Thirumaizhisai Azwaar - thiruk kudanthai mahaathmiyam
From the Bhakti List Archives
• January 8, 1997
There are some discussions on Sri chakraththaazhwaar's
incarnation thirumazhisai azhwar being a jyothi mayam
or not. I am being brought up in the place of
kumbakonam would like to present some details on the
kshEthram of kumbakonam and theconnections to chakrath
aazwar and this kshEthram. My grandfathers lived here
and do did I and my praents live here currently in the
same place that we dwell for more than 132 years.
The name Kumbakonam is due to the fact that during a
pralayam the "gene" for "Srushti" or recreation by
brahma was stored in a pot (pot made from the sand of
thrich chErai) and kept under the pottRaamaRai tank.
The presiding deity Lord Arav"amudan" is also thus known
as one who safe guarded the amutham or gene. The slokam
that explain the fact that "amudam" was stored in a pot
is given below from sthala puraanam.
"kumbasya kONadhO yasmin soothaapooram vinisrutham
thasmaaththu thathpatham lOkE kumbakOnam vathanthihi"
- chapter 12 of sthala puraaNam
Once there was a feud between the (current ?) suriyan
or sun and Srichakrathaazwaar at this place and Sooryan
assumed and challenged that he is the brightest of all
and started to shine brighter and brighter. Sri chakram
took its anatha swaroopam and shined equiavlent 1000
crore (ayiram kodi) suns. This over powered the sun as he
lost his jyothi and was darkened. He was advised by
Brahma to seek Lord Sriman Narayana's blessing at
this place of kumbakonam. And later as directed by HIM
suryan did severe penance seeking the blessings of Sri
chakrathazwaar here in kumbakonam and was blessed by
srichkrathazwaar here and his oli and thEjas was
reinstated. Since sooriyan did kadum thavam or severe
penance and Lord sriman narayana and later srichakrath
azwaar appeared and offered remedy to sooriyan after
making him realize his mistake. Sooriyan requested Lord
narayana to name this place after him to mark the penance
he did seeking Sri chakrath azhwar's blessings and hence this
place is also known as "baskara kshEthram" ever since.
So historically this place is not "new" for shining by sri chakrath
azhwar assuch. The name baskara kshethram is referred in the
following Sanskrit slokam from the kumkakonam
mahaathmiyam thala puraanam and also from the
sambaashana between naradha and brahman as
stated in it.
"iththam sthuthO dEvadEvO bAskarENE mahAthmanA !
thatha : prasanthO bagavAn chakra roopi janArthana !
chaarnga pAnE rabinnOsow sarva lOkaika mangaLa :
yath, "thEja"sAhrutham poorvam thath thasmai thathavAnpuna:"
thatha: Evahi thath kshEthram bAskara kshEthramuchyathE !
- Chapter 61 of kumbakonamhaathmiyam
please note line 4 above
""thEja"sAhrutham poorvam thath thasmai thathavAn
puna:"
This thalam is also called as "Oli mayamaana pattinam"
due to this nature of 1000 crore sun's shining light of
sri chakrathaazhwaar displayed here during the feud.
Sriman Mani Wrote that "On the authority of this work,
it is demonstrably clear that the brahmins
discriminated against Tirumazhisai Alvar purely because
they saw him as a sudra. There is no mention in the
Divya Suri Charita about being startled by a dazzling
brilliance, the Alvar's sudarsana amsatva
notwithstanding."
Considering the fact that the references (brahma
naradha sambasahana) and the nool or literture
"kumabakona mahaathmiyam" are themselves older (around
thrEtha yugam ?) to "Divya Suri Charita" and the fact
that all the other "samayams" also accept "kumbakona
maahthmiyam" as a potential source one should also see
the interesting analysis coming out of "kumbakona
mahaathmiyam". The analysis is such that "kumbakonam"
is the kshEthram for shining and it got its name from
chakrathaazwaar's "anantha kOdi soorya mayam", it is
very possible that when the revisit of this same azwaar
occurred as thirumazhisai azhwaar, his antharyaami
jyothi would have blinded the brahmins when he was
passing them thereby the episode of pausing veda
paaraaynam etc occured. The "history of shining" is deep rooted
for this city of kumbakonam and it is connected to the
very sri charathaazwaar (It was the surya himself who was
darkened earlier). This being the case, one will
definitely consider the history beyond "Divya Suri
Charita" and accept Swami Desikan verses
"thirumazhisai vazhi vantha sOthi" and its
interpretation by navaneetham swamigal as stated by
Srimans AR and Murali. Having read the "kumbakona
mahaathmiyam" it is difficult for me to be so sure of
the accounts as emphasized by Sriman Mani.
