ThiruvahIndhrapuram RathnAngi Kaimkaryam : Part XVII : MummaNikkOvai

[Guest guest]

SrI:

 

SrI HemAbhja Naayaki samEtha SrI DEvanAtha ParabrahmaNE nama:

 

Dear BhakthAs:

 

After enjoying the 10 Paasurams of Thirumangai Mannan on

the Lord of ThiruvahIndhrapuram , let us focus now on the Tamil

SrI Sookthis of Swamy Desikan on Lord DevanAthan .There are

seven of them .

 

The Divine Beauty of Lord DevanAthan

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Swamy Desikan was totally overcome by the divine beauty of

the Lord here and assumed the role of a damsel in love

(Venkata Naayaki) and composed the beautiful work in

Praakrutham named " Achyutha sathakam " . In taking on the role of

the love-stricken damsel , Swamy Desikan emulated the divine

anubhavams of ParakAla Naayaki ( Thirumangai) and

ParAnkusa Naayaki (Swamy NammazhwAr). It was Swamy Desikan ,

who celebrated the unparalleled beauty of Lord DevanAthan

with the exclamation: " ninn vadivazhagu maRavAthAr piravAthArE "

( Those who have not forgotten Your divine beauty will never

ever be born again on this earth/karma Bhoomi).

 

A kaimkaryam to salute the Lord of ThiruvahIndrapuram

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

adiyEn is starting again the delayed postings on

ThiruvahIndhrapuram rathnAngi Kaimkaryam for Lord

DevanAthan from this day and invites all of Your

particpation in this Kaimkarya MahOthsavam for

our Lord at this celebrated Dhivya desam.

 

Information on this Dhivya Desam & its EmperumAn

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

The Sthala PurANam and details about this dhivya desam

assembled in 1996 for that year's SamprOkkshaNam

are available at:

 

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/May96/0096.html

 

Additional information about this dhivya desam and beautiful

color images of the Dhivya Dampathis , Yoga HayagrIvan ,

Swamy Desikan and SeethA LakshmaNa Hanumath SamEtha

Raamachandran are all available at another web site:

 

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/temples/tiruvahindrapuram/index.html

 

The introduction to MummaNikkOvai by adiyEn is available to

you at :

 

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/dec99/0029.html

 

adiyEn wrote one more article on the First verse of

MummaNikkOvai few years ago . I can not locate it. If you

do find it, please share it withthe others. Thanks.

 

Earlier Aabharana SamarpaNams at this dhivya dEsam

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

On a holy day in October 2001 ( PurattAsi SravaNam day),

SrI HemAbhja Valli ThAyAr was presented with a new MummaNikkOvai

Aabharanam with the funds raised by 14 BhakthAs from overseas.

 

This aabharaNam is made up of three stands of pearls linked by

three bridges of rubies and our ThAyAr at ThiruvahIndhrapuram adorns

this gift from Her children today .

 

MummaNikkOvai stands for assembly (Kovai) of three strands

of gems . In this case , three stands of pearls were selected.

From a Tamil poetry point of view , the three strands of verses

in three different poetic metres (AaasiriyappA et al) are

assembled to form a MummaNikkOvai. There are 10 verses in

each of the three metres. In MummaNikkOvai of Swamy Desikan ,

there are 30 Paasurams well set in aasiriyappaa , VeNNpaa

and KattaLai KlaitthuRai metres. Due to our misfortune only

ten of the thirty paasurams are available to us today.

 

Swamy Desikan's Tamil prabhandhams on Lord DevanAthan

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

Swamy Desikan composed 7 Tamil prabhandhams on

the dhivya dampathis of ThiruvahIndhrapuram(Thiruvayindhai):

MummaNikkOvai, Panthu , Kazhal, AmmAnai, Oosal, yEsal and

NavamaNi Maalai (garland of nine gems). Only MuMManikkOvai

(10 out of 30 Paasurams) and NavamaNi Maalai are available

to us today.

