Thirunakshathram: vaikAsi, kEttai
avathAra
sthalam: srirangam
Sishyas: emperumAnAr
(grantha kAlakshEpa sishya)
Place where he
attained paramapadham: thiruvarangam
ThiruvarangapperumAL arayar is
the son of ALavandhAr and was one of the prime sishyas of ALavandhAr.
arayar was expert in music, dance
and drama. It was during his arayar sEvai infront of namperumAL during an
adhyayana uthsavam, he was singing “kedumidar” padhigam of thiruvAimozhi
(10.2). In that padhigam, looking at ALavandhAr who is the leader of the assembly, he sings “nadaminO
namargaLuLLIr nAmumakku aRiya chonnOm” meaning “Oh! my dear devotees, go to
thiruvananthapuram now”, ALavandhAr accepts that as the instruction from
namperumAL himself and leaves to thiruvananthapuram to perform mangaLAsAsanam
to anantha sayana perumAL.
From the words of ALavandhAr during his final days, it is clear that arayar had great
attachment towards thiruppANAzhwAr. During his final days, ALavandhAr declares
that everyone should be very attached to thiruvarangapperumAL arayar because of
his utmost devotion towards periya perumAL and thiruppANAzhwAr. Such is arayar’s greatness, that he is even
glorified in public by ALavandhAr himself.
arayar was instrumental in
bringing rAmAnujar to srirangam. After ALavandhAr‘s time
and after emperumAnAr accepting sannyAsAsramam, all the srivaishnavas in srirangam
pray to namperumAL to bring rAmAnujar to srirangam for living there
permanently. periya perumAL at once sends a request to dhEva perumAL to send rAmAnujar to
srIrangam. But pEraruLALan says he cannot send rAmAnjuar who is very dear to
his heart. periya perumAL then devises a special plan to bring emperumAnAr over
to srIrangam. He tells arayar that pEraruLALan likes music and sthOthram very much and once he is pleased he
will give anything to the ones who pleased him with sthOthram. So, he instructs
arayar to ask for emperumAnAr when dhEva perumAL wishes him to give anything.
arayar then leaves to
kAnchIpuram, and when he reaches there, he is welcomed by varam tharum perumAL
arayar (who is the local arayar swamy) to his thirumALigai and is looked after
nicely. The next day, thirukkachi nambi hears about arayar’s arrival and he
goes and offers his praNAmams and enquires about his well being. arayar
requests nambi to bring him to dhEva perumAL for mangaLAsAsanam (it is
customary for srivaishnavas while going to dhivyadhEsams, to always go to
emperumAn with/through local kainkaryaparars). nambi obliges and arayar when
seeing dhEva perumAL offers his obeisances reciting “kadhA punas chanka rathAng
kalpaka dhvaja aravindha angucha vajra lAnchanam; thrivikrama
thvachcharaNAmbhuja dhvayam madhIya mUrdhdhAnam alankarishyathi” meaning “Oh
thrivikrama! when Oh when your lotus feet which has many auspicious symbols
like the conch, sudharshana chakram, kalpaka tree, lotus, etcis going to
decorate my head”. emperumAn through his archakars presents him thIrtham, prasAdham,
srIsatagOpam, etc to him and asks him to render arayar sEvai in front of him.
arayar with great love and devotion sings from many AzhwAr’s srIsUkthis with
dance and action. emperumAn becomes extremely pleased and offers him many
gifts. arayar says that he does not need those gifts and tells him that because dhEva perumAL is the one who bestows the desirers with whatever they desire
for, emperumAn should also fulfill his desires. emperumAn agrees and says “I
will give anything but myself and my wifes; go ahead and ask”. arayar then
shows rAmAnujar and says that he wants him to be brought along to srIrangam.
dhEva perumAL says “I did not think you were going to ask for him; ask for
something else”. arayar replies “you are none other than srI rAman who does not
have two words – you cannot refuse any more”. dhEva perumAL then finally agrees
and gives a farewell to rAmAnujar. arayar
holding rAmAnujar’s hands and starts his journey towards srIrangam. rAmAnujar
then asks AzhwAn and ANdAn to go
to his mutt and bring his thiruvArAdhana perumAL (pEraruLALan) and all the
paraphernelia and leaves to srIrangam with everyone after taking permission
from dhEva perumAL. Thus, arayar did the most important favour for
srIvaishnavam by bringing rAmAnujar over to srIrangam to establish our
sampradhAyam firmly and take it to great heights.
ALavandhAr instructs his 5
main sishyas to teach 5 different aspects to udayavar. periya nambi performs pancha samskAram to udayavar. periya thirumalai nambi
teaches srI rAmAyaNam. thirukkOshtiyUr nambi teaches thirumanthra and charama
slOka meanings. thirumAlai ANdAn teaches thiruvAimozhi. thiruvarangapperumAL
arayar was instructed by ALavandhAr to teach some parts of aruLicheyal and
charamOpAyam (the ultimate means – AchArya nishtai) to udayavar. emperumAnAr
learns thiruvAimozhi fully from thirumAlai ANdAn and then periya nambi
instructs him to learn the essence of our sampradhAyam from arayar.
emperumAnAr, following the principles identified in sAsthram, first performs
kainkaryam to arayar for 6 months before asking him to teach anything. He
prepares milk in proper warmth every day and also prepares turmeric paste for
arayar to be applied on him when necessary.
Once emperumAnAr prepares the
turmeric paste that was not satisfactory for arayar – udayavar finds that out
just by looking at arayar’s face which shows dissatisfaction. udayavar then
prepares another batch of turmeric paste which satisfies arayar’s heart so much
that he instructs the ultimate means and ultimate goal – AchArya kainkaryam. He
instructs that “we should always think that the emperumAn whos is lying down in
kshIrAbdhi (milk ocean) is the one who has taken the form of AchAryan”. We have
already seen charamOpAyam in detail in ponnadi.blogspot.in/p/charamopaya-nirnayam.html.
arayar’s greatness is revealed in many idhihyams. Let us see a
couple here:
§
In eedu vyAkyAnam for 1.5.11, while explaining “pAlEy thamizhar ichaikArar” (பாலேய் தமிழர்
இசைகாரர்) where
ichaikArar means expert musician,nampiLLai quotes AzhwAn who would say ichaikArar means thiruvarangapperumAL arayar.
§
In eedu vyAkyAnam for 3.3.1, nampiLLai explains that when arayar starts singing“ozhivil kAlamellAm” (ஒழிவில் காலமெல்லாம்), he becomes
very emotional and keeps singing kAlamellAm, kAlamellAm and completes with that
without proceeding. In this padhigam, AzhwAr requests for eternal/uninterrupted/pure kainkaryam for
thiruvEnkatamudayAn and this padhigam is identified as the explanation for second
line of dhvaya mahAmanthram (kainkarya prArthanai).
Let us pray at his lotus feet to bless us with the same
attachment towards emperumAn and AchAryan as well.
thiruvarangapperumAL arayar’s thanian
srIrAmamisra
padha pankaja sancharIkam
srIyAmunArya vara puthram aham guNAdyam
ஸ்ரீராமமிஸ்ர பத பங்கஜ ஸஞ்சரீகம்
- ஸ்ரீயாமுனார்ய வர புத்ரம் அஹம் குணாட்யம்
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