SrIvaishNava rathnams

(We have already published the lives and glories of AzhwArs and OrAN

vazhi AchAryas as separated books. Devotees are requested to acquire

them and be benefited. This book is a treasure containing rare details

about the rest of the pUrvAchAryas).

Author: SrI sArathy thOthAthri

Published by Sri VaraVaraMuni Sambandhi Trust

(www.varavaramuni.com)

Book code: E-08-SVR-01-D Second Edition: 2021 June

Minimum Donation : ₹ 140

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Pronunciation guide

• A is used for “aa” sound – example: emperumAnAr,

rAmAnuja
• E is used for “yay” sound – example: EkAdhasi
• I is used for “ee” sound – example: ISvara. "ee" is also
used at times, when the word contains both "l" and "I" as
in the case of lIlA - it will be written as leelA (to avoid
confusion)
• O is used for “Oh” sound – example: Om
• U is used for “oo” sound – example: Urdhva pundram
• zh is used for very strong “l” sound – example: AzhwAr
• L is used for strong “l” sound – example: muL (thorn)
• N is used for strong “n” sound – example: nArAyaNa
• R is used for strong "r" sound - example: puRappAdu
(procession); its also used for "tr" sound in thamizh when
there is double "R" - example: uRRAr (utRAr - relative)
• d is used strong “d” sound – example: garuda
• dh is used for meek “d” sound – example: gOvindha
• t is used for strong “t” sound – example: ganta
• th is used for meek “t” sound – example: vratham
• b is used for meek “b” sound – example: budhdhi
• bh is used for strong “b” sound – example: bhakthi
• sa, sha, ksha are typed as it is – examples: samskritham,
shashti and kshamA
• S is used for strong “s” sound – example SEsha, kESava
• : is used for ha sound in samskritham words – examples:
nama: to be said as namaha.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Our AzhwArs and AchAryas have showed us two great

treasures - archAvathAra emperumAns and granthams
(dhivya prabandham, sthOthrams, vyAkyAnams, rahasya
granthams etc). We strive to provide access to both -
emperumAn and granthams, and the
AzhwArs/AchAryas, through our website portal
(http://koyil.org). As part of this initiative, we are
presenting printed books for the benefit of everyone.
We request and encourage everyone to make use of this
opportunity and

• get these books for oneself and develop/refresh

one's own knowledge
• get these books in bulk and place them in their
AchArya's mutt/thirumALigai, so that the AchArya
can give a copy of these books to those who
become Sishyas. These books can be studied by
Sishyas and any doubts can be clarified by the
AchArya himself - thus leading to an enriching
relationship between AchArya and Sishya.
• share them with others as a compliment during
SrIvaishNava festivals, functions at home etc and
gift them to friends/relatives during functions and
important events at their homes
• think about many other creative ways of
sharing/spreading knowledge

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Reading the principles explained by our pUrvAchAryas in

simple language will make us gain knowledge about our
sampradhAyam and will also stimulate the taste for
progressing further such as learning the literature in
depth through upanyAsams, kAlakshEpams etc under
qualified scholars and engaging in various kainkaryams.

With the intent of spreading this divine knowledge far

and wide to reach all SrIvaishNavas and those who are
aspiring to become a SrIvaishNava, we only expect a
minimum donation that covers the cost to print the
books. Courier/postage charges will be extra.

Please send a mail to [email protected] or a message

to +91-8220151966, 9600595273 or 9445400573, if you
are interested in getting printed copies of these books.

We also have many e-books available with us in multiple

languages at http://koyil.org/index.php/e-books/ .

Full list of printed books available at

http://koyil.org/index.php/printed-books/ and can be
ordered from there.

Kindly download “kOyil” app from Google Play Store or Apple

App Store and enjoy daily updates of articles and pravachanams
in multiple languages.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Basics of SrIvaishNavam
For SrIvaishNavas, the following points are very useful to
understand and practice in their lives on a day-to-day basis.

1. Respect SrIvaishNavas irrespective of their varNam, ASramam,

gyAnam, etc. Respect towards fellow bhAgavathas is bhagavAn’s first
expectation from his devotees.
2. Lead a simple life devoid of ego and possessiveness. Once we realize
the miniscule nature of the AthmA (self) and the grandeur nature
of bhagavAn, we can never think great about ourselves.
3. Regular interaction with one’s own AchArya is a very important
aspect. It is important and mandated for the Sishya to help his
AchArya in physical, financial needs as much as possible.
4. Perform nithya karmAnushtAnams such as snAnam, Urdhva puNdra
dhAraNam, sandhyAvandhanam etc., according to one’s own varNam
and ASramam. Through performance of such ordained activities, one
develops internal and external purity which will lead to sustenance
and nurturing of true knowledge.
5. Always wear thirumaN and SrIchUrNam (thilak) - this is our primary
identity of our servitorship towards bhagavAn. It is most important
to wear it boldly at all circumstances and never feel ashamed of it.
6. Wear traditional clothes panchakachcham, madisAr etc., as per one’s
gender, varNam, ASramam. There is nothing to feel shy about being
who we are and what our culture is – especially coming in the great
lineage of AchAryas.
7. Always engage in worshiping SrIman
nArAyaNan, AzhwArs and AchAryas. On the contrary avoid
worshiping dhEvathAntharams (dhEvi dhEvathAs - dhEvathAs such as

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

rudhra parivAr, indhra, varuNa, agni, navagrahams, etc). This is one

of the most important principles highlighted by our pUrvAchAryas.
One of the main relationships between bhagavAn and jIvAthmA is
bharthru-bhAryA (husband-wife) relationship. Since all jIvAthmAs are
feminine in nature and bhagavAn is the singular masculine entity, all
jIvAthmAs have this common relationship with bhagavAn. So, it is
imperative for one to manifest faithfulness towards bhagavAn at all
times and avoid any relationships with dhEvathAntharams.
8. thiruvArAdhanam at home is an important aspect in a SrIvaishNava's
daily routine. emperumAn has mercifully descended into our own
homes to accept our worship. It is a great insult to ignore him and
will be very detrimental for ones own spiritual progress to ignore
perumAL at home. Even while we are travelling, it is best to carry the
thiruvArAdhana perumAL also with us. If that is not possible, at least
adequate arrangements should be made to ensure proper
thiruvArAdhanam for him either at our own home by SrIvaishNavas
or by placing him in other SrIvaishNavas' homes. It is completely
disrespectful to leave him locked in the home without daily
thiruvArAdhanam. There is a detailed discussion on
thiruvArAdhanam at
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/07/srivaishnava-
thiruvaaraadhanam.html.
9. Always consume those food materials that are allowed in SAsthram
based on one’s own varNam and ASramam. Such food stuff should
first be offered to emperumAn, AzhwArs and AchAryas and then only
be consumed. We should never consume such foods that are not
offered to emperumAn. There is a detailed discussion on AhAra
niyamam at http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/07/srivaishnava-
aahaara-
niyamam_28.html andhttp://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/08/srivaishn
ava-ahara-niyamam-q-a.html.
10. Seek out the association of SrIvaishNavas. It is important to engage
with meaningful spiritual conversations that will uplift us and help us
in our spiritual progress.
11. dhivya dhEsams, AzhwAr/AchArya avathAra sthalams and abhimAna
sthalams are important parts of our life. One should lead a life of
service in dhivya dhEsams and so on. If the circumstances are not
right presently to be engaged in such service, try to visit such holy
places frequently and also plan for such setup in the future.
12. dhivya prabandham is the most important aspect for SrIvaishNavas.
Learning the pAsurams, understanding the meanings of the same

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

(according to pUrvAchAryas' explanations) and putting those

principles in to practice are the 3 most important aspects which
define a SrIvaishNava. dhivya prabandham develops detachment
towards worldly matters and attachment towards bhagavAn and
bhAgvathAs.
13. The lives of our pUrvAchAryas are by themselves the greatest source
of learning and inspiration for us. They have demonstrated utmost
dignity and compassion towards all beings and all the
situations/dilemmas that we come across today are addressed
clearly in their lives.
14. Study of pUrvAchArya literature is most important. One should
allocate some time on a daily basis to plunge into the greatest
available treasure, i.e., pUrvAchArya literature in the form of
vEdhAntham, dhivya prabandham, sthOthra granthams,
vyAkyAnams, historical depictions, etc. There is plenty of such
information available in our websites
(http://koyil.org/index.php/portal/) for reading.
15. Listening to kAlakshEpams (lectures of commentaries with source
text) under scholars is most important to get thorough
understanding of the essential principles. Nowadays, there are many
lectures available in CDs and websites. For those who cannot attend
these lectures personally, they can make use of such resources that
are available. Even while listening from home, one should try to be in
proper attire and listen to these lectures with attention as it would
be done in physical presence.
16. Engage in some meaningful kainkaryam. SAsthram says “servitorship
becomes devoid when there is no service” – as a servitor of SrIman
nArAyaNan, AzhwArs and AchAryas, one should always engage in
some service. It can be physical, monetary, intellectual etc. There are
so many ways to engage in service. There is also so much demand for
those who are interested in kainkaryam. One should always commit
to some service which is recurring and fulfill that too. This way, there
is constant engagement with bhagavAn and bhAgavathas.
17. Help fellow bhAgavathas and others in acquiring this most wonderful
knowledge about bhagavAn, AzhwArs and AchAryas. Constant
engagement in sharing such knowledge is mutually beneficial and
enjoyable for both the speaker and listener. Our pUrvAchAryas have
set a wonderful precedent by sharing many divine literature for the
sole purpose of uplifting everyone through true knowledge. It is the
duty of all of us to also study them carefully under proper guidance

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

and then share the same with our family, relatives, friends and all
those who desire for such knowledge.
18. Finally, one should constantly long for the eternal blissful life in
parama padham which is fully fitting for the true nature of the soul. A
real SrIvaishNava would never fear death for that which leads to the
eternal service to bhagavAn in the most magnificient SrIvaikuNtam.
Our AzhwArs and AchAryas always served bhagavAn and
bhAgavathas when present here and desired to continue the same
after reaching parama padham also.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Preface
SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath
varavaramunayE nama:

lakshminAtha samArambhAm nAtha yAmuna madhyamAm

asmadhAchArya paryanthAm vandhE guru paramparAm

I worship the glorious guru paramparai which starts with

SrIman nArAyaNan, has nAthamuni and yAmunAchAriar in
the middle and ends with my Acharyan. This divine slOkam
was rendered by kUraththAzhwAn to glorify our guru
paramparai. According to him, asmadhAchArya means
emperumAnAr because emperumAnAr was his AchAryan.
But in general, asmadhAchArya will mean the AchArya of the
reciter of this slOkam.

Our sampradhAyam is called “emperumAnAr dharisanam”

(SrI rAmAnuja dharSanam) by namperumAL as maNavALa
mAmunigaL identifies in upadhEsa rathina mAlai. It was

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

emperumAnAr who re-established the sanAthana dharmam

(eternal way of life) during his life time. He took the message
from his predecessors nAthamuni, ALavandhAr, etc and
presented it to everyone in a very simple manner.

guru and AchArya are synonyms. guru means one who

clears the ignorance. AchArya means one who has learnt
sAsthram, follows it himself and also makes others follow the
same. Guru paramparai means unbroken lineage of
AchAryas. Our srivaishnava guru paramparai starts with none
other than sriman nArAyaNan himself as we see in this
lakshminAtha samArambhAm slOkam. It is out of the
unbounded mercy of SrIman nArAyaNan, he himself takes up
the responsibility of clearing the ignorance in the minds of
samsAris (jIvAthmAs who are bound in this material world) to
rescue them and give them the ever lasting blissful life in
paramapadham. So he became the first AchArya in our guru
paramparai and taught the valuable meanings in sAsthram.

We have already published separated books on AzhwArs and

OrAN vazhi AchAryas (the AchAryas who presided over the
sampradhAyam – starting with SrIman nArAyaNan upto
maNavALa mAmunigaL). In our guru paramparai, beyond
AzhwArs and OrAN vazhi AchAryas, there were many other
great stalwart AchAryas who contributed immensely to the
growth and establishment of the sampradhAyam. Each one
of them is an invaluable rathnam (precious gem). Many
wonderful incidents from their lives have been recorded in our
pUrvAchArya granthams. This is a humble effort to discuss
the glories of such AchAryas as explained in 6000padi guru
paramparA prabhAvam (written by pinbazhagiya perumAL
jeeyar) and yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam (written by piLLai
lOkam jeeyar) and other pUrvAchArya granthams.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Special thanks to raghurAm swamy for providing the life

history and glories of viLAnchOlaip piLLai and
vEdhAnthAchAryar.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Topic of Contents

1. kurugai kAvalappan
13

2. thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn
15

3. thiruvarangapperumAL arayar
23

4. thirukkOshtiyUr nambi
28

5. periya thirumalai nambi

34

6. thirumAlai ANdAn
40

7. thirukkachi nambi
44

8. mARanEri nambi
51

9. emperumAnAr
55

10. kUraththAzhwAn
65

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

11. mudhaliyANdAn
78

12. aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr

85

13. kOil komANdUr iLayavilli AchchAn

89

14. kidAmbi AchchAn

92

15. vaduga nambi

97

16. vangi puraththu nambi

103

17. sOmAsiyANdAn
107

18. piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar

112

19. thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn

120

20. kUra nArAyaNa jIyar

126

21. engaLAzhwAn
130

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

22. ananthAzhwAn
136

23. thiruvarangathu amudhanAr

146

24. nadAthUr ammAL

153

25. vEdha vyAsa bhattar

158

26. Srutha prakASikA bhattar

172

27. periyavAchchAn piLLai

165

28. eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL

171

29. naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar

176

30. pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar

182

31. azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr 187

32. nAyanArAchchAn piLLai

192

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

33. vAdhi kEsari azhagiya manavALa jIyar 194

34. kUra kulOthama dhAsar

198

35. viLanchOlai piLLai

202

36. vEdAnthAchAriar
208

37. thirunArAyaNapuraththu Ay
217

38. ponnadikkAl jIyar

221

39. kOil kandhAdai aNNan

229

40. prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan

242

41. paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar

249

42. eRumbi appA

252

43. appiLLai
256

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

44. appiLLAr
261

45. kOil kandhAdai appan

267

46. SrIperumbUthUr Adhi yathirAja jIyar 271

47. appAchiyAraNNA
274

48. piLLai lOkam jIyar

280

49. thirumazhisai aNNavappangAr

283

50. thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar 286

1. kurugai kAvalappan
thirunakshathram: thai, visAgam

avathAra sthalam: AzhwAr thirunagari

AchAryan: nAthamunigaL

kurugai kAvalappan is a dear sishya of nAthamunigaL.

nAthamunigaL, after returning to kAttu mannAr kOil, spends
some time in meditating on emperumAn. Subsequently, he
orders kurugai kAvalappan to learn the yOga rahasyams and
teaches the same to him. kurugai kAvalappan learns the

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

same and continues to meditate on emperumAn in ashtAnga

yOgam. When nAthamanuigaL leaves to paramapadham
unable to bear the separation from emperumAn, kurugai
kAvalappan goes to the place where nAthamunigaL gives up
his vimala charama thirumEni (pure final body) and stays
there for the rest of his life fully meditating on emperumAn
and taking care of that place.

maNakkAl nambi instructs ALavandhAr to go and learn yOga

rahasyam from kurugai kAvalappan. ALavandhAr along with
his sishyas reach where appan is in yOgam (meditation) with
emperumAn. Wanting to not disturb appan's meditation,
without making any sound, they all hide behind a wall and
watch appan from behind his back. Suddenly, appan turns
around and asks if anyone from sottai kulam (srEshta kulam
of nAthamunigaL). AlavandhAr comes out and introduces
himself as yamunai thuraivan the grand son of
nAthamunigaL. He asks appan "We were hiding behind the
wall on your back side. How did you come to know about my
identity?". appan replies "When I am with emperumAn in
yOgam, even if periya pirAttiyAr comes and invites him, he
will not turn around. But he was constantly pressing my
shoulders down and looking over me towards your direction.
From that I understood that there must be some one from the
sottai kulam of nAthamunigaL which is very dear to him".
AlavandhAr becomes very moved with appan's experience
with bhagavAn and bhagavAn's attachment towards
nAthamunigaL. He then falls flat at appan's lotus feet and
requests him to teach the yOga rahasyam. appan lifts him up
and promises to teach him the same but he says he will
reveal that only towards the end of his own life here in
samsAram. Being a great yOgi, he exactly knew his date of
ascending to paramapadham. He revealed that date and time
to ALavandhAr in a note and asked him to come back that
particular time to learn yOga rahasyam. Agreeing to that,
ALavandhAr returns to SrIrangam and continues his
kainkaryam.

Subsequently, during adhyayana uthsavam at SrIranagam,

AzhwAr thiruvaranga perumAL arayar recites nammAzhwAr's

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thiruvAimozhi in front of namperumAL. He recites the

thiruvananthapuram padhigam - kedumidar (10.2) and by
namperumAL's divine desire, arayar recites the phrase
"NadaminO NamargaLuLLIr NAmumakku aRiyach chonnOm"
(நடமின ோ நமர்களுள் ளீர ் நோமுமக்கு அறியச்
சசோ ் ன ோம் ) meaning "Oh dear devotees! walk to
thirvananthapuram at once" looking at ALavandhAr's face.
Hearing this, ALavandhAr accepts thus as the divine order of
namperumAL and leaves to thiruvananthapuram. After
reaching there and performing mangaLAsAsanam, he
realizes that, it was the day when appan had asked him to
come and learn yOga rahasyam. So, ALavandhAr laments
that he did not have a pushpak vimAnam which will carry him
at once.

Thus appan meditated on emperumAn and stayed forever at

the place where his AchAryan left samsAram and finally
himself reached his AchAryan's divine lotus feet.

Let us pray at the lotus feet of kurugai kAvalappan to develop

great attachment towards emperumAn and AchAryan.

kurugai kAvalappan's thaniyan:

nAthamauni padhAsaktham gyAnayOgAthi sampadham

kurugAthipa yOghIndhram namAmi sirasA sadhA

நோதசமௌநி பதோஸக்தம் ஜ் ஞோ னயோகோதி

ஸம் பதம்
குருகோதிப னயோகீந்தர
் ம் நமோமி ஸிரஸோ ஸதோ

2. thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

bhakthavathsalan emperumAn with thAyAr –

thirkkaNNamangai

thirunakshathram: Ani sravaNam (thiruvONam)

avathAra sthalam: thirukkaNNAmangai

AchAryan: nAthamunigaL

Place where he attained paramapadham from:

thirukkaNNAmangai

Works: nAchiyAr thirumozhi thaniyan starting with “alli nAL

thAmarai mEl“

thirukkaNNamngai ANdAn – thirukkaNNamangai

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn, who is a dear sishya of

nAthamunigaL, was born in thirukkaNNamangai dhivya
dhEsam. He is greatly glorified by our pUrvAchAryas for his
utmost faith in bhagavAn‘s rakshakathvam (protection).

His glories are revealed in SrIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya

sAsthram by piLLai lOkAchAryar. While explaining about the
most ideal/exalted examples for upAyam (means to pursue
bhagavAn) and upEyam (goal – to serve bhagavAn), he says
in sUthram 80 “upAyaththukku pirAttiyaiyum,
dhraupathiyaiyum, thirukkaNNamangai ANdAnaiyum pOlE
irukkavENum; upEyaththukku iLaiya perumALaiyum, periya
udaiyAraiyum, piLLai thirunaraiyUr araiyaraiyum
chinthayanthiyaiyum pOlE irukkavENum” (உபோயத்துக்கு
பிரோட்டியயயும் , த்சரௌபதியயயும் ,
திருக்கண்ணமங் யக ஆண்டோய யும் னபோனே
இருக்கனேணும் ; உனபயத்துக்கு இயளய
சபருமோயளயும் , சபரிய உயடயோயரயும் , பிள் யள
திருநயரயூர் அயரயயரயும் சிந்தயந்தியயயும்
னபோனே இருக்கனேணும் ). In this sUthram and the next
few sUthrams, upAyam and upEyam are explained with
excellent examples. upAyam is the process and upEyam is
the goal. According to sAsthram, bhagavAn is explained as
the best means and eternal kainkaryam (service) to
bhagavAn is the top-most goal. Since, bhagavAn is fully
capable, he can easily uplift anyone – so he is the best
upAyam. Since SrIman nArAyaNan is the supreme lord of
everyone, kainkaryam to SrIman nArAyaNan and his divine
consort SrI mahAlakshmi is said to be the best upEyam.
Here, few examples are given for upAyam and upEyam – let
us see them briefly now:

upAyam

• pirAtti – sIthA pirAtti (SrI mahAlakshmi) – When pirAtti

was captured by rAvaNa and was held captive, she could
have easily punished rAvaNa and escaped from there as
she is fully capable. She demonstrated her capacity by

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

protecting hanumAn when his tail was set fire by the

rAkshasas. She blessed and protected hanumAn by
saying “sIthO bhava” (let this fire have a cooling effect
on hanumAn). But she manifested total dependence on
perumAL (SrI rAma), gave up her sakthi (ability) to protect
herself and waited for him to come and rescue her.
• dhraupathi – when she was harrassed and humiliated in
the assembly of kauravas, she fully gave up her lajjA
(modesty), raised her hands and cried out for krishNan.
She did not hold on to her clothes, but fully and faithfully
raised her hands and surely krishNa protected her.
• thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn – he gave up all his actions
and fully surrendered to bhakthavathsalan emperumAn of
thirukkaNNamangai dhivya dhEsam, accepting
emperumAn as his total refuge and protector.

ANdAn’s nishtai is beautifully explained by our mAmunigaL in

this sUthram’s vyAkyAnam, once ANdAn saw a dog is
attacked by a person. The owner of the dog becomes very
angry and fights the person who attacked his dog. They both
pull out their knives and attack each other and even are
ready to kill each other. Seeing this, a great realization dawns
on ANdAn. ANdAn thinks “If an ordinary person who owns of
a dog becomes greatly agitated and can go to the extent of
killing some one else who attacked his dog just because the
dog is owned by him, how would SrIman nArAyaNan who is
the supreme lord feel, if some one surrendered to him is
suffering and trying to protect oneself?”. Thinking this, he
immediately gives up all his attachments and goes into the
temple and lies down happily without any more worry about
protecting himself. Here, giving up of all actions could be
easily understood for not doing anything. But mAmunigaL
beautifully explains this principle in his vyAkyAnam. His
divine words are “svarakshaNa hEthuvAna
svavyApArangaLai vittAn enRapadi” (ஸ்ேரக்ஷண
னேதுேோ ஸ்ேே் யோபோரங் கயள விட்டோ ்
எ ் றபடி) – this means he gave up all actions that are
related to protecting oneself. This means, he continued to
perform wonderful kainkaryams towards emperumAn but only

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

gave up efforts to protect oneself. Ay jananyAchAryar too

highlights the exact same principle. This can be understood
from the subsequent sections, especially in the incident
highlighted in thiruvAimozhi 9.2.1 vyAkyAnam.

upEyam (kainkaryam) – a very brief explanation of

the remaining part of sUthram 80 and the
subsequent sUthrams
• iLaiya perumAL – lakshmaNa – He was so stead-fast in
kainkaryam that he followed perumAL (SrI rAma)
wherever he went and served him always.
• periya udaiyAr – jatAyu mahArAja – In the process of
fighting rAvaNa to save sIthA pirAtti, he was not bothered
about getting killed. He was simply focussed on trying to
save thAyAr and eventually he was killed.
• piLLai thirunaraiyUr araiyar – He along with his family
were serving the emperumAn at thottiyam
thirunArAyaNapuram (which is located near SrIrangam).
Once some vandals attacked the temple and set fire to
the archAvathAra emperumAn. Unable to bear such
attack and trying to protect the emperumAn, he along with
his family embraced the archA vigraham and protected
emperumAn. But in the course, due to the burns from the
fire, he along with his family gave up his life. His
dedication to emperumAn is greatly glorified by our
pUrvAchAryas.
• chinthayanthi – a gOpikA who lived in vraja bhUmi. She
was greatly attached to kaNNan emperumAn. Once she
heard the divine music of kaNNan emperumAn, became
blissful and wanted to leave her house to see
emperumAn. But she could not leave her house
immediately and becomes very sad. By having great bliss
on hearing emperumAn‘s flute sound she exhausted her
puNya karmAs (puNyam leads to joy) and by having great
sorrow on not being able to leave she exhausted her
pApa karmAs. Since all her puNyam and pApam are
exhausted, she at once ascended to paramapadham (our
puNyam and pApam are that which binds us in
samsAram – once they are gone, we will be uplifted).

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Thus, she easily attained the ultimate goal of ascending

to paramapadham and serving emperumAn eternally
there.

He then lived the rest of his life serving

thirukkaNNamangai emperumAn and then gloriously
ascended to paramapadham to continue his divine
service to paramapadhanAthan.

ANdAn’s life and glories are identified in a few places in

vyAkyAnams and pUrvAchArya granthams. Let us see
them now.

