SrI :
Dear Fellow Students of the
History of Sri VaishNavam :
In our SampradhAyam , Sriman
Narayanan is the First AchAryan ,
Mahaa Lakshmi is the second
AchAryan , VishvaksEnar is the third
AchAryan and Swamy
NammAzhwAr is the Fourth AchAryan ,
who libed on this earth at
the beginning of Kali Yugam .
The Taniyan (Benedictory
verse) for our Kula Pathi , Swamy NammAzhwAr
composed by
Swamy Naatha
Muni takes this form :
BhakthAmrutham
Viswa-janAnumOdhanam
sarvArTadham SrI SaThakOpa
Vaangmayam
sahasra SaakhOpanishath
samAgamam
NamamAmyaham dhrAvida vEdha
sAgaram
(Meaning) : adiyEn salutes
the divine spech of SrI SaThakOpan ,
which is the veritable ocean
of Tamil Vedams . It ( ThiruvAimozhi)
is the SrI Sookthi
united with the Saama Vedham linked with its
thousand
upanishads . It provides
all the meanings of Saama Vedham and is accepted by
all the people as the nectar
desired and
relished by them .
Swamy Natha Muni is the
AchAryan , who was accepted by Swamy
NammAzhwAr as His disciple
and thus
Swamy Natha Muni becomes
our Fifth AchAryan.
The salutation to our
Guru Paramparai thus takes this form as stated by
KuratthAzhwAr , the disciple
of AchArya RaamAnujA :
LakshmInATa SamArambhaam
Naata-Yaamuna madhyamaam
asmadhAchArya paryanthAm
vandhE Guruparamparaam
(Meaning ) : adiyEn salutes
the Guru ParampArai with Sriman
NaarAyaNan at the beginning ,
NaaTa Muni and AaLavanthAr in
the middle and with
adiyEn's AchAryan at the end .
The Goals of this series of
Postings
**********************************************
adiyEn will focus in these
postings on the times of AzhwArs and AchAryAs
and the political climate in
the country , which had its unavoidable impact on
the mission of AzhwArs and
AchAryAs . The many foreign invasions ,
the internecine
and pernicious
struggle for power among the variouis kings
across the length and breadth
of India in support of their religious beliefs
has had a very
significant impact . The invasion of the barbarians
from central
Asia
and Middle
East for gold (Somnath to Srirangam) and the rule of
the ruthless
colonial powers (East India
Company and the British Raj) in search of spices
and other riches in the
name of commerce left their distinct scars on the psyche of
India . The AchAryAs were not
immune to all these detrimental forces and some times
they
had to remove
themselves from these hot zones and wait for tranqility to return to
their preferred places of
worship to continue with their lives' work as emissaries
of
the Supreme
Lord at His LeelA VibhUthi . It is in this context , AchArya
RaamAnujA
had to leave Srirangam for
Melkote and Swamy Desikan had to settle down at
Sathyagalam in Karnataka . It
is in this context , KurEsar lost His eyes , PiLLai
LokAcchAr and Sudarsana Soori
lost their lives at Srirangam . It is hence important
to understand the tolerant as
well as the hostile environment in which the
AchAryAs
had to carry on their
lives' mission to guide us to the path of Moksham and
leave
behind immortal dhivya
Sookthis for the benefit of posterity . This tradition
continues
and the AchAryAs of
today lead us along these ancient and safe paths .
Political
parties and their naasthika
agenda raise their ugly heads . Our AchAryAs still
find their
ways to cope
with them and continue to guide us safely across
the wastelands to
the comfort and
security of Sriman NaarAyaNA's eternal
and comforting kingdom
.
