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SRI RAMANUJA

An E-Journal- 2 -kArthikai vyaya

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amunA thapanAdhiSAyi bhUmnA yathirAjENa nibaddha nAyaka SrI: mahathI guru pamkthi hAra yashTi vibudhAnAm hridayamgamA vibhAthi ||

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Table of Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 5 ArulAlapperumAl emperumAnAr ...................................................................................................... 6 Eyunni mAdhavap perumAL ............................................................................................................. 15 Kaisika EkAdasi .................................................................................................................................... 17 Thirumangai AzhwAr .......................................................................................................................... 24 SwAmi Nampillai ................................................................................................................................. 34 Magnum Opus EDu (36000ppadi Commentry of thiruvAimozhi) ............................................. 37 ThiruppANAzhvAr .............................................................................................................................. 39 Greatness of amalanAdhippirAn....................................................................................................... 44

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Editorial
We are too happy to bring out the second edition of our Sri Ramanuja e-Journal in the month of karthigai vyava year. The e-journal's main aim is to commemorate the Thirunakshathram-s of AzvAr-AchAryas in the form discussion of the historical events, dates of the current year, of their divine workscommentaries, texts,pictures and so on. It is hoped that this journal will act as a catalyst in kindling the emotions of the devotees and precipitate thier inner feelings to manifest into celebrations at their places of residence as we are geographically divided. The celebration can be united as we are electronically integrated-thanks to the web and net-services and groups.This perhaps, will quench the thirst for bhagavatha/bhagavAtha anubhavham. Sri ANDAL advocated group devotion rather than bakthi in isolated manner. We are achieving this here. This mutual 'anubhavam-s' is expected to enrich one and all and enhance the divine experience, in the weeks and months to follow: 'bOdhayantha parasparam' KUdi irundhu kuLirndhEalOAr EmpAvAi' vara vara muni dasargaL

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1. Introduction
aippasiyil ONam avittam sadhayam ivai * oppilavA nALgaL vulagathEr ! *eppuviyum pEAsu pugazh poigaiyAr bhUdhathAr pEAy AzvAr * thEsudanEA thONRu siRappal. - upAdEsa Rathina mAlai - 6

If Aippasi boasts of thirunakshathrams of a galaxy of AzhwAr and AchAryas, kArthikai does not lag far behind. Though may not be matching in the numbers is dense with the content. KArthikai is rich with thirunakshathram of Sri Tirumangai mannan, SvAmi NampiLLai -both kArthikaiyil kArthikai. Sri ThiruppAn AzvAr's birth star being KArthikai Rohini further enriches this month. The celebration of kArthikai dhEpam and kaisikA ekAdasi also forms part of this month. The anadhyayana kAlam commences -as a mark of reverence to our AzvAr-s from this Rohini-when we are supposed to think of AzvAr-s works but not chant. Following are the important dates for this month: Kaisika EkAdhasi KArthikaiyil Bharani - Eyunni mAdhavar and aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr -Dec 3rd 2006 kArthikaiyil kArthikai - Thirumangai Azhvar and Sri Nampillai kArthikai dheepam mahOtsavam -Dec 4 th 2006., -Dec 4th 2006. -Dec 1 st 2006

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KArthikayil Rohini - Thiruppanazhvar

-Dec 5 th 2006.

KArthikaiyil punarvasu- Pattangi Paravastu Pattarbiran Jeeyer -Dec 8th 2006 Kaliyan utsavam is celebrated over a period of ten days in various divyadesams. This commences on 24th November 2006 and culminates on 3rd December 2006. The NampiLLai utsavam also celebrated in various divyadesams is celeberated for 5 days at NampiLLai sannidhi at thiruvallikkEANi This commences on 29th November 2006 to 3rd December 2006 Of course the ten day mahOtsavam of Thirumangai Mannan at TiruvAli tirunagari is a great feast where one can see AzvAr donning the role of parakAla nAyaki, VEnA nAyaki (solluyarntha neDu veeNai mulaimEl thAngi) and vAmAn thEAR parakAlan. Let us dwell upon the AzhwAr and AcharyAs and celebrate thirunakshathrams by contemplating on their divine works. their

2. ArulAlapperumAl emperumAnAr
thirunakshathiram :Karthikai -BharaNi.

Thaniyan
kArthikE BaraNI jAtham yatIndrAsritamAsray E | JNyAnapramEya sAraBivaktAram vardam munim || dayApAlana dEvAya JNyAnasAra pradAyaca | pramEyasAram tatatE namOstu prEma sAlinE || rAmAnuja padAmbOja samsrtam guNavArithim | dayApAla munim vandE vEdAnta pariniStitam || JNyAnaBaktyArta vairAgyam rAmAnuja padAsritam | PancamOpAya sampannam samyamIndram namAmyaham || rAmAnujArya sacchiShyam vEdaSAstrArta sampadam | chaturtAsrama sampannam dEvarAjamunim bajE || yatirAja dayApAtram yatipankti viBUSaNam | dayApAla munim vandE desikAgrE saram saDA ||

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Introduction
Sri aruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr, also called dayApAlamuni or dEvarAjamuni, was one of the very important siShyAs of swAmi emperumAnAr. He was earlier an advaita sanyAsi, called yajnyamurthi, who surrendered at the holy feet of swAmi emperumAnAr, and showed us the qualities of a Sri Vaishnava, and the Guru-siShya lakShaNam. He also gave us two works called JNyAna sAram and pramEya sAram, which are considered as authentic teachings of swAmi emperumAnAr, giving us the essence of the entire vedAnta.

Vaibhavam
In the foot hills of Tirumalai on the banks of river survarnA, under the grace of alarmEl mangai urai mArban, flourished a city called " vinjai". In this city lived pious brahmins who were master of all four vedas and who had mastered all the six angas of the vedas and whose ancestry can be traced back to many generations " Uzhi thorum Uzhi thorum uyarnda selvattu Ongiya nAnmarai anaitthum tAngum nAvar". In this divine city during the year of saka-919, in the month of kArthigai, on the auspicious day of sukla caturdasi BaraNi nakshathram was born a great vidwAn called yajnya mUrthi . His jAthakarma, nAmakarma, and his marriage were performed at the appropriate time, as prescribed in the sastras. By the grace of TiruvenkatamudaiyAn , the couple was blessed with a son called alankAra venkatavar alias TiruvenkatamUrthi. Sri Yajnya mUrthi after successfully fulfilling his duties to his son decided to take to sanyAsa and left for kAsi. There on the banks of river Ganga he defeated many vidwAns in argument from the north and strengthened the advaita matham and was spending his life as the leader of advaita, in those days. At the same time, swAmi Ramanuja after mastering all the sri sUktis of AzhwArs, rahasyA granthAs, rAmAyaNam, etc... Was ruling the uBaya viButis as the leader of our sri vaishnava sampradAyam from srirangam. " kadalaLavAya disai ettinuLLum kali iruLe midaitharukAlatthu irAmAnusan mikka nAnmarai-in sudaroLiyAl avviruLai turandilaNEl. uyirai udayavar nArAyaNan ennu arivAr illai utthuNarndE." His fame had spread wide into all the eight directions and also reached the ears of yajnya mUrthi who apprehending that swAmi rAmAnuja would completely wipe out the advaita matham from the world decided to defeat him in the debate and protect the advaitam. He then packed all his books and writing and proceeded towards Srirangam. He reached the matam of swAmi emperumAnAr (hereafter swAmi will always refer to swAmi emperumAnAr) and challenged him, which was gladly accepted by swAmi too. yajnya mUrthi and swAmi put forth their conditions as follows : yajna mUrthi promised that, if defeated, he will carry the holy sandals of swAmi, change his name to that of

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swAmi, and also become a Sri Vaishnava. SwAmi too promised that, if defeated, swAmi will take up grantha sanyAsam.

