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Aippasi, Vyaya                 SrimathEA RamAnujAya Nama:                        AzhvAr 1; AchArya 4

                                                   Srimad Vara Vara munayEa Nama:

                                                                  

 

AIPPASIYIL ONAM -AVITTAM-SADYHYAM  IVAI

OPPILAVA NALGAL VULAGATHER

EPPUVIYUM PEASU PUGAZH POIGAIZHAR BUDATHAR

PEAIAZVAR THEASUDANEA THONRU SIRAPPAL

 

MUDHAL AZVARGAL

 

 

There is a widely prevalent misconception that AzhvArs are the incarnation of various nitya sooris .  The sUthram-s 92,93 and 94 of AchArya Hrdhaym of Sri Azhagai ManvALap perumAL nAyanAr changed the perception

 

 

People were contemplating in the following lines, after the avataram of swamy Nammazhwar.   On seeing the prabhavam of Azhwar everyone wonders whether he is the amsa of  One of the most utthama Brahmana maharishi Athiri' s son daddAthrEya in krithayuga or Jamadagni's son swamy parasuramA or the Kshatriya born King Dasaratha's son Sri RAmA  in Treta yuga or King Vasudeva's son Sri Krishna in Dwapara yuga or Sage Vyasa or some Nitya soori's avatara.

 

Sri Azhagia MaNavALap perumAL nAyanAr categorically rejects all these and concludes swamy NammAzhwAr (and thereby all the azhwArs ,as all azhvars are considered to be the angas (body) of the angi (soul) nammazhvar) as jEEvAthmAs due to the following reasons:

 

--EmperumAn took various steps for the upliftment of the jeevAtmas from this miserable world such as,

 

He gave the senses to the jeevAthmAs so that they can turn towards, him, but it so happened that they got lost in all the other attractions/distractions and got immersed in the infinite loop of the samsara – the cycle of birth and death.

 

Secondly, with very deep compassion and pity, to bring them back to the right path, He gave all the shAshtras and Vedas and to simplify them he also gave the Veda angAs.   All these however, seemed futile.

 

Third, seeing His indirect attempts failing, He himself took the field by taking the Rama and Krishna Avatars. But people dismissed Rama as a human being undergoing all the sufferings in tandem to all the other jeevAthmAs in the world and dismissed Krishna to be a magician.

Going by the experience that an animal can be tamed only by another animal, he showered his unconditional grace on a set of jeevathmas and gave them the voidless Knowledge to be renownedly known as AzhwArs.

 

This idea is well reflected in the Thiruvirutham commentary avatharikai by Sri Periya vAchAn piLLai and 1 st sriyappathi padi of nampillai Edu.

 

Since these selected few are very deeply immersed in the kalyaNa guNAs of emperumAn, they are called as AzhwArs (tamil meaning for Azhthal is to get immersed).

 

In srivaishnava sampradAya, AzhwArs are ten in number they are

 

Poigai Azhwar

Bhoodath Azhwar

pEyazhwar

Thirumazhisai AzhwAr

Swamy NammazhwAr

KulasEkara AzhwAr

PeriyAzhwAr

Thondaradipodi AzhwAr

ThirupAnAzhwar

Thirumangai Azhwar

 

In addition to the above, the thiruvadi nilai of swamy NammAzhwar - Swamy Madurakavi aZhwar and PeriyAzwAr's daughter - Sri AndAl are also included to make their count as twelve.

 

Of the above twelve, the first three - Poigai Azhwar, Bhoodath azhwAr and pEyazhwAr draw a special mention for this post, since their thirunakshatrams fall in the current month Iyappasi.

 

These three called as mudal (first) AzhwArs, were not only contemporaries but were also born on three consecutive days in SiddhArti year, Aiyppasi month on TiruvONam, Avittam and sadhayam nakshathrams respectively and they were born as ayOnijars (birth not from a womb of a mother).   Their birth was actually on various flowers.  poigaiAzhwAr, was born (made to appear by the Lord) in kancheepuram, while bhoodaththAr in mahabalipuram and pEyAzhwAr in thirumayilai (present Mylapore).   All the three avatara stalams are in and around Chennai. 

 

SvAmi maNavALa mAmunikaL in his upadEsa rethinamAlai summarises the reason for these three apostles to be known as mudhal AzvAr-s.

They descended on this earth before other AzvAr-s and blessed us with divine teachings in wonderful tamil. Hence, they are known as

'mudhal AzvArgaL'

 

mathuLLa AzvArgaLukku munnEA vandhuthithu

nATRamizhAl nUl seydhu nATTai vuitha* pETRimayOrEnRu

mudhal AzvArgaL ennum pEAr ivaRkku

ninRadhulagathEa nigazndhu.-upadesa rethinamalai 7

 

These three composed the first three divya prabandhams of 4000. 

 

1. PoigaiAzhwAr composed the first 100 pAsurams named "mudhal thiruvandhAdhi " (andhAdhi means the first word of one verse will be last word of the previous verse) starting with:

 

vaiyam thagaliyA, vArkadlE neyyAga

veyyakkadirOn viLakkAga

sudarAzhiyAn adikkE soottinEn sol mAlai

IdarAzhi neengugavE enRu

 

Meaning:  I light the lamp of earth with the ocean as the ghee and the sun as the flame to have the divine darshan of the divine feet of that lord with the glittering chakra in his hand and make this garland of praise in order to get rid of my hurdles.

 

 2. BhoodaththAzhwAr composed the second 100 pAsurams "irandAm thiruvandhAdhi " starting with:

 

anbE thagaliyA, ArvamE neyyAga

inburugu sindhai idu thiriyA

naNpurugi GnAna chudar viLakku EtrinEn nAranarkku

Gnana thamizh purindha nAn.

 

Meaning: Me, who has done these verses in Tamil lit the lamp of knowledge, with love as the lamp, my desire (interest) as the ghee and devoted mind as the twig immersed in devotion to narayana.

 

3. PEyAzhwAr composed the third 100 called "moonRAm thiruvandhAdhi", with

 

ThirukkaNdEn, ponmEni kaNdEn- thigazhum

arukkan ani niRamum kaNdEn-seruk kiLaRum

ponAzhi kaNdEn puri sangham kai kaNdEn

en Azhi vaNNan pAl inRu

 

Meaning: I saw the beautiful divine mother, Sri Mahalakshmi followed by his divine body and then the beautiful color and the sanghu chakra in the divine hands of that lord who is glittering with the color of the dark clouds.

 

 

Para-bhakthi, Para-gnAnam and Parama-bhakthi are three different stages in
devotion towards the lord almighty.  The first three azhvars exhibited these three stages respectively.  Poigaiazhvar showed para bhakthi, bhoodathAzhvar para-gnAnam and pEyAzhvar the parama-bhakthi.   Para bhakthi is getting introduced to the lord and developing devotion towards him.  Para gnAnam is getting into deeper relationship with the lord and realizing that he is our soul.   Parama bhakthi is the stage where one cannot exist without the union with the lord.  Though all the azhvars had utmost devotion they exhibited these stages as per the wish of the lord himself.

 

On these divine days (Iyppasiyil Onam, avittam, sadhayam) let us all remember the greatness of the first three azhvars and join together to sing mangalasasanams to them.

 

Poigaiazhvar thiruvadigalE sharaNam

BhoodhatAzhvar thiruvadigalE sharaNam

pEyAzhvar thiruvadigalE sharaNam

 

Vara Vara Muni dAsargal

 

 

 

 

 

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Azhvar EmberumAnAr JeeyAr ThiruvadigalE Saranam
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