The place near the river cauvery in srirangam where Udayavar lived and took his daily bath is called thavarasan padithurai even today. Everyone would know the dasavatara sannadhi and the saint who established this sannadhi is Thirumangai AzhwAr. Staying in srirangam, this saint performed several sevas and kainkaryams to the perumal. Towards the vadakku side of the Cauvery he constructed the dasavatara sannadhi. In the same sannadhi he erected his own archavatara vigraham. The information about the dasavatara sannadhi can be found in the periyathirumozhi. "meenODu Amai kEzhal ari kuraLAi munnum rAmanAi tAnAi pinnum rAmanAi dAmOdaranAi karkiyum AnAn tannai kaNNapurattu aDiyan kaliyan oliseida tEnAr in sol tamizh mAlai seppa pAvam nillAvE".
This pAsuram in the periyathirumozhi points out the dasavatara sannadhi. There is also a cremation ground on the vadakku side of this sannadhi. Thirumangai AzhwAr obtained this land from sripandara. After setting up that dahana samskaram (cremation) ground, Thirumangai AzhwAr goes to periyaperumal and informs him of this place. He then names this place as pAdiyavalanthurai. He gets a boon from the perumal that whomsoever has their dahana samskaram here must be given a place in the paramapadam.
This pAsuram in the periyathirumozhi points out the dasavatara sannadhi. There is also a cremation ground on the vadakku side of this sannadhi. Thirumangai AzhwAr obtained this land from sripandara. After setting up that dahana samskaram (cremation) ground, Thirumangai AzhwAr goes to periyaperumal and informs him of this place. He then names this place as pAdiyavalanthurai. He gets a boon from the perumal that whomsoever has their dahana samskaram here must be given a place in the paramapadam.
Therefore in srirangam, near this dashavatara sannadhi, on the banks of vadakkuthiru Cauvery, in this padiyavazhanthurai whoever has the dahana samskaram performed definitely begets paramapadam and such a boon Thirumangai AzhwAr has obtained from the perumal HIMself. Daily one who will be talking to the periyaperumal was called as "ThiruviLakku Pichan". Perumal would be talking very casually with the ThiruviLakku Pichan, how, like the pErazhuzhalan who was always talking with kacchiappanambi of Kanchipuram. Similarly the periyaperumal in srirangam is always talking with ThiruviLakku Pichan. Once when Thirumangai AzhwAr was performing his seva, periyaperumal became very happy with this and talked to ThiruviLakku Pichan and said, "see how well azhwar is doing all this kainkaryam for us. Azhwar sings many pAsurams and more and more he is performing thiruppani to me, looking at all that I need and doing that. He thinks what all I will need and keeps offering seva and doing this and that for me". ThiruviLakku Pichan says that in the tirumalai instead of singing your praises, Thirumangai AzhwAr is singing about himself, swami. Hearing this, periyaperumal got angry at hearing this. Periyaperumal said "when I know how sincerely Thirumangai AzhwAr is doing kainkaryam to me, I know about his dedication and do not talk like this about him to me anymore. Because of the arul we have given him, he has started to think highly of himself and if he talks about himself, its the same as thinking about us as well". How did his perumai came unto him, this is what I gave HIM. That anubhavam I have given him is what he is singing about himself, which is indeed about me. In the Periyathirumozhi, there is an explanation about this, this incident happened.
Sengamalattu ayan anaiya maraiyOr kAzhi
cheerAma viNNaharE en SengaN mAlai
angamala taDa vayal Soozh Ali nADan
aruL mAri araTTamukki aDaiyAr Seeyam
kongu malar kuzhaliyar vEL mangai vEndan
koTTravEl parakAlan kaliyan Sonna
Sanga muha tamizh mAlai pattum vallAr
taDangaDal Soozh ulahukku talaivar tAmE
How greatly the kainkaryam of Thirumangai AzhwAr the bhagavan periyaperumal has accepted and if anyone complained about the azhwar how much the bhagavan got angry and how much the bhagavan was supportive is clearly evidenced by the above pAsuram.
In the karthikai masam, perumal with the ubhayanachimar is having the thirumanjanam. Nearby Thirumangai AzhwAr in the divine voice is singing the thirunedunthANdakam. Listening to this the perumal became very very happy. For the perumal there is some thaila kAppu ("coat of oil") that was applied on HIM has some of it left. Immediately the perumal via the "archaka mukEna" tells the archakars to apply the left over thailam on the throat of Thirumangai AzhwAr - "thiruvidar dosham endru thadava sonnar". Thus when singing the thirunedunthANdakam, perumal was immersed in it and swayed by it. But the perumal wanted to give more krupa on top of that. Perumal thinks instead of me doing something for the azhwar, why not find out what is liked by azhwar from azhwar itself. AzhwAr, "naam unakku en seiya vendum" when asked by the perumal, AzhwAr who was waiting for seized the opportunity. In the month of marghazhi, shukla paksha ekadasi the Adhyayana uthsavam happens in Srirangam - Veda Adhyayana uthsavam. Everyone will be telling the vedas. During this time the tiruvAimozhi graced by sadagOpan be said along with the vedas. Whatever great significance was prescribed by the perumal for the vedas in the vadamozhi (Northern language), an equivalent significance must be assigned for the tiruvAimozhi by sadagOpan as well.
