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SrIrAmAnuja images

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usdeiva • June 13, 1997 


Vijay Triplicane wrote:

> Respected Sri SundaraRajan,  NamaskAram. We should really be very thankful to you for your articles on the net. They are all interesting and informative.  In the recent article about Srirangam, you wrote
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> "The iconic image at his birth-place, SrIperumpudUr, vividly captures his youthful and handsome appearance and is known as the Image Dear to Devotees, ‘tamar uganda tirumEni’.                      
> The one in mElkOTE, cast before his return to SrIrangam, reflects his old age and was blessed by himself;  it is known as 
the Image Which Pleased Him, ‘tAm uganda tirumEni’."
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      I always thought, the one at srIperumpudUr is called thAm ugandha
thirumEni and the one at mElkOtE is called thamar ugandha thirumEni.
The reason being that Sri rAmAnuja himself approved of the vigraham at
srIperumpUdUr and the vigraham at mElkOte was sculpted on the request 
of the bhagavathAs of the city who could not bear sri rAmAnujA's absence
(when he went back to srirangam)..I may be wrong here.Please correct me.

> Thanks a lot for the informative articles, adiyEn, srI rAmAnusa dAsan
  Vijayaraghavan Triplicane. > (Viji) > (vijayt@acuson.com)

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Dear Vijayaraghavan svamin,

SrI pinbazhagia-perumAL-jIyar states that the image at tirunArAyaNapuram
was got cast at the request of the 'aympattiruvar' and just on the eve
of SrI rAmAnuja's departure for SrIrangam; "adilE tam divya-Saktiyai-yum
pratishThippittu,... nAm ungaLukkAga ingE irA-ninROm, enRu..."

the image at SrIperumpudUr was installed after SrI uDaiyavar approved of
the request of SrI kandADai ANDAn (also named SrI rAmAnuja, and son of
SrI mudali-ANDAn) to that effect:  "sarva-kAlattilum sarva-chEtanarkkum
sEvyamAm-paDi..."

the image at SrIrangam was installed, with the consent of namperumAL,
after SrI uDaiyavar passed away and was interred ~~ this also at the
initiative of SrI kandADai ANDAn:  "emperumAnArai ellArum sEvittu
ujjIvikkum-paDi, mILavum avviDattilE AvirbhavittAp-polE-yirukka
archAvatAramAga..."

The noble initiative of SrI kandADai ANDAn in installing the images
at SrIperumpudUr and SrIrangam is written into the 'tanian' of ANDAn:
   "svAvatAra-sthalE (a)rchA-(a)bhUt SrIrangE cha yatISvarah
    yan-mudE tam guNAvAsam rAmAnuja-gurum bhajE."
This declares that it was for the spiritual gratification of SrI ANDAn
that SrI rAmAnuja's images were installed in the two places.

The appellations for the images at tirunArAyaNapuram, SrIperumpudUr and
SrIrangam appear to have come into usage after the time of p.perumAL
jIyar.  Other authentic citations in this regard are welcome.

And thanks, SrI vijayarAghavan, for raising this point!

aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan, T.S. Sundara Rajan.