Saranagathi Sahasra Kalasa Thirumanjanam for the ArchA Moorthys : Part II

[Guest guest]

SrI:

Dear AastikAs :

 

In the First part of this series , adiyEn covered Many kinds of Thirumanjanam , the

number of Kalasams used , the Devatais to be invoked , the dhravyams inside the Kalasam water , the mantrams to be used during Thirumanjaanam with the Kalasa Jalams .The Kalasa Jalams could be from sacred rivers such as Gangaa, Yamunaa, GodhAvari, KrishNaa, KaavEri et al .

 

adiyEn covered in depth the Thirumanjanams with 1, 5 , 9 , 16, 25 , 49 , 81 and 108 Kalasams in the previous posting .

 

Additional "big" Thirumanjanams

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There are two more VisEsha Thirumanjanams with 473 and 1001 ("sahasra") Kalasams . The Sahasra Kalasam is unique and that is the one which is scheduled to be performed at Sri RanganAtha Temple at Pomona, NY during September 4-6 , 2009 . Such Sahasra Kalasa Thirumanjanams are done at Thirumala , ThiruveLLUr , Lower Ahobilam and few other dhivya dEsams .A very competent PaancharAtra Aagama adhikAri is vital for the Execution of this special Thirumanajnam according to the UttamOttama Snapana Vidhis.

 

The 473 Kalasa Thirumanjanam

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The 473 Kalasa Thirumanjanam has 25 dhravya Kalasams and 448 SuddhOdhaka Kalasams and a Golden Aahatya Kalasam .

 

The 25 dhravya Kalasams/ devatais for the 473 Kalasa Thirumanjanam are :

 

(1) Grutam/VaasudEvan (2) UshNOdhakam/Purushan (3) PalOdhakam/Satyan

(4 ) MaarjanOdhakam/Achyutan (5) AkshadhOdakam/Anantan

(6) RatnOdhakam/KeSavan (7) LohathOyam/NaarayaNan (8)GandhOdhakam/

Maadhavan (9) YavOdhakam/Govindhan (10) Paadhyam/VishNu: (11) Argyam/ Madhusoodhanan (12) Upasparsanam/Trivikraman (13) Panchagavyam/Vaamanan

14) Dadhi/Sridharan (15) Ksheeram/HrusheekESan (16) Madhu/PadmanAbhan

17) KashAyam/DhAmOdharan (18) GuDOdhakam/VarAhan (19) Ikshurasam/

NNarasimhan (20) NaaLukErajalam/Sridharan(21) Saanti dhravyam/Hayagreevan

22) MangaLOdhakam/VaasudEvan (23) Sarva Oushadhi/SankarshaNan

(24) Sarvagandham/Prahdyumnan and (25) Sarvamoolam/Aniruddhan .

 

The Mantrams for most of the devatais have been presented in the earlier posting .

 

The Sahasra Kalasa AbhishEkam

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The Sahasra Kalasa AbhishEkam is the grandest of all the Thirumanjanams .There are 385 dhravya Kalasams and the rest are SudhOdhakaKalasams .

 

This UttomOttama AbhishEkam is performed annually for two reasons :

 

(1) Invocation of Peace, dhana DhAnya Samruddhi , Timely rains, chasing away of calamities of

every kind in the Nation .

 

(2) This is also done in a spirit of unconditional SaraNAgathi at the Lord's sacred feet through

the samarpaNam of all that one has been blessed with ( Maam madheeyam cha).

 

Sahasra Kalasa StApanam

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The Kalasa StApanam is very elaborate . There are 81 (9 X 9 arrays) in Brahma Padham

at the epicenter . There are 324 (81X 4) in dhivya Padham known also as Dikshu.

There are 196( 49X4 ) in Vishishu padham . There are 400 (25X 16) Kalasams in the MaanushEdhishu Vidhishu Padham . At the center of centers is the Aahatya Kalasam , wherein the power of Moola Bheram is invoked . This adds upto a total is 1,001 Kalasams in the Sahasra Kalasa AbhishEkam . The Aahatya Kalasam is taken around the Temple PrAkAram by the Chief archakar and taken inside the Garbhagraham and special charyaas are done ( yEkaanta AshtOttram , Paadha PrOkshaNam , akshatArOpaNam et al) , which we will describe later following the Thirumala Sahasra Kalasa Aarjita AbhishEkam .

 

The majority of Kalasams are Copper Kalasams , the next in number are the Silver Kalasams and the 1001 Kalasam at the Center is the Aahatya Kalasam . The assembly of dhravyams are difficult even in India but the Sri RanganAtha Temple is making a major effort to assemble as many Dhravyams as Possible . Dhravyams such as Soorya Vardhini , Vaahai , SatApatram ( for MaarjanOdhakam) , Bamboo rice/Moonkil Arisi, Tinai , 60 day KuRuvai Rice ( for AkshadhOtakam) , GhOshtam , JaDAmAnji , Akil Kattai , Vetti VEr, ViLamucchi VEr and Mura

( for GandhOdhakam) would not be easy to assemble here . Sri RanganAtha Temple is seeking help from India to bring in as many of these dhravyams as possible .