Rigveda, yajurveda, samaveda, atharvanaveda - the meaning of veda itself is arivu ("wisdom") in tamil. Such significance attributed to the 4 vedas must be given in equal terms to the thiruvaimozhi propounded by alwarthinunagari born "sadagOpan", requests azhwar. Perumal grants it. Not only that, every year when the veda adhyayana is happening, they will go to azhwarthirunagari and conduct the procession to escort to Srirangam, the so called sadagOpan who is verily "nammAzhwar" as well as accompanied by "madhurakaviazhwar". The moment the news that sadagOpan and madhurakaviazhwar are coming, our thirumangaiazhwar will go to the edge of the town and wait for them in the archAvatara tirumEni and escort them to the periyaperumal. Periyaperumal gives darshan and it is then sadagOpan is called by the name "nammAzhwar". From thereon, the name nammAzhwar came into being. As desired by thirumangaiAzhwar, during marghazhi, sukhlapaksha ekadasi, our madhurakaviAzhwar sings the tiruvAimozhi in divine voice. All 10 days with the accompaniment of the vedas, the uthsavam comes to an end. NammAzhwar with the thiruvadigazh of azhagIyamanavAzhan with him, shows this in the form of an abhinaya. Perumal offers azhwar a place in his asanam and then after accepting offers of garlands, prasAdam, kasturi, thirumankApu, perumal gives permission for azhwar to return to azhwarthirunagari. This is what was happening every year in Srirangam. How then, some things changed in Srirangam, where did perumal go away for 59 years and when and how did HE come back to Srirangam has been told already. In between for about 1 year, SriRanganathar left Srirangam and went to TirumAlizhunjOlai near Madurai and stayed there. When during the time more soldiers were within srirangam temple and when lots of incidents happened in Srirangam, the uthsavams that were happening there for bringing nammAzhwar and madhurakaviAzhwar from alwarthinunagari changed. How this happened? During the time of Sri Ramanujar, inside the srirangam temple where the garuda mantapam is today, towards the direction of thenmErku, the archavatara murthi of nammAzhwar was installed by Sri Ramanujar. During this time of incidents in srirangam and what happened further on, instead of bringing nammAzhwar from alwarthinunagari, since the nammAzhwar was installed inside the temple itself, for the enperuman this uthsavam happened inside the temple.
Azhwar beautifully says this in the tirumAlai,
"peNdirAl sugangkaL uyppAn periyadhOr idumbai pUNdu uNdu irAk kidakkum pOdhu udalukkE karaindhu naindhu thaN thuzhAy mAlai mArban thamargaLAyp pAdi Adi thoNdu pUNdu amudham uNNAth thozhumbar sORu ugakkumARE!"
Initially for everyone, the thought that the antaryAmi, bhagavan or atma is present within does not occur. When asked, who are you?, by and large we only show the body and attach ourselves to that. Here "periyadhOr idumbai pUNdu uNdu irAk kidakkum pOdhu udalukkE karaindhu naindhu" - everyone thinks of this body only as the main "I". I have a book with me and when asked to whom does this book belong, they say "This is mine". But book and me are indeed separate. But when asked to whom does this arm belong, well, the arm and the body are connected and not separate. The antaryAmi inside is telling that this is my arm, my nose, my mouth, my body, like this it is attaching to the whole body as "MY". That is where all are thoughts are going all along.
"periyadhOr idumbai pUNdu uNdu irAk kidakkum pOdhu" - for the man what is the thought always, it is always about the body it seems. Eating in the morning, I have to eat at the proper time, eat at night, I have to take care of the body, the body should be beautiful, youthful. If we became aged we will lose our strength, not only that disease may overtake us, mostly we will worry that our youthfulness has left us. We are no longer the small kid. When somebody calls us a grandfather we will feel sad. See how this guy is calling me, can't he not call me uncle or brother even, like this many will usually get angry, isn't it.
"peNdirAl sugangkaL uyppAn periyadhOr idumbai pUNdu uNdu irAk kidakkum pOdhu udalukkE karaindhu naindhu" - The elder will be worried it seems, i am not able to eat like I was in my younger days, now I am unable to eat so, "udalukkE karaindhu naindhu" - why are people like this, azhwar describes as the fact that these people did not get the sangam of the adiyArghazh.
"thaN thuzhAy mAlai mArban thamargaLAyp pAdi Adi" - Can they not sing and dance the perumai of the bhagavan. Why always this thought again and again of the body- "thoNdu pUNdu amudham uNNAth" - all the time 24 hours, keep on doing namakeerthanam. "veethigaL thORum thuLLaathaar vEdha muthalvanaip paadi" - says azhwar. Keep on singing and dancing, perform seva to the perumal "thondu". If perumal is in a procession, lift up the sripAdam thangi, hold the torch, fan "chamaram". Even if they dont associate you with any of these, clean up the streets where the perumal is going to travel upon. For the people bringing the "Sripadam thangigal", if its very hot due to sunshine, water down the roads to make it easy for them to walk upon. Follow with the perumal in the procession, as you perform the circumambulation, if you see a coconut shell on the ground, take it up and throw it in the dustbin and don't ignore that. If there is a paper lying down take it and put it in the dustbin. If there is some yellow colour due to turmeric powder on the walls, clean it up with water. We should have an affection that this is our temple, our perumal. If one does not do namakeerthanam or does not sing the gunam, glory or read the scriptures of the lord, not doing any seva to the perumal, - "amudham uNNAth thozhumbar sORu ugakkumARE!" - but taking care only of the body. If you just keep building your body or your life, the only use for doing this should be "perform namakeerthanam, sing and dance, perform seva to the perumal". If you don't do that what is the use the body developed with all that you eat? asks azhwar. But eating and eating, you develop the body which becomes heavy for the earth (bhoomi), that is the only use and nothing else. "thaN thuzhAy mAlai mArban thamargaLAyp pAdi Adi thoNdu pUNdu amudham uNNAth thozhumbar sORu ugakkumARE!" - why are you living?, you did not do bhajan, go to the temple sing and dance, no seva to the perumal, it just means you are living only to eat and there is no use for your living, says azhwar.
Subham
Radhe Radhe
Read more translations of the other episodes at: http://aranganinarumai.blogspot.com/
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