PeriyAzhwAr ThiruppallANdu - Introduction

[Guest guest]

Sri:

SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

[Thanks to many BhAgawathas who have written to me to bless aDiyEn and the

kaimkaryam].

 

When Vishunu Chitthar saw the Lord , he was overwhelmed with the beauty ,

youth and laavaNyam of the Lord and broke out spontaneously .. ne engadaa

inga vandhE.. (Why have You come here? This place is full of evil, and with

such beauty epitomized, the people will cast evil glances on You.. ). He

bursts out like an affectionate caring Mother with full of vaathsalyam on

the Lord.. With his mangaLAsAsanam (praise) of the Lord using the bells on

the neck of the elephant as taaLam. He started singing ¡§pallANdu¡¨

(hundreds of thousands of years of the Lord¡¦s well being. )

 

This Vaaathsalyam that burst out on PeriyAzhwAr is called as ¡§pongum

parivu.¡¨- which generally is found in all our mothers when they are

concerned about their children. That is why the AzhwAr (who considered the

role of a mother to the Lord Himself naturally as if it is the original one

which bursts out.. ) is called PeriyAzhwAr..

 

Sri Manavala maamunigaL¡¦s UpadEsa Ratthina maalai says: (from SrI Satakopan

mama¡¦s translation)

 

mangaLAsAsanatthil maRRuLLa AzhwArkaL

tangaL aarvatthu aLavu thaan anRi--pongum

parivAlE VilliputthUr Bhattar PirAn peRRAn

PeriyAzhwAr yennum peyar.........(18)

 

(Meaning ): Bhattar PirAn, who incarnated (as an amsam of GarudA ) at Sri

VillipputthUr received the name of PeriyAzhwAr as a honorific title. Why So

? This is because of his intensity in bhakthi (abhnivEsam ) for eulogizing

Sriman NaarAyaNan exceeded (exhuberantly ) that of all the other AzhwArs

 

PeriyAzhwAr had the rare distinction of being recognized as the eldest among

fellow AzhwArs ( Periya Aazhwaar).Why did this title stick to him ? He was

not the eldest among them . Poygai and the other two Mudhal AzhwArs were

older than him ( incarnated earlier than him).NammAzhwAr and Kaliyan had

larger number of Prabhandhams than him .Other AzhwArs had ruchi ( intense

desire ) for MangaLAsAsanam of the Lord as well that poured out of them as

moving paasurams.Yet they did not earn the title of PeriyAzhwAr ? Why so ?

MM points out that Bhattar PirAn won the title of PeriyAzhwAr becuase of the

ghanam and intensity of his concern for the welfare of the Lord that got

crystallized as PaLLANDu .

 

Swami Desikan's salutation of PeriyAzhwAr is moving indeed:

" Aani tannil, perunjyOthi tannil thOnRum PerumAnE ! "

[The One who incarnated during the Aani, when the great constellation of

SvAthi was in ascendance as perumAn / periyAzhwAr].

 

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/jun99/0173.html - Read aDiyEn¡¦s

rambling on why is he called PeriyAzhwAr? And the thread for further

reading/ reference.

 

During Sri Anand Karalapakkam¡¦s visit to Singapore about three years ago,

he delivered an upanyasam on Thiruppavai first pAsuram. From his speech (as

far as I could remember) and from his article:

 

Sri PeriavAcchAn piLLai says that when compared to AzhwArs, rishis are like

dust / aNu and AzhwArs are like mountains (in glories/greatness). Then

within AzhwArs, all other AzhwArs are like aNu in comparison with

PeriAzhwAr's greatness which is like mountain. PeriAzhwAr's greatness was

that while PerumAL Himself gave the sEvai in garuda vAhanam (with pirAtti )

, after AzhwAr firmly establishing about the supremacy of Sriman nArAyaNA,

not only AzhwAr, but all the people were able to have that divine sEvai ;

and in that very instance PeriAzhwAr delivered the glorious " pallAndu " . This

is known as the " mangaLAsAsanam " - a very esoteric concept in itself.

 

People ask so many things from PerumAL. Even NammAzhwAr in tiruviruttam says

" meininru kEttaruLAi adiyEn seiyyum vinnappamE " i.e. even when PerumAL

gives the sEvai, nammAzhwAr wants Him to listen to his upanyAsam.

 

But, PeriAzhwAr is PERIYA AZHWAR. He was in total shock as to why did the

most purest Pristinely Beautiful PerumAL come to this samsAra sAkkadai and

was deeply worried about the evil glances of the people towards Him (dhrusti

pattudum ) !!! Out of great affection towards PerumAL, PeriAzhwAr sung

PallAndu (Long Live).

