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Re: Question on Alvars

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Eswar Josyula • August 14, 1995 


Keshava Das (gorkeshava@aol.com) quoted from Srimad Bhagavatham 11.5.38-40:

>"Men who live in Krita Yuga and other ages long to be born into this world in
>the age of Kali, O King. For it is in the Kali age that men who are wholly
>devoted to Lord Narayana will appear. O King, they shall be found everywhere,
>but they shall be found in large numbers in the Dravida country where the
>rivers Tamraparni, Kritamala, Payasvini, the extremely sacred Kaveri, and the
>great Vetravati (which flows to the west) flow. The men who drink the waters
>of these rivers will become pure of heart and devoted to Lord Keshava."
>
>Bhagavatam 11.5.38-40

A ray of hope for the people of Kali!
Anybody know about the rivers Tamprapani, Kritamala and Vetravati?  

Kaveri (also spelt as Cauveri) as we know rises in the western ghats at
Mercara in the Coorg district of Karnataka, flows through Mysore, goes
south-east to Tamil Nadu past Krsihnarajnagar passing Kollegal, Mettur,
Bhavani, Erode and Tiruchirapally and at Srirangam divides into the Bay of
Bengal.  The chief tributaries of Kaveri are Lakshmantirtah, Amaravati,
Bhavani, and Noyil rivers.
The Vaisnavas of the Sri sampradaya have their chief center of activity
at Srirangam.

Payaswani starts on the west coast near Kasargod, Kerala and flows
eastward into Karnataka to the Kaveri river.
The Vaisnavas of the Brahma sampradaya (Madhvacharya's) have their
major center of activity at Udupi which is about 70 miles north of Kasargod.

Also, it would be interest to know if Acaryas who have commented on the
Srimad Bhagavatham have provided any names of the devotees of Lord
Narayana who have (or are to be) born in the Dravida country.


Keshava Das (gorkeshava@aol.com) further quoted from "The Holy Lives of the
Azhvars" by A. Govindacharya:

>"When by the influence of the wicked (daityas), virtue wanes, the Perfect
>incarnates on earth to re-establish it. When again, by the effects of time,
>God-dear virtue wears away, Three are born in the Krita-age, and Three in the
>Treta. And Three in the Dvapara, and Three in Kali; and these emanate from
>the Shanka, Chakra, Gada, Padma, Sarnga, and Senapati (the Lord of Hosts).
>And Sesha, Lakshmi, and the effulgent Sanaka and others, take birth among all
>grades of society, Brahma, Kshatra, etc. Some pure souls of Vishnu descend
>ex-uterine, and in the Dravida Land mostly, and proclaim (truths) by
>(Dravida) hymns. Sesha, as post-disciple of Natha (-muni), takes birth in the
>Kali age to proclaim the real import of the Vedanta Sastra. The wicked
>Daityas, who were killed in Tripura, and those on the Saugandhika-occasion,
>are born on earth; and they upset the Vaishnava System. Matarisva is
>similarly born, and battering down evil systems, establishes the righteous
>one. All these show men virtue. Pure Godly souls are to be worshipped with
>God. And this course was established in the past. God (Garuda-dhvaja) granted
>them the privilege, that unless they were worshipped, His own worship would
>be fruitless. Also God put to them the power of composing the Prabandhas,
>-treating of His Greatness-when on the Gandhamadana-mount, they were
>performing Tapas, immersed in His service. They thus deserve worship along
>with God (in His Temples). Hence (O Bharadvaja), I (Angiras) have related all
>to thee, -how lost virtue was restored, etc."
>
>From The Holy Lives of the Azhvars by A. Govindacharya
>Introduction #2, Pages xxxi-xxxiii.
>

"..Three are born in the Krita-age, and Three in the Treta. And Three in the
Dvapara, and Three in Kali.. "
Who are these devotees? Is this suggestive of the twelve Aazhvaars?


-Eswar