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PeriyAzhwAr ThiruppallANdu - Introduction

From the Bhakti List Archives

Madhavakkannan V • March 22, 2002 


Sri:
SrImathE Ramanujaya namah:
Dearest Srivaishnavas,

[Thanks to many BhAgawathas who have written to me to bless aDiyEn and the 
kaimkaryam].

When Vishunu Chitthar saw the Lord , he was overwhelmed with the beauty , 
youth and laavaNyam of the Lord and broke out spontaneously .. ne engadaa 
inga vandhE.. (Why have You come here? This place is full of evil, and with 
such beauty epitomized, the people will cast evil glances on You.. ). He 
bursts out like an affectionate caring Mother with full of vaathsalyam on 
the Lord.. With his mangaLAsAsanam (praise) of the Lord using the bells on 
the neck of the elephant as taaLam. He started singing ¡§pallANdu¡¨ 
(hundreds of thousands of years of the Lord¡¦s well being. )

This Vaaathsalyam that burst out on PeriyAzhwAr is called as ¡§pongum 
parivu.¡¨- which generally is found in all our mothers when they are 
concerned about their children. That is why the AzhwAr (who considered the 
role of a mother to  the Lord Himself naturally as if it is the original one 
which bursts out.. ) is called PeriyAzhwAr..

Sri Manavala maamunigaL¡¦s UpadEsa Ratthina maalai says: (from SrI Satakopan 
mama¡¦s translation)

mangaLAsAsanatthil maRRuLLa AzhwArkaL
tangaL aarvatthu aLavu thaan anRi--pongum
parivAlE VilliputthUr Bhattar PirAn peRRAn
PeriyAzhwAr yennum peyar.........(18)

(Meaning ): Bhattar PirAn, who incarnated (as an amsam of GarudA ) at Sri 
VillipputthUr received the name of PeriyAzhwAr as a honorific title. Why So 
? This is because of his intensity in bhakthi (abhnivEsam ) for eulogizing 
Sriman NaarAyaNan exceeded (exhuberantly ) that of all the other AzhwArs

PeriyAzhwAr had the rare distinction of being recognized as the eldest among 
fellow AzhwArs ( Periya Aazhwaar).Why did this title stick to him ? He was 
not the eldest among them . Poygai and the other two Mudhal AzhwArs were 
older than him ( incarnated earlier than him).NammAzhwAr and Kaliyan had 
larger number of Prabhandhams than him .Other AzhwArs had ruchi ( intense 
desire ) for MangaLAsAsanam of the Lord as well that poured out of them as 
moving paasurams.Yet they did not earn the title of PeriyAzhwAr ? Why so ? 
MM points out that Bhattar PirAn won the title of PeriyAzhwAr becuase of the 
ghanam and intensity of his concern for the welfare of the Lord that got 
crystallized as PaLLANDu .

Swami Desikan's salutation of PeriyAzhwAr is moving indeed:
"Aani tannil, perunjyOthi tannil thOnRum PerumAnE !"
[The One who incarnated during the Aani, when the great constellation of 
SvAthi was in ascendance as perumAn / periyAzhwAr].

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/jun99/0173.html - Read aDiyEn¡¦s 
rambling on why is he called PeriyAzhwAr? And the thread for further 
reading/ reference.

During Sri Anand Karalapakkam¡¦s visit to Singapore about three years ago, 
he delivered an upanyasam on Thiruppavai first pAsuram. From his speech (as 
far as I could remember) and from his article:

Sri PeriavAcchAn piLLai says that when compared to AzhwArs, rishis are like 
dust / aNu and AzhwArs are like mountains (in glories/greatness). Then 
within AzhwArs, all other AzhwArs are like aNu in comparison with 
PeriAzhwAr's greatness which is like mountain.  PeriAzhwAr's greatness was 
that while PerumAL Himself gave the sEvai in garuda vAhanam (with pirAtti ) 
, after AzhwAr firmly establishing about the supremacy of Sriman nArAyaNA, 
not only AzhwAr, but all the people were able to have that divine sEvai ; 
and in that very instance PeriAzhwAr delivered the glorious "pallAndu". This 
is known as the "mangaLAsAsanam" - a very esoteric concept in itself.

People ask so many things from PerumAL. Even NammAzhwAr in tiruviruttam says 
"meininru kEttaruLAi adiyEn seiyyum vinnappamE " i.e. even when PerumAL 
gives the sEvai, nammAzhwAr wants Him to listen to his upanyAsam.