AruLALapperumAL EmperumAnAr, at pAnDavadUthar sannidhi at thiruppAdhakam

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With this the debate started and continued for 18 days. Till the end of the 16th day, neither of them could defeat the other. But on the 17th day, the arguments and ideas of yajnya mUrthi grew stronger and swAmi could not think of anything else to refute it. That day yajnya mUrthi returned home in an ecstatic mood, while swAmi was greatly dejected at the turn of events. He then offered prasadam to his thiruvArADhana perumAL, pEraruLALan, and silently started pouring his heart out to him. " Starting with AzhwArs, and carried on by Sri AlavandAr, should this great sampradAyam come to an end with the birth of a person like me. If this is what is your desire, be it so." Thinking thus, and with extreme grief, swAmi went to bed without having any prasAdam. That night pEraruLALan appeared in his dream and spoke thus : "Oh! IlayAzhwAr, why do you worry? I have given you a siShyA who is equivalent to you in all aspects. Use the arguments of your paramAchAryAr, Sri AlavandAr's mAyAvAdha Khandanam, and defeat him." SwAmi woke up suddenly and realized that it was a dream and was overjoyed. He happily completed his nithya karmAnuShTAnam, and after worshipping his thiruvArADhana perumAL went to the debate hall with a majestic look of a mattha gajam (elephant). yajnya mUrthi, on seeing swAmi was awe struck, by his majestic appearance and happiness in his face, that he thought: "Is this the same emperumAnAr, who returned dejected yesterday. Now that he is entering the debate hall with a majestic look of an elephant- irAmAnusa muni vEAzham." On seeing all these, yajnya mUrthi, being a JNyAni, understood the divine power of swAmi, and decided that it is not possible for a normal being to return with such energy, after being badly defeated the previous day, and fell at the feet of swAmi, and conceded defeat. As per the promises, he then requested swAmi to forgive him by placing swamis holy feet on his head. This act of yajnya mUrthi completely surprised swAmi, who asked him if he is not willing to continue with the debate. For this yajnya mUrthi replied, "When periya perumAL showed himself to you, there is no difference between periya perumAL and swAmi, and I do not have the capacity to speak a word in front of such a great AcharyA." And begged swAmi's pardon for doing the apacharam of challenging him. On hearing this swAmi was extremely pleased, but still to bring the debate to a formal conclusion, he explained yajnya mUrthi, the flaws in the mAyAvAdha siDhAntham. Then swAmi embraced yajnya mUrthi, and accepted him as his siShyA. He then requested yajnya mUrthi to do prAyaschittA for forsaking the yaJNyopavItham, and kAshAya vasthram, when he earlier became an advaita sanyAsi. Then swAmi performed pancha samskAram to yajnya mUrthi and named him as " aruLALa perumAl emperumAnAr" as he considered yajnya mUrthi a divine son given to him by pEraruLALan, and established a maTam for him as he was a sanyAsi. SwAmi then taught nAlAyira divya praBhanDham, to AP EmperumAnAr.

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Daily swAmi used to conduct his viDhwath goShTi with kUraThAzhwAn, mudaliyAndAn, and AruLALap perumal emperumAnAr. There were many bhagavathas who surrendered at the holy feet of swAmi. When ananthAzhwAn, echAn, thondanUr nambi, and marudUr nambi surrendered at the feet of swAmi, swAmi asked them to surrender to AP emperumAnAr, and accept him as their AcharyA. On hearing this AP emperumAnAr fearfully told them " It's like tying a fruit of the palm tree, to the neck of a sparrow." and advised them he will perform pancha samskAram as order by swAmi but they should consider swAmi alone as their Acharya. This particular episode shows us one of the prime qualities of a Sri Vaishnava, and Guru-siShya lakShaNam. A guru should never consider his siShyAs to be his siShyA, but should consider them as siShyA of his own AcharyA. Another event which clearly showed the Acharya niShTai, of AruLALap perumAL EmperumAnAr, and his love for swAmi. Once two, Sri Vaishnavas came to Srirangam, to get the blessings of swAmi, and asked the local people gathered there, the way to emperumAnAr' s maTam. For which, the local people put a counter question, asking "which emperumAnAr?". On hearing this the Sri Vaishnavas were surprised and enquired back, "Why do you ask which emperumAnAr? Do we have two emperumAnars in our darShanam". The local people replied "Yes, we also have Sri aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr with us in Srirangam, that is why we asked so." The Sri Vaishnavas replied that they were not aware of AP emperumAnAr, and they asked only about Udayavar's maTam, and left the place after getting the directions. AP emperumAnAr happened to hear this conversation and was shocked to hear that he has been treated on par with his swAmi, and was grief sticken. He thought, "Just because I live away from the holy feet of my swAmi, I am being compared on par with him. What a sinner am I, to be separated from my swAmi." Thinking thus, he immediately demolished his maTam, and asked ananThAzhwAn, echAn, and other siShyAs to go back to swAmi emperumAnAr, and himself fell at the feet of swAmi and requested swAmi to take him back. SwAmi too, after hearing all that had happened was extremely pleased at the Acharya niShTai of AP emperumAnAr, and decided that AP emperumAnAr would be the right person to do tiruvArAdhanam to his peraruLALap perumAL and entrusted the same to him and never got separated from him thereafter. From then on, AP emperumAnAr spent all this life under the divine feet of swAmi, doing kainkaryam for his Acharyan and tiruvArAdhanam to peraruLALan, and learnt all the raHasyAs from swAmi. AP emperumAnAr out of his compassion towards the fellow souls, and for the well being of all, wrote two prabandams in tamizh, called JNyAna sAram and pramEya sAram, which are considered the essence of the entire vedAnta. SwAmi emperumAnAr, did not write any granthas in tamizh, but all his teachings were given to us by his siShyAs, who wrote a lot of prabandams and granthAs based on the teachings of swAmi. Based on this, JNyAna sAram and pramEya sAram can

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be considered as the authentic teachings imparted by swAmi rAmAnuja, to his siShyAs.

AruLALapperumAL EmperumAnAr, at pAnDavadUthar sannidhi at thiruppAdhakam

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At this time alankAra venkatavar (son of yajnya mUrthi) on hearing about his father reached srirangam and fell at the feet of AP emperumAnAr and swAmi, and became a sri vaishnava. swAmi on seeing the abimAnam of AP emperumAnAr, and his son alankAra venkatavar decided to give the daughter of periya tirumalai nambi, called alarmEl mangai nAcchiyAr, in marriage to alankAra venkatavar. AP emperumAnAr and alankAra venkatavar later became a part of the 74 simhAsanAdipatIs of swAmi, and continued to serve and spread our sampradAyam. By the grace of tiruvEnkatamudaiyAn a son was born to alankAra venkatavar and alarmEl mangai nAcchiyAr.-the famous tAtAcchAryar. Early in his life he learnt sri BAshyam, prabhandam, etc.. directly from periya tirumalai nambi. He also learnt sastras from swAmi, AP emperumAnAr, and alankAra venkatavar. TiruvEnkatamudaiyAn wished to appear before periya tirumalai nambi and show his grace on him. So when periya tirumalai nambi was bringing water for tirumanjanam in a mud pot, tiruvEnkatamudaiyAn took a form of a small boy, made hole in the pot and was drinking the water. When nambi realized the hole in the pot and turned back to see who did that, the small boy called nambi "thatha thatha" and ran into the perumAL sannidhi and disappeared. Following this only nambi named his grandson as "tAtAcchAriar". In the present day, families of AP emperumAnAr (popularly known as tirumalai vinjamoor family) live in kanchipuram, srivilliputtur, AzhwAr tirunagari and tirucchithrakUdam (Chidambaram) . The thirunakShathram of Sri AP emperumAnAr, also called dayApAlamuni or dEvarAjamuni, is being celebrated in the month of kArthigai, in BharaNi nakShathram. Infact, the month of kArthigai is considered very important because of the thirunakShathrams of AP emperumAnAr, thirumangai AzhwAr and Nampillai, and thiruppANAzhwAr, falling on BharaNi, krthiga, rohiNi nakShathrams days, respectively. sri AP emperumAnAr showers his grace on us at thiruppAdagam (pAndava dUthar sannadhi) in Kanchipuram and at south mada street in srivillputtur along with AzhwAr, emperumAnAr, and tiruvenkatamudaiyAn . AndAL along with perumAL shower their grace on AP emperumAnAr during the following utsavams: 1. dwajArohaNa (first day utsavam) of AndAL tirukkalyAna utsavam (panguni utharam). 2. On the day of tiruvAdippUram, in the morning, the veedhi purappAdu

