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Saturday : June 30, 2001, PeriyAzhwAr Thirunakshathram celebrations at Sri RanganAtha Temple , Pomona , NY

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • June 29, 2001 


Dear BhakthAs:

The first major Thirunakshathram celebration 
after MahA samprOkshaNam will be that of 
PeriyAzhwAr , the foster father of ANDAL
and the father-in-law of Lord RanganAthan .

He was born as GarudAmsar at SrivillipputthUr .

His ThiruppallANDu and his "Pongum Parivu"
that led to His MangaLAsAsanam of PerumAL
to ward off any Dhrishti DhOsham is central to
our SampradhAyam. His exquisite anubhavams of 
Bala KrishNan in his role as the Mother, 
YasOdhA pirAtti have no comparison. AzhwAr
incarnated on an Aani SwAthi ; this nakshathram
is also the nakshathram of Lord Narasimhan.  
Even today , we see Garudan at the feet of 
MalOlan in Ahobila Matam Silver mantapam.
At Srivilliputthur , He (PeriyAzhwAr/Garudan)
stands next to his Lord . He was the Achaaryan 
for ANDAL .No wonder , ANDAL incarnated as 
Bhumi Devi amsam on the ThirutthuzhAi paatthi
(plot) of PeriyAzhwAr's nandhavanam .

Short Summary of His Thirumozhi (
********************************
1.ThiruppallANDu: Para Tatthva NirUpanam
of Sriman NaarAyaNan : 12 Paasurams

PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi : Remaining 462 Paasurams are 
housed in Five decads. 

Here is a summary of the individual decads :

2. NaaraNan PiRanthamai :The story of birth Of 
   KrishNan begins at ThirukkOshtiUr  which AzhwAr 
   considered as Thiru AaypAdi (Gokulam ). ThirukkOshtiUr
   is the home of PeriyAzhwar's AchAryan , Selva Nampi.

3. Paadha Kamala SEvai/Avayava Anubhavam of Bala KrishNan: 
   "pEthaikkuzahvi  piditthu suvaitthuNNUm 
    Padha KamalangaL KaaNeerE ! ". The Imagery of 
    the "helpless baby " tasting its toe in its mouth
    with glee is exquisite . From Paadha Kamalam ,
    AzhwAr invites every one to come and have 
    the sevai of the sarvAnga Soundharyam of
    the divine child.There are 21 paasurams in
    this special decad.

4.  Thaalapparuvam ( Lullaby to the child in cradle):
    This is PiLLai Tamizh at its best:Thaamarik KaNNanE
    ThAlElO, Devaki SinghamE ThAlElO, Sundart ThOLanE
    ThAlElO , NaaraNA! AzhEl, ThAlElO...". 

5.  Ambuli Paruvam (11th Month): Bala KrishNan is
    crawling all over the place and Mother YasOdhA
    (PeriyAzhwAr) invites the Moon (Ambuli) to come
    closer and play with her Divine Child . PeriyAzhwAr
    uses Saama , DhAna BhEdha and DhaNDam approaches
    to persuade the Moon to come near the JagannAthan 
    to play with Him .

6.  Senkeerai paruvam ( Child moving from side to side
    as a form of play) at the request of the Mother):
    " Ayya ! YenakkorukAl Aaduha Senkeerai ,
      AayarkaL pOrERE ! aaduha aaduhavE ".

7.  SappANi Kottal( Child clapping by joining both Hands):
    OnpathAM ThingaLIR SappANi (Ninth Month)is the time
    for SappANi play. "Saram Thotta kaikaLAl SappANi,
    Saarnga VirkkaayanE! sappANi ".

8.  Toddling period of Bala KrishNan ( TaLar Nadai Paruvam):
    "Takka MaamaNivaNNan VaasudEvan TaLar nadai NadavAnO".

9.  YasOdhai begging Baala KrishNan to run to Her and
    embrace her(AcchO paruvam) :"ankaikaLAlE Vanthu accho acchO,
    AaratthazhuvAi vanthu acchO acchO".  

10. YasOdhai begging Baala KrishNan to come from behind and 
   hug her (PuRam pulhuthal): " Atthan vanthennai PuRam PulhuvAn,
   AazhiyAn Yennai PuRam pulhuvAn".