 

Aarjita Sahasra Kalasa AbhishEkam at Thirumalai

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This ViSesha Thirumanjanam is performed on Wednesdays and the bookings for this Sevai is closed until 2016 C.E at this time . This kaimakryam starts at 7 A.M typically before Sarva darsanam . At Thirumala , the 1008 plus 8 ParivAra Kalasams are filled with PariMaLam

( Pure water + Sandal Paste) and are placed on a bed of Paddy. "UtsavAnga" Homaas take place

before the start of the abhishEkam to BhOga SrinivAsan connected with a long Dharbhai or silk rope (sambhandha dhAramu) to the Kadi hastam of the Moola BhEram . The Thriumanjanam takes place outside the Bangaru Vakkilu . Bhoga SrinivAsan faces East and Malayappa Swami with Devis and VishvaksEnar face south during this Thirumanjanam. Pancha Sooktam and Pancha Saanti mantrams are recited during the Thirumanjanam . After the abhishEkam with 1,000 Kalasams , the Aahatya golden Kalasam is carried by the Archakar around the PrAkArams and taken in to the Garbha Gruham . EkAnta AshtOttara archanai is done behind the curtain and the Utsavar is taken inside the sanctum . The water from the Aahatya Kalasam is sprinkled on the

sacrd feet of the Moola BhEram and the akshatais are also placed (AkshataarOpaNam) at the sacred feet of the Lord and then placed on the archakar's head and TTD Executives . The second bell for the AarAdhanam rings now . Next the akshatais are distributed to the sponsor and family along with Vastra BahumAnams and Bhagavath PrasAdhams( 7 big Laddus , sweet Pongal , PuliyOdharai , 7 DosAs and 7 Vadais.

 

An elaborate Sahasra Kalasa Thirumanjana utsavam is planned for Lord Ranganaatha and

the paancharAtram expert and PradhAna Bhattar , Sri Paravastu SrinivAsa RaghavAcchAr Swamy will conduct this Utsavam at Pomona , NY Temple .

 

This is a 3 day long festival ( Sep 4-6) and the grand Sahasra Kalasa AbhishEkam on September 6th will be preceded by angurArpaNam and Homams on previous days . The Sahasra Kalasa AbhishEkam will commence at 10 AM on September 6 .

 

Please participate in this Utsavam done in the most authentic manner . Please refer to the Temple web site for additional details ( http://www.Ranganatha.org )

 

The positioning of the 1001 Kalasams

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It is the most grand effort in geometry to arrange the 1001 Kalasams in the manner sanctioned by the PaancharAtra Aagamam and follow the sequence of the Thirumanjanam with speicific Kalasams invoking the appropriate Veda Mantrams for the devathais .

 

It is difficult to draw the array of the Kalasams on the Computer . The total field consists of 25 by 25 rectangulat arrays into which are 35 squares with 9 kalasams each outflanked by arrays of

5 , 4 , 3 and 1 Kalasams set in a prescribed manner .

 

Each of the set containing 9 Kalasams have a center kalasam surrounded by 8 kalasams .

There are 11 sets of Nine Kalasams in the East-West Axis. The middle set the sixth set , when counted from East to west happens to be the sixth set of Nine Kalasams and its center is

the First Kalasam with which the Thirumanjanam starts and ends with the 1001st Kalasam .

The symmetry is incredible . There are 385 dhravya Kalasams and the rest (616) are Suddha

Udhaka ( Pure Water) Kalasams . The dhravya Kalasam is at the center of the 9 kalasams.

After starting with kalasam 1 , the protocol is to go around clockwise and then move on to the next set of Nine. To give an example of how the 8 kalasams are arranged around the Central Kalasam,

we can study the first set : 1, 2,6,3,7,4,8, 5 and 9. The second set is 10 (Center), 11, 15 ,12, 16 ,

13, 17, 14 and 18.

 

The 385 dhravya Kalasams are used in this sequence :

 

1,10, 19, 28, 37, 46, 55, 64, 73, 82, 91, 100

 

109, 118, 127, 136 , 145 , 154 , 163, 172, 181, 190, 199

 

208, 217, 226, 235, 244, 253 , 262 , 271, 280 , 298 ,

 

307, 316 , 325, 334 , 343, 352 , 361 , 370 , 379 , 388, 397 ,

 

406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412 thru 610 ,

 

627 thru 685 ,

 

702 thru 710 ,

 

727 thru 785

 

802 thru 810 ,

 

827 thru 860 ,

 

877 thru 885 ,

 

902 thru 910 ,

 

927 thru 935 ,

 

952 thru 960 ,

 

977 thru 985 .

 

986 thru 1001.

 

The sequence of usage is like the progression of the notes in a symphony . Whatever I write about these marvellous arrays of Kalasams will not be the same as experiencing this great Thirumanjanam with one's own eyes .

 

Please therefore plan on attending this rare Thirumanjana Utsavam for Lord RanganAtha on

Sunday , September 6 at the Lord's House at Pomona , NY . Being the Labor day weekend ,

please make your travel plans early and enjoy this extraordinary anubhavam .

 

NamO SrI RanganAthAya,

DhAsan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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