The Glories and History of AzhwArs

AzhwArs glories and history
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The glories and history of AzhwArs

poigaiyAr, bhUthathAr, pEyar, pugazh mazhisai aiyan, aruL mAri, chEralar kOn, thuyya
bhattanAthan, anbar thAL thULi, naRpANan, narkaliyAn

madhurakavigaL, ANdAL, yathirAjar

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Preface
sri:
srimathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srimadh varavaramunayE nama:
sri vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:
bhUtham sarascha mahathAvya bhattanAtha
srI bhakthisAra kulasEkara yOgivAhAn
bhAkthAngri rENu parakAla yathIndra misrAn
srImath thadhangri yugaLam praNathOsmi nithyam
I constantly worship the lotus feet of bhUthathAzhwAr, poigai AzhwAr, pEyAzhwAr,
periyAzhwAr, ANdAL, thirumazisai AzhwAr, kulasEkara AzhwAr, thiruppANAzhwAr,
thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr, thirumangai AzhwAr, srI rAmAnujar, madhurakavi AzhwAr and
nammAzhwAr.
This divine slOkam was rendered by srI parAsara bhattar when he was in thirukkOttiyUr with
nanjIyar. He left srIrangam due to the disturbances given by vIra sundhara brahma rAyan. At
that time, out of the unbearable separation from srIranganAthan, bhattar wrote this slOkam
and the thanians of thiruppAvai to immerse himself in bhagavath/bhAgavatha anubhavam.
In this slOkam, in addition to identifying the 10 AzhwArs (poigaiyAr, bhUthAr, pEyar,
thirumazhisai AzhwAr, nammAzhwAr, kulasEkara AzhwAr, periyAzhwAr, thoNdaradippodi
AzhwAr, thiruppANAzhwAr and thirumangai AzhwAr), he also identifies ANdAL using the word
srI, madhurakavi AzhwAr using the word misra (very learned/respected) and rAmAnujar
using yathIndhrar.
mAmunigaL follows similar pattern in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai, where he first identifies the
thirunakshathrams (birth star) and the glories of the 10 AzhwArs and subsequently identifies
the same of ANdAL, madhurakavi AzhwAr and emperumAnAr.
In fact, mAmunigaL identifies the greatness of AzhwArs, AchAryas and their works in the 3
rd

pAsuram itself.
AzhwArgaL vAzhi aruLicheyal vAzhi
thAzhvAthumil kuravar thAm vAzhi
EzhpArum uyya avargaL uraiththavaigaL thAm vAzhi
cheyya maRai thannudanE chErNthu


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Long live the AzhwArs, long live the AchAryas, Long live their srIsUkthis (works dhivya
prabhandhams, sthOthrams, vyAkyAnams) which are for the upliftment of the entire world. Let
them co-exist along with the divine and pure samskritha vEdhams.
As nampiLLai shows in his eedu mahA grantham avathArikai, nammAzhwAr who is the leader
of AzhwArs was hand picked by emperumAn from this samsAram and sarvEsvaran blesses
him with divine blemishless knowledge for the purpose of propagating the divine message
uninterrupted devotion to emperumAn.
This is a humble effort from adiyen to bring out the glories and the history of AzhwArs as
explained mainly in 6000padi guru paramparA prabhAvam (written by pinbazhAgiya perumAL
jeeyar) and vyAkyAnams. adiyen is very grateful to all the grantha kAlakshEpa AchAryas who
imparted this valuable sampradhAyam knowledge into adiyen. In addition to the AzhwArs, as
shown by our pUrvAchAryas, emperumAnArs charithram and vaibhavam are also included.
Meditating on the lotus feet of asmadhAchAryan srImath paramahamsa ithyAdhi pattarpirAn
rAmAnuja jIyar (29th pattam, vAnamAmalai mutt), adiyen is submitting this small work at the
thiruvadis of Srimath paramahamsa ithyAdhi kaliyan rAmAnuja jeeyar swAmy (30
th
pattam,
varthamAna swAmy, vAnamAmalai mutt).
adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan
Email: sarathy.thothathri@gmail.com
Web: http://ponnadi.blogspot.com , http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com, http://srivaishnava-
events.blogspot.com
thai thiruAdhirai (Jan 25th, 2013)

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asmadhAchAryan

Srimath paramhamsa ithyAdhi pattarbhirAn rAmAnuja jeeyar (29
th
pattam, vAnamAmalai mutt)
varthmAna swAmy

Srimath paramhamsa ithyAdhi kaliyan rAmAnuja jeeyar (30
th
pattam, vAnamAmalai mutt)

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Contents
mudhalAzhwArgaL............................................................................................................................................... 6
thirumazhisai AzhwAr .........................................................................................................................................13
nammAzhwAr .....................................................................................................................................................22
madhurakavi AzhwAr .........................................................................................................................................26
kulasEkara AzhwAr .............................................................................................................................................33
periyAzhwAr .......................................................................................................................................................40
ANdAL ................................................................................................................................................................49
thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr ...................................................................................................................................56
thiruppANAzhwAr ..............................................................................................................................................61
thirumangai AzhwAr ...........................................................................................................................................67
emperumAnAr....................................................................................................................................................79


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mudhalAzhwArgaL
In this article we will discuss the vaibhavam of mudhalAzhwArgaL (poigaiyAr, bhUthathAr,
peyAr).
poigai AzhwAr
thirunakshathram: ippasi, thiruvONam
avathAra sthalam: kAnchipuram
AchAryan: sEnai mudhaliAr
Works: mudhal thiruvanthAdhi

poigai AzhwAr was born in a pond near thiruvekhA yathOkthAkAri temple. He is also known as
kAsAra yOgi and sarO munIndhrar.
His thanian
kAnchyAm sarasi hEmAbjEjAtham kAsAra yOginam
kalayE ya: shriya:pathyU ravim dhIpam akalpayath

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bhuthathAzhwAr
thirunakshathram: ippasi, avittam
avathAra sthalam: thirukkadalmallai
Works: irandAm thiruvanthAdhi

bhUthathAzhwAr was born in a pond near thirukkadalmallai sthalasayanap perumAL temple.
He is also known as bhUthahvayar, mallApuravarAdhIshar.
His thanian
mallApura varAdhIsham mAdhavI kusumOdhbhavam
bhUtham namAmi yO vishNOr jyAnadhIpam akalpayath
pEyAzhwAr
thirunakshathram: ippasi, thiruvONam
avathAra sthalam: thirumayilai

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Works: mUnRAm thiruvanthAdhi

pEyAzhwAr was born in a well near thirumayilai kEsava perumAL temple. He is also known as
mahathAhvayar, mayilApurAdhIpar.
His thanian
dhrushtvA dhushtAva yO vishNum ramayA mayilAdhipam
kUpE rakthOthpalE jAtham mahathAhvayam AshrayE
mudhalAzhwArgaL charithram/vaibhavam
All the 3 AzhwArs are usually glorified together because of the following reasons.
They were all born a day after each other in sequence poigaiyAr, bhuthathAr, pEyar.
They were born in the time period between the end of dhvApara yugam and the
beginning of kaliyugam (yuga sandhi transition period see in the bottom for details).
They were all ayOnijars one who is not born from a human mother. They all appeared
from flowers by the divine mercy of emperumAn.
They were attached to emperumAn right from their birth they were fully/divinely
blessed by emperumAn and were fully enjoying bhagavath anubhavam throughout their
life.
At some point in their life, they meet each other and from then onwards they stayed
together and they travelled together to various dhivyadhEsams/kshEthrams. They are
also called Odith thiriyum yOgigaL ( r ) the yOgis who are
always doing pilgrimage.

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All the 3 AzhwArs were born in different locations and enjoying emperumAn thoroughly.
emperumAn who considers his adiyArs as his life (gIthai jnAniI thva Athma Eva mE matham)
wanted to see them all together. So he made a divine arrangement to bring all 3 of them to
thirukkOvalUr in the night time.


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It was raining heavily and one by one started arriving to a small shed. When they got in to the
shed there was just enough space for the 3 of them to stand. Being completely situated in
bhagavath bhAvam, they started inquiring about each other and found out the details about
each other. When they were sharing their divine anubhavams, emperumAn with his
thirumAmagaL suddenly entered the shed where it was very dark. Wanting to see who arrived,
poigai AzhwAr lit the place using the world as a lamp, the ocean as the oil and sun as
the light.
bhUthathAzhwAr lit the place using his love as lamp, his attachment as the oil and his
mind as the light.
pEyAzhwAr, being helped by the other two AzhwArs, sees the glowing beauty of
emperumAn who is with his pirAtti, thiruvAzhi and thiruchchangu and performs
mangaLAsAsanam for that sErthi.
Thus they enjoyed the thirukkOvalUr Ayan and many other archAvathAra emperumAns
together during their time in the leelA vibhUthi.
In the eedu vyAkyAnam, nampiLLai beautifully brings out the glories of mudhalAzhwArgaL
wherever applicable. Let us see a few such examples:
pAlEy thamizhar (1.4.10) nampiLLai identifies aLavandhArs nirvAham
(conclusion/statement) here. He says nammAzhwAr is glorifying mudhalAzhwArgaL
here who were the first to bring out the glories of emperumAn in the sweet thamizh
language.
inkavi pAdum paramakavigal (7.9.6) Here, nampiLLai identifies that
mudhalAzhwArgaL are also known as chendhamizh pAduvAr. He also identifies that
AzhwArs were so expert in thamizh, when poigai AzhwAr and pEyAzhwAr asked
bhUthathAzhwAr to glorify emperumAn he spontaneously sung the glories of
emperumAn like how a male elephant fetched the honey for the female elephant
immediately when asked by the female elephant (this elephants incident is explained by
bhUthathAzhwAr in perugu madhavEzham iraNdAm thiruvanthAdhi 75th
pAsuram).
palaradiyAr munbhrauLiya (7.10.5) nampiLLai beautifully brings out the thiruvuLLam
of nammAzhwAr here. nammAzhwAr says in this pAsuram that emperumAn blessed
him to sing thiruvAimozhi instead of great rishis like sri vEdhavyAsar, sri vAlmiki, sri
parAsarar and mudhalAzhwArgaL who were expert in thamizh.
chenchorkavikAl (10.7.1) nampiLLai refers to mudhalAzhwArgaL as inkavi pAdum
parama kavigaL, chendhamizh pAduvAr, etc and identifies that they are ananya
prayOjanargaL (one who glorifies emperumAn without expecting anything in return).
mAmunigaL identifies how they became to be known as mudhalAzhwArgaL in his upadhEsa
rathina mAlai pAsuram 7.
maRRuLLa AzhwArgaLukku munnE vaNthuthiththu (
)
Nal thamizhAl NUl cheythu NAttaiyuyththa peRRimaiyOr (

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)
enRu mudhalAzhwArgaL ennum peyarivarkku (
r)
NinRathulagaththE NigazhNthu ( )
Simple translation:
These 3 AzhwArs appeared before the other 7 AzhwArs and benedicted the world with their
divine thamizh pAsurams. It is because of this glorious act they became to be popularly known
as mudhalAzhwArgaL.
In the vyakyAnam, piLLai lOkAm jIyar brings out some beautiful aspects.
He identifies that mudhalAzhwArgaL are like praNavam which is always considered as
the beginning.
He also identifies that these AzhwArs were born during the dhvApara-kali yuga sandhi
(transition period) and thirumazhisai AzhwAr appeared along the same time.
Subsequently, in the beginning of the kaliyugam, other AzhwArs appeared one after the
other.
They laid the foundation for dhivya prabhandhams in the great dhrAvida bAshai
(thamizh).
mAmunigaL also brings out the glories of ippasi thiruvONam, avittam and sathayam as these
dates became so popular after the appearance of the mudhalAzhwArgaL on these days.
As identified in the thirunedunthAndagam vyAkyAna avathArikai by periyavAchAn piLLai,
mudhalAzhwArgaL are focussed on emperumAns parathvam. That is why, they are often
glorifying thrivikramAvathAram. On the other hand, they also glorified many archAvathAra
emperumAns since by nature all AzhwArs had great attachment to archAvathAra
emperumAns. Their archAvathAra anubhavam is already discussed in here
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-azhwars-1.html.
yuga sandhi
yathIndra matha dhIpikai explains various technical concepts in our sampradhAyam and is
considered as one of the most authentic sources for our sidhAntham.
In this, kAla thathvam is explained in detail and we see the definition of the various yugams
and their sandhi periods.
1 day of dhEvas (svargam) is 1 year for manushyas (bhUmi)
1 chathur yugam is made of 12000 dhEva years (krutha 4000, thrEthA 3000,
dhvApara 2000, kali 1000)
brahmAs day is made of 1000 chathur yugams. His night is of the same length but no
creation during that time. brahmA lives for 100 years of 360 such days.
sandhi period is fairly lengthy between each yugams. Here are the sandhi periods
between each yugam:

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o between krutha yugam and thrEthA yugam, there is a sandhi period of 800
dhEva years.
o between thrEtha yugam and dhvApara yugam, there is a sandhi period of 600
dhEva years.
o between dhvApara yugam and kaliyugam, there is a sandhi period of 400 dhEva
years.
o between kaliyugam and the next krutha yugam, there is a sandhi period of 200
dhEva years.
Also, in 1 day of brahmA, there is 14 manus, 14 indhrans and 14 saptha rishis (all of
these are posts that are given to certain jIvAthmAs based on their karmA).

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thirumazhisai AzhwAr

thirunakshathram: thai, magam
avathAra sthalam: thirumazhisai
AchAryan: vishwaksEnar, pEyAzhwAr
sishyas: kaNikaNNan, dhrudavrathan
Works: nAnmugan thiruvanthAdhi, thiruchandha viruththam
Place where he attained paramapadham: thirukkudanthai
mAmunigaL glorifies AzhwAr as the one who has absolutely clear knowledge about the
essence of sAsthtram i.e, only srIman nArAyaNan is worshippable and we should not even
have a tinge of association with anya dhEvathas (other demi-gods). mAmunigaL uses the
phrase thuyya mathi meaning pure mind for AzhwAr. piLLai lOkam jIyar explains the purity of
AzhwAr hear means having no tinge of parathvam (supremacy) for dhEvathais other than

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srIman nArAyaNan and removing any such doubts from our minds as well. In many pAsurams,
AzhwAr identifies how srIvaishNavas conduct themselves in relation to anya dhEvathais. For
example:
nAnmugan thiruvanthAdhi 53 - thiruvillAth thEvaraith thERElmin thEvu
( ) dont consider the one who is
not related to srImahAlakshmi as worshippable dhEvathai.
nAnumugan thiruvanthAdhi 68 thiruvadi than NAmam maRaNdhum puRaNthozhA
mANdhar ( ) - even if they
forget srIman nArAyaNan who is sarva swAmy, srIvaishNavas will not worship other
dhEvathais.
In their introduction for their vyAkyAnams for nAnumgan thiruvanthAdhi, both periyavAchAn
piLLai and nampiLLai beautifully explains thirumazhisai AzhwArs act of clearing the doubts in
the minds of everyone on emperumAns supremacy and other dhEvathAs limitations.
periyavAchAn piLLais explanation:
mudhalAzhwArs establish that emperumAn is the only person to be perceived and enjoyed.
thirumazhisai AzhwAr removes the weeds in that process. He explains to the samsAris who
perceive other dhEvathAs as Ishvara (controller) that these other dhEvathAs are also
kshEthragya (jIvAthma knower of the body) and they are also controlled. He explains that
srIman nArAyaNan is the only controller of the entire universe.
nampiLLais explanation:
mudhalAzhwArs understood sarvEshvaran through the worldly vision, vision of sAsthram,
through their bhakthi and ofcourse through emperumAns nirhEthuka krupai. thirumazhisai
AzhwAr also understood and enjoyed emperumAn in the same way. But looking around in the
world, he feels sad that most people have not understood that srIman nArAyaNan is the
controller and everything else is controlled as explained in the sAsthram, out of his utmost
mercy reveals the secrets of vEdham. He says Since brahmA (the first progenitor) himself is a
jIvAthmA and is appointed by srIman nArAyaNan during srushti and since srIman nArAyaNan
is the antharyAmi for all sentient and non-sentient entities, as clearly explained in vEdham,
srIman nArAyaNan is the supreme person. Hold on to this principle clearly without losing it.
Thus mAmunigaL, periyavAchAn piLLai and nampiLLai explain the unique speciality of
thirumazhisai AzhwAr in their beautiful works.
Beyond these, in the thanian for thiruchandha viruththam, it is beautifully explained that once
when great sages wanted to do thapas in a nice secluded place, they compared the entire
universe with thirumazhisai (which is the avathAra sthalam of AzhwAr), thirumazhisai was
determined by them as greater. Such is the greatness of AzhwAr/AchAryas avathAra sthalams
that they should be glorified even more than dhivyadhEsams since AzhwAr/AchAryas showed
us who emperumAn is and without them we would not have acquired great these anubhavams
on emperumAn.

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With this in mind, let us enjoy the charithram of AzhwAr now.
AzhwAr is like krishNan kaNNan emperumAn was born to vasudhEvar/dhEvaki and then
raised by nandhagOpar/yasOdhai. Similarly, AzhwAr was born to bhArgava rishi/kanakAngi
and was raised by thiruvALan/pangayachelvi (a wood cutter and his wife). He is also known as
srI bhakthisArar, mahIsApirAdhIsar, bhArgavAthmajar, thirumazhisaiyAr and most importantly
thirumazhisai pirAn. pirAn means one who has done a big favour and AzhwAr has done the
biggest favour of establishing nArAyaNa parathvam.
Once the maharishis such as athri, bhrugu, vasishta, bhArgava, AngIrasa, etc., went to
brahmA (chathur mukan) and asked him We want to live in the best place in bhUlOkam.
Please establish factually the best place. brahmA, with the help of viswakarmA, measured the
whole universe in one side and thirumazhisai in another side and thirumazhisai wins the
competition. It is also known as mahIsAra kshEthram. So, the maharishis go and live there for
some time.
At that time, When bhArgava maharishi was performing a yagyam named dhIrga sathra
yAgam on srIman nArAyaNan, his wife becomes pregnant and after 12 months, she gives birth
to a piNdam (lump of flesh early stage embryo) who is thirumazhisai AzhwAr. He appears as
sudharsana amsam (looking at the glories of AzhwArs, some AchAryas have said that they are
amsam of nithyasUris, but our pUrvAchAryas have firmly explained that AzhwArs were in
samsAram time immemorial and blessed suddenly by emperumAn). bhArghava maharishi and
his wife did not want to support that child which had no form yet and just left that under a bush.
bhUdhEvi nAchiyAr, by the divine will of srIdhEvi nAchiyAr, took that piNdam and protects that
and by her touch that piNdam becomes a beautiful child. Immediately, he starts crying out of
hunger, and jagannAthan emperumAn (of thirumazhisai) appears in front of AzhwAr, shows
him the divine form of thirukkudanthai ArAvamuthan, blessed him with full knowledge and soon
enough, once emperumAn disapppeared from his vision, he started crying out of separation.
At that time a wood cutter named thiruvALan who was passing by, notices the young and
crying baby, and with great joy, picks him up and brings him to his wife. Since she did not have
a child, she happily accepts that child and starts raising him. Out of motherly affection, she
attempts to breast-feed AzwAr, but AzhwAr being fully engaged in bhagavath kalyANaguNa
anubhavam does not show in eating, speaking, crying, etc., but still by the grace of bhagavAn
continues to grow beautifully.
Hearing about this astonishing news, an old man who is born in chathurtha varNam, along with
his wife, one day, prepares nice warm milk, visits him early in the morning, looks at the childs
magnificent thEjas, offers him the milk and requests him to kindly accept the same. Azhwar
being greatly pleased with their devotion, accepts the milk, drinks some and gives them back
some of the sEsham (remnants) of the milk. He tells them to consume that milk prasAdham
and blesses them that they will have a sathputhan (good son) soon. At once, by the grace of
AzhwAr, they regain their youth, and the woman becomes pregnant soon. After 10 months,
she begets a child like srI vidhurar (who was extremely attached to kaNNan emperumAn).
They name him kaNikaNNan and teach him everything about emperumAn.
AzhwAr, after becoming 7 years old, since he is the son of bhArghava rishi and also blessed
by emperumAn during his birth, wants to perform astAnga yOgam. To do that he first wants to

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understand the parabhrammam properly and he searches through all different mathams (so he
can firmly establish that they are defective) such as bhAhya mathams (sAkhya, ulUkya,
akshapAdhat, kshapaNa, kapila, pathanjali) and kudhrushti mathams (saiva, mAyAvAdha,
nyAya, vaisEshika, bhAtta, prabAkara, etc) and clearly analyses/establishes that all of these
mathams dont lead to the ultimate truth. Finally, he becomes firmly situated in the srivaishNava
sidhAntham which is the sanAthana dharmam.Thus 700 years pass by.
sarvEsvaran then blesses him with divine blemishless knowledge, and shows him
his divine svarUpam,
his most auspicious qualities,
his divine forms (which showcases the svarUpam and qualities),
the beautiful ornaments on those divine forms,
his divine weapons which are also viewed like ornaments by anukUlars,
his mahishIs (srIdhEvi, bhUdhEvi, neeLA dhEvi, etc) and nithyasUris who constantly
enjoy emperumAn with all of the above (svarUpam, qualities, forms, ornaments,
weapons, etc),
parampadham their eternally beautiful residing place and finally
samsAram which contains prakruthi, purusha, kAla thathvams and where there is
continuous process of srushti, sthithi, samhAram is done by emperumAn both directly
himself as well as indirectly through other dhEvathAs.
emperumAn with such great qualities, shows AzhwAr how he creates brahmA (his first son)
from his nAbhi kamalam (lotus flower in his naval) according to svEthasvathAra upanishadh
yO brahmANam vidhAdhAthi pUrvam meaning parabrahmam is one who creates brahmA
and as per chAndhOgya brAmaNam brahmaNa: puthrAya jyEstAya srEshtAya rudhran,
who is the first and best son of brahmA. AzhwAr seeing this immediately declares the same
meanings in his nAnumgan thiruvanthAdhi as NAnmuganai NArAyanNan padaiththAn
NAnmuganum thAn mugamAych chanGkaranaith thAn padaiththAn (