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starts only after AndAL and perumAL shower their grace on AP emperumAmAr. 3. On the 7th day of periyAzhwAr utsavam, is celebrated at AP emperumAnAr sannidhi. 4. On the 7th day of vadaperum koiludayAn brahmOtsavam, the most popular chUrNOtsavam is celebrated here with perumAL reclining on tiruanantAzhwAn. On the day of kArthikai baraNi, mariyAdai from AndAL sannidhi is offerred to sri AP emperumAnAr, and the utsavam is celebrated as a ten day festival with divine goshti on all ten days. At kanchi it is celebrated with the tirumanjanam of AP emperumAnAr, followed by purappAdu, goshti and sattrumurai, with great grandeur, by all the SriVaishnavas. We can also have the blessings of Sri AP emperumAnAr, at the Ranganathar temple, in Shivaji Nagar, Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Here AP emperumAnAr shares the sannidhi with Sri maNavALa mAmunigal. It is indeed a sight to watch, the author of JNyAna sAram and pramEya sAram, and the Acharya, who wrote pramana thiraTTu for the above, share the same sannidhi. Written in the "venpa" style of poetry, and revealing parama raHasyArthAs, are the two important works called "JNyAna sAram" and "pramEya sAram", by Sri aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr. These two works are said to be the first, among the tamizh poetries, composed by our pUrvAchAryAs. Even thiruvarangaThamuda nArs rAmAnusa nUtrandAdi, was written only after these two works. SwAmi MaNavALa mAmunikal has written pramAna thiraTTu for both the granthas, though only the pramAna thiraTTu for JNyAna sAram is available now and Sri Pillai lOkam jeeyar has done commentary to both the divine granthas which is usually misunderstood to be the commentary of swamy Manavala mAmunikal. AruLALap perumAL emperumAnAr blessed us with two prabandhams in tamizh, called nyAna sAram and pramEya sAram, which are considered the essence of the entire vedAnta. They are written in the "venpa" style of poetry, and revealing raHasyArthAs are first of that kind among our pUrvAchArya' s in chaste Tamizh. SwAmi MaNavALa mAmunikal has written pramANa thiraTTu for both prabandhams. And There is a commentary for both prabandhams by piLLai lOkam jeeyar, which is often misunderstood as mAmunikal's commentary.

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The two prabandhams dipped in rahasyarthas are a wonderful feast to us. Following are just two instances from the two prabandham as an example.
atRam uraikkil aTaindhavar pAl ambuyaikOn kuRRam uNarndhigazhum koLgaiyanO? - eRRE than kanRin uDambin vazhuvanRO? kAdhalippadhu anRadhanai InRugandha Aa njAnasAram - 25

The pasuram, in detail explains vAthsalyam of emperumAn (ambuyaikOn) vAthsalyam-affectio n towards one's child, is it just that, no it is even accepting the defects of the loved one, further it is in fact, enjoying the defect of the loved one and here swami explains it with a wonderful simile, a cow begot a calf and the calf would be full of dirt the cow will lick all the dirt happily this is dhOshaththai bOgyamAk koLLudhal -vAtsalaym
avvaanavarukku mavvaanavarellaam uvvaanavaradimai yenRuraiththaar - ivvaaru kEttiruppaarkaaLenR u kaNdiruppaar mItciyilaa naattiruppaar enRiruppannaan pramEya sAram - 1

This is wonderful depiction of praNavam

avvAnavarkku- a Anavarkku -EmperumAn-AkAram ma-vAnavarkku - makAram - jEvAthmA-s vuvAnavarkku - ShEsathvam

and going on to describe bhAgavatha shEshathvam the ellai nilam

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vAzhi thirunAmam
thiruvAzhut tennarangan sirakka vandhon vAzhiyE tenaruLALan anbAl thirutthinAn vAzhiyE taruvAzhum yatirAsan thALadaindhon vAzhiyE tamizhJNyAna pramEyasAram tamarkuraippon vAzhiyE teLLArum madurakavi nilaitELindhon vAzhiyE tEsupolimadantannai sidaitittAn vAzhiyE aruLALa mAmuniyAm AriyantAl vAzhiyE aruLkArthigai BaraNiyon anaittUzhi vAzhiyE

3. Eyunni mAdhavap perumAL

thirunakshathram :Karthikai -BharaNi.
lOkAchArya padmanAbhAmbOjasama srayam karuNAmbudhim! VedhAnthatvaya sambhandham mAdhavAryam maham bajEA

Eyunni mAdhap perumAl in nampillais gosthi

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Eyunni mAdhvap perumAL was one of the devoted disciples of SvAmi NampiLLai. If Sri vAdakkath thiruvEdhip piLLai was the mahAn behind the manuscript of Edu and svAmi maNavALa mamunikal behind making EDu reach one and all (ETTu p pravarthakar) , Eyunni Madhava p perumAL is not behind in this aspect. After having seen the pattOlai written by Sri Vadakkuth thiruvEdhip piLLai (ETTu manuscripts), Sri NampiLLai appreciated the work but kept the Edu to himself. This disappointed all his devotees. Sri Eyunni mAdhavap perumAL who desired to bring this out to all, appealed to NamperumAL and NamperumAL commanded Sri Nam piLLai to part with the Edu. So came Edu to Eyunni mAdhavap-perumAL. He then gave to his son and it went down and reached Sri MAmunikAL paving way for EDu reaching one and all. Can we not say then that Eyunni mAdhvap perumAL was instrumental in bringing out Edu from its hiding? This episode is also narrated in upadEsa rathina mAlai from pAsuram-s 48 and 49 SerAR vadakkuth thiruVEdhippiLLAi ehdu yEArAr thamizh vEdhathu edu..NampiLLai Eyunni mAdhavrrku koduthAr* upadEsa rathina mAlai - 48 Angavar pAl peTRa siRizhAzvAn appiLLai thAm koduthAr tham maganAr tham kayil...* upadEsa rathina mAlai - 49 From the above two pAsuam-s and with the help of piLLai lOkam jEyar vyAkayanam read with pbA svAmi dhEpikia it is clear that Eyunni mAdhavar had another thirunAmam -SiRiyAzvAn appiLLai. This is also corroborated from Guruparampara lines

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'EyuNNi SiRiyAzvAn appiLLaikkup prasAdhiyum' and 'EyuNNi mAdhavap perumAL engiRa siRiyAzvAn appiLLaikku EDu muthARAyiramum koduthu vAzvitharuLinAr. Should we not be ever indebted to Sri Eyunni mAdhavap perumAL for this priceless kainkaryam of getting Edu for us?

4. Kaisika EkAdasi
Date: December 1st 2006
praLayOdanvadutthIr NNAm prapatthyEham vasundharAm mahA varAha damshTRAgra mallIkOSa madhUvrathAm namasthasmai varAhAya LIlayA uddharathE mahim ghuramadhyagathOyas ya mErU kaNakaNAyathE

Kaisika EkAdasi is one of the most auspicious celebrations for us. The relevance of this day is very much dear to our pUrvAchArya' s and the aithihyams' related to kaiSika EkAdaSi has found its place inscribed even in rahasya granthas. The sukla paksha ekAdasi of kaRthika month is celebrated as kaiSika ekAdasi. It is an important occasion according to SrIpAncharAthra agama, named as uththAna ekAdasi, since emperumAn wakes up from yoga nidra on this day after the chathurmasyam period. Namperumal in SrIrangam performs karpUra paDiyEttham on this day and is a wonderful feast to the eyes. Why the name kaisika ekadasi is given to it? Is a very interesting question. Many people confuse it as kausika ekadasi. But it has nothing to do with viswamithra maharshi. The word kaisikam denotes a paNN (swaram) In the saptha swaras "sa-ri-ga-ma- pa-dha-ni" Each swara has basic octaves and the combinations of the swaras' produce mela kartha ragas. Among this, nishAdam is divided into three Suddha nishAdam (Ni), kAkaLi nishAdam (Ni) and kaiSika nishAdam (Ni). This kaiSiki raga, is favorite to emperuman. But what is kaisika ragam. One can find kaisiki Ni is found in many ragas, like bhairavi or sankarabharanam. But what this paNN has to do with the ekadasi, we should come to SrIvarAha purANam.