• nAchiyAr thirumozhi 1.1 – periyavAchchAn piLLai

vyAkyanam – ANdAL says “tharai viLakki” (தயர
விளக்கி) – by sweeping/cleaning the
floor. periyavAchchAn piLLai highlights that
thirukkaNNamangai ANdAN was performing the cleaning
kainkaryam as the ultimate goal (not as a means to
achieve something).
• thirumAlai 38 – periyavAchchAn piLLai vyAkyanam –
When explaining “un kadaiththalai irunthu vAzhum
sOmbar” (உ ் கயடத்தயே இருந்து ேோழும்
னசோம் பர்) - periyavAchchAn piLLai explains vAzhum
sOmbar (living lazy person) means ones who have full
faith on emperumAn like demonstrated by ANdAn on
bhakthavathsalan emperumAn after seeing the dog being
protected by its owner. The opposite of vAzhum sOmbar
is thAzhum sOmbar (real lazy person) who simply does
not engage in any kainkaryam and wastes their life.
• thiruvAimozhi 9.2.1 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam –
nammAzhwAr says in 10.2.7, “kadaiththalai
sIykkappeRRAl kaduvinai kaLaiyalAmE”
(கயடத்தயே சீய் க்கப் சபற் றோே் கடுவிய
கயளயேோனம) – ones sins can be removed by
simply sweeping the floor of emperumAn‘s temple.
thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn is well known for giving up

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

everything and staying in thirukkaNNamangai

bhakthavathsalan emperumAn sannidhi ever after. He
was greatly attached to sweeping kainkaryam at the
temple and was performing that kainkaryam regularly. In
thiruvAimozhi 9.2.1 vyAkyAnam, nampiLLai beautifully
establishes an important aspect. Here in the pAsuram,
nammAzhwAr says to emperumAn “We have been doing
many different kainkaryams such as cleaning the temple,
etc., for many generations”. Here a question arises.
prapannas fully accept emperumAn as the only upAyam.
They have no involvement in any personal effort – so why
do kainkaryams at all? This is explained beautifully by
nampiLLai through the following incident involving
thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn. One of his class-mates (who
became nAsthika) asks ANdAn why he is troubling
himself by sweeping the floors if he has no involvement in
self-effort. ANdAn shows him a place where there is dust
and a place where there is no dust – he says the result of
sweeping is just that – the place becomes clean – nothing
more. He asks back “Cant you spot the difference
between clean place and dirty place?”. Thus, we can
understand that performing kainkaryam is a natural act of
the dhAsa bhUthan (a servant) and that kainkaryam
(service) does not become upAyam. In SrIvachana
bhUshaNam, piLLai lOkAchAryar beautifully explains in
sUthram 88, “If a materially driven person will do so many
things to fulfill his (or his dear ones) material desires, how
much desire a prapanna (one who is surrendered to
bhagavAn) should have to serve emperumAn who is
supremely blissful and apt to be served for the true nature
of the jIvAthmA?”.
• charamOpAya nirNayam - nAthamunigaL learnt all the
4000 dhivya prabhandhams from nammAzhwAr himself at
AzhwAr thirunagari and returned to vIranArAyaNa puaram
(kAttu mannAr kOyil). He recited the dhivya
prabhandhams in front of mannanAr emperumAn there
and received all honors from the emperumAn. He then
reached his thirumALigai (residence) and invited his
nephews kIzhai agathu AzhwAn and mElai agathu
AzwAn, explains them about the special mercy he got

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

from AzhwAr and the divine form AzhwAr showed in his

dream (In nAthumunigaL’s dream, nammAzhwAr shows
the divine form emperumAnAr who is to appear in the
future for the upliftment of everyone). They both became
astonished hearing about this and were satisfied that they
got some how got related to such mahAnubhAvar (great
personality). After that, nAthamunigaL was teaching
dhvaya mahA manthram’s meanings through
thiruvAimozhi to his dear sishya thirukkaNNamangai
ANdAn (who is very well qualified to be a proper sishya).
During “poliga poliga poliga” (thiruvAimozhi 5.2.1)
pAsuram, nAthamunigaL explains the divine words of
AzhwAr and the incidents seen in his dream. Hearing this
thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn mentions that “I am so
blessed to have the relationship with your highness who
has seen the divine form of bhavishyadhAchAryan in your
dream”. This incident is highlighted in charamOpAya
nirNayam
(http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/12/charamopaya-
nirnayam-thirumudi.html) which is written by
nAyanArAchchAn piLLai who is the adopted son of
periyavAchchAn piLLai.
• vArthA mAlai 109 – pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar
explains the same principle that is explained in
SrIvachana bhUshaNa sUthrams which we have already
seen. Here also he highlights that pirAtti, dhraupathi and
thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn are the ultimate examples of
how to pursue emperumAn and how to fully depend on
him.
• vArthA mAlai 234 – Here the importance of fully focussing
on visEsha sAsthram (bhAgavatha dharmam) over
sAmAnya sAsthram (varNAsrama dharmam) is stressed
and its highlighted we should not think that such nishtai is
only possible for very highly elevated adhikAris (persons)
like Adhi bharathan, thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn, etc.
Instead everyone should strive for that and by the grace
of bhagavAn we too will become firm in such faith.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

thirukkaNNamangai ANdAn. Let us pray at his lotus feet that
we too get such full faith on emperumAn.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

3. thiruvarangapperumAL arayar

thiruvarangapperumAL arayar – srirangam

Thirunakshathram: vaikAsi, kEttai

avathAra sthalam: srirangam

AchAryan: maNakkAl nambi, ALavandhAr

Sishyas: emperumAnAr (grantha kAlakshEpa AchAryar)

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

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

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.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

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

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

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

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

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 isaikArar" (போனேய் தமிழர் இயசகோரர்)
where isaikArar means expert musician, nampiLLai
quotes AzhwAn who would say isaikArar means
thiruvarangapperumAL arayar.
• In eedu vyAkyAnam for 3.3.1, nampiLLai explains that
when arayar starts singing "ozhivil kAlamellAm"
(ஒழிவிே் கோேசமே் ேோம் ), 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 guNAbyam
SrIrangarAja karuNA pariNAma dhaththam SrIbhAshyakAra
saraNam vararangamIdE

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ஸ்ரீரோமமிஸ்ர பத பங் கஜ ஸஞ் சரீகம் ஸ்ரீயோமு ோர்ய

ேர புத்ரம் அேம் குணோப் யம்
ஸ்ரீரங் கரோஜ கருணோ பரிணோம தத்தம்
ஸ்ரீபோஷ்யகோர சரணம் ேரரங் கமீனட

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

4. thirukkOshtiyUr nambi

Thirunakshathram: vaikAsi, rOhiNi

avathAra sthalam: thirukkOshtiyUr

AchAryan: ALavandhAr

Sishyas: emperumAnAr (grantha kAlakshEpa sishya)

thriukkOshtiyUr is greatly glorified by periyAzhwAr in his

periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.4 - nAva kAriyam padhigam.
thirukkurugai pirAn, who was born in this beautiful dhivya
dhEsam, becomes to be famously known as thirukkOshtiyUr
nambi and is one of the prime sishyas of ALavandhAr. He is
also known as gOshti pUrNar and gOshti purIsar.

ALavandhAr instructs his 5 prime disciples to teach various

aspects of our sampradhAyam to emperumAnAr. Of those,
thirukkOshtiyUr is given the responsibility of teaching the
meanings of rahasya thrayam - thirumanthram, dhvayam and
charama slOkam.

thirukkOshtiyUr nambi is the one who bestows the name

"emperumAnAr" to SrI rAmAnujar for his selfless act of

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

sharing the meanings of charama slOkam with everyone who

desired to learn that without any pre-conditions. nambi is
constantly engaged in meditating on emperumAn through the
divine meanings of rahasya thrayam (thirumanthram,
dhvayam and charama slOkam) as he learnt from
ALavandhAr and does not interact with anyone. In his own
town (thirukkOshtiyUr) no one knew his glories. SrI
rAmAnujar, knowing the glories of nambi, walked 18 times
from SrIrangam to thirukkOshtiyUr to learn the most
confidential meaning of charama slOkam. Finally at the 18th
time nambi decides to instruct him the most confidential
meaning of charama slOkam. nambi asks SrI rAmAnujar to
promise that he wont share this knowledge with anyone who
is not qualified and who does not strive very very hard to
know the same. rAmAnujar accepts that and promises at that
time. nambi teaches the most confidential knowledge of
charama slOkam. charama slOkam is gIthAchAryan's "sarva
dharmAn parithyajya" slOkam (gIthai - 18.66). In this slOkam,
the most important principle is revealed through the word
"Ekam" - which means only bhagavAn is upAyam. Any thing
else such as karma, jnAna, bhakthi yOgams, our own
prapathi (surrender), etc are not the real upAyam. This most
confidential meaning when revealed to unqualified, can be
easily misused in not performing ones own duties. So, the
AchAryas until SrI rAmAnujar protected it very carefully. But
rAmAnujar, after learning this meaning from thirukkOshtiyUr
nambi, immediately gathered the ones who were very eager
to learn this secret meaning and explained the same in detail.
nambi hears about rAmAnujar's revelation and summons him
at once. rAmAnujar arrive at nambi's thirumALigai
(residence). nambi enquires about rAmAnujar's act and
rAmAnujar accepts that he disobeyed his orders. When
nambi asks why he did that, rAmAnujar says, "I may go to
hell by disobeying your orders but many others (who learnt
the meaning of charam slOkam) will get mOksham and be
uplifted". nambi becomes totally overwhelmed by
rAmAnujar's huge heart in providing true spiritual help to
others and gives him a special name - emperumAnAr.
emperumAn means my lord (bhagavAn) and emperumAnAr
means one who is more merciful than bhagavAn. Thus,

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

rAmAnujar becomes emperumAnAr after revealing the

esoteric meanings of charama slOkam in thirukkOshtiyUr.
This charithram (incident) is clearly and beautifully explained
in mumukshuppadi vyAkyAna avathArikai (introduction) of
maNavALa mAmunigaL for charama slOka prakaraNam
(section). Note: In 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam, it
is explained that SrI rAmAnujar learnt the meanings of
thirumanthram from thirukkOshtiyUr nambi and revealed that
and because of that nambi named him "emperumAnAr" and
subsequently learnt the meanings of charama slOkam. But
since mAmunigaL clearly explains that it is charama slOkam
that was revealed by emperumAnAr and also since it fits
many incidents in vyAkyAnams where "Ekam" shabhdham of
charama slOkam is declared as the most confidential
principle, we accept that as the authority (as heard from
AchAryas).

nambi's vaibhavam is highlighted in many places in the

vyAkyAnam. Let us see some here now:

• nAchiyAr thirumozhi 12.2 - periyavAchchAn piLLai

vyAkyAnam
o Here ANdAL is compared to nambi. Just like
nambi did not reveal his bhagavadh anubhavam to
others, it is said that ANdAL also does not want to
reveal her anguish in separation from emperumAn
to others.
o The local residents of thirukkOshtiyUr did not
know the real greatness of nambi until SrI
rAmAnujar arrived there. When rAmAnujar arrived
at thirukkOshtiyUr, he enquired about the
residence of thirukkurugai pirAn (original name of
nambi named after nammAzhwAr) and as soon as
the particular direction was shown, he falls flat and
offers his obeisances. The locals then understood
the glories of nambi who was worshipped by
rAmAnujar himself.
o It is highlighted that both mudhaliyANdAn and
kUraththAzhwAn served 6 months at the lotus feet

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

of nambi to get valuable meanings of our

sampradhAyam.
• thiruviruththam 10 - nampiLLai svApadhEsam - Every
time nambi visits SrIrangam, while returning,
emperumAnAr walks along with him upto
mArAchchippuram (a place near SrIrangam) to bid
farewell. One such time, emperumAnAr asks nambi to
give an instruction which he can contemplate on. nambi
says "When ALavandhAr takes bath in the river, while he
dips inside, his upper back portion is seen as the
backside of kUrmAsanam (a seat which looks like
tortoise's shell). Even after ALavandhAr ascending to
paramapadham, I always think about that vision of
ALavandhAr's upper back. You also contemplate on the
same". By this incident nambi shows that a sishya should
be attached to AchAryan's thirumEni (divine form) as
much as his instructions and the knowledge.
• thiruviruththam 99 - periyavAchchAn piLLai vyAkyAnam -
AzhwAr says he accepts gyAnappirAn as the only
upAyam. This explains the "Ekam" word in charama
slOkam which eliminates all other upAyams and
establishes emperumAn as the only upAyam. This is the
most confidential principle of our sampradhAyam and was
taught by thirukkOshtiyUr nambi to SrI rAmAnujar. Once,
during a visit to SrIrangam for an uthsavam, nambi brings
emperumAnAr into a secluded place in the SrIrangam
temple and starts explaining the meanings of Ekam. But
then he notices a kainkaryaparar of the temple lying down
in deep sleep and snoring. Immediately nambi retracts
and says there is some one here and does not explain
the meaning. But subsequently nambi instructs the
meanings to emperumAnAr in once and informs
emperumAnAr that he should also explain this to
deserving persons only. emperumAnAr, in the bright noon
time under the hot sun, runs to AzhwAn's residence and
shares him the meaning as heard from nambi. Thus
emperumAnAr proves sahakAri nairapEkshyam (not
expecting any action from our part for the benediction) by
sharing the meanings to AzhwAn without AzhwAn making
any special efforts for that.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• thiruviruththam 95 - In this pAsura (yAthAnum Or Akkayil

pukku pAsuram) vyAkyAnam, it is shown that one of the
sishyas of nambi explains to nanjIyar that this is the
favourite pAsuram of nambi. This pAsuram reveals the
benediction and favours done by emperumAn even
though the jIvAthmA is constantly engaged in materialistic
activities.
• thiruvAimozhi 1.10.6 - nampiLLai vyAkyAnam - AzhwAr
discusses with his nenjam (heart) in this pAsuram. To
explain that, nampiLLai explains that since bhagavadh
vishayam is a very superior subject and not everyone can
understand it, just like nambi always contemplates it
alone, AzhwAr is discussing bhagavadh vishayam with
his own heart.
• thiruvAimozhi 8.8.2 - Once during a lecture of
emperumAnAr, a question arises about the svarUpam
(nature) of jIvAthamA. Is it gyAthruthvam (being the
knower) or sEshathvam (being the servitor of
emperumAn)? emperumAnAr instructs AzhwAn to
enquire the meanings from nambi. AzhwAn goes to
thirukkOshtiyUr and serves him for 6 months. Finally
when nambi asks for the purpose of AzhwAn's visit,
AzhwAn explains the question. nambi simply says
AzhwAr has established that "adiyEn uLLAn", meaning
jIvAthmA is adiyEn - servitor by nature. So, why is
vEdhAntham talks about gyAthruthvam (being the
knower)? That is because, knower here means knowing
that he is the servitor of emperumAn. So the real
svarUpam of jIvAthmA as explained by AzhwAr and
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi is - jIvAthmA is the one who knows
that he is subservient to emperumAn.

thirukkOshtiyUr nambi establishing emperumAnAr's glories is

also explained in the divine grantham named charamOpAya
nirNayam and it can be viewed at
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/12/charamopaya-nirnayam-
ramanujars-acharyas.html.

When thirumAlai ANdAn stops the thiruvAimozhi

kAlakshEpam due to some misunderstandings with

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

emperumAnAr, nambi reconciles the issue and explains to

thirumAlai ANdAn that emperumAnAr is an avathAra purusha
who is fully knowledgable. He insists that the kAlakshEpam
should continue and ensures that it happens.

When emperumAnAr was once poisoned by some

miscreants, emperumAnAr coming to know about that, starts
fasting and does not consume any prasAdham at all. nambi
arrives from thirukkOshtiyUr and emperumAnAr meets him
on the banks of cauvery river on a hot day. emperumAnAr
offers his sAshtAnga praNAmam (obeisances) to nambi on
the hot sand and nambi keeps watching that. kidAmbi
AchchAn who is a sishya of emperumAnAr immediately lifts
emperumAnAr up and challenges nambi on his act of making
emperumAnAr stay on the sand for long. nambi immediately
says that he was doing that to find out who is most attached
to emperumAnAr's thirumEni (divine form). nambi
subsequently instructs kidAmbi AchchAn to prepare the
prasAdham for emperumAnAr regularly. Thus, we can see,
nambi was very fond of emperumAnAr and was always
looking out for the well-being of emperumAnAr.

Thus, we have seen that thirukkOshtiyUr nambi's glories are

many and he was instrumental in SrI rAmAnujar getting the
most beautiful name "emperumAnAr" leading to our
sampradhAyam being hailed as emperumAnAr dharisanam
by namperumAL himself as shown by mAmunigaL in his
upadhEsa rathina mAlai.

Let us bow down at the lotus feet of thirukkOshtiyUr nambi

who had great attachment towards ALavandhAr and
emperumAnAr.

thirukkOshtiyUr nambi’s thanian

SrIvallabha padhAmbhOja dhIbhakthyamrutha sAgaram

SrImadhgOshtIpurIpUrNam dhEsikEndhram bhajAmahE

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ஸ்ரீேே் ேப பதோம் னபோஜ தீபக்த்யம் ருத ஸோகரம்

ஸ்ரீமத்னகோஷ்டீபுரீபூர்ணம் னதசினகந்த்ரம்
பஜோமனே

5. periya thirumalai nambi

Thirunakshathram: vaikAsi, swAthi

avathAra sthalam: thirumalai (thiruvEnkatam)

AchAryan: ALavandhAr

Sishyas: emperumAnAr (grantha kAlakshEpa sishya),

malaikuniya ninRa perumAL, piLLai thirukkulamudaiyAr,
bhattAriyaril satagOpadhAsar

thirumalai nambi, was born in thirumalai by the blessings of

thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn and is one of the prime sishyas of
ALavandhAr. He is also known as SrIsaila pUrNar. He was
honoured by thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn himself as “pithAmaha”
for his great attachment towards emperumAn.

ALavandhAr instructs his 5 prime disciples to teach various

aspects of our sampradhAyam to emperumAnAr. Of those,
thirumalai nambi is given the responsibility of teaching the
meanings of SrI rAmAyaNam which is famously called as
sharaNAgathi sAsthram in our sampradhAyam.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thirumalai nambi is the maternal uncle of rAmAnujar and the

one who bestows the name “iLayAzhwAr” to him when he
was born. He is highlighted as the foremost of SrIvaishNavas
hailing from thiruvEnkatam. He was a nithya kainkaryaparar
(daily servitor) to thiruvEnkatamudaiyan (SrInivAsar) and was
engaged in bringing thIrtham (holy water) from AkAsa gangai
(a water source on thirumalai) everyday.

emperumAnAr wanting to bring gOvindha perumAL (embAr)

back in to our sampradhAyam (as he had become uLLangai
koNarntha nAyanAr during his yAthrai to vAraNAsi and was
serving a dhEvathAnthram in kALahasthi), sends a request to
thirumalai nambi through a SrIvaishNava to go and reform
gOvindha perumAL.

thirumalai nambi, immediately goes to kALahasthi along with

his sishyas and the SrIvaishNava (who subsequently returns
to SrIrangam and narrates the whole incident to
emperumAnAr) to see gOvindha perumAL. nambi was sitting
with his sishyas under the shade of a tree on the route which
gOvindha perumAL travels usually. gOvindha perumAL
arrives at that place dressed as a siva bhaktha with
rudhrAkha mAlai and thiryak puNdrams (ashes) all over his
body singing the glories of rudhran. nambi starts singing the
glories of emperumAn and gOvindha perumAL watches that
with great curiosity. After some days, nambi returns to the
same place at the same time and writes ALavandhAr’s
sthOthra rathnam 11th slOkam (which establishes SrIman
nArAyaNan‘s natural supremacy and other dhEvathas
dependency on emperumAn) on a palm leaf and slips it
down. gOvindha perumAL picks it up while arriving, reads it
and then drops it down. On his return, he looks out for the
palm leaf and finds it. Contemplating deeply on the meanings
of that slOkam, he approaches nambi and asks if it was
belonging to him. A converstation happens at that time
between gOvindha perumAL and thirumalai nambi where
nambi clarifies all the doubts of gOvindha perumAL on
SrIman nArAyaNan‘s supremacy. Mostly convinced gOvindha
perumAL leaves the place. Subsequently nambi arrives there
at the same place. gOvindha perumAL was plucking flowers

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

for rudhran this time on a tree. nambi, starts lecturing

thiNNan vIdu padhigam (thiruvAimozhi 2.2) where AzhwAr
talks about emperumAn’s supremacy. He beautifully lectures
the 4th pAsuram, where nammAzhwAr establishes that
flowers and prayers are fit to be offered to SrIman
nArAyaNan only. Hearing that gOvindha perumAL,
immediately jumps off the tree and falls flat at the lotus feet of
nambi, starts crying for his unnecessary association thus far
and prays to accept him. nambi, at once lifts him up and
consoles him. gOvindha perumAL gives up all relationship
with kALahasthi and hands over the keys of the treasury to
the local rudhra bhakthas. They mention that, rudhran
appeared in their dream the night before and informed that
emperumAnAr has appeared in this world to give true
knowledge to everyone and gOvindha perumAL should not
be stopped when he gives up his attachment to them – so
they also happily sends him off.

After returning to thirumalai, nambi performs upanyana

samskAram and pancha samskAram to gOvindha perumAL
and teaches him AzhwArs’ dhivya prabhandhams.

emperumAnAr arrives at thiruppathi and emperumAnAr

climbs up the thirumalai hill, nambi himself comes to welcome
emperumAnAr at the entrance. nambi being most qualified,
elder to emperumAnAr and also his AchAryan, asks him if he
could not find some one who is less qualified to be sent to
welcome him. nambi, out of great humility, replies that he
looked around everywhere and could not find any one less
qualified than him. emperumAnAr performs
mangaLAsAsanam to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn and leaves the
divine hill.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

periya thirumalai nambi’s SrI rAmAyaNa kAlakshEpa

gOshti

SrI rAmAnujar arrives at thiruppathi to learn SrI rAmAyaNam

from thirumalai nambi. He stays there for one full year. At the
end of the kAlakshEpam, thirumalai nambi asks
emperumAnAr to accept something from him and
emperumAnAr asks nambi to send gOvindha perumAL with
him. nambi happily obliges and emperumAnAr leaves
thiruppathi with gOvindha perumAL. But gOvindha perumAL
is unable to bear the separation from his AchAryan, returns to
thiruppathi after a while. But thirumalai nambi does not even
want to speak to gOvindha perumAL saying he belongs to
emperumAnAr and should immediately return to him. Such
was his dedication. This incident is explained in
http://ponnadi.blogspot.com/2013/01/embars-acharya-
nishtai.html. Subsequently, gOvindha perumAL accepts
sannyAsAshramam and become to be known as embAr.

nambi’s vaibhavam and his explanations are highlighted in

many places in the vyAkyAnam. Let us see some here now:

• thiruppAvai 14 – azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr

– nambi’s explanation for “sengal podikkURai veNpal
thavaththavar” is explained here. nambi explains that
since we want to highlight auspicious occurrences in the
early morning while waking up the gOpis, these people
should be seen as good sannyAsis who wake up early in
the morning and are going to the temple to worship
emperumAn.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• nAchiyAr thirumozhi 10.8 – periyavAchchAn piLLai

vyAkyAnam – It is identified that this pAsuram (mazhaiyE
mazhaiyE) and the next pAsuram (kadalE kadalE) are
very dear to nambi. In these pAsurams, ANdAL is sending
the clouds as her messenger to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn to
inform about her feelings in separation. Every time he
recites these pAsurams, he is overwhelmed with
emotions and becomes speechless. Because of nambi’s
attachment, our AchAryas also had great affiliation
towards these pAsurams.
• thiruviruththam 3 – nampiLLai vyAkyAnam – piLLai
thirunaraiyUr nambi explains that periya thirumalai nambi
revelas AzhwAr‘s heart where AzhwAr is wondering if his
bhagavadh anubhavam will just be mAnasa sAkshAth
kAram (divine internal vision) or if it will evolve in to
external vision and anubhavam.
• thiruvAsiriyam 1 – periyavAchchAn piLLai vyAkyAnam –
When explaining emperumAn’s beauty, AzhwAr says it
looks like a “lush green hill is lying down and resting” – he
uses the term “kaNvaLarvathu” instead of “thUnguvathu”
for resting. While “kaNvaLarvathu” is a noble term for
resting, “thUnguvathu” is coloqial. periya thirumalai
nambi’s mastery of words in using noble terms is cited as
an example here. nambi says “The one who cant wear
ear-rings even if they are made with gold” while trying to
identify some one to emperumAnAr. Here, the intent of
nambi is to identify a person who will not listen to any one
even if the best instructions are given. nambi, uses noble
terms to explain that principle, showing that
SrIvaishNavas should always be very dignified in their
expression of anything.
• thiruvAimozhi 1.4.8 – nampiLLai vyAkyAnam – AzhwAr
says in this pAsuram (in nAyikA bhAvam) to the bird
(which is sent as a messenger to emperumAn to inform
about her situation) that she lost all her bodily strength
and beauty and became very weak because of the
separation from emperumAn. She asks the bird to find its
own food since AzhwAr cannot do that. In this nampiLLai
identifies a charithram of periya thirumalai nambi. During
his last days, nambi goes to his thiruvArAdhana perumAL

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

– veNNaikkAdum piLLai (krishNan who dances for butter)

and tells him that he has become very weak and
emperumAn should find some one to take care of him.

thirumalai nambi establishing emperumAnAr‘s glories is also

explained in the divine grantham named charamOpAya
nirNayam and it can be viewed at
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/12/charamopaya-nirnayam-
ramanujars-acharyas.html.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of thirumalai nambi’s

glories.

Let us bow down at the lotus feet of thirumalai nambi who

had great attachment towards ALavandhAr and
emperumAnAr.

Note: nambi’s thirunakshathram is identified as chithrai –

swAthi in 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam and periya
thirumudi adaivu, but its identified as vaikAsi – swAthi in his
vAzhi thirunAmam and is celebrated on that day.

thirumalai nambi’s thanian

pithAmahasyApi pithAmahAya
prAchEthasAdhEchapalapradhAya
SrIbhAshyakArOththama dhEchikAya SrIchailapUrNAya
namO nama: sthAth

பிதோமேஸ்யோபி பிதோமேோய
ப் ரோனசதஸோனதசபேப் ரதோய
ஸ்ரீபோஷ்யகோனரோத்தம னதசிகோய ஸ்ரீயசேபூர்ணோய
நனமோ நம: ஸ்தோத்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

6. thirumAlai ANdAn

Thirunakshathram: mAsi, magam

avathAra sthalam: thirumAlirunchOlai

AchAryan: ALavandhAr

Sishyas: emperumAnAr (grantha kAlakshEpa sishya)

thirumAlai ANdAn is one of the prime sishyas of ALavandhAr.

He is also known as mAlAdhArar and SrI gyAna pUrNar.

ALavandhAr instructs his 5 prime disciples to teach various

aspects of our sampradhAyam to emperumAnAr. Of those,
thirumAlai ANdAn is given the responsibility of teaching the
meanings of thiruvAimozhi. After ALavandhAr ascending to
paramapadham and emperumAnAr arriving at SrIrangam,
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi guides emperumAnAr to thirumAlai
ANdAn to listen the estoeric meanings of nammAzhwAr‘s
thiruvAimozhi.

While giving lectures, thirumAlai ANdAn explains the

meanings of thiruvAimozhi as he heard from ALavandhAr.
But at times, emperumAnAr presents his view point in some
of the pAsurams (that are different from ANdAn’s) and
thirumAlai ANdAn thinks that emperumAnAr is creating

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

meanings on his own and tells emperumAnAr that he has

never heard ALavndhAr explaining those meanings.