) meaning nArAyaNan created brahmA and brahmA inturn created rudhran, and
clearly removes any doubts in the minds of samsAris about the supremacy of emperumAn.
AzhwAr himself declares that he learnt various mathams and finally by the mercy of
emperumAn he attained the lotus feet of emperumAn. After that, he was constantly meditating
on the most auspicious qualities of sriya:pathi (husband of srI mahAlakshmi) on the banks of
kairvaiNi pushkariNi in thiruvallikkENi (brindhAraNya kshEthram).
One day, rudhran along with his wife, was passing by on his rushabam on the sky. When their
shadow was about to touch AzhwAr, AzhwAr moves away. Noticing this pArvathi tells rudhran
that they should go and meet him. rudhran replies that he is a great soul and devotee of
emperumAn and he will simply ignore them. She insists that she wants to go down and meet
him and rudhran obliges. AzhwAr does not even bother to look at him. rudhran then asks
AzhwAr How can you ignore us, when we are right next to you?. AzhwAr replies I have
nothing to do with you. rudhran says We want to give you some benediction. AzhwAr says I
dont want anything from you. rudhran say My visit will be wasted, you ask for whatever you
desire. AzhwAr with a smile says Can you give me mOksham?. rudhran says I have not
authority to give that. Only srIman nArAyaNan can give that. AzhwAr then asks Can you

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postpone the death of some one? and rudhran replies That is based on the individuals
karmA. I have no control over that. AzhwAr then shows his needle and thread and asks
rudhran sarcastically Can you send this thread into the needle?. rudhran becomes very angry
and declares that he will burn him down like he burnt kAma dhEvan. He opens his 3rd eye and
fire starts flowing from there. AzhwAr also opens his 3rd eye from his right toe in retaliation and
great fire flows from there too. rudhran unable to bear the heat of that fire from AzhwArs
thiruvadi, at once surrenders to srIman nArAyaNan, and all the dhEvas, rishis, etc also
approach emperumAn and request him to stop the chaos. emperumAn, immediately orders the
praLaya clouds to bring a great rain and when they ask if they have the power to subside
AzhwArs fire, emperumAn says he will give them the power. A great flood gets formed after
subsiding the fire, and AzhwAr being fixed on emperumAn continues his meditation without
any disturbance. rudhran being amazed at AzhwArs nishtai gives him the title bhakthisArar,
glorifies him and explains to his wife that dhurvAsar was punished for his apachAram to
ambarIshan. So, bhAgavathas cannot be defeated and leaves to his place.
AzhwAr continues his meditation, and one kEcharan (an aerial being) was travelling in the sky
on his tiger and on seeing AzhwAr, he is unable to cross him due to AzhwArs yOgic powers.
He comes down and offers his praNAmams to AzhwAr. Magically, he creates a divine shawl
and says to AzhwAr Please give up your torn shawl and please accept this beautiful one.
AzhwAr easily creates a more beautiful shawl with gems and stones and he becomes
embarassed. He then removes his hAram (necklace) and submits that to AzhwAr and AzhwAr
removes his thuLasi mAlai and shows him like diamond necklace. kEcharan understands the
yOga shakthi of AzhwAr, glorifies him, offers him praNAmams and takes leave from him.
Hearing about AzhwArs glories, a magician named konkaNasidhan arrives to meet AzhwAr,
offers his praNAmams and submits him an alchemy stone (that which will transform
stone/metal to gold), AzhwAr disregards that. He then collects some dirt from his beautiful
body (ear portion) and gives that to the magician and tells him that the piece of dirt will
transform stone to gold. He tests that out and it works he becomes very happy, offers his
praNAmams to AzhwAr and leaves.
AzhwAr continues his meditation in a cave for some time. mudhalAzhwArs (poigai AzhwAr,
bhUdhathAzhwAr, pEyAzhwAr) who are who are constantly travelling and glorifying
emperumAn, oberves the divine thEjas from the cave where AzhwAr lives and comes to the
cave. Immediately realizing thirumazhisai AzhwArs glories, they enquire about his well being.
AzhwAr also understanding mudhalAzhwArs glories, enquire about them. They continue to
share their bhagavath anubhavam together for some time. They all leave from there and reach
thirumayilai (mylapore) which is the avathAra sthalam of pEyAzhwAr and stays on the banks of
kairava thIrtham for some time. Subsequently, mudhalAzhwArs continue on their divine
journey and AzhwAr returns to thirumazhisai, his avathAra sthalam.
He searches for thirumaNkAppu but does not find that. He feels sad and
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn appears to AzhwAr in his svapnam and shows him the place where he
can find thirumaN. He happily retrieves the same and applies dhvAdhasa Urdhva puNdram (12
thirumaNs on various parts of the body as instructed in sAsthram) and continues his
bhagavath anubhavam. Desiring to go to poigai AzhwArs avathAra sthalam, he arrives at
kAnchipuram-thiruvekkA which is glories as the best among puNya kshEthrams. He continues
to stay there for 700 years worshipping the emperumAn who is lying down beautifully on

18

AdhisEshan and being served by srIdhEvi and bhUdhEvi. He stays on the banks of the pond
where poigai AzhwAr appeared and spent him time meditating on poigai AzhwAr.

yathOkthakAri with nAchiyArs, thiruvekkA
At that time, kaNikaNNan arrives to him and takes shelter of his lotus feet. An old woman
comes and serves AzhwAr everyday with great devotion. AzhwAr, being pleased with her
devotion and service, asks her if she has any desires to be fulfilled. She says, she wants to
regain her youth again and AzhwAr blesses her with the same and she thus becomes a
beautiful young girl. The local king, pallavarAyan, becomes very much attracted with her and
requests her to marry him. She agrees and they both marry and enjoy the married life together.
One day, pallavarAyan, noticing that he ages by day while his wife (blessed by AzhwAr) stays
young, asks her how she got her divine youth. She explains AzhwArs blessing and instructs
the king to humbly request kaNikaNNan (who visits the king for materials for his kainkaryam) to
recommend to AzhwAr to bless him also with the same divine youth. The king summons
kaNikaNNan and requests him to bring AzhwAr over to the palace for him to worship.
kaNikaNNan replies that AzhwAr does not go anywhere other than emperumAns temple. The
king requests kaNikaNNan to glorify him and kaNikaNNan says he will not glorify anyone other

19

than srIman nArAyaNan and his devotees as per sistAchAram (by elders principles and acts).
The king becomes angry and asks kaNikaNNan to leave his kingdom since he refused to
glorify him. kaNikaNNan at once leaves the palace, reaches AzhwAr, explains him the
incidents and takes leave from him. AzhwAr says If you are leaving, I am going to leave as
well. If I am leaving, emperumAn will also leave. When emperumAn leaves, all dhEvathAs will
also leave from here. He then says I will go to the temple and wake emperumAn up and bring
him with me and goes to the temple. AzhwAr then sings in front of thiruvekkA emperumAn:
kanNikanNnNan pOginRAn
kAmarupUnGkachchi manNivanNnNA NI kidakka vEnNdA
thunNivudaiya cheNNAppulavanum pOginREn
NIyum unRan paiNNAgappAy churuttikkoL

Oh! one with the beautiful form staying in thiruvekkA! kaNikaNNan is going, I am (the firmly
situated poet) also going, you wind up your AdhisEshan and leave with us.
emperumAn accepts AzhwArs words and at once follows him and kaNikaNNan. Thus he got
the name yathOktha kAri (kAri one who performed, yathA as, utktha instructed). All the
dhEvathas also follow emperumAn and thus kAnchIpuram becomes lifeless due to the
absence of all auspiciousness. Due to that, the sun does not rise also, the king and his
ministers understanding the problem, run behind the travelling party and falls at the lotus feet
of kaNikaNNan and asks for pardon. kaNikaNNan then requests AzhwAr to return and AzhwAr
prays to emperumAn to return to yathA sthAnam as per:
kanNikanNnNan pOkkozhiNthAn
kAmarupUnGkachchi manNivanNnNA NI kidakka vEnNdum
thunNivudaiya cheNNAppulavanum pOkkozhiNthEn
NIyum unRan paiNNAgappAy paduththukkoL

Oh! one with the beautiful form staying in thiruvekkA! kaNikaNNan is returning, I am (the firmly
situated poet) also returning, you open up your AdhisEshan and lie down as before.
Such was emperumAns saulabhyam-NIrmai ( simplicity) and this is why AzhwAr was
immersed on this quality of emperumAn and sung veHkanNaikkidaNthathenna NIrmaiyE

20

( ) how merciful emperumAn is by lying down in
thiruvekkA per my request.
Subsequently, AzhwAr with great desire starts his travel to thirukkudanthai (kumbakONam) to
perform mangaLAsAsanam to ArAvamudhAzhwAr (emperumAn). It is said in the
thirukkudanthai mAhAthmyam that one who stays in kumbakONam for even a moment will be
guaranteed a place in srIvaikuntam, what to speak about wealth in this world such is the
greatness of this dhivyadhEsam. On his way, in a village named perumpuliyUr, he is resting on
the veranda of a house. There were a few brAhmaNas who were doing vEdha adhyayanam at
that time and looking at AzhwAr, they misunderstand him from his ragged looks and stops their
recital. AzhwAr, out of great humility, understanding that, starts leaving the place. The
brAhmaNas, wanting to resume their recital, but unable to do that since they forgot where they
left. AzhwAr, immediately takes a grain of black rice and splits it using his nail and indicates
the exact verse which is krishNAnAm vrIhiNAm nakanirbbinnam from yajur kANdam. The
brAhmaNas immediately realise his greatness and offer their praNAmams and beg for
forgiveness for their mis-conduct.
When AzhwAr was looking for materials for his thiruvArAdhanam, the emperumAn in the
village temple was constantly turning towards his direction. The archakas show this amazing
incident to some brAhamaNas and in turn they go to perumpuliyUr adigaL who is performing a
yagyam in that village and informs him about the incident and greatness of AzhwAr.
perumpuliyUr adigaL, at once leaves the yAgasAlai (yagya bhUmi) and reaches out to AzhwAr
and looking at his aprAkrutha (divine spiritual) thirumEni (body), offers his praNAmams and
requests AzhwAr to visit his yAgasAlai. On his visit, adigaL performs the agra pUjai (foremost
respects) to AzhwAr in his yagyam. Some of the priests object to that like sisupAlan and his
friends objected to dharmaputhran giving agra pUjai to krishNan during their rAjasUja yAgam.
adigaL feels sad and informs AzhwAr that he cannot bear their words. AzhwAr decides to
reveal his great position sings a pAsuram towards the antharyAmi emperumAn requesting him
to reveal his presence within AzhwArs heart to everyone. emperumAn, obliging at once,
reveals his presence with his dhivya mahishIs, AdhisEshan, garudAzhwAr, etc., in AzhwArs
heart. All the priests who opposed AzhwAr realise his greatness and falls flat at his feet and
beg for his forgiveness. They then performed brahma ratham (carrying AzhwAr in a palanquin)
and became the target of AzhwArs mercy. AzhwAr then explained them the essence of
sAsthram in great detail. Then, he left to thirukkudanthai to meet ArAvamuthan emperumAn.
After reaching thirukkudanthai, he then throws all his granthams (palm leaves) in to the river
cauvery. By emperumAns thiruvuLLam, nAnmugan thiruvanthAdhi and thiruchchantha
viruththam float against the tides and return to AzhwAr. He picks them up and goes to
ArAvamuthan sannidhi and worships the most beautiful emperumAn from his thiruvadi (foot) to
thirumudi (head). With great love, he instructs emperumAn kAvirikkaraik kudaNthaiyuL
kidaNthavARezhuNthiruNthu pEchu (r
) meaning Oh the one who is lying down in thirukkudanthai
which is on the banks of cauvery! stand up and speak to me. Hearing AzhwArs words,
emperumAn literally tries to stand and AzhwAr becoming overwhelmed by emperumAns act
performs mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn in vAzhi kEchanE ( ) meaning
Oh the one with beautiful hair! Long live. Meditating on this divine form, AzhwAr speent

21

another 2300 years in thirukkudanthai without accepting any food other than milk. Thus he
spent 4700 years in this bhUlOkam and gave the most important essence of sAsthram through
his prabhandhams for the upliftment of everyone in this samsAram out of his divine grace.

kOmaLavalli thAyar samEtha ArAvamuthan, thirukkudanthai
He became to be known as thirumazhisai pirAn (since pirAn means one who does great
favours and this word is usually indicated to glorify emperumAn) since he did the greatest
favour in clarifying the supremacy of emperumAn AzhwAr became to be known as pirAn. In
turn, thirukkudanthai ArAvamudhan emperumAn became to be known as AzhwAr (since
AzhwAr means one who gets immersed in the name, form, qualities of emperumAn and this
word is usually for the great devotees of emperumAn) since he got immersed in the name,
form, qualities, etc., of thirumazhisai AzhwAr, ArAvamudhan emperumAn became to be known
as ArAvamuthAzhwAr.
Let us pray for AzhwArs divine mercy, so we can also develop the same attachment towards
emperumAn and his adiyArs.
His thanian
shakthi panchamaya vigrahAthmanE shukthikArajatha chiththa hAriNEmukl
mukthidhAyak murAri pAdhayOr bhakthisAra munayE namO nama:
His archAvathAra anubhavam is already discussed in here
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-thirumazhisai-azhwar.html.

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nammAzhwAr

thirunakshathram: vaigAsi, visAgam
avathAra sthalam: AzhwAr thirunagari
AchAryan: vishwaksEnar.
Sishyas: madhurakavi AzhwAr, nAthamunigaL, etc
He is also known as mARan, sataGopan, parAngusan, vakuLAbharaNan, vakuLAbhirAman,
magizhmAran, satajith, kurgUr nambi, etc.
NammAzhwAr was born in ThirukkurugUr (AzhwAr thirunagari) as the child of KAri and
udayanangai. He was born days after the advent of kaliyugam. In bhagavad gIthA, krishnan
declares that After many many birth one comes to the conclusion that everything belongs to
vAsudevan (himself). And it is very rare to find such jnAnis. NammAzhwAr from his life and
works proves that he was one such jnAni who is very dear to emperumAn. Throughout his life
(which only lasted 32 years in this samsAram), he stayed under the tamarind tree
(thirupuLiyAzhwAr) and was always in yOgam (meditation) thinking about emperumAn. It is
said in our pUrvAchArya vyAkyAnams that, the moment we hear kurugUr (generally in
thiruvAimozhi pAsurams, the last pAsuram of each padhigam will have nammAzhwArs name
and will generally be prefixed with kurugUr which is his avathAra sthalam), we should do an
anjali towards the south direction (which is where AzhwAr thirungari is).

23

NammAzhwAr is hailed as prapanna jana kUtasthar i.e., the first one in the prapanna gOshti.
He is also hailed as vaishnava kula pathi the leader of the vaishnava fold by ALavandhAr.
AlavandhAr in his sthOthra rathnam, 5th slOkam declares that he bows down at the lotus feet
of vakUlAbhirAman who is everything (father, mother, child, wealth, etc) for him and his
followers/descendants.
AzhwAr in
sayana thirukkOlam and emperumAnAr at his lotus feet AzhwAr thirunagari
emperumAnAr (who is himself an avathAram of AdhisEshan) is glorified as mARan adi
panNiNthu uyNthavan ( ) meaning one who surrendered
to nammAzhwAr and flourished.
NampiLLai, based on pUrvAchArya works, in his eedu vyAkyAna avathArikai and thiruvirutham
vyAkyAna avathArikai, establishes that NammAzhwAr was hand picked by emperumAn from
leeLA vibhUthi to sing his glories and to bring in many baddha jIvAthmAs into the fold of
srivaishnavam. NampiLLai establishes this based on the words of nammAzhwAr himself.
emperumAn gives pure knowledge out of his own will to nammAzhwAr so that AzhwAr can see
past, present and future right in front of him. In his works, he says in several places that he
suffered in samsAram since time immemorial. He also says that he cannot stay in this
samsAram even for a single moment living in this samsAram for him is like standing on red-
hot floor without shoes/chappals. Right in the first pAsurm of thiruvAimozhi he says that he
was blessed with the divine knowledge by emperumAn. Based on this we can easily
understand that he was a samsAri (baddha jIvAtmA) before and was blessed by emperumAn
with divine knowledge. The same logic is applied for other AzhwArs also due to the following
reasons:
Since nammAzhwAr is called the avayavi (whole) and all the other AzhwArs (except
AndAL ofcourse) are avayavam (parts), and

24

Other AzhwArs have also said the same thing in their works, that they were suffering in
samsAram and are blessed by emperumAn with divine knowledge.
NammAzhwar has sung 4 divya prabhandhams namely,
thiruviruththam (rig vEdha sAram)
thiruvAsiriyam (yajur vEdha sAram)
periya thiruvandhAdhi (atharvaNa vEdha sAram)
thiruvAimozhi (sAma vEdha sAram)
nammAzhwArs prabhandhams are equal to 4 vEdhas. He is also known as vEdham thamizh
cheitha mAran one who gave the essence of samskrita vEdhas through his thamizh
prabandhams. All the other AzhwArs prabhandhams are considered to be similar to the
supplementary portion of vEdhas (like sIkshA, vyAkaraNam, etc). ThiruvAimozhi is glorified as
the essence of all the 4000 divya prabandhams sung by AzhwArs. All our pUrvAchAryas works
(vyAkyAnams and rahasya granthams) are based on the knowledge extracted from
thiruvAimozhi. thiruvAimozhi itself has 5 vyAkyAnams and more detailed explanations in
arumpadham.
Our pUrvAchAryas establish that nammAzhwAr is considered to be having the qualities of
many great personalities like srIdhEvi, bhUdhEvi, nILA dhEvi, goPikAs, lakshmaNan,
bharathAzhwAn, sathrugnAzhwAn, dhasarathan, kousalyai, prahlAdhAzhwAn,
vibhIshaNAzhwAn, hanuman, arjunan, etc. While nammAzhwAr has the qualities of every one
of these personalities, they each only have some of the qualities of nammAzhwAr such is his
glories.
With this in mind, let us see his charithram:
nammAzhwAr who is considered as the avayavi (the whole) and other AzhwArs are
considered as avayam (parts of him), appears in thirukkurugUr, on the banks of river
thAmirabharaNi which is considered to be greater than all other rivers like gangA, yamunA,
sarasvathi, etc. He appears as the son of kAri who is part of the prappanna kulam for many
generations. These great personalities would not worship any one other than srIman
nArAyaNan as explained by thirumazhisai AzhwAr as maRaNthum puRam thozhA mANthar
( ). There was one thiruvaLuthi vaLa nAdar, whose son is
aRanthAngiyAr, whose son is chakrapANiyAr, whose son is achyuthar, whose son is
chenthAmaraik kaNNar, whose son is poRkAriyAr, whose son is kAriyAr and whose son is
nammAzhwAr.
In this great vaishNava family, poRkAriyAr decides to look for a vaishnava girl for his son kAri
to establish him in gruhasthAshramam and create vaishnava children for the upliftment of the
entire world. poRkAri goes to thiruvaNparisAram dhivyadhEsam and meet thiruvAzhmArbhar
(who is seeking to get her daughter married to a vaishnava and get vaishnava offsprings) and
requests him to give her daughter udaiya nangai in wedding to kAriyAr. thiruvAzhmArbhar
accepts and a grand wedding ceremony is conducted between kAriyAr and udaiyanangai. Both
kAriyAr and udayanangai worship thiruvAzhmArbhan emperumAn in thiruvaNparisAram and
returns to thirukkurugur. On their return, everyone in thirukkurugUr welcomed them with a

25

great mood of devotion and celebration just like when srI rAman married sIthA pirAtti and
brought her along to ayOdhyA from mithilA.
After some time, kAriyAr and udayanangai visit thiruvaNparisAram and on their way back, they
visit thirukkurungudi and worship nambi emperumAn. They pray to him to have a child and
nambi promises them that he himself will appear as their child. They return to thirukkurugur
happily and after some time udaya nangai becomes pregnant. On the 43rd day after the dawn
of kaliyugam, as per the orders of emperumAn, nammAzhwAr as he himself declares in
thirumAlAl aruLap peRRa chatagOpan ( )
meaning nammAzhwAr who was divinely blessed by srIman nArAyaNan, appears as an
amsam of vishwaksEnar on bahudhAnya year (also said that it is pramAdhi year), vasantha
ruthu (spring season), vaikAsi month, sukla paksham, paurNami thithi and thiruvisAka
nakshathram. Similar to azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanArs declaration in his AchArya
hrudhayam, here it is said that Adhithya rAmadhivAkara achyutha bANukkaLukku NInGgAtha
uLLiruL NInGgi chOshiyAtha piRavikkadal chOshiththu vikasiyAtha pOthil kamalam
malarumpadi vakuLabUshanNa bAskarOdhayam unNdAyththu udaiyaNanGgaiyAgiRa
pUrvasaNdhyaiyilE (

) meaning the inner ignorance of samsAris
that was not removed by the appearance of the sun (Adhithya), srI rAman (rAma dhivAkara)
who is glorified as a shining sun and krishNan (achyutha bAnu) who is also glorified as a
shining sun, the ignorance was removed and the knowledge bloomed after the arrival of
nammAzhwAr (vakuLA bhUshaNa bAskara) and this nammAzhwAr was conceived by
udaiyanangai.
AdhisEshan appears as the divine tamarind tree to protect AzhwAr (knowing that AzhwAr will
take shelter in thirukkurugUr AthinAthan emperumAns temple).
AzhwArs subsequent activities are described in madhurakavi AzhwArs charithram
http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/madhurakavi-azhwar/.
nammAzhwArs thanian
mAthA pithA yuvadhayas thanayA vibhUthi
sarvam ya dhEva niyamEna madh anvayAnAm
Adhyasyana: kulapathEr vakuLAbhirAmam
srimath thadhangri yugaLam praNamAmi mUrdhnA
His archAvathAra anubhavam is discussed in http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-
anubhavam-nammazhwar.html.

