Sri Parthasarathi thunai
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha
Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha
"vAzhi parakAlan vAzhi kalikandri
vAzhi kurayaloor vAzhvEndan vAzhiyarO
mAyOnai vAlvaliyAl mandhiram kol mangaiyarkOn
thooyOn sudarmAna vEl"
"pEdhai nenjE endrai perumai arindhilaiyO
A-dhu perumai endraikku endrennil OdhuginrEn
vAiththa pugazh mangayarkOn mAnilaththil vandhudhiththa
kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl kAn"
"mAran paniththa thamizh maraikku mangaiyarkOn
Arangam koora avadhariththa veerudaiya
kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl endrendru kAdhalippAr
vAiththa malar thAlgal nenjE! vAzhththu"
This year this great day, kArthigaiyil kArthigai nAl, the thiruavathara dhinam
of our dear kaliyan, thirumangai mannan, arulmAri, arattamukki, adaiyArseeyam,
kalikandri falls on Dec.7th. As celebrated by Swamy Manavala mamunikal in the
above quoted upadesa ratina mAlai paasurams this is the very day on which our
kadaikutti azhvar (last in the group of Azhvars) took avatharam. MAran,
nammazhvar took avatharam on vaikasi visAkam day to give the thamizh marai
(vedas in tamil) and following him thirumangai mannan took avatharam on this
great karthigaiyil kArthigai nAl to give the six angas viz., Periya thirumozhi,
thirukurunthAndakam, thiruvezhukootrirukai, Siriya thirumadal, Periya
thirumadal and thirunedunthAndakam, to the 4 vedas of nammazhvar, viz.,
Thiruviruththam, thiruvAsiriyam, Periya thiruvandhAdhi and thiruvaimozhi.
ThirunedunthAndakam is the charama (last) prabhandam of thirumangai azhvar in
which azhvar sings with joy after having the bhagavat sAkshAtkAram. In our
sampradayam, the words of tattva darshis (Azhvars) have more value than even
the words of emperuman himself. Before diving further into the topic, let us
get to mind one another greatness of this very day. This is the day on which
one of our great acharyas, kalikandri dAsar, Sri Nampillai took avatharam (he
was regarded as the punaravatharam of thirumangai azhvar). In the first
avatharam thirumangai azhvar gave only the six angas to the vedas of nammazhvar
but in his avatharam as nampillai he did a even greater job of given the
unparalleled commentary to the thiruvaimozhi of nammazhvar, the Eedu ('Eedu
enaiyillAdha Eedu'). Let us all sing the praise of these two great mahans on
this karthigaiyil kArthigai nAl.
"kalandhathiruk kArthigaiyil kArthigai vandhOn vAzhiyE
kAsiniyil von kurayaloor kAvalOn vAzhiyE
nalanthigazh Ayiraththenbhaththu nAluraiththAn vAzhiyE
nAlaindhu maraiaindhu namakkuraiththAN vAzhiyE
elankezhu kootrirukkai eru madaleendhAn vAzhiyE
immoondril erunootrirubhadheendhAn vAzhiyE
valan thigazhum kumudavalli manavalan vAzhiyE
vAtkaliyan parakAlan mangaiyarkOn vAzhiyE"
"kAdhaludan nanjeeyer kazhal thozhuvOn vAzhiyE
kArthigaiyil kArthigai vudhiththa kalikandri vAzhiyE
pOdhamudan Azhvar sorporuluraippOn vAzhiyE
poodhoorAn pAdiyaththai pugazhumavan vAzhiyE
mAdhagavAl evvuyirkkum vAzhvaliththAn vAzhiyE
madhilarangar Olakkam valarthittAn vAzhiyE
nAthamuni Alavandaar nalam pugazhvOn vAzhiyE
nampillai thiruvadigal nAdOrum vAzhiyE".
Coming to our topic, in the last posting we saw the greatness of the geethA
sastram. As it has already been seen, thirunedunthAndakam is the last
prabhandam of thirumangai azhvar. Now you may all be wondering why then did
adiyen name it as thirunedunthAndaka sAstram. Can a prabhandam be called as a
sastram? Yes it has been considered to be a sAstram by our poorvAcharyas. Sri
parasara bhattar won over nanjeeyer, earlier called as vedanthi, only using
this sAstram. Since this prabhandam was sung after azhvar's bhagavat
sAkshAtkAram it is filled with upanishadic meanings and hence there is nothing
wrong to call it as a sAstram by itself. Swamy emperumanar had a deep
involvement in 30 paasurams among the 4000. Which were those? They were the
beautiful thiruppavai paasurams of nachiyar but Sri parasara bhattar, son of
kooraththAzhvan and andal, regarded as a foster son of Sri Ranganachiyar had
his deep involvement in another 30 paasurams. Those were none other than the
great
paasurams of thirumangai azhvar, thirunedunthAndakam.
Sri Parasara bhattar went to mEl nAdu, to win over the famous vedanthi over
there. Some people over there told bhattar that it was not possible to meet the
vedanthi with the intention of arguments (tarkkam) so easily. Since before
meeting him, bhattar will have to win over all his disciples. They also gave
him an idea. The vedanthi used to do annadhAnam daily. Bhattar went to that
place and stood infront of the vedanthi who had come to supervise the
activities. While bhattar stood infront of him, the vedanthi directed him
towards the place where food was given but bhattar refused the same and said he
had come for tharkka bhiksha. Immediately the vedanthi understood that the
person in front of him was none other than the great bhattar who he had heard
about before, the one who knows the thirunedunthAndaka sastra (which was the
only sastra the vedanthi hasn't learnt). After long arguments finally the
vedanthi surrendered to the divine feet of bhattar and became his devoted
disciple.
In this way, Sri Bhattar showed the greatness of kaliyan's charama prabhandam
to the world. As soon as bhattar returned back to srirangam, ranganatha eager
to know the result enquired about the same to bhattar. Bhattar replied that his
journey was a success and that he had got the vedanthi into the sampradayam.
Ranganatha was eager to know how bhattar won over the vedanthi. Bhattar then
told ranganatha the way he won over using the thirunedunthAndaka paasurams and
that event of bhattar's victory and ranganatha's joy is celebrated even today
every margazhi month in srirangam as 'ThirunedunthAndaka thirunal' the day just
before the commencement of adhyayana utsavam. At this point, it has to be got
to memory that the adhyayana utsavam itself was started by thirumangai azhvar
only with the help of thirunedunthAndakam.
In the next posting we will further enjoy the greatness of this excellent
prabhandam/sAstram.
Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam
Adiyen ramanuja dAsee
Sumithra Varadarajan
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