ALavandhAr with his sishyas

One such time, while explaining thiruvAimozhi 2.3.3 “aRiyAk

kAlaththuLLE” pAsuram, ANdAn explains that AzhwAr is
speaking with sorrow that emperumAn blessed him with
blemishless knowledge but still has kept him in this
samsAram with this body. But emperumAnAr looks at it
differently (by placing the 2nd line first) and says that since
this padhigam (10 pAsurams) are revelation of AzhwAr’s
bliss, the pAsuram really means that AzhwAr is saying with
great joy that “I was suffering in this samsAram since time
immemorial and you have blessed me suddenly”. Hearing
this ANdAn becomes upset and says he has never heard this
from ALavandhAr and emperumAnAr is creating new
meanings like vishwAmithra created new lOkam for thrisangu
mahArAja. And he stops his lectures as well. Hearing this,
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi comes running from thirukkOshtiyUr to
SrIrangam and goes to ANdAn and enquires him about the
incident. ANdAn says that emperumAnAr keeps on giving
new meanings which are not heard from ALavandhAr. When
ANdAn explains the particular incident fully, nambi says that
he has heard this meaning from ALavandhAr and is a valid
explanation of the pAsuram. He further says that “just like

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

emperumAn learnt from sAndhIpani, rAmAnujar is learning

thiruvAimozhi from you. He will not say anything other than
what is in ALavandhAr‘s heart. Do not presume that you are
teaching some thing rAmAnujar does not know already”. He
then brings ANdAn and periya nambi to emperumAnAr’s mutt
and requests emperumAnAr to continue hearing from ANdAn.
Subsequently, emperumAnAr explains another pAsuram
differently than ANdAn and ANdAn asks him how he knows
this particular meaning even without meeting ALavandhAr
and emperumAnAr replies that it is because he is like
Ekalvayan for ALavndhAr (Ekalavyan is the one who learnt
everything from dhrONAchArya without directly learning from
him). ANdAn understanding the greatness offers his respects
to emperumAnAr and feels great joy that he is able to hear
what he missed hearing from ALavandhAr.

There are many pAsurams that are identified in the

vyAkyAnams where ANdAn and emperumAnAr had
interesting/different view points. Let us see a couple.

• thiruvAimozhi 1.2 – nampiLLai vyAkyAnam – "vIdu min

muRRavum" padhigam (decad) introduction section –
ANdAn lectures this padhigam to emperumAnAr as
explaining prapathi (surrender) yOgam as heard from
ALavandhAr. emperumAnAr also follows the same
approach. But after emperumAnAr completes SrI
bhAshyam, he changes his perspective and starts
lecturing this padhigam as explaining bhakthi yOgam.
Since prapathi is most confidential and can be easily
misinterpreted, emperumAnAr explains this as sAdhya
bhakthi (which means doing bhakthi purely for
emperumAn's pleasure without any tinge of the thought
that "I am doing bhakthi on my own capacity"). This
sAdhya bhakthi is different from upAya/sAdhana bhakthi
(which is explained generally as bhakthi yOgam). embAr
also follows emperumAnAr and does the same.
• thiruvAimozhi 2.3.1 – nampiLLai vyAkyAnam – While
explaining “thEnum pAlum kannalum amuthumoththE –
kalandhozhinthOm” (னதனும் போலும் க ் லும்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

அமுதுசமோத்னத – கேந்சதோழிந்னதோம் ), ANdAn

explains it as heard from ALavandhAr as AzhwAr saying
“emperumAn and I mingled naturally as honey and honey
or milk and milk will mix”. But emperumAnAr explains it as
AzhwAr saying “We mingled and enjoyed all the
nectarean taste that is arrived by mixing various tasty
materials like honey, milk, sugar, etc”.

In nAchiyAr thirumozhi, 11.6 vyAkyAnam, periyavAchchAn

piLLai identifies ANdAn’s AchArya bhakthi through his own
words. ANdAn used to say that “Even though we should give
up attachments to body and all bodily belongings, this
particular body should not be ignored since it was this body
through which I got ALavandhAr’s sambhandham”.

In charamOpAya nirNayam (which glorifies emperumAnAr’s

greatness) nAyanAr AchchAn piLLai identifies that when
thirumAlai ANdAn was explaining poliga poliga pAsuram
(thiruvAimozhi 5.2), thirukkOshtiyUr nambi reveals to
everyone in the gOshti that emperumAnAr is the one who is
talked about in this pAsuram. Hearing this ANdAn becomes
ecstatic and declares that he will consider emperumAnAr as
ALavandhAr (his own AchAryan). This is explained at
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/12/charamopaya-nirnayam-
ramanujars-acharyas.html.

Let us pray at the lotus feet of thirumAlai ANdAn who had

great attachment towards ALavandhAr and emperumAnAr.

thirumAlai ANdAn’s thanian

rAmAnuja munIndhrAya dhrAmidI samhithArththadham

mAlAdhara gurum vandhE vAvadhUkam vipaschitham

ரோமோநுஜ முநீ ந்தர

் ோய த்ரோமிடீ ஸம் ஹிதோர்த்ததம்
மோேோதர குரும் ேந்னத ேோேதூகம் விபஸ்சிதம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

7. thirukkachi nambi

Thirunakshathram: mAsi, mrugasIrsham

avathAra sthalam: pUvirunthavalli

AchAryan: ALavandhAr

Sishyas: emperumAnAr (abhimAna sishya)

Place where he attained paramapadham: pUviruthavalli

Works: dhEvarAja ashtakam

thirukkachi nambi also known as kAnchi pUrNar and

gajEndhra dhAsar is born in pUvirundhavalli. He was most
popularly known for his thiruvAlavatta (fan) kainkaryam for
dhEva perumAL and his regular conversations with dhEva
perumAL and perundhEvi thAyAr.

When iLayAzhwAr (SrI rAmAnujar) returns to kAnchipuram

from vAraNAsi yAthrai (after escaping from the plan to kill
him), his mother instructs him to take shelter of thirukkachi
nambi who is a sishya of ALavandhAr and a close confidante
of dhEva perumAL. iLayAzhwAr apporaches nambi and
requests for his guidance. nambi instructs iLayAzhwAr to
perform thirumanjana thIrtham bringing kainkaryam from

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

sAlai kiNaru (a well which is situated few kilometers from the

dhEva perumAL temple). iLayAzhwAr happily obliges and
starts performing that kainkaryam every day.

periya nambi visits kAnchipuram to bring iLayAzhwAr to

SrIrangam to formally have him initiated into the
sampradhAyam by ALavandhAr and to establish him as the
next AchArya of the sampradhAyam. He approaches
thirukkachi nambi and asks for permission from him and
thirukkachi nambi happily agrees. periya nambi then explains
ALavandhAr’s glories to iLayAzhwAr and iLayAzhwAr leaves
with periya nambi to surrender to ALavandhAr. But
ALavandhAr ascends to paramapadham before meeting
iLayAzhwAr. So, iLayAzhwAr returns to kAnchipuram and
continues his kainkaryam there.

iLayAzhwAr develops great attachment towards thirukkachi

nambi and surrenders to thirukkachi nambi and requests him
to perform pancha samskAram to him to accept him as his
sishya. But nambi citing pramANams says that, him being in
an abhrAmaNa varNam makes him ineligible to become a
formal AchArya (while he can continue to be regarded very
high and can continue to instruct iLayAzhwAr). iLayAzhwAr
becomes very dejected but accepts thirukkachi nambi’s stand
due to unflinching faith in sAsthram.

iLayAzhwAr wanting to accept the uchchistam (sEsha

prasAdham/food remnants) of thirukkachi nambi, once invites
him to his thirumALigai (home) to accept his
thadhIyArAdhanam. thirukkachi nambi obliges and
iLayAzhwAr runs back to his thirumALigai (home), informs his
wife about this with great joy and instructs her to prepare a
great feast, performs his nithya karmAnushtAnam, completes
his thirumanjana thIrtha kainkaryam for dhEva perumAL and
returns home. He then goes to meet thirukkachi nambi
through the south side of the temple, while nambi starts to
iLayAzhwAr thirumALigai through the north side of the
temple. nambi arrives at iLayAzhwAr’s home and informs
iLayAzhwAr‘s wife that he needs to return for his kainkaryam
quickly. So, he quickly accepts the prasAdham and leaves.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thanjammAL (wife of iLayAzhwAr) without understanding

iLayAzhwAr’s heart, considering nambi’s varNam, pushes out
the banana leaf, fully cleans the place and take a bathe.
iLayAzhwAr returns to see this and asks her why she took
bath. She replies that “nambi came and had prasAdham, but
because he had some kainkaryam he left early. Since he is
not an upavIthar (one with yagyOpavItham), I threw away the
plantain leaf on which he had prasAdham, cleaned the place
using cow dung and took bath to purify myself”. iLayAzhwAr
becomes very upset with the behaviour of his wife who
disrespected nambi (since she did not understand his true
greatness) and leaves the place.

nambi is well known to be conversing with dhEva perumAL.

iLayAzhwAr had some lingering doubts in his mind and he
goes to thirukkachi nambi and requests him to find the
answers for his doubts from dhEva perumAL. (Note: SrI
rAmAnujar being Adhi sEsha avathAram and based on
pUrvAchArya SrIsUkthis, we should understand that he
knows everything, but is enacting these events only to
establish the pramANams through bhagavAn and his
elders/AchAryas). On that night, after completing his
kainkaryam, to dhEva perumAL, nambi was looking at
emperumAn with great love as usual.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

dhEva perumAL being sarvagya (omniscient), asks nambi if

we wants to say something. nambi reveals iLayAzhwAr‘s
heart (Note: iLayAzhwAr did not say what the doubts are) and
asks emperumAn to clarify his doubts. dhEva perumAL at
once says “Just like I went to sAndhipani to learn sAsthram,
iLayAzhwAr (Adhi sEshan) who is a great expert in sAsthram
is asking me to clarify his doubts”. He then gives out what is
famously known as 6 vArthaigaL (6 commandments) through
nambi to iLayAzhwAr. They are:

• ahamEva param thathvam – I am the supreme

• dharshanam bhEdham Eva – jIvAthmAs/achEthanam
are different from me (my sarIram)
• upAyam prapathi – “accepting me as the only refuge”
is the only means to attain me
• anthima smrthi varjanam – for prapannas, there is no
need for thinking about me while leaving their body
since bhagavAn declares in varAha charama slOkam
that he will think about us during our last moments
(interestingly, all our AchAryas reveal that they are
thinking about their AchAryas instead of bhagavAn
while leaving their body – this is the beautiful inner
meaning of our sampradhAyam that one should
always be thinking about his/her AchAryan)
• dhEhavasAnE mukthi – prapannas will be liberated at
the end of this body and will ascend to
paramapadham to eternally serve him there
• pUrNAchArya padhAsritha – Accept mahA pUrNar
(periya nambi) as AchAryan

thirukkachi nambi, goes to iLayAzhwAr and informs him

about the 6 commandments. iLayAzhwAr thanks nambi for
his favour and offers his respects to him. nambi asks if
iLayAzhwAr was also thinking the same and iLayAzhwAr
agrees – thus nambi becomes very pleased to emperumAn’s
thiruvuLLam (heart) and iLayAzhwAr’s thiruvuLLam being the
same.

Subsequently, iLayAzhwAr accepts periya nambi as AchArya

in madhurAnthakam and gets the name SrI rAmAunja.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Not much more is present about thirukkachi nambi in

pUrvAchArya granthams. He is identified in a few places in
vyAkyAnams. Let us see them now.

• periyAzhwAr thirumozhi – 3.7.8 – thiruvAimozhi

piLLai‘s svApadhEsa vyAkyAnam – thirukkachi nambi
asks dhEva perumAL to give him a name which is
very dear to emperumAn. dhEva perumAL names him
gajendhra dhAsar (since gajEndhrAzhwAn
worshipped dhEva perumAL in kAnchipuram, he is
very dear to emperumAn there).
• thiruviruththam – 8 – nampiLLai Idu – Once
emperumAnAr was seated with many SrIvaishNavas.
He suddenly thinks about thirukkachi nambi and
requests for a volunteer to go and enquire nambi’s
well-being. No one volunteers at that time. The next
morning, periya nambi (mahA pUrNar) summons
emperumAnAr and informs him that he will visit
kAnchipuram for mangaLAsAsanam. emperumAnAr
at once says that periya nambi has all authority over
him and he could fulfill his desire. periya nambi then
reaches kAnchipuram, meets thirukkachi nambi and
enquires about his well being and starts his return
journey immediately. When thirukkachi nambi
requests periya nambi to stay there for the upcoming
uthsavam, periya nambi says that his mission (to
enquire about thirukkachi nambi) is accomplished. He
informs thirukkachi nambi that no one was willing to
travel immediately so he just volunteered and came to
meet thirukkachi nambi only. Such was thirukkachi
nambi’s greatness that periya nambi himself travelled
all the way to kAnchipuram to meet him exclusively.
• AchArya hrudhayam – 85th chUrNikai - thyAga
manNdapaththil Alavattamum kaiyumAna
aNtharanGgarai vaidhikOththamar anuvarththiththa
kramam (த்யோக மண்டபத்திே் ஆேேட்டமும்
யகயுமோ அந்தரங் கயர யேதினகோத்தமர்
அனுேர்த்தித்த க்ரமம் ) – While explaining the
glories of bhAgavathas who are not born in

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

brAhmaNa varNam, azhagiya maNavALa perumAL

nAyanAr cites the glories of thirukkachi nambi who
was serving dhEva perumAL in thyAga mandapam
(kAnchipuram) by performing fan kainkaryam and how
the top most vaidhihar (emperumAnAr) himself
revered and served thirukkachi nambi.

mAmunigaL in his dhEvarAja mangaLam brings out the

greatness of thirukkachi nambi and dhEva perumAL’s great
affection for him in the 11th slOkam.

SrI kAnYchipUrnNamisrEnNa prIthyA sarvAbhibhAshanE

athithArchchAvyavasthAya hasthadhrIsAya manGgalam

ஸ்ரீ கோஞ் சிபூர்ணமிஸ்னரண ப்ரத

ீ ய
் ோ
ஸர்ேோபிபோஷன
அதிதோர்ச்சோே் யேஸ்தோய ேஸ்தத்ரஸ ீ ோய
மங் கேம்

Let there be all auspiciousness for the lord of hasthigiri who

broke his archA samAdhi and conversed regularly with
thirukkachi nambi out of his great attachment towards him.

mAmunigaL beautifully brings out the relationship between

dhEva perumAL and thirukkachi nambi in this slOkam and
also shows us that whenever we approach bhagavAn we
should go through his devotees only.

Let us pray at his lotus feet to bless us with the same

attachment towards emperumAn and AchAryan as well.

thirukkachi nambi’s thanian

dhEvarAja dhayApAthram SrI kAnchi pUrNam uththamam

rAmAnuja munEr mAnyam vandhEham sajjanAsrayam

னதேரோஜ தயோபோத்ரம் ஸ்ரீ கோஞ் சி பூர்ணம் உத்தமம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ரோமோநுஜ முனநர் மோந்யம் ேந்னதேம்

ஸஜ் ஜநோச்ரயம்

His archAvathAra anubhavam (through his beautiful

grantham dhEvarAja ashtakam) can be read at
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/11/archavathara-anubhavam-
thuirukkachi-nambi.html.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

8. mARanEri nambi
Thirunakshathram: Ani, Ayilyam

avathAra sthalam: purAnthakam (a village in pAndiya nAdu)

AchAryan: ALavandhAr

Place from where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

ALavandhAr (in the middle) with dheivavAri ANdAn and

mARanERi nambi – A sculpture in SrI rAmAnujar sannidhi,
SrI rangam

mARanEri nambi is a dear sishya of ALavandhAr. He was

born in chathurtha varNam and was most respected in
SrIrangam for his attachment towards periya perumAL and
his AchAryan ALavandhAr.

He is sometimes known as mARanEr nambi – one who is

similar to mARan (nammAzhwAr) in qualities.

He was known to be fully engaged in listening kAlakshEpams

from ALavandhAr and being engaged in guNAnubhavam of
periya perumAL. He had given up all other attachments and
just stayed in SrIrangam temple prAkAram itself.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

During his last days mARanEri nambi requests periya nambi

(who is his dear friend) to take care of his final rites and not
handover his thirumEni (divine form) to his bodily relatives
since they had not become SrIvaishNavas. He compares that
his body is like havis (offering in yagya) that is only fit to be
offered to bhagavAn and should not be touched by others.
periya nambi obliges and after mARanEri nambi attains
paramapadham, he performs the charama kainkaryams (final
rites) for him. Due to his varNam, the local SrIvaishNavas
does not accept periya nambi‘s action and challenges him.
They go to emperumAnAr and complain to him about periya
nambi’s act. emperumAnAr, wanting to establish the glories
of mARanEri nambi through periya nambi’s words, goes to
periya nambi and questions him. emperumAnAr asks him
“When I am trying to develop faith and confidence in
everyone’s mind on sAsthram, why are you doing something
which looks tangential to sAsthram?”. periya nambi replies
that “We cannot appoint some one else to perform
bhAgavatha kainkaryam. We have to do it ourselves. SrI
rAman did the final rites for jatAyu. I am not greater than SrI
rAman and he is not lower than jatAyu – so there is nothing
wrong in me doing this kainkaryam for him. payilum
chudaroLi (thiruvAimozhi 3.7) and nedumARkadimai
(thiruvAimozhi 8.10) padhigams of nammAzhwAr which
glorifies bhAgavatha sEshathvam are not just theoretical. We
should atleast try to follow some aspects of AzhwAr’s divine
words”. Hearing this emperumAnAr becomes very pleased,
offers his obeisances to periya nambi and declares that
periya nambi has indeed done a noble act. All the local
SrIvaishNavas become very pleased. This most beautiful
conversation is most beautifully explained by maNavALa
mAmunigaL in the vyAkyAnam of 234th sUthram of piLLai
lOkAchAryar‘s SrIvachana bhUshaNam.

nambi’s vaibhavam is highlighted in a few places in the

vyAkyAnams. Let us see them here now:

• thiruppAvai 29 – Ayi jananyAchAryar vyAkyAnam – In this

pAsuram, a beautiful conversation between periya nambi
and emperumAnAr is explained. When mARanEri nambi

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

was in his final days, he had to endure great bodily

difficulties. At that time, he becomes worried that he wont
even be able to meditate on emperumAn during his final
moments. Looking at his state, periya nambi asks
emperumAnAr if mARanEri nambi will reach
paramapadham. emperumAnAr replies saying since SrI
varAha perumAL has guaranteed in the varAha charama
slOkam that he will think about the ones who surrender to
him and delivers them to paramapadham at the end of
their lives. periya nambi then says those words cannot be
accepted since varAha perumAL could have just said that
out of compassion (and attachment towards bhUmi
pirAttiyAr) and may not fulfill the words.
• But emperumAnAr replies since pirAtti is with emperumAn
always, he is not going to say something to pacify her just
at that time. Periya nambi then asks for a pramANam
where it is said that the ones who are engaged in
bhagavadh vishayam fully will be granted mOksham.
emperumAnAr replies that kaNNan emperumAn’s words
in gIthai 4.10 – “janma karma cha mE dhivyam Evam yO
vEththi thathvatha: thyakthvA dhEham punar janma naithi
mAmEthi sOrjuna” says that one who understands
bhagavAn’s birth and activities truly will reach
paramapadham definitely at the end of his life. periya
nambi then becomes pleased by emperumAnAr‘s words.
• periya thirumozhi 7.4 – periyavAchchAn piLLai
vyAkyAnam introduction section – In this padhigam
(kaNsOra venkuruthi), thirumangai AzhwAr glorifies the
SrIvaishNavas who are surrendered to thiruchErai
sAranAthan emperumAn. Here the incident of periya
nambi performind the last rites for mARanEri nambi is
identified.
• mudal thiruvanthAdhi 1 – nampiLLai vyAkyAnam – In this
pAsuram, it is identified that when some one asks
mARanEri nambi if there is a way to remember
emperumAn, he replies back asking if there is a way to
forget emperumAn (since he is constantly meditating on
emperumAn, he cannot even think of the possibility of
forgetting him ever).

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• SrIvachana bhUshaNam 324 – piLLai lOkAchAryar

identifies the glories of SrIvaishNavas in this section and
establishes that birth in a particular varNam does not
minimize the glories of SrIvaishNavas. Amongst many
other examples, he identifies the incident of periya nambi
explaining his act of performing final rites to mARanEri
nambi to emperumAnAr. mAmunigaL in his beautiful
vyAkyAnam brings out the essence of the discussion in
the most crisp manner.
• AchArya hrudhayam 85 – azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr, following in the foot steps of his elder brother
(piLLai lOkAchAryar), highlights the glories of mARanEri
nambi in this chUrNikai through the same incident.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glories of

mARanEri nambi.

Let us bow down at the lotus feet of mARanEri nambi who

had great attachment towards ALavandhAr.

Note: nambi’s thirunakshathram is identified as Adi – Ayilyam

in periya thirumudi adaivu, but its identified as Ani – Ayilyam
in his vAzhi thirunAmam.

mARanEri nambi’s thanian

yAmunAchArya sachchishyam rangasthalanivAsinam

gyAnabhakthyAdhijaladhim mARanErigurum bhajE

யோமுநோசோர்ய ஸச்சிஷ்யம் ரங் கஸ்தேநிேோஸிநம்

ஜ் ஞோநபக்த்யோதிஜேதிம் மோறன ரிகுரும் பனஜ

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

9. emperumAnAr

thAnAna thirumEni thAnugantha thamarugantha

(Srirangam) thirumEni thirumEni

Thirunakshathram: chithirai, thiruvAdhirai

avathAra sthalam: sriperumpudhUr

AchAryan: periya nambi

Sishyas: kUrathAzhwAn, mudhaliAndAn, embAr, aruLaLa

perumAL emperumAnAr, ananthAzhwAn, 74
simhAsanAdhipathis, many thousands of sishyas. It is said
that he had 12000 srivaishnavas, 74 simhAsAnadhipathis,
700 sanyAsis, and many many srivaishnavas from different
caste/creed were his disciples.

Place where he attained paramapadham: thiruvarangam

Works: He has done nine granthams which are considered

as nava rathnams namely sri bhAshyam, gItha bhAshya,
vEdhArtha sangraham, vEdhAntha dhIpam, vEdhAntha
sAram, sharaNAgathi gadhyam, sriranga gadhyam,
srivaikunta gadhyam and nithya grantham.

iLayAzhwAr was born in sriperumbudhUr to kEsava

dhIkshithar and kAnthimathi ammangAr as an avathAram of
AdhisEshan and is also known by many other names. Let us
see his many names and who gave them to him.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

● iLayAzhwAr given by periya thirumalai nambi on behalf of

his parents.
● sri rAmAnuja given by periya nambi during his pancha
samskAram.
● yathirAja and rAmAnuja muni given by dhEva perumAL
during sanyAsAshrama svIkAram.
● udayavar given by namperumAL
● lakshmaNa muni given by thiruvaranga peumAL arayar
● emperumAnAr given by thirukkOshtiyUr nambi when
emperumAnAr gave charamaslOka artham to the ones
who surrendered to him in thirukkOshtiyUr.
● satagOpan ponnadi given by thirumAlaiAndAn.
● kOil ANNan given by AndAL after emperumAnAr offered
100 plates of akkAra adisil and 100 plates of butter to
thirumAlirunchOlai azhagar.
● sri bhAshyakArar given by sarasvathi in kashmir.
● bhUthpurIsar given by Adhi kEsava perumAL of
sriperumputhUr.
● dhEsikEndhrar given by thiruvEnkatamudayAn.

Brief life history

● Born in SrIperumputhUr by the grace of thiruvallikkENi

pArthasArathy emperumAn as his amsAvathAram.

pArthasArathy with ubaya nAchiArs and udayavar –

thiruvallikkENi

● Marries thanjammAl (rakshkAmbAL).

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

● Goes to kAnchipuram and learns sAmAnya sAstram and

pUrva paksham from yAdhava prakAsar.
● When yAdhava prakAsar gives crooked interpretations to
sAstra vAkyams, iLayAzhwAr corrects them.
● On a pilgrimage towards vAraNAsi, some disciples of
yAdhava prakAsar plans to kill iLayAzhwAr. Govindhar
(embAr in the future), a cousin of iLayAzhwAr thwarts the
plan and sends iLayAzhwAr towards kAnchipuram.
iLayAzhwAr feeling lost in the forest is helped by dhEva
perumAL and perundhEvi thAyar and comes back to
kAnchipuram.
● On his return, based on his mother’s advice, he serves
dhEva perumAL under the guidance of thirukkachi nambi.
● iLayAzhwAr travels with periya nambi to srirangam to
meet ALavandhAr – but only sees ALavandhArs charama
thirumEni. He vows that he will fulfill ALavandhArs 3
wishes.
● iLayAzhwAr considers thirukkachi nambi to be his
AchAryan and asks him to do pancha samskAram, but
nambi refuses to do that citing pramANams from sAstram.
iLayAzhwAr wants to have sEsha prasAdham of
thirukkachi nambi but his desire is not fulfilled.
● dhEva perumAL gives Aru vArthaigaL (6 words) to
iLayAzhwAr through thirukkachi nambi.
● iLayAzhwAr and periya nambi meet at madhurAnthagam.
periya nambi does pancha samskAram to iLayAzhwAr
and gives rAmAnujan as dhAsya nAmam.
● periya nambi stays at rAmAnujar’s thirumALigai and
teaches him all sampradhAya arthams. Eventually periya
nambi leaves to srirangam.
● rAmAnujar accepts sanyAsAshramam from dhEva
perumAL.
● AzhwAn and AndAn becomes sishyas of rAmAnujar.
● yAdhava prakAsar becomes a sishya of rAmAnujar and
becomes gOvindha jeeyar. He writes “yathi dharma
samuchayam” – which is used as guidelines for
srivaishnava yathis.
● periya perumAL sends thiruvaranga perumAL to dhEva
perumAL to bring rAmAnujar to srirangam. dhEva
perumAL agrees and rAmAnujar becomes srirangavAsi.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

● rAmAnujar gets periya thirumalai nambi to bring gOvindha

bhattar (embAr) back into the srivaishnava dharmam.
● rAmAnujar travels to thirukkOshtiyur to learn charama
slOkam from thirukkOshtiyUr nambi. He teaches the
meaning to every one who came with the desire to learn
that and was named emperumAnAr by thirukkOsthiyUr
nambi.
● emperumAnAr listens thiruvAimozhi kAlakshEpam from
thirumAlai AndAn.
● emperumAnAr learns panchamOpAya (AchArya) nishtai
from thiruvaranga perumAL arayar.
● emperumAnAr out of his parama krupai, performs
sharaNAgathi in front of namperumAL and sriranga
nAchiAr on a panguni uthram day for the benefit of all of
his followers.
● emperumAnAr is given poisoned food. ThirukkOshtiyUr
nambi visits srirangam and orders kidAmbi AchAn to take
care of emperumAnArs bikshai.
● emperumAnAr defeats yagya mUrthy in debate. yagya
mUrthy becomes aruLaLa perumAL emperumAnAr and is
given thiruvArAdhana kainkaryam for emperumAnArs
thiruvArAdhana emperumAn.
● emperumAnAr instructs ananthAzhwan, etc to become
aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr’s sishyas.
● emperumAnAr sends ananthAzhwAn to thirumalai to
perform nithya kainkaryam to thiruvEnkatamudayAn.
● emperumAnAr goes on pilgrimage and finally visits
thirumalai.
● emperumAnAr establishes that thiruvEnkatamudayAn is a
vishnu mUrthy (vigraham) and defeat the kudhrustis who
claimed otherwise. He is glorified as the AchAryan of
thiruvEnkatamudayAn and can be seen with a jnAna
mudhrai in thirumalai.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

emperumAnAr – thirumalai

● There he hears sri rAmAyaNa kAlakshEpam from periya

thirumalai nambi.
● emperumAnAr gives sanyAsAshramam for govindha
bhattar and names him embAr.
● emperumAnAr visits kashmIr along with kUrathAzhwAn to
bring bOdhAyana vruthi grantham. They get the grantham
but the wicked pandits send their soldiers to take it away
from emperumAnAr. When it was lost, AzhwAn says he
memorized everything.
● emperumAnAr with the help of AzhwAn writes
sribhAshyam fulling ALavandhAr’s first wish.
● emperumAnAr visits thirukkurungudi and empeumAn
becomes a sishya of emperumAnAr and gets the name
“srivaishnava nambi”.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

● AzhWan and AndAL by the grace of prasAdham from

namperumAL gets 2 children. emperumAnAr names them
parAsAra and vEdha vyAsa fulfilling ALavandhAr’s
second wish.
● embAr’s brother siriya gOvindha perumAL gets a child
and emperumAnAr names him “parAngusa nambi”
fulfilling ALavandhAr’s third wish. It is also said that
emperumAnAr instructed thirukkurugai pirAn piLLAn to
write a commentary for thiruvAimozhi to fulfill
ALavandhAr’s third wish.
● emperumAnAr travels to thirunArAyaNa puram,
establishes the temple worship there and initiates many
into our sampradhAyam.
● emperumAnAr takes the form of 1000 headed
AdhisEshan and defeats 1000 jain scholars
simulataneously.
● emperumAnAr retrieves selvapiLLai utsava mUrthy from
muslim king’s daughter and performs the marriage of the
muslim king’s daughter and selva piLLai.
● emperumAnAr returns to srirangam after the saiva kings
death. He instructs AzhwAn to get his eyes back by
glorifying dhEva perumAL.
● emperumAnAr travels to thirumAlirunchOlai and offers
100 plates of akkAra adisil and 100 plates of butter as per
ANdAL’s wish.
● emperumAnAr shows the greatness of piLLai urangA villi
dhAsar to other srivaishnavas.
● emperumAnAr gives many final instructions to his
sishyas. He instructs his sishyas to treat parAsara bhattar
as himself. Also, He instructs parAsara bhattar to bring
nanjeeyar into our sampradhAyam.
● Finally, meditating on ALavandhAr’s thirumEni,
emperumAnAr completes his leelai in leelA vibhUthi and
returns paramapadham to continue his leelai in nithya
vibhUthi.
● Just like AzhwAr’s charama thirumEni was preserved
inside the AdhinAthan temple in AzhwAr thiunagari,
emperumAnAr’s charama thirumEni is also preserved
inside the ranganAthan temple in srirangam (under the
mUlavar thirumEni in emperumAnAr sannidhi).