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madhurakavi AzhwAr

thirunakshathram: chithirai, chithirai
avathAra sthalam: thirukkOLUr
AchAryan: nammAzhwAr
Works: kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu
Place where he attained paramapadham: AzhwAr thirunagari
nampiLLai, in the vyAkyAna avathArikai brings out the glories of madhurakavi AzhwAr
beautifully. Let us see some glimpses of it.
rishis are focussed on sAmAnya sAsthram which establishes ishvaryam, kaivalyam and
bhagavath kainkaryam as purushArtham (goal to be attained by a soul). Azhwars are
focussed on the uththama purushArtham (ultimate goal) that is loving service to srIman
nArAyaNan. madhurakavi AzhwAr is focussed on the epitome (top most stage) of bhagavath
kainkaryam that is bhAgavatha kainkaryam ofcourse bhagavAn appreciates service to his
devotees more than service to him.
We can see this in srI rAmAyaNam as well. Since srI rAmAyaNam is vEdha upabruhmmaNam
(that which explains the intricate meanings of vEdham) it promptly establishes the main
aspects of vEdham.

27

perumAL (srI rAman) is an embodiment of dharmam so he established sAmAnya
(ordinary/simple) dharmams of pithru vachana paripAlanam (following the orders of
father/elders), etc.
iLaya perumAL (lakshmaNan) established the visEsha (special) dharmam of
sEshathvam that a sEshan (servant) should always follow and serve the sEshi (master).
He said aham sarvam karishyAmi (I will do everything for you) to srI rAman and also
put that in to practice.
srI bharathAzhwAn (bharathan) established pArathanthriyam which is the real
svarUpam of jIvAthmAs. pArathanthriyam means full following the desires of the master
without any expectations on our own. Because perumAL wanted bharathAzhwAn to
stay in ayOdhyA and take care of the rAjyam, he obliges and accepts that as his
supreme command and stays outside ayOdhyA for 14 years with the same attire and
anushtAnam of srI rAman.
srI chathrugnAzhwAn (chathrugnan) established the epitome of our svarUpam which is
bhAgavatha sEshathvam. He simply followed bharathAzhwAn and served him without
any interest in anything else.
nampiLLai quotes srI bhAshyakArar (rAmAnujar) saying because of chathrugnans total
surrender to srI bharathAzhwAn, he was more dear to srI rAman than the other 2 brothers
iLaya perumAL and bharathAzhwAn. madhurakavi AzhwAr was like srI chathrugnAzhwAn who
was fully established in bhAgavatha nishtai. madurakavi AzhwAr also was fully surrendered to
nammAzhwAr and was fully serving him. For him, nammAzhwAr is both the goal and the
process to attain that goal. That is what is established by madhurakavi AzhwAr in his dhivya
prabhandham.
piLLai lOkAchAryar in his magnum opus srIvachana bhUshaNam, in the last prakaraNam
which fully reveals the glories of AchArya abhimAna nishtai (depending fully on AchAryans
abhimAnam) establishes this principle by citing madhurakavi AzhwArs life and attachment
towards nammAzhwAr as the example. In the 8th prakaraNam, bhagavan nirhEthuka krupai is
explained. At the same time, bhagavAn is also bound to give results to jIvAthmA per their
karmA. So, one may have a doubt that emperumAn may or may not accept us. In the 9th (and
last) prakaraNam, piLLai lOkAchAryar establishes the greatness of charama upAyam (the final
way) which is depending on AchAryan and how that will easily deliver the jIvAthmA. Let us see
that now.
In sUthram 407, it is shown that one may have a doubt in the mind that emperumAn being
svathanthran, may accept us or reject us depending on him following sAsthram (which gives
results based on ones own karmA) or his kAruNyam (mercy). mAmunigaL shows in the
vyAkyAnam that the sUthram is completed by adding When we depend on AchAryan who is a
parathanthran (fully dependent on emperumAn), there is no doubt, since he will ensure that we
will get delivered, because AchAryan is embodiment of kAruNyam and will look for the
upliftment of the jIvAthmA only.
In sUthram 408, it is explained that, this cannot be proved by the pAsurams of the 10 AzhwArs
who are fully surrendered to emperumAn. These AzhwArs were divinely blessed by
emperumAn with blemishless knowledge. When they get immersed in bhagavath anubhavam
they glorify the bhAgavathAs. But when the are in separation from emperumAn, they get upset
with bhAgavathAs out of their desperate situation (many pAsurams are cited by mAmunigaL in

28

the vyAkyAnam). mAmunigaL summarizes in the end that we cannot determine the true glories
of AchArya vaibhavam through the pAsurams of 10 AzhwArs but we have to do that using
madhurakavi AzhwArs pAsurams.
In sUthram 409, it is explained that madhurakavi AzhwAr is far greater than other AzhwArs
since he is only focussed on AchArya (nammAzhwAr) vaibhavam unlike other AzhwArs who
glorifies bhAgavathas some times and ignores them at other times. It is through the words of
madhurakavi AzhwAr we can establish the glories of AchArya vaibhavam.
mAmunigaL explains the glories of madhurakavi AzhwAr and his kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu in
25th and 26th pAsurams.
In the 25th pAsuram, he says that madhurakavi AzhwArs thiruvavathAram (appearance) day
chithirai/chithirai, is most suitable for prapannas svarUpam, even more than the appearance
days of other AzhwArs.
In the 26th pAsuram, he explains the glories of AzhwAr and his prabhandham wonderfully.
vAyththa thirumaNthiraththin maththimamAm padham pOl
chIrththa madhurakavi chey kalaiyai
Arththa pugazh AriyargaL thAnGgaL aruLicheyal NaduvE
chErviththAr thARpariyam thErNthu

r
r
piLLai lOkam jIyar gives beautiful explanation for this pAsuram. nama: padham in
thirumanthram is taken as an example here for kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu. thirumanthram is
gloried as the one which will relieve the reciter from bondage in this samsAram. In this
thirumanthram, nama: padham is the most important word it clearly establishes that we have
no involvement in protecting ourselves and we have to fully depend on our master
(emperumAn) to protect us. This same principle is explained by madhurakavi AzhwAr (who
himself is great because of his AchArya nishtai) in his prabhandham that we should fully
depend on our AchAryan to protect us. It is because of this fact that it brings out the essence
of sAsthram, our pUrvAchAryas included this prabhandham in to the collection of 4000 dhivya
prabhandham. Just like madhurakavi AzhwAr is born in chithrai thirunakshathram which comes
in the middle of the 27 nakshathrams, his prabhandham is also considered the center piece of
the dhivya prabhandha rathan hAram (necklace).
Thus, we can see how beautifully emperumAnAr, nampiLLai, piLLai lOkAchAryar, mAmunigaL
and piLLai lOkam jIyar are explaining the same principle from different angles.
With this understanding, let us now go through his charithram.

29

madhurakavi AzhwAr appeared in chaithra mAsam, chithrA nakshathram in thirukkOLUr. Just
like suns rays appear before the sun itself, he appeared just before nammAzhwArs divine
appearance. Looking at his greatness, in dhivya sUri charitham, garuda vAhana pandithar
glorifies him as an amsam of kumudha gaNEshar or garudAzhwAr (though AzhwArs were
handpicked from samsAram by emperumAn and divinely blessed by him).
He was born in a family of pUrva shikai brAhmaNas who are part of sAma vEdham. At the
appropriate ages, he undergoes jAtha karma, nAma karaNa, anna prAsana, chauLa,
upanayanam, etc., and learns vEdham, vEdhAntham, purANa, ithihAsam, etc. He was
completely detached from everything else other than emperumAn and goes on a thIrtha
yAthrai to ayOdhyA, mathurA, etc. dhivyadhEsams/kshEthrams in the northern part of
bhAratha dhEsam.
nammAzhwAr, madhurakavi AzhwAr, nAthamunigaL kAnchipuram
nammAzhwAr who appeared after madhurakavi AzhwAr, was staying without any interest for
even mothers milk and without uttering any sound (in complete silence). His parents kAri and
udaya nangai, on the 12th day after his appearance, with great anxiety for the childs
behaviour, brought him infront of polindhu ninRa pirAn emperumAn who is having his beautiful
temple in the south side river thamirabharaNi, who is decorated beautifully with shankam
(divine conch) and chakram (divine disc), who is having lotus like beautiful eyes, who is
holding the abhaya hastham (a posture of the hand which declares he will protect us) and who
is with his dhivya mahishIs srIdhEvi, bhUdhEvi and nILA dhEvi. In front of emperumAn, they
give him the name mARan (one who is different from others) and leaves him under the divine
tamarind tree and considers him as a divine personality and worships him there.
paramapadhanAthan then instructs vishwaksEnar to go and perform panchasamskAram to
nammAzhwAr and teach him dhrAvida vEdham (from this we can understand dhrAvida

30

vEdham is also eternal as declared by nAyanAr in AchArya hrudhayam) and all rahasya
manthrams/meanings and vishwaksEnar obliged as such.
nammAzhwAr then stayed for 16 years under the thiruppuLiyAzhwAr (divine tamarind tree).
His parents understanding his greatness but unable to share the same since not many
understood AzhwArs greatness, keeps praying to thirukkurungudi nambi emperumAn.
madhurakavi AzhwAr also hears about this matter and once when he went to the river banks in
the night and noticed there was a bright light shining in the south side. He first thinks that may
be there is some village burning or a forest fire.
But, subsequently he notices the same light for 2 or 3 nights consecutively. He decides to
investigate what it is and so sleeps in the morning and starts following that light in the night. He
checks many dhivya dhEsams on his way and reaches srIrangam. He still sees the light from
further south and finally reaches thirukkurugUr (AzhwAr thirunagari). He no longer sees the
light and concludes that it must be originating from here. He then enters the temple and under
the thiruppuLiyAzhwAr, he sees nammAzhwAr who looks filled with complete/pure knowledge,
who has beautiful eyes, who is just 16 years young and beautiful like the moon on a full moon
day, who is seated on padhmAsanam, who has the upadhEsa mudhrai instructing about
emperumAn and who is the AchAryan for all prapannas. Observing that he is fully immersed in
bhagavath anubhavam, he takes a rock and throws in front of him. AzhwAr beautifully wakes
up and looks at madhurakavi AzhwAr. Wanting to check if he can speak, madurakavi AzhwAr
asks him cheththaththin vayiRRil chiRiyathu piRaNthAl eththaiththinRu enGgE kidakkum
( )
meaning if a chEthanan (jIvAthmA sentient) enters an achEthanam (insentient), what will he
enjoy and where will he stay. AzhwAr replies aththaiththinRu anGgE kidakkum
( ) meaning He will keep enjoying the materialistic joy
and sorrows and will stay permanently there. Hearing this madhurakavi AzhwAr realises that
He is a sarvagyar (omniscient one who knows everything) and I should serve this great
personality and be uplifted and falls flat at the lotus feet of nammAzhwAr. He then stays with
AzhwAr permanently, serves him always and sings his glories.
Subsequently, srIvaikunta nAthan (from paramapadham) who is the cause of all causes, who
is the proprietor or everything, who is the controller of everyone, who is the in-dwelling
supersoul of every one and every thing, who one who has a beautiful blackish/bluish thirumEni
(body) wants to meet AzhwAr. periya thiruvadi (garudAzhwAn) at once arrives in front of
emperumAn and emperumAn along with srI mahAlakshmi climbs on them and they reach
thirukkurugUr at once and gives his divine dharshan to nammAzhwAr and blesses him divine
blemishless knowledge. nammAzhwAr, being blessed by emperumAn, immerses in bhagavath
anubhavam and as that anubhavam overflows beyond limits, they flow out as divine pAsurams
in the form of thiruvirutham, thiruvAsiriyam, periya thiruvanthAdhi and thiruvAimozhi (which are
the essence of 4 vEdhams) revealing emperumAns divine svarUpam, divine forms, divine
qualities. nammAzhwAr then teaches the same to madhurakavi AzhwAr and others who were
surrendered to him. All the dhivya dhEsa emperumAns arrive to thiruppuLiyAzhwAr to bless
nammAzhwAr and sustain themselves by the mangaLAsAsanam of nammAzhwAr.
nammAzhwAr then blesses everyone to become like him, to develop the same attachment
towards emperumAn like him and nithya sUris (from paramapadham) and svEthadvIpa vAsis
(residents of kshIrAbdhi) arrive to glorify nammAzhwAr and nammAzhwAr after seeing them

31

performs mangaLAsAsanam to them. nammAzhwAr being overwhelmed by the glories of
nithya sUris and svEthadvIpa vAsis and them coming to see him, declares himself to be the
greatest in the universe (sAthvika ahankAram arising out of emperumAns divine blessings),
lives with unlimited glories, always sustaining himself by thinking about kaNNan emperumAn.
He fully reveals artha panchakam (paramAthma svarUpam, jIvAthma svarUpam, upAya
svarUpam, upEya svarUpam and virOdhi svarUpam) and the meanings of dhvaya mahA
manthram through thiruvAimozhi which is divine nectar for the devotees of emperumAn. He
finally leaves this samsAram at the age of 32 and reaches paramapadham by the divine desire
of emperumAn.
Subsequently, madhurakavi AzhwAr who is the main disciple of nammAzhwAr (who is the
prapanna jana kUtasthar leader of the prapanna kulam), compiles kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu in
glorification of his AchAryan and presents the same to mumukshus who are panchamOpAya
nishtars (situated in 5th upAyam AchArya nishtai, the other 4 upAyams being karma, jnAna,
bhakthi and prapathi). He establishes the archA vigraham in AzhwAr thirunagari and arranges
for nithya (daily), paksha (fortnightly), mAsa (monthly), ayana (half-yearly) and samvathsara
(yearly) uthsavams in a grand manner and performs the same. He glorifies nammAzhwAr as
vEdham thamizh cheytha perumAL vaNthAr, thiruvAymozhip perumAL vaNthAr, thiruNagarip
perumAL vaNthAr, thiruvazhuthivaLaNAdar vaNthAr, thirukkurugUrNagar Nambi vaNthAr,
kArimARar vaNthAr, chatagOpar vaNthAr, parAnGguchar vaNthAr (
, , r
, , ,
r , , ) meaning One who gave
the essence of vEdham arrived, the great author of thiruvAimozhi arrived, the leader of
thirunagari arrived, son of kAri arrived, sadagOpar arrived, one who controlled everyone
arrived, etc. At that time, the thamizh experts from (south) madhurai thamizh sangam arrive
there and they object to these glories and say that unless nammAzhwArs greatness is proved
and sanga palagai (the plank which measures the greatness of literature) accepts his
literature, they will not accept that nammAzhwAr gave the essence of vEdham. madhurakavi
AzhwAr says that nammAzhwAr will not travel anywhere and writes kanNnNan kazhalinNai
( ) which is the beginning of thiruvAimozhi 10.5.1 pAsuram on a small
palm-leaf and hands it over to those poets from thamizh sangam. He tells them that if the
sanga palagai accepts these 2 words of AzhwAr then his greatness will be proved. The poets
agree to madhurakavi AzhwArs words and go to madhurai and explain the incidents to the
leader of thamizh sangam. The leader agrees and they keep the palm-leaf with AzhwArs
pAsuram along with 300 other great poets of those days. The magical plank retains AzhwArs
words alone and pushes everyone else immediately proving AzhwArs greatness. The leader
of the sangam at once compiles a poem glorifying AzhwAr as follows:
IyAduvathO garudaRkethirE
iravikkethir minminiyAduvathO
NAyOduvathO uRumippulimun
NarikEcharimun NadaiyAduvathO
pEyaduvathO ezhilUrvachimun
perumAnadi chEr vaguLAbharanNan OrAyiramAmaRaiyin thamizhil oru chol porumO ulagil
kaviyE

32

rr

nammAzhwArs (who is surrendered to srIman nArAyaNan and have given the essence of
vEdham in his 1000+ pAsurams) one word cannot be compared any number of these poems
of these worldly poets just like there is no comparison between
flying skill of garudan and a house fly
brightness of sun and a fire fly
roaring of a tiger and barking of a dog
the majestic walk of a lion and the ordinary walk of a fox
the beautiful dance of Urvasi (a dhEva lOka dancer) and the dancing of a ghost
Seeing this, all the poets at once begged for their forgiveness from nammAzhwAr and glorified
him. Thus madhurakavi AzhwAr spent his time glorifying his AchAryan as per gurum
prakAchayEth dhImAN ( ) meaning ones AchAryan should be
glorified in public and uplifted all beings. After some time he left this samsAram and reached
his AchAryan thiruvadi to perform nithya kainkaryam to nammAzhwAr.
His thanian
avidhitha vishayAntharas chatArEr upanishdhAm upagAna mAthra bOga:
api cha guNa vachAth thadhEka sEshi madhurakavir hrudhayE mamAvirasthu
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-madhurakavi.html.

33

kulasEkara AzhwAr

thirunakshathram: mAsi, punarpUsam
avathAra sthalam: thiruvanjikkaLam
AchAryan: vishwaksEnar
Works: mukundha mAlai, perumAL thirumozhi
Place where he attained paramapadham: mannAr kOyil (near thirunelvEli)
kulasEkara AzhwArs greatness lies in the fact that he was born in kshathriya kulam (which is
condusive for having great ego) but was still so humble in his attitude towards emperumAn and
bhakthas. It is because of his great devotion and attachment towards perumAL (srI rAman) he
came to be known as kulasEkara perumAL himself. In his perumAL thirumozhi, after
performing mangaLAsAsanam to periya perumAL in the first padhigam (iruLiyach chudar
manigaL), he immediately glorifies srIvaishNavas in the second padhigam (thEttarum thiral
thEn). He is also popular to have been so attached to srIvaishnavas which we will see in his
charithram in the subsequent sections.

34

He himself declares the real svarUpam of jIvAthmA as sEshathvam in his perumAL thirumozhi
in the end (10.7) as thillaiNagar chiththirakUdam thannuL arachamarNthAn adichUdum
arachai allAl arachAga enNnNEn maRRarachu thAnE (

) meaning I will not consider any thing as kingship other than holding the lotus feet of
the king of thiruchithrakUdam (gOvindharAjan emperumAn). He clearly eradicates any thought
of dhEvathAnthara/vishayAnthara sambandham of jIvAthmA through these words.
He also declares the ultimate svarUpam of jIvAthma svarUpam as achithvath
pArathanthriyam in thiruvEnkata padhigam. In 4.9, he explains:
chediyAya valvinaigaL thIrkkum thirumAlE
NediyAnE vEnGkatavA! Nin kOyilin vAchal
adiyArum vAnavarum arambaiyarum kidaNthiyanGgum
padiyAyk kidaNthu un pavaLa vAyk kAnNbEnE

!

Oh srIvEnkatEsa! You are the one who can eradicated my strong karmAs. I want to be like the
stepping stone at the entrance of your sannidhi where your great devotees, dhEvas who
expect material benefits from you and their dependants are longing to take your dharshan.
periyavAchAn piLLai explains that the jIvAthmA should be both like
(padiyAik kidanthu) achith (insentient) in the sense that emperumAn should have full
control over the jIvAthmA. Just like chandhanam (sandal wood), kusumam (flower), etc
which are only present for the pleasure of the consumer and have no personal interest
at all.
(un pavaLa vAyk kANbEnE) chit (sentient) in the sense that we should acknowledge
that he is having pleasure by accepting our service. If we dont acknowledge and
receiprocate then we will be no different than achith.
This principle is called achithvath pArathanthriyam meaning jIvAthmA being fully controlled
by emperumAn and still reciprocating with emperumAn this is the highest principle of our
srIvaishNava sidhAntham.
We have already enjoyed how mAmunigaL glorifies kulasEkara AzhwAr in his archAvathAra
anubhavam article http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-
kulasekara.html.
nAyanAr in his magnum opus AchArya hrudhayam explains that one should discriminate
between devotees based on their birth in a series of chUrNikais and establishes the greatness

35

of nammAzhwAr and other great personalities in the end. In that section, while explaining the
greatness of the births which is condusive to bhagavath kainkaryam, nAyanAr cites the
example of how various great personalities opted/desired for so-called low births only because
of the reason that those births are very condusive for kainkaryam. Let us see the essence of
87th chUrNikai and how this relates to kulasEkara AzhwAr.
anNaiya Ura punaiya adiyum podiyum padap parvatha bhavaNanGgaLilE EthEnumAga
jaNikkap peRugiRa thiryak sthAvara jaNmanGgaLai perumakkaLum periyOrum
parigrahiththup prArththippargaL.

r r .
The nithyasUris like ananthan, garudan, etc., opts to take birth as bed (AdhisEshan), a bird
(garudAzhwAr), etc. nammAzhwAr identifies how thiruththuzhAi is so dear to emperumAn that
he wears it everywhere (on his head, shoulders, chest, etc). Great sages like parAsara, vyAsa,
sukha, etc., desired to be born as the dust of vrindhAvana which gets touched by the lotus feet
of krishNan and gOpis. kulasEkara AzhwAr desired to be born as anything in thiruvEnkata hill.
ALavandhAr desired to be born as a worm in the house of a srIvaishNava. Let us see
kulasEkara AzhwArs desire in a little bit detail as explained by mAmunigaL in the vyAkyAnam
of this chUrNikai.
In perumAL thirumozhi 4th padhigam, AzhwAr desires to have some relationship with
thiruvEnkata hill which lasts forever he wants to be eternally connected to thiruvEnkata hill.