But, PeriAzhwAr is PERIYA AZHWAR. He was in total shock as to why did the 
most purest Pristinely Beautiful  PerumAL come to this samsAra sAkkadai and 
was deeply worried about the evil glances of the people towards Him (dhrusti 
pattudum ) !!! Out of great affection towards PerumAL, PeriAzhwAr sung 
PallAndu (Long Live).

We may say: why should AzhwAr sing ¡§Long live? Does he not know that 
PerumAL is omniscient, All powerful. How can evil glances fall on Him? 
Doesn't PeriAzhwAr know all these things? Obviously AzhwAr knows. In the 
debate, (sadhas) PeriAzhwAr without any problem defeated all the opponents 
and established the true imports of the vEdAs quoting relevant sections of 
Vedas to establish the Supremacy of the Lord Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan, 
in unamibiguous manner that made the bag of gold coins bend automatically. 
But, the "jn~Anam" of PeriAzhwAr has turned out into "bhagavad prEmai"  
which is a great ornament for that "jn~Anam".

The ajnAnam resulting from not knowing about the actual realities 
established in the sAstrAs is not at all a desired thing. But, the "ajnAnam" 
which occurs due to bhagavad prEmai is very much a desired oneļ [I too have 
lot of anjnAnam; but due to ignorance.. ]

Sri PiLLai lOkAchAryar beautifully says in Srivachana bhUshanam that one 
should get proper jn~Anam in the first place and should then acquire this 
bhagavad prEmai which should stand on top of this jn~Anam. The illustrious 
AchArya Sri vAtsya VaradadESikar who was the greatest expert in SribAshyam ( 
well evident from SrutaprakAsikA) was very much upset when PeraruLALan was 
served hot boiling milk. This AchArya very well knows that Varadan is the 
antaryAmi of that hot boiling milk also and nothing can affect Him etc etc. 
But, when this AchAryA lovingly made Varadan drink the milk in the optimum 
temparature (as fit to be given for a child - kutti kannan),  PerumAL 
spontaneously reciprocated and fondly called the AchAryA "yen ammA" - " Oh 
My Mother ! " and from then, the AchAryA came to be known as "ammAL"  ie. 
nadAdUr ammAL- the one who truely had the feeling of giving milk to PerumAL 
and not doing something mechanically.

Now, the reason for PeriAzhwAr singing pallAndu is due to the great love - 
bhagavd prEmai. This is a natural feeling that arises with respect to very 
beloved ones.  PerumAL was the most beloved one to PeriAzhwAr and when 
AzhwAr saw PerumAL appearing in this samsAram, his anxiety grew 
exponentially and in order that no evil things should touch/affect PerumAL ( 
who is now in danger !! ) , AzhwAr started performing the mangaLAsAsanam - 
"pallAndu pallAndu ..." --  very very esoteric indeed to comprehend!!

[The above is from Sri Anand¡¦s upanyasam and his article- thanksƒº ]

This ThiruppallANDu is recognized as PraNavam for the Tamil Vedams .In 
ThiruppallANDu , the noble codes of behavior and the tatthvams of Sri 
VaishNavam are enshrined beautifully.

Sri Manavala manunigaL¡¦s  upadesa rathina malai..

kOthilAm AzhwArkaL kooRu kalaikku yellAm
Aadhi ThirupallANDu aanathuvum --Vedatthukku
Om yennu madhu pOl uLLathekku yellAm surukkaai
thaan mangalam aathalAl.......(19)

(Meaning):Among all the Prabandhams of the blemishless AzhwArs, 
ThiruppallANDu took the top (first) place. Why so? Just like PraNavam became 
the essence of the meanings of all VedAs , ThiruppallANDu stayed at the top 
of all Prabhandhams of fellow AzhwArs , since it is the most auspicious 
quintessence ( saarArtha Nidhi) of all Dhivya Prabandhams.

uNDO ThiruppallANDukku oppathOhr kalai thaan
uNDO PeriyAzhwArkku oppu oruvar --taNDamizh nool
seytharuLum AzhwArkaL tammil avar sey kalayil
paithal nenjE nee uNarnthu paar.....(20)

(Meaning ): Oh my mind ! Among the AzhwArs , who blessed us with the 
different Prabandhams , is there One , who is equal to PeriyAzhwAr in 
stature ? (No). Is there one prabandham of all these AzhwArs , which is 
superior to ThiruppallANDu ? (No).Oh my poor mind ! please reflect on these 
questions and learn about the correct answers to them .
Before venturing into Pallandu let us enjoy and get to know
who are other AzhwArs?
why first is PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi in 4000?
what constitutes 4000
and then the podhu thaniyans and thaniyans on PeriyAzhwAr in the subsequent 
posts.
Regards
PeriyAzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Namo Narayana
aDiyEn dAsan

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