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

● All his charama kainkaryams were done in a grand

manner just like the brahmOtsavam of
thiruvaranganAthan himself.

emperumAnAr’s unique position in our sampradhAyam

In our AchArya rathna hAram emperumAnAr is considered as

the nAyaka maNi (the center piece). In charamOpAya
nirNayam, nAyanAr AchAn piLLai (son of periyavAchAn
piLLai) brings out the full glories of emperumAnAr. Let us see
some glimpses of this magnificient grantham:
● Through the words of many AchAryas (before and after
emperumAnAr), emperumAnAr is proven to be the
charamOpAyam for all srivaishnavas.
● Even though our pUrvAchAryas were fully dependent on
their own AchAryas, because everyone’s AchAryas
showed that “we have to fully dependent on
emperumAnAr only”, emperumAnAr’s uththArakathvam
was fully established.
● periyavAchAn piLLai also says in mAnikka mAlai that
“AchArya sthAnam is special and only emperumAnAr fully
qualifies for that sthAnam”.
● AchAryas before empeumAnAr were anuvruthi
prasannAchAryas, i.e., they had to be served
continuously before they will be pleased and give
valuable instructions and accept sishyas. But
emperumAnAr, looking at the difficulties in this kaliyugam,
identified that AchAryas should be krupA mAthra
prasannAchAryas, i.e., they should be full of mercy and
accept sishyas purely based on the desire in the heart of
the sishya.
● It is also explained that just like when pithrus in pithru
lOkam get benefited by sath santhAnam (good offsprings)
in their families and ofcourse the subsequent generations
will also benefit by such persons, AchAryas before and
after emperumAnAr benefit from the appearance of
emperumAnAr in the srivaishnava kulam. Just like
vasudhEvan/dhEvaki, nandhagOpan/yasOdhA and
dhasarathan/kausalyA were blessed by giving birth to

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

kannan emperumAn and perumAL, AchAryas before

emperumAnAr were blessed by the appearance of
emperumAnAr in the prapanna kulam.
● nammAzhwAr glorifies the appearance of emperumAnAr
in poliga poliga poliga padhigam and presents the
bhavishyadhAchAryan (emperumAnAr) vigraham to
nAthamunigaL even before the appearance of
emperumAnAr. (Another bhavishyadhAchAryan was
acquired by madhurakavi AzhwAr by the mercy of
nammAzhwAr while boiling the thAmiRa bharaNi water).

bhavishyadhAchAryan – AzhwArthirungari

● This divine form was preserved and worshipped by

nAthamunigaL, uyyakkoNdAr, etc., upto thirukkOshtiyUr
nambi (The other divine form that was received earlier by
boiling thAmirabharaNi water was worshipped by
thiruvAimozhi piLLai and manavALa mAmunigaL in
AzhwAr thiunagari bhavishyadhAchAryan sannidhi).
● periya nambi says that just like perumAL appeared in
raghu kulam and made that kulam famous, emperumAnAr
appeared in prapanna kulam and made this kulam
famous.
● periya thirumalai nambi says to embAr that “you should
think that emperumAnAr thirvadigaLE thanjam and think
about emperumAnAr more than myself”.
● thirukkOshtiyUr nambi during his final days says that “he
was fortunate to have the relationship with
emperumAnAr”. Also when there is misunderstanding by
thirumAlaiAndAn, thirukkOshtiyUr nambi says that “you

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

are not instructing anything new to emperumAnAr, he is

sarvajnar already. Just like kannan emperumAn learnt
from sAndIpani and perumAL learnt from vasishtan,
emperumAnAr is learning from us”.
● peraruLALan, periya perumAL, thiruvEnkatamudayAn,
thirumAlirunchOlai azhagar, thirkkurungudi nambi, etc
also highlighted the importance/glories of emperumAnAr
and instructed everyone to completely depend on
emperumAnAr.
● aruLaLa perumAL emperumAnAr, AzhwAn, ANdAn,
embAr, vaduga nambi, vangi purathu nambi, bhattar,
nadAthUr ammAL, nanjeeyar, nampiLLai and many other
AchAryas show to their sishyas that “we should always
think that emperumAnAr thiruvadigaLE thanjam”.
● It is explained that by our pUrvAchAryas that we have to
think emperumAnAr as the upAyam and upEyam. This is
called charamOpAya nishtai or anthimOpAya nishtai.
● thiruvarangathamudhanAr after being reformed by
kUrathAzhwAn, developed great attachment towards
emperumAnAr. He poured out his emotions in his
prabhandham rAmAnusa nUtranthAthi. A fitting
glorification of emperumAnAr, this prabhandham was
composed when emperumAnAr was living in srirangam
and was ordered by namperumAL to be recited in front of
him during his purappAdu without any other disturbances
like vAdhyam, etc (which are usually present in front of
any purappAdu). This prabhandham was also included as
part of 4000 divya prabhandham by our pUrvAchAryas
considering the glories of emperumAnAr and his
contribution towards our sampradhAyam. Not only that
this became to be known as prapanna gAyathri – that
which should be recited fully by every srivaishnava at
least once a day.
manavALa mAmunigaL in upadhEsa rathina mAlai shows
that our dharisanam is named as “emperumAnAr
dharisanam” by namperumAl himself. He also says that
AchAryas before emperumAnAr, were anuvruthi
prasannAchAryas and were only instructing to few sishyas
who served them with utmost dedication for long durations.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

But emperumAnAr changed the trend and showed that in this

kaliyugam AchAryas should be filled with mercy. Looking at
the sorrows and difficulties in the samsAram, the AchAryas
should look out for individuals who simply have the desire to
leave samsAram and give them the valuable meanings on
the process to leave samsAram. Not only emperumAnAr
himself did that, he also established 74 simhAsanAdhipathis
who will propagate our sanAthana dharmam everywhere and
give the mercy to every one.

It is easy to speak about and summarize emperumAn’s

vaibhavam but emperumAnAr’s vaibhavam is unlimited. Even
he himself with his thousand tongues (as AdhisEshan) cannot
speak his glories, so how can we do that to our full
satisfaction. We just have to satisfy ourselves saying that
some how we benefited immensely by speaking (and
reading) about him today.

emperumAnAr’s thanian
yOnithyam achyutha padhAmbuja yugma rukma
vyAmOhathas thathitharANi thruNAya mEnE
asmadhgurOr bhagavathOsya dhayaikasindhO:
rAmAnujasya charaNau sharaNam prapadhyE

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

10. kUraththAzhwAn

thirunakshathram: thai, hastham

avathAra sthalam: kUram

AchAryan: emperumAnAr

Sishyas: thiruvarangathamudhanAr

Place where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

Works: pancha sthavam (athi mAnusha sthavam, SrI

vaikunta sthavam, sundhara bhAhu sthavam, varadharAja
sthavam, SrI sthavam), yO nithyam achyutha/lakshminAtha
thanians

• Born in kUram village in a noble family in the year 1010

CE (sowmya varusham, thai mAsam, hastha
nakshathram) as the son of kUrathazhwar and
perundhEvi ammAL. He was named srivathsAngan.
• His mother attained AchAryan thiruvadi (passed away) at
a very young age and his father does not remarry even
though sAsthrams insist one must be in a proper
Asramam (i.e., once married, if the wife passes away, a
man should remarry). His father says “if i get married and
my new wife does not treat kUraththAzhwAn well, it will

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

be a bhAgavatha apachAram”. Such is his qualities even

at a very young age.
• He was guided by thirukkachi nambi who was serving
dhEvaperumAL.
• He gets married to ANdAL who is equally great in good
qualities.
• He takes shelter of emperumAnAr and accepts pancha
samskAram from him.
• Leaving behind all his wealth at kUram, he along with his
wife reach SrIrangam and starts living there by taking
unjavruthi (bikshai).
• He travels with emperumAnAr to Kashmir to retrieve
Bodayana Vruthi Grantham. After losing the grantham on
the way back, he comforts emperumAnAr that he
memorized the whole grantham. Later, after getting back
to SrIrangam, he helps emperumAnAr complete his
magnus opum “SrI bhAshyam” by recording it in palm
leaves as dictated by emperumAnAr.

amudhanAr – AzhwAn – emperumAnAr

• He instructs thiruvarangathu amudhanAr regularly and

gets him to become a disciple of emperumAnAr, give up
the temple responsibilities and hands over the temple
keys to emperumAnAr after sitting in the EkAgam ritual.
• He goes to the saiva king’s court in place of
emperumAnAr, refutes the king’s claim of “rudhran being
the supreme”, establishes of SrIman nArAyaNa‘s
supremacy and in the end gives up his own dharshanam
(eyes) to protect SrIvaishNava dharshanam
(sampradayam).

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• He leaves SrIrangam to go to thirumAlirunchOlai (after

emperumAnAr leaves to thirunArAyaNapuram/mElkOte)
where he stays for 12 years.
• He sings sundhara bAhu sthavam (one of pancha
sthavam sung by him) to kaLLazhagar
(thirumAlirunchOlai emperumAn).
• He returns back to SrIrangam after hearing about
emperumAnAr‘s return to Sri Rangam.
• Under the instructions of emperumAnAr, he sings
varadharAja sthavam to dhEva perumAL, and in the end
asks for mOksham to all his sambhandhis – especially
nAlurAn (who was one of the main causes for him losing
his eyes).
• In total he sings pancha sthavams – SrI vaikuntha
sthavam, athimAnusha sthavam, sundhara bAhu
sthavam, varadaraja sthavam and SrI sthavam – all of
them contains the juice of vedantha meanings.
• He gets assigned the pourANika kainkaryam in
SrIrangam temple by emperumAnAr and he also remains
the grantha nirvAhi for our sampradayam during his
times.

AzhwAn and his sons parAsara bhattar and vEdha vyAsa

bhattar

• He and his wife ges the prasAdham from Sri

Ranganathan, and from that prasAdham two beautiful

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

children are born to them. They are named parAsara

bhattar and vEdha Vyasa bhattar.
• He is so immersed in arulicheyal anubhavam (4000 divya
prabhandham) that whenever he starts saying an
upanyasam either he keeps crying after being
overwhelmed by anubhavam or he faints.
• periya perumAL converses with him directly.
• Finally, he requests mOksham from periya perumAL and
periya perumAL grants it. When emperumAnAr asks “how
can you leave before me?”, he says “According to sUzh
visumbaNi mugil… padhigam in ThiruvAimozhi, when one
goes to paramapadam, nityas and muktas come and
wash the feet of the newly arriving mukta atma. How can I
allow you to come and do that for me? That is why I am
leaving before you”.
• There are numerous aidhIhyams (incidents) which are
identfied/elaborated in vyAkyAnams (commentaries) and
guru parampara prabhAvam relating to kUraththAzhwAn.
• Is it possible to list out the greatness of kUraththAzhwAn
in this single page? If it is not for my inability to
comprehend kUraththAzhwAn’s vaibhavam, this page
could be endless.

AzhwAn’s thanian

SrIvathsa chinna misrEbyO nama ukthima dhImahE:

yadhukthayas thrayi gantE yaanthi mangaLa sUthradhAm:

ஸ்ரீேத்ஸ சிந்ந மிஸ்னரப் னயோ நம உக்திம தீமனே:

யதுக்தயஸ் த்ரயி கண்னட யோந்தி மங் கள
ஸூத்ரதோம் :

I worship kUraththAzhwAn, whose pancha sthavam are like

mangala sutra (ThirumAngalyam) for the vedas – i.e., without
which there is no clarity in who is paradhEvathai.

AzhwAn’s special greatness (based on SrI U.vE

vELukkudi krishNan swamy’s lecture on this topic –
written during AzhwAn’s 1000th year celebration at

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thiruvallikkENi – originally posted in

http://koorathazhwan1000.webs.com/)

arvAnchO yath padha sarasija dhvandhvam Asrithya

pUrvE
mUrdhnA yasyAnvayam upagathA desikA mukthimApu:
sOyam ramanuja munir api sveeya mukthim karastAm
yath sambhandhAdh amanutha katam varnayathe
kUranatha:

How can we speak the greatness of kUraththAzhwAn

within the boundary of words (mozhiai kadakkum
perumpugalAn/vAcha magOchara)? Everyone gets
mOksham through emperumAnAr – some (who are
elders to emperumAnAr) through his thirumudi
sambhandham and others (who are younger to
emperumAnAr) gets through his thiruvadi sambhandam.
Such great personality emperumAnAr himself proclaims
that it was due to his connection to kUraththAzhwAn he
gets mOksham.

kUraththAzhwAn is one of the prime disciples of

emperumAnAr. Born in kUram village near Kanchipuram in
a noble family, kUraththAzhwAn is considered as an epitome
of Srivaishnava Acharyas. He was well known for not having
3 mathams – prides (vidya matham – proud of having high
knowledge, dhana matham – proud of having huge wealth,
abijathya matham – proud of having born in noble family). He
was praised by thiruvarangathu amudhanAr in rAmAnusa
nURRanthAdhi as “mozhiyai kadakkum perum pugazhAn
vanja muk kurumbAm kuzhiyai kadakum nam
kUraththAzhwAn” and by Manavala MAmunigal in Yathiraja
Vimsadhi as “vAchAmagocara mahAguna desikAgrya
KUrAdhinatha” – both indicating that kUraththAzhwAn’s
vaibhavams are beyond words. In fact both rAmAnusa
nURRanthAdhi and yathirAja vimsathi are aimed at praising
emperumAnAr.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

emperumAnAr is considered as the most important acharya

in Srivaishnava sampradayam. This sampradayam truly
represents Sanatana Dharma (vedic religion) which contains
boundless knowledge about tattva trayam (chit – soul, achit –
matter and Iswara – God SrIman nArAyaNan). emperumAnAr
preached this universal dharma all over India. He was a
visionary who played many roles – preacher, temple
administrator, social reformist, humanitarian, etc. He wrote
nine granthams explaining various aspects of vEdham,
vEdhAntham, bhagavath gIthA, concept of saranagati
(complete surrender to god) and vaidhIka anushtAnams.

emperumAnAr is closely related to Sri Parthasarathy swamy

temple. It was because of his father’s prayers to Sri
VenkataKrishnan/Sri Parthasarathy, presiding deity here in
Thiruvallikeni, emperumAnAr was born into this world. It is
one of the 108 divya desams where pEyAzhwAr,
thirumazhisai AzhwAr and thirumangai AzhwAr have
performed mangaLAsAsanams.

gIthAcharyan and Azhwan 1

Sri Parthasarathy, who is gIthAchAryan – one who spoke SrI

bhagavath gIthA to arjunan. Sri bhagavath githA is
considered as the most important scripture for Sanatana
Dharma and especially Srivaishnavas as this is directly
spoken by krishNa himself.

In the 13th AdhyAyam (Chapter) of Sri bhagavath

githA, krishNa explains the difference between Kshetra
(body) and Kshetranja (Knower of the body – soul). As part of
his instructions, he explains the 20 important qualities of a
God realized person. These qualities are wonderfully visible
in kUraththAzhwAn’s life and we will walk through each of the
qualities explained by kaNNan emperumAn with specific
examples from kUrathazwan’s life.

Sri bhagavath githA, Chapter 13, Slokas 7 – 11

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

amAnithvam adambhithvam ahimsA shAnthir Arjavam

AcharyOpAsanam saucham sthairyam Athma-vinigraha:

indhriyArthesu vairAgyam anahankAra Eva cha

janma mrthyu jarA vyAdhi duhkha dhOshAnudharsanam

ashakthir anabhisvangah puthra dhAra grhAdisu

nithyam cha sAma chiththathvam ishtAnishtopapaththisu

mayi chAnanya yOgEna bhakthir avyabhichAriNi

viviktha dhEsa sEvithvam arathir jana samsadhi

adhyAthma gyAna nithyathvam thaththva gyAanArtha

dharshanam
Ethath gyAnAnam ithi prOktham agyAnAnam yadh athO
anyatha

1. amAnithvam – humility

• Even though he was born in a noble and wealthy family,

he gave up everything when he decided to go to
SrIrangam to serve emperumAnAr.
• In SrIrangam, there was a time, when emperumAnAr was
asking Sri Periya Nambi to drop holy sand by circling
around the temple to protect it from evils, Sri Periya
Nambi asks for some one to accompany him – but insists
that person should be very humble – one who will not
think even for a moment that why should I walk behind
another person. While emperumAnAr is thinking and
looking around, Sri Periya Nambi himself says, “Please
send KUrathanzhwan since there can be no one more
humble than him”.

2. adambhitvam – pridelessness

• When accompanying Sri Ramanuja to Kashmir to retrieve

the Bodhayana vruthi grantham (which is a short
commentary for Brahma sutras), they received the
grantham and were returning back. At that time, some of

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

the local pandits who did not like emperumAnAr sent

some soldiers who took the grantham away from
emperumAnAr. While emperumAnAr was in shock and
disappointment, kUraththAzhwAn mentions to
emperumAnAr that he memorized the whole grantham in
night time after serving him. But still he did not show even
a tinge of pride during this incident.

3. ahimsA– nonviolence

• Once he hears the sound of a frog crying out while being

eaten by a snake. He starts crying for the poor frog and
faints immediately. This shows his love for all living
beings. He is considered as an incarnation of Sri Rama,
who as stated in Valmiki Ramayanam, when some thing
bad happens in Ayodhya before the affected person Sri
Rama cries and when some thing good happens he feels
happy before the affected person.

4. shAnthir – tolerance

• emperumAnAr learns the meanings of Sri bhagavath

githA Charama slokam (Sarva DharmAn Parithyajya mAm
ekam …) from Sri Thirukottiyur Nambi. Sri Thirukotiyur
Nambi instructs emperumAnAr to teach this only to his
disciples after putting them through difficult tests. When,
kUraththAzhwAn asks for the meanings, emperumAnAr
asks him to show his dedication, and kUraththAzhwAn,
fasts for 1 month outside the mutt of emperumAnAr.
Finally he learns it after being patient for so long.
• He also forgives and begs for Moksham for NAlurAn who
was one of the cause for losing his eyes in the Saiva
king’s palace.

5. Arjavam – honesty

• After instructing thiruvarangathu amudhanAr for a while

on bhagavath vishayam, when amudhanAr wanted to

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

become a disciple, he asked him to take shelter of

emperumAnAr.
• After instructing Pillai Pillai Azhwan, kUraththAzhwAn tells
him to always depend on emperumAnAr.

6. Acharya-upAsanam –always depending on the Acharya

• When emperumAnAr places his feet on a deaf and dumb

person who is living in Sri Rangam, kUraththAzhwAn
starts crying and says there is no use of learning
vedanthams compared to getting the lotus feet of
emperumAnAr. “thruNi krutha virinchAdhi nirangusa
vibUthaya: rAmAnuja padhAmbOja samAsrayaNa sAlina:”
indicates the same meaning.

7. saucham – cleanliness -both internal and external

• While it is obvious that such great personality will be

externally clean, the next examples show how clean his
heart was.
• When emperumAnAr had to leave SrIrangam to go to
Melkote due to Saiva King’s actions, kUraththAzhwAn
was still living in SrIrangam. One day, when he entered
the temple, one of the guards stopped him saying “the
king has ordered anyone related to emperumAnAr should
not enter the temple”. But another guard at that time
said,” kUraththAzhwAn is a person of great qualities, so
we should let him in”. Hearing this kUraththAzhwAn said,
“If I have any good qualities, that is because of my
relationship with emperumAnAr” and leaves the temple
without entering. Such is his pure heart, that if some one
considers him independently great, he does not accept it,
even to take the Darshan of the Lord Sri Ranganatha.

8. sthairyam–steadfastness

• When some devotees was asking “why srivaishnavas are

not worshipping dhEvatantarams?”, kUraththAzhwAn said
because our elders (pUrvacharyas – great vedic scholars)

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

did not do that, we are also not doing it. He had such
steady mind and faith on pUrvacharyas.

9. Atma-vinigrahah – self control (vairaghyam)

• When his children were getting ready to be married, his

wife and many others were asking him to look for suitable
brides. kUraththAzhwAn said “Iswara kudumbathukku
nAm yAr karaivathu?” – meaning “Why should I worry for
Bhagavan’s family? It is SrI ranganAtha’s responsibility.”.
• When emperumAnAr instructs kUraththAzhwAn to sing
kAnchipuram dhEvaperumAL and request for his eyes
back – kUraththAzhwAn asks for Moksham for him and
NAlurAn who caused the loss of eyes.

10. indriya-Arthesu vairagyam -renunciation in the matter

of the senses

• When Thiruvarangathu amudhanAr submits all his wealth

(gold, etc) to kUraththAzhwAn, kUraththAzhwAn simplity
throws them out on the street, and tells emperumAnAr
that he got rid of unnecessary burdens.

11. anahankAra – being without false egoism

• Even after being a great scholar, wealthy person, etc.,

when emperumAnAr gets upset with kUraththAzhwAn
while writing the Sri Bhashya, kUraththAzhwAn says,
“emperumAnAr is my Swamy and I am his Dasan, so he
can do whatever he wants to me”.

12. janma-mrtyu-jara-vyAdhi-
duhkha-dOshAnudarsanam – Always seeing the faults in
this samsara

• Once when he hears some one gives birth to a child,

kUraththAzhwAn goes in front of Lord Ranganatha and
cries. When asked why, he says “When some one gets
put in this jail of samsara, you have to go and cry in front

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

of the one who can relieve them from this samsara. Since
Lord Ranganatha is the only one who can liberate us all
from samsara, I went and cried in front of him for this new
born child”.

13. ashaktir – detachment

• When travelling to SrIrangam to take shelter of

emperumAnAr, through the forest, kUraththAzhwAn’s wife
was looking worried. When asked she said she was
carrying the gold vessel in which kUraththAzhwAn will eat
prasAdham every day. Hearing this, he takes that from
her and threw it away, saying what is the use of this
utensil when Lord Ranganatha and Sri Ramanuja are
there. This shows that he did not even have a tinge of
attachment to anything material.

14. puthra dhAra grhAdisu anabhisvangah - without

association to sons, wife, home, etc.

• Not only he gave up all his wealth, he also started taking

unja vruthi (bikshai) for his daily needs after reaching
SrIrangam. Even after having a family, he was very strict
in adhering to sastras.
• When he was instructing to his disciples on rahasya
trayam (Thirumantram, dvayam, charama slokam), he
first asks his children to leave – but later invites them and
teaches them the inner meanings. When asked why, he
says, “well who knows how long they could live, they
could lose their life before reaching home, that is why I
wanted to make sure they learn this”. This shows, he is
not sentimental towards his children, but see them also as
atmas who need to attain proper knowledge and get
liberated from samsara
• It is also said that he did not keep any bodily relationship
with his wife and his children (both Parasara bhattar and
vedavyasa bhattar) were given by Lord Sri Ranganatha
itself through his prasAdham.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

15. istA anista upapaththisu nithyam sAma-chiththatvam

– even-mindedness amid pleasant and unpleasant events

• When he lost his eyes kUraththAzhwAn did not worry too

much. He said “what is the use of these eyes anymore
after seeing the king who is a bhagavad virodhi”. When
emperumAnAr instructs him to request his eyes back from
Sri Kachi Varadan, kUraththAzhwAn is not too happy
either – he says “I am already seeing both emperumAnAr
and emperumAn through my inner eyes, so what is the
need for these external eyes?”.

16. mayi ananya- yOgEna bhakthi avyabhicharini –

constant devotion unto me (krishNa) only

• Even in many adverse conditions, such as having to lose

his eyes, or having to leave SrIrangam, etc.,
kUraththAzhwAn always prayed for constant devotion to
emperumAn. He never went to any one else, nor he
asked anything other than complete devotion to the Lord.