36

He desires to be:
A bird in the pond on the hill
A fish in the pond since the bird may fly away
Some one who will hold the golden utensil which is used in emperumAns service, since
the fish may swim away
A flower on a tree, since holding the golden utensil may create ego in my mind and that
will drive me away
A useless tree since once the flower is used up, it will be thrown away
A river on thiruvEkata hill, since the useless tree will be removed some day
The stairs leading up to the sannidhi, since the river may dry up some day
The stepping stone in front of the sannidhi (this is how it became to be known as
kulasEkaran padi), since by being the stairs, route may be changed some day
Anything on thiruvEnkatam that stays eternally periyvAchAn piLLai explains in the
vyAkyAnam that AzhwAr would not even mind becoming thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn himself
to be eternally connected to the hill. He also identifies bhattars quote Neither I need to
know that I am there, nor thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn needs to know that I am there and no
one need to glorify that I am there. I am just happy to be present there in some form
eternally.
Such was the greatness of kulasEkara AzhwAr, he was fully craving for
bhagavath/bhAgavatha sambandham without any personal expectation.
With this in mind, let us see his charithram now.
srI kulasEkara perumAL was born in the kingdom of kollinagar (thiruvanjikkALam) in the
kshahriya vamsam an amsam of srIkausthubam as shown in dhivya sUri charitham by garuda
vAhana pandithar (though AzhwArs were handpicked from samsAram by emperumAn and
divinely blessed by him). He is also known as kolli kAvalan, kozhiyar kOn, kUdal nAyakan, etc.
As explained in his thanian as mARRalarai, vIranGkeduththa chenGkOl kolli kAvalan
villavarkOn, chEran kulachEkaran mudivENthar chikAmanNi (,
,
) meaning he is the destroyer of his enemies and the king of the
chEra kingdom, he had great strength of chariots, horses, elephants and foot soldiers and was
able to drive out all his enemies. He ruled according to sAsthram and ensured that the strong
did not trouble the weak and like srI rAman, he was most generous and most humble during
his rule.
Being a great king, he was thinking to be fully independent and the controller of his rAjyam.
srIman nArAyaNan who is the supreme controller of both paramapadham and samsAram, out
of his causeless mercy, blessed him blemishless divine knowledge, removed his rajO/thamO
guNams and made him fully situated in sathva guNam and revealed his divine svarUpam (true
nature), rUpam (form), guNam (qualities), vibhUthi (his wealth/controlling power) and
chEshtithams (pastimes/leelais) in detail. Seeing that and understanding the same, AzhwAr
became greatly anguished to be in the midst of samsAris who are fully indulged in bodily
aspirations without any interest in bhagavath vishayam (spiritual matters). As nammAzhwAr

37

declares that great material wealth is like big fire which will destroy the owner himself by
indulging him in just more and more material aspirations, kulasEkara AzhwAr had no
attachment to his rAjyam (kingdom) and stayed aloof from everything like srI
vibhIshaNAzhwAn gave up all his wealth and surrendered to srI rAman.
He developed great attachment towards srIrangam and srI ranganAthan and more so towards
the devotees of srI ranganAthan who are completely detached from worldly affairs and spend
their time only singing the glories of srI ranganAthan. He wanted to live amidst such
srIvaishNavas who are called sAdhus (vaishNava agrEsa: leader of vaishnavas) and the
ones who are identified as anNiyaranGgan thirumuRRaththu adiyAr (
) meaning the devotees who spend all their life in srIranganAthans
temple. Understanding that srIranga yAthrai and the desire to go to srIrangam itself will give
paramapadham what to speak of living in srIrangam, he lives everyday thinking about going to
srIrangam.
Also, he developed great attachment towards thiruvEnkatam (thirumalai) which has the swAmy
pushkariNi that is glorified to be greater than the holy rivers gangA, yamunA, etc. As ANdaL
also speaks about vEnGkataththaip pathiyAga vAzhvIrgAL (
) meaning we should live in thiruvEnkatam as our eternal residence where
great sages and mahAthmAs stay eternally, he also has the same desire. As we have already
seen in the beginning, he desires to be a bird, a plant or even a stone on this dhivyadhEsam.
Beyond this he also desires to live in many dhivyadhEsams serving the archAvathAra
emperumAn and his devotees there.
After analysing and observing the various purANams, ithihAsams, etc., he blesses with a great
sanskrit slOka grantham named mukundha mAlai. As the greatness of srIrAmAyaNam is
explained in the following slOkam:
vEdha vEdhyE parE pumsi jAthE dhacharathAthmajE
vEdha: prAchEthasAdhAsIth sAkshAth rAmAyanNathmaNA

: s
Just like srIman nArAyaNan who can be understood through vEdham appeared as srI rAman
(the son of dhasarathan), vEdham itself appeared as srI rAmAyaNam from srI vAlmIki.

38

AzhwAr took up listening to srI rAmAyaNam and discoursing the same as his daily routine. He
becomes immersed in srI rAmAyaNam that some times he forgets even who he is. Once when
the lecturer explains the sequence were 14000 rAkshasas under kara/dhUshaNa prepare for a
battle with srI rAman who leaves sItha dhEvi under the protection of iLaya perumAL
(lakshmaNan) in a cave and all the rishis become very scared seeing at this situation where
perumAL is single handedly taking on 14000 rAkshasas, AzhwAr being overwhelmed with
emotions, at once orders his army to get ready for the battle and march towards the battle field
to help srI rAman. Seeing this, some of his ministers, arrange for a few people to come from
the opposite side and inform him that the battle is already won by srI rAman and sIthA dhEvi is
nursing his injuries by tenderly attending him and he need not go any more. AzhwAr being
satisfied, returns to his kingdom.
His ministers then start thinking about AzhwArs behaviour and decide that this is an outcome
of his association with the srIvaishnavas. They decide to drive the srivaishnavas out and
devise a plan for that. They steal one of the diamond necklace from the thiruvArAdhanam
room of AzhwAr and proclaim that his close confident srIvaishnavas must have stole it. At
once, AzhwAr orders for a pot with a venomous snake placed in it and once it arrives, he puts
his hand inside and declares that srIvaishnavas will not indulge in such acts the snake does

39

not bite him due to his honesty and the ministers feel ashamed, return the necklace and beg
for forgiveness from AzhwAr and srIvaishnavas.
Subsequently, AzhwAr starts feeling greatly anguished living amidst samsAris as stated in
saunaka samhithai that For a prapanna, being with people who dont glorify bhagavAn is
worse than being amidst a ball of fire. He then crowns his son as the king of the kingdom and
hands over all the responsibilities and declares that AnAtha chelvaththu arambaiyargaL
thaRchUzha vAnALum chelvamum manNnNarachum yAn vEnNdEn (
)
meaning He no longer desires to rule great wealth surrounded by many servants and
entertainers. He then leaves to srIrangam with his close srIvaishnava friends and performs
mangaLAsAsanam to srIranganAthan who looks like a diamond placed on golden plate (him
lying down on AdhisEshan) and who is always looking out for the welfare of everyone. He
glorifies emperumAn every moment and as a result of his outpouring emotions, he compiles
perumAL thirumozhi and blesses that to every one and thus uplifted them. After some time he
leaves this samsAram and reaches the divine abode of paramapadhanAthan and eternally
serves him there.
His thanian
gushyathE yasya nagarE rangayAthrA dhinE dhinE
thamaham sirasA vandhE rAjAnam kulasEkaram
His archAvathAra anubhavam is already discussed in here -
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-kulasekara.html.

40

periyAzhwAr

thirunakshathram: Ani, swAthi
avathAra sthalam: srIvilliputhUr
Works: thiruppallANdu, periyAzhwAr thirumozhi
Place where he attained paramapadham: thirumAlirunchOlai
periyavAchAn piLLai wonderfully glorifies periyAzhwAr in the vyAkyAna avathArikai
(introduction) of thiruppallANdu. He identifies the purpose of periyAzhwArs avathAram is to
uplift the suffering jIvAthmAs from this samsAram. periyAzhwAr is decorated with sahaja
dhAsyam (natural servitorship) towards emperumAn by the grace of emperumAn himself. He
wanted to conduct his life by performing kainkaryam and studied the sAsthram to find out the
best kainkaryam. srI krishNan himself enters into the house of mAlAkArar (the garland maker)
in mathurA before going to the assembly of kamsan, requesting him for some garlands and
when the mAlAkArar happily gives the best garland with great love and affection, kaNNan
emperumAn becomes extremely pleased and wears it with great joy. Observing this,
periyAzhwAr determines that making flower garlands is the most pleasing service for
emperumAn, he starts making a garden where he plants fresh flower-giving seeds, nurtures
the same and makes fresh garland every day to srIvilliputhur emperumAn with great love and
affection.

41

There is a big difference between periyAzhwAr and other AzhwArs. Other AzhwArs want to get
their desires (them serving emperumAn eternally) fulfilled. But periyAzhwAr is focussed on
fulfilling emperumAns desires (bringing many suffering jIvAthmAs to be with him eternally in
paramapadham) even at the cost of his own desires. Other AzhwArs think that Ishvaran is the
protector and they are the protected and thus get rid of their fears. periyAzhwAr thinks that he
is the protector and Ishvaran is to be protected. This point is further explained by piLLai
lOkAchAryar and mAmunigaL beautifully which we will see in the subsequent sections.
Similarly, thiruppallANdu is greatly glorified in comparison with other dhivya prabhandhams.
While other prabhandhams discuss many vEdhAntham related complicated matters
thiruppallANdu simply focusses on performing mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn. While other
prabhandhams are big in size, this prabhandham is crisp and small in just 12 pAsurams all
the essential principles are explained.
piLLai lOkAchAryar in srI vachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram, explains the glories of
mangaLAsAsanam as part of the sidhdhOpAya nishtars (one who is fully situated in bhagavAn
as upAyam(process)/upEyam(goal)) dhinacharyai (daily activities). The srIvaishnava
dhinacharyai is already discussed in http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/08/srivaishnava-
lakshanam-10.html and http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/08/srivaishnava-lakshanam-11.html as
part of the srIvaishnava lakshaNam series of articles -
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/p/srivaishnava-lakshanam.html.
mangaLAsAsanam means desiring/praying for the well being of some one. AzhwArs are
always looking out for emperumAns well being. But piLLai lOkAchAryar shows that
periyAzhwArs attachment towards emperumAn is far greater than others. This is already
explained in detail in the introduction section of periyaAzhwArs archAvathAra anubhavam
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-periyazhwar.html. Let us just see
255th sUthram which nicely brings out the glories of periyAzhwAr and srI bhAshyakArar
(rAmAnujar).
allAthavargaLaip pOlE kEtkiRavargaLudaiyavum, chollukiRavargaLutaiyavum thanimaiyaith
thavirkkaiyanRikkE ALumALAr engiRavanudaiya thanimaiyaith thavirkkaikkAgavAyiRRu
bhAshyakArarum ivarum upathEchippathu.
,

.
Unlike other AzhwArs/AchAryars, periyAzhwAr and bhAshyakArar instructs the meanings of
sAsthram to reform jIvAthmAs and engage them in mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn so
emperumAns loneliness is removed (emperumAn wants naturally every one to serve him
because every one belongs to him, just like a father or mother will not be happy even if one of
their children is not with them, emperumAn will not be happy even if one jIvAthmA among
many is not with him). The real focus is not removing the loneliness of the instructor, loneliness

42

of instructed and the upliftment of jIvAthmA but it is to fulfill emperumAns natural desire and
having the jIvAthmA being situated in his natural position.
mAmunigaL in his vyAkyAnam for this sUthram explains that AzhwAr understands the most
tender/delicate nature of emperumAn and determines that such tender natured person cannot
bear separation from the jIvAthmAs and thus wants to fully focus on that alone. He also brings
out beautifully that piLLai lOkAchAryar said bhAshyakArar (instead of emperumAnAr,
rAmAnujar, etc) to reveal that bhAshyakArar means one who established the essence of
vEdhAntham through srIbhAshyam and thus his act of focussing on emperumAns pleasure
alone is also in line with vEdhAntham.
mAmunigaL in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai, glorifies periyAzhwAr in 5 pAsurams consecutively.
In the 16th pAsuram, he tells to his own heart that Ani svAthi is to be greatly glorified
since that is the day when pattarpirAn (periyAzhwAr) who brought us great
auspiciousness by compiling thiruppallANdu appeared.
In the 17th pAsuram, he instructs his own heart to always think that there is no one
equal in this whole world to the gyAnis who become pleased on hearing the glories of
Ani svAthis which is the appearance day of periyAzhwAr.
In the 18th pAsuram, he explains that periyAzhwArs interest in performing
mangaLAsAsanam is far greater than other AzhwArs and because of his overflowing
affection towards emperumAn, he became to be famously known as periyAzhwAr.
In the 19th pAsuram, among all the pAsurams (which are defectless here defect
means discussing other matters than emperumAn) of AzhwArs (who are defectless
here defect means having attachment to other upAyams like karma/gyAna/bhakthi and
also not having great desire to reach emperumAn), thiruppallANdu is the foremost. Just
like praNavam is the foremost and essence of samskritha vEdham, thiruppallANdu is
the foremost and essence of dhrAvida vEdham since this discusses mangaLAsAsanam.
In the 20th pAsuram, he asks his heart to observe all pramANams and see if there is a
prabhandham better than thiruppallANdu and to observe all AzhwArs and see if there is
another AzhwAr better than periyAzhwAr.
His unique speciality is that he is the father-in-law of periya perumAL by giving his daughter
ANdAL in marriage to him.
periyAzhwAr was born in srIvilliputhUr where many great experts of vEdham lived. He was
born on Ani svAthi and named vishNuchithar by his parents. Since he did parathathva
nirUpaNam (establishing srIman nArAyaNans supremacy) like garudan who is called as
vEdhAthmA (one who has vEdham as his body) and who always holds srIman nArAyaNans
lotus feet (thus establishing srIman nArAyaNans parathvam), he was considered as an
amsam of garudAzhwAr (though AzhwArs are hand-picked from samsAram and divinely
blessed by emperumAn).
He was blessed by vatapathrasAyI by his causeless mercy during his birth itself just like
prahlAdhan was born with bhagavath bhakthi. It is said in sAsthram that Na

43

akinYchithkurvathach chEshathvam ( ) meaning when
one does not perform atleast small service to emperumAn, his sEshathvam (servitorship) does
not exist. Thinking that he should also engage in some kainkaryam purely for the pleasure of
emperumAn, he started observing all the purANams, etc. He observes that sarvEshvaran
appears as krishNan in mathurA as stated in:
Esha NArAyanNa srImAN kshIrArnNava NikEthaNa:
NAga paryanGkam uthsrujya hyAgathO madhurAm purIm
:
r
srIman nArAyaNan who was lying down in kshIrAbdhi gave up his AdhisEsha bed and
descended to mathurA as krishNan.
Also, nammAzhwAr says that manNnNin bhAram NIkkuthaRkE vadamathuraip piRaNthAn
( ) meaning kaNNan emperumAn
appeared in mathurA to remove the pains of bhUdhEvi. It is also said in mahAbhArahtham that
the eternal bhagavAn appears as kaNNan emperumAn and lives in dhvArakA to establish the
dharmam, protect the sAdhus and to annihilate the miscreants. Such emperumAn was born
as the son of the most beautiful dhEvaki and was raised by the most beautiful yasOdhai. Such
beautiful krishNan who is decorated with beautiful garlands by nithyasUris, goes to mAlAkArar
who works for kamsa and asks him to give him some garlands. mAlAkArar being very pleased
with kaNNan emperumAn himself coming and requesting for garlands, offers him the best and
most fresh garlands to him to please emperumAn. Seeing this, periyAzhwAr understands that
offering garlands which are prepared with great love and affection is the most pleasing
kainkaryam for emperumAn and starts performing that kainkaryam to vatapathrasAyi
emperumAn of srIvilliputhUr.
At that time one king named srI vallabha dhEvan who comes in the lineage of pAndiya king
(who planted his fish flag on the divine mEru mountain) was ruling the pAndiya kingdom from
(south) madhurai in a very virtuous manner. One night he was going on a walk in disguise to
check the proper functioning of the kingdom, he noticed a brAhmaNa sitting outside someones
house. The king asks him about his identity and whereabouts and the brAhmaNa tells him that
he is a brAhmaNa and is returning from ganges after doing gangA snAnam. The king asks him
to recite a slOkam if he knows and the brAhmaNa recites the following slOkam.
varshArthamashtau prayathEtha mAsAN NichArththamarththam dhivasam yathEtha
vArdhdhagyahEthOr vayasA NavENa parathra hEthOriha jaNmaNA cha

r
People work hard for 8 months to stay relaxed during the 4 months of rainy season; To be
happy in the night they work hard in the day time; To live comfortably when they get old,

44

people work hard when they are young; People should thus work hard in this life to have a
good after-life.
Hearing this, the king starts contemplating that he is comfortable in this life from material
wealth, comforts, etc, but he is not sure about the after-life and how to approach that. He then
goes to his purOhith (pandit) and asks him how to establish the supreme god and how to attain
him after this life. selva nambi who is a great devotee of srIman nArAyaNan at once says we
must assemble all the vidhwAns (scholars) and establish the parathathvam based on
vEdhAntham. He invites the scholars to establish the truth since the most important principle
per Apasthambha dharma sUthram, dharmajnYasamaya: pramAnNam vEdhAchcha
(: ) meaning the acts of the knowers of vEdham is
the primary source of knowledge and vEdham is the secondary source. The king prepares a
pouch filled with great wealth as the prize for the one who establishes the truth and hangs that
in a decorative ceiling. He invites the scholars from all over the region to assemble at his
palace for a debate.
vatapathrasAyi emperumAn (srIvilliputhUr) wants to uplift the samsAris by establishing his
supremacy (as explained in vEdhAntham) through periyAzhwAr, appears in his dream and
instructs him to go and fetch the prize. AzhwAr replies to emperumAn that the prize is for
establishing the supremacy of emperumAn through vEdhAntham and out of humility says that
How can I go and fetch that prize with my hands which have become rough due to working in
the garden?. emperumAn insists to him that I will take care of everything since I am revealer
of vEdham and its meanings as necessary. AzhwAr waking up early in the morning as per
sAsthram which says brAhmE muhurththE cha uththAya (
) meaning one should wake up in the brahma muhurtham (around 4am) and realising
the divine dream, performs his nithyAnushtAnam and leaves to madhurai to the palace of the
king. Arriving at the palace, the king and selva nambi welcome AzhwAr who is a
brAhmaNOthama (top most brAhmaNa) and offer their obeisance to him. The local scholars
informs the king that AzhwAr is not well learned but selva nambi and the king already
knowing about AzhwArs dedication to vatapathrasAyi and his kainkaryam gave him great
respect and asked him to establish the parathathvam based on vEdhAntham. By the divine
grace of emperumAn, periyAzhwAr was able to visualize and understand the essence of
vEdham, vEdhAntham, ithihAsam, purANam, etc. Just like srI vAlmIki bhagavAn was able to
understand all the great principles by the grace of brahmA and prahlAdhAzhwAn became
sarvagya (omniscient) immediately by the touch of emperumAns pAnchajanyam, periyAzhwAr
by the causeless mercy of emperumAn, understood that the essence of sAsthram is srIman
nArAyaNans parathvam (supremacy). This can be seen in the logical sequence of
pramANams as follows:
samastha chabhdha mUlathvAdh akArasya svabhAvatha:
samastha vAchya mUlathvAth brahmanNOpi svabhAvatha:
vAchyavAchaka sambhaNdhas thayOr arththAth pradhIyathE

45

:
:

All the sounds naturally originate from akAram; All the meanings (or the objects) of those
sounds naturally originate from brahmmam. So, it can be understood that the relationship
between akAram and brahmmam is natural as well.
gIthAchAryan himself declares in bhagavath gIthai that aksharAnNamakArOsmi
(), meaning I am akAram amongst letters.
It is said that akArO vishnNuvAchaka: ( :) meaning akAram
represents vishnNu establishing that srIman nArAyaNan is the supreme being.
thaithriya upanishadh identifies the foremost qualities of such srIman nArAyaNan as follows:
yathO vA imANi bhUthANi jAyanthE, yENa jAthANi jIvaNthi, yathprayaNthi abhisamvichaNthi,
thath vijijnYAsasva, thath brahmEthi
, ,
, ,
That from which this whole universe and the beings are created, on which the whole universe
is sustained, in which it merges during destruction, where the beings reach upon attaining
mOksham, know that and know that to brahmam. Thus jagath kAraNathva (being the cause of
the universe), mumukshu upAsyathva (being the object of the worship for the ones who desire
to get mOksham) and mOksha pradhathva (having the ability to benedict mOksham to a
jIvAthmA) are identified as the most important qualities of the supreme being.
These qualities are fully seen in srIman nArAyaNan as explained in:
vishnNOs sakAchAdhudhbhUtham jagath thathraiva cha sthitham
sthithi samyamakarththAsau jagathOsya jagachcha sa:

:
As stated in vishNu purANam, this universe appears from vishNu; it subsides in vishNu during
praLayam (when there is no creation); He is the one who sustains it and annihilates it; He also
has the whole universe as his sarIram (body).
NArAyanNAthparO dhEvO Na bhUthO Na bhavishyathi
Ethath rahasyam vEdhANAm purAnNANAm cha sammatham

46

As stated in varAha purANam, there has not been a higher being than nArAyaNan in the past
or present, nor there will be on in the future. This is the most confidential message of vEdham
and is accepted in purANams as well.
sathyam sathyam puNassathyam udhdhruthya bhujamuchyathE
vEdha chAsthrAth param NAsthi Na dhaivam kEchavAth param

As stated in nAradhIya purANam, I declare this 3 times (emphasis) with raised hands there is
no god greater (or other) than kEsavan and there is no sAsthram greater (or other) than
vEdham.
periyAzhwAr, thus established the parathvam of srIman nArAyaNan using the above
pramANams and many more from smruthi, ithihAsams, purANams, etc. At once, the pouch of
wealth (prize for the winner) automatically comes down from the ceiling by the divine will,
periyAzhwAr fetches the prize quickly.
Seeing this, the scholars who rejected periyAzhwAr, the king and every one become extremely
pleased and offers their obeisances to him. They declare that periyAzhwAr revealed the
essence of vEdhAntham in pristine clarity and with great affection, arranges for a grand
procession for AzhwAr on the ceremonial elephant. On the side, all the scholars carry
chathram (umbrellA), chAmaram (soft fan), etc and proclaim that All glories to the most
trustworthy person who shows the essence of vEdham has arrived. The king srI vallabha
dhEvan honours him with the title pattarpirAn meaning one who has done great favours to
bhattars (great scholars) by revealing the most valuable details of knowledge. The king also
joins the procession and there is grand celebration everywhere.