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During the avathAram as SrI varAha nAyanar, emperuman advises bhUmi pirATTi regarding thathva hitha purushArthAs summed up as varAha purANam. Kaisika mAhAthmyam falls as a Chapter in SrI varaha purANam and swami parASAra bhaTTar have blessed us with a wonderful lucid commentary on this chapter. An explanation of why this particular chapter is very close to our heart can be found in the 85th Suthram of AchArya hridayam mLEchchhanum bhakthanAnAl chathurvEdikaLanuva rtthikka .. uLkalarnthu thozhukulamAnavan nilaiyArpATalAlE brAhmaNa vELvikuRai muTitthamayum, .. aRivArkkirE janmOthkarshApakars hankaL therivathu. AchArya hridayam - 85 It is the anecdote of nAmpADuvAn makes this day very much important for us and stressing once again in the glories of bhAgavatha's. ippaDiyirukkum SrIvaishNavarkaL yEttham ARinthu ugandhu irukkai.. mumukshuppadi - 116

Swami parASarabhaTTar, commentrator of kaisika purAnam

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SrI parASarabhaTTar dearly names him as nampADuvAn, since the puranam as such does not give any name to this bhagavatha, and calls him as chandAlA or svapAka (one who eats dog meat). But SrI bhaTTar's choice of the name nampAduvAn come appropriately with " nam", prefix one can add this thirunAmam to the category of namperumAL nam mAzhvAr namjeeyar nampiLLai enpar avaravar tham yEtthatthAl anpuDayOr chAtthu thirunAmangaL UpadESa rathnamAlai

The story in a nutshell

SrI varAha nAyanar explains the greatness of the people who sings songs in front of emperumAn without having any sAdhya sAdhana buddhi " Thuyil ezha ppADuvAn" to SrIbhUmipirATTi and he explains that such a person, even if he goes to other lokas', he wont think of the pleasures in such lokas' and keep singing deeply moved in bhagavath guNa anusandhAnam, so eventually he acquires moksham. "indralOkatthirukkum aLavum ankuLLAr ellAraiyum azhaitth pATTukELppikkumaLAv antrikkE nammai ninaitthu pADipOrukayAlE, ankunintrum ivanAi koNdupOY nam periya vITTilE "Ethath sAmagAyannAsthE" ennu eppOthum namakkE pADi irukkumpaDi vaitthOm kANum ennaruLiccheykiRAR" From the commentary of swami parAsara bhaTTar

kaisiki naTakam at thirukkuRunkuDi, scene nambi on garuda vahanam

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kaisiki naTakam at thirukkuRunkuDi, scene nampaduvan and brahmarakshass

kaisiki naTakam at thirukkuRunkuDi, smt DoraikkaNNu as nampaduvan

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kaisiki naTakam at thirukkuRunkuDi, Treditional ThirukkuRunkuDi artists, Kurunkudi ammal as nampaduvan. Brahmaraksass is depicted with a traditional face mask. Then bhUmi pirATTi doubts this, how can singing songs be taken as a means to reach you. Can devareer say an example? Then SrI varAha nAyanAr tells bhUmipirATTi, 'remember in that place, ThirukkuRunkudi, where we lived in a small hut, in that place, one incident happened. nampAduvAn, born in a chandAla yOni, used to come in front of my temple, and stay outside in accordance to his birth, and sing songs for regardless of me listening or not. It went like that for 10 years, and one day, during a karithikai suklapaksha dwadasi morning, nampAduvAn started from his home in the direction of temple with an urge to do jAgaraNa vritham. But in the midway he got trapped by a brahma rakshasa. Though the brahma rakshasa immediately wanted to eat him, nampaduvan pleaded him, that he was having a vritham called jAgarana vritham, since last 10 years he is not having a break to that. He requested the rakshasa that, he will return from the temple after singing the songs to emperuman, and then he can eat. Rakshassa did not believe the words of nampaduvan and told him that 'you are a liar, have you ever heard of some one who escaped from the hands of a brahmarakshasa ever came back'.

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Then nampaduvan told him, 'O' brahma rakshass, I don't care about my body, and you should understand that, even if I am born in a papa yoni, since I have paramAthma jnAnam, I will never lie and will come back after my mangalASAsanam' . Since the brahma rakshass did not believe, nampaduvAn started giving promises, and in the end, nampAduvAn makes a wonderful promise for which the brahmarakshass had no other chance but to agree readily. Nampaduvan says I will get the sin of that person, I will catch the durgathi of that person, who thinks vAsudEva is not the supreme lordship (parathathvam) , and worships other devathantharams if I don't come back. Hearing this brahmarakshass had no choice but to agree, and nampaduvan went to the temple did the mangaLASasanam. This is reflected in quoted SrIvachanabhUshanam by swami piLLailOkAcharyar, bhagavathapachAramA ninaikkayum.. vathu dEvathAntharankaLOD okka, ISvaranAi

SrIvachanabhUshanam - 303 nampAduvAn returned with joy, that his thyAjya dEham is going to fall today. While coming back from the temple, and old man (nambi kizhavan) came across nampAduvAn and asked, why you are in a hurry, today please tell me the truth. Then nampAduvAn explained the story to the old man, to which the old man asked why don't you escape from that pApishTha brahma rakshassa. nampAduvAn refused this in reply to this nampAduvan praises his manass or swabhava nAhamEvam karishyAmi yanmAnthvam parivrichchhasi aham sathyE pravrtthOvai SIlam sathyE prathishThitham Oh! the grand old man, even if I neglect the truth, my nature will not skip it. It is like nammazhvAr himself praises his heart in thiruvAymozhi, ! nenchamE nallai nallai unnai petrAl encheyyOm !1.10.4 thiruvAymozhi To this the old man was so happy, and graced him (amalankaLAka vizhikkum) with the big lotus eyes (" vizhikkum AmalankaLAka") of him and asked him to leave.

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emperumAn says to bhUmipirATTi, don't think who that old man was, It is the same person who is praised as purushaH pushkarEkshaNa: When the brahma rakshass saw nampaduvan coming back he got wonderstruck, and asked nampaduvan, 'I can spare your life for one thing, give me the punyas you have accumulated by singing songs so that I will get my sapa vimoshanam, and you can go with your life'. But nampaduvan refused it, and said 'our agreement was only my body you can take that not the falam for the songs'. Then brahmarakshass kept bargaining, half falam, Falam of one YAma kalam, falam of one song etc. Finally brahmarakshass stopped bargaining and fell to the feet of nampAduvAn, and requested him to help so that his rakshassa janma is removed. Seeing the SaraNagatha, nampAduvAn, asked why did you happen to get into such a brahmarakshasa birth. Then the rakshassa explained, he was a greedy Brahmin, named somasarma, and was performing a yaga, while he died in between the yaga without finishing it. Because of this he born as a brahma rakshass. And requested nampaduvan to help him. nampAduvAn being a srivaishNava, immediately melted seeing the plight of the brahmarakshass and told him, tonight, I sung a song in kaisika rAgam, with the falam of that you will be relieved from this rakshassa yOni. Accordingly the brahmarakshassa immediately got SApavimoshanam and was born in a srivaishnava family. Nampaduvan too lived for long and attained moksha in the end of his life. Explaining this story SrI varAha nAyanar, said to bhUmi pirATTi, look pirATTi, who ever sings in kaisika ragam on karithikai suklapaksha ekadasi, who ever hears it, who ever reads this charithram of nampaduvan, I will take them all to the moksha sAmrAjyam.