17. viviktha dEsha sEvithvam – living in solitary places

• For a Srivaishnava, living in a solitary place means living

in holy places where there is activities around Lord only
nothing else. kUraththAzhwAn always stayed with his
Acharya emperumAnAr and was always thinking about
service to emperumAnAr and emperumAn.

18. arathir jana samsadhi – without attachment to people

in general

• Even though great devotees may have to associate with

general people, they will still show no attachment towards
them. kUraththAzhwAn even though had to associate with
ordinary people (kings, etc) who takes instructions from
him, but never showed any attachment towards them.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

19. adhyAtma gynana nithyathvam – pertaining to the

eternal self knowledge

• Right from the young age, kUraththAzhwAn always shows

interest in self knowledge and shows clear understanding
of all jivatmas are servants of paramatma.

20. thahva-gynana artha chinthanam – Thinking about

the true knowledge

• kUraththAzhwAn always was thinking about the true

knowldge – that all jivatmas are servants of Sriman
Narayana. That is why when he left his body to go to
paramapadham, emperumAnAr instructs the
Srivaishnavas to keep reciting Dvaya maha mantram in
kUraththAzhwAn’s ears since that is what he is always
thinking about.

Conclusion

It is so amazing to see all this wonderful qualities in a single

person. That is why periyavAchchAn pillai says “Both
Acharya and Sishya lakshanam are fully manifested in
KUrathazhawan” in mAnikkA mAlai. Let us atleast try to take
some of these examples and implement it in our life – to
please kUraththAzhwAn and all our pUrvacharyas.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

11. mudhaliyANdAn

thirunakshathram: chithrai, punarpUsam

avathAra sthalam: pEttai

AchAryan: emperumAnAr

Place from where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

Works: dhAti panchakam, rahasya thrayam (not available

anywhere)

Born as the son of Anandha dhIkshithar and

nAchiyAramman, he was named dhAsarathi. He is the
nephew of emperumAnAr. He is also known as rAmAnujan
ponnadi, yathirAja pAdhukA, SrIvaishNava dhAsar,
thirumarumArbhan and becomes to be famously known as
mudhaliyANdAn (meaning “leader amongst SrIvaishNavas”).
He is also known as the lotus feet of emperumAnAr (yathirAja
pAdhukA) and thridhaNdam of emperumAnAr. Note: AzhwAn
and ANdAn are so dear to emperumAnAr and inseparable
from him – kUraththAzhwAn is known as the jala pavithram
(flag which is tied in emperumAnAr’s thridhaNdam) of
emperumAnAr.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

AzhwAn, emperumAnAr, ANdAn – from their respective

avathAra sthalams

emperumAnAr had great liking for ANdAn due to ANdAn’s

bhagavath/bhAgavatha nishtai (attachment towards
bhagavAn and his devotees). When emperumAnAr accepted
sannyAsam, he declares that he gives up attachment to
everything else but ANdAn – such was ANdAn’s greatness.
After emperumAnAr‘s acceptance of sannyAsAsramam,
AzhwAn and ANdAn becomes his first sishyas. They both
learn sAsthram (ubhaya vEdhAntham – samskritham and
arULicheyal) and its essence from emperumAnAr himself.
They also follow emperumAnAr to SrIrangam when he leaves
kAnchipuram. Under emperumAnAr’s divine orders, ANdAn
fully takes control of the temple administration and ensures
proper functioning of all aspects of the temple activities.

When thirukkOshtiyUr nambi instructs the divine meanings of

charama slOkam to emperumAnAr, ANdAn requests
emperumAnAr to teach him the same. emperumAnAr asks
ANdAn to go to nambi and request him. ANdAn spends 6
months at nambi’s thirumALigai (home) and serves him
patiently. At the end of 6 months, when ANdAn requests
nambi to teach the meanings of charama slOkam, nambi
says emperumAnAr himself will teach that to him once he
develops Athma guNams fully. nambi places his lotus feet
and ANdAn’s head and bids him farewell. emperumAnAr
seeing ANdAn’s return, is very pleased with ANdAn’s
bhAvam (mood of servitude) and at once instructs him the
divine meanings of charama slOkam.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ANdAn’s total surrender to emperumAnAr can be understood

from this well known charithram (historical incident). Once
periya nambi‘s daughter aththuzhAi goes to his mother-in-law
and asks her for some one to accompany her when she goes
to take bath in the river for safety/assistance. Her mother-in-
law says “you have to bring your own SrIdhana veLLAtti
(assistant)”. aththuzhAi goes to his father and asks him to
arrange for an assistant. periya nambi says since they are
fully dependent on emperumAnAr, she has to go and request
him for that. emperumAnAr looks around and spots ANdAn
and asks him to go with aththuzhAi as her assistant. ANdAn
happily accepts his master’s orders and follows her. He starts
helping her regularly. aththuzhAi’s in-laws become very
concerned seeing ANdAn (who is a great scholar and the
leader of rAmAnuja sishyas) coming and performing lowly
work of servitorship at their home and asks him to stop that.
ANdAn immediately says that it was emperumAnAr’s order
and he will just do it. They immediately go to periya nambi
who sends them to emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr says “you
wanted an assistant and I have sent one – if you dont want
him, you can send him back”. aththuzhAi’s in-laws realize
their mistake and ask ANdAn to stop serving them. They
realize the greatness of periya nambi, emperumAnAr, ANdAn
and aththuzhAi and take good care of her subsequently. But
this incident shows the greatness of ANdAn in fully following

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

his AchArya’s words. We can easily understand, if some one

is to be declared as the lotus feet of emperumAnAr, they
must possess utmost auspicious qualities and ANdAn was
indeed an epitome of such good qualities.

ANdAn travels with emperumAnAr during emperumAnAr’s

journey to mElkOte (thirunArAyaNapuram) due to saiva king’s
unfavourable actions. In a place named mithulApuri
sALagrAmam, there lived many people who were staunchly
opposed to vaidhIha dharmam. emperumAnAr asks ANdAn
to touch the water source (river) where everyone takes bath
with his lotus feet. ANdAn obliges and when everyone takes
bath in the river which now has ANdAn’s SrIpAdha
sambhandham (relationship with his lotus feet), they become
purified. The next morning every one arrives to see
emperumAnAr and takes shelter of him. Thus, we can
understand the greatness of a pure SrIvaishNava’s SrIpAdha
thIrtham which can purify anyone.

kanthAdai ANdAn who is the son of mudhaliyANdAn takes

permission of emperumAnAr and makes an archA vigraham
(form) for emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr embraces this
vigraham and becomes very fond of it. This vigraham is then

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

placed in his avathAra sthalam (SrIperumbUthUr) on thai

pushyam (this day is celebrated as guru pushyam in
SrIperumbUthUr even today) and is famously thAm ugantha
thirumEni (the vigraham that was liked by rAmAnujar
himself).

ANdAn’s instructions and glories are identified in various

places in the vyAkyAnam. Let us see some of them now.

• thiruvAimozhi 2.9.2 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam –

ANdAn’s magnanimity is revealed in this incident
beautifully. Once a sishya of ANdAn goes to embAr when
ANdAn was out of town. embAr accepts kainkaryam from
that SrIvaishNava and considering that he may not have
had AchArya sambhandham, he performs pancha
samskAram to him and starts imparting divine knowledge
to him. When ANdAn returns, that SrIvaishNava returns to
ANdAn and starts serving him. embAr comes to know
about this and he runs to ANdAn and tell him “I did not
know that he was your sishya already and please forgive
me for this apachAram”. ANdAn, peacefully replies to him
“When some one falls in a well, if two people lift him up, it
will be a lot easier. Similarly, this person is in samsAram,
if two of us help him it will be beneficial only”. This kind of
purity in heart is very rare to see which is constantly
manifested by ANdAn.
• thiruvAimozhi 3.6.9 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam – In
this padhigam archAvathAra emperumAn’s glories are
fully revealed. ANdAn explains that “Dont think that
paramapadhanAthan takes this archAvathAra form to
please his devotees here, instead think that this
archAvathAra emperumAn is more important and he is
manifesting himself as para-vAsudhEvan in
paramapadham”.
• thiruvAimozhi 5.6.7 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam – In
this padhigam, emperumAn’s sarva vyApakthvam
(omnipresence) is explained. Here parAngusa nAyaki
(nammAzhwAr in the bhAvam of a girl) says that
emperumAn will destroy his relatives as well. ANdAn
gives a beautiful explanation that “emperumAn will

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

destroy (melt them completely) them (those who are

attracted towards him) by showing his divine beauty”.
• thiruvAimozhi 6.4.10 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam –
ANdAn’s attachment and concern towards archAvathAra
emperumAn (namperumAL in this case) is explained by
nampiLLai here. nampiLLai identifies a narration of
nanjIyar involving embAr and ANdAn. In samsAram, there
are so many people who are unfavourable to
emperumAn. archAvathAra emperumAn is tender natured
and is making himself fully dependent on his devotees.
After the completion of a brahmOthsavam, embAr and
ANdAn meet, offer obeisances to each other, embrace
themselves and happily proclaim that namperumAL
(SrIranganAthan) reached his AsthAnam safely after the
uthsavam even in this case. He was true to the nature of
our pUrvAchAryas who are fully focussed on
mangaLAsAsanam.
• thiruvAimozhi 8.10.3 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam –
When bhattar asks AzhwAn about “sirumA manisar” (siru
means small and mA means big – how does smallness
and bigness exist in the same person), AzhwAn explains
ANdAn, aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr and embAr are
small in posture (and are like us in their dependence for
food for sustaining themselves) but they are greater than
nithyasUris in their bhakthi towards emperumAm – thus
smallness and bigness exist in the same persons.
• thiruvAimozhi 9.2.8 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam –
During a SrIjayanthi purappAdu in SrIrangam,
vangippuraththu nambi joins the cowherd girls group and
worship emperumAn from there. ANdAn asks him what
he said when he was in that group. nambi says “I said
vijayasva”. ANdAn replies when you are there with those
girls, you should glorify him in their own language instead
of this hard samskritham.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

mudhaliyANdAn. He was fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai
and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray at
his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha
nishtai.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

mudhaliyANdAn’s thaniyan:

pAdhukE yathirAjasya kathayaNthi yadhAkyayA

thasya dhAsarathE: pAdhau chirasA dhArayAmyaham

போதுனக யதிரோஜஸ்ய கதயந்தி யதோக்யயோ

தஸ்ய தோஸரனத: போசதௌ சிரஸோ தோரயோம் யேம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

12. aruLALa
perumAL emperumAnAr

aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr – thiruppAdagam

thirunakshathram: kArthigai, bharaNi

avathAra sthalam: vinjimUr

AchAryan: emperumAnAr

sishyAs: ananthAzhwAn, echchAn, thoNdanUr nambi,

marudhUr nambi, etc

Works: jnAna sAram, pramEya sAram, etc

Born in vinjimUr (Andhra pradhEsh), he was originally known

as yagya mUrthy and was an adhvaithi. He once goes for
gangA snAnam and wins many vidhwAns there and becomes
a mAyAvAdha sanyAsi. Due to his vast knowledge in
sAsthram he had acquired great fame and many disciples.
Hearing about emperumAnAr‘s glories, yagya mUrthy desires
to debate with him. He prepares many granthams and have
them carried by his many disciples and arrives at SrIrangam
to meet emperumAnAr.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

emperumAnAr welcomes yagya mUrthy and they make an

arrangement to debate for 18 days. yagya mUrthy declares
that if he is defeated he will change his name to reflect
emperumAnAr’s name, carry the pAdhukais of emperumAnAr
on his head and become a sishya of emperumAnAr.
emperumAnAr declares that if he is defeated he will give up
touching any granthams.

The debate starts and goes on for 16 days. Both of them

debate eloquently and furiously like two elephants fighting
each other. On the 17th day, it appears that yagya mUrthy is
gaining an upper hand. emperumAnAr becomes a bit worried
and leaves to his mutt at the end. In the night, he meditates
on pEraruLALan (his personal thiruvArAdhana perumAL) and
asks emperumAn if he will end up losing the debate which
will lead to the downfall of the great sampradhAyam which
was nourished by NammAzhwAr to ALavandhAr. He also
worries that he becomes the reason for such downfall.
pEraruLALan appears in emperumAnAr's dream
subsequently and tells him not to worry. He tells him that this
was a divine leelai to bring a sishya to emperumAnAr who is
adequately intelligent and brilliant. He instructs
emperumAnAr to use ALavandhAr's refutations for
mAyAvAdham and defeat yagya mUrthy in the debate.
emperumAnAr realises the greatness of emperumAn and
continues to recite emperumAn's thinAmams until early
morning, performs his nithyAnushtAnams and
thiruvArAdhanam and arrives for the debate for the last (18th)
day majestically. yagya mUrthy, being an intellectual, right
away recognises the thEjas in emperumAnAr, falls at his
lotus feet, keeps emperumAnAr's pAdhukas on his head and
accepts his defeat. When emperumAnAr asks if he wants to
debate further, yagya mUrthy says "emperumAnAr is non-
different from periya perumAL for him, so no need to debate
further". But emperumAnAr out of his krupai, still explains
emperumAn's saguNathvam using proper pramANams.
yagya mUrthy requests emperumAnAr to give him proper
sanyAsAshramam. emperumAnAr instructs him to first
perform prAyachitham for giving up the shikai and
yagyOpavItham (since he was a mAyavAdha sanyAsi before)

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

and he obliges. After that, emperumAnAr presents

thridhaNdam, kAshAyam, etc to yagya mUrthy and names
him aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr in memory of the
favours done by pEraruLALan and to fulfill the desire of
yagya mUrthy who wanted to be named after emperumAnAr.
emperuAnAr also brings aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr to
namperumAL and his own thiruvArAdhana perumAL to show
that it was their divine plan that connected emperumAnar and
aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr.

emperumAnAr teaches aruLicheyal and their meanings to

aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr himself over time. When
ananthAzhwAn, echchAn, etc arrives to SrIrangam to
become the sishyas of emperumAnAr, he asks them to
undergo pancha samskAram under aruLALa perumAL
emperumAnAr. aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr instructs
his sishyas to simply think about emperumAnAr as the
upAyam always.

It is also said that aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr’s specific

kainkaryam to emperumAnAr was to perform
thiruvArAdhanam for emperumAnAr’s pEraruLALan
emperumAn.

Once when two travelling srivaishnavas ask some one in the

streets of SrIrangam “where is emperumAnAr‘s mutt?”. At
that time, a local person replies “which emperumAnAr?”. The
srivaishnavas ask “Are there two emperumAnAr’s in our
sampradhAyam?” and the local person replies “Yes, there is
emperumAnAr and aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr”. The
srivaishnavas finally say “Oh! we are looking for udayavar’s
mutt” and the person points them to the mutt. aruLALa
perumAL emperumAnAr happens to be there at that time and
becomes very upset that since he was living in a separate
mutt with the same name this conversation happened.
Immediately he destroys his mutt, comes to emperumAnAr
and tells him that he does not want to live in a separate place
anymore explaining the conversation which happened.
emperumAnAr accepts him, asks him to live in his own mutt

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

and also explains all rahasya arthams to aruLALa perumAL

emperumAnAr.

aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr, out of his krupai, writes

two prabhandhams in thamizh, jnAna sAram and pramEya
sAram. These two prabhandhams bring out the most
beautiful meanings of our sampradhAyam, especially bringing
out the glories AchAryan in a very beautiful way. piLLai
lOkAchAryar‘s SrIvachana bhUshaNam closely follows the
concepts that are explained by aruLALa perumAL
emperumAnAr in these prabhandhams. mAmunigaL has
done beautiful vyAkyAnams for these prabhandhams.

bhattar, when he was very young, asked AzhwAn the

meaning for “sirumAmanisar” (thiruvAimozhi 8.10.3) saying
that it looks contradictory. For that, AzhwAn explains that this
means srivaishnavas like mudhaliANdAn, embAr and
aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr who are small in physical
stature but are as great as nithya sUris. This charithram is
identified by NampiLLai in his eedu mahA vyAkyAnam.

Let us remember aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr who

always remembers emperumAnAr.

aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr’s thaniyan

rAmAnujArya sachchishyam vEdhasAsthrArtha sampadham

chathurthAsrama sampannam dhEvarAja munim bhajE

ரோமோனுஜோர்ய ஸச்சிஷ்யம் னேதஸோஸ்த்ரோர்த்த

ஸம் பதம்
சதுர்தோஸ்ரம ஸம் பந்நம் னதேரோஜ முநிம் பனஜ

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

13. kOil komANdUr

iLayavilli AchchAn

komANdur iLayavilli AchchAn – semponseikOil, thirunAngUr

thirunakshathram: chithrai, Ayilyam

avathAra sthalam: komANdUr

AchAryan: emperumAnAr

Place where he attained paramapadham: thiruppErUr

komANdUr iLAyavilli AchchAn is one of the maternal cousins

of emperumAnAr (similar to embAr). He is also known as
bAladhanvi guru. iLAyavilli/bAladhanvi means lakshmaNan –
he served emperumAnAr like iLaya perumAL (lakshmaNan)
served SrIrAmar. He is one of the 74 simhAsanAdhipathis
(AchAryas) appointed by emperumAnAr himself.

It is learnt from his thanian (invocatory verse) and vAzhi

thirunAmam that he was greatly attached to periya thirumalai
nambi (SrIsaila pUrNar) and served him as well.

In charama upAya nirNayam

(http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/p/charamopaya-nirnayam.html),

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

nAyanArAchchAn piLLai brings out the greatness of

komANdUr iLAyavilli AchchAn. Let us see that now.

When udayavar ascended to paramapadham, many followed

(gave up their lives also). kaNiyanUr siriyAchchAn left
udayavar to live in kaNiyanUr for some time and some time
later he started his journey towards kOil (SrIrangam) to
worship his AchAryan (udayavar) with much love. On the
way, he meets a srivaishnava and he asks “Is our AchAryan
emperumAnAr living healthy?” and that srivaishnava explains
about udayavar’s ascending to paramapadham. Hearing this,
immediately, kaNiyanUr siriyAchchAn said “emperumAnAr
thiruvadigaLE charanNam” (எம் சபருமோ ோர்
திருேடிகனள சரணம் ) and ascended to paramapadham.
komANdUr iLayavilli AchchAn was living in thiruppErUr. One
night, in his dream, he sees udayavar seated on a brightly
glowing divine chariot and in the sky. He sees,
paramapadhanAthan with thousands of nithya sUris, AzhwAr,
nAthamunigaL and other AchAryas, with many persons
playing divine musical instruments to receive emperumAnAr
and bring him over to paramapadham. He sees that, after the
reception, emperumAr’s chariot is leading the journey
towards paramapadham with everyone else following him. He
then wakes up and realizes what has happened. He
immediately informs his neighbour “vaLLal maNivaNNan” that
“Our AchAryan emperumAnAr has climbed a divine chariot
and ascended to parampadham accompanied by
paramapadhanAthan and nithyasUris. I cannot live here
anymore. emperumAnAr thiruvadigaLE charaNam” and gave
up his life and immediately ascended to paramapadham.
There were many such sishyas who gave up their lives
immediately after hearing about emperumAnAr’s journey to
paramapadham. Those who stayed with emperumAnAr were
strictly ordered by emperumAnAr to not give up their lives
and since emperumAn desired for those srivaishnavas to
continue their lives to serve for the sampradhAyam they
unwillingly continued their lives. Thus emperumAnAr’s
greatness is such that in his separation, his sishyas would
also give up their lives.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

komANdUr iLayavilli AchchAn. He was fully situated in
bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr
himself. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit
of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

komANdUr iLayavilli AchchAn’s thaniyan:

SrI kausikAnvaya mahAmbhuthi pUrNachandhram

SrI bhAshyakAra jananI sahajA thanujam
SrIsailapUrNa padha pankaja saktha chiththam
SrIbAladhanvi guruvaryam aham bhajAmi

ஸ்ரீ சகௌஸிகோந்ேய மேோம் புதி பூர்ணசந்த்ரம்

ஸ்ரீ போஷ்யகோர ஜநநீ ஸேஜோ தநுஜம்
ஸ்ரீயஸேபூர்ண பத பங் கஜ சக்த சித்தம்
ஸ்ரீபோேதந்வி குருேர்யம் அேம் பஜோமி

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

14. kidAmbi AchchAn

thirunakshathram: chithrai, hastham

avathAra sthalam: kAnchipuram

AchAryan: emperumAnAr

He was named praNathArthiharar (one of the names of

dhEva perumAL as sung by thirukkachi nambi in his
dhEvarAja ashtakam) while he was born.

He was appointed as the chief cook for emperumAnAr by

thirukkOshtiyUr nambi. This incident is beautifully explained
in 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam and a few other
pUrvAchArya granthams.

emperumAnAr recited gadhya thrayam and wrote nithya

grantham (thiruvArAdhana kramam) and was nurturing the
SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam into great heights. Still, there
were some people in SrIrangam who did not agree with
emperumAnAr‘s idealogies.They were filled with anxiety and
decide to do the unthinkable. They decided to poison the food
and offer them to emperumAnAr when he goes for his
bhikshai (alms). They poison the food and give to the woman
of one of the houses visited by emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr
arrives there and accepts the food from that woman. The

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

woman who does not agree with her husband who is part of
the conspiracy, wants to indicate to emperumAnAr about the
plan in a subtle manner. She puts her food separately from
the food that emperumAnAr already had and reveals great
sorrow in her face, offers obeisances to emperumAnAr and
returns back. emperumAnAr understands that there is
something wrong in the food and dissolves that poisoned
food into cauvery and starts fasting from that time onwards.
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi hears about this incident and at once
arrives to SrIrangam. emperumAnAr along with his sishyas
goes to the banks of cauvery to welcome him in hot sun.
emperumAnAr offers his obeisances to nambi on the sand
banks which is burning hot and waits for nambi to ask him to
raise (it is usualy practice to wait on the ground offering
obeisances until AchAryan/SrIvaishNavas ask us to raise).
nambi waits for a moment to find out who is more attached to
the divine form of emperumAnAr. kidAmbi AchchAn at once
lifts emperumAnAr up and asks nambi “How can you let
emperumAnAr stay on the hot sand for so long? How can you
make a fresh flower toast in the sun like this?”. Being very
pleased at kidAmbi AchchAn, nambi declares “You are the
most attached to emperumAnAr’s divine form. From this day
onwards, you will have the responsibility of doing bhikshai for
emperumAnAr”. kidAmbi AchchAn feeling blessed, obliges
and carries out that kainkaryam for ever.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

In our vyAkyAnams, a few idhihyams that show the glories of

kidAmbi AchchAn are seen. Let us see some of them now.

• thiruppAvai 23 – periyavAchchAn piLLai vyAkyAnam – In

this pAsuram, ANdAL says that gOpis tell kaNNan
emperumAn that they have no refuge. To show that gOpis
are not refuge-less (they have emperumAn himself as the
protector), one incident is shown. Once, kidAmbi
AchchAn visits thirumAlirunchOlai. azhagar emperumAn
asks kidAmbi AchchAn to recite something. kidAmbi
AchchAn start reciting “aparAdha sahasra bhAjanam …
agathim ..” (ALavandhAr‘s sthOthra rathnam 48). In this
slOkam ALavandhAr says agathim meaning “He has no
other refuge to surrender”. azhagar emperumAn
chastises him saying “How can you say you have no
refuge after surrendering to emperumAnAr?”.
• thiruvirutham 99 – periyavAchchAn piLLai vyAkyAnam –
kUraththAzhwAn‘s greatness is beautifully revealed
through an incident here. Once kidAmbi AchchAn returns
late after kAlakshEpam (lecture) by AzhwAn.
emperumAnAr enquires why he was late and AchchAn
replies that since he was hearing kAlakshEpam he got
held up. emperumAnAr asks him which pAsuram AzhwAn
was lecturing on. AchchAn replies that he was lecturing
on piRanthvArum vaLarnthavArun (thiruvAimozhi 5.10)
padhigam. emperumAnAr then asks AchchAn to explain
what happened there. AchchAn replies “AzhwAn recited
the pAsuram first and contemplating on the divine
meanings, his heart melted and he started crying. He said
nammAzhwAr is very unique and his anubhavam is so
great. How can we explain his divine emotions? and said
‘I cant speak about this anymore’ and stopped the
kAlakshEpam”. Hearing this, emperumAnAr greatly
praised AzhwAn‘s pure heart and divine attachment
towards AzhwAr and his words.
• thiruvAimozhi 4.8.2 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam –
AzhwAr remembers emperumAn’s greatness in engaging
him in kainkaryam. An incident is highlighted here to
establish AzhwAr‘s divine emotions. Once kidAmbi
AchchAn was serving water for the devotees during

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thadhIyArAdhanam (those days, instead of placing a

separate cup for everyone to drink water, a person will
pour water directly to the mouth of the ones who ask for
water). When a SrIvaishNava in the gOshti requests for
water, AchchAn goes to him and pours water from the
side. emperumAnAr, observing this, runs to AchchAn and
pushes him from the back and tells him that he should
pour water standing face to face, so that there is better
control over the flow of water leading to more
convenience for the ones drinking water. At that time,
kidAmbi AchchAn feels ecstatic and thanks
emperumAnAr using AzhwAr‘s words “paNimAnam
pizhayAmE adiyEnaip paNi koNda” meaning “I am
grateful to emperumAnAr for correcting me and engaging
me in kainkaryam even though I am totally unqualified to
serve SrIvaishNavas”.
• thiruvAimozhi 6.7.5 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam –
AzhwAr glorifies the beauty of dhivydhEsams and the
purpose of having eyes is to see the dhivyadhEsams of
emperumAn. In this connection, an incident is highlighted.
mudhaliyANdAn and kidAmbi AchchAn were going to
thirukkudanthai once. On the way, they noticed
appakkudathAn temple and were mesmerized by the
beauty of the temple.
• thiruvAimozhi 10.6.1 – kidAmbi AchchAn was seen
showing great attachment and was very submissive when
dealing with bhattar. One swamy named iLayAzhwAn
asks why AchchAn was even more submissive than
bhattar own sishyas towards him. AchchAn says “You
were not there the other day to see what emperumAnAr
did. One day, when bhattar (who was very young) arrived
to periya perumAL‘s sannidhi in SrIrangam.
emperumAnAr, invited him into the inner sanctum and
asked him to recite a slOkam in front of periya perumAL.
On completion, emperumAnAr brought bhattar outside
and instructed his sishyas as follows ‘All my sishyas
should treat bhattar like just how they treat me’. Thus, I
also greatly admire bhattar following the instructions of
emperumAnAr“.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

kidAmbi nAyanAr (a descendant of kidAmbi AchchAn)

teaches SrI bhAshyam to maNavALa mAmunigaL in
thiruveKKA. mAmunigaL, at the request of kidAmbi nAyanAr,
reveals his Adhi sEshan form to him and since that time
kidAmbi nAyanAr feels even greater attachment towards
mAmunigaL knowing his svarUpam.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

kidAmbi AchchAn. He was fully situated in bhAgavatha
nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us
pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such
bhAgavatha nishtai.

kidAmbi AchchAn’s thaniyan:

rAmAnuja padhAmbhOjayugaLI yasya dhImatha:

prApyam cha prApakam vaNdhE pranNathArththiharam
gurum

ரோமோனுஜ பதோம் னபோஜயுகளீ யஸ்ய தீமத:

ப் ரோப் யம் ச ப் ரோபகம் ேந்னத ப் ரணதோர்த்திேரம்
குரும்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

15. vaduga nambi

thirunakshathram: chithrai, aswini

avathAra sthalam: sALagrAmam (karnAtaka)

AchAryan: emperumAnAr

Place where he attained paramapadham: sALagrAmam

Works: yathirAja vaibhavam, rAmAnuja ashtOththara satha

nAma sthOthram, rAmAnuja ashtOththara satha nAmAvaLi

During his travel to thirunArAyaNapuram, emperumAnAr

goes to mithilApuri sALagrAmam, where he instructs
mudhaliyANdAn to touch the water source (river) with his
lotus feet. By the purity of mudhaliyANdAn's lotus feet, the
locals who bathe in the river become purified and become
sishyas of emperumAnAr. One such swamy was vaduga
nambi who is also known as Andhra pUrNar. emperumAnAr,
out of his causeless mercy, blesses vaduga nambi, teaches
him the most important principles of our sampradhAyam and
makes him fully situated in AchArya nishtai and eventually
vaduga nambi becomes inseparable from emperumAnAr.

vaduga nambi was fully situated in the AchArya nishtai. He

acquires a pair of sandals wore by emperumAnAr and was
performing thiruvArAdhanam to those sandals every day.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Once while travelling with emperumAnAr, along with

emperumAnAr's thiruvArAdhana perumALs, vaduga nambi
also carried his thiruvArAdhana deity (sandals of
emperumAnAr) in the same package. emperumAnAr was
shocked to notice that and he enquired vaduga nambi why he
was doing that. vaduga nambi spontaneously replied "My
worshippable deity is equally glorious to your worshippable
deities, so there is nothing wrong in me carrying them with
your thiruvArAdhana perumALs".

