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Re: Divya kshetram No. 1 - kumbhakONam.

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TV.Venkat • August 31, 1998 


                         SrimathE NArAyaNAya Namaha

     Dear Bhagavathas,

     Though I said I am stopping, I couldn't resist asking this question in
     favour of my Arangan.

     Sri Krishnamachari wrote :-
     -------------------------Quote------------------------------------

This is not the case with my ArAvamudhan, and I hope He will not ever become
an unfriendly Host.  So on purely selfish grounds, I will vote for
ArAvamudhan.  But there are also very sound reasons why He is No. 1.
     ------------------------Unquote-----------------------------------

     Please go to the divya dEsams like Navathiruppathi near and around
     AzhwAr Thirunagari and many other not so popular (when I say popular
     it is with respect to discussing it as no.1 against any other divya
     dEsam) divya dEsam. I would say, the emberumAns in these divya dEsams
     will rather come out even to the "oor ellai" to receive you as They
     hardly have any devotees thro out the years, excepting the one or two
     local fellows and the Archakar. Go to the PravALa vaNNar sannidhi in
     Kanchi. Here also, the case is same. Like wise there are many other
     divya dEsams. If the no. 1 position is to be accorded on this basis
     then there are other divya dEsams which begs the no.1 place on this
     grounds. Any way, Sri Krishnamachari does not claim Thirukkudanthai as
     No.1 purely on this basis. So with this in mind let me ask the other
     question.

     ------------------------Quote---------------------------------------
tirukkudandai is where tiruppati ve~kaTAcalapati and triuvara~ngam's
ran~gaSAyi ended up ultimately.

..........(some portion deleted)


For those of you who are pitching in for tiruve~nkaTam as the No. 1 divya
deSam, just be aware that tiruve~nkaTattAn just had an intermediate stop in
tiruppati, but then proceeded to kumbhakONam, where He assumed the name of
ArAvamudhan, and got united with Lakshmi in the form of kOmaLavalli.  This
is confirmed by tirumaZhiSai AzhvAr in tiruc-canda viruttam -

     "Sezhu~nkozhum perum pani pozhindiDa uyarnda vEi
       vizhundu ularndu ezhundu viN puDaikkum vE~nkaTattuL ninRu
       ezhundirundu tEn porundu pUm-pozhil tazhaik-kozhum
       Sezhun-taDam kuDandaiyuL kiDanda mAlum allaiyE".

     -------------------------Unquote ---------------------------------

     I don't know the exact vyAkhyAnam of this pAsuram. However  let me
     agree to this pAsuram as it looks like confirming that
     thiruvEngadamudaiyAn had finally ended up at Thirukkudanthai and also
     because I am not defending the case of ThiruvEngadamudaiyAn as No.1.
     After this Sri Krishnamachari gives an account of How Arangan came to
     Thirukkudanthai.

     --------------------------Quote---------------------------------

After the paTTAbhisheka, SrI rAma gave away the ancestral ArAdhana vigraha to
vibhIshNa as a parting gift.  vibhIshaNa rested the vigraha on the ground in
SrIra~ngam, but could not take it back from the ground again, bhagavAn having
assumed His reclining pose as Lord ra~naganAtha.  But He told vibhIshaNa that
He planned to proceed to tirukkuDandai with half of His vimAna (the vaidika
vimAna) to marry Lakshmi (komaLa valli) and bless hema maharshi.  Then He
proceeded to KumbhakONam and assumed the name and form of ArAvamudhan and
married kOmaLa valli.  Thus, ArAvamudhan is none other than ra~nganAtha, who
also ended up in kumbhakONam because kOmaLavalli decided to reside in
kumbhakONam.
     ------------------------Unquote----------------------------------

     Is there any supporting pAsuram or vyAkhyAnam for any other similar
     pAsuram to validate this claim. I heard that very clearly
     ThiruppANAzhwAr says in his 3rd pAsuram.

     "mandhi pAi vada vEngada mAmalai, vAnavargaL sandhi seyya ninrAn -
     arangatharavinaNayAn"

     meaning, Arangan, when he decided to come down to BhoolOkam came and
     first stood there at Thirumalai for the "VAnavargaL" to do their
     "Sandhi".

     Like wise where is the account that Arangan then came to
     Thirukkudanthai to marry KOmaLavalli.

     After this whatever Sri Krishnamachari said is just the Kshetra
     Mahimai and does not play any role in getting the no.1 spot for this
     divya dEsam.

     Again, as I had indicated in my earlier post, a particular divya dEsam
     could be dearer to anybody but the no.1 is always one and only one
     which indeed is Srirangam undoubtedly.


     Sri RanganAyaki thAyAr samEtha Sri RanganAthan thiruvadigaLE saraNam

     adiyEn RAmAnuja dAsan

     Thirumalai Vinjamoor Venkatesh