ThoNDardippodi AzhwAr's ThirupaLLiyezucchi: Part II

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

ThirupaLLiyezucchi is a short but moving

Prabhandham of ThoNdardippodi AzhwAr hailed as

SrI RanganAtha Pathivrathai. He never sang

about any dhivya dEsa EmperumAn except Lord

RanganAtha.

 

ThirupaLLiyezucchi is the seventh Prabhandham of

the Mudal Aayiram (First Thousand of the sacred

collect of Four Thousand or NaalAyira Dhivya prabhandham).

There are Ten paasurams in this Prabhandham.The description

of the beauty of the early morning scenes at SrIrangam

and the AzhwAr's awakening of the Lord as a VaithALikar

(Court poet) are most moving.

 

The Birth of the AzhwAr

************************

ThoNDardippodi AzhwAr incarnated as the amsam

of Vaijayanthi VanamAlai--adorning the Lord's

chest region-- during a Marghazhi Kettai

( lunar asterism of JyEshtA) . His avathAra

Sthalam is ThirumaNDangudi , a village near

the dhivya dEsam of PuLLambhUthangudi sung

later by Thirumangai AzhwAr.The name given to

him by his parents was Vipra NaarAyanan.

He was a Vipra (Brahmin) by birth and

completed VedAdhyayanam , stayed as a bachelor

and devoted His life to serve the Lord of

SrIrangam with Nandhavanam service just like

PeriyAzhwAr at SrIvilliputthUr before his times.

 

Today , there is a temple for Lord RanganAtha

at ThirumaNDangudi today and a Bhattar by the name of

SrIdhara Bhattar belonging to the Vamsam of

ThoNDaradippodi AzhwAr is performing AarAdhanam

for Lord RanganAtha there.There will be a grand

celebration of PavithrOthsavam there this September.

 

The Test of the Lord

*********************

At one time, the Lord of SrIrangam tested Vipra NaarAyanar

severely in the form of carnal temptations from a woman of

easy virtues by the name of Deva Daasi of ThirukkarambanUr.

Vipra NaarAyanar fell for Deva Devi and forgot all

about his garland kaimkaryams for the Lord of Srirangam.

Vipra Narayanar was totally caught in the net of

Deva Devi's feminine charms.

 

Thanks to the intervention of SrI RanganAyaki, Her

Lord was persudaed to come to the rescue of AzhwAr.

Vipra NarAyaNar woke up from his descent in to

the self-destructive way of chasing evanescent

pleasures of the world , turned his back on them

and threw himself with redoubled energy to serve

the dhivya dampathis of SrIrangam for the rest of

his life on earth . He changed his name now to

" ThoNDardaippodi/ BhakthAngri rENu " or the dust

from the sacred feet of the servants of the Lord.

He was forever grateful to the DayA of the Lord ,

which brought him back from the brink of disaster

and acknowledged that gratitude this way:

 

" MaatharAr kayak-kaNNennum valai utpattazhunthuvEnai

pOtharE yenRu solli punthiyiRp-puhunthu Tann Paal

aatharam peruha vaittha--ArangatthAmmAn "

 

The distinction of ThiruppaLLiyezucchi

***************************************

ThirupaLLiyezucchi has the distinction of being

sung at all dhivya Desams in the morning hours

" to wake up " the Lord and to appeal to Him to

go about His Jagath VyApArams. It is known as

SuprabhAtham in Sanskrit ; ThirupaLLiyezucchi

Prabhandham is the Aadhi SuprabhAtham , if we

do not take into account the SuprabhAtham sung by

Sage ViswAmithrA to Lord Raamachandra :

 

KousalyA SuprajA Raama poorvA sandhyA pravartathE

Utthishta Nara sArdhUla karthavyam dhaivamAhnikam

 

Here , the wake-up call is for reminding the Lord

about the approach of PrAtha: Sandhyai and the need

for Him to awaken and perform His nithyAnushtAnams

prescribed by the SaasthrAs.

 

In the case of Lord RanganAthan , whom ThoNDaradippodi

AzhwAr awakened , it is not about awakening the Lord

to perform His nithyAnushtAnams , but it is for Him to bless

the worlds and their beings with Auspiciousnes of

every kind. It is more like the slOkam below :

 

" UtthishtOtthishta Govindha Utthishta Garuda dhvaja

Utthishta KamalA Kaantha THRAILOKYAM MANGALAM KURU "

 

The poet implies here that all the three worlds

will not function well and hence will spiral towards

a destructive end , if the Lord did not awaken and blessed

them with His auspicious glances. Hence AzhwAr reasons

that the Lord should awaken now and rejuvenate the world

and save it from its slumber of Ajn~Anam and ViparItha

Jn~Anam.