Second  Decad:
**************
Here again , KrishNa Premi (PeriyAzhwAr )takes on Gopa Janmam
and enjoys YasOdhA's anubhavam of Baala Leelais of KrishNan.

1. Appoocchi Kaattal and AmmanE Response : Baala KrishNan
   pretends to frighten the children.They pretend to succumb
   to the fear and shout  "ammanE" in response . "Aayan vanthu
   appoocchi KaattuhinRaan , AmmanE! appoocchi KaatuhinRaan".

2. YasOdhai PirAtti invites Baala KrishNan to breast feed:
   " OdiyOdip pOyvidAthe , UtthamA ! Nee Mulai uNAyE ".

3. YasOdha pleading with Baala KrishNan not to run away
   and come closer to get His ears pierced to wear ear aabharanam:
   "SridharA ! Unn Kaathu thUrum , kaiyil thiriyayaidukidAi--
    inninRa kaarikaiyAr siriyAmE".

4. ManjanamAttal: "VeNNai aLantha KuNangum--" . YasOdhA
   PirAtti cajoles Baala Krishnan to have Thirumanjanam.
   "Nee PiRantha ThiruvONam , inRu nee neerAdavENdum,
    EmpirAn OdAthE VaarAy".

5. AkkAkkAi Koovik Kuzhal Vaaral: Here PeriyAzhwAr as 
   Mother YasOdhai combs the hair of KaNNan after
   Thirumanjanam .He wants to run away from her. She
   calls for the crow to come near and distracts KaNNan
   to complete the combing of His hair.

6. KaNNan had His hair combed and YasOdhai wanted to
   decorate His black , curly trsses with flowers.
   KaNnan saw the young gOpas heading to the grazing 
   grounds with the sheperd's crook in hand .He wanted to
   join them and looked around for His stick to go with them .
   Yasodhai pacifies Him by saying that the crow has taken
   away that stick and calls the crow to bring it back .
   " kOlappirAnukku Ohr kOl KONDu Vaa
     Kudanthaik KidanthARkkOr kOl KoNDu Vaa".

7. YasOdhA"s (PeriyAzhwAr's) invitation to KrishNa to 
   adorn different kinds of flowers: " Paathiri poo
   Soota VaarAi, Senkazhuneer Sootta VaarAai ,Kurukkatthi
   Poo Sootta Vaarai...".

8. Kaapiduthal: After Thirumanjanam , Combing of hair and 
   adorning the tresses with beautiful flowers , YasOdhai
   got worried about Dhrushti DhOsham falling on Kuttik KaNNan.
   The time was evening time. The dhivya Desam was ThiruveLLaRai.
   YasOdhai wants to do rakshai for KrishNan by tying 
   a consecrated thread on His wrist.She invites Her son 
   to come near: " Anthiyam pOthu ithuvAhum , AzhaganE !
   Kaapida VaarAI ".

9. Gopi's complaints to YasOdhai about the mischiefs 
   done by Baala KrishNan at the homes of GopAs (stealing
   VeNNai, crashing utensils containing curd et al and
   tormenting gOpa kannis ):" AsOdhai NangAi! unn mahanaik
   koovAi"..YasOdhai calls for KrishNan to come closer 
   and confesses that she can not bear others criticizing Him.
   " Anjaana VaNNA ! asalahatthAr , paribhavam pEsa 
     TarikkahillEn paaviyEnukku ingE pOtharAyE ".

10. The Gopis coming to YasOdhai's house and complaining
    directly to her about the injustices done by her son:
    " Your son is the One , who rushes to the help all of His
    devotees. In our case , he does all injustices and
    torments us. How can we put up with the apakArams
    of Your son !". 

We will continue with the rest of the decads in
the subsequent posting .We have covered sofar 
the summary of 212 pasurams at a macro level.
Deatiled descriptions of some of the decads like
NeerAttam are in Bhakthi archives. 

Meanwhile , on behalf of the Sri RanganAtha temple ,
adiyEn invites you to join in the celebrations of
PeriyAazhwAr's Thirunakshatram tomorrow.

Sri RanganAtha para BrahmaNE Nama:
Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SatakOpan   
     
    
              


 
    
      
   
    
     


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