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Thiru maal irum sOlai - Part 3- noobura ganagi or "silambaaRu" mahAthmiyam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sampath Rengarajan • November 15, 1996 


Thiru  maal  irum  sOlai - Part 3
 noobura  ganagi  or "silambaaRu"  maAthmiyam

When  the  Lord  took the incarnation  as  thriuvikrama
avathaaram, HE measured  the boolOgam with one feet and
the second feet was placed on ether world or viNNulaham
and  such  holy feet proceeded and entered  beyond  the
satya  lOgam  that naanmugan Lord brahma is  governing.
Lord  Brahma  performed abishEkam  with  his  kamandala
jalam for this holy feet. The theerththam or water that
fell  off from the abishEkam became several folded  and
descended as several holy rivers in parts of boolOgam of
which  the  main and a very special one such  is  river
ganges.  The  water  that washed the  holy  and  golden
silambu (a type of anklet) of the Lord dropped at  this
place   in   azhagar   malai  area   and   became   the
"silambaaRu". This silambAru is also known as  "noobura
gangai".

The   thirumanchanam for the ursavar of this  kshEthram
is  performed  using  only the  theerththam  from  this
silambaaRu  in  a  tradition  that  goes  back  several
centuries.  It  is noted that when such  thirumanchanam
was  performed using the theerththam from other sources
than  this  silambaaRu, the ursavar idol used   to  get
darkened. Hence it is a practice even today that people
will  travel 2 miles around the foot hills to get  this
puNNiya  theerththam  from silambaaRu  to  perform  the
thirumanchanam.  This  puNNiya  theertham  also   flows
around the paddy fields in the surrounding area besides
being used for thiru manchanam. It is not easy to write
about the mahaathmiyam of this river or theerththam  in
full.

There  were several holy persons in the past who had  a
holy  snAnam  or  dip  in this theerththam  and  simply
attained vishnu saamebyam or mOksham as sought by  them
while  dipping  in this theerththam. Since  this  river
offers  "itha para sugam", this is also known as "ishta
sidhdhi". This river originated from the holy  feet  of
the  Lord  and  hence  it also cleanses  the  "samsaara
bandha  azhukku" when sought and is known  as  "puNyach
chruthi"  due  to this effect. This river   clears  the
sorrow  of death or grief due to mortality for  several
common  folks. Thus this river is also known  as  "pava
haari".  The  holiness of this river is   explained  in
many tamil literatures including 4000. The great detail
and  insights  or secretive powers of this "silambaaRu"
river is given in "silamba"dikaaram a tamil literature.
One   of   the   character  known  as   "madalan"   (in
"silambadikaaram")  worshipped  Lord  thiru   maal   in
azhagar  malai  and  is   travelling  on  his  way   to
srirangam. He met with kOvalan and kaNNagi and kavunthi
adigaL  on his way. He explains to them the specialties
of the "3" parts of this theerththam to them. "When you
go  left  into  the woods, you will reach  "thiru  maal
kunRam". There is a tunnel there (surangam) and if  you
go through the tunnel you will see 3 theerththams. They
are   "puNNiya  sravanam",  "pavakaariNI",  and   "itta
sidhdhi". If you dip in "puNNiya sravanam", and  *seek*
then  you will receive the "complete knowledge" of  the
literature delivered  by Lord Indra known as "yainthira
vyaakaraNam".  If you dip and have a  holy  snaanam  in
"pavakaariNI", and seek then you will get the knowledge
of  your  past birth. If you have a dip and snaanam  in
"itta  sidhdhi", and seek, then you will get all wishes
fulfilled." It is said and believed and conceived  that
one gets relieved of all their sins when they also have
a holy dip in this noobura gangai during any dhvaathasi
and  in particular in aippasai "vaLar piRai"  dvaadasi.
If  one  do  dip and have a snAnam in itta sidhdhi  and
pray   and  seek   to  the  Lord  ahazgar,  they   will
definitely attain vishnu saameebyam known as  "mOksham"
as  per the saathvika purAnams that narrates this thala
puraanam.  The tamil literature "pari paadal"  explains
this river as


"alangum maruvi yaarththu thimizh pizhiyach
silam baaraNintha seer kezhu thiruviR
sOlaiyodu thodar maal irun gunRam"

Thirumangai in his paasuram, in peruya thirumozhi
************************************
1836:
valampuri yaazhi yaNnaivarai yaar_thiraL thOLaNnRaNnNnai,
pulampuri nNoolava Nnaippozhil vENGgada vEdhiyaNnai,
chilambiya laaRudai yathiru maaliruNY chOlainNiNnRa,
nNalanNthigazh nNaaraNa NnainNaNu kuNGgoleNn nNaNnNnuthalE!  (2)9.9.9
************************************

as "silambaaRu udaiya  maalirunchOlai" praises that this
kshethram as the one that has silambAru, ie it can be
meant that "the priasing is done due to the kshetram
having silambAru, thereby giving a special status to
this kshethram.

and thirup pugazh another tamil literature praises this
river as,

"seer siRakku mEni pasEpasElena
nooburath thinOsai kaleer kaleerena"

ie  sounding the osai of the silambu of thiru maal from
where it originated,

periyaazhwaar in his periazhwaar thirumozhi paasuram,
***********************************
alambaaveruttaakkonRu thiriyum_arakkarai
kulampaazhpaduththuk kulaviLakkaayn^inRakOnmalai
silampaarkkavandhu dheyvamakaLir_kaLaadumseer
silambaaRupaayum then_thirumaalirunchOlaiyE. (2)       1.
*************************

silambaarkka vanthu deyva
magaLirgaL aadum seer
silambaaRu paayum then
thiru maal irum sOlaiyai

"silambAru paayum " ie the place where the silambAru is
flowing. There are only a very kshEthram where in azzwaars
have sung about the theerththams of those khsEthrams. One such
kshEthrma is azhagar malai and one such theerththam is
"silambARu".


and finally ANdAL in her naach chiyaar thirumozhi
*********************************************
596:
 canthodu kaaragilum
  cumanthuthadaNG kaLporuthu,
 vanthizhi yumcilampaa-
  RudaimaaliruNY chOlain^inRa,
 cuntharanai, curumbaar
  kuzhalkOthai thoguththuraiththa,
 centhamizh paththumvallaar
  thirumaaladi cErvargaLE. (2)   10
*********************************************

"santhodu kaarakilum
sumanthu thadangaL poruthu
vanthizhiyum silambaaRudai
maal irum sOlai ninRa.."

Once again ANDAL says silambArudai maal irum sOlai
and gives a prominance for this theerththam known
as "siLambARu".


ANDAL thiruvadikaLE charaNam.
Sri SridEvi sundaravalli thaayaar samEthara Sri
kaLLazhagar thiruvadikaLE charanam
Sampath Rengarajan