Commentary of kaisika purANam

Swami parASarabhaTTar wrote a wonderful commentary to kaisika purANam. The Avatharika prakaranam itself is wonderful, where he elevates the glory of varAha avathAra and compares with the other avathara's quoting from Azhvars aruLicheyalkaL. Then he comes to the out pouring's of AndAL in fact he traces the varAhAvathAram being the root cause to AndAL's avathAra. Just to follow this adbhutha charithra of nampAduvan, and perform the gAna rUpa upAya bhUmi pirATTi took birth as AndAL. The last paragraph is full of thiruppAvai pasurams where swami had seleced the pasurams contains the word ' pAdi'. The commentary to each sloka is not at lengths all are in crisp and sweet maNipravALam.

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The Drama Enacted

Since the incident occurred in thirukkuRunkuDi divyadEsam, the thirukkuRunkuDi nambi himself appeared as the old man, nambi kizhavan. The whole incident is enacted by the bhagavathas in thirukkuRunkuDi every year in the eve of kaisika dwAdaSi. The original script of the drama is said to be written by veerabhadra naTTuvanar, in 13 th century. It is said that the drama is a wonderful feast to the eyes. Unfortunately over 50 years the performance of natakam got stopped which was revived in 1998 and continuing since then. This year's natakam will be performed on December 1 st at thirukkuRunkuDi.

5. Thirumangai AzhwAr
Thirunakshathram: Karthikaiyil kArthikai 4th December 2006

Kaliyan Perumai
mAlai thaniyE vazhi paRikka vEANumenRu kOli-ppadhivirundha koTravanEa vElai aNaitharuLUm kaiyAl adiyEan vinaiyai thUNItharuLa vEANum thuNindhu

Will any guest, who is offered a shelter for a night's stay, have a peaceful sleep if he is incidentally and casually told that a cobra is likely to pass through the room at any time? The person concerned will get scared to think of such a situation and will never venture to go anywhere near the chamber. (pAmbODu oru kUrayil payinRAr pOle anjuginREAn -Periya Thirumzohi 11-8 ) This is exactly the state of souls in samsara, as described by an Azhwar. This Azhwar does not stop just with the description of this state of distress for all the souls in samsara, but clearly advocates the means to get out of this state. Known as Parakalan (yamA for yamA) this azhwar was the last in hierarchy of 12 azhwars. He is also known as Thirumangai Azhwar, nElan, Kaliyan and so on.

Thirumangai azhwar's avataram was in the month of karthigai in karthigai thirunakshatram. Azhwar has a unique distinction of having visited more than 80 Divya Desams (87) as compared to other azhwars. Time And again Azhwar advocates kainkaryam to Divya Desams as the easiest among the means to get out of the cycle of samsara.( This is what is also enunciated by Sri PiLLai lOkachAryar in mumUkshuppadi - vugandharuLina nilnagaLil prAvaNanAi pozhudhu pOKkai) A queen takes the food from the golden vessel and adds a spoon of ghee to it every time she feeds her baby prince. Same is the case of Thirumangai Azhwar when singing on Perumal. He discusses all the kalyaNa guNas exhibited by Perumal in his various

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incarnations before culminating on the name of the Divya Desam or the Divya Desa Perumal. Periya Thirumozhi, Periya Thirumadal, Siriya Thirumadal, Thiruvezhukkootriru kkai, ThirukkurunthAntaka m and ThirunetunthAntakam are the six Divya prabandhams sung by Azhwar. His works are considered as the six angas of Veda. ( RajakumarargaLukku pidi thORum nei sEArkka vEANdum; ivarkku adidhORum archAvathAram)

Day and Night phenomenon

Thirumangaiazhvar and kumudavalli nAcchiyar Souls in samsara experience the changeover from day and night all the time. It is not the situation in the abode of Sriman Narayana, where the sun never sets, and hence

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there is no night time. Souls that always think of Perumal also never experience night time. Azhwar was one among the crowd where souls experience both day and night until an incident happened. Deprived of sufficient funds for temple kaimkaryam, Azhwar used to perform robbery. Once, during the course of his robbery, he met with Divya Dhampathis, and eventually was blessed with the "Thirumantram". Usually, it is not an easy task to get the "Thirumantram". It takes years of service to Acharyan before one can get that. The uniqueness of Azhwar is that he was not only blessed with the "Thirumantram" in an unexpected fashion, but also under his command of sword. This is why the unique thaniyan 'VAL valiyAl mandhiram koL'

Azhwar's prabhAvam does not stop with this. In order to initiate him to SriVaishnavism, Perumal could not find anyone other than Himself. Hence, Azhwar got the initiation into SriVaishnavism through ThirunaraiyUr Nambi. Last, but not the least, Azhwar learnt the meaning of Thirumantram from Perumal Himself. This event happened in Thirukkannapuram.

Azhwar's Anubhavams
Once Azhwar got into the anubhavam of Perumal, he could not resist describing his earlier state and also the cause and consequence of transition to new state. He laments that he has wasted all the days and rues for that ; 'vAdinEan vAdi varundhinEan manthAl' Periya Thirumozhi 1-1-1; He started visiting various Divya Desams and singing on the vaibhavam of all the Divya Desa Archa moorthys. Though he sang on various Divya Desams, there were some special ones.

Divya Desa Perumal Longs for Azhwar's Pasurams

Seeing the talent of Azhwar and his knowledge in singing, Divya Desa Perumals were raring to get his mangalasasanam. One among them was Bhaktavatsalan in Thirunindravoor. Unable to get the darshan of this Perumal, Azhwar proceeded to Thirukkadalmallai (known as Mahabalipuram) . Bhaktavatsalan closely followed him to get atleast a single word out of Azhwar's mouth. Perumal was not satisfied. He did not lose his hope. He chased Azhwar till Thirukkannamangai and ended up getting mangalasasanam from him successfully.

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Azhwar Crosses with a Divya Desa Perumal

When Azhwar was in Thiruvindaloor, the temple door of Parimala Rangan was closed. Hence, he was denied the darshan of Perumal. Because of this, Azhwar scolded the Perumal and asked the latter to keep all His greatness to Himself. Defeated by Azhwar's bhakti, Perumal offered darshan to Azhwar. Usually, when AzvAr's are cross with EmperumAn this is reflected in vibhavam. In cosnoance with his forte (thuRai) Sri parkAla nAyaki's VuDal tremendously sparkles in vUdal in archai in this thiru-indhaLUr thirumzohi 4-8; 'nummaith thozhudhOam' and the boiling point at 'VAzhndhEa pOam nErEa'

Special anukAram
One of the ways of sustaining oneself during separation from the Lord is to imbibe the role of the Lord and his activities. GopikAs acted like Lord krishNA -kAliyan and so on. SvAmi Nam AzvAr became emotionally transformed into sri krishnA. True to his spirit parkAla nAyaki talked as archAvatharam 'I am the one who descended here to Thiru-k-kaNNapuram from Tiru-vEAnkaTam' 'vAdavarai ninRum vandhu -kaNapuram idavagai koLvadhu yAm' 8-2-6;

50 for 1 and 100 for 2

As Azhwar continued his Divya Desam tour, he came to Srirangam where he dedicated 50 pasurams to Ranganathan. This is very unique because none other than Ranganathan has got this number of pasurams from Azhwar. Azhwar doubled this number when he sang on ThirunaraiyUr and Thirukkannapuram. This is considered as Guru Dakshinai because of the upakArams done by them as an Acharyan.

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Thirunarayur - Nambi

Azhwar builds a Chariot with his Mangalasasanam

Known as Chatushkavi, the king of 4 different kinds of poetry, Azhwar webbed a chariot in a numerical fashion and dedicated the complete pasuram, known as "Thiruvezhukkootriru kkai" to Ara-amudhan in Thirukkudanthai. Bhaktas visiting this Divya Desam can still see the picture of a chariot painted on the wall of the temple with the pasuram. This is testimony of Thirumangai Mannan's poetic prowess chithirak kavi.