 

A new AabharaNam nmaed " Nava MaNI Maalai was also

presented to the Uthsavar of ThiruvahIndhrapuram

during the 2001 PurattAsi SravaNam day . This aabharaNam

consists of two strands of necklace with each strand

strung together with the traditional nine gems like

Sapphire, Ruby, Maragatham , Diamond , Coral , Vaidooryam ,

Pearl et al.

 

The RathnAngi Kaimkaryam of SvabhAnu Samavthsaram (2003 CE)

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

It is Bhagavath Sankalpam that a gem-bedecked Kavacham

(RathnAngi ) be presented to the Uthsavar during this

purattAsi Sravanam at ThiruvahIndhrapuram from

the hands of Swamy Desikan . The date is October 5 ,2003.

We do not have much time left to complete this Kaimkaryam.

All of your help is vital to conclude this Kaimkaryam

this year. Please contact me regarding your participation.

 

Brief comments on the MummaNikkOvai Prabhandham

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

There are 10 individual verses that are available to us.

Four of them are in the format of Aasiriyappaa and

the remaining six are equally divided in veNNpaa and

KattaLikkalitthuRai format of tamil poetry . These

verses are also in the anthAdhi style chosen by

Swamy NammAzhwAr for His Periya ThiruvandhAdhi

and ThiruvAimozhi .

 

Propelled by his limitless love for the Lord , Swamy

Desikan relates to DevanAthan as " her " Naayakan

and identifies herself as His Naayaki. Some of the

paasurams are set as conversations between the Naayaki and

her dear friend (ThOzhi) and her mother.

 

In the first of the ten pasurams available to us ,

Swamy Desikan speaks about the glories of SrI HemAbhjavalli

ThAyAr and performs PurushakAra prapatthi at Her feet as

a time honored first step prior to Prapatthi at Her Lord's

sacred feet. In the second Paasuram , Swamy Desikan

reminds us that his dhivya sookthi of MummaNikkOvai

is worn by Lord DevanAthan with great relish (Parama

BhOgyam).

 

The third paasuram is set in the words of the dear

friend of SrI Venkata Naayaki ( the assumed female

from of Swamy Desikan as the Lord's Naayaki) .

The dear friend of Venkata Naayaki takes pity on

the sufferings of her dear friend over separation from

her Naayakan and describes the sad mental state of

Venkata Naayaki in a mood of " irangal " (Compassion).

 

The fourth and the fifth Paasurams are outpourings of

Venakta Naayaki in response to her Naayakan's anugraham

that makes it possible for her to enjoy the Svaroopam ,

Roopam , GuNam and Vibhoothi of her Lord.

 

The sixth paasuram is set as compassionate words

from the lips of the ThOzhi , who once again describes

the sorrowful mind set of Venkata Naayaki. The Lord who

blessed her with the enjoyment of His Svarropa-Roopa-GuNa-

Vibhoothi disappears suddenly and the impact is profound

on Venkata Naayaki. Thozhi takes pity on the suffering of

her friend.

 

The Lord can not bear the suffering of His dear one and

reappears before Venkata Naayaki , who in turn sings

movingly about the glories of her Naayakan in the 7th

and the 8th paasurams .

 

The ninth paasuram is in the form of comments from

the Mother of Venkata Naayaki about the intoxicating

influece of the beauty of the Lord on her little

daughter and her helplessness.

 

The tenth paasuram is a celebratory response by Venkata Naayaki,

when the Lord appears before her once again so that she

can continue to enjoy Him. Here Venkata Naayaki salutes her

Naayakan as Jagath KaaraNa Vasthu and as the end reciepint

of all aarAdhanams in this world.

 

Te remaining 20 Pasurams are lost (luptham) now due

to our misfortune .

 

The highest quality poetry brimming with Tamil Prabhandha

LakshaNams in MummaNikkOvai is matched only by the housing of

the central doctrines of SrI VaishNavam .

 

Let us enjoy the individual Paasurams of MummaNikkOvai

during the next few days before we move on to our salutation

to the other available Tamil Prabhandham on the Lord of

ThiruvahIndhrapuram: NavamaNi Maalai.

 

Swamy Dedsikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VardAchAri SadagOpan