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[sv-rituals] UTSAVAMS IN THIRUVALLIKENI-5

From the Bhakti List Archives

sumithra varadarajan • April 15, 2002 


Sri parthasarathi Thunai
Srimathe  Ramanujaya namaha

Pranams,

     In this postings let us see the various vahanams
on which sri parthasarathi gives darshan on the
brahmotsavam days.


   DAY	      MORNING 		EVENING
                             
 FIRST	   Kedayam		Pinna kalai vahanam
SECOND	   Sesha Vahanam	Simha Vahanam
THIRD      Garuda Sevai	        Hamsa Vahanam
FOURTH	   Soorya Prabhai	Chandra Prabhai
FIFTH      Nachiyar 
              Thirukolam	Hanumantha Vahanam
SIXTH	   Punniya Koti 
                 Vimanam	Yanai Vahanam
SEVENTH	   ThEr(Ratam)	        No Vahanam(Only totta  
    					thirumanjanam
EIGHTH	   VennaiThazhi Kannan	Gudirai Vahanam
NINETH	   TheerthaVari
TENTH	   Saptha Varanam	

After this the next ten days will be Vidaa-yarthi
utsavams.After the tyring sessions during the utsavam
sri parthasarathi now relaxes. There is no purappadu
during these days.Every morning there will be
Thirumanjanam and in the evening parthasarathi dressed
simply but beautifully listens to sweet music in the
Thiruvaimozhi mandapam. All great singers and
instrumentalist wait for their talent to be shown in
front of parthasarathi emperuman.  So now emperuman
and the thiruvallikeni vasees enjoy the sweet carnatic
and devotional songs as an conclusion to the
Brahmotsavam. On the last day of the Vidaayarthi
utsavam sri parthasarathi emperuman gives darshan in
pushpa pallaku. One more excellent seen which needs
thousands of eyes(not exaggerating but parthasarathiÂ’s
alangaram on this day cannot be really explained by 
words)
With this ends Parthasarathi Brahmotsavam leaving all
the Bhakthas in sorrow that  all the joy of utsavam
has come to an end.

I will now explain the meaning of the song I have
posted in the previous postings.
  I  stanza  -  The Brahmotsavam occurs in the month
of chitrai and the bhakthas who are lucky to see it
are filled with joy.Whoever comes here with full
desire their life will be filled with happiness day in
and day out.

 II  stanza  -  This stanza gives the various vahanams
in which parthasarathi gives darshan as listed
above.punnai vahanam(This is a vahanam which has a
pinna kalai inside.Sri Krishna is supposed have liked
the punnai tree under which he used to stand in
brindavanam with a flute in his hand  during the
Krishna avatara.ThatÂ’s how sri Parthasarathi also
gives darshan on the first day evening of the
brahmotsavam with a flute in his hand and under the
pinnakalai in the vahanam). Then the sesha vahanam
,second day morning. As per the alwar pasurams
adishesha is one nitya soori who likes to do
kainkaryam to lord in various forms at various
times.When the lord walks,he becomes an umbrella
protecting the lord from sun and rain and when the
lord wants to sit he becomes his simhasanam.In the
divine abode of the lord srivaikundam the lord is seen
sitting on the adisesha.And that is what the second
day utsavam signifies.We samsarees cannot get the
darshan of sriman narayana in srivaikundam.So to give
us that experience on the second day morning of the
brahmotsavam ,sri parthasarathi emperuman by his
divine grace comes in purappadu through the
Thiruveedhis in vaikundanathar thirukolam on the sesha
vahana. In the evening, the lord gives darshan in
simha vahanam.In Bhagavat geetha sri parthasarathi
says that “ Iam the king of animals(the lion or
simham) among the animals” But now to show that he is
more than that ,he is a king to the ‘king of animals’
he rides over the simham. It can also be said that the
simha vahanam signifies that Sri parthasarathi is none
other than Nara-Simham.
Next is the most important vahanam.On the third day
morning little early than all other purappadu we can
see parthasarathi in Garuda vahanam.Today the lord
gets into his vahanam not at the vahana mandapam as
usual but he gets ready inside the temple itself and
the temple door opens when he approaches the gopura
vassal.This is one of the important darshan for any
srivaishnava.The gopura vassal darshan of sri
parthasarathi in garuda sevai removes all sins from
you.Garuda is the official vahanam of perumal and
hence garuda sevai has his speciality.So in my next
posting I will write more in detail on the garuda
sevai of emperuman. And the third day night emperuman
reminds us about the hamsa avatara he took to save the
Vedas and give it to Brahma(the creator).So he comes
in Hamsa Vahanam.To have darshan of sri parthasarathi
in all these vahanas we really need eyes full of love
for the devine emperuman.

III stanza -  This stanza proceeds with the other
vahanams. In the morning(fourth day) , the sun becomes
parthasarathiÂ’s vahanam(sooryaprabhai) and in the
evening the moon becomes his vahanam.All these signify
that all the sun,moon etc are under the emperuman and
sriman narayana is the governing authority. On the
fifth day Sri parthasarathi is dressed like a
nachiyar(lady).He wears the jewels of Andal and he has
a parrot in his hand and he resembles a
nachiyar.Actually any new person will surely not
believe that it is parthasarathi dressed like that, he
actually looks so beautiful absolutely like a
nachiyar. During this purappadu emperuman due to his
divine grace halts at some extra places other than his
usual, to give darshan to his bhakthas. On special
mandagapodi(halt) is at the yethirajeeyar madam in
tank square street. Emperuman once during the incident
of churning of the parkadal was forced to take mohini
avatara to get the amrudha kalasa from the asuras ,who
ran away with it cheating the devas.Seeing the beauty
of emperuman in mohini avatara ,even parameshvaran who
is supposed to have burnt kama to ashes,lost his heart
and went at the back of mohini.Since we have missed
the charm and beauty of mohini at that time,sri
parthasarathi gives us the darshan now in nachiyar
thirukolam during his brahmotsavam.

