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Ranganik KaaNpatheppO?: Sri Parasara Bhattar's anubhavam : Part 1.

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • December 9, 1999 


Dear Sri Ranganatha BhakthAs :

adiyEn posted on ThiruppANAzhwAr's birthday 
( Kaarthigai RohiNi: Nov 24, 99) an article 
with a krithi to be sung in VasanthA Raagam 
with the pallavi of " Ranganaik KaaNNpatheppO ,
kasthUri Ranganaik KaaNNpatheppo?".
That krithi had four charaNams . In that krithi ,
AdiyEn was following the foot steps of great AzhwArs 
and noble AchAryAs like Paraasara Bhattar , who in
his agony over the loss of sevai of Sri RanganAthan
crystallized his  anguish through the famous 
Sri RanganAtha SthOthram with six slOkams 
and two stray verses (Muktakas).

A dozen years ago Sri U.Ve. VidvAn Purisai NadAdUr 
Sri KrishNamaachAr Swamy had written about this sthOthram 
in Nrusimha PriyA .AdiyEn will expand on the theme of that 
article , which may not be readily available to many and 
provide some additional information points regarding 
the anubhavam of PoorvAchAryAs and AzhwArs regarding 
their vislEsham ( anguish resulting from separation )
from Sri RanganAthan . 

We will start this posting with the salutation to 
Sri RangEsa PurOhithar , Sri ParAsara Bhattar , 
the precocious son of Sri KuratthAzhwAn :

Sri ParAsara BhattArya: Sri RangEsa PurOhitha:
Sri VatsAnga Sutha: SrimAn srEyasE mEasthu bhUyasE 

SrI Bhattar's Life and Sri Sookthis
************************************

Sri Bhattar was the svIkAra Puthran of Sri RanganAthan.
He was born as a direct result of the grace of 
Srirangam Dhivya dampathis .His parents were KuratthAzhwAn 
and ANDAL ammayAr. Sri RaamAnujA chose the name of ParAsarA
for the child of his prime disciple, KurEsan .Srirangam
Dhivya Dampathis rocked the cradle of their svIkAra puthran
in front of their AasthAnam and brought up the child . 
Hence there is no surprise that Paraasara Bhattar 
had the intutive and brilliant insight into the cardinal
doctrines of Sri VisishtAdhvaitham and blessed us 
with profound Sri Sookthis in Sanskrit ( AshtaslOki,
Superb commentary on Sri VishNu  Sahasra Naamam ,
Bhagavadh GuNadarpaNam, the sixty one slOkams on 
Sri RanganAyaki , SriguNarathna Kosam , Sri RanganAtha
sthOthram for our daily recital ,the 232 slOkams of 
SrirangarAja sthavam serialized now in Nrusimha PriyA 
by Dr.V.N.VedAntha Desikan , TattvarathnAkarA ,
Lakshmi KalyANam ; in Tamil , and maNi PravALam ,
he has blessed us with Thirumnajana Kattiyam ,
Commentary on Kaisika PurANam and many brilliant
nirvAhAs on the terse passages of NammAzhwAr's
ThiruvAimozhi . 

ParAsara Bhattar's self-exile from Srirangam
**********************************************

KurEsa had a royal disciple by the name of Virasundara 
Brahma Raayan . His fellow sishyar was PiLLai PiLLai 
AzhwAn, who was very dear to KurEsan . Latter was living
in a house that was at the middle of Sri RanganAthA's
sannidhi prAkAram known as Thrivikraman prAkAram .
The rampart walls had fallen down and needed to be
reconstructed . Paraasara Bhattar instructed Virasundara
Brahma Raayan to construct a new rampart wall without 
destroying the residence of PiLlai PiLLai AzhwAn .
 
Bhattar suggested that the king follow the route
taken by Thirumangai , when he built the wall 
of one prAkAram by skirting the nandhavanam of
ThoNDaradip Podi AzhwAr . The king rejected 
his AchArya KumAran's suggestion and destroyed
the house of KurEsan's dear sishyan for the sake of
building a straight wall . He hurt deeply the feelings of
Bhattar further by behaving in a haughty manner .
Bhattar decided to leave Srirangam and exiled himself
in ThirukkOttiyUr and returned to Srirangam after
the demise of the king , who had committed parama 
BhAgavathApachAram and AchArya apachAram .
 
The RanganAtha SthOthram was born during 
this time of Bhattar's exile in ThirukkOttiyUr ,
where the agony of Bhattar's separation form 
Sri RanganAthan and Sriranga KshEhtram poured 
out in a lyrical form . These six main and two
stray verses are recited by Sri VaishNavAs 
daily (nithyAnusandhAnam ).The metres chosen
for the six original verses of Sri RanganAthA
sthOthram are in Sragdhara, SikhariNi , MandakrAnthA 
and IndravajrA . Readers are referred to Dr. S.PamanAbhan's
Ph.D thesis on ParAsara Bhattar for a detailed study
of the lyrical beauty of the individual slOkams 
of the sthOthram. AdiyEn will focus on the anubhavam
aspects from the point of AzhwArs .

(To Be continued )
Daasan, V.Sadagopan