"Adbhuta KEsari" or "SingappirAn Perumai"
From the Bhakti List Archives
• January 31, 2003
Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:
"Adbhuta Kesari" or "SingappirAn Perumai"
Tamil novelists of yore like Sri Vaduvur Duraiswamy Iyengar, Sri AraNi Kuppuswamy Iyengar, Smt. Vai. Mu. KodainAyaki Ammal etc., used to preface their novels with two titles. "Didum PravEsa MahAjAla ParadEsiyAr, alladhu "Rama Simhanin ashta jayangaL" is one such sample title. One used to wonder what prompted these pioneers of Tamizh composition to resort to such alternate titles. It must have the reluctance to forego good captions that must have forced them to adopt such a strategy. I am also under a similar compulsion, and in having to choose between the appellation coined by Swami Desikan and Sri Nammazhwar, ended up using both.
"Engum uLan KaNNan endra maganai kAindu
ingu illayAl endru IraNiyan thooN pudaippa
angu appouzhudE avan veeya thOndriya
en SingappirAn perumai ArAyum seermaitthE"
This beautiful pasuram of Sri Nammazhwar brings out the immeasurable glory of Sri Nrsimhavatara.
The scene is the sprawling palace of Hiranyakasipu, with its lofty roof supported by numerous artistically carved stone pillars. These pillars were put up under the personal supervision of the asurA, who wanted the best for his residence. Each of the pillars was inset with precious stones and gave off brilliant light.
With worry writ large on his face at the intransigent attitude of his only son and heir to the throne, Hiranyakasipu was pacing the broad corridors, not a little concerned. Where did he go wrong in bringing up the child? He had engaged the best masters in the kingdom to teach his son Prahlada the rudiments of Asuric life, to teach him to hate the DEvAs as poison, and to regard as prime enemy that mAyAvi Mahavishnu who had tricked beloved brother HiranyAksha to death, assuming the form of a giant boar. Lamentably, Prahlada had somehow been misguided by someone and kept repeating that Sri Hari, the one person whom Hiranyakasipu hated most, was Lord and Master. His teachers had tried to convince Prahlada of the folly of his thoughts and Hiranyakasipu had himself spoken to him in the kindest of words that it was he, Hiranyakasipu, who was the master of all the worlds, and not any pretender like that Vishnu. However, all these words had fallen on apparently deaf ears and Prahlada had stuck to his stand.
When the boy had failed to see reason, Hiranyakasipu had tried to "persuade" him to change his views, by arranging for his being pushed down from a precipice, being fed deadly poison, being stung by the most venomous of snakes and pushed into the deepest of waters. Miraculously, no doubt due to some indestructible gene inherited from himself (Hiranyakasipu), Prahlada had survived all these attempts, which would have finished off any ordinary asurA.
All these attempts to change his way of thinking had only made the young Prince firmer and firmer in his faith in Sri Hari. Not only was Prahlada posing a challenge to his father's wisdom and power, he was subverting children of his age by indoctrinating them in the cult of Vishnu. Hiranyakasipu could well imagine the disastrous consequences of letting such seditious tendencies grow unchecked. He would have a final talk with the misguided boy and if he still could not be brought around, would finish Prahlada off with his own hands, irrespective of the pain it would occasion him to cause the death of his own precious progeny. Enough was enough and before the poisonous weed grew into an indestructible tree, a "Visha Vriksha", it had to be destroyed. No longer could he let the scales of parenthood cloud his reason and had to act mercilessly.