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Chariot built by ThirumangaiazhwAr - Thiruvezhukkootrirukkai

Azhwar ties up 4 Elephants by Pouring of Bhakti

Azhwar refers to all the four directions and points to an elephant in each direction that protects him. He refers to Kallazhagar in Thirumalirumcholai as the elephant in south, ThiruVengadamudayAn in north, Thirukkannapuram Sowrirajan in east and Ranganathan in west. This pouring appears in his work called as "ThirunetunthAntakam". This work is considered to be very significant by SriVaishnavites.

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Azhwar as Parakalanayaki
Suffering due to the separation from Perumal, Azhwar starts to exhibit the state of a maiden love deprived of her lover. The nayaki's state is being described either by her mother community (thAip pASuram) or her friend community (thOzhip pAsuram). Parakalanayaki' s mother does so, pleading to Perumal in Thiruvidaventhai to come and take her daughter. Same kind of anubhavam is expressed with Perumals in ThiruvAli Thirunagari , Srirangam, ThirunaraiyUr and Thirukkannapuram. When singing about the love on Thirukkurungudi Nambi, Parakalanayaki herself describes her state of distress and requests everyone around her to carry and put her in Thirukkurungudi.

Parakalanayaki, mannum vaDaneriyE vEndinOm 'kuRun kuDikkEa ennai vuithidumin'

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Parakalanayaki spreads bad words about her lover

With no positive response from her lover, Azhwar gets frustrated and decides to spread bad message around the villages to capture her lover's attention. In doing so, Azhwar starts to perform "Madal oorudhal", an act where the lover spread the bad message about his lady love to get her married. Here, Azhwar changes the protocol by being a lady love performing this act. Parakalanayaki sings on the mischievous acts of Krishna and dedicates rhythmic pasurams to ThirunarauyUr Nambi. Seeing this, Ranganathan requested Azhwar to render a Madal on Him but thirumangai mannan replied that madal was for nambi and madhil (wall surrounding the temple premises) for ranganathan ( 'vumankku madhil nambikku madal'). The pasuram is so rhythmic that it makes the ambience very divine when recited.

Thirukkannapuram Resonates Thirumangai Azhwar

Despite the numerous vaibhavams of Thirukkannapuram, the one that stands out from the crowd is the speciality of hearing it when pronounced by Thirumangai Azhwar. He was so dear to this Divya Desam that he wanted to stay here forever after learning the "Thirumantram". He also exhibits the excitement as Parakalanayaki after hearing the name Thirukkanapuram. That is why, the words 'ThirukaNNapuram' should emanate from Kaliyan rather than others. This is analogous to bhattar spelling out Nam perumAL and ananthAzvAn 'TiruvEaNkaTamudai yAn'.

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Thirukkanapuram - Sourirajan

Azhwar Proceeds to SriVaikuntam

On entering Tiru-kuRunkuDi AzvAr feels this is his life. Here is the place he proclaims that he has realized everything. 'vAzhak kaNDOAm vandhu kAnmin thoNdErgAL' 9-6-3; After completing his major portion of the Divya Desam tour, Azhwar comes to Thirukkurungudi. Experiencing the beauty of this Divya Desam, and the beauty of Nambi, Azhwar decides to stay there and perform kainkaryam to Him. He sings on the vaibhavam of Thirukkurungudi and also the Perumal residing there in 25 pasurams. As he continues this anubhavam along with the kainkaryam to Nambi, Azhwar attains the Nitya Kainkarya prApti in Thirukkurungudi, and proceeds to SriVaikuntam.

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Thirumangai azhvar at his Thiruvarasu in ThirukkuRunkudi Remembering Azhwar and reciting his divine pasurams regularly will wipe out all the sufferings for a soul in Kali yuga and help attain the state of Nitya Kainkarya prApti in SriVaikuntam.
SrImadAli srInagari nAthaya kalivairinAe! chatushkavipprdhAnA ya ParakAlAya mangalam!!

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6. SwAmi Nampillai
Thirunakshatram: kArthikaiyil -kArthikai VrichchikE kruththikAjAtham kalivairi gurum bhajE vEdAnthimuni pAdApjasritham srisookthi mahArNavam vEdhAntha vEdyAmrutha vArirAsEr vEdArththa sArAmrutha bhooramakryam AdhAya varshandha maham prabhathyE kAruNyapoorNam kalivairi dhAsam Nampillai is the great acharya who find his place after Nanjeeyer in our guru parampara. Nampillais original name was nambur varadachariar nambur being his native place. Once nanjeeyer who has completed writing the commentary to thiruvaimozhi the ompadhinAyirapadi (9000 padi=9000*32 aksharas/syllables) was in a search of a good writer who can beautifully and legibly rewrite the whole commentary. All the disciples in unison suggested the name of nambur varadachariar who also used to come to the kalashepa (discourse) ghosti of nanjeeyer at many times (as he had to travel from nambur to srirangam he wasnt able to come always). So nanjeeyer sent a word to varadachariar. Then Nanjeeyer tested varadachariars hand writing and was satisfied. But still he was hesitant since without the basic knowledge he may make mistakes while copying. Understanding the hesitation of acharya, varadachariar immediately with utmost politeness said, Can not the acharya make adiyen eligible to copy the divine work?. Nanjeeyer was delighted seeing the humbleness of varadachariar and hence he gave all the divine meanings to him once and then asked him to make copy of the original script. Varadachariar accepted the original script and started towards his village. On the way he had to cross kaveri. He held the script on top of his head and started to swim. Unfortunately due to the floods in kaveri he lost the original script. His sorrow reached no bounds. Not knowing what to do, he started writing the commentary getting to mind everything he has heard from nanjeeyer. Then he went along with the new manuscript to nanjeeyer. Nanjeeyer glanced through it and immediately realized that there were more beautiful things added to the commentary along with whatever he has written. He asked Varadachariar what really happened. Varadachariar told what happened as it is since he cannot hide anything from the acharya. Nanjeeyer did not get angry or feel for losing his commentary instead he appreciated varadachariar for remembering everything he has heard and also to have added more

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beautiful meanings (mainly the language part as varadachariar was more proficient in Tamil) into the commentary. Such was the greatness of the disciple and acharya. Nambur varadachariar was very talented and well educated. Swamy Manavala mAmunikal in his upadesa ratinamalai says, Namperumal nammazhvar nanjeeyer nampillai enbar Avvaravartham eRRaththAl anbudaiyOr SaRRuthiunAmangal thAnendru nannenjE Eththadhanai sollunee endru Upadesa ratina malai- 50
[All the four mentioned above are prefixed by "our" - nam in tamil, which is due to their respective greatness and this is bestowed by those with love and affection. nam-piLLai is placed in this exclusive, elite class. Doesnt it show his greatness?]

tunnu pugazh kandAdai thOzhappar tanmugappAl ennavulagAriyanO venruraikka-pinnai vulagariyanennumpEr nampillaikkOngi vilagAmal nindRa dendrum mEl Upadesa ratina malai -51

Today when we all hear the name Vulagariyan or Lokacharya we are all reminded of Swamy Pillai lokacharya who was the elder son of vadakku thiruveedhipillai and who gave the great ashtadadasa rahasya to this world. But actually vadakku thiruveedhi pillai named his elder son only after his acharya nampillai who was regarded as lokacharya. This divine name was entitled to nampillai by kandAdai thOzhappar a descendant of mudaliyandan. Kandadai thozhappar was filled with pride that he was from a clan of acharyas and hence he envied nampillai being celebrated by Srivaishnavas. Once he lost his control so much that he yelled at nampillai with all wrong words inside the temple in front of many Srivaishnavas. Kandadai thozhappars wife was an ardent devotee and she couldnt stand this acharya nindhanam (talking ill of an acharya) and she refused to do any more household as long as thozhappar apologized to nampillai. Thozhappar also realized his mistake and accepted to apologise to nampillai first thing in the morning. Next day when he opened the door of his house thozhappar found someone reclining outside. Hearing the sound of the door nampillai in front of thozhappars house apologized for what happened the previous day. Thozhappar asked why are you apologizing when the mistake was totally on adiyens side? Nampillai replied politely, Oh! No It was only

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adiyens actions that probed you to talk harsh words. That is why adiyen was waiting outside your house to apologise the first thing in the morning Thozhappar didnt have any words seeing the goodness of nampillai and he immediately said, Oh! You changed me, please accept me as your disciple moreover you are not only acharya to me, you are the lokacharya-Acharya for the whole world. From that day the name lokacharya became famous for nampillai.