Diffiuclties in assembling
material for this series of postings
*****************************************************************************
Historians continue to labor
in their efforts to find the authentic dates
of the AzhwArs . There
are many sources and number of them do not
mesh to create a
clear fabric to paint on . We have bits and peaces
of
the kings and
chieftains , who were disciples of these AzhwArs :
Vallabha
Devan of Mathurai
belonging to PaaNDya Kulam reigned during the times
of
PeriyAzhwAr and
ANDAL . Selva Nambi , the AchAryan of
PeriyAzhwAr
was the mentor
for this king and convened the assembly of scholars
to
establish the
VedAntha SiddhAntham : Para Tathva NirNayam
. ThoNDaradippodi
AzhwAr lived in
the times of UrayUr ChOzha Chieftain . This ChOzha
king
comes in the lineage
of King Dharma Varman of UrayUr ( NisuLApuri) ,
who married his daughter ,
UrayUr NaacchiyAr ( amsam of NeeLA Devi )
to Sri RanganAthan .
ThiruppANAzhwAr was born at the same UrayUr.
KulasEkhara AzhwAr , who
married his daughter ChOzha NaacchiyAr
to Lord RanganAtha , was
a ruler from the Chera dynasty . Thirumnagai
AzhwAr , the last of the
twelve AzhwArs was a commander in chief of
a ChozhA king ruling out of
Tanjore after Swamy NammAzhwAr's time
( Before Common
Era 3102 ) and before Swamy Nathamuni's time
( 824-924 Common Era).
Traditionally , Swamy
NammAzhwAr is said to have been born on
the 43rd day after
the dawn of Kali Yugam (BCE 3102) . The three
Mudhal AzhwArs are recognized
to have been born in the yugam
before Kali Yugam (
DhvApara Yugam , when Lord KrishNa incarnated ).
In adddition to the Mudhal
AzhwArs , Thirumazhisai PirAn and Madhura
Kavi AzhwArs are said to have
born in the same dhvApara Yugam
( BCE 4202 to 3224 )
. PeriyAzhwAr's time is given as 105 years
after
the dawn of Kail Yugam and
Thirumangai AzhwAr's time is given as
445 years after the birth of
Kali Yugam . These are SamprahAya date lines ,
which may not agree witht he
findings of modern day historians adopting
the Western style of
analysis . Latter are guided by the occasional references
in
some of the AzhwAr Paasurams
:
(1) PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi
4.2.7 ( Nedu MaaRan Thenn KooDarkkOn Thennan ):
" konna ViRkkUrvEl Nedu
MaaRan Thenn KooDaRkkOn ,
Thennan koNDADum
Thenn ThirumAlirumchOlayE " .
(2) Thirumangai's Periya
Thirumozhi Paasurams ( 1128-1137
about Pallava Kings and other
paasurams ( 1498-1507) about
KochenkOtcchOzhan . The first
set of Kaliyan's Pasurams are
about the dhivya dEsam of
ParamEswara ViNNagaram:
" Pallavan Villavan yenRu
ulahil PalarAyppala vEndhar vaNangu Kazhal
Pallavan ,
MallayarkkOn paNintha ParamEcchura ViNNagaramE " ---Paasueam
1128
" The other paasraum of this
Pathikam carry references to the Pallavaas
who worshipped at ParamEswara
ViNNagaram : " Paaarmannu Pallavar kOn
paNintha ParamEcchura
ViNNagaramE " , " Paaampudai PallavarkkOn
PaNintha ParamEcchuramE
" , " Ulahudai Mannavan Thennavanaik-
kanni-maamathiL soozh
KARUVOOR veruva , pala Padai saaya venRAn
paNintha ParamEcchura
ViNNagaramE " .
To refer to these Pallava
kings , Thirumangai Mannan naturally has to have
been born after the time of
the above kings .
(3) There are kall vettus
(Silaa Saasanams) at the stone walls of ancient
dhivya dEsams
like Srirangam ,
poetic styles ( Sanga Kaala poetry)
and grammatical uses (
ilakkaNa nadai) in dhivya Prabhandha Paasurams
that have been used by modern
day historians to
determine the time of
AzhwArs . That work continues
.
adiyEn will foucs on the
Dynasties --PallavAs , ChOLAs , ChAlukyAs ,
RaashtrakUtAs , Vijaya Nagar
kings , Hoysala kings , the Naiks and
the Maraatta Kings of Tanjore
-- who formed the backdrop of the times of
our dear AzhwArs and AchAryAs
.
AzhwAr , AchAryan
ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil
V.Sadagopan
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