47

paramapadhanAthan, seeing these, just like a mother/father will be very happy to participate in
an event where their sons are glorified, he also wants to join the great celebration. Along with
srI mahAlakshmI (sriyapathithvam being the husband of pirAtti is his main identity) climbs up
on the magnificient garudAzhwAn, emperumAn having decorated with pAnchajanyam and
sudharshanAzhwAn, arrives on the sky. To see him and AzhwAr together, all dhEvathais of
this material world like brahman, rudhran, indhran, etc., arrive immediately along with their
family and subordinates. periyAzhwAr being blessed by emperumAn and able to visualize the
arrival of srIman nArAyaNan and the others, instead of being proud about the celebrations for
him and their arrival for him, at once sees emperumAn and starts worrying about
emperumAns presence in this material world. Being blessed with divine knowledge, even
though he understands srIman nArAyaNan is sarvagya (onmiscient), sarvasaktha
(omnipotent), etc., and is undefeatable by any one, out of great love towards emperumAn, he
starts thinking about emperumAns tender, delicate nature. It is said in sAsthram that
emperumAns dhivya mangaLa vigraham (divine auspicious body) is made of pancha
upanishadh (spiritual components) and is constantly enjoyed by nithyasUris in paramapadam
which is not reachable for even great sages or dhEvathais of this world like brahmA, rudhran,
etc., what to speak of asuras/rAkshasas (demoniac people). But he has left that divine abode
and entered into this material world which is full of ignorant and demoniac people and is ruled
by kali in this yugam. AzhwAr starts thinking emperumAn has arrived here and may become
the victim of dhrushti (inauspicious looks/thoughts) as well, so let us pray for his well being
now and picks up the bell from the neck of the elephant which is carrying him and starts
singing thiruppallANdu at once. Forgetting his own svarUpam as dependent and emperumAns
svarUpam as fully independent and capable, AzhwAr out of great love, invites everyone
(ishvaryArthi one who desires wealth, kaivalyArthi one who desires for AthmAnubhavam,
bhagavath charaNArthi one who desires for eternal kainkaryam to emperumAn) along with
him and sings thiruppallANdu. srIman nArAyaNan then returns to his abode happily after the
celebrations.
Subequently, periyAzhwAr blesses the king and he is well honoured by the king. Wanting to
serve vatapathrasAyi again, AzhwAr returns to srIvilliputhUr and offers all the wealth that was
given to him by the king to the emperumAn there. According to manu smrithi, it is said that:
thraya EvAdhaNA rAjaN bhAryA dhAsas thathA sUtha:
yaththE samadhigachchaNathi yasyaithE thasya thadhdhaNam
:

Wife, servant, son who does not own anything. All they earn will belong to their respective
owners (husband, master and father).
According to this periyAzhwAr also offered everything to his master vatapathrasAyi and tells
him since these are earned by your grace these belong to you alone. Completing the
additional task, he then goes back to his routine kanikaryam of preparing many fresh variety of
garlands with great affection and continues offering them to vatapathrasAyi like srI mAlAkArar
prepared and offered them to krishNan and glorified him. Becoming greatly attached with
kaNNan emperumAns charithram starting from his birth through his divine pastimes, he takes

48

the bhAvam of yasOdhai and greatly relishes his sauseelyam (magnanimity) and saulabhyam
(easy accessibility). Such overflowing emotions resulted in him revealing the divine
prabhandham named periyAzhwAr thirumozhi. Contemplating on srIya:pathi allways, He
nourished and uplifted his sishyas and abhimAnis who were surrendered to him and blessed
everyone in the world.
Its not over yet, his divine charithram is further explained in ANdALs charithram which can be
read at http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/andal/.
His thanian
gurumukam anadhIthya prAhavE thAn asEshAn
narapathi parikluptham sulkamAdhAthu kAma:
svasuram amara vandhyam ranganAthasya sAkshAth
dhvija kula thilakam vishNuchiththam namAmi
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-periyazhwar.html.

49

ANdAL

thirunakshathram: thiruvAdi, pUram
avathAra sthalam: srIvilliputhUr
AchAryan: periyAzhwAr
Works: thiruppAvai, nAchiAr thirumozhi
In thiruppAvai 6000 padi vyAkyAnam, periyavAchAn piLLai first establishes the greatness of
ANdAL over all other AzhwArs. He builds a beautiful layer of different categories of jIvAthmAs
and shows the difference between each category.

50

The difference between samsAris (dhEhAthma abhimAnis materialistic people) and
the rishis who have realised the Athma svarUpam is similar to that of a small stone and
a big mountain.
Difference between such rishis (who attain the knowledge by their own effort and at
times fall down from their positions) and AzhwArs (who are divinely blessed by
emperumAn himself and are completely pure) is similar to that of a small stone and a
big mountain.
Difference between rest of the AzhwArs (who focus on svAnubhavam at times and
mangaLAsAsanam at other times) and periyAzhwar (who is fully focussed on
mangaLAsAsanam only) is similar to that of a small stone and a big mountain.
Difference between periyAzhwAr and ANdAL is similar to that of a small stone and a big
mountain. The reasons for this are:
o all AzhwArs were first divinely blessed by emperumAn and then they woke the
samsAris up from their sleep, i.e., gave them the knowledge about emperumAn.
but ANdAL, being an avathAram of bhUmi pirAtti, she herself went and woke
emperumAn up from his sleep, i.e., reminded him about his responsibilities of
protecting every one. As it is established by nampiLLai in thiruvirutham and
thiruvAimozhi vyAkyAnams, AzhwArs were originally samsAris who were blessed
with divine knowledge by emperumAn, but ANdAL is bhUmi pirAtti herself who is
already a nithyasUri and specifically she is one of the dhivya mahishis of
emperumAn himself. periyavAchAn piLLai follows similar line here and
establishes the same principle.
o ANdAL being a woman, it is natural for her to engage in husband/wife
relationship with emperumAn (unlike AzhwArs who had male thirumEnis) and it is
shown that her love towards emperumAn is far greater than the love of AzhwArs.
piLLai lOkAchAriar brings out the divine glories of ANdAL in a few sUthrams in his srIvachana
bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram. Let us enjoy some of that here.
sUthram 238 brAhmanNOththamarAna periyAzhwArum thirumagaLArum
gOpajaNmaththai AsthANam panNnNinArgaL (
r
). In this prakaranam, piLLai lOkAchAriar is explaining the greatness
of bhAgavathas (irrespective of their varNam birth, etc). Here, he gives many
examples where great personalities desired to take different births which are condusive
for bhagavath anubhavam/kainkaryam. In this sUthram, he explains that periyAzhwAr
and ANdAL, even though born in great brAhmaNa families, they themselves desired to
be the cowherd girls of vrindhAvan. ANdAL specifically showed that kainkaryam that
pleases emperumAn is the most important goal and one must glorify and desire for
such kainkaryam in whatever form.
sUthram 285 koduththuk koLLAthE konNdaththukkuk kaikkUli kodukkavEnNum
( ).
In this prakaraNam, piLLai lOkAchAriar is explaining how one should do kainkaryam.
This is related to sUthram 238 in that sUthram piLLai lOkAchAryar shows one should
desire for kainkaryam that pleases emperumAn. In the previous sUthram (284), piLLai
lOkAchAriar explains that kainkaryam should done be with out any expectation in return,

51

i.e., we should not do kainkaryam to get something else. In this sUthram, he says that
kainkaryam should be done and when emperumAn gets pleased we should do more
kainkaryam to him. mAmunigaL explains this concept beautifully using ANdALs words.
ANdAL says in NAchiar thirumozhi 9.7 inRu vaNthu iththanaiyum cheythidapperil, NAn
onRu NURu AyiramAgak koduththu pinnum ALum cheyvan (
r,
). In the previous pAsuram she says she wants to offer
100 plates of butter and 100 plates of sweet rice to thirumAlirunchOlai azhagar. In this
pAsuram she says seeing emperumAn accepting her offerings, to show her gratitude
towards emperumAn, she will offer more such offerings to please emperumAn further
and keep doing it (without expecting anything other than his happiness from him ever).
Thus she shows her the pinnacle of our sampradhAyam so easily in her pAsurams.
Ay jananyAchAryar in his vyAkyAna avathArikai identifies the glories of thiruppAvai (and there
by ANdAL nAchiAr) very beautifully. He has done 2 vyAkyAnams 2000 padi and 4000 padi.
In the avathArikai, he shows an incident where emperumAnArs sishyas request him to
perform an upanyAsam of thiruppAvai and explain the meanings of the same. emperumAnAr
replies that You will find people (to explain and to hear) thiruppallANdu but not for thiruppAvai
meaning thiruppaLLANdu is done by periyAzhwAr as mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn
(pratham parvam initial level) for which we will find more people, but thiruppAvai is done by
ANdAL as mangaLAsAsanam to bhAgavathas (charama parvam ultimate level) for which
there will be less people in that highest state. He also explains that Men are not qualified to
explain and hear about thiruppAvai. meaning one should have full dependency on
emperumAn like a woman is dependent on her husband to be able to understand the
intricacies of thiruppAvai and the heart of ANdAL. He further explains that Even amongst
women, not even emperumAns pirAttis who are constantly looking for anubhavam (and having
the same) with emperumAn can explain/hear about the subject matter of thiruppAvai. ANdAL
(who reflects the best aspects of all the AzhwArs put together) is the only person with
qualification and bhAvam to explain and hear about the subject matter of thiruppAvai. Such is
the greatness of ANdAL and her thiruppAvai.
mAmunigaL also glorifies ANdALs greatness in upadhEsa rathina mAlai pAsurams 22, 23 and
24.
In the 22nd pAsuram, he becomes greatly emotional thinking about how ANdAL gave
up her comforts in paramapadham and stepped down to samsAram to protect him
(svAnubhavam) and took birth as the divine daughter of periyAzhwAr. Just like if a
mother sees her child caught in a river, she also jumps into the river to save the child,
ANdAL being the mother of all, she jumps into samsAram to save the samsAris.

52

In the 23rd pAsuram, he says there is no equal to the birth day of ANdAL thiruvAdi
pUram just like there is none equal to ANdAL.
In the 24th pAsuram, he says ANdAL is the daughter of anju kudi and her activities are
far greater than other AzhwArs and how she developed love for emperumAn right at a
very young age. piLLai lOkam jIyar in his vyAkyAnam explains that anju kudi means:
o descendant of the clan which contains all the AzhwArs just like parikshIth was
the great descendant of the pancha pANdavas.
o the descendant of AzhwArs who are part of the prapanna kulam
o the descendant of periyAzhwAr who is always worried (achcham fear) about
emperumAn and performing mangaLAsAsanam.
ANdAL is purely in AchArya nishtai. It is because of periyAzhwArs attachment towards
emperumAn, ANdAL also developed attachment towards emperumAn and glorified him. This is
seen from:
her own words in nAchiAr thirumozhi, pAsuram 10.10, ANdAL says villiputhuvai
vittuchiththar thangaL dhEvarai valla parichu varuvipparEl athu kAnNdumE
( r
). She says, if periyAzhwAr can convince his dear emperumAn to
come here, she will worship him.
mAmunigaL in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai, after explaining the 10 AzhwArs, introduces
ANdAL, madhurakavi AzhwAr and emperumAnAr together since all 3 of them are
AchArya nishtars.
With this in mind, let us enjoy the charithram of ANdAL now.

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ANdAL was born in srIvilliputhUr (where nAchiAr temple is now seen) near a thuLasi mAdam.
Just like sIthA pirAtti was born from the earth when janakarAjan was ploughing the field and
was named sItha (named after the plough which means sIthA), periyAzhwAr found ANdAL who
is an avathAram of bhUmi pirAtti near a thuLasi mAdam and named her kOdhai (which means
a garland).
As she was growing up, she was fed with emperumAns divine leelais by periyAzhwAr.
periyAzhwAr was regularly making garlands and offering them to vatapathrasAyi emperumAn.
She shows great attachment to emperumAn and want to marry him only. Once, in his absence,
ANdAL took a garland which was ready to be offered for emperumAn, wore it and checked if it
fits her and also checks if she looks like a good match for emperumAn. periyAzhwAr returns
and he offers those garlands to emperumAn. This routine goes on for some time and one day
periyAzhwAr notices that ANdAL is wearing the garland before it is offered to emperumAn. He
becomes very anguished knowing about this and that particular day he does not offer the
garland to emperumAn. That night, emperumAn appears in the dream of periyAzhwAr and
asks him why he did not bring garlands that day. AzhwAr says since it was first worn by
ANdAL it became unfit to be worn by emperumAn. emperumAn immediately tells him that he
actually likes the garlands worn by ANdAL first as they have the special fragrance of bhakthi of
ANdAL. AzhwAr becomes very pleased hearing this and then after develops great attachment
and respect towards ANdAL. After that, he offers the garlands first to ANdAL and subsequently
to emperumAn every day.
ANdAL nAchiAr, was born with parama bhakthi towards emperumAn (since she is bhUmi
pirAtti herself) who is naturally attached to emperumAn. Her attachment towards emperumAn
is far greater than AzhwArs attachment. Unable to bear the separation of emperumAn she
starts to look for ways to marry him. Following in the foot steps of gOpis (cowherd girls) who
acted out the pastimes of kaNNan emperumAn during his sudden absence during rAsakrItai to
sustain themselves, ANdAL pretends that vatapathrasAyi is kaNNan emperumAn, his temple is
NandhagOpans thirumALigai, srIvilliputhur is thiruvAippAdi and her local friends are gOpis and
starts singing thiruppAvai.
In thiruppAvai, ANdAL beautifully explains the following details:
establishes that prApyam (goal) and prApakam (path) are emperumAn only.
dos and donts for srivaishnavas and all of that fully based on pUrvAchArya
anushtAnam (sistAchAram)
bhagavath anubhavam should be done as a group instead of doing it individually
(selfishly) she wakes up 10 gOpis to go along with her to meet kaNNan emperumAn
we should take shelter of emperumAns close adiyArs like dhvAra pAlakas, balarAman,
yasOdhai, nandhagOpan, etc., before going to emperumAn
we should always take the help (purushakAram) of pirAtti before going to emperumAn
we should always perform mangaLAsAsanam to him
we should ask for kainkaryam to him kainkaryam should be prayed for as it is
svarUpam for jIvAthmA to request emperumAn to accept his kainkaryam
that he is the upAyam to get that kainkaryam and we should never think that our effort is
the upAyam even a little bit
kainkaryam should be done for his pleasure only and we should not look for anything in
return

54

Even after that, emperumAn had still not appeared to emperumAn and accepted ANdAL. So,
ANdAL out of unbearable sorrow, calls out to emperumAn in her nAchiAr thirumOzhi. Many
great principles of our sampradhAyam are explained in nAchiAr thirumOzhi and it is generally
explained that one has to be very matured to even start listening/reading nAchiAr thirumozhis
meanings. In this she says that mAnidavarkkenRu pEchchuppadil vAzhagillEn
( ) meaning even if some one without
my knowledge talks about marrying me to some one else other than emperumAn I will die.
She dreams about her marriage with emperumAn in her vAraNam Ayiram padhigam (9.6).
periyAzhwAr then explains to ANdAL the vaibhavam (greatness) of all the archAvathAra
emperumAns and ANdAL becomes very attached to thiruvaranganAthan. AzhwAr becomes
filled with anxiety thinking how he can fulfill ANdALs desire. One night, in his dream,
thiruvaranganAthan appears and asks him to bring ANdAL over to srIrangam so that they can
unite there. AzhwAr feels greatly satisfied with that and in the mean time srIranganAthan
sends a beautiful palanquin, chAmaram, umbrella and his kainkaryaparars to srIvilliputhUr to
bring ANdAL over. AzhwAr, after getting permission from vatapathrasAyi, leaves to srIrangam
along with ANdAL in the closed palanquin with mELam (band music), etc in a grand
procession.
After entering srIrangam, ANdAL who was most beautifully decorated, stepped out of the
palanquin, entered the temple and subsequently into the garbagruham of periya perumAL and
touched the lotus feet of emperumAn. Immediately she vanished and reached the divine abode
of paramapadham.

Every one became astonished seeing these events and started glorifying periyAzhwAr. periya
perumAL immediately declares that periyAzhwAr has also become his father-in-law just like
samudhrarAjan and gives him special honors.and in returns to srIvilliputhUr to continue his
kainkaryams to vatapathrasAyi emperumAn.

55

ANdALs unlimited glories are heard so many times (atleast once an year during mArgazhi
month) but every time we hear/read about them, they always feel like new and there are so
many divine principles that we find in her life and prabhandhams every time we read them.
To have a glimpse of the true glories of ANdAL and thiruppAvai, we can end with bhattars
divine words. bhattar says that one should recite the 30 pAsurams of thiruppAvai every day. If
that is not possible at least one should recite the chiRRam chirukAlE pAsuram every day. Even
if that is not possible, at least one should think that there was bhattar who had great
attachment to thiruppAvai simply that thinking itself will please emperumAn. Just like when a
mother cow starts giving milk even when she sees a fake calf (which is made of straws and
covered with calfs skin), emperumAn will see us thinking about bhattars attachment towards
thiruppAvai or us reciting 1 pAsuram or reciting 30 pAsurams as long as we have some
connection with ANdAL emperumAn will shower us with his causeless mercy, since that is
what ANdAL (as bhUmi pirAtti) requested varAhan emperumAn. Out of her causeless mercy,
ANdAL took birth in this samsAram and sung thiruppAvai, so that we can also be blessed with
the divine grace of emperumAn and be permanently relieved of the pains of this samsAram
and enjoy bhagavath anubhavam/kainkaryam in paramapadham.

Her thanian
nILa thunga sthanagiri thatI suptham uthpOdhya krishNam
pArArthyam svam shruthi shatha shiras sidhdham adhyApayanthI
svOchishtAyAm srajinikaLitham yAbalAth kruthya bhungthE
gOdhA thasyai nama itham itham bhUya EvAsthu bhUya:

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thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr

thirunakshathram: mArgazhi, kEttai
avathAra sthalam: thirumaNdangudi
Works: thirumAlai, thiruppaLLiyeLuchi
Place where he attained paramapadham: srIrangam

57

nanjIyar, in his vyAkyAna avathArikai for thiruppaLLiyeLuchi, identifies that AzhwAr was in
samsAram as per anAdhi mAyayA suptha: (since time immemorial, he was sleeping (due to
ignorance) in this samsAam) and emperumAn wakes him up (gives him blemishless
knowledge). But periya perumAL is in yOga nidhrai after that, and AzhwAr takes his turn to
awake him and request him to engage him in kainkaryam.
periyavAchAn piLLai, in his vyAkyAna avathArikai for thiruppaLLiyeLuchi, brings out the glories
of AzhwAr through AzhwArs own pAsurams. When AzhwAr was awakened by emperumAn,
AzhwAr after realising his svarUpam, goes to periya perumAL only to find him lying down with
his eyes closed instead of welcoming him, enquiring about his well being, etc. It cannot be said
that periya perumAL is not interested in AzhwAr since AzhwAr is very dear to emperumAn and
vice versa. It can also not be said that periya perumAL is lying down out of indigestion because
these defects are only seen in material nature which is filled with thamO guNam but periya
perumAL is fully spiritual so there is no question of that. The reason for periya perumALs
lying down on meditation is because he is contemplating to how to reform everyone like he
reformed AzhwAr who has the following great qualities:
He has full knowledge that this prakruthi sambandham (relationship with matter) is not
appropriate for jIvAthmA as he says AthalAl piRavi vEnNdEn (
) meaning I no longer want to be born in this samsAram.
He has full knowledge of svarUpa yAthAthmya jnAnam (understanding the true nature
of the soul) is bhAgavatha sEshathvam as he says pOnagam cheytha chEtam
tharuvarEl punidham ( ) meaning if a
srivaishnava gives the remnants of the food he/she consumed.
He has clear understanding of material vs spiritual aspirations as he says ichchuvai
thavira achchuvai peRinum vEnNdEn (
) meaning I only want to enjoy periya perumAL and nothing more.
He has full control of his own indhriyams (senses) as he says kAvalil pulanai vaiththu
( ) meaning I have controlled my senses.
He has completely given up all other upAyams as he says kuLiththu mUnRu analai
Ombum kuRikoL aNadhanNamai thannai oLiththittEn (
) meaning I have
given up the path of karma yOgam, etc.
He has complete understanding of the upAya yAthAthma jnAnam (true upAyam) as he
says un aruL ennum Achai thannAl poyyanEn vaNdhu NinREn (
), I have come here
fully depending on your krupai (mercy) as the upAyam.
Finally, periyavAchAn piLLai says, since AzhwAr has these great qualities he is very dear to
periya perumAL as said in vAzhum chOmbarai ugaththi pOlum (
) meaning those who fully surrender to emperumAn are very dear to him.