Whenever emperumAnAr goes to perform

mangaLAsAsanam, he will fully enjoy the beautiful form of
periya perumAL. The whole time, vaduga nambi will be fully
enjoying the beautiful form of emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr
notices that and asks vaduga nambi to look at the beautiful
eyes of periya perumAL. vaduga nambi replies using
thiruppANAzhwAr's words "en amudhinaik kaNda kaNgaL
maRRonRinaik kANAvE" meaning "My eyes which saw the
beautiful form of emperumAnAr will not see anything else" in
this case. emperumAnAr was very pleased with his AchArya
nishtai and blessed him fully.

vaduga nambi regularly accepted emperumAnAr's sEsha

prasAdham (food remnants) and after consuming them, he
would just wipe of his hands on his head with reverence
(instead of washing hands) - Usually while accepting
prasAdham of emperumAn/AzhwAr AchAryas since it is pure,
after consuming the same, we should not wash our hands,
we should just wipe our hands on our head.
Once, emperumAnAr became perplexed seeing this and asks
him to wash his hands after consuming his food remnants.
nambi obliges and washes his hands. Next day, when
emperumAnAr was given bhagavath prasAdham, he
consumes some and gives the remnants to vaduga nambi.
vaduga nambi consumes that and washes his hands.
emperumAnAr is again perplexed and asks why he is
washing his hands after consuming prasAdham. vaduga
nambi, politely and smartly answers "I am just following
dhEvar's instructions as given yesterday". emperumAnAr

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

says "You have easily defeated me" and appreciates his

nishtai.

Once vaduga nambi was boiling milk for emperumAnAr. At

that time, namperumAL arrived outside emperumAnAr's mutt
in procession. emperumAnAr calls out for vaduga nambi and
vaduga nambi replies "If I come out to worship your perumAL,
my perumAL;s milk will get burnt. So I wont come".

Once vaduga nambi's relatives (who are not SrIvaishNavas)

come to visit him. After they leave, vaduga nambi destroys all
the pots and fully purifies the place. He then goes to
mudhaliyANdAn's thirumALigai, picks up the pots that were
discarded by him and starts using them. Thus he establishes
that for the ones who have pure AchArya sambhandham,
everything related to them (even discarded ones) are fully
pure and acceptable to us.

When emperumAnAr visits thiruvananthapuram, he wants to

change the Agamam of the anantha sayanan emperumAn
temple. But emperumAn had different plans. When
emperumAnAr was sleeping he lifted him up and brought him
over to thirukkurungudi dhivya dhEsam. emperumAnAr

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

wakes up in the morning, bathes in the nearby river, applies

dvAdhasa Urdhva pundram (12 pundrams) and calls for
vaduga nambi (who is still in thiruvananthapuram) to apply
the remnants on vaduga nambi. thirukkurungudi nambi
himself takes the form of vaduga nambi and accept the
remnants of the thirumaN (holy sand). emperumAnAr goes
on to accept thirukkurungudi nambi as his sishya
subsequently.

After emperumAnAr ascending to paramapadham, vaduga

nambi returns to his native village, where he preaches the
glories of emperumAnAr. He would not consume SrI pAdha
thIrtham (charaNAmrutham) of any one other than
emperumAnAr. He constantly worships emperumAnAr's lotus
feet and teaches to his sishyas/abhimAnis that
emperumAnAr's lotus feet is the ultimate goal and spends the
rest of his time in sALagrAmam and finally attains the lotus
feet of emperumAnAr.

In our vyAkyAnams, a few idhihyams that show the glories of

vaduga nambi are seen. Let us see some of them now.

• periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.3.1 - maNavALa mAmunigaL

vyAkyAnam - This padhigam talks about "nAva kAriyam"
(the words that are not to be uttered). An incident in the
life of vaduga nambi is identified here. Once, near vaduga
nambi, a SrIvaishNava says thirumanthram. Hearing that,
vaduga nambi (being fully situated in AchArya nishtai)
says that "this is nAva kAriyam" and walks away. It is
important to remember that even when we recite
thirumanthram, dhvayam, charama slOkam - we should
first recite guru paramparai and then only recite rahasya
thrayam. piLLai lOkAchAryar identifies this as
"japthavyam guru paramparaiyum dhvayamum" (one
must constantly recite guru paramparai and dhvaya mahA
manthram) in SrIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram
(sUthram 274).
• periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.4.7 - maNavALa mAmunigaL
vyAkyAnam - When vaduga nambi ascends to
paramapadham, one SrIvaishNava informs that to

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr saying "vaduga nambi

ascended to paramapadham". aruLALa perumAL
emperumAnAr replies "Since vaduga nambi was AchArya
nishtar, you should say that he attained the lotus feet of
emperumAnAr. You should not say he ascended to
paramapadham".
• vaduga nambi wrote a beautiful grantham named
yathirAja vaibhavam. In this grantham he identifies
that emperumAnAr was worshipped and accompanied by
700 sannyAsis, 12000 SrIvaishNavas, many
SrIvaishNavis, etc.

periyavAchchAn piLLai identifies in mANikka mAlai that

"vaduga nambi declared that AchArya padham (position) is
very special and it perfectly fits for emperumAnAr only".

piLLai lOkAchAryar identifies the greatness of vaduga nambi

in SrIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAshtram (sUthram 411).

vaduga nambi AzhwAnaiyum ANdAnaiyum irukaraiyar enbar

(ேடுகநம் பி ஆழ் ேோய யும் ஆண்டோய யும்
இருகயரயர் எ ் பர்)

mAmunigaL explains that vaduga nambi was like

madhurakavi AzhwAr who had nammAzhwAr as everything.
kUraththAzhwAn and mudhaliyANdAn were fully surrendered
to emperumAnAr - still they were at times seen glorifying
emperumAn and requesting emperumAn to give mOksham
when they were unable to bear the cruel nature of
samsAram. Thus vaduga nambi said that "Even though they
are related to emperumAnAr, they are holding on to both
emperumAn and emperumAnAr".

Finally, In Arthi prabhandham (pAsuram 11), mAmunigaL

establishes that vaduga nambi's position is what he is craving
for as well and he is praying to emperumAnAr to bless him to
be like vaduga nambi. vaduga nambi had unflinching faith on
emperumAnAr that he did not engage in worshipping
emperumAn separately. It is established by our

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

pUrvAchAryas that when we worship our AchAryan, we

automatically worship emperumAn. But if we just worship
emperumAn, it does not mean that we worship our AchAryan.
So, worshipping AchAryan and fully depending on him is the
most desired principle of our sampradhAyam and
mAmunigaL highlights that this was fully manifested in
vaduga nambi.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

vaduga nambi. He was fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai
and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray at
his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha
nishtai.

vaduga nambi's thaniyan:

rAmAnujArya sachchishyam sALagrAma nivAsinam

panchamOpAya sampannam sALagrAmAryam AsrayE

ரோமோனுஜோர்ய ஸச்சிஷ்யம் ஸோளக்ரோம

நிேோஸிநம்
பஞ் சனமோபோய ஸம் பந்நம் ஸோளக்ரோமோர்யம்
ஆச்ரனய

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

16. vangi puraththu nambi

thirunakshathram: not known

avathAra sthalam: not known (potentially vangi puram which

is his father’s native place or SrIrangam where his father
vangi puraththu Achi might have lived after becoming
maNakkAl nambi‘s sishya)

AchAryan: emperumAnAr

sishyas: siriyAthAn

Works: virOdhi parihAram

vangi puraththu Achi is a sishya of maNakkAl nambi. vangi

puraththu nambi is the son of vangi puraththu Achi and he
goes on to become a sishya of emperumAnAr.

He was instrumental in the revelation of virOdhi parihAram –

one of the classic granthams of our sampradhAyam. When
vangi puraththu nambi goes to emperumAnAr and asks him
what are the hurdles that a prapanna will face while in
samsAram, emperumAnAr gives a list of 83 hurdles. vangi
puraththu nambi documents those 83 hurdles with detailed
explanation to each one of those hurdles as heard from
emperumAnAr. In this grantham, each aspect of our lives is
analysed bit by bit and clear guideline is presented for us to
handle each particular aspect.

vangi puraththu nambi’s son is named vangi puraththu Achi

and he is also highlighted in some ithihyams.

In our vyAkyAnams, a few idhihyams that show the glories of

vangi puraththu nambi are seen. Let us see some of them
now.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• nAchiyAr thirumozhi 9.6 – periyavAchchAn piLLai

vyAkyAnam – ANdAL glorifies emperumAn as the one
who has the great wealth of SrI mahAlakshmi. In this
connection, vangi puraththu nambi instructs his sishya
siriyAthAn that “Many philosophies accept a supreme
power, but we (SrIvaishNavas) accept what is presented
in sAsthram – that SrImAn nArAyaNan is the supreme
god and the only refuge for everyone”.
• periya thirumozhi 6.7.4 – periyavAchchAn piLLai
vyAkyAnam – In this pAsuram, thirumangai AzhwAr talks
about kaNNan emperumAn (supreme god himself) was
scared of yasOdhai and started to cry as soon as he was
caught stealing the butter. In this connection, a beautiful
incident is explained. vangi puraththu nambi requests
emperumAnAr to teach him thiruvArAdhana kramam (how
to perform daily worship at home). emperumAnAr was
unable to spend the time and teach him the same due to
his busy schedule. But once in nambi’s absence,
emperumAnAr starts teaching thiruvArAdhana kramam to
AzhwAn and mAruthi siriyAndAn (hanumath dhAsar). At
that time vangi puraththu nambi enters the room and
seeing him emperumAnAr feels great emotions. He says
at that time “I had this doubt in my mind for a long time.
Now I realize/understand why emperumAn (even though
being supreme) was feeling scared after being caught
stealing butter. I am going through the same emotions
now – when you requested, I did not teach you this but
some how I started teaching them the same. Even though
I am AchAryan and you are sishyan and I dont have to
fear for you, because of my deed, I am feeling scared
looking at you”. Such was the greatness of our
emperumAnAr that when he did a mistake, he openly
accepted it and also explained a great principle in that
connection.
• thiruvirutham – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam introduction
– nampiLLai establishes that nammAzhwAr was a
samsAri before and by the causeless mercy of
emperumAn he became AzhwAr. But AzhwAr‘s glories
are too much that different AchAryas have seen him in
different view point – Some view him as a mukthar (one

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

was freed from samsAram); one of aruLALa perumAL

emperumAnAr‘s sishya views him as some one who is
not a mukthar but as good as one; Some say he is a
nithya sUri; vangi puraththu nambi says he is emperumAn
himself.
• thiruvAimozhi 7.2.7 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam – In
this padhigam (kangulum pagalum), nammAzhwAr sings
in mother bhAvam, where AzhwAr’s state is explained by
her mother. In every pAsuram, AzhwAr (mother) is calling
out for emperumAn as thiruvarangathAy but in this
pAsuram, she is not doing that. vangi puraththu nambi
explains that when a patient’s situation becomes very
bad, the doctor will not look at the eyes of the relatives
and inform the same – instead he will turn his face
towards some other direction and inform the condition of
the patient to the relatives. Similarly, since AzhwAr‘s
condition in separation from emperumAn is really bad, so
AzhwAr (mother) is not calling out emperumAn in this
pAsuram and just reveals her anguish about the situation.
• thiruvAimozhi 9.2.8 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam –
During a SrIjayanthi purappAdu in SrIrangam,
vangippuraththu nambi joins the cowherd girls group and
worship emperumAn from there. ANdAn asks him what
he said when he was in that group. nambi says “I said
vijayasva”. ANdAn replies when you are there with those
girls, you should glorify him in their own language instead
of this hard samskritham.

In vArthAmAlai, a few ithihyams that show the glories of vangi

puraththu nambi (and his son) are seen. Let us see them
now.

• 71 – vangi puraththu nambi instructs yathivara

chUdAmaNi dhAsar – When a jIvAthmA (who is miniscule
and incapable of anything) gets emperumAn (who is great
and omnipotent), there is no effort in jIvAthmA himself or
any one else. jIvAthmA has only 2 choices – either accept
AchAryan’s grace, contemplate on dhvaya mahA
manthram and be uplifted or become a nithya samsAri
and be in this samsAram for ever.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• 110 – vangi puraththu Achi instructs kidAmbi AchchAn –

For the jIvAthmA who has been in this samsAram since
time immemorial, always be confident that periya
pirAttiyAr is there to help us reach emperumAn.
• 212 – This is a beautiful incident. A SrIvaishNavi named
thrailOkyAL is a sishyai of vangi puraththu Achi. When
ananthAzhwAn arrives to SrIrangam, she goes and
serves him for 6 months. After ananthAzhwAn’s
departure, she returns to Achi. Achi enquires her about
her absence and she replies that she was serving
ananthAzhwAn. Achi enquires her if he taught her any
valuable principle and she replies “I served you for so
many years – you showed me that I am fully dependent
on emperumAn’s lotus feet. In six months he showed me
that I should be fully dependent on your lotus feet”.
ananthAzhwAn shows her that we should be fully
dependent on AchAryan’s lotus feet and this incident
beautifully reveals that.

piLLai lOkAchAryar identifies vangi puraththu nambi’s

conclusion of charama slOkam in mumukshupadi. In the last
section of charama slOka prakaraNam, the glories of
charama slOkam are fully revealed. In sUthram 265, it is
identified that “vangi puraththu nambi says that kaNNan
emperumAn instructs arjunan the charamslOkam after fully
demonstrating his greatness through various incidents. Thus
it should be easy for arjunan to accept that principle”. In the
vyAkyAnam, mAmunigaL identifies that vangi puraththu
nambi is “Aptha thamar” – one who is well-situated in our
spiritual well-being.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

vangi puraththu nambi. He was fully situated in bhAgavatha
nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us
pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such
bhAgavatha nishtai.

vangi puraththu nambi’s thaniyan:

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

bhArathvAja kulOdhbhUtham lakshmaNArya padhAsritham

vandhE vangipurAdhIsam sampUrNAyam krupAnidhim

போரத்ேோஜ குனேோத்பூதம் ேக்ஷ்மணோர்ய

பதோச்ரிதம்
ேந்னத ேங் கிபுரோதீஸம் ஸம் பூர்ணோயம்
க்ருபோநிதிம்

17. sOmAsiyANdAn
thirunakshathram: chithrai, thiruvAdhirai

avathAra sthalam: kArAnchi

AchAryan: emperumAnAr

Works: SrIbhAshya vivaraNam, guru guNAvaLi (which

explains emperumAnAr’s glories), shadartha sankshEpam

Born in a family which was engaged in performing sOma

yAgam, he was named SrI rAma misrar. He is one of the 74
simhAsAnAdhipathis (AchAryas) appointed by emperumAnAr
himself. He is also known as sOmayAjiyAr. He was the first to
write a commentary for SrI bhAshyam. His family continues to
have the kainkaryam of compiling vAkya panchAngam in
SrIrangam periyakOil. His SrIsUkthis are referred by
sruthprakAsikA bhattar, nAyanArAchchAn piLLai and
vEdhAnthAchAryar in their granthams.

In charmOpAya nirNayam, nAynArAchchAn piLLai quotes

sOmAsiyANdAn’s guru guNAvaLi slOkam to establish the
importance of krupAmAthra prasannAchAryas (the AchAryas
out of their mercy alone uplift the ones who just have the
desire to learn the valuable principles).

yassAparAdhAN svapadhaprapaNNAN svakIyakArunNya

gunNENa pAthi

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

sa Eva mukyO gururapramEyas thadhaiva sadhbhi:

parikIrthyadhEhi

யஸ்ஸோபரோதோந் ஸ்ேபதப் ரபந்நோந்

ஸ்ேகீயகோருண்ய குனணந போதி
ஸ ஏே முக்னயோ குருரப் ரனமயஸ் தயதே ஸத்பி:
பரிகீர்த்யனதஹி

The AchAryan out of his utmost mercy who protects and

delivers the sishya who is surrendered to him – that
AchAryan is the most important one. This is identified by
trustworthy persons.

An incident involving emperumAnAr‘s divine mercy in

nurturing detachment in the heart of sOmAsiyANdAn is
explained in charamOpAya nirNayam.

sOmayAjiyAr (sOmAsiyANdAn), after surrendering to

emperumAnAr, performed kainkaryam to him for some time
and returned to his native place “kArAnchi” and lived there for
some time. After some time, he wants to return to
emperumAnAr but since his wife does not allow him to leave,
he makes a vigraham of emperumAnAr. Since it did not come
out to his satisfaction, he uses that vigraham and again gets
the AchAri (sculptor) to make another one. That night,
emperumAnAr appears in his dream and asks him “Why are
you destroying my old vigraham to make a new one?
Wherever you are, if you are not able to have full faith in my
abhimAnam as uththArakam, how are you going to develop
attachment towards my vigraham?”. Suddenly woken up after
the dream, sOmayAjiyAr immediately keeps the vigraham in
a safe, gives up his wife and leaves to SrIrangam. After
arriving in SrIrangam, he runs to emperumAnAr, falls at his
lotus feet and starts crying”. emperumAnAr asks him “what is
the matter?” and he explains the incidents and the dream.
udayavar tells him with a smile “Welcome oh ignorant! I did
this to relieve you from the dependence on your wife; even if

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

you dont appreciate me, I will never give up on you.

Wherever you are, due to my abhimAnam towards you, your
ultimate goal is guaranteed. Give up all worries and stay
happily”. This incident is explained by periyavAchchAn piLLai.

In our vyAkyAnams, a few ithihyams that show the glories

of sOmAsiyANdAn are seen. Let us see some of them now.

• thirunedunthANdagam 27 – periyavAchchAn piLLai

vyAkyAnam – thirumangai AzhwAr (as parakAla nAyaki)
is sending a stork as messenger to thirukkaNNapuram to
reveal her heart to emperumAn. periyavAchchAn piLLai
identifies that the way AzhwAr says “thirukkaNNapuram”
is very special and no one can match that mood. He
shows other similar examples to explain this. When
ananthAzhwAn says “thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn”, that is
special. When bhattar says “azhagiya maNavALa
perumAL”, that is special. When sOmAsiyAndAn says
“emperumAnArE charaNam”, that is special. When we
utter the same names/words we will not be able to
manifest the mood of these great personalities.
• thiruvAimozhi 6.5.7 – nampiLLAi eedu vyAkyAnam – The
same principle that is explained in the previous point is
highlighted here with a slightly different context. Here
nammAzhwAr (as parAngusa nAyaki) is longing for
association with thulaivillimangalam emperumAn.
nampiLLai identifies that when she utters the names of
emperumAn it adds to the glories of those names.
nampiLLai highlights that, this is similar to
ananthAzhwAn, bhattar, sOmAsiyANdAn adding glories
to the names thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn, azhagiya
maNavALa perumAL, emperumAnAr respecitively by
uttering them with such great emotions.

In vArthAmAlai, a few incidents involving sOmAsiyANdAn are

identified. Let us see them now.

• 126 – Here sOmAsiyANdAn beautifully establishes that

emperumAn is the only upAyam for prapannas (the

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

surrendered ones). For bhagavAn to help us, we should

give up our own efforts and fully accept him as the refuge.
Neither bhakthi nor prapathi are the real upAyam.
bhagavAn, to whom we surrender is the real upAyam
(since he is the one who blesses us with the ultimate
goal).
• 279 – appiLLai (who is likely to be younger to
sOmAsiyANdAn but probably a well established
SrIvaishNava) advises sOmAsiyAndAn “You are very
learned, elderly, follow in the footsteps of our
pUrvAchAryas and an authority in both SrIbhAshyam and
bhagavath vishayam. Still, please tie a knot in your cloth
to keep reminding about not indulging in
bhAgavathapachAram”. It is a common practice to tie a
knot in the cloth we wear, to remind us (when we see the
knot, we will remember why we tied it) – here appiLLai
asks sOmAsiyAndAn to be watchful not to commit any
offenses towards bhAgavathas since that will destroy our
svarUpam – even great personalities could fall in that trap
which is why appiLLai is asking sOmAsiyANdAn to be
watchful.
• 304 – sOmAsiyANdAn advises that a SrIvaishNava
should not indulge in material enjoyment due to the
following reasons:
o if we understand the true nature of jIvAthmA which
is totally dependent on bhagavAn, we should not
engage in material enjoyment
o if we understand the reason for our existence
which is to serve bhagavAn only, we should not
engage in material enjoyment
o if we understand our relationships with bhagavAn
which is the only true and eternal relationship, we
should not engage in material enjoyment
o if we understand our body which is temporary and
ever changing, we should not engage in material
enjoyment
• 375 – When hearing that a cow-herd who stole some milk
was punished by some one, sOmAsiyANdAn faints at
once. He becomes overwhelmed with emotions because

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

he was reminded how yasOdhai punished kaNNan

empeumAn for stealing milk.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

sOmAsiyANdAn. He was fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai
and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray at
his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha
nishtai.

sOmAsiyANdAn’s thaniyan:

naumi lakshmaNa yOgIndhra pAdhasEvaika dhArakam

SrIrAmakrathunAthAryam SrIbhAshyAmrutha sAgaram

சநௌமி ேக்ஷ்மண னயோகீந்த்ர போதனஸயேக

தோரகம்
ஸ்ரீரோமக்ரதுநோதோர்யம் ஸ்ரீபோஷ்யோம் ருத ஸோகரம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

18. piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar

thirunakshathram: mAsi, Ayilyam

avathAra sthalam: uRaiyUr

AchAryan: emperumAnAr

Place from where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar was a great wrestler in the king’s

court and was living in uRaiyUr along with his wife named
ponnAchiyAr. He was very attached to his wife due to her
extreme beauty (specifically her very beautiful eyes). He is
originally known as dhanurdhAsa. He was very wealthy and
had great respect in the kingdom due to his bravery.

Once when SrI rAmAnuja was walking along with his sishyas,
he noticed dhAsar walking in front of ponnAchi holding up an
umbrella in his one hand protecting her from the sun and
holding a cloth on the ground to comfort her feet while
walking. emperumAnAr was astonished to see dhAsar’s

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

attachment towards this woman and called him over.

emperumAnAr asks him why dhAsar is serving that woman
like that. dhAsar replies that her eyes are so beautiful and he
is completely surrendered to her beauty and will do anything
to protect her beauty. emperumAnAr being the most
intelligent, immediately asks dhAsar, if he is shown
something more beautiful than his wife’s eyes if we will be
surrendered to that. dhAsar at once agrees that he will
surrender to that most beautiful entity. emperumAnAr takes
him to SrI ranganAthan and asks emperumAn to show
dhAsar the same beautiful eyes that was shown to
thiruppANAzhwAr. emperumAn naturally manifests the most
beautiful eyes and dhAsar at once realises that he has found
the real beauty. He immediately surrenders to emperumAnAr
and requests him to accept him as his sishya. His wife too
understanding the greatness of emperumAn and
emperumAnAr, immediately becomes surrenders to
emperumAnAr and asks for guidance. The couple together
give up all their attachments and comes to SrIrangam to stay
and serve the lotus feet of emperumAnAr and emperumAn.
emperumAn blesses dhAsar fully, and due to him constantly
worshipping emperumAn like lakshmaNan who never slept
during SrI rAman’s vanavAsam, he became to be famously
known as piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar.

dhAsar and ponnAchiyAr become extremely attached to

emperumAnAr. They simply spend their life by serving
emperumAnAr and emperumAn. Once during namperumAL’s
thIrthavAri (final day of uthsavam), emperumAnAr while
climbing up from the temple tank, holds the hands of dhAsar.
Some sishyas think that it is not appropriate for
emperumAnAr who is a sannyAsi to hold the hands of dhAsar
(because of his varNam). They reveal their mind to
emperumAnAr and emperumAnAr establishes dhAsar and
ponnAchiyAr’s glories through a beautiful incident.

emperumAnAr asks them to go to dhAsar’s house and steal

whatever jewels possible from there. They go to dhAsar’s
house where ponnAchiyAr was lying down. They quietly go
near her and try to remove the jewels from her. ponnAchiyAr

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

realising that these SrIvaishnavas are trying to steal and

thinking that they may be doing it due to their poverty, she
allows them to remove the jewels easily. Once they are done
with one side, she pretends to naturally turn around to allow
them to remove the jewels from the other side of her. But
they become alert and afraid and run away from the place
and return to emperumAnAr. After hearing the incidents,
emperumAnAr asks them to go back to dhAsar’s house and
ask them to observe what happens. When they return, they
see that dhAsar is back and he is talking to ponnAchiyAr. He
is asking her why the jewels from one side are missing. She
replies to him saying that some srivasihnavas came to steal
them and she allowed them to take the jewels from one side
and once they were done with that side, she turned around to
facilitate them. At that time, dhAsar becomes very upset and
tells ponnAchiyAr that she should have stayed like a stone to
let them take the jewels in whichever way and by turning
around she scared them. They both were so great that they
were even trying to help the ones who were trying to steal
from them. The srivaishnavas return to emperumAnAr and
explain the incidents to him and accept the greatness of the
great couple. The next morning emperumAnAr explains the
incidents to dhAsar and returns his jewels back to him.

dhAsar is glorified as mahAmathi (great intellectual) due to

him being extremely attached to emperumAn like SrI vidhurar
and periyAzhwAr. ponnAchiyAr’s nirvAhams (conclusions)
are also highlighted in a few incidents in pUrvAchArya works
showing that she was greatly knowledgable in sAsthram.

