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thiru adhyayana sEvai - part 18 - vAnam vaLainthathO vaNakkamum sollavE !

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sampath Rengarajan • December 3, 1999 


Srimadh Azhagiya singar thiruvadikaLE saraNam
Sri RanganAyikA samEtha Sri RangarAjan thiruvadikaLE saraNam

thiru adhyayana sEvai - part 18 - vAnam vaLainthathO vaNakkamum              
                      sollavE !

Dear bAgawathAs,

koLLai nilavu kuLircchiyil kooda
ellai ilavupOL thaLircchiyil eRiya
vAnam vaLainthathO vaNakkamum sollavE
Onam valarnthathO vikkaramum vellavE !

meaning:
On  the  auspicious day of pournami thiru kArthigaiday, many good
things happen. The nilA is so  full  and  beautiful  such that it
becomes a target for koLLai or robbery.  ("koLLai  azhagu").  But
the nilA is also feeling very "cold"  due to its  own  nature  of
cooling others. So, to warm  itself  up,  the  nilA  was  already
present in Srirangam skies. ie. nilA knew about "sokkappAnai" and
it was waiting to heat it up from the bonfire in Sri rangam.  The
bonfire is so huge and profuse that it was burning like a "ilavu"
or  cotton  tree  cotton trees heaped up and are burning. The bon
fire was so tall and was reaching even taller. The  skies thought
that they feel cold as well. They asked to themselves "why we may
wait till sunny morning to warm up?" So,  they  bend  as  well to
warm up in that bonfire. However while they were bending so, they
were  also reminded of how  they  were at the holy feet of   Lord
Sri thiru vikkraman. With that thought in mind  they  once  again
bowed their head to Lord  Sri thiru vikkraman or Sri Arangan. All
these reminded on that day of holy sravanam or  thiru  Onam  when
the Lord grew up to become Sri thiru vikkaraman  to  conquer  Sri
mahA bali.

kArthigai:
The kaisika thiru nAL:
On the night of EkAdasai after deepavali Lord is adorned with 360
garments.  The  idheekam  is  that  Lord is protected against the
chill weather prevalent in the season. 4 bags containing 360 silk
cloth are brought. The priest calls out the  names  of "thiruvadi
valarvadEl".  One priest takes out the silk and places it on  the
silver  plate  held  by the other. They say "nAyandE nAyandE" and
brings it.  Another  takes  it  from the plate and covers Sri nam
perumAL with that. Then they call for "adaikkAyamudu  nittudavEl"
ie the veRRilai pAkku or thAmboolam or betal leaves and nut.  The
barchAraga receives it from the custodian through  a servant  and
passes it on to a priest saying nAyandE nayandE. Then the  priest
in turn takes it near the thiru vAy or the holy mouth of the Lord
and keeps it aside. Then  the  dipAm  is  called  for  by calling
nAyandE nAyandE and is placed on  the silver plate. Then the dipa
Aradhanam  is  shown  to  the  lord. This process is repeated 360
times.  After  this  the  Sri kaisika purAnA is  recited  by  the
descendants of Sri Bhattar.

SokkappAnai:
On the pournami day thirumanchanam is  performed  for  the  Lord.
Agni prathistA  is performed in madappalli. 9 holy lamps are lit
from  the agni prathista in madappalli, of which one is a silver
lamp and other are earthern. Led by a member of Sri Utthamanambi
family these are brought to the garba gruham and offerred to the
perumALs and kept there. The utthama nambi family member is sent
back to his house with full  honour  from the temple. During the
night  Lord  Sri  namperumAL  arrives  near  Sri chakkrathAzhwAr
sannithi. HE witnesses the bonfire from there.  Over a  35  feet
tall scaffolding is erected in between Sri  AnjanEya  shrine and
the kArthigai gOpuram. Several cart loads of dry palm leaves are
stacked and  will  be  set  to  fire  by  a person  who has  the
hereditary  right to this  event using one of the lamps that  is
brought  out the madappali and  kept in   the  garba gruham. The
bonfire flame rises to more than 300 feet  and  really  scorches
around within a few feet. This bonfire is supposed  to enact the
thiru vikrama avathAram in HIS huge form. After  this  Lord goes
in pradakshinam to thAyAr sannithi and offerred with thiruvandik
kAppu. Then HE comes back to HIS abode through the third circuit
and AryabhattAL vAsaL.

Srimadh Azhagiya singar thiruvadikaLE saraNam
Sri RanganAyikA samEtha Sri RangarAjan thiruvadikaLE saraNam
thiruk kudanthai Rengarajan

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