IV stanza – Then on the fifth day evening Sri
parthasarathi proves that even though he is regarded
only as Krishna by his beloved Krishna bhakthas he is
also Rama for Rama bhakthas.So he gives darshan on
Hanuman, who is a ardent devotee of sri Rama who even
refused going to vaikuntha because there he could see
only sriman narayana and not sri Rama. But now Hanuman
has become a vahanam of Sri Parthasarathi showing that
Sri parthasarathi is his lord Rama himself. Next day
emperuman gives darshan on the punniya koti
vimanam.Whoever sees emperuman Sri Parthasarathi under
this vimanam gets relieved from all their sins and
also gains a lot of punniyam.On this day a special
ritual called ‘Soornabishekam’ is done before the
purappadu.I will write about this also in the next
posting.

V stanza – Everyone knows the Gajendra Moksha
story.Emperuman came running to call of his devotee
,saved him from the clutches of the crocodile and also
accepted his strotras and offerings.It is normal for
any king to come on top of an elephant and now
Gajendra, a great bhaktha of emperuman wants emperuman
the Raja of Thiruvallikeni(And the whole universe) to
ride on him and thus Sri Parthasarathi gives darshan
in Yanai vahanam. Then comes the Rathotsavam on the
seventh day morning. Parthasarathi as the name suggest
was sarathi of parthan(arjuna,one among the panja
pandavas). He now shows us how he rode the ratnam of
arjuna in the battle field in gurukshetra. Early in
the morning he marches from his temple to the ratam
and this march is called ‘ThEr Naddai’ and it is
really a excellent site ,early in the morning among
the beats,to see  Parthasarathi marching in the
streets of thiruvallikeni to get into the ratam. Then
he shows his bhakthas his talent in riding the big
ratam in the streets of Thiruvellikeni.Then he stays
in the ratam for rest of the day giving darshan to his
bhakthas.

VI stanza – In Krishna avatara when the lord recided
in gokulam the most important leela really enjoyed by
all the Krishna bhakthas is the navanitha choram(the
leelas of Krishna stealing butter).Sometimes Krishna
begs the gopikas for butter.He will ask the gopiÂ’s
that he wanted butter.Though they wanted to give
everything to him ,just to enjoy him more they ask him
to dance.So for getting the butter from them he used
to dance and hence he is called ‘vennaiku aadum
pillaiÂ’. After dancing the gopiÂ’s will give him butter
but not satisfied with little butter he will take the
whole vessel and run off.So now he gives darshan
holding a vennaiThazhi(pot full of butter) in one hand
and with butter in the other.So now the kid which
danced for getting the butter has become the kid with
the vennai thazhi.ThatÂ’s what the first line in this
stanza actually means.
And in the night he comes on a horse dressed as a
king(warrior).Now the emperuman is full of jewels so
he is robbed by a thief and you know who the thief is?
Can any one other than his bhaktha rob emperuman? Yes
it was Thirumangai mannan,who belonged to the kallar
kulam.No one can rob emperuman but emperuman likes to
play leelas with his bhakthas and so he acts like he
is incapable of preventing the robbery.Then emperumans
soldiers catch the thief and bring him to
emperuman.This festival is done in front of the
gudirai vahana mandapam located in car street one of
the mada veedhis of thiruvallikeni.Here Thirumangai
alwar comes and stands in front of Sri parthasarathi.
Sri M.A.VenkataKrishnan takes authority from Sri
parthasarathi and commands thirumangai alwar to return
all the jewels and things he has stolen from the
emperuman and his parivaram.Then by divine grace alwar
realizes his sin and returns all the things and he
starts singing “vadinen vadi varundhinane’(Periya
Thirumozhi) after getting the maalai and parivattam
and the blessings of the lord (sri sadari) and he
comes around emperuman three times along with the
recitation of the first 10 pasurams of Periya
Thirumozhi by the Ghosti .Then Sri parthasarathi shows
his charm and nadai azhaghu to Thirumangai Alwar
(gudirai vahana Aesal) after which azhwar returns to
the temple.Since this is the last vahana purappadu the
ghosti sits there and Parthasarathi listens to rest of
the Nalariya divya prabhandam chanting and then
returns to his abord(temple).Actually from the
starting day purappadu till today the ghosti complete
whole of nalayiram.Thiruvaimozhi which is not to be
recited in the streets(as it is regarded as tamil
vedam) is recited inside the temple daily in the
evening after emperuman returns from veedhi purappadu.
The above song actually ends saying how Sri
Parthasarathi stole the heart of the thief Thirumangai
Azhwar who actually came to steal the possessions of
Sri parthasarathi.

Now I will end this posting.In the next I will write
about all the other rituals and celebrations which
occur during the brahmotsavam. 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasyai
Sumithra Varadarajan
         


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