired rAvaNa’s kingdom by killing him. But, just as He gave vAli’s

kishkindai to sugrIvan, He did not keep that kingdom and presented it to

vibhIshaNan. Even though He had promised rAvaNa’s kingdom to vibhIshaNa before

He severed the ten heads with gleaming crowns, the actual reality of vibhIshaNa

getting that kingdom happened only after rAvaNa samhAram. It is not proper to

think he got it until he actually got it; hence the phrase, “aRuttu aLittAnâ€

[severed (the heads) and gave (the kingdom)].

 

vaNpurshOttamam is the tiruppati that contains various kinds of trees to feed

Him and the monkey forces that helped Him.

 

D. SrI PBA:

The coronation that rAma did for vibhIshaNa before ravaNa samhAram became

fruitful only after the samhAram. PeriyAzhvAr also sings –

 

“tennilangai mannan sirantOL tuNi seydu

minnilangupUN vibhIDa nambkikku

ennilangu nAmataLavum arasenRa†(2.6.9)

 

“muDi†refers to both crown and head. “kadirmuDiyavai pattum†should be

taken as having a double meaning and construed as “the ten heads that were

wearing shining crownsâ€.

 

Since the extremely generous purushOtaman/puruDOttaman lives here, it has come

to be known as vaNpuruDOttamam.

 

mAdhavi (a flowering creeper) and cUtaka (mango tree) are saMskrtam terms.

========

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Abbreviations:

PVP = periyavAccAn piLLai

UV = uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriyAr

PBA = P.B. aNNangarAcAriyAr

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End of periya tirumozhi 4.2.1 on tiruvaNpuruDOttamam

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To be continued …..