Many ithihyams related to dhAsar and his wife are explained

in our pUrvAchArya works. Let us see some of them now.

• 6000 padi guruparamparA prabhAvam – Once

emperumAnAr was lecturing on vibhIshaNa
sharaNAgathi. dhAsar stands up from the gOshti and
asks “if SrI rAman is debating along with sugrIva,
jAmbhavAn, etc for so long to accept vibhIshaNa who has
given up everything, how will I (who is still attached to
family, etc) get mOksham?”. emperumAnAr replies “If I

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

get mOksham, you will get too; if periya nambi gets

mOksham, I will get too; If ALavandhAr gets mOksham,
periya nambi will get too; thus it goes on up the chain in
the paramparai; since nammAzhwAr declares he got
mOksham and since periya pirAttiyAr is recommending to
emperumAn for us we will all get mOksham. Ones who
have bhAgavatha sEshathvam are sure to be redeemed –
just like the 4 rAkshasas who came with vibhIshaNan
were automatically redeemed by SrI rAman because of
their dependence on vibhIshaNan”.
• periya thirumozhi 2.6.1 – periyavAchchAn piLLai
vyAkyAnam – dhAsar’s extreme attachment towards
emperumAn (like yasOdhai, periyAzhwAr, etc) is shown
here. During puRappAdu (procession) of namperumAL
(SrI ranganAthan), dhAsar usually walks in front of
namperumAL watching emperumAn carefully and having
his hands on his sword. If there is even a slight jerk or
disturbance to namperumAL, he will kill himself with the
sword (since he did not kill himself, we can understand
that they were carrying namperumAL with great care).
Because of this attachment, dhAsar is called mahAmathi.
Intelligence means worrying about the well-being of
emperumAn.
• thiruviruththam 99 – nampiLLai vyAkyAnam – Whenever
kUraththAzhwAn starts explaining thiruvAimozhi, dhAsar
will become very emotional and start enjoying about
krishNa charithram. AzhwAn looking at that glorifies
dhAsar very much. He says “Unlike us who can learn
bhagavath vishayam and try to explain that to others –
you just melt away thinking about bhagavAn – your
nature is so glorious”. AzhwAn himself usually melts
thinking about emperumAn – if he is saying like this about
dhAsar we can understand how great dhAsar is.
• thiruviruththam 9 – nampiLLai svApadhEsam – Once
emperumAnAr wanted to leave from SrIrangam and go to
thirumalai. At that time he sends a SrIvaishNava to the
stores (which is controlled by dhAsar) to get some rice. At
that time, since dhAsar comes to know about
emperumAnAr’s plan to leave SrIrangam, he was crying
very much inside the store room out of sorrow. This

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

shows his great attachment towards emperumAnAr. The

SrIvaishnava returns to emperumAnAr and explains the
incident to him and emperumAnAr understands the mood
of dhAsar and he also says that he cannot bear the
separation from dhAsar.
• thiruvAimozhi 4.6.6 – nampiLLai vyAkyAnam – Once
dhAsar’s 2 nephews (named vaNdar and choNdar) were
walking with a king and the king shows a jain temple and
tells them that it is a vishNu temple and asks them to offer
their respects. Seeing the similarity in architecture, they
immediately do that, but the king then tells them that he
was just teasing them. But vaNdar and choNdar
immediately loses their consciousness realising that they
have worshipped some one other than SrIman
nArAyaNan. dhAsar hears this incident and runs to them
and applies the dust of his lotus feet and they
immediately regain their consciousness. This shows that
the dust of the lotus feet of bhAgavathas is the only cure
for any dhEvathAnthara bhajanam (even when done
unknowingly).
• thiruvAimozhi 1.5.11 – nampiLLai vyAkyAnam – For
“pAlEy thamizhar isai kArar paththar”, AzhwAn once said
“SrI parAngusa nambi is pAlEy thamizhar (great expert in
thamizh), AzhwAr thiruvaranga perumAL arayar is isai
kArar (musician) and piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar is
paththar (bhakthar – great devotee)”.

There are many incidents which highlight the attachment of

dhAsar towards kaNNan emperumAn.

• thiruviruththam 95 – periyavAchchAn piLLai vyAkyAnam –

Once a cowherd boy steals the milk which was going for
the king and the soldiers were beating him. Looking at
that, dhAsar considered that cowherd as krishNan
himself, goes to the soldiers and tells them that he will
accept whatever punishment and asks them to release
the cowherd.
• nAchiyAr thirumozhi 3.9 – periyavAchchAn piLLai
vyAkyAnam – dhAsar says that “Since krishNan is very
young, he cannot protect himself. His parents are also

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

soft natured and cannot protect him since they

themselves are jailed. kamsan and his associates are
waiting to constantly kill him. It is only the dark night
(during which krishNan was born) that protected him. So,
let us glorify the dark night which protected emperumAn”.
• periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 2.9.2 – thiruvAimozhi piLLai
vyAkyAnam – dhAsar hearing about gOpis complaints to
yasOdhai on krishNan stealing their butter, argues in
support of krishNan as follows. “Did he break any lock?
Did he steal any jewels/gems? Why are the complaining
about krishNan? He himself has so many cows at home
which needs to be milked and there is plenty of butter at
his home itself. Why would he steal from some other
place? May be he just entered some one’s house thinking
that it is his own house. Why do they keep saying he stole
butter, milk, etc?”.

ponnAchiyAr is also considered equally knowledgable and is

shown in many incidents. In charamOpAya nirNayam,
emperumAnAr, knowing ponnAchiyAr’s advanced intellect,
establishes his own glories through her. Please read the full
incident at
http://ponnadi.blogspot.com/2012/12/charamopaya-nirnayam-
ramanujar-our-saviour-2.html.

piLLai lOkAchAryar also glorifies piLLai uRangAvillidhAsar

while explaining mangaLAsAsanam (praying for the well-
being) of emperumAn in his magnum opus SrI vachana
bhUshaNam.

After some time, dhAsar during his final days invites all
SrIvaishNavas to his thirumALigaai, performs
thadhIyArAdhanam, accepts their SrIpAdha thIrtham, tells
ponnAchiyAr that he is leaving to paramapadham and she
should continue to live. Keeping emperumAnAr‘s pAdhukas
on his head, he gives up his charama thirumEni.
SrIvaishNavas arrange for his final journey, bring the holy
water from cauvery river, performs SrIchUrNa paripAlanam
(applying puNdrams), etc., to him. ponnAchiyAr
understanding the great benediction that is awaiting dhAsar

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

in paramapadham, happily decorates the place and takes

care of the SrIvaishNavas during the whole time. Finally, after
dhAsar’s thirumEni is carried on a palanquin and reaches the
end of the street, she starts crying loudly unable to bear the
separation from dhAsar and at once gives up her life as well.
All SrIvaishNavas become astonished at her and at once
arrange for her to be placed along with dhAsar as well. This
shows the extreme level of attachment towards bhAgavathas
where they cannot bear the separation of bhAgavathas even
for a small moment.

maNavALa mAmunigaL while compiling the iyal sARRumurai

(recited at the end of iyaRpA during uthsavam times) based
on various AchAryas pAsurams. The first pAsuram was
written by piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar and has the essence of
our sampradhAyam.

NanRum thiruvudaiyOm NAnilaththil evvuyirkkum

onRum kuRai illai OthinOm
kunRam eduththAn adichEr irAmAnuchan thAL
pidiththAr pidiththAraip paRRi

ந ் றும் திருவுயடனயோம் நோ ிேத்திே்

எே் வுயிர்க்கும்
ஒ ் றும் குயற இே் யே ஓதின ோம்
கு ் றம் எடுத்தோ ் அடினசர் இரோமோனுச ் தோள்
பிடித்தோர் பிடித்தோயரப் பற் றி

We declare that have no worries and have the real wealth (of
kainkaryam) because we are surrendered to the
SrIvaishNavas who are surrendered to SrI rAmAnuja who
himself is surrendered to kaNNan emperumAn the one who
lifted the gOvardhana hill to protect his dear devotees (gOpas
and gOpis).

In this simple pAsuram, dhAsar has showed the following

most important principles:

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• SrIvaishNavas have the greatest wealth – kainkaryaSrI

(the wealth of servitude)
• SrIvaishNavas should not worry about worldly matters
• SrIvaishNavas have this great wealth of kainkaryaSrI by
the grace of emperumAn and emperumAnAr
• SrIvaishNavas are connected to emperumAnAr through
the AchArya paramparai

Time and again, our pUrvAchAryas have shown that a

SrIvaishNava’s greatness is not because of his birth in a
particular varNam, but only because of his devotion towards
emperumAn and other SrIvaishNavas. piLLai uRangA villi
dhAsar’s life and our AchAryas’ glorification of dhAsar is a
clear indication of the mood and attitude of our AchAryas on
this particular principle.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar and ponnAchiyAr. Both of them
were fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and were very dear
to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray at their lotus feet that
we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

piLLai uRangA villi dhAsar’s thaniyan:

jAgarUga dhanushpANim pANau katgasamanvidham

rAmAnujasparsavEdhim rAdhdhAnthArththa prakAsakam
bhAginEyadhvayayutham bhAshyakAra bharamvaham
rangEsamangaLakaram dhanurdhAsam aham bhajE

ஜோகரூக தநுஷ்போணிம் போசணௌ கட்கஸமந்விதம்

ரோமோனுஜஸ்பர்ஸனேதிம் ரோத்தோந்தோர்த்த
ப் ரகோஸகம்
போகினநயத்ேயயுதம் போஷ்யகோர பரம் ேேம்
ரங் னகஸமங் களகரம் தநுர்தோஸம் அேம் பனஜ

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

19. thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn

thirunakshathram: ippasi, pUrAdam (AvaNi, mrugasIrsham -
as understood from one of his thanians)

avathAra sthalam: AzhwAr thirunagari

AchAryan: emperumAnAr

Works: thiruvAimozhi 6000 padi vyAkyAnam

piLLAn is the illustrious son of periya thirumalai nambi and is

also known as kurugEsar, kurugAthinAthar. emperumAnAr
himself gave this name to him and instructed him to write the
first vyAkyAnam for thiruvAimozhi which becomes to be
popularly known as 6000 padi.

emperumAnAr considers piLLAn as his mAnasa puthrar

(abhimAna puthrar – dear son). Once many sishyas of
emperumAnAr go to piLLAn and request piLLAN to request
emperumAnAr to write a vyAkyAnam for thiruvAimozhi.
piLLAn goes to the assembly of emperumAnAr, offers his
obeisances and starts speaking. He says to emperumAnAr
“You have written SrIbhAshyam and travelled everywhere
and established the visishtAdhvaitha sidhAntham. Now, we
request you to write commentaries to AzhwArs’ pAsurams
and protect them as well (so others dont misinterpret the
same)”. Hearing this emperumAnAr replies “Yes, that is
required. But if I write a commentary to AzhwArs’ pAsurams,
people with limited intelligence will consider that there is only
so much in AzhwArs works. And no one else will dare to write
a commentary beyond mine. That will be an offense towards
the great works of AzhwArs which are filled with great
meanings which can be revealed by many authentic
AchAryas in the future. So, I will instruct you to write the first
commentary for thruvAimozhi which is equivalent in size to
vishNu purANam (6000 slOkams – 6000 padi)”. Thus with the
permission of emperumAnAr, piLLAn wrote 6000 padi

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

vyAkyAnam and subsequently, this was taught by bhattar to

nanjIyar.

emperumAnAr overseeing and blessing piLLAn’s marriage

piLLAn was an expert in both SrI bhAshyam and bhagavath

vishayam. Once when piLLAn was at siruppuththUr,
sOmAsiyANdAn learns SrIbhAshyam thrice from him.
sOmAsiyANdA n asks piLLAn to give him some valuable
instructions and piLLAn says “You are an expert in explaining
other philosophies and establish our philosophy through
SrIbhAshyam. Instead of being proud about that, always think
that the lotus feet of emperumAnAr is our only refuge all the
time”.

While ascending to paramapadham, emperumAnAr, asks

kidAmbi AchchAn, kidAmbi perumAL, engaLAzhwAn,
nadAthUrAzhwAn, etc to be surrendered to piLLAn and asks
piLLAn to guide them. emperumAnAr also asks bhattar to
guide every one including piLLAn and lead the
sampradhAyam in his absence. Also, since piLLAn was
considered by emperumAnAr himself as his own son, he

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

leads all the charama kainkaryams (final rites) for

emperumAnAr.

In our vyAkyAnams, quite a few ithihyams that show the

glories of thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn are seen. Let us see
some of them now.

• nAchiyAr thrumozhi 10.6 – periyavAchchAn piLLai

vyAkyAnam – Here ANdAL worships the peacocks that
dance like krishNan. ammaNiyAzhwAn (an AchArya) use
to offer obeisances to one of his sishyas. He says that
since we worship SrIvaishNavas and since if we know our
sishya fully as a proper SrIvaishNava, it is fitting to
worship him as well. nanjIyar makes a point that if the
sishya is not matured enough that will lead to ahankAram
for him and sishya might fall down due to that ahankAram
in his spiritual progress. But piLLAn explains that when a
sishya is blessed by an AchArya like ammaNiyAzhwAn he
will naturally be fully purified and that sishya will be fully at
the disposal of ammaNiyAzhwAn – so the AchArya’s act
is proper only.
• periya thirumozhi 2.7.6 – periyavAchchAn piLLai
vyAkyAnam – Here parakAla nAyaki’s (thirumangai
AzhwAr in girl bhAvam) mother identifies her family as
parakAla nAyaki’s family (instead of saying our family)
since parakAla nAyaki is so glorious. piLLAn explains that
this is similar to namperumAL himself naming our
sampradhAyam “emperumanAr dharisanam” and invites
SrIvaishNavas as “rAmAnusan udaiyArs” (the ones who
are connected to emperumAnAr). bhagavAn likes to see
his devotees as the ones who are surrendered to SrI
rAmAnujar instead of being directly surrendered to him.
Just like a beautiful necklace looks even more beautiful
with the center stone, our SrIvaishNava guruparamparai
(http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2012/08/17/introdu
ction-contd/) looks even more beautiful because of
emperumAnAr‘s presence in the middle.
• thiruvAimozhi 1.4.7 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam – Here
nammAzhwAr is in separation from emperumAn and is
calling emperumAn as “aruLAtha thirumAlAr” meaning

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

SrIman nArAyaNan who is not merciful (which is

contradictory since when emperumAn is with thAyAr he is
most merciful). nanjIyar explains this as AzhwAr saying
“You are with thAyAr who is most merciful but still you are
not blessing me with your presence”. piLLAn views it
differently and explains this as AzhwAr saying
“emperumAn is fully immersed in the beauty of thAyAr; so
is not taking his eyes/thoughts of her and blessing me”.
• thiruvAimozhi 6.9.9 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam -
AzhwAr cries out to emperumAn to relieve him from the
pains of this samsAram and bring him over to
paramapadham. piLLAn was in his last days was
repeating the words of AzhwAr and praying to
emperumAn. Seeing that, nanjIyar starts crying. At that
time piLLAn asks nanjIyar “Why are you crying? Are you
thinking that the glorious life in parampadham that I will
be getting is lower than the life here? Please stop crying
out of anguish and feel happy for me”.

In charamOpAya nirNayam

(http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/p/charamopaya-nirnayam.html),
the following incident is explained. When udayavar was
explaining thiruvAimozhi meanings to thirukkurugaippirAn
piLLAn (who is his abhimAna puthran), while explaining
“poliga poliga” pAsuram, piLLAn was filled with ecstasy and
emotions. Noticing that, udayavar enquired him what caused
this changes in his emotions. piLLAn replies “AzhwAr hailed
‘kaliyum kedum kaNdu koNmin‘ meaning kali will be
destroyed, with your appearance in his thiruvuLLam. Per his
declaration, you have also revealed that you are that great
AchAryan everytime you explained thiruvAimozhi. Thinking
about those, I am unable to control my ecstasy and emotions
thinking that I am so fortunate to have the sambandham
(relationship) with you (who is uplifting everyone per
AzhwAr’s divine revelation) and to hear the divine meanings
of thiruvAimozhi from your divine self directly”. Hearing this,
udayavar was very pleased. That night, he invites piLLAn and
brings him to pEraruLALan (udayavar’s thiruvArAdhana
perumAL), keeps his lotus feet on his head, and tells him

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

“Always depend on these lotus feet as your refuge; Always

show these as the refuge to the ones who surrender unto you
as well. Tomorrow, you start writing a commentary to
thiruvAimozhi in SrI vishNu purANam style (vishNu purANam
has 6000 slOkams), i.e., in 6000 lines”. Thus udayavar
revealed his uththArakathvam himself to piLLAn who is very
dear to him.

In SrIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram, piLLai

lOkAchAryar quotes piLLAn to establish the most important
and celebrated principles of our sampradhAyam

• sUthram 122 – limitations of bhakthi yOgam – In a golden

pot which is filled with pure water, if there is a little bit of
alcohol (or any intoxicating food) mixed, that water
becomes un-drinkable. Similarly, jIvAthmA (golden pot)
when filled with bhakthi (pure water) is mixed with a tinge
of ahankAram (poison) that leads to svarUpa virOdham.
While it is desired that there is no ahankAram in bhakthi,
it is impossible to expect that since by definition bhakthi
yOgam means there is a performer of that process and
that performer has the attitude that he is doing something
to please bhagavAn. So, piLLAn says that bhakthi yOgam
is not natural for the jIvAthmA and only prapathi (total
surrender – accepting that emperumAn is the only
upAyam) is the natural process for jIvAthmA to achieve
emperumAn.
• sUthram 177 – glories of paragatha svIkAram – i.e.,
emperumAn blesses jIvAthmAs out of his own causeless
mercy and it emperumAn’s own efforts which brings us
the ultimate benediction (kainkarya prApthi). Any self
effort from the jIvAthmA to achieve emperumAn will only
lead to undesired effects since it is not the nature of
jIvAthmA to be independent and make his own effort. This
is explained using an example as follows: When we
achieve emperumAn through self effort, that is like giving
milk that is purchased from the store. When we achieve
emperumAn through emperumAn’s grace, that is like
giving mother’s milk to the child. So, paragatha svIkAram

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

is compared to mother’s milk which is the most natural

feed for the nourishment of a child.

As mAmunigaL identifies in upadhEsa rathina mAlai

(pAsurams 40 and 41) – without the 5 vyAkyAnams for
thiruvAimozhi we can never understand the real meanings of
thiruvAimozhi. mAmunigaL glorifies piLLAn as “theLLArum
gyAnath thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn” meaning piLLAn has
absolute clear knowledge about bhagavath vishayam. He
also glorifies that piLLAn revealed the divine meanings of
thiruvAimozhi with great love and the vyAkyAnam is most
relishable. Subsequently nanjIyar wrote 9000 padi on the
orders of bhattar, nampiLLai‘s kAlakshEpams were recorded
as 36000 padi by vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai, periyavAchchAn
piLLai wrote 24000 padi on the orders of nampiLLai and
vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar wrote 12000 padi
explaining the word by word meanings of thiruvAimozhi
pAsurams. Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the
glorious life of thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn. He was fully
situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to
emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we
too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn’s thaniyan (recited as part of

bhagavath vishayam kAlakshEpam):

dhrAvidAgama sAragyam rAmAnuja padhAsritham

sudhiyam kurugEsAryam namAmi sirasAnhavam

த்ரோவிடோகம ஸோரக்யம் ரோமோநுஜ பதோச்ரிதம்

ஸுதியம் குருனகசோர்யம் நமோமி சிரஸோந்ேேம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

20. kUra nArAyaNa jIyar

thirunakshathram: mArgazhi kEttai

avathAra sthalam: SrIrangam

AchAryan: kUraththAzhwAn, parAsara bhattar

Place where he attained paramapadham from: SrIrangam

Works: sudharsana sathakam, sthOthra rathna vyAkyAnam,

SrIsUktha bhAshyam, upanishadh bhAshyam, nithya
grantham (thiruvArAdhanam), etc

sishyas: chEmam jIyar, thirukkurugaip pirAn jIyar, sundhara

pANdiya dhEvan, etc.

Born as the son of siRiya gOvindha perumAL (who is the

brother of embAr) on mArgazhi kEttai in SrIrangam, he
becomes to be known (after accepting sannyAsam) as kUra
nArAyaNa jIyar, nalam thigazh nArAyaNa jIyar, nArAyaNa
muni, periya jIyar and SrI ranga nArAyaNa jIyar.

emperumAnAr, kUraththAzhwAn, bhattar

Before becoming a sannyAsi he had a son named “eduththa

kai azhagiya nAyanAr”. He was a sishya of kUraththAzhwAn
first and subsequently he becomes a sishya of AzhwAn‘s
son bhattar and learns from him too.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

He performed many external kainkaryams in SrIrangam

temple such as constructing pArthasArathy sannidhi,
garudAzhwAr sannidhi, etc and internal/confidential
kainkaryams to periya perumAL.

vEdhAnthAchAryar who appears much later to kUra

nArAyaNa jIyar refers to him as periya jIyar in his works
(Note: It appears that there is another kUra nArAyaNa jIyar
who appears some time after vEdhAnthAchAryar‘s time).
vEdhAnthAchAryar quotes jIyar’s sthOthra vyAkyAnam in his
own sthOthra vyAkyAnam. He also quotes jIyar’s SrI sUktha
bhAshyam and nithya grantham in his rahasya thraya sAram.
As kUra nArAyaNa jIyar was a sishya of kUraththAzhwAn
and thus should have been elder to nanjIyar – so to
distinguish between nanjIyar and kUra nArAyaNa jIyar –
vEdhAnthAchAryar should have identified him as periya (big)
jIyar.

mAmunigaL quotes kUra nArAyaNa jIyar’s upanishadh

bhAshyam in eedu pramANa thirattu (collection of
pramANams for nampiLLai‘s eedu mahA vyAkyAnam).
mAmunigaL also glorifies kUra nArAyaNa jIyar as “suddha
sampradhAya nishtar” (one who is firmly situated in our pure
sampradhAyam).

kUra nArAyaNa jIyar is known to be a sudharsana upAsakar.

Once kUraththAzhwAn tells jIyar “We are born in
SrIvaishNava family where it is considered to be
inappropriate to engage in upAsanA – we fully depend on
bhagavAn for anything instead of engaging in self-efforts
such as upAsanA”. jIyar responds “my upAsanA is not for my
benefit. It is only for the service of bhagavAn and
bhAgavathas”. There are a couple of incidents in the life of
jIyar which demonstrate this principle.

• In the olden days namperumAL used to enjoy

theppOthsavam (float festival) in the cauvey river. Once
during such uthsavam, there was flash floods and the
theppam (boat) was being pulled by the flood. But jIyar

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

used his upAsana sakthi and stopped the theppam and

brought it over to the banks to safety. Seeing that, he
ordered kainkaryaparas to make a large tank within the
SrIrangam town and arranged the theppam to celebrated
there safely from then onwards.

namperumAL with nAchiyArs in theppam (float)

• Once thiruvarangapperumAL arayar was suffering from a

disease and that was affecting his kainkaryam to periya
perumAL. At that time, kUra nArAyaNa jIyar compiles and
sings sudharsana sathakam and relieves arayar from his
disease. This is highlighted in the thanian of sudharsana
sathakam clearly.

thiruvarangapperumAL arayar

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Immediately after emperumAnAr‘s time, kUra nArAyaNa jIyar

was given the charge of emperumAnAr‘s mutt in SrIrangam.
This mutt is named “SrIranga nArAyaNa jIyar mutt” and
continues to have jIyar swamys honoring the post and
participating in SrIrangam temple kainkaryams.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

kUra nArAyaNa jIyar. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too
get bhagavath/bhAgavatha/AchArya kainkaryam.

kUra nArAyaNa jIyar’s thaniyan:

SrIparAsara bhattArya sishyam SrIrangapAlakam

nArAyaNa munim vandhE gyAnAdhi guNasAgaram

ஸ்ரீபரோஸர பட்டோர்ய சிஷ்யம் ஸ்ரீரங் கபோேகம்

நோரோயண முநிம் ேந்னத ஜ் ஞோநோதி குணஸோகரம்

I worship SrI nArAyaNa muni who is a sishya of parAsara

bhattar, who protects SrIrangam and who is an ocean of
gyAnam (knowledge), bhakthi (devotion), vairAgyam
(renunciation), etc.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

21. engaLAzhwAn

engaLAzhwAn with nadAthUr ammAL at his lotus feet

thirunakshathram: chithrai, rOhiNi

avathAra sthalam: thiruveLLarai

AchAryan: emperumAnAr, thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn

sishyas: nadAthUrammAL

Place where he attained paramapadham: kollankoNdAn

(near madhurai)

Works: sArArtha chathushtayam (part of vArthAmAlai),

vishNu chithIyam (vyAkyAnam for vishNu purANam)

Born in thiruveLLarai, he was named SrI vishNu chiththar by

his parents. He became a sishya of emperumAnAr and learns
bhagavath vishayam and SrIbhAshyam from
thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn. It is said that, he was honoured
by emperumAnAr himself with the title engaLAzhwAn (since
he was resembling kUraththAzhwAn in his gyAnam, bhakthi,
AchArya nishtai, etc).