Sriman Mani also mentioned that "It is unlikely that
this particular set of brahmins would ever see past the
mere body and external appearance of the Alvar
anyhow.". I tend to disagree with this because of the
very fact that when the three nudhal zhwaars approached
a cave there was an enormous light coming from there
and where they found thriumazhisai azhwaar in his
jyothi mayath thuvam. Brahmins by virtue of their
nature are pure and i donot doubt that sri chakrathazwaar
displayed his "flashback" for these holy brahmins when
he revisited this place as azhwar. *One* of the dharmam" and
pradhana sankathi or message if I can research from
this episode is such that even as azwaar thirumazhisai
never violated the varnasara daramam. Though he is the
amsam of the Lord the veda purushan, he never uttered
the veda manthram though he is "aware of" such veda manthram and instead
symbolically helped the brahmins to get restarted where
they stopped.
There are other factors for thirumazhisai' episode that
one must consider in their research which point out to
the fact that this is "THE" kshEthram of chakrathAzwaar
and thirumazhisai" (chakra worshippers please take
note) and that anything can happen in this kshEthram to
bring out the pradhanam of Sri chakrathazwaar. Such are
1. Thirumazhsai's episode Sri PD mentioned.
2. Thirumazhisai being tired of seeing the Lord
"sleeping" in all the other kshethrams in bOga sayanam"
commanded this amuthanin thiruch chantha viruththam as
812:
nadandhakaalkaL nonthavO
nadunkuNYaala mENnamaay,
idanthameyku lunkavOvi
lankumaalva raichchuram
kadanthakaalpa ranthakaavi
rikkaraikku danthaiyuL,
kidanthavaaRe zhunthirunthu
pEsuvaazhi kEsanE! (2) (61)
Oh lord since you walked all the way to SriLanka (in
ramaavatharam) that you felt tired and are sleeping. Oh
lord who appeared as hari and singam, can you wake up
from this bed and talk to me in this kaveri soozhntha
thiruk kudanthai ?"
"kidantha vaaRu ezhunthu irunthu pEsu"
After these lines the Lord Amuthan woke up and opened his kamala nayanam
and looked at the azwaar. Realizing this Azwaar said
"vaazhi kEsanE" and requested him to be as it is. Even
today one can look at amudhan in his "wide opened eyes"
that the lord showed to thirumazhisai. This sayanam is
called as " uthaayana saynam". There is no other place
where one can see the eyes of syaniththa perumaal wide
(or Ranganatha's) open.
2. In naanmugan thiruvanthaathi, it is said that
"chakrpaaNiyallaiyE chaarngapaani yalliayE" thereby
azhwaar is recalling the episode of Lord using the
chakram to teach a lesson to suryan and also making a
temple "chakrapani koil" for chakrath azhwaar through
sooryan.
3. Thirumazhisai spent his rest of the life here in
thiruk kudanthai worshipping aravamudhan and meditating
on sri chakrapaani (his athma swaroopma as srichakra)
at a place exactly half way between the two sannithis.
He was sitting here in yoga dasai and was believed to
be "shining always" ("pinnannar vaNangum sOthi"-
referred in his charitham) as he attained jeeva
samaathi here. Thus thirumazhisai attained mukthi at
this kshEthram and his brindavan is there (chakra
worshippers never miss to visit here and get his
blessings, Sri Murali note this please) near Lord Aravamudan sannithi in a
streetcalled "saththaarath theru" named after thirumazhisai
himself as he was the "saathaatha iyengar" (ref Sri K
Srinivasan's article on saththaatha iyengar). Nothing
more is a proof that chakrathazwaar is living in nitya
vaasam in this place than the srichakra pani temple
constructed by suryan and the nitya jyothi that is
appearing from this brindavanitself for the elevated souls.
4. After obtaining the permission from
Srichakrathaazhwaar, On the banks of kauveri Sooriyan
constructed this temple for Srickarapaani (who is known
as a varaprasaadhi by all *religions* in this city).
The festivities initiated by sooryan are believed to be
continuing till date for this srichakrathaazhwaar.