 

We may say: why should AzhwAr sing ¡§Long live? Does he not know that

PerumAL is omniscient, All powerful. How can evil glances fall on Him?

Doesn't PeriAzhwAr know all these things? Obviously AzhwAr knows. In the

debate, (sadhas) PeriAzhwAr without any problem defeated all the opponents

and established the true imports of the vEdAs quoting relevant sections of

Vedas to establish the Supremacy of the Lord Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan,

in unamibiguous manner that made the bag of gold coins bend automatically.

But, the " jn~Anam " of PeriAzhwAr has turned out into " bhagavad prEmai "

which is a great ornament for that " jn~Anam " .

 

The ajnAnam resulting from not knowing about the actual realities

established in the sAstrAs is not at all a desired thing. But, the " ajnAnam "

which occurs due to bhagavad prEmai is very much a desired oneļ [i too have

lot of anjnAnam; but due to ignorance.. ]

 

Sri PiLLai lOkAchAryar beautifully says in Srivachana bhUshanam that one

should get proper jn~Anam in the first place and should then acquire this

bhagavad prEmai which should stand on top of this jn~Anam. The illustrious

AchArya Sri vAtsya VaradadESikar who was the greatest expert in SribAshyam (

well evident from SrutaprakAsikA) was very much upset when PeraruLALan was

served hot boiling milk. This AchArya very well knows that Varadan is the

antaryAmi of that hot boiling milk also and nothing can affect Him etc etc.

But, when this AchAryA lovingly made Varadan drink the milk in the optimum

temparature (as fit to be given for a child - kutti kannan), PerumAL

spontaneously reciprocated and fondly called the AchAryA " yen ammA " - " Oh

My Mother ! " and from then, the AchAryA came to be known as " ammAL " ie.

nadAdUr ammAL- the one who truely had the feeling of giving milk to PerumAL

and not doing something mechanically.

 

Now, the reason for PeriAzhwAr singing pallAndu is due to the great love -

bhagavd prEmai. This is a natural feeling that arises with respect to very

beloved ones. PerumAL was the most beloved one to PeriAzhwAr and when

AzhwAr saw PerumAL appearing in this samsAram, his anxiety grew

exponentially and in order that no evil things should touch/affect PerumAL (

who is now in danger !! ) , AzhwAr started performing the mangaLAsAsanam -

" pallAndu pallAndu ... " -- very very esoteric indeed to comprehend!!

 

[The above is from Sri Anand¡¦s upanyasam and his article- thanksƒº ]

 

This ThiruppallANDu is recognized as PraNavam for the Tamil Vedams .In

ThiruppallANDu , the noble codes of behavior and the tatthvams of Sri

VaishNavam are enshrined beautifully.

 

Sri Manavala manunigaL¡¦s upadesa rathina malai..

 

kOthilAm AzhwArkaL kooRu kalaikku yellAm

Aadhi ThirupallANDu aanathuvum --Vedatthukku

Om yennu madhu pOl uLLathekku yellAm surukkaai

thaan mangalam aathalAl.......(19)

 

(Meaning):Among all the Prabandhams of the blemishless AzhwArs,

ThiruppallANDu took the top (first) place. Why so? Just like PraNavam became

the essence of the meanings of all VedAs , ThiruppallANDu stayed at the top

of all Prabhandhams of fellow AzhwArs , since it is the most auspicious

quintessence ( saarArtha Nidhi) of all Dhivya Prabandhams.

 

uNDO ThiruppallANDukku oppathOhr kalai thaan

uNDO PeriyAzhwArkku oppu oruvar --taNDamizh nool

seytharuLum AzhwArkaL tammil avar sey kalayil

paithal nenjE nee uNarnthu paar.....(20)

 

(Meaning ): Oh my mind ! Among the AzhwArs , who blessed us with the

different Prabandhams , is there One , who is equal to PeriyAzhwAr in

stature ? (No). Is there one prabandham of all these AzhwArs , which is

superior to ThiruppallANDu ? (No).Oh my poor mind ! please reflect on these

questions and learn about the correct answers to them .

Before venturing into Pallandu let us enjoy and get to know

who are other AzhwArs?

why first is PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi in 4000?

what constitutes 4000

and then the podhu thaniyans and thaniyans on PeriyAzhwAr in the subsequent

posts.

Regards

PeriyAzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Namo Narayana

aDiyEn dAsan

 

_______________

Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com