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Thiru maal irum sOlai - Part 18 - Pandiyan's paRRu or devotion for Lord Azhagar

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Sampath Rengarajan • February 23, 1997 


Part 18 - Pandiyan's paRRu or devotion for Lord Azhagar

Many  Pandya Kings have rendered sincere service  to
this  Lord  Azhagar.  It  is  believed  that  during
rAmAyanA period, pandyAs had  "kabAdapuram" as their
capital and during mahabharatha period "maNaloor" as
their  capital. Since sanga kAlam and  until  lately
Madurai  was  their capital. PAndyas  are  generally
vishnu  bhakthaaLs unlike some chOla  kings.  It  is
believed that pAndyAs adorned their country flag  in
respect  of lord Vishnu's very first avathAram  that
is "matsauya" (in tamil meen kodi) avatharam. Recall
that it was pAndya king "vallabha dEvan"'s rule when
our own periyazhwaar delivered "pallaandu pallaandu"
that  we all sing today. I would like to recall this
from periazhwaar's periya thorumozhi  verses
"pAndiyan kondAda pattar " in

paaNdiyan_koNdaadap pattar_piraanvandhaanenRu
eeNdiyasangametuththoodha - vENdiya
vEdhangaLOdhi viraindhukizhiyaRuththaan
paathangaLyaamudaiyapaRRu.

ie pandyas were not only loyal but were celebrating the
Lord and azwaar.

Pandyan clan of kings with the family name vAnar  or
vAnAthi  rAyar  (similar to Raja raja  cholan,  Raja
Rajendra    cholan)   ruled   this    kingdom    for
approximately 500 years. Most important of them were
"thiru  maal irum sOlai ninrAn, mahaabali, vaanaathi
raayan, uRangaa villi thaasan. Their names itself is
enough  a  proof  to validate the claim  that  these
were  very pious srivaishnava kings. They also acted
very  seriously to suit the titles and names awarded
to  them those days. Some of them were ruling  thiru
maal  irum  sOlai as their capital. Periyazhawar  in
his pasuram " koorvElkon nedumaaran"

confirms that pAndiya kings were rendering  a  great
service to Lord Azhagar.

mannarmaRuka maiththunanmaarkku_oruthErinmEl
munnangun^inRu mOzhaiyezhuviththavanmalai
konnavil"koorvERkOn nedumaaRan"_then_koodaRkOn
thennan_koNdaadum then_thirumaalirunchOlaiyE.          7.

Our salute to the pAndya kings those who served the Lord
of thiru maal irum sOlai !


Sri   SridEvith  thaayaar  Sri  ANDAL  samEtha   Sri
kaLLazhagar   paramswami   sudara   raaja   perumaal
thriuvadikaLE saraNam
Sampath Rengarajan