I can write a book full of quotes from Brahma and
naradha on the nature of kumbakona vaasam and validate
it. However, I think this is just enough to convey the
"root cause" and truth behind certain interpretations.
Coming to Sriman Mani's next statement "There appears
to be reluctance on the part of some of us to accept
the fact that some brahmins in the past have committed
grave bhAgavata apacArams and have generally been
unadmirable people. There is no need to deny the
obvious facts of history by explaining or rationalizing
them away."
Actually on contrary the reluctance is not out of
mere sympathy for brahmins but due to the very same
historical past quoted by Brahma to Naradha as stated
in "kumabakona mahaathmiyam" on the bAgawatha
"uththamath thuvam" of kumbakona vasis, not only
brahmins. Following are certain quotes from their
sambaasahana and there are abundant and more quotes but
as this post is already long, I would only provide
some.
1. What is the prominence of kumbakona vaasis ?
"Sri kumbakoNE vasathaam narAnAm kimasthi vakthavyabalam subancha
namathi dEva: munaya: cha: yaksha: gandarva mukyAssaththam muneechvaa"
meaning:
What is there as a balam for the bagyastha kumbakona
vaasis ? hey, muneechvaraa, devaas and munis and
gandarvaas and yakshaas always pay respects and worship
kumbakona vaasis.
2. Who get to live there as kumbakona vaasis ?
"janmaanthra thabOyOkaath thathravaasObavEth nruNAm"
meaning:
One get to live (kshethra vaasam) here due to several
punniyams of poorva janmas.
3. What is the palan for living even "arai kshanam"
i.e. less than half a minute in this city of kumbakonam?
"shNam shNArththmabivaa kumbakOna vasanthihi
mukthi sthOshaam hastha kaahi kimuthaa kilasambatha"
meaning:
if one can live here for even less than half a kshanam
they are sure to get mOksham. Such being the case they
will also get all the other palans too prior to
mOksham. ie if one will even pass through this city
they are entitled to this punniyam. If this is the case
for half a kshanam what about those (including
brahimns) who will live here for long ?.
4. What is the effect to those who reads these thala
puraanams of kumbakonam ?
"kumbakonasya mhaathmyam nityam bakthiyuthO nara:
ya: patEth chruNuyaath vaabi sarva paabai:pramuchyathE"
meaning:
one who reads this thala puranaam with faith and bakhti
will get relieved from all sins.
5. What is the effect for those who put one step from
where they are to goto kumbakonam after reading these?
"kachchaa meetheesa sankalppam kumbakOnam sabasthalam
ya: karOthi sa tharmaathmaa sakulam dhaarayishyathi"
meaning:
who ever goes towards this kshEthram to worship amudhan
and srichakrathaazwaar and put one step on their
journey with such intention will get to be born in good
clan even if they cannot complete or make such a trip in their life
time.
Sriman Mani concludes that
"At any rate, this story serves to illustrate that
spiritualgreatness is in no way determined by jAti."
On contrary one of the pradhana sankathi as per the
analysis coming out of swami desikan's verses and the
brahma naradha sambaavanai and kumbakonam mhaathmiyam
and navaneethpuram swamigal's interpretation is such
that varnasara dharmam was never violated even by
certain azhwaars born or brought up in other castes
than brahmins and by the same azhwaars who were also
amsams of Lord and were far superior to any born soul
including brahmins.
Sriman Mani ends his post with "We, the Sri Vaishnavas
community, no matter how many stories and how much
proof our own tradition has offered, fail to practice
and perceive this truth to this day".
I am a saamaanyaaL and adiyen has lot of kuRai in
myself and hence I submit that I can neither agree or
disagree on this. All that I can submit is that Sriman
Mani's interpretations are thought provoking and offers
the other side of the coin. There *may* be some grain of
truth in his conclusions for the state of *some part* of current day
brahmin society but I donot want to contract an
apacharam by characterizing a generalized statement on
all brahmins. I apologies to Sriman Mani if i have hurt
his feeling in anyway while presenting this
"analysis". I end this with a prayer on
srichakrathaazwaar of kumbakonam.
"chakraambujE samaaseenam chakraath yaayutha booshanam
chakra manthraathi thEvEsam chakra raaja mahampajE"
Sri Komalavallith thaayaar samEthara sri aravamudahn
thiruvadikaLE charaNam
Sampath Rengarajan
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