58

mAmunigaL glorifies AzhwAr as the one who is glorified by the ones who have mastered the
vEdhams since they are the ones who truly understand the essence of vEdhams and
observe/glorify AzhwArs activities which are fully in line with the essence of sAsthram. We
have already seen this and archAvathAra anubhavam of AzhwAr in
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-thondaradippodi.html.
With this in mind, let us enjoy the charithram of AzhwAr now.
With the divine blessings during his birth by namperumAL, AzhwAr was born as sudhdha
sathva nishtar and was named vipranArAyaNar. He undergoes proper samskArams like
chauLam, upanayanam, etc. at the proper age and learns all vEdhams with their angams and
meanings. Developing great knowledge and detachment, he enters srIrangam and worships
periya perumAL. periya perumAL, being pleased with his devotion, enhances his bhakthi
further by showing his divine beauty and makes him stay in srIrangam forever.
AzhwAr, established a beautiful nandhavanam (garden) and performed pushpa kainkaryam for
periya perumAL every day following in the footsteps of puNdarIkar (who was a great mahAn),
mAlAkArar (one who offered flower garlands in mathurA to kaNNan emperumAn and
balarAman with great love and affection), gajEndhrAzhwAn who was a great kainkarya srImAn
and our great periyAzhwAr who made beautiful garlands out of eight flowers.
Once, a beautiful vEsyA (courtezan) named dhEva dhEvi from thirukkarambanUr was
returning from uraiyUr, enters the garden of AzhwAr and gets amazed by the beauty of the
garden, the flowers, the birds, etc.
At that time they see vipranArAyaNar who looks very beautiful with long hairs on head and
face, wearing pure vasthrams (clothes), thuLasi/lotus mAlais, urdhva puNdrams, etc with water
and garden equipments in his hand. While they were looking at him, vipranArAyaNar was
sincerely focussing on his kainkaryam without noticing them at all. dhEva dhEvi asks her sister
and friends is he mad or unmanly, how come he is not looking at a beautiful girl like me
standing in front of him?. Her friends inform her that he is vipranArAyaNar who is a
kainkaryaparar of namperumAL and will not bother about her beauty. They say that they will
give 6 months time to mesmerize him and change him to be mad at her and if she does so,
they will agree that she is the most beautiful girl and will serve for 6 months as her maid-
servant. She agrees and gives her valuable jewels, etc to her friends and assume a sAthvika
form/dress.
She then goes and prostrates at AzhwAr and tells him that she wants to surrender to a
bhAgavatha who is performing confidential service to emperumAn. She approaches AzhwAr
and tells him, she can wait until AzhwAr comes back after his mAdhukaram (bhikshai). AzhwAr
agrees and she goes on to serve for some time eating the sEsha prasAdham of AzhwAr.
One day, when dhEva dhEvi was working in the garden, it rains heavily. So, she slowly enters
the Ashramam of vipranArAyaNar. Seeing her fully drenched, vipranArAyaNar gives his upper
cloth to her. After that vipranArAyAnar and dhEva dhEvi becomes intimate to each other like
butter and fire. The next day, she brings back her jewels and attractive clothes and wears them
and presents her beautiful form to him. He then becomes so attached to her and completely
forgets and gives up his kainkaryam itself. She shows some affection towards him for some

59

time and he becomes fully surrendered to her. After taking all his wealth away, she pushes him
out and asks him to leave her place. He then becomes very sad and stays at the entrance of
her house waiting for her to accept him. At that time, periya perumAL and periya pirAtti
happens to pass that street for their divine walk. pirAtti asks emperumAn who is that person
waiting at the entrance of the prostitute? and emperumAn replies that he is vipranArAyaNar
who was a kainkaryaparar for him and now has become mad on her and is suffering due to
that. pirAtti then initiates her purushkAram and asks emperumAn How can you leave a
confidential devotee even if he becomes attached to vishayAntharam? Please remove his
mAyai and bless him again to become a close servant of us. emperumAn agrees and he picks
up one of the gold utensils (part of the pancha pAthram used in thiruvArAdhanam) from his
sannidhi and goes to dhEva dhEvis house (in a different identify/form not as his own self)
and knocks at her door. When she opens the door and asks him who he was, he says, his
name is azhagiya maNavALan who is a messenger of vipranArAyaNar and tells her that he
gifted this gold utensil for her. She becomes very pleased and asks him to send
vipranArAyaNar inside. He then goes to vipranArAyaNar and informs him that dhEva dhEvi
invited him inside. Hearing these sweet words, he becomes very pleased and enters her house
and they become immersed in material pleasures yet again. periya perumAL returns to his
sannidhi and happily lies down on his AdhisEshan paryankam.
The next day, when the sannidhi is opened by the kainkaryaparars, they notice that one of the
utensils is missing and they inform that to the king. The king then becomes angry with the
kainkaryaparars for their negligence. When one of the maid servants goes to bring water from
the well, she hears one of her relatives being the target of the kings anger and so informs him
that vipranArAyaNar gave a gold utensil to dhEva dhEvi and it is under her pillow. That
kainkaryaparar informs that to the soldiers of the king and they Immediately go to dhEva
dhEvis place, locate the gold utensil and arrest both vipranArAyaNar and dhEva dhEvi. When
they are brought to the kings court, the king asks her Even if some one brings periya
perumALs utensil, how can you accept it? and she replies I dont know that this is perumALs
utensil; vipranArAyaNar sent this as his own utensil through his messenger named azhagiya
maNavALan and I accepted it without doubting it. vipranArAyaNar says that neither he has a
messenger nor he owns any gold utensil. Hearing these, the king slaps a fine on dhEva dhEvi
and releases her. He then offers to utensil back to emperumAn and asks his soldiers to keep
vipranArAyaNar in the jail until further investigation can be done in the robbery case.
pirAtti, looking at the incidents, requests emperumAn to make vipranArAyaNar an object of his
krupai instead of an object of his leelai. emperumAn at once agrees and appears in the dream
of the king that night. He tells the king that vipranArAyaNar is his confidential servant and
emperumAn enacted this leelai to remove his prArabdha karmam (for prapannas emperumAn
removes the sanchitha karmam during surrender and lets prArabdha karmam to be exhausted
by enjoying the results of it. sanchitha karmam means the whole baggage of piled of karmam;
prArabdha karmam means that which has started bearing fruits now and is being enjoyed
currently); Please release him and re-engage him in his previous kainkaryam of maintaining
garden and making me garlands. The king wakes up and realises the greatness of
vipranArAyaNar and at once orders his release and explains him the whole dream. He honours
vipranArAyaNar with great respect and wealth and sends him home. vipranArAyaNar then
realises the glories of emperumAn and his efforts to purify him, at once gives up all
attachments to material pleasures and accepts srIpAdha thIrtham of bhAgavathas (which is
considered as the prAyaschitham atonement for all sins).

60

After that, he becomes popularly known as thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr and bhakthAngri rENu
which means thoNda/bhaktha (devotee), adi/angri (lotus feet), podi/rENu (dust) the dust of
the lotus feet of emperumAns devotees. This is his unique greatness which is not seen in
any other AzhwArs he is the only one who has a name which reflects bhAgavatha
sEshathvam. Just like thiruvadi (hanumAn), iLaya perumAL (lakshmaNan) and nammAzhwAr
(satagOpan) who said they will not consider anything other emperumAn as worthy, AzhwAr
also said indhira lOkam ALum achchuvai perinum vENdEn (
) meaning I dont even want to think about
paramapadham I only want periya perumALs anubhavam in srIrangam. He also shows his
upakAra smrithi (gratitude) towards periya perumAL constantly for reforming him and becomes
fully attached to periya perumAL only unlike other AzhwArs who have travelled to and sung
many archAvathAra emperumAns. Looking at his unflinching faith and attachment towars him,
namperumAL also reciprocates such love towards him, blesses him with blemishless knowlege
and shows his names, forms, divine activities etc., of parathvAdhi panchakam (the 5 different
manifestations of emperumAn explained in http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-
anubhavam-parathvadhi.html) in thiruvarangam itself. Also, looking at his devotion, dhEva
dhEvi becomes purified and offers all her wealth to periya perumAL and constantly serves
emperumAn.
AzhwAr being fully situated in para bhakthi, para gyAna and parama bhakthi and fully
understanding that periya perumAL is everything for him, enjoys periya perumAL constantly
through thirumanthra anusandhAnam and nAma sankIrthanam. Understanding his divine
position, he declares that srivaishnavas need not fear for yaman. He says the servants of
yaman will look out for the thiruvadi of srivaishnavas while srivaishnavas will look out for the
thiruvadi of other srivaishnavas as their object of worship. Thus he sings thirumAlai infront of
periya perumAL just like saunaka rishi explained the glories of emperumAns divine names to
sadhAnandhar. Just like nammAzhwAr identified the defects of achith (24 elements: mUla
prakruthi; mahAn; ahankAram; manas; pancha jnAnEndhriyam, pancha karmEndhriyam,
pancha thanmAthrai, pancha bhUtham), AzhwAr also identifies the achith thathvam clearly as
puRam chuvar Ottai mAdam ( ) meaning this body is just the
outside wall and the AthmA is the in-dweller and controller. He then declares the svarUpam of
jIvAthmA as servant of emperumAns bhakthas in adiyarOrkku () meaning
this jIvAthmA is the servant of bhAgavathas. He, being a thirumanthra nishtar, reveals that
emperumAn is the only upAyam in the mEmporuL () pAsuram which is the
essence of thirumAlai prabhandham. Finally he declares that service to bhAgavathas is the
ultimate goal of srivaishNavas in the pAsurams following mEmporuL pAsuram and in the last
pAsuram of thiruppaLLiyeLuchi by requesting emperumAn as unnadiyArkkAtpaduththAy
() meaning make me subservient to your devotees. Thus, he
revealed these high principles in two divine prabhandhams named thirumAlai and
thirppaLLiyeLuchi for the upliftment of the whole world.
His thanian
thamEva mathvA paravAsudhEvam rangEchayam rAjavadharhaNiyam
prAbhOdhikIm yOkrutha sUkthimAlAm bhakthAngrirENum bhagavanthamIdE

61

thiruppANAzhwAr

thirunakshathram: kArthigai, rOhiNi
avathAra sthalam: uraiyUr
Works: amalanAdhipirAn
Place where he attained paramapadham: srIrangam
It is explained in pUrvAchArya charithram that ALavandhAr had special attachment towards
thiruppANAzhwAr who is also known muni vAhanar.
periyavAchAn piLLai, azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr and vEdhAnthAchAryar have
written beautiful vyAkyAnams for AzhwArs amalanAdhipirAn prabhandham.

62

azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr wonderfully glorifies the greatness of
thiruppANAzhwAr in his vyAkyAna avathArikai (introduction). Let us see that now.
mudhalAzhwArs are focussed on srIman nArAyaNans parathvam (supremacy) and also
touched upon his archAvathAram. kulasEkarAzhwAr is focussed on srIrAma anubhavam like
srI vAlmIki bhagavAn and also engaged in archAvathAram. Like vEdha vyAsa bhagavAn,
nammAzhwAr, periyAzhwAr and ANdAL are focussed on krishNa anubhavam and also
enjoyed archAvathAram. thirumazhisai AzhwAr is focussed on dhEvathAnthara parathva
nirasanam (removing any thought of attachment towards other dhEvathais as supreme) and
also engaged in archAvathAram. thirumangai AzhwAr is focussed on all archAvathAram
emperumAns by visiting each one of them and glorifying them. But he also constantly inter-
exchanged vibhava avathArams (srI rAman, krishNan, etc) and archAvathArams at various
places. thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr fully engaged in enjoying periya perumAL (srI ranganAthan)
but at the same time, in his pAsurams, he showed his own limitations, engaged in upadhEsam
for others, etc.
thiruppANAzhwAr being in a totally different level than other AzhwArs, is fully focussed on
enjoying archAvathAra emperumAn alone, that too periya perumAL. Since katavalli
(upanishadh) declares archAvathAram is the complete manifestation of emperumAn, AzhwAr
engaged in simply glorifying periya perumAL.
Just like krishNan gave divine eyes to arjunan and showed him his viswarUpam and like he
attracted akrUrar, mAlAkArar, etc by showing his beauty, magnanimity, etc., periya perumAL
even though being in archA samAdhi (where he does not interact with ordinary people), he
showed AzhwAr his beauty and AzhwAr at once enjoys it through out the divine form of periya
perumAL.
Since AzhwAr was born in panchama kulam, naichyam (humility) is janma sidhdham (natural
by birth). So, he did not have to assume naichyam like other AzhwArs since he naturally had it.
He himself considers himself as outside four varNams (as panchama) and periya perumAL
also considers himself as outside four varNams (as nithyasUri).
Just like thiruvadi (hanuman) declared to srI rAman that he wants to constantly be immersed in
rAma anubhavam and did not want to even go to paramapadham, AzhwAr also only wanted to
be immersed in periya perumALs anubhavam and nothing else.
Because of his greatness, just like srI rAman sent sugrIva mahArAjar to bring srI
vibhIshaNAzhwAn over to him, periya perumAL sends srI lOka sAranga mahAmuni to bring
AzhwAr over to periya kOil. When srI lOka sAranga mahAmuni invites AzhwAr, AzhwAr out of
humility refuses to enter the kshEthram. So, mahAmuni then insists him and carries him on his
shoulders and brings him over to periya perumAL. AzhwAr sings 9 pAsurams of his dhivya
prabhandham amalanAdhipirAn on the way and completes the 10th pAsuram inside the main
sannidhi in srIrangam and at once reaches the divine abode of paramapadham to be with
paramapadhanAthan and all the nithyas/mukthas eternally glorifying him.
We have already seen mAmunigaLs glorification of AzhwAr in
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-thiruppanazhwar.html.

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thiruppANAzhwArs charithram starts with uraiyUr kamala valli nAchiyAr charithram (since they
both are born in this dhivyadhEsam).
It is said that whoever breathes cauvEri rivers air, they will get mOksham what to speak
about the ones who live on the banks of that river. nichuLApuri (uraiyUr) is one such kingdom
on the banks of cauvEry which had great temples, palaces, etc. There was a king named
chOLa bhUpathi coming in sUrya vamsam who was ruling very virtuously. Like srI
mahAlakshmi appeared from samudhra rAjan (king of kShIrAbdhi), nILA dhEvi (consort of
paramapadhanAthan) appears as uraiyUr nAchiyAr as the daughter of dharmavarmA who is
very attached to namperumAL (srI ranganAthan). She grew up always contemplating on
namperumAL and once she became matured, she went to a garden in the kingdom. At that
time namperumAL arrives at the same place for hunting. Seeing him, uraiyUr nAchiyAr
becomes greatly attached and informs her father that she would marry only namperumAL.
dharmavarmA, greatly joyed hearing that, goes to namperumAL and informs that to him.
namperumAL being very pleased to hear that, accepts that and orders him to arrange for the
wedding. A grand wedding happens, where dharmavarmA gives uraiyUr nAchiyAr to
namperumAL like janakarAjan gave sIthA pirAtti to srI rAman. The king gives great wealth to
namperumAL as srIdhanam and continues ruling the kingdom.
At that time, thiruppANAzhwAr appears on kArthigai, rOhiNi in panchama kulam as some one
who has performed all his duties (and have no more obligations to any one). Looking at his
glories, it is said by garuda vAhana pandithar in dhivya sUri charitham that he is like the
srIvathsam (divine mole on srIman nArAyaNans chest) though all AzhwArs are hand-picked
by emperumAn from samsAram and divinely blessed by him with blemishless knowledge.
jAyamANam hi purusham yam pachyEN madhusUdhaNa:
sAthvikassa thu vijnYEyas sa vai mOkshArththa chiNthaka:
:
:
When madhusUdhanan emperumAn blesses a jIvAthmA during his birth, he will be born with
pure sathva guNam. Such jIvAthmA will be fully focussed on mOksham only.
As said in the above slOkam in mahAbhAratham, as emperumAn blesses AzhwAr during his
birth, he was born with pure sathva guNam and was like nAradha bhagavAn (who had great
attachment towards emperumAn and is constantly glorifying him) and like nampAduvAn (one
who was engaged in singing and glorifying thirukkurungudi nambi) who relieved the brahma
rakshas (brAhmaNa who became a rAkshasa) from all of his sins as explained in kaisika
purANam. From his glories, it looked like a nithya sUri took birth to specifically sing and glorify
emperumAn. Following varNAshrama dharmam, without stepping into srIrangam, everyday, he
stays in the south side of the river and facing srI ranganAthan, as some one fully surrendered
to srIman nArAyaNan who has sudharshana chakram on his right hand, constantly sings and
glorifies periya perumAL with great natural emotions. periya perumAL also enjoys AzhwArs
singing and glorification with great pleasure.

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Once, srI lOka sAranga mahAmuni arrives to the place where AzhwAr is present to bring
thIrtham (water) for kainkaryam. He sees AzhwAr being fully immersed in anubhavam, but
considering his birth, he asks him to move away so that he can fetch water. AzhwAr being
immersed in bhagavath anubhavam, does not hear/realize mahAmunis words. mahAmuni
throws a stone towards AzhwAr which hits him on his forehead and blood starts oozing out.
Realizing his action, AzhwAr at once feels very bad for interrupting mahAmunis kainkaryam,
asks for forgiveness and moves away quickly. lOka sAranga mahAmuni then bathes,
performance his nithya karmAnuushtAnams and brings water for periya perumAL kainkaryam
also along with chathram (umbrella), chAmaram (fan), mELam (drum), thALam, etc (as it is
customary do so while bring thIrtham for emperumAn). periya perumAL being distressed with
lOka sAranga munis action, nAchiyAr asks perumAL How can we allow pAN perumAL (as
AzhwAr is affectionately called) to be outside our sannidhi?, periya perumAL at once shuts his
sannidhi doors and with anger asks lOka sAranga muni How can you do this to my dear
devotee?. lOka sArangar realizes his mistake immediately and is upset with himself very
much. He then asks periya perumAL I have done this great bhAgavatha apachAram
(offense). How can I be saved from this great mistake?. periya perumAL replies out of great
mercy towards pAN perumAL and his total independence (of not anyone being able to
question him) that You now go and bring him her by carrying him on your shoulders with great
devotion in his dream that night. lOka sArangar wakes up early in the morning and thinks that
this day is a great day for him as akrUra thought adhyamE sapalam jaNma suprabhAthA cha
mE NichA ( ) meaning Today my life
became meaningful and it is a great dawn for me today when kamsan asked him to go and
bring balarAman/krishNan to mathurA. He went to the cauvery river along with pure hearted
devotees, took bathe and performed his nithyAnushtAnams.
As said in sudhUramapi gaNdhavyam yathra bhAgavathas sthitha: (
:) meaning even if a bhAgavatha is staying in a far
away place, one should go to him (and serve him), lOka sAranga muni goes to
thiruppANAzhwAr who is standing farther than srIrangam. AzhwAr is facing the direction of
srIrangam which is covered with beautiful gardens, etc and glorifying srI ranganAthan. lOka
sAranga muni falls at the lotus feet of AzhwAr and requests him to enter srIrangam as per the
orders of namperumAL. AzhwAr refuses and says he is taken a very lowly birth, not being born
in the chatur varNam and is unfit to place his lotus feet in srIrangam. srI lOkasAranga muni, at
once says, Oh yes! You cannot keep your lotus feet on srI rangam, but you can certainly climb
my shoulders and I can carry you directly to srI ranganAthan. I insist you do so according to
periya perumALs orders. AzhwAr being totally surrendered to bhagavAn and bhAgavathAs,
unable to refuse periya perumAL and lOka sArangars words, accepts those words and begins
contemplating emperumAns most merciful favours for him and gives up all responsibilities and
submits to lOka sAranga muni. srI lOka sAranga mahAmunI, being overjoyed, lifts AzhwAr up
and places him on his shoulders and carries him towards srI rangam just like AdhivAhikars (the
ones who lead jIvAthmA during their final journey towards paramapadham) bring the
jIvAthmAs who are becoming mukthas to the thirumAmaNi mandapam (divine mandapam
decorated with divine jewels where paramapadhanAthan is seated with his dhivya mahishIs
and nithyasUris).
Note: This charithram is shown beautifully by azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr in
AchArya hrudhayam 85th chUrNikai.

