Thiru maal irum sOlai - part 6 - kaLLazhagar in ilakkiyam
From the Bhakti List Archives
• February 10, 1997
Azhagar maahathmiyam in tamil and other literatures
It is known that Lord Maha vishnu and his avathArams
Ramar and Krishnar are referred and called using the
word "ahzagar" in vada mozhi sanskrit. Similarly the
lord in madurai is also known as "koodal azhagar". the
Lord of thiru maal irum sOlai is known as azhagar ,
kaLLaazhgar and his station is known as "azhagar
malai". ANdAL who was enchanted by the beauty of this
Lord addressed
608:
ezhiludaiya vammanaimeer! ennarangath thinnamuthar,
kuzhalazhagar vaayazhagar kaNNazhagar, koppoozhil
ezhukamalap poovazhaga remmaanaar, ennudaiya
kazhalvaLaiyaith thaamum kazhalvaLaiyE yaakkinarE.
nAchchiyAr thiru mozhi 11.2 , ANDAL
this Lord as "kuzhal azhagar, vaay azhagar, and
koppozhil ezhu kamla poovazhagar" in naachiyaar
thirumozhi. Thiru mangai
1758:
poNnNnivar mENni maraga thaththiNn
poNGgiLaNY chOdhi yagalaththaaram
miNn,ivar vaayilnNal vEdha mOdhum
vEdhiyar vaaNnava raavar_thOzhI,
eNnNnaiyum nNOkkiyeNn Nnalkulum nNOkki
EnNdhiLaNG goNGgaiyum nNOkkugiNnRaar,
aNnNnaiyeNn NnOkkumeNn Ranchu kiNnRENn
"achchO or'uvar azhagiyavaa'!" (2) 9.2.1
periya thiru mozhi , thirumangai azhwAr
called him "achcho Oruvar 'ahzgiya'vaa !". It is conceived
that this name kaLLazhagar became sundara rajan in
sanskrit as well. The Ursavar is the most beautiful
ursavar of all the 108 ursavars including nachiyaar
koil, thiruk kudanthai, ponnappan, thirunarayana puram,
and vaduvoor raamar the ex thiruk kannapuram ursavar.
The ursavar is made of aparanchi a form of purest gold
and is so bright and yellow in color as compared to
many pancha Loka idols tat are light yellow and light
red tinged. There is a divya prabandam ie. an exclusive
literature other than 4000, known as "sOlai malaik
karasar" defines the beauty of this Lord in great
detail and it addresses HIM as "rishabAthishar". It is
consdered here that this ursavar is more popular than
the moolavar of this khsEthram. In this kshEthram the
ursavar is also seen with HIS pancha Ayudhams.
Sri ANdAL thiruvadikaLE charaNam
Sri SridEvi thAyAr samEtha Sri kaLLazhagar
thiruvadikaLE charaNam
Sampath Rengarajan