Blissfully unaware of the murderous thoughts coursing through his father's mind, Prahlada, in all his innocence, approached his father and prostrated before him. For a moment, Hiranyakasipu was moved at the sight of the beautiful young Prince, his visage awash with infantile innocence, greeting his father with a radiant smile, despite all the torture he had been put through for chanting the Lord's haloed name. The lad's face shone with pure love and affection, uncontaminated by thoughts of reproach for past happenings. Looking at him, Hiranyakasipu's hopes of reforming him were rekindled and he spoke to Prahlada in the soft tones of an affectionate father, trying to instil in the boy the basic truth of his (Hiranyakasipu's) invincibility. He made the lad understand that his father was no ordinary dEvata, but an all-powerful asurA, who had obtained, nay, snatched, boons of indestructibility. He could not be killed with any weapon, however mighty, nor could his life be ended by man or beast. He could not be de
The listening Prahlada was beset with as great a worry as his father. Why was father, who was so capable and so wise, have a blind spot as far the Lord was concerned? Why hadn't he learnt the lessons from the untimely demise of his brother Hiranyaksha? It must be clear to every right thinking person that Sriman Narayana was indeed the Supreme Being and none else was as powerful as Him. Why was father so insistent that he himself was the ultimate power, despite the unanimous voice of the Shruti, which they all held in reverence? Was it after all the Lord's will that his father should continue to suffer from delusions of absolute power? Did he not realise that BrahmA, from whom he had derived all those boons of supposed indestructibility, was after all a creation of the Supreme Lord Sriman Narayana? Why was everybody- father, teachers, courtiers, subjects- so intent on concealing the beautiful truth and acting as if they were eternal beings beyond the purview of the Parabrahmam?
Why didn't the indescribably sweet name of the Lord evoke in his father and others the sort of bliss, which it did in himself? It was quite embarrassing to be telling father things, when, as a dutiful son, he should be listening to parental words of wisdom. However, he would not give up his attempts to apprise father, in the most respectful fashion, of where the truth lay, come what may. The Lord had protected him from the potentially fatal fall from the mountaintop, from deadly poison and from venomous snakes, and would continue to be his Saviour whatever be the new perils his father had in store for him. He did not feel any anger or hatred for father for putting him through all these travails, only sorrow at the monarch's lack of realisation of the truth, which was shining like the Sun, for all to see.
Matters were coming to a head, with Hiranyakasipu losing his patience fast. Whatever he might say, Prahlada refuted it calmly, reiterating his stand that it was Sri Hari who was omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. The asurA's face became suffused with rage and his voice level gradually rose till he was shouting. Collecting himself, he thought he would give the brat one more chance, the final one, to prove his patently false averments. If the lad failed, it would surely make the truth of Hari's insignificance and his (Hiranyakasipu's) own greatness dawn on the misguided infant. This would pave for a win-win situation-if Prahlada were to fail to prove his claim of omnipresence for Vishnu, the boy would realise the folly of his ways and return to a good, Asuric life as the heir to the throne. If, on the other hand, Vishnu indeed materialised, it would be an ideal opportunity to eliminate Him forever. With his boons of indestructibility, there was no way Hiranyakasipu could lose against any adversary, howeve
Coming to a decision, Hiranyakasipu stopped pacing and confronting Prahlada, asked him sarcastically if this Hari was indeed a real and live being or a figment of the boy's imagination, and where He could be found. In his clear, piping voice, the blessed boy told his father that Sri Hari was the most real and unchanging Lord amidst a world of changing objects and beings, passing from birth to death endlessly. Sriman Narayana was ever-present everywhere. His pervading presence was there as much in a stone pillar as the one beside which they were standing, as in a blade of grass growing in the meadow opposite. "ThooNilum iruppAn, thurumbilum iruppAn" declared Prahlada fearlessly, reiterating the Upanishadic dictum, "antar bahischa tat sarvam vyApya Narayana: stittha:" Prahlada gave a detailed account to his father, to demonstrate the Lord's omnipresence-
"urvyAm asti, udakEshu cha asti, vidikshu Vayu nabhasO tiryakshu atiryakshu cha
asti anta: bahirasti sati asati vA sArEshu asArEshu vA
sarvatra asti sadA asti kim bahunA tvayi asti mayi asti cha"
The precocious child, held up as a model of all goodness ("upamAnam asEshANAm ya: sAdhoonAm sadA abhavat"), told his father that the Lord was to be found on the earth, in water, in air, in the sky and in the four directions. He is ever present inside and outside all animals and others. "He is present everywhere all the time, present in you and me", concludes Prahlada.