 

It is in this spirit that the AzhwAr composed

this dhivya Prabhandham and placed it at the sacred

feet of Lord RanganAthan. There are other reasons as well

for the AzhwAr to compose this Prabhandham from

an autobiographical point of view.

 

ThirupaLLiyezucchi is awakening of the Lord with

affection.Our Lord is never asleep. Swamy NammazhwAr

refers to this " sleep " of the Lord with the salutation:

" uRanguvAn pOl yOgu seytha PerumALai " . It is as if

He was sleeping. He is in a state of Yoga NidhrA.

ThoNDaradippodi AzhwAr remembered the MahOpakAram performed by

SrI RanganAtha at a time of major crisis in his life ,

when he was intoxicated with the love for Deva Devi ,

the woman of easy virtues and abandoned the kaimkaryams

for his Lord. He remembered how SrI RanganAthan came to

his rescue . AzhwAr wanted the Lord of SrIrangam

to come now to the rescue of the other suffering jeevans ,

just as He had come before to his rescue . Propelled by

that desire for the Lord to help other suffering jeevans ,

AzhwAr sang the ThirupaLLiyezhucchi pAsurams and

pleaded with the Lord to awaken and bless the world

and its beings.

 

The Raagams chosen for singing ThiruppaLLiyezucchi

**************************************************

The ten Paasurams are sung in the following

sequence of RaagAs :

 

BhouLi, KedAram, Aarabhi ,Aanandha Bhairavi,

KalyANi, KaanadA ,Mohanam , DhanyAsi , Poorvi

KalyANi and MadhyamAvathi.

 

Most of them are early morning or morning raagAs

or those which can be sung at all times.

 

Even today , Lord RanganAtha awakens to

the ThiruppaLLiyezucchi paasurams rendered

by the Veenai MirAsus of His dEvasthAnam

every morning .

 

In the next posting , adiyEn would cover

the Two Taniyans for this Prabhandham

blessed to us by two of the Five AchAryAs

of Bhagavath RaamAnujA.

 

TuLavat-thoNDAya Thol seert-ThoNDaradipodi

AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam,

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan

[Guest guest]

Sir,

 

A most illuminating article! Most people spend too much time

talking about the sins of man. I, personally, looking at the

positive side, feel that the greatest attribute of man is that

in spite of his infatuations, weaknesses, etc, he still makes

some attempt to reach God. And the greatest quality of God is

that he recognizes even this meager attempt, and leads the

devotee to His abode.

 

In this context, ThoNdardippodi AzhwAr's infatuation with Deva

Devi shows that the Supreme Lord is ever capable of turning a

blind eye to the sins committed by his devotees, and leading

them, in spite of their weaknesses, to His abode.

 

Adiyen

 

Balaji

 

 

 

=====

Balaji Narasimhan

Author, Sherlock Holmes: Solutions from the Sussex Downs

http://www.sherlock-holmes.com/balaji.htm

=====

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

Dear BhakthAs of ThoNDaradippodi AzhwAr:

 

At the birth place of ThoNDaradippodi

AzhwAr ThirumaNDangudi (near KUmbakONam),

there is a temple for Lord RanganAthA.

 

This temple has PavithrOthsavam in September.

Those who revere the Two Prabhandhams of

ThoNDaradippodi AzhwAr are requsted to support

this Uthsavam and recieve Lord RanganAthA's and

AzhwAr's anugrahams.

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

*************************************************

At 11:26 AM 7/7/03 -0700, you wrote:

Respected Sri Sadagopan Swamin,

 

As a follow up to my earlier mail, the address where bhagavathas can send

their contribution for the Pavithrotsavam in September is

 

SRI K. SANTHANAM, TREASURER,

SRI THONDARADIPODI AZHWAR BHAKTA SABHA

C101, THIRU VI KA COLONY,

ANNA NAGAR EAST, CHENNAI 600102 .

 

Checks may be drawn in favor of the Sabha.

 

Thank you very much for your assistance in this kaimkaryam.

Adiyen,

 

Jayakrishna Vijayaragahvan