Swami nampillai at Thiruvallikeni

Nampillai was born in Karthigai month in karthigai star similar to that of thirumangai azhvar . Hence he is considered to be a avatara of kaliyan and also called as kalikandri dasar.

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Nanjeeyer did thiruvaimozhi kalashepam 100 times in his lifetime and our acharyas say when some one asked nampillai the meaning of any paasuram as told by nanjeeyer he will ask back, Our acharya used to give different different meanings during each kalashepam and he did so for 100 times. Which meaning given in which kalashepam do you want? There are so many interesting dialogues between nanjeeyer and nampillai sited in our guruparampa charithrams and also in the arulicheyal vyakhyanams (commentaries) that provides us a great insight into our sampradayam.

7. Magnum Opus EDu (36000ppadi Commentry of thiruvAimozhi)

Why is EDu Great? The proof of the pudding lies in eating. Sri MaNavaLa mAmunikal in upadesa rathinamalai after talking of other commentaries concludes that nampiLLai's Edu as the 'well narrated one' - nangu vuraithadhu

theLLiyadhA nampiLLai seppu nERi thann vaLLaL vadakkuth thiruvEdhip piLLai indha nADARiya mARan maRaip porULai nangu vuraithadhu EDu mupathaRAyiram. Upadesa rathinamalai 1. Macro and micro analysis.-The avathArikai. Each thiruvAimozhi has introduction succinctly summarising the essence of that particular thriuvAimozhi and picking up the key pAsuram and analysing that thoroughly. This is like the contemporary keynote address. 2. The continuity -sangathi- The link between one thiruvAimozhi and the other is narrated in the beginning of the next thiruvaimzohi. Each thiruvAzimozhi is not a stand alone work but a chain of emotional events.

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3. Great 'Down to Earth' examples: An examples takes the point to the reader what 100 words cannot do. SwAmi Nam-piLLai gives wonderful examples which are very popular even today. Example of examples - Anaikku kudhirai vaithal; oruvar kUrai ezhuvar vuduthal. 4.Wide acknowledged scholar: It is not uncommon to observe tamil scholars and those who are not srevaishNavites also adorning NampiLLai gOshit. Their interpretations are also accepted and acknowledged in Edu. Refer anjiRai mada nArai-sonnAl virOdham etc. 5. Thirumanthiram and dhvayam all the way : It is the greatness of our pUrvAchAryas to pick up thirumanthram and dhvayam from the aruLicheyal. The avathArikai for 4th ten -oru nAyakam excellently summarises this fact. stating that the first three tens are explanation of the latter part of dhvayam while the fourth, fifth and sixth are the first sentence of dhvayam. 6.Twin interpretations: Sri NampiLlai does not thrust his ideas on us. There are several pAsuram-s for which two interpretations are given. refer panpudai vEdham; en sabippAr manisarEa-the open mindedness. 7. Wonderful anecdotes : Splendid anectodes -aidihyangaL are given at the appropriate pAsuram-s. Sri Bhattar's quotes are sweet honey -refer ANaLLan-peN allan vyAkyanam. 8. Cryptic words-What hundred words cannot explain a few words will. This the greatness of the commentator. refer -thathvathrayathaiy um viLAkolai koLLumpadi -SUzhndhaganRAndhuy arndha Edu. 9. Raising questions and answering: In various pAsuram-s the commentator raises questions and justifies.This the fundamental necessity of a commentary. Refer madhuvAr thaNanthuzhAyan- 1-6-2. 10. Versatile Genius: Should it be expressly stated that The Edu is replete with quotes from idhihAsa, purANam , aga-nAnURu, thirukkuRaL and what not.

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8. ThiruppANAzhvAr
Thirunakshatram, kArthikai, rohiNi "vrichchikE rOhinI jAtham sripANam nisulApurE SrivatsAngam kAyakEndram munivAhanamAsrayE Adiyongal tried to start an e-journal but ended with a contest between the Tamil months. First Iyppasi boasted on giving birth to a whole lot of azhvars and acharyas especially the mudal azhvars who are the back bone of the Srivaishnava sampradayam. Now enters karthigai to say, "Oh! No doubt you gave birth to a number of azhvars and acharyas I am no less. I have selective azhvars and acharyas who gave the prime essence of Srivaishnava sampradayam to this world! And don't forget that the great kaisika ekadasi is my speciality" Azhagiya manavala perumal Nayanar in his divine work acharya hrudhayam says, "mlEchanum bhakthan AnAl, chaturvEdhigal anuvarththikka aRivu koduththu, kuladeivaththOdu okka poojai koNdu pAvana theerththa prasAdhanAm engira thirumugappadiyum " [If one born in a so called low caste attains bhakthi, then he can give knowledge to a high caste brahmana who has shed his ego and wants to attain jnana, and can be considered as par to a kuladeivam and can be worshipped and his sripada theertham and prasAdham can be taken to cleanse one self. ] "VishvAmitra vishnuchitta tulasee pruthyarOdE vul kalandhu thozhukulam Anavan nilaiyAr pAdalAlE brAhmaNa vElvikkuRai mudiththamaiyum " [Nampaduvan, supposed to be born in a chandala kula is considered as par with VishvAmitra (who sang "kousalya supraja rama" suprabhadham to rama), Vishnuchitta (who sang suprabhadham to Krishna disguised as yesodha) and thondaradipodi Azhvar (who sang suprabhadham "thiruppalliezhuchi" to Ranganatha) as he underwent the vratha of waking up thirukkurungudi nambi with his divine music-nilaiyAr pAdal-kaisika paN. Nampaduvan was given that name merely due to the abhimanam of emperuman as "his singer" and he was capable of releasing the brahmarakshas of all his sins with just the phalan of a single song]

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".pushpa, tyAga, bhOga maNdapangaLil paNippoovum Alavattamum veeNaiyum kaiyumAna andharangarai mudi mannavanum vaidhikOththamarum mahAmuniyum anuvarththiththa kramamum "

Pushpa mandapam-Thiruvenkatam; panippoovum kaiyumAna andharangar- kurumbharuththa nambi; mudimannan - thondaim An chakravarthi; tYaga mandapam-KAnchi; Alavattamum kaiyumAna andharangar- Thirukkachchi Nambi; vaidhikOththamar- Ramanujar; bhOga mandapam-Thiruvaran gam; veenaiyum kaiyumAna andharangar- Thiruppanazhvar; mahamuni-lokasarang a munivar ; "yAga anuyAga uttaraveedhigalil kAya anna stala suththi paNNina viruththa AchAramum" yAgam-thiruvaradhanam; kAyasudhdhi- Physical purification (Swamy ramanuja after taking bath in kaveri and proceeding for his worship of the lord used to come with his hand on the shoulders of pillai urangavilli dasar) At this point we can also remember the fact that swamy ramanuja submitted the responsibility of doing thiruvaradhanam to his dear perarulalan to AP emperumanar who was earlier an advaita sanyasi. It is not how you were in the past that is important how you are today is more important in srivaishnavism. AP emperumanar was born in this same month-karthigai bharani Anuyagam-eating the prasadam after offering to the lord; annam-food; (Swamy nampillai used to purify his food by asking yEru thiruvudaiyar dasar to touch it) Uththara veedhi-northern street in srirangam; stala sudhdhi-purifying the place/house; (naduvil thiruveedhi pillai cancelled even the grahapravesam rituals to his new house coming to know that vanamAmalai dasar visited the same the previous day)

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Such were the great anushtanams of our revered acharyas. These thoroughly show that there is no caste, creed barriers in srivaishnavism. It is only the bhagavat bhakthi that really matters. The first instance that is shown is the nampaduvan charitram. Kaisika Ekadasi falls in karthigai month.

