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Twentieth Slokam of Sri Devanayaka Pachchasath:
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( ThirumaNN Kaappu description)
On the beautiful forehead of the Lord DeavanAthan ,
Swamy Desikan finds the radiant Urdhva PuNDram
and his salutation of the auspicious Thiru MaNN
Kaappu takes this form:
lavANya varshiNI lalADa-tadE ganAbhE
Bhibrath taDithguNa visEshamivOrdhva puNDram
visvasya nirjapathE tamasA aavruthasya
manyE vibhAvayasi mangaLeeka pradheepam
Extended Meaning:
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Oh DhaivanAyakA! Oh NeelamEka
ShyAmaLA! On Your beautiful blue forehead , one has
the darsana soubhAgyam of the lustrous Thiru Mann kAppu ,
which is like the radiant lightning that jumps out of
the dark blue rain clouds . That lightning would last
for a small amount of time and will disappear. The lightning
of brilliant Thiru MaNN kAppu on Your forehead however
lasts forever and removes the dark clouds of Ajn~Anam
in the minds of those , who worship You. One wonders whether
that Thiru MaNN kAppu has been adorned by You to serve
as an auspicous lamp to remove the darkness of ajn~Anam
in the minds of Your devotees.
Additional Observations:
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In his 26th slOkam of SrI VaradarAja Sthavam , KurEsar
salutes the Thiru MaNN Kaappu of Lord VaradarAjan and
this slOkam might have inspired Swamy Desikan to compose
a slOkam focusing on the Urdhva PUNDram by Lord DevanAthan.
("ImayOr Talaivan"):
uddharathuparai bhakthajanAn ithi
urdhvathAsrayana soochitha sakthim
urdhva puNDra tilakam bahumAnAth
kim Bibharshi Varadha ! sva-lalADE
The sacredness of the Urdhva PuNDram and its symbolism
on the Lord's Beautiful forehead as "Bhaktha JanAn
Upari uddharathi ithi UrdhvAsrayaNa soochitha sakthim ".
It is not only beautiful like the bright lightning out of
the dark blue rainy season cloud but it is also to signal
the superior gathi reserved for bhaktha janams through
its upward posture ( Urdhvam nayathi yath puNDram prANina:
pApakAriNa:).Urdhva PuNDram leads its wearers to Urdhva
gathi (archirAdhi Maargam). This is what the Lord conveys
by Himself adorning Urdhva PuNDram . Therefore Swamy Desikan
focused on the beauty and significance of Urdhva PuNDram adorned
by SrI DevanAthan at ThiruvahIndhrapuram.