65

lOka sAranga mahAmuni, thiruppANAzhwAr, namperumAL
periya perumAL manifests his divine form which is shown to nithyasUris in front of AzhwAr and
AzhwAr starts reciting amalanAdhipirAn with beautiful music from his divine vINai and sings 9
pAsurams outside the sannidhi. Once he enters the sannidhi of periya perumAL, periya
perumAL manifests in front of him beautifully as explained in srIranga mAhAthmiyam as
follows:
brahmA worshipped srI ranganAthan who is beautifully decorated with a crown, shoulder
bangles, beautiful ear rings made of diamonds and precious routines, wearing beautiful
necklace and garlands made of pure pearls, his broad chest which is shining with srI
kausthuba jewel, his greatly masculine chest which is the eternal dwelling place of
srImahAlakshmi, wearing a beautiful yellow garment which shines like molten gold, wearing a
beautiful waist belt, wearing beautiful anklets in his lotus feet, wearing beautiful and soft
yagyOpavItham, gracefully having one hand as support for his head and stretching the other
hand towards his lotus feet, having slightly bent and raised lotus feet, having beautiful and long
form, having raised shoulders and beautifully decorated, and lying down on
thiruvananthAzhwAn (AdhisEshan).
AzhwAr after entering the sannidhi of such magnificent emperumAn who is worshipped by
everyone starting from brahmA, just like an infant will only look for the breast of the mother
which sustains the infant, AzhwAr looks for the lotus feet because the surrendered ones
always sustain by meditating and praying at the lotus feet of the master. This is why AzhwAr
also stated in his first pAsuram itself that aranGgaththammAn thirukkamalapAdham vaNdhu

66

en kanNnNinuLLana okkinRathE (
) meaning my master srI ranganAthans lotus feet reaches
out and enters into my eyes. arangaththammAn indicates sEshithvam (emperumAn being
master), kamalam (lotus) indicates bhOgyathvam (enjoyable) and pAdham indicates
upAyathvam (way to attain the goal). periyAzhwAr also glorified emperumAn from his lotus feet
to head in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 2nd padhigam in 20 pAsurams. Like wise,
thiruppANAzhwAr being brought over by lOka sAranga mahAmuni by the divine orders of
periya perumAL, enjoyed periya perumALs lotus feet to head fully and the overflowing
emotions resulted in the dhivya prabhandham named amalanAdhipirAn which gives the
essence of our sampradhAyam thirumanthra artham the detailed explanation of
thirumanthram. periya perumAL accepted thiruppANAzhwAr at once with the same thirumEni
and in front of every one AzhwAr ascended to parampadham through the lotus feet of periya
perumAL.
His thanian
ApAtha chUdam anubhUya harim chayAnam
madhyE kavEra hithur mudhithAnthrAthmA
adhrahtruthAm nayanayOr vishayANtharANAm
yO nischikAya manavai munivAhananm tham
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-thiruppanazhwar.html.

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thirumangai AzhwAr

thirunakshathram: kArthigai, kArthigai
avathAra sthalam: thirukkuraiyalUr
AchAryan: vishwaksEnar, thirunaRaiyUr nambi, thriukkaNNapuram sauri perumAL
Sishyas: His brother-in-law iLayAzhwAr, parakAla sishyar, nIrmEl nadappAn, thALUthuvAn,
thOrA vazhakkan, nizhalil maRaivAn, uyarath thonguvAn,
Works: periya thirumozhi, thirukkuRunthANdagam, thiruvezhukkURRirukkai, siriya thirumadal,
periya thirumadal, thiruneduNthANdagam
Place where he attained paramapadham: thirukkuRungudi

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periyavAchAn piLLais introduction to thirumangai AzhwAr brings out the essence sAsthram,
i.e., emperumAn out of his causeless mercy reforms AzhwAr and thereby uplifts many
jIvAthmAs through him. Let us see that now.
thirumangai AzhwAr had kept his AthmA (himself) in the hot sun and the body in the pleasing
shadow. Keeping AthmA in hot sun means not engaging in bhagavath vishayam (spiritual
matters) and keeping body in pleasing shadow means being attached to materialistic
aspirations since time immemorial and having that as the goal in life. The real shadow is
bhagavath vishayam only as it is said in vAsudhEva tharuch chAyA (
) meaning vAsudhEvan (krishNan) is the real shadow giving tree. He is the
original/only pleasing tree which gives shadow that pleases us everywhere and all the time,
This shadow can destroy any thApam (anguish) and is neither too hot nor too cold. Because
thirumangai AzhwAr was very attached to vishyAntharam (material aspirations) which were
pleasing to the eyes, emperumAn diverts his attachment from vishayAntharam to the many
dhivyadhEsams and archAvathAra emperumAns who are most pleasing to the eyes and
makes his mind fully fixed on archAvathAra emperumAns and gives him full anubhavam that
AzhwAr cannot sustain himself without seeing emperumAn even for a moment. Further more,
emperumAn converts him to be at the stage of nithyas/mukthas while he is here in this
samsAram, develops his urge to reach paramapadham and ultimately benedicts him with
paramapadha prApthi also.
AzhwAr understands that emperumAn only looked for AzwArs adhvEsham (that is bhagavAn
is trying to help jIvAthmA every moment and jIvAthmA is rejecting his help since time
immemorial, the moment jIvAthmA stops rejecting, that is enough for emperumAn to uplift the
jIvAthmA this adhvEsham is explained as adhikAri visEshaNam meaning a natural attribute
of the jIvAthmA) and the limitations of material aspirations to reform AzhwAr, AzhwArs taste
for material aspirations as the key (and diverted that taste towards emperumAn) and AzhwArs
sins from time immemorial as the target of emperumAns mercy and blessed AzhwAr by first
revealing the thirumanthram and emperumAns svarUpa (true nature), rUpa (forms), guNa
(divine qualities) and vibhUthi (wealth). AzhwAr being overwhelmed by these favours of
emperumAn, at once starts glorifying thirumanthram in his periya thirumozhi out of gratitude. It
is the svarUpam of chith (sentient beings) to manifest the knowledge and insentient being
devoid of knowledge cannot appreciate anything. Thus to demonstrate his gratitude and glorify
emperumAns archAvathArams, AzhwAr sings these many divine prabhanahdams.
Thus periyavAchAn piLLai establishes the nirhEthuka krupai (causeless mercy) of emperumAn
and upAya sUnyathvam (devoid of performing any positive act to get the mercy of
emperumAn) of AzhwAr in this vyAkyAna avathArikai. But once AzhwAr was divinely blessed
by emperumAn, his attachment towards emperumAn becomes unparallel as he himself
declares in periya thirumozhi 4.9.6 NummadiyArOdum okka enNnNiyiruththIr adiyEnai
( ) dont consider me like
other adiyArs.
We have already seen more of periyavAchAn piLLais glorification of AzhwAr and
mAmunigaLs glorification of AzhwAr in http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-
anubhavam-thirumangai.html.

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emperumAnAr (srI rAmAnujar) was declared by amudhanAr in rAmAnuja nURRanthAdhi, 2nd
pAsuram as kuraiyal pirAnadikkIzh viLLAtha anban (
) meaning one who had unflinching attachment on thirumangai AzhwArs thiruvadi.
mAmunigaL, while visiting thiruvAli-thirunagari dhivyadhEsams, was so attracted to the
enchanting beauty of AzhwArs divine thiumEni saundharyam (beauty of the form) and at once
submitted a pAsuram which most beautifully brings out the graceful form in front of our eyes.
Let us enjoy that now:

anNaiththa vElum, thozhukaiyum, azhuNthiya thiruNAmamum,
OmenRa vAyum, uyarNtha mUkkum, kuLirNtha mukamum,
paraNtha vizhiyum, irunNda kuzhalum, churunNda vaLaiyamum,
vadiththa kAthum, malarNtha kAthu kAppum, thAzhNtha cheviyum,
cheRiNtha kazhuththum, aganRa mArbum, thiranNda thOLum,
NeLiththa muthugum, kuviNtha idaiyum, allikkayiRum,
azhuNdhiya chIrAvum, thUkkiya karunGkOvaiyum,
thonGgalum, thani mAlaiyum, chAththiya thiruththanNdaiyum,
chathirAna vIrakkazhalum, kuNthiyitta kanNaikkAlum,

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kuLira vaiththa thiruvadi malarum, maruvalartham udal thunNiya
vALvIchum parakAlan manGgaimannarAna vadivE enRum
, , ,
, , ,
, , ,
, , ,
, , ,
, , ,
, ,
, , ,
, ,
,

parakAlan/mangai mannans divine form is always in my heart. This form is narrated as the
one with the spear that is supported by the shoulder, the hands which are worshipping
emperumAn, the beautiful Urdhva puNdram, the mouth which is saying Om, Sharp/slightly
raised nose, cooling face, broad eyes, blackish hairs which are beautifully curled, ears which
are perfectly built and which are slightly bent (to hear ashtAkshara mahAmanthram from
emperumAn), well rounded neck, broad chest, strong shoulders, well shaped upper back,
narrow waist, beautiful garlands, wonderful anklets, knees which reflect AzhwArs valour,
slightly slanting divine lotus feet and the sword which will destroy all enemies. We can easily
declare that kaliyans archA vigraham in thiruvAli-thirunagari is the most beautiful one in the
entire creation.
AzhwAr is also known as parakAlan, kaliyan, neelan, kalidhvamsan, kavilOka dhivAkaran,
chathushkavi sikAmaNi, shat prabhandha kavi, kalivairi, nAlukavip perumAL, thiruvAvIrudaiya
perumAn, mangaiyar kOn, aruL mAri, mangai vEndhan, AlinAdan, arattmukki, adaiyAr sIyam,
kongu malark kuzhaliyarvEL, koRRa vEndhan, koRRavEl mangai vEndhan.
AzhwAr takes birth in thirukkuraiyalUr (near thiruvAli-thirunagari) as an amsam of kArmuka in
chathurtha varNam and was named as neelan (dark complexioned) as identified in dhivya sUri
charitham of garuda vAhana pandithar.
While he grew up in his child hood without any attachment to bhagavath vishayam, once he
became a youth he became very materialistic. He had a strong body and great fighting skills
with knowledge in handling many weapons and thus went to the chOla bhUpathi (the king of
the region) and requests him to include him in his army. The king being pleased with neelans
abilities appoints him as a commander of his army and gives a small region to rule.

71

In the mean time, in thiruvAli dhivya dhEsam, in a beautiful pond, some apsaras sthrIs
(dancing gilrs from dhEva lOkam, etc) comes to play in the water. One such girl named
thirumAmagaL (kumudhavalli) goes to fetch some flowers and her friends leave the place
forgetting about her. She accepts a manushya sarIram (human form) and looks for some help.
A srIvaishnava vaidhyan (doctor) comes by that side and enquires about him and she informs
that her friends left her alone and the whole incident. Since he did not have any children, he
happily brings her home and introduces her to his wife and they both happily accept her as
their daughter and starts raising her. Seeing her beauty, some people go and inform about her
to neelan and becoming very attached to her beauty, at once he goes to the bhAgavatha
vaidhyar and starts a conversation. At that time, kumudhavalli goes by and the vaidhyar tells
neelan that he is worried about marrying this girl to a proper man since he does not know her
kulam, gOthram, etc. neelan at once tells the vaidhyar that he wants to marry her and offers
him great wealth. The vaidhyar and his wife agrees to marry her to him but kumudhavalli puts
forth a condition saying she will only marry a srivaishnava who has had pancha samskAram
from an AchAryan. As it is said that an intelligent person will perform good things immediately,
neelan at once runs to thirunariyUr and goes in front of thirunariyUr nambi and asks him to
bless with panca samskAram. emperumAn out of his divine grace performs him sanka chakra
lAnchanam and thirumanthra upadhEsam.
It is said in padhma purANam that
sarvaich chvEthamruthA dhAryam UrdhvapunNdram yathAvidhi
rujuNi sANtharALANi hyanGgEshu dhvAdhachasvapi

Urdhva puNdram must be applied in 12 parts of the body, facing upwards with proper gaps in
between and using white colored sand from dhivya dhEsams.
Thus AzhwAr returned to kumudhavalli, wearing dvAdhasa urdhva puNdram and asks
kumudhavalli to marry him. kumudhavalli says that she will marry him, but will accept him as
husband only when AzhwAr performs thadhiyArAdhanam for one full year for 1008
srIvaishnavas every day without fail. AzhwAr agrees for the condition out of his attachment
towards kumudhavalli and they both are married in a grand ceremony.
It is said in padhma purANam that:
ArAdhaNANAm sarvEshAm vishnNOr ArAdhaNam param
thasmAth paratharam prOktham thadhIyArAdhaNam NrUpa

Oh King! Worshipping vishNu is considered to be greater than worshipping any one else.
Worshipping vishNu bhakthas is considered even greater than vishNu himself.

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As per the above pramANam, AzhwAr started performing thadhIyArAdhanam (feeding
srivaishnavas with sumptuous prasAdham everyday) using all his wealth. Looking at that,
some people go and complain to the king that parakAlan (AzhwAr) is spending all the wealth of
the kingdom by just feeding the srIvaishnavas. The king sends his soldiers to bring AzhwAr to
his court, but AzhwAr just speaks pleasantly to them and keeps them waiting. The soldiers
insist that AzhwAr should pay his tax for the king, and AzhwAr becomes angry and pushes
them out. The soldiers return to the king and inform him about the incidents. The king orders
the commander-in-chief to go with the full army and arrest him. The commander brings a big
army with him and attacks AzhwAr. AzhwAr being most powerful and brave responds back and
drives the commander and his army out of their region. The commander returns to the king
and informs AzhwArs victory. The strong king himself decides to fight with AzhwAr and brings
his big army with him and attacks AzhwAr. AzhwAr again demonstrates his bravery and easily
destroys the kings army. The king becomes very pleased with AzhwArs bravery, declares
peace and hails his glories. Trusting the king, AzhwAr goes near him, but the king cunningly
arrests him through his minister and asks him to pay the pending tax. The minister brings
AzhwAr and jails him inside a temple of emperumAn and AzhwAr fasts without taking any food
for 3 days. It is said that, at that time, nAchiyAr of thirunaraiyUr tells thirunaraiyUr nambi that
she cannot witness AzhwAr starving and brings some prasAdham to him. AzhwAr just stays
fully surrendered to periya perumAL and thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn and keeps meditating on
them.
dhEva perumAL of kAnchipuram appears in the dream of AzhwAr at that time and informs him
that there is a great treasure in kAnchipuram which will be given to him if he comes there.
AzhwAr informs this to the king and king arranges AzhwAr to visit kAnchipuram along with
great security. AzhwAr reaching kAnchipuram, does not find the wealth and dhEva perumAL
being the one who gives everything to his devotees, appears in AzhwArs dream again and
shows him the location of treasure on the banks of river vEgavathI. AzhwAr locates the
treasure, gives the kings share and returns back to thirukkuraiyalUr to continue with his
thadhIyArAdhanam. Again after some time, the king sends his soldiers to collect tax, and again
AzhwAr becomes filled with sorrow and again dhEva perumAL appears in his dream and
instructs him to gather the sand from vEgavathi river and present that to the soldiers. When the
soldiers receive the sand, it appears like invaluable grains to them. They happily carry that to
the king and explains him all the details. The king then understands the greatness of AzhwAr,
invites him to his court again, begs for forgiveness and submits great wealth to him. To atone
for the offenses he committed to AzhwAr, the king spends his wealth by doing charities to
dhEvas and brAhmaNas.
AzhwAr continued his thadhIyArAdhanam and his wealth eventually became exhausted. He
then decides to continue the kainkaryam even by robbing wealthy people who pass by his
region. He robs the wealth people and performs thadhIyArAdhanam with great devotion.
sarvEsvaran, thinking that, even if he is robbing the wealthy people, atleast he is spending the
money in feeding srIvaishnavas thus being situated in charama purushArtham (ultimate goal),
decides to uplift him from samsAram by blessing him with divine blemishless knowledge. As it
is said that srIman nArAyaNan takes a human form (as AchAryan) and with the help of
sAsthram uplifts the jIvAthmA who suffers in the samsAram, emperumAn starts going towards
AzhwArs place along with nAchiyAr with wedding costumes as vayalAli maNavALan with
beautiful ornaments and with a big wedding party. AzhwAr, being excited at the opportunity of
getting a big bounty, surrounds the emperumAn with his wedding party and robs them of

73

everything. Finally, AzhwAr bites off the toe ring from emperumAns lotus feet and emperumAn
being greatly amazed at AzhwArs valour proclaims Nam kaliyanO ( )
meaning Are you my kaliyan? (kaliyan means one who is great in valour).

After that, AzhwAr prepares a big bundle of ornaments and wealth and tries to lift them up but
is unable to do so. He looks at the bridegroom (emperumAn) and tells him that you have
recited some manthram which is stopping me from lifting this. emperumAn agrees that there is
a manthram and says that he can reveal it to AzhwAr if we wants to hear that. AzhwAr shows
his sword and says that he wants to hear it immediately. emperumAn reveals the
thirumanthram to AzhwAr which is most pleasing to hear, which is full in all meanings, which
establishes the ultimate goal to be attained, which is the essence of all vEdhams, which can
uplift one from this samsAram which is full of sorrows, which can benedict the reciter with
ishvaryam (happiness in this world), kaivalyam (enjoying ones own self) and bhagavath
kainkaryam. This thirumanthram is glorified in sAsthram as follows:
vruttha hArItha sruthi
ruchO yajumshi sAmANi thathaiva atharvanNANi cha
sarvam ashtAksharANthasththam yachchANyadhapi vAnGmayam


74

All the meanings of rg, yajur, sAma, atharvaNa vEdhams and their upabruhmaNams are
contained in ashtaksharam itself.
nAradhIya purANam
sarvavEdhANtha sArArththas samsArArnNava thAraka:
gathir ashtAksharO NrunNAm apuNarbhavakAnGkshinNAm
:

For the one who desires to attain salvation, ashtAksharam which is the essence of all
vEdhAntham and one that can help cross the ocean of samsAram is the only refuge.
nArAyaNa upanishadh
OmithyagrE vyAharEth, Nama ithi pachchAth, NArAyanNAyEthyuparishtAth,
OmithyEkAksharam, Nama ithi dhvE aksharE, NArAyanNAyEthi panYchAksharAnNi
, , r,
, ,
Om should be recited first, followed by Nama: and NArAyaNAya; Om has one letter, nama: is
made of two letters and NArAyaNAya is made of 5 letters (thus this manthram contains 8
letters and called ashtAksharam). Thus sAsthram gives the exact structure of ashtAksharam
and how it should be recited without any doubt.
nAradhIya purANam
maNthrAnNAm paramO maNthrO guhyANAm guhyamuththamam
pavithranYcha pavithrAnNAm mUlamaNthras saNAthaNa:

:
ashtAkshara mahA manthram is the greatest manthram among all manthrams, most
confidential one amongst the confidential manthrams, the purest one among the pure
manthrams and is the eternal/ancient one.
Beyond all of these, this ashtAkshara mahA manthram is the one which is accepted by
pUrvAchAryas who are great intellectuals as said in thirumozhi 7.4.4 as pErALan pErOdhum
periyOr ( r) meaning the great personalities who recite the
names of emperumAn. Also, AzhwAr himself reveals in the first padhigam of periya thirumozhi
itself as peRRa thAyinum Ayina cheyyum Nalamtharum chollai NAn kanNdu konNdEn

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(
) meaning I found the manthram that will do me good even better than ones
own mother.
After hearing the thirumanthram from emperumAn, emperumAn then shows him his divine
form along with srImahAlakshmi who is mercy personified on the divine garudAzhwAr whose
body shines like beautiful gold. He also blesses AzhwAr with divine blemishless knowledge out
of his nirhEthuka krupai (causeless mercy). AzhwAr, after seeing all of those and
understanding the blessing of emperumAn, which was triggered by srImahAlakshmi thAyArs
purushakAram, blesses everyone with 6 prabhandhams periya thirumozhi,
thirukkuRunthANdakam, thiruvezhukkURRirukkai, siriya thirumadal, periya thirumadal and
thirunedunthANdakam which are considered as 6 angams for nammAzhwArs four dhivya
prabhandhams. His prabhandhams are made of different forms of poetry Asu, madhuram,
chitham and vistharam and thus became to be famously known as nAlu kavip perumAL.
emperumAn finally orders AzhwAr to go to various dhivyadhEsams along with his sishyas and
perform mangaLAsAsanam to various dhivya dhEsa archAvathAra emperumAns and
disappears. AzhwAr along with his ministers and sishyas, starts his dhivyadhEsa yAthrai, takes
bathe in many divine rivers and performs mangaLAsAsanam at srI bhadhrAchalam,
simhAchalam, srI kUrmam, srI purushOththamam (puri jagannAth), gayA, gOkulam,
vrndhAvanam, mathurA, dhvArakA, ayOdhyA, badhrikAshram, kAnchipuram, thiruvEnkatam,
etc. He arrives at chOLa mandalam, his sishyas exclaim his glories chathush kavi has
arrived, kaliyan has arrived, parakAlan has arrived, One who won over all other mathams
have arrived, etc. A saiva scholar/bhakthar named thirugyAna sambandhar was living there at
that time and his sishyas object to the glories of AzhwAr. AzhwAr at once says he will debate
with sambandhar and establish nArAyaNa parathvam (supremacy). They bring him over to
sambandhars residence and informs him about the same and he agrees to debate with
AzhwAr. Since, the whole place/town was filled with avaishnavas and since there is no
vigraham (form) of emperumAn, AzhwAr is unable to start speaking and starts worrying about
the situation. At that time, he notices a srivaishnava lady and asks her to bring her
thiruvArAdhana perumAL (vigraham). She brings her emperumAn who is krishNan and brings
him over to sambandhars place and starts the debate. sambandhar recites a poem and
AzhwAr finds fault in that. sambandhar then challenges AzhwAr to recite a poem and AzhwAr
recites oru kuraLAi padhigam (periya thirumozhi 7.4) on thAdALan emperumAn (kAzhi
chIrAma viNNagaram sIrgAzhi). sambandhar unable to respond back for that great
padhigam which is perfectly and beautifully composed wonders about the greatness of AzhwAr
and accepts his glories and worships him.
AzhwAr desires to visit srIrangam and perform mangaLAsAsanam and kainkaryam to
srIranganAthan. It is said in bhrahmAnda purANam that:
vimANam pranNavAkAram vEdhachrunGgam mahAdhbhutham
srIranGgachAyI bhagavAN pranNavArththa prakAchaka:

:

