kulasEkaranum kaliyanum!!!

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

 

SrimathE rAmAnujaya Namaha

 

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

 

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

 

 

Thaniyans rendered by Swamy emperumAnAr :

 

 

 

" ennamudham ootugEn engEvA paikiliyE!

 

thennarangam pAdavalla seerperumal-ponnan

 

silaisEr nudhaliyarvEl sEralarkOn engal

 

kulasEkaran endrE kooru "

 

 

 

" vAzhi parakAlan vAzhi kalikandri

 

vAzhi kurayaloor vAzh vEndhan vAzhiyarO

 

mAyOnai vAlvaliyAl mandhiramkol mangaiyarkOn

 

thooyOn sudarmAna vEl "

 

 

 

Among the ten azhvars, two azhvars who were kings were kulasekaran and kaliyan.

One of them is celebrated as " kollikAvalan koodal nAyakan kOzhikOn kulasEkaran "

and the other " AlinAdan arulmAri arattamukki adaiyAr seeyam kongumalar kuzhliyar

vEl mangai vEndan kottravEl parakAlan kaliyan " . Let us compare and contrast

these two azhvars in this short posting.

 

 

 

Kulasekara azhvar had a great attraction to rAmAvathAram but still his daily

wish was to go to have the darshan of the archA moorthi in Srirangam ( " gushyathE

yasya nagarE ranga yAthrA dhinE dhinE " ). Whereas kaliyan saw the vibhavAthAra

gunas in the archAmoorthis and got himself immersed in the divya dEsa

anubhavams. Kaliyan did bhagavata dhadheeyArAdhanam daily and for that even

went to the extent of stealing. Kulasekara azhvar also felt treating the

bhagavatas was more important than even his divya desa yathra. When his

ministers complained that the bhagavatas has stolen a jewel of the palace lord,

kulasekara azhvar strongly said that bhagavat bhakthas would never steal ( " Aram

keda paran anbar kollAr endru avargalukkE vArankeda kudappAmbil kai yittavan

mAttralarai veerankeduththa senkOl kollikAvalan villavarkOn sEran kulasEkaran

mudivEndar sikAmaniyE " ). Kaliyan didn't mind even stealing when it came to

bhagavata dhadheeyArAdhanam and the king kulasekaran didn't mind his life for

proving the bhagavatas to be flawless. So more than their passion towards

bhagavat kainkaryam the azhvars showed their deep interest towards bhAgavata

kainkaryam.

 

 

 

Now let us enjoy some aspects in their prabhandams. Both these azhvars have

sung a padhigam (10 paasurams) as " oodal paasurams " (a small fight between the

hero and the heroine). Kulasekara azhvar considers himself to be a gopi and

shows a false anger towards krishna who had left her and had stayed with another

gopi the previous night " A-rmalarpoonkuzhalAyar mAdhar... " whereas kaliyan

shows his anger towards thiruindaloor emperuman in the beautiful padhigam

" nummai thozhudhOm nuntham pani seidhirukkum nummadiyOm " Kaliyan is always used

to breaking usual norms. Here again he breaks the rule for an " oodal paasuram "

Oodal generally occurs between a hero and a heroine in the Tamil literature but

these paasurams indicate the oodal of kaliyan as his self (thAnAna thanmaiyil

oodal) with emperuman. There is one another interesting feature in these

paasurams. The story goes like this. Thirumangai Azhvar who has a great thirst

for enjoying the divine archa roopam of emperumans went to thiruindhaloor to

have the divine darshan of parimala ranganathan. But he went a little late and

hence the archakar has closed the doors and had gone home. With all thoughts of

having a great darshan (pArippu) kaliyan reached the temple entrance and was

taken aback to the see the locked door. Kaliyan doesn't fall under our category

who will just walk out of the place thinking that this time it is not perumal's

sankalpam let's have the darshan the next time nor will kaliyan wait till the

archakar opens the door in the evening. He started arguing with the emperuman

to give him darshan immediately. He says, " nummadiyAr ellArOdum okka enni

yirundheerO adiyEnai " (bharatha can wait for 14 years to see rama piran, sita

piratti waited for 10 months, nammazhvar can sing 4 padhigams as 'thoodhu' due

to separation from emperuman but kaliyan is different from all these people

since he cannot even sing 10 paasurams without singing about the divya desa

emperumans that is why he says 'Did you think me to be like your other

bhakthas?'). Such was kaliyan's state of mind. But how will kulasekara azhvar

act in a similar situation?

 

 

 

Such a situation came to kulasekara azhvar also. While azhvar went to have the

darshan of sowrirajan in thirukannapuram the doors were closed so azhvar was

unable to have the darshan of emperuman. What did he do? Kulasekara perumal

said, " Whether you give me darshan or not I don't mind. My prime job is to do

mangalAsAsanams to you. If you give me darshan I will sing after enjoying your

divine beauty if not still I will sing. " Now azhvar decided to sing lullaby to

the sleeping emperuman and hence sings the 'thAlAttu padhigam' " mannupugazh

kOsalaithan " . The name of the place is kannapuram that itself indicates that

the perumal inside is krishnan but then azhvar sings lullaby to Sri Chakravarthi

thirumagan who resides in thirukkannapuram. Why? Kulasekara perumal's heart was

filled with only ramayana and rama thirukkalyana gunas. So since sowrirajan

didn't give him darshan he assumed him to be like the perumal in his heart and

sang the paasurams. Such was kulasekara perumal's state of mind. The thought

process of both the azhvars is quiet different but both have similarity in the

sense that they give us the divine anubhavam that cannot be explained by mere

words.

 

 

 

Alwar emperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharaNam

 

Adiyen rAmAnuja dAsee

 

Sumithra Varadarajan