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Hayagriva in Tibet!

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Srinath Chakravarty • September 29, 2000 


Dear bhaktas:

Recently Mani wrote about the very intriguing fact of our
beloved Andal's thiruppavai being one of the traditions of
Thai royalty and the continuing existence of brahmins from
Srivaishnava descent in Thailand even today.  I was quite
awe-struck with this information - even though I knew that
the Thai royalty were the patrons of "traditional" dance
which represented portions of Hindu epics and so on.  Even
one of the recent Thai kings I believe, is named "prajAthipok"
- read: prajAdeepak, or the guiding light for his subjects.

Thanks, Mani for bringing this unique element of Thailand's
connection with ancient Hinduism to our attention.  I don't have
anything to add to this information right now, but it brought to
my mind another similarly interesting fact:

Hayagriva in TIBET.

If I may quote from an article by Sri. parakalamutt's
AsthAna vidwan Prof. K.S. Narayanacharya,

"The Bhagavata Purana mentions that God as Vishnu, in this
  Horse faced form is still being worshipped in the Bhadrasva
  Varsha on the northern side of Himalayas (vide V-18-1).

  It also gives a rare Hayagriva Mantra and a brief Hymn in
  praise of this Lord's form. This territory corresponds to Tibet,
  where the populace, before getting converted to Buddhism,
  worshipped Lord Hayagriva, and even now continute to do
  so, without giving up this ancient mode of worship, whatever
  their new persuasion may be.

  A few years ago, some dozens of Buddhist Monks from Tibet
  visited the Parakala Mutt of Mysore to see and believe their
  their dear Deity was being worshipped here, and the present
  Pontiff [Srimad Abhinava vAgIsha parakAlaswAmi (33rd Jeer)]
  is witness to this rare scene!"

  The entire article: http://hayagriva.homepage.com/significance.html
  is included in the Parakala matham webpage.

aDiyEn,
-Srinath C.
_____________________________________________________

From: Mani Varadarajan 
Subject: Tiruppavai and Thailand

Dear Members,

I had read a few years back of a connection between
Tiruppavai and Thailand. Evidently, the Tiruppavai was
recited as part of the Thai coronation ceremony. Today,
I was searching the Net for information corroborating
this when I stumbled across this astonishing bit of news:

        From "Dr.N.Kannan" 

        If it might interest you, several centuries ago, Sri
        Vaishnava Brahmins from Srivillippuththur area of
        Ramanathapuram District, migrated to Thailand.

        Their descendants are still in Bangkok. They are known
        as the Thai Brahmin community.

        They are the Royal Preceptors (RajaGurus) of the
        Thai kings. It is to be noted that the Thai kings although
        claim descent from the Solar Royalty and Sri Rama, are
        now Buddhists.  But the Royal Guru happens to be the
        Sri Vishnava Thai Brahmins.

        There is a very strong tradition of Thiruppaavai hymns in
        Thailand. The hymn, "VaaraNam Aayiram suuzha valam
        vanthu" is still sung in Tamil. But of course without
        understanding the meaning. There are about 2000 Brahmins
        in Bangkok.

If anyone has more info about this, I would love to hear it.

Mani
______________________________________________________



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