Reaching the end of his tether, Hiranyakasipu thought he had finally trapped the lad into an admission, which he could not prove. There was little chance that Hari could have hidden Himself in the pillar pointed out by Prahlada, because as he himself had supervised its construction, he knew that it contained little other than stone, brick and mortar. He told Prahlada, "You foolish boy! How could you imagine the presence of an alien creature in a pillar in my own palace, which is guarded more closely than any other spot on earth! I will demonstrate to you right now the falsity of your belief. I shall break this pillar into pieces and show you that your Hari can never insinuate Himself into my territory. He wouldn't dare!".
When all this was happening, the Lord in Sri Vaikuntam, ever at the ready for the protection of the SAdhUs, hearing Hiranyakasipu challenge Prahlada to prove the omnipresence of Hari, transformed Himself into a wonderful Man-Lion form, half-lion and half-man, and entered into all beings animate and inanimate, ready to spring out from anything that the asurA should choose for demonstrational purposes. This avatara was meant to show to posterity the lengths to which the Lord would go, to make their words come true-"Satyam vidhAtum nija bhritya bhAshitam".
Thus He was and still is present in all sentient and non-sentient beings in the form of a glorious Lion God, which the Shruti describes as "MrigO na bheema: kucharO girishttA:" It was a terrifying figure, with huge eyes red with anger at the insult meted out to His young devotee, a broad mane of golden hair framing His face, dense eyebrows shaking in anger, ferocious mouth bared to reveal razor-sharp, protruding teeth capable of tearing anything to pieces ("irinda pEzh vAi vAL eyittru Or KOLari"), long, powerful arms ending in nails resembling deadly sceptres on all His fingers, a roar that could benumb the entire universe with its volume and power, nostrils flared in rage, a form that filled the entire canvass of the broad earth and skies with its awesome presence. Up to the neck, the Lord sported His normal torso and above that was the face of an extraordinarily beautiful and ferocious lion. It was in this form that the Lord was present in all things big and small, awaiting the cue as would the dramatis p
Hiranya kasipu swung his mace at the offending pillar with a deafening impact. The pillar broke into a thousand pieces, not due to the external blow, but from the Lord springing out with all His power, in the terrifying Nrsimha svarUpam, with a roar of released anger that struck terror in the hearts of everybody including the most exalted of deities. Taken aback at the awesome figure leaping out of the pillar, Hiranyakasipu collected himself and responded with speed, trying to attack the strange figure with his mace.
However, the powerful asurA found himself lifted up like a doll in the phenomenally strong arms of the man-lion, carried to the threshold of the palace, where the Lord put him firmly on His lap and tore open his chest with His bare nails, to check whether there was even an iota of bhagavat bhakti hiding somewhere in a corner of the asurA's heart. Failing to find even the slightest traces of it, Sri Nrisimha tore the asura to pieces and plucking out his entrails, adorned Himself with them as a gory garland.
One might wonder whether such a bloodbath was indeed necessary and whether the Lord could not have disposed of the offender in a more decent manner. One must remember here that the asura had a lot of boons in his favour and the mode of his destruction had to conform to all of them. He was killed on his own threshold, neither inside the palace, nor out of it. And he was killed neither on the ground nor in the sky, but on the Lord's lap. He was killed during neither day nor night, but at the time of Sunset, the sandhyA kAla, at which day and night meet.
The Lord had to use His nails to do the job, as the asura could not be destroyed by any weapon.
The BhAgavata slOka which declares that the Nrsimha avatara was intended to make a devotee's word come true or to prove the truth of his votary's words, ("Satyam vidhAtum nija bhritya bhAshitam") could be interpreted in two ways-
1. Prahlada had said that the Lord was present in the pillar. So the Lord indeed came out of the same pillar, to prove Prahlada right.
