The Final leg of The Third Day of a Life's journey to SadAchAryan's holy Feet: Feb 7, 2000 : On the way to Srirangam and halt at VeNNARRankari Dhivya Desam .

[Guest guest]

Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE nama:

Sriman NaarAyaNa YathIndhra MahA DesikAya nama :

 

Dear BhakthAs :

 

After the blessed anugraham of asmath AchAryan ,

my sister and myself stopped at VeNNARRankarai

divya Desam on the way to Srirangam .

 

The MahAthmyam of VeNNARRanKarai

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This dhivya dEsam is also known as Thirutthanjai MaamaNikkOil.

It is two and half miles from ThanjAvUr. There are three Sannidhis

at this dhivya dEsam sung by three AzhwArs ( Kaliyan , BhUtham and

perhaps NammAzhwAr in His ThiruvAimozhi 5.3.1 , when He

addresed the Lord as " MaNikkunRu " ).

 

In the very first decad celebrating the glory of

AshtAksharam (VaadinEn Vaadi VarunthinEn--) ,Kaliyan

performs MangaLAsAsanam for Tanjai MaamaNikkOil :

 

" --valampulAnchOlai MaamathiL Tanjai MaamaNIkkOil VaNangi,

NambikAL uyya naan KaNDu KoNDEn NaarAyaNAvennum Naamam "

Periya Thirumozhi: 1.1.6

 

Later as Kaliyan performed MangaLAsAsanam for

Thirukkadanmallai Sthala Sayana PerumAL ,

His mind flashed back to the Lord at TanjaikkOil:

 

" --taDam paruhu karu muhilait ThanjaikkOil

TAVANERIKKOR PERUNERIYAI vaiaam kaakkum ,

kaDum pari mEl KARKKIYAI kaNDu KoNDEn -- "

 

Periya Thirumozhi: 2.5.3

 

Here , Kaliyan recognizes the Lord as the illustrious

object of Tapas of Tapasvins and as the Loka SamrakshaNa

avathAran ( Bhavishyath avathArm ) , Kalki riding a white

horse .

 

The third Paasuram by Kaliyan on this dhivya desam

is a full one ( Periya Thirumozhi: 7.3.8)in the series

dedicated to the Lord of ThirunaRayUr :

 

" -- TanjayALiyaip ponn peyarOn

nenjamanRidanthavanai tazhalEpurai

minseymaal varayai MANIKKUNRINAI

anRi yenn manam pORRi yennAthE "

 

Here , Thirumangai AzhwAr celebrates

his mind's soubhAgyam of being filled with

the thoughts about the glories of

Sriman NaarAyaNan as Nrusimhan and RaamAvathAran .

 

There are three dhivya dEsams here , although

all the three are counted as one dhivya dEsam :

 

(1) Tanjai MaamaNIkkOil: Sri NeelamEgap PerumAL

and Sengamalvalli ThAyAr

 

(2) TanjayALi Nagar: Sri Tanjai Naayaki SamEtha

Sri Narasimhan under Vedasundara VimAnam .

 

(3) MaNikkunRap PerumAL Sannidhi: Sri Ambhujavalli

SamEtha Sri MaNikkunRap PerumAL is the presiding

Lord here .

 

The first two Dhivya dEsams are on the banks

of the Historic VeNNAr river .

 

In His 70th Paasuram of Second ThiruvanthAdhi ,

BhUthatthAzhwAr celebrates the presence of

the Lord of Tanjai MaamaNikkOil as antharyAmi

Brahmam in the heart lotuses of of His BhakthAs :

 

" TamaruLLam Tanjai Talaiarangam TaNNkAll

--yEvalla Yenthaikkidam "

 

It was a beautiful evening and the young Bhattar

helped us have the sEvais of the EmprumAns

at each of the three sannidhis.

 

The Udayavar SatAri (MudaliyANDAn ) , which was consecrated

by Azhagiya Singar earlier through ManthrAkshadai was travelling

with us .That SatAri was placed at the sacred feet

of all the three PerumALs as a part of

the SatAri's travel towards ThirunArAyaNapuram .

 

Swamy Desikan's kumArar , Sri NayinArAcchAryar

spent a significant period of time with Sri

Brahma Tantra Svathanthra Swamy here at Sri

NeelamEghap PerumAL Sannidhi ; during such a stay ,

he estblished the sampradhAyam that during

the anadhyayana kaalam after ThirukkArthikai ,

only the taniyans for the NaalAyira

dhivya prabhandham , RaamAnuja NooRRanthAdhi

and Desika Prabhandham should be recited in place

of the Dhivya prabhandhams .

 

Here, Sri NainArAchAryAr (Kumaara VaradAchAr )

peformed prathishtai for the vigrahms of AzhwArs,

EmperumAnAr , Swamy Desikan and Lord HayagrIvan .

 

VeNNArrankari is also the birth place of

one of the greatst AchAryAs of Poundarikapuram

Aasramam, Srimath ParamahamsEthyAdhi Sri SrinivAsa

MahA Desikan , whose 150th anniversary was celebrated

recently.

 

As the night traffic increased , we travelled to

Srirangam to rest for the night under the safety

of the sacred feet of NamperumAL celebrated by

Swami Desikan in His celebrated AdhikAra Sangraham

Paasuram (51) :

 

" uRusakatamudaya oru kaaluRRuNarnthana--

vidal ariya PERIYA PERUMAAL menn PadhangaLE "

 

As the morning dawned on the 8th day of February ,

we were ready for the day's woeship to Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha

Sri RanganAthan's ThirukkOil .

 

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchArui Sadagopan