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Foreword for the Sri MM pages: Part 1

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • October 23, 1999 


        LIFE AND WORKS OF SRI MANAVAALA MAAMUNIGAL
        *******************************************
Sri ManavALa Maamunigal(MM) revered also under 
the names of  Sri Vara Vara Munni ,YathIndhra pravaNar
is one of the greatest Sri ViashNavite AchAryAs .
He was born in the village of Kidaram in the year 1370 AD
and ascended paramapadham in the year 1443 AD.He has blessed us 
with 19 granthams . Three of them are in Sanskrit . The rest
are in Tamil and ManipravALam .The three works in Sanskrit are :
YathirAja Vimsathi, Sri DevarAja mangalam and Sri Kaanchi
DevapperumAL SthOthram .His ninteen granthams can be classified 
under three major categories:  

(A) VyAkyAna Granthams or commentaries on 
    the works of earlier AchAryAs like
    Sri PiLLai Lokaachaar, PeriyavaacchAN PiLLai
    and Thiruvarangatthu Amudanaar .These eight
    VyAkhyAna granthams are:

    1. Sri Vachana BhUshaNam
    2. Mumukshuppadi
    3. Tattvathrayam
    4. AchArya Hrudhayam 
    5. Jn~Ana Saaram
    6. PramEya Saaram
    7. PeriyAzhwAr Thirumozhi
    8. RaamAnuja NooRRanthAdhi  


(B) Three granthams known as PramANa Thirattu are:

    1. Eedu 
    2. Sri Vachana BhUshaNam
    3. Tattvathrayam 

(C) His Own Granthams in Sanskrit (3) and Tamil(5)
    add up to the remaining Eight :

    1. UpadEsa Rathna Maalai 
    2. ThiruvAimozhi NooRRanthAdhi
    3. Iyalc ChaaRRu
    4. ThiruvArAdhana Kramam
    5. YathirAja Vimsathi
    6. DevarAja MangaLam
    7. Sri Kanchi DevapperumAL SthOthram
    8. Aaarthi Prabhandham , his last grantham .

He lived for 73 years on this earth performing many Kaimkaryams
and undertook many pilgrimages to many Sri VishNavite Dhivya
dEsams . Most of his life was spent however at Srirangam .
The work known as "YathIndhra pravaNa PrabhAvam " records 
the life and accomplishments of this important AchAryA .
His devotion to AchArya RaamAnujA , Swami NammAzhwAr 
and NammperumAL was extraordinary. He spent a significant
portion of his life at Srirangam worshipping Sri Ranganaathan
and peforming KaalakshEpams on AzhwAr-AchAryAL aruLiccheyalkaL.

When he was 60 , Sri RanganAthA wanted to honor Sri MM
for all his kaimkaryams in spreading the message of 
NaalAyira Dhivya prabhandham . He commanded Sri MM
to conduct an year long lecture series on SatAri Soori's
ThiruvAimozhi at Srirangam in His presence . All the regular
uthsavams for the Lord of Srirangam was cancelled that year ,
while He heard the pravachanams on ThiruvAimozhi based on
all the five commentaries starting from aRAyirappadi .At
the conclusion of these pravachanams , a small boy with
dhivys tEjas came from the back of the sadas and sang
a verse that has come to be known as the Taniyan for
Sri MaNavALa MaamunigaL :

srIsailEsa dayaapaatram dhIbhakthyAdhi guNArNavam
YathIndhra pravaNam VandhE RamyajAmAtharam munim 

The audience and Sri MM were wonderstruck after the small boy 
disappeared as fast as he came on the scene . Later ,
through His archakAs , Sri RanganAthA revealed that 
it was He , who appeared as a boy to pronounce the famous
Taniyan for Sri MM , who is considered as a reincarnation
of AchArya RaamAnujA .Earlier at Thirukkurungudi ,
the Lord had appeared before RaamAnujA and requested
for UpadEsams on rahasyArhtams and took on the name of
Sri VaishNava Nambi as a result of these upadEsams .

The early years of Sri MaNavALa Maamunigal
*******************************************   
(To Be Continued )