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The most marvelous srIrangavimAnam is a manifestation of OmkAram; Its peak is vEdham
itself. bhagavAn srIranganAthan is manifesting himself as the ultimate meaning of praNavam
(which is the essence of thirumanthram).
AzhwAr wanting to build a fort around the temple, discusses with his sishyas about getting the
wealth to build the same. They reply that there is a vigraham of an avaidhiha matham in
nAgapattinam which is fully made of gold and if we can acquire that we can do a lot of
kainkaryam using that. AzhwAr at once leaves to nAgappattinam and finds a lady and asks her
if there is any secret information in that town. She says that her mother-in-law use to say that
there is a golden vigraham (deity) and the architect who made that vigraham and the most
protective vimAnam where the vigraham is kept, lives in a different dvIpam (island/region of
bhUlOkam). AzhwAr at once leaves to that place along with his sishyas and enquire about the
architect who is comparable to vishwakarmA (the chief architect of dhEvas). The people direct
AzhwAr to the palace which is huge and beautiful and AzhwAr reaches the palace. Along with
his sishyas he started discussing about various things outside the palace and at that time the
architect steps outside after finishing his bathing and meal. Seeing him, AzhwAr strategically
says with great sorrow that Oh! Some invaders came and destroyed the temple in
nAgappattinam and took away the golden vigraham. Why are we still living in this world?.
Hearing this, the architect feels great pain, starts crying out loud and says It must be one of
the mischievous sculptors who revealed the secret to open the peak of the vimAnam through
which any one can enter there. I made the most complicated key a twisted iron chain inside a
stone and kept that under the slab where the water falls and how did they break that? thus
revealing the actual secret unknowingly.
AzhwAr along with his sishyas, at once leaves the place happily since the secret is known, and
reached the seashore to return to nAgappattinam. He sees a virtuous merchant who is
boarding his ship with a huge shipment of nuts (pAkku) and blesses him and requests him to
leave them in the other side of the sea. He agrees and they all board the ship and begin the
journey. On the way, AzhwAr picks up a nut, cuts it into half and gives it to the merchant and
tells him that he will accept it back at the end of the journey and asks him to give a small chit
with his signature saying that I owe AzhwAr half the nut of my ship. The merchant does so
and after reaching nAgappattinam, AzhwAr asks him to give half the load of the expensive nuts
in the ship (to use that in kainkaryam for srIrangam temple). The merchant is shocked and
refuse to do so. They both argue and decide to go bring all the merchants together to get a
neutral judgement and all the merchants declare that the merchant should give half the
shipment to AzhwAr. The merchant without any choice gives the money for half the shipment
to AzhwAr and leaves.
AzhwAr and his sishyas then go to the temple and hide there until the night. In the night they
break open the slab, retrieve the key, go to top of the vimAnam and opens the entrance by
rotating it both sides and see the most shining vigraham. Seeing AzhwAr, the vigraham says
IyaththAl AgAthO irumbinAl AgAthO, bhUyaththAl mikkathoru bhUthaththAl AgAthO,
thEyathEy piththaLai NaRchembugaLAlAgAthO, mAyappon vEnNumO mathiththennaip
panNnNugaikkE ( ,
, ,
) meaning Could you
not just use iron, copper, bronze, etc? You needed me to be made of divine gold so that you

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can come and use me in kainkaryam for bhagavAn. AzhwAr then gets his brother-in-law to
fetch the vigraham and leaves the place with all of them.
In the next morning, they reach a small town, where in a small farm land which was just
ploughed, AzhwAr buries the virgaham for safety and rests there. When the farmers arrive
there and start ploughing the field, they find the vigraham and declare that it was theirs.
AzhwAr says it was his forefathers who buried it under the field. A debate follows and AzhwAr
finally says that he will show a document in the next morning proving his ownership and the
farmers agree and leave the place. AzhwAr and his sishyas, after sunset, leave the place with
the vigraham, reaches uththamar kOil dhivya dhEsam and store the vigraham safely there. In
the meantime, the temple incharge in nAgappattinam along with the local leaders come to
know about the stealing of the vigraham and traces it upto the farm land where it was buried
and finally reaches uththamar kOil. When they ask AzhwAr for the vigraham, he first says he
does not know anything about the vigraham but subsequently says that he will restore the
vigraham fully upto the finger to them in panguni month after the rainy season. He writes a
document to that effect, signs that and gives that to them with his signature and they accept
that and leave. AzhwAr immediately melts the vigraham, sells it to get money and starts
building the fort around srIrangam temple. He runs into the nandhavanam (garden) which was
setup by thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr and he carefully leaves that area un-disturbed with great
reverence and builds the fort around the area. Being very pleased with thirumangai AzhwArs
act, thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr names his gardening tool (shear/fork) as aruLmAri (one of the
names of thirumangai AzhwAr) with great affection. Thus AzhwAr performed many such
kainkaryams and showed his gratitude to emperumAn.
After the rainy season, they come back looking for the vigraham. He asks them to read the
document and as written in the document he returns a small finger. A debate rages and they
go to the mediators and the mediators give their judgement that according to the agreement in
the document, they can accept the finger and leave. They understand AzhwArs smartness
and leave without even accepting anything. AzhwAr subsequently invites the architects of that
temple and tells them that he wants to give some wealth to them and that wealth is in a nearby
island. He gets them all boarded on a boat and after going some distance in the water, he
signals to boatman, who jumps into a smaller boat along with AzhwAr and tilts the boat that
carries all the architects and drowns them. AzhwAr returns to his place and the grand children
of the architects arrive there and enquire about their grandfathers. AzhwAr tells them that he
showed them great wealth in the island and they are packing them to bring them along over
here. The grandchildren suspecting AzhwAr, tells him that they would not leave unless their
grandfathers are brought back to life and returned to them. AzhwAr becomes very worried and
srIranganAthan appears in his dream and tells him Do not worry anymore. He then asks all of
them to go to Cauvery river, take a bath there, apply Urdhva pundrams and arrive at my main
mandapam and invite each of their grandfathers by their names. They accept emperumAns
orders and starts inviting their grandfathers one by one. To their astonishment, every one
arrive from behind srIranganAthan and appear in front of them and tells them By the divine
grace of AzhwAr, we have now reached periya perumALs lotus feet. You also take shelter of
him, be here in this samsAram happily for some time and get yourselves uplifted. Following
their grandfathers orders every one of them accept AzhwAr as their AchAryan and return to
their place eventually.

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periya perumAL then asks AzhwAr if he has any desires. AzhwAr tells periya perumAL that he
wants to worship emperumAns dhasAvathAram. periya perumAL tells him If that is your
desire, you can install my archAvathAra vigrahams of dhasAvathAram and at once AzhwAr
builds the sannidhi for dhasAvathAra emperumAns in srIrangam.
Subsequently, periya perumAL invites AzhwArs brother-in-law and orders him to make an
archA vigraham for AzhwAr (since AzhwAr is his brother-in-laws AchAryan) and install the
same in thirukkuraiyalUr, build a beautiful temple there and celebrate AzhwArs uthsavams in a
grand manner. His brother-in-law, immediately gets archA vigrahams made for both AzhwAr
and his wife kumudhavalli nAchiyAr, goes to thirukkuraiyalUr with everyone and installs the
archA vigrahams there and performs grand uthsavams there. AzhwAr continued to uplift all his
sishyas and others and spent his life constantly meditating on periya perumAL as both
upAyam and upEyam.
His thanian
kalayAmi kalidhvamsam kavim lOka dhivAkAram
yasya gObi: prakAshAbir Avidhyam nihatham thama:
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-anubhavam-thirumangai.html.

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emperumAnAr

thAnAna thirumEni
(srirangam)
thAnugantha thirumEni
(sriperumpUdhUr)
thamarugantha thirumEni
(thirunArayaNapuram)
Thirunakshathram: chithirai, thiruvAdhirai
avathAra sthalam: sriperumpudhUr
AchAryan: periya nambi
Sishyas: kUrathAzhwAn, mudhaliAndAn, embAr, aruLaLa perumAL emperumAnAr,
ananthAzhwAn, 74 simhAsanAdhipathis, many thousands of sishyas. It is said that he had
12000 srivaishnavas, 74 simhAsAnadhipathis, 700 sanyAsis, and many many srivaishnavas
from different caste/creed were his disciples.
Place where he attained paramapadham: thiruvarangam
Works: He has done nine granthams which are considered as nava rathnams namely sri
bhAshyam, gItha bhAshya, vEdhArtha sangraham, vEdhAntha dhIpam, vEdhAntha sAram,
sharaNAgathi gadhyam, sriranga gadhyam, srivaikunta gadhyam and nithya grantham.
iLayAzhwAr was born in sriperumbudhUr to kEsava dhIkshithar and kAnthimathi ammangAr as
an avathAram of AdhisEshan and is also known by many other names. Let us see his many
names and who gave them to him.
iLayAzhwAr given by his parents.

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sri rAmAnujar given by periya nambi during his pancha samskAram.
yathirAjarar given by dhEva perumAL during sanyAsAshrama svIkAram.
udayavar given by namperumAL
lakshmaNa muni given by thiruvaranga peumAL arayar
emperumAnAr given by thirukkOshtiyUr nambi when emperumAnAr gave
charamaslOka artham to the ones who surrendered to him in thirukkOshtiyUr.
satagOpan ponnadi given by thirumAlaiAndAn.
kOil ANNan given by AndAL after emperumAnAr offered 100 plates of akkAra adisil and
100 plates of butter to thirumAlirunchOlai azhagar.
sri bhAshyakArar given by sarasvathi in kashmir.
bhUthapurIsar given by Adhi kEsava perumAL of sriperumputhUr.
dhEsikEndhrar given by thiruvEnkatamudayAn.
Brief life history
Born in srIperumputhUr by the grace of thiruvallikkENi pArthasArathy emperumAn as
his amsAvathAram.
pArthasArathy with ubaya nAchiArs and udayavar thiruvallikkENi
Marries thanjammAl (rakshkAmbAL).
Goes to kAnchipuram and learns sAmAnya sAstram and pUrva paksham from yAdhava
prakAsar.
When yAdhava prakAsar gives crooked interpretations to sAstra vAkyams, iLayAzhwAr
corrects them.
On a pilgrimage towards vAraNAsi, some disciples of yAdhava prakAsar plans to kill
iLayAzhwAr. Govindhar (embAr in the future), a cousin of iLayAzhwAr thwarts the plan
and sends iLayAzhwAr towards kAnchipuram. iLayAzhwAr feeling lost in the forest is
helped by dhEva perumAL and perundhEvi thAyar and comes back to kAnchipuram.

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On his return, based on his mothers advice, he serves dhEva perumAL under the
guidance of thirukkachi nambi.
iLayAzhwAr travels with periya nambi to srirangam to meet ALavandhAr but only sees
ALavandhArs charama thirumEni. He vows that he will fulfill ALavandhArs 3 wishes.
iLayAzhwAr considers thirukkachi nambi to be his AchAryan and asks him to do pancha
samskAram, but nambi refuses to do that citing pramANams from sAstram. iLayAzhwAr
wants to have sEsha prasAdham of thirukkachi nambi but his desire is not fulfilled.
dhEva perumAL gives Aru vArthaigaL (6 words) to iLayAzhwAr through thirukkachi
nambi.
iLayAzhwAr and periya nambi meet at madhurAnthagam. periya nambi does pancha
samskAram to iLayAzhwAr and gives rAmAnujan as dhAsya nAmam.
periya nambi stays at rAmAnujars thirumALigai and teaches him all sampradhAya
arthams. Eventually periya nambi leaves to srirangam.
rAmAnujar accepts sanyAsAshramam from dhEva perumAL.
AzhwAn and AndAn becomes sishyas of rAmAnujar.
yAdhava prakAsar becomes a sishya of rAmAnujar and becomes gOvindha jeeyar. He
writes yathi dharma samuchayam which is used as guidelines for srivaishnava
yathis.
periya perumAL sends thiruvaranga perumAL to dhEva perumAL to bring rAmAnujar to
srirangam. dhEva perumAL agrees and rAmAnujar becomes srirangavAsi.
rAmAnujar gets periya thirumalai nambi to bring gOvindha bhattar (embAr) back into the
srivaishnava dharmam.
rAmAnujar travels to thirukkOshtiyur to learn charama slOkam from thirukkOshtiyUr
nambi. He teaches the meaning to every one who came with the desire to learn that and
was named emperumAnAr by thirukkOsthiyUr nambi.
emperumAnAr listens thiruvAimozhi kAlakshEpam from thirumAlai AndAn.
emperumAnAr learns panchamOpAya (AchArya) nishtai from thiruvaranga perumAL
arayar.
emperumAnAr out of his parama krupai, performs sharaNAgathi in front of
namperumAL and sriranga nAchiAr on a panguni uthram day for the benefit of all of his
followers.
emperumAnAr is given poisoned food. ThirukkOshtiyUr nambi visits srirangam and
orders kidAmbi AchAn to take care of emperumAnArs bikshai.
emperumAnAr defeats yagya mUrthy in debate. yagya mUrthy becomes aruLaLa
perumAL emperumAnAr and is given thiruvArAdhana kainkaryam for emperumAnArs
thiruvArAdhana emperumAn.
emperumAnAr instructs ananthAzhwan, etc to become aruLALa perumAL
emperumAnArs sishyas.
emperumAnAr sends ananthAzhwAn to thirumalai to perform nithya kainkaryam to
thiruvEnkatamudayAn.
emperumAnAr goes on pilgrimage and finally visits thirumalai.
emperumAnAr establishes that thiruvEnkatamudayAn is a vishnu mUrthy (vigraham)
and defeat the kudhrustis who claimed otherwise. He is glorified as the AchAryan of
thiruvEnkatamudayAn and can be seen with a jnAna mudhrai in thirumalai.

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emperumAnAr thirumalai
There he hears sri rAmAyaNa kAlakshEpam from periya thirumalai nambi.
emperumAnAr gives sanyAsAshramam for govindha bhattar and names him embAr.
emperumAnAr visits kashmIr along with kUrathAzhwAn to bring bOdhAyana vruthi
grantham. They get the grantham but the wicked pandits send their soldiers to take it
away from empermAnAr. When it was lost, AzhwAn says he memorized everything.
emperumAnAr with the help of AzhwAn writes sribhAshyam fulling ALavandhArs first
wish.
emperumAnAr visits thirukkurungudi and empeumAn becomes a sishya of
emperumAnAr and gets the name srivaishnava nambi.


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AzhWan and AndAL, by the grace of prasAdham from namperumAL gets 2 children.
emperumAnAr names them parAsAra and vEdha vyAsa fulfilling ALavandhArs second
wish.
embArs brother siriya gOvindha perumAL gets a child and emperumAnAr names him
parAngusa nambi fulfilling ALavandhArs third wish. It is also said that emperumAnAr
instructed thirukkurugai pirAn piLLAn to write a commentary for thiruvAimozhi to fulfill
ALavandhArs third wish.
emperumAnAr travels to thirunArAyaNa puram, establishes the temple worship there
and initiates many into our sampradhAyam.
emperumAnAr takes the form of 1000 headed AdhisEshan and defeats 1000 jain
scholars simulataneously.
emperumAnAr retrieves selvapiLLai utsava mUrthy from muslim kings daughter and
performs the marriage of the muslim kings daughter and selva piLLai.
emperumAnAr returns to srirangam after the saiva kings death. He instructs AzhwAn to
get his eyes back by glorifying dhEva perumAL.
emperumAnAr travels to thirumAlirunchOlai and offers 100 plates of akkAra adisil and
100 plates of butter as per ANdALs wish.
emperumAnAr shows the greatness of piLLai urangA villi dhAsar to other srivaishnavas.
emperumAnAr gives many final instructions to his sishyas. He instructs his sishyas to
treat parAsara bhattar as himself. Also, He instructs parAsara bhattar to bring nanjeeyar
into our sampradhAyam.
Finally, meditating on ALavandhArs thirumEni, emperumAnAr completes his leelai in
leelA vibhUthi and returns paramapadham to continue his leelai in nithya vibhUthi.
Just like AzhwArs charama thirumEni was preserved inside the AdhinAthan temple in
AzhwAr thiunagari, emperumAnArs charama thirumEni is also preserved inside the
ranganAthan temple in srirangam (under the mUlavar thirumEni in emperumAnAr
sannidhi).
All his charama kainkaryams were done in a grand manner just like the brahmOtsavam
of thiruvaranganAthan himself.
emperumAnArs unique position in our sampradhAyam
In our AchArya rathna hAram emperumAnAr is considered as the nAyaka maNi (the center
piece). In charamOpAya nirNayam, nAyanAr AchAn piLLai (son of periyavAchAn piLLai) brings
out the full glories of emperumAnAr. Let us see some glimpses of this magnificient grantham:
Through the words of many AchAryas (before and after emperumAnAr), emperumAnAr
is proven to be the charamOpAyam for all srivaishnavas.
Even though our pUrvAchAryas were fully dependent on their own AchAryas, because
everyones AchAryas showed that we have to fully dependent on emperumAnAr only,
emperumAnArs uththArakathvam was fully established.
periyavAchAn piLLai also says in mAnikka mAlai that AchArya sthAnam is special and
only emperumAnAr fully qualifies for that sthAnam.
AchAryas before empeumAnAr were anuvruthi prasannAchAryas, i.e., they had to be
served continuously before they will be pleased and give valuable instructions and
accept sishyas. But emperumAnAr, looking at the difficulties in this kaliyugam, identified
that AchAryas should be krupA mAthra prasannAchAryas, i.e., they should be full of
mercy and accept sishyas purely based on the desire in the heart of the sishya.

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It is also explained that just like when pithrus in pithru lOkam get benefited by sath
santhAnam (good offsprings) in their families and ofcourse the subsequent generations
will also benefit by such persons, AchAryas before and after emperumAnAr benefit from
the appearance of emperumAnAr in the srivaishnava kulam. Just like
vadudhEvan/dhEvaki, nandhagOpan/yasOdhA and dhasarathan/kausalyA were blessed
by giving birth to kannan emperumAn and perumAL, AchAryas before emperumAnAr
were blessed by the appearance of emperumAnAr in the prapanna kulam.
nammAzhwAr glorifies the appearance of emperumAnAr in poliga poliga poliga
padhigam and presents the bhavishyadhAchAryan (emperumAnAr) vigraham to him
even before the appearance of emperumAnAr.

bhavishyadhAchAryan AzhwArthirungari
From nAthamunigaL this thirumEni was preserved and worshipped by uyyakkondAr,
maNakkAl nambi, ALavandhAr, thirukkOhstiyUr nambi, etc and finally by thiruvAimozhi
piLLai and manavALa mAmunigaL in AzhwAr thiunagari bhavishyadhAchAryan
sannidhi.
periya nambi says that just like perumAL appeared in raghu kulam and made that kulam
famous, emperumAnAr appeared in prapanna kulam and made this kulam famous.
periya thirumalai nambi says to embAr that you should think that emperumAnAr
thirvadigaLE thanjam and think about emperumAnAr more than myself.
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi during his final days says that he was fortunate to have the
relationship with emperumAnAr. Also when there is misunderstanding by
thirumAlaiAndAn, thirukkOshtiyUr nambi says that you are not instructing anything new
to emperumAnAr, he is sarvajnar already. Just like kannan emperumAn learnt from
sAndIpani and perumAL learnt from vasishtan, emperumAnAr is learning from us.

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peraruLALan, periya perumAL, thiruvEnkatamudayAn, thirumAlirunchOlai azhagar,
thirkkurungudi nambi, etc also highlighted the importance/glories of emperumAnAr and
instructed everyone to completely depend on emperumAnAr.
aruLaLa perumAL emperumAnAr, AzhwAn, ANdAn, embAr, vaduga nambi, vangi
purathu nambi, bhattar, nadAthUr ammAL, nanjeeyar, nampiLLai and many other
AchAryas show to their sishyas that we should always think that emperumAnAr
thiruvadigaLE thanjam.
It is explained that by our pUrvAchAryas that we have to think emperumAnAr as the
upAyam and upEyam. This is called charamOpAya nishtai or anthimOpAya nishtai.
thiruvarangathamudhanAr after being reformed by kUrathAzhwAn, developed great
attachment towards emperumAnAr. He poured out his emotions in his prabhandham
rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi. A fitting glorification of emperumAnAr, this prabhandham
was composed when emperumAnAr was living in srirangam and was ordered by
namperumAL to be recited in front of him during his purappAdu without any other
disturbances like vAdhyam, etc (which are usually present in front of any purappAdu).
This prabhandham was also included as part of 4000 divya prabhandham by our
pUrvAchAryas considering the glories of emperumAnAr and his contribution towards our
sampradhAyam. Not only that this became to be known as prapanna gAyathri that
which should be recited fully by every srivaishnava at least once a day.
manavALa mAmunigaL in upadhEsa rathina mAlai shows that our dharisanam is named as
emperumAnAr dharisanam by namperumAl himself. He also says that AchAryas before
emperumAnAr, were anuvruthi prasannAchAryas and were only instructing to few sishyas who
served them with utmost dedication for long durations. But emperumAnAr changed the trend
and showed that in this kaliyugam AchAryas should be filled with mercy. Looking at the
sorrows and difficulties in the samsAram, the AchAryas should look out for individuals who
simply have the desire to leave samsAram and give them the valuable meanings on the
process to leave samsAram. Not only emperumAnAr himself did that, he also established 74
simhAsanAdhipathis who will propagate our sanAthana dharmam everywhere and give the
mercy to every one.
It is easy to speak about and summarize emperumAns vaibhavam but emperumAnArs
vaibhavam is unlimited. Even he himself with his thousand tongues (as AdhisEshan) cannot
speak his glories, so how can we do that to our full satisfaction. We just have to satisfy
ourselves saying that some how we benefited immensely by speaking (and reading) about him
today.
empermAnArs thanian
yOnithyam achyutha padhAmbuja yugma rukma
vyAmOthas thathitharANi thrunAya mEnE
asmadhgurOr bhagavathOsya dhayaikasindhO:
rAmAnujasya charaNou sharaNam prapadhyE

The Glories and History of AzhwArs

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The Glories and History of AzhwArs

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AzhwArs glories and history

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