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Re: nappinnai - 2

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Mani Varadarajan • May 30, 1995 


> thirumaNGgai aazhwaar is supposed to be the last, i think. i am not very
> sure. Actually when u talk of the aazhwaars, they are referred as
> padhinmar ( 10 in number) ...

Desikar refers to the aazhvaars as "navina-daSaavataaram", as 10
new incarnations propagated by the Lord for the benefit of the
world.  These are incarnations in an inspirational sense -- the
paradox of the Lord singing through them in praise of Himself.

> ... as aaNdaaL became HIS consort and one other
> aazhwaar( i think madhura kavi) sung only in praise of nammaazhwaar. so
> aaNdaaL being HIS consort as well as an ordinary human being could have
> been well known.  
> could somebody clarify the doubt? 

Yes, you are right, madhurakavi aazhvaar is the one who sang only
in praise of his "lord of kurugoor", Nammazhvaar. You can find his
"kaNNi nuN sirutthaambu" on the Prabandham page 

http://reality.sgi.com/employees/mani/prabandham.html

> who exactly is the other aazhwaar who
> sung only in praise of the other aazhwaar. there is another anecdote
> too. only sri raNGgaNnaathar of sriraNGgam has the privelege of being
> sung by all the 10 aazhwaars( padhinmar paadiya perumaaL) nobody else
> has. one aazhwaar has sung only on araNGgaNn ( araNGgaNnai paadum
> vaayaal, maRRoru kuraNGgaNnai paada maattENn) is that kulasEkaran?
> i lost touch and forgot so many such things.

thoNdar-adi-podi aazhvaar sang only in praise of ranganaathar. 
Sri Kanchi P.B. Annangarachariar in one his upanyaasams says that
it appears that this aazhvaar literally knew of no other temple,
for even thiruppaaN aazhvaar, who only sang 10 paasurams, sang
two in praise of thiruvEngadam srinivaasar.  

In fact, sri ranganaathar has been sung of by 11 of the aazhvaars
(including by convention aaNdaal), unmentioned only by sri madhurakavigaL.

> viji
> Vijayaraghavan T. R.
> viji@coe.wvu.edu
> 

Yours,
Mani