2. BrahmA had blessed Hiranyakasipu with quite a few boons, as detailed above. So the Lord destroyed the asurA in such a manner that BrahmA's words were not falsified and remained true.
The manner in which Sri Nrisimha manifested Himself is described by Sri Nammazhwar as "angu, appouzhdhE, avan veeya thOndriya en SingappirAn"-
"angu"- the Lord came out of the same pillar that Hiranyakasipu struck. Had he emerged from any other place, implying His absence in that particular pillar, Prahlada's averment that the Sri Hari was present everywhere would not have been true.
"appouzhudE"- the Lord sprang out of the pillar the moment it was smitten by the asurA. Had this not been so, Prahlada's contention that the Lord was ever present everywhere, would have remained mere hyperbole.
"avan veeya thOndriya"-there was no protracted battle with Hiranyakasipu. The moment Nrisimha emerged from the pillar, He made short work of the asurA with His nails.
"en SingappirAn"- this was no ordinary lion, but an extraordinary one, unseen and unheard of ever before and ever after-an "adbhuta Kesari". The closeness Sri Nammazhwar feels to this avatara is brought out by the endearment "en SingappirAn".
The glory of Sri Nrisimha is beyond recounting, comprehension or research, says Sri Nammazhwar-
"en SingappirAn perumai ArAyum seermaitthE".
The Lord might have assumed numerous avataras, but none of them could hold a candle to the Nrisimhavatara. He is the "TeLliya singam adAgiya Devu". This glory is enhanced manifold considering that the principal objective of this manifestation was the Lord's overwhelming concern that His devotee should never be proved wrong.
Sri Mukkur Azhagiasingar puts this beautifully in His LakshmINrsimha KarAvalamba Stotra-
"Bhaktasya dAnava sisO: vachanam cha satyam
kartthum tadA munigaNasya samaksham Eva
stambhAvateerNa diti putra vinAsa kArin!
LakshmINrsimha mama dEhi karAvalambam".
"Sri Nrsimha! When my faculties are on the wane, when I am drawing my last breath, You must rush to my side with Your Consort to take me with You, as You did in the case of Prahlada" says the author of Sri NrsimhAshtakam-
"VArija vilOchana mat antima dasAyAm
klEsa vivaseekrita samasta karaNAyAm
Ehi RamayA saha sharanya! VihagAnAm
nAtham adhiruhya Narasimha Narasimha!"
The extraordinary degree of anger exhibited in this avatara shows the Lord's intolerance at any injustice meted out to His true devotees. Sri Andal's remark about the Lord's eyes resembling the Sun and the Moon respectively, are obviously with this avatara in mind. While one of His eyes blazed with uncontrollable anger at the asurA, the other eye was cool as the Moon and brimming with love and affection towards the innocent infant Prahlada. This is the Emperuman sung variously by Azhwars as
"andi am pouzhudil ari uruvAgi ariyai azhitthavanai
bandanai teera pallAndu". While Sri Nammazhwar expresses his closeness to this Lord by terming Him "en SingappirAn", Sri Kalian follows suit with "nAm tozhudum nammudai nam perumAn", "engaL eesan, em PirAn" etc. He is thus our own Lord, "nam PerumAn". He is the Lord who dwells inside us, "Agam sEr Narasingam" and directs us constantly. His is the most beautiful of all forms-"azhagiyAn tAnE, ari uruvan tAnE".
Let us conclude with Swami Desikan's tribute in Sri KamAsikAshtakam-
"Tvayi rakshati rakshakai: kim anyaai:
tvayi cha arakshati rakshakai: kim anyai:
iti nischita dhee: shrayAmi nityam
NriharE! VegavatI tata Ashrayam tvAm".
Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:
Dasan, Sadagopan.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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