Next AMP nayanar talks about Thiruppanazhvar (bhOga mandapaththil veenaiyum kaiyumAna andharangar) who was born on karthigai rohini day in nishulapuri otherwise called vuraiyur, near Srirangam. He was born in panar kulam and hence didn't enter the temple premises of Sriranganatha but he was so deeply immersed in bhakthi that he used to sing divine mesmerizing songs on the lord standing near the banks of kaveri looking at the sriranga vimanam. One day Ranganatha decided that he wanted to bring Thiruppanan inside the temple so he started his leela. As usual the kainkaryaparas of the temple headed by Lokasarangamuni started towards kaveri to fetch water for that day's thiruvaradhanam. Thiruppanazhvar immersed in divine anubhavam was standing in the way. Lokasaranga muni asked him to move but panan was in an ecstatic state and didn't hear the words of lokasarangamuni. So the lokasarangamuni took a small stone and threw it on thiruppanan. Blood started flowing from his head and pAnan came to his senses. Realising his mistake of hindering the bhagavat kainkaryam he ran away with deep worry. When the kainkaryaparas came to the temple they were unable to open the doors and ranganatha who has taken the wounds of thiruppAnan on his own head instructed lokasarangamuni to go and fetch thiruppanAn who was his great bhaktha and also apologise for the great bhagavata apachara. So lokasarangamuni ran to thiruppAnan and apologized. Since thiruppAnan refused to enter the temple with his inferior legs lokasaranga muni carried thiruppAnAzhvar on his shoulders into the temple (hence thiruppanazhvar became munivahar). ThiruppAnazhvar sang ten paasurams explaning the beauty of periya perumal from bottom to top in his divine "amalanAdhipiran" and in the end he completed saying "aranganai kanda kangal maRRondrinai kAnAvE" (those eyes that saw ranganatha will not see anything else). Yes, he didn't see even him and that is why in the last paasuram he didn't talk about who sang the song and what is the palasruthi etc as all other azhvar's usually do. With the last paasuram thiruppanazhvar attained the divine feet of periya perumal. Karthigai month continues to say, just after this azhvar I gave birth to thirumangai azhvar, in kallar kulam on karthigai karthigai day and also to Nampillai, who showed the essence of Srivaishnavism in many ways in his lifetime one being that stated above (anuyAga anna sudhdhi).

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So the essence of this month is to show that Srivaishnavism is beyond the barriers of caste, creed, how you were born, how you were brought up. It is the jnanam kalandha bhakthi (the bhakthi arising out of knowledge) which is the criteria. So let us never forget the divine sUthra of Pillai ulagariyan,

SVB-195 "bhAgavata apachAram thAn-anEka vidham" [there are many types of bhagavata apachara] Srivachanabhushanam - 195 "adhilE ondru avargal pakkal janma niroopanam" [one among them is analyzing his birth] Srivachanabhushanam - 196

Thiruppanazhvar Thriuvallikeni

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Sri Pillai lokacharya talks elaborately on this subject but that is out of the scope of our subject. So let us all vow to refrain from this great bhagavata apacharam and remain as uththama srivaishnavas. Swami manavALa mAmunikal describes about thiruppANAzhvAr thus in his upadEsa rathamAlai

kaarththikai rOhiNinNaaL * kaaNmininRu kaasiniyeer * vaayththa pukazhppaaNar vanthudippaal * aaththiyarkaL anpuTanEthaan * amalanaadipiraan kaRRathaRpin * nankuTanE koNdaaTum naaL. UpadESa rathnamAlai -10 amudhanAr describes thiruppAnAzhvAr as the one who condenses the chIRiya nAn maRai chem poRuL (the four essenses of the veda's) in chaste tamizh. What are those four essence of veda's they are described as the " SwarUPa, rUpa, GuNa and vibhUthi's" of emperumAn. sIRIya nAnmaRai chemporuL centhamizhAL aLittha pAriyalum puhazh pAN perumAL iramanuja nUttanthAthi 11 ThiruppAnAzhvAr blessed us with a single divyaprabandham AmalanAdi pirAn named after the starting of the verse amalanAdi pirAn adiyArkkennai Atpaduttha vimalan. Even though a short prabandham, its essence is so much important that there are plenty of commentaries' to this prabandham. swAmi periya AcchAn piLLai wrote a commentary and swami azhagiya manavALapperumAL nAyanar wrote a fabulous and detailed commentary as well. Swami vedantha desikan summarized the essence of the prabandham in his Sanskrit work called bhagavad dhyAna sOpAnam and in the maNipravALa commentary munivAhana bhOGam Swami desikan praises the prabandham in his munivAhana bhOgam commentary like this vEdiyar taam viritthuRaikkum viLaivukellAm vidhai aahum ithu yenRu viLampinOmE

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9. Greatness of amalanAdhippirAn
The granting of wishes and removal of distress is the hallmark of our EmperumAn. Sri ThiruppAn AzvAr who was born in a low caste did not step into the divine town of Thiruvarangam. He was keeping a distance and worshipped the Lord from thiruvuRaiyUr.

After having reached the sanctum sanctorum of Periya PerumAL through the shoulders of LokA sAranga muni, ThiruppAN AzhwAr had a divine and mesmerising vision of EmperumAn. The divine feet attracted him first, the dress, the nAval, the dress around the waist, thirumArBu, kaNdam, The mouth, the long and big eyes. AzhvAr unable to devour one was pushed to the other and from there to another. The waves of enjoyment of these divine thirumEani forced him to transfix himself on one to the other and so on. The beauty of the Lord is not just micro but also macro. That is why he declares mudivilladhOAr ezhil in the penultimate pAsuram Each of these are dealt in the first nine pAsuram-s respectively 1. Thiru-k-kamla pAdham vandhu -the divine feet. 2. araich sivandha Adai -The dress. 3. vundhi mEal adhanRAOa --The symbol of creation -The naval. 4. thiruvayithudhara bandham -The dress around the waist -dhAmOdharan. 5. ThiruvAramArbu adiyEani At koNDAthEA-The divine chest where Sri pirATTi resides. 6.muTrum vuNDa kaNDam kaNDEr! ---The kaNDam (throat) which devoured one and all. 7. seiya vAi ayyOa ennai sindhai kavarndhadhuvEa -The mouth.

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8. kAriyavAgip pudai -nENda ap periya Aya kaNgaL - The divine eyes 9. mudivilladhOAr ezhil nEla mEani ayoOA niRai kONdadhu en nenjinayEa The macro beauty of the Lord. The essence: The first pAsuram commences with the letter a, the second vu and third ma 'a'kAra , 'vu'kAra and 'ma'kAra. The praNavam. Accordingly, the first pAsuram explains the Lord in detail. The Lord devoid of inauspicious qualities , the creator of one and all, the natural saviour, The supreme - amalan Adhi-p pirAn-viNNavar kOnEa

The Second reflects the relationship. The Lord out of His volition gracing one and all with His divine feet- vulagam aLandhu aNdam vuRa. The Third describes the jEvAthma -makAram as mandhi pAi mentality . The Fourth chaturamAmadhiL sUzh-namap padham The Fifth pAramAya pazhavinai-Piratti- subtely indicated in thirumanthram The Sixth thuNda venpiraiyam-NarAyanap padham The rakshagathvam is then explained shEshathvam and ananya charaNathvam followed by the ananyarha

en amudhinai-k kaNDa kaNgaL mathonRinaik kANAVEA - amalanadhip pirAn 10

azhwAr emperumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigalE sharanam