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

nadAthUr ammAL (vAthsya varadhAchAryar) is one of his

prime sishyas and is the grandson of nadAthUr AzhwAn (who
is also a sishya of emperumAnAr). When ammAL wanted to
learn SrIbhAshyam from his grandfather, his grandfather due
to his old age, asks ammAL to go to engaLAzhwAn and learn
the same. ammAL goes to engaLAzhwAn’s thirumALigai
(home) and knocks on the door. engaLAzhwAn asks “Who is
that?” and ammAL replies “I am varadhan”. engaLAzhwAn
says “Come back after the ‘I’ dies”. ammAL returns to his
home and enquires from his grandfather about the incident.
nadhAthUr AzhwAn says we must always introduce
ourselves as “adiyEn” (dhAsan) with total humility and never
use the terms “I”, “I am”, etc., which are the cause of
ahankAram (ego). Understanding the principle, ammAL
returns to engaLAzhwAn and knocks at the door. This time
when engaLAzhwAn asks who is at the door, ammAL replies
“adiyEn varadhan is here”. Being pleased, engaLAzhwAn
welcomes ammAL, accepts him as his sishya and teaches
him all the valuable principles. engaLAzhwAn also becomes
to be known as ammAL AchAryan, since he became the
AchAryan of nadAthUr ammAL who becomes to be a great
scholar.

emperumAnAr during his final days, instructs engaLAzhwAn

to take shelter of thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn.

In our vyAkyAnams, a few ithihyams (incidents) that show the

glories of engaLAzhwAn are seen. Let us see some of them
now.

• periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 2.9.10 – thiruvAimozhi piLLai

vyAkyAnam – In this pAsuram periyAzhwAr reveals
kaNNan emperumAn‘s great liking for nAval (rose apple)
fruit. In this connection, an incident relating
engaLAzhwAn and nanjIyar is revealed. engaLAzhwAn
has a dream before going to sleep (in semi-awake state).
In that dream, a small boy appears in the dream and asks
engaLAzhwAn to give him some nAval fruit. When
engaLAzhwAn asks who the boy is, the boy replies “I am
Ayar thEvu – son of nanjIyar” (Ayar thEvu is the name of

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

the thiruvArAdhana deity of nanjIyar). engaLAzhwAn

goes to nanjIyar and informs him that his thiruvArAdhana
perumAL is not letting him sleep. nanjIyar then goes to his
thiruvArAdhanam room and asks his emperumAn not to
disturb him.
• mudhal thiruvanthAdhi 44 – nampiLLai/periyavAchchAn
piLLai vyAkyAnams – In this pAsuram, poigaiyAzhwAr
establishes that emperumAn will accept the names and
forms which are dear to his devotees. The same incident
(identified in the previous point) is explained here. The
context here is slightly different – when emperumAn
introduced himself to engaLAzhwAn he used the name
that was given to him by nanjIyar (that is Ayar thEvu).
Hearing this incident from engaLAzhwAn, nanjIyar
becomes ecstatic that emperumAn introduces himself
using the name that was given by him.

In vArthA mAlai, a few incidents involving engaLAzhwAn are

identified. Let us see them now:

• 17 – When ammangi ammAL goes to engaLAzhwAn and

asks him to bless him with a clear explanation of our
sampradhAyam, engaLAzhwAn explains sArartha
chathushtayam (4 basic principles and 4 essential
principles). They are:
o svarUpa gyAnam (knowledge about true nature of
self) – Understanding that the self is subservient
to bhagavAn and should be at disposal of
bhagavAn
o svarUpa yAthAthmya gyAnam (advanced
knowledge about true nature of self) –
Undertanding that the self is subservient to
bhagavathas (devotees) and should be at disposal
of bhagavathas
o virOdhi gyAnam (knowledge about the hurdles) –
When in separation from bhAgavathas, carrying
on our normal activities (i.e., separation from
bhAgavathas should be unbearable)
o virOdhi yAthAthmya gyAnam (advanced
knowledge about the hurdles) – After getting the

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

association of a bhAgavatha, finding faults in him

(i.e., we should never find faults in bhAgavathas)
o pala gyAnam (knowledge about the goal) – To
carry out all instructions of bhAgavathas without
any hesitation.
o pala yAthAthmya gyAnam (advanced knowledge
about the goal) – To serve bhAgavathas in this
world even at the cost of giving up paramapadham
o upAya gyAnam (knowledge about the process) –
Clearly understanding the sambhandham between
bhagavAn and jIvAthmA and acting according to
that (there is very detailed explanation for this)
o upAya yAthAthmya gyAnam (advanced
knowledge about the process) – Understanding
that emperumAn being the sarIrI (AthmA) of the
self (sarIram), emperumAn is doing everything for
his own pleasure and giving up all attachments
towards any other process than emperumAn
himself
• 118 – engaLAzhwAn was explaining charama slOkam to
nadAthUrammAL. When explaining “sarva dharmAn
parithyajya” – nadAthUr ammAL wonders why is
emperumAn talking with so much svAthanthriyam in
disregarding all dharmams (upAyams) that are explained
in sAsthram. engaLAzhwAn replies that it is the true
nature of bhagavAn – he is fully independent – so it is
fitting for him to say that. Moreover, he says, emperumAn
is relieving the jIvAthmA from indulging in other upAyams
which are against the true nature of jIvAthmA – since the
jIvAthmA is fully dependent on bhagavAn it is fitting for
the jIvAthmA to accept bhagavAn as upAyam. So,
engaLAzhwAn categorically explains that bhagavAn’s
words here are most apt.
• 153 – In this engaLAzhwAn beautifully brings out the
qualities of an AchAryan. AchAryan means one who has
given up the bodily concept of the soul, understood that
he is fully subservient to emperumAn, given up any
attachment to other dhEvathas, understands that
emperumAn is present everywhere (omnipresent),
spends his whole time in this world focussing on

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

archAvathAra emperumAn and finally reaches the divine

abode of paramapadham. Others will claim themselves to
be the leader of the whole universe, depend on their
sishyas in collecting wealth and serving them.
• 174 – When pinbhazhagarAm perumAL jIyar (who is a
dear sishya of nampiLLai) was ill, he asks other
SrIvaishNavas to pray to emperumAn for his speedy
recovery – now, this is considered as improper per
SrIvaishNava etiquette – one should not pray to
emperumAn for anything – even for recovering from
illness (what to speak about going to doctor, etc). Seeing
this, sishyas of nampiLLai come and enquire from
nampiLLai on why jIyar was doing that. nampiLLai asks
his sishyas to enquire from few swamys about jIyar’s
behaviour. nampiLLai first says, go and ask
engaLAzhwAn who is an expert in all sAsthram.
engaLAzhwAn replies “may be he is attached to
SrIrangam and he wants to stay here for some more
time”. nampiLLai then asks his sishyas to go and ask
thirunArAyaNapuraththu arayar – arayar says “may be he
has some unfinished tasks which he wants to complete,
so he is praying to prolonging his life here”. nampiLLai
then asks his sishyas to ammangi ammAL who says “who
would want to leave nampiLLai’s kAlakshEpa gOshti, he
may be praying so he is here for some more time to listen
to nampiLLai’s kAlakshEpam”. nampiLLai then asks his
sishyas to go to periya mudhaliyAr and he says “may be
he is too attached to namperumAL that he does not want
to leave from here”. nampiLLai finally asks jIyar himself if
any of these views are in line with what he himself is
thinking. jIyar replies “No. You know everything. But out of
your mercy, you want to reveal this by me. Let me say
why I want to continue living here. Everyday, after you
taking bath, I get to have the divine dharshan of your form
and serve you by fanning, etc. How can I give up that
service and go to parampadham just yet?”. Thus,
pinbhazhagarAm perumAL jIyar reveals the highest
principle for a sishya – to be fully attached to the divine
form of ones own AchAryan. Hearing this everyone was
amazed by jIyar’s devotion towards nampiLLai. This

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

principle is explained by piLLai lOkAchAryar in

SrIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram (sUthram 333)
and maNavALa mAmunigaL in his upadhEsa rathina
mAlai as well (pAsurams 65 and 66).

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

engaLAzhwAn. He was fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai
and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray at
his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha
nishtai.

engaLAzhwAn’s thaniyan:

SrIvishNuchiththa padha pankaja samsrayAya chEthO mama

spruhayathE kimatha: parENa
nOchEn mamApi yathisEkarabhArathInAm bhAva: katham
bhavithumarhathi vAgvidhEya:

ஸ்ரீவிஷ்ணுசித்த பத பங் கஜ ஸம் ஸ்ரயோய னசனதோ

மம ஸ்ப்ருேயனத கிமத: பனரண
னநோனசந் மமோபி யதினஸகரபோரதீ ோம் போே: கதம்
பவிதுமர்ேதி ேோக்வினதய:

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

22. ananthAzhwAn

thirunakshathram: chithrai, chithrai

avathAra sthalam: sirupuththuR/kiranganur (on bangalore-

mysore route)

AchAryan: aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr

Place from where he attained paramapadham:

thiruvEnkatam

Works: vEnkatEsa ithihAsa mAlai, gOdha chathuslOki,

rAmAnuja chathuslOki

ananthAzhwAn who is also known as ananthAchAryar,

anantha sUri, etc., (along with echAn, thondanUr nambi and
marudhUr nambi) approaches emperumAnAr after hearing
about his glories. He reveals his great desire to take shelter
of emperumAnAr’s lotus feet. emperumAnAr, having just
reformed yagya mUrthy at that time and established him as
aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr, instructs ananthAzhwAn to
become a sishya of aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr. They
all happily oblige and follow that instruction with great joy.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

aruLALa perumAL emperumAnAr declares that though they

are his sishyas they should fully depend on emperumAnAr’s
lotus feet only. emperumAnAr’s lotus feet in thirumalai is
named as anathAzhwAn. ananthAzhwAn is similar to
madhurakavi AzhwAr in the following ways:

• both have thirunakshathram of chithrai – chithrai

• both are fully situated in AchArya nishtai. madhurakavi
AzhwAr is fully situated in the lotus feet of nammAzhwAr
and ananthAzhwAn is fully situated in the lotus feet of
emperumAnAr.

Subsequently, while giving lectures on the nectarean

pAsurams of thiruvAimozhi, emperumAnAr started explaining
“ozhivil kAlamellAm” padhigam (3.3) where nammAzhwAr
reveals his great desire to perform pure and constant service
to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn. In that padhigam, AzhwAr reveals
the liking of thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn for fresh and abundant
flowers. emperumAnAr, contemplating on AzhwAr’s divine
desire, posts a question to his audience “Is there any one
who will go to thirumalai, make a beautiful garden and serve
emperumAn with beautiful flowers everyday?”.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ananthAzhwAn, at once raises upto the occasion and says he

will fulfill AzhwAr’s and emperumAnAr’s desire.
emperumAnAr becomes mighty pleased and ananthAzhwAn
immediately takes leave to thirumalai. He first performs
mangaLAsAsanam to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn, prepares a
garden and names the garden “irAmAnusan” and starts
serving fresh flowers to emperumAn everyday. Hearing this,
emperumAnAr decides to visit thirumalai and have dharshan
of the same. He quickly completes his thiruvAimozhi
kAlakshEpam (lectures) and leaves to thirumalai.

He arrives at thiruppathi via kAnchipuram (after performing

mangaLAsAsanam to dhEva perumAL and thirukkachi
nambi). ananthAzhwAn and other SrIvaishNavas come down
and welcome emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr first refuses to
climb on thirumalai saying that thiruvEnkatam hill is a form of
AdhisEshan himself. But after his sishyas prolonged requests
saying that if emperumAnAr does not climb the hill how can
they climb the same, emperumAnAr agrees and with utmost
devotion climbs the hill. thirumalai nambi himself comes to
the entrance of thirumalai and welcomes emperumAnAr.
emperumAnAr then visits the garden “irAmAnusan” that is
maintained by ananthAzhwAn and seeing the great variety of
fresh flowers he feels blissful. As stated by thirumangai
AzhwAr “vaLarththathanAl payan peRREn” (parakAla nAyaki
declares that she was pleased/honoured by nurturing her pet
parrot since the parrot repeats emperumAn‘s
names/charithram), emperumAnAr also becomes very
pleased by ananthAzhwAn’s utmost dedication.

Once, when ananthAzhwAn and his pregnant wife was

working on making a pond for the garden, emperumAn
himself appears as a small boy and tries to help him.
ananthAzhwAn wanting to fulfill his AchAryan’s instructions
on his own rejects the boy’s help. ananthAzhwAn’s wife
accepts the boy’s help in absence of ananthAzhwAn. Coming
to know about that, ananthAzhwAn becomes very angry and
he starts chasing the boy and finally throws his crow-bar on
the boy. The crow-bar hits the chin of the boy but the boy
vanishes into the temple. thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn‘s chin itself

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

looks hurt and that is why even today pachai karpUram

(camphor) is applied on thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn’s chin to cool
down the wound.

Once when ananthAzhwAn was bitten by a snake. When his

associates become worried, he simply says if the snake that
bit me is more powerful, I will give up this body and serve
emperumAn in paramapadham after bathing in virajA river. If
the snake that was bitten (my body) is more powerful, I will
continue my kainkaryam here in thiruvEnkatam after bathing
in the pushkariNi here. Such was his attachment to
kainkaryam, he did not care a bit for his body.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Once when ananthAzhwAn brought a bag of prasAdham from

thiruvEnkatam during a travel to a nearby town. When he
opens the bag of prasAdham, he notices some ants, he at
once instructs his sishyas to leave them back at the hill. He
says “since kulasEkara AzhwAr has declared that he (and
other devotees of emperumAn) wants to be anything on
thirumalai, this may be him, so we should not disturb their life
on thiruvEnkatam”.

Once when ananthAzhwAn was making a garland,

thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn sends some one to summon
ananthAzhwAn at his sannidhi. ananthAzhwAn arrives late
after completing his kainkaryam of making the garland.
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn asks why he was late and
ananthAzhwAn replies “while the flowers are blooming I want

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

to make the garland, I have nothing else to do in this sannidhi

other than my kainkaryam as ordered by emperumAnAr“.
emperumAn then asks “What if I ask you to leave this place
then?” and ananthAzhwAn replies “You arrived at thirumalai a
little before me and I came here at the orders of my
AchAryan. How can you ask me to leave?”. emperumAn was
very pleased to see the great AchArya nishtai of
ananthAzhwAn.

ananthAzhwAn’s instructions and glories are identified in

various places in the vyAkyAnams. Let us see some of them
now.

• periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 4.4.1 – maNavALa mAmunigaL

vyAkyAnam – In this pAsuram, AzhwAr glorifies the
SrIvaishNavas of thirukkOshtiyUr that they wont utter any
other words than what is dear to their AchAryan.
mAmunigaL reveals ananthAzhwAn’s attachment towards
bhattar (even though bhattar is much younger to him).
During his final days, ananthAzhwAn asks some
SrIvaishNavas which name is dear to bhattar. They reply
that bhattar has great attachment to namperumAL’s name
“azhagiya maNavALan”. ananthAzhwAn then says
“Though uttering husband’s name is improper etiquette,
since bhattar likes this name very much I will also say it”
and says “azhagiya maNavALan” and ascends to
paramapadham. Though ananthAzhwAn wanted to say
emperumAnAr‘s name before ascending to
paramapadham, because he heard the liking of bhattar
for “azhagiya maNavALan” he took up to that.
• nAchiyAr thirumozhi 7.2 – periyavAchchAn piLLai
vyAkyAnam – In this pAsuram, ANdAL explains that
pAnchajanyam was born in the ocean but ended up
reaching the divine hands of emperumAn. To explain this
periyavAchchAn piLLai highlights an incident involving
ananthAzhwAn and nanjIyar. vEdhAnthi after being
reformed by bhattar, divides his wealth in to 3 parts, gives
1 part each to his two wives and brings 1 part to his
AchAryan (bhattar). He also eventually accepts
sannyAsam and comes to SrIrangam to serve his

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

AchAryan. Hearing this ananthAzhwAn tells him “You

were nicely situated in gruhasthAshramam, you could
have just continued there with the true understanding
about spiritual matters and served your AchAryan and
bhAgavathas and eventually could have ended up any
way in paramapadham. Why did you accept
sannyAsam?”. Other SrIvaishNavas asked what to do
then? ananthAzhwAn then explains that one should be
born in thirumanthram (true knowledge parmAthmA,
jIvAthmA and their relationship) and be nurtured in
dhvaya mahA manthram (understanding that emperumAn
is both upAyam (process) and upEyam (goal)) and live
their life accordingly.
• nAchiyAr thirumozhi 12.5 – periyavAchchAn piLLai
vyAkyAnam – In this pAsuram, ANdAL explains how all
the gOpas and gOpis where fainting immediately after
seeing kaNNan emperumAn dancing on kALiyan the
snake. ananthAzhwAn was travelling with SrI nambi guha
dhAsar to meet emperumAnAr. While reaching
SrIrangam, they see some EkAngis (kainkaryaparars) of
emperumAnAr who had shaven heads and were coming
out of cauvery after bathing. When enquired they inform
that emperumAnAr has left this world and went to
paramapadham. Hearing this, nambi guha dhAsar
climbed a near by tree wanting to jump off the same and
commit suicide. At that time ananthAzhwAn says to nambi
that since you did not give up your life as soon as you
heard about emperumAnAr’s ascending to
paramapadham, even if you jump off the tree you wont
die, you will only break your legs. This incident beautifully
relates the attachment of gOpas and gOpis towards
krishNan.
• perumAL thirumozhi 4.10 – periyavAchchAn piLLai
vyAkyAnam – In this padhigam, kulasEkara AzhwAr
manifests great attachment towards thiruvEnkatam. He
declares that he just wants to become something on the
divine hill. ananthAzhwAn explains that he would even
not mind becoming thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn himself so that
there is some connection with the divine hill.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• periya thirumozhi 5.5.1 – periyavAchchAn piLLai

vyAkyAnam – In this padhigam, thirumangai AzhwAr as
parakAla nAyaki cries out for thiruvEnkatam saying
“vEnkatamE vEnkatamE” showing her great attachment
for the dhivya dhEsam. nanjIyar identifies that this is
similar to bhattar calling out namperumAL as “azhaghiya
maNavALan” and ananthAzhwAn calling out SrInivAsan
as “thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn” – their full attachment towards
those names get fully revealed by their calling out.
• thiruvAimozhi 6.7.1 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam – In
this padhigam, nammAzhwAr shows great attachment to
vaithamAnithi emperumAn and thirukkOLUr
dhivyadhEsam. nampiLLai identifies an incident where
ananthAzhwAn highlights the importance of staying in
ones own dhivyadhEsam and serving the emperumAn
right there. ananthAzhwAn once meets a SrIvaishNava
who is living and doing farming in a village named chOLA
kulAnthakan. He asks where the SrIvaishNava is from
and the SrIvaishNava says that he is from thirukkOLUr.
ananthAzhwAn then asks him why he left his native place.
The SrIvaishNava replies he was unable to find a job
there so he left from there. For that, ananthAzhwAn
replies, you could have herded some donkeys and
earned some money and continued staying in
thirukkOLUr which is very dear to emperumAn and
nammAzhwAr and served them there instead of coming
here and doing farming here in this village. He highlights
that for the jIvAthmA while in this world, its best to be in a
dhivyadhEsam amidst SrIvaishNavas and engaged in
kainkaryam.
• thiruvAimozhi 6.8.1 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam – In
this padhigam, nammAzhwAr as parAngusa nAyaki sends
a bird as messenger to emperumAn to convey her deep
sorrow in separation. At that time AzhwAr says he will
give both this world and paramapadham to the bird for
being his messenger (since parAngusa nAyaki is
emperumAn’s nAyaki/consort, she owns everything
owned by emperumAn). When some one asks if
parAngusa nAyaki gives everything to the bird, where will

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

she stay?, ananthAzhwAn replies “she will stay in a place

that is given by the bird itself” in a beautiful way.
• thiruvAimozhi 7.2.9 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam – In
this pAsuram, nammAzhwAr says “en thirumagaL sEr
mArban” about emperumAn – that he is the abode of SrI
mahAlakshmi. ananthAzhwAn names his daughter “en
thirumagaL” out of great attachment to AzhwAr’s divine
words.
• vArthAmAlai – 345 – bhattar once sends one of his
sishyas to ananthAzhwAn to find out how a SrIvaishNava
should conduct himself. He goes to ananthAzhwAn’s
thirumALigai and reaches there during
thadhIyArAdhanam. Since the place was full, he waits
until every one eats. ananthAzhwAn spots him and invites
him to accept prasAdham with him in the end.
ananthAzhwAn then enquires about the SrIvaishNava
and the SrIvaishNava mentions that he is a sishya of
bhattar and bhattar sent him to find out how a
SrIvaishNava should be. ananthAzhwAn says
“SrIvaishNava should be like a stork, hen, salt and you”.
• Stork usually waits for the best fish and just picks that.
Similarly, SrIvaishNavas should depend on bhagavAn for
everything and just accept bhAgavatha kainkaryam which
is the biggest benediction.
• Hen kindles the dirt and picks up pieces of rice from
there. Similarly, SrIvaishNavas should search through
sAsthram (which contains many details for variety of
people) and pick up valuable principles like paragatha
svIkAram, bhAgavatha kainkaryam, etc and follow them.
• Salt mixes with food items in a subtle manner and makes
the food delicious. Also, absence of salt is easily
noticeable. Similarly, SrIvaishNavas should subdue
subdue their egos and bring happiness into other
SrIvaishNavas lives due to their presence. And they
should conduct themselves that in their absence every
one is thinking about the good deeds of them.
• Finally, you (the SrIvaishNava who asked this question)
came here, waited for everyone to have prasAdham and
submissively inquired me about the most important

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

principle. Similarly, SrIvaishNavas should also look out for

others’ happiness and be submissive in their actions.

ananthAzhwAn is honoured by thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn even

today. Both during his appearance day (chithrai/chithrai) and
thIrtham day (thiruvAdi pUram), thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn visits
the garden of ananthAzhwAn and gives his own garland and
SrI satagOpam to the maghizha tree (under which
ananthAzhwAn’s divine form was cremated) in the garden.

ananthAzhwAn – thirumalai

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

ananthAzhwAn. He was fully situated in bhAgavatha nishtai
and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us pray at
his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha
nishtai.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ananthAzhwAn’s works can be downloaded from

http://acharya.org/anandazhvar/index.html.

ananthAzhwAn’s thaniyan:

akilAthma guNAvAsam agyAna thimirApaham

AsrithAnAm susaraNam vandhE ananthArya dhEsikam

அகிேோத்ம குணோேோஸம் அஜ் ஞோ திமிரோபேம்

ஆச்ரிதோநோம் ஸுஸரணம் ேந்னத அநந்தோர்ய
னதசிகம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

23. thiruvarangathu amudhanAr

thirunakshathram: panguni, hastham

avathAra sthalam: SrIrangam

AchAryan: kUraththAzhwAn

Place from where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

thiuvarangathu amudhanAr was previously known as periya

kOil nambi. He was the official guardian of SrI rangam temple
and was doing purOhithyam (reading purANam, vEdha
viNNappam, etc). Initially, he was not favourable towards
emperumAnAr‘s efforts to reform the activities in the temple.
But, by the divine grace of SrIman nArAyaNan, he ultimately
got the relationship with emperumAnAr and benedicted.

When emperumAnAr was declared by periya perumAL as

udayavar (the master) and wanted all the activities in the
temple to be organized in the most optimum way, periya kOil
nambi did not allow easy access to emperumAnAr.
emperumAnAr became frustrated and first decided to remove
him from his position. But one day, when emperumAnAr was
waiting for perumAL’s purappAdu, emperumAn appears in his

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

dream and informs him that periya kOil nambi is dear to him
since he has served him for too long.

emperumAnAr then engages AzhwAn to educate and guide

periya kOil nambi so that he becomes fit to serve him and
allow his reforms. AzhwAn starts slowly making an impact
and eventually one day periya kOil nambi wants to become
the sishya of emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr advises periya
kOil nambi to accept AzhwAn as his AchArya since he was
the one who reformed him. periya kOil nambi then becomes
named amudhanAr by emperumAnAr himself due to his
classic ability to write nectarean poems in thamizh.
Subsequently, amudhanAr develops extreme attachment
towards AzhwAn and emperumAnAr.

amudhanAr handing over the control of periya kOil to

emperumAnAr

When amudhanAr’s mother passes away, on the 11th day, a

ceremony named EkOthishtam is to be performed where a
person is assumed to be the body of the deceased person
and offered a great feast. At the end of the feast, the
consumer of the feast will be asked if he is satisfied and
unless he says he is fully satisfied, the ceremony does not
become complete. The main aspect of this ceremony is, the
one consuming the feast cannot participate in any temple
kainkaryam for 1 full year those days. amudhanAr wanting to
have an advanced SrIvaishNava approaches emperumAnAr
and asks him to identify such person. emperumAnAr at once
asks AzhwAn to go to that ceremony and AzhwAn happily
accepts. Once the feast is over, amudhanAr asks AzhwAn if
he was satisfied and AzhwAn says he will be satisfied only it
the temple control is handed over to emperumAnAr.
amudhanAr at once agrees and hands the temple keys and
control to emperumAnAr through AzhwAn to fulfill his
commitment. At that time, amudhanAr also gives the
purOhithyam kainkaryam to AzhwAn (thus we can see
descendants of AzhwAn still continuing this kainkaryam in
SrIrangam). amudhanAr becomes less attached to the temple

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

since he gave up all his kainkaryams. Seeing that,

emperumAnAr goes to thiruvarangapperumAL arayar and
requests him to give the iyaRpA recital right to him. arayar
obliges and gives the same to emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr
then teaches iyaRpA to amudhanAr and asks him to perform
iyaRpA recital in SrIrangam temple permanently thus
engaging him in emperumAn’s kainkaryam as well.

Appearance and glories of rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi

After some time, amudhanAr writes rAmAnusa

nURRanthAdhi (108 pAsurams) on emperumAnAr and
submits that to emperumAn and emperumAnAr.
namperumAL, once during the last day of brahmOthsavam
orders emperumAnAr not to accompany him in the
procession and asks the SrIvaishNavas to recite rAmAnusa
nURRanthAdhi during the procession – which eventually
becomes a routine to be followed during every uthsavam.
Understanding emperumAn’s desire, emperumAnAr himself
acknowledges this great work of amudhanAr and includes
that as part of iyaRpA similar to how kaNNinuN chiru thAmbu
of madhurakavi AzhwAr (which glorifies nammAzhwAr) is

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

included in mudhalAyiram. This prabhandham becomes to be

famously known as prapanna gAyathri and emperumAnAr
also instructs all SrIvaishNavas to recite this prabhandham
atleast once every day similar to gAyathri japam being
mandatorily recited everyday by the ones who have
undergone brahmOpadhEsam (the ones who wear the
yagyOpavItham – sacred thread).

In rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi, emperumAnAr‘s name is seen

in every pAsuram. That is why it became to be known as
rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi as well. It presents all that is
needed to be understood by AchArya abhimAna nishtars
(one who depends on the grace of AchAryan). This
prabhandham also establishes that the one who is fully
focussed on AchAryan automatically has bhagavath
sambandham (relationship with bhagavAn) and does not
need to make any special effort for the same. That is why all
of our pUrvAchAryas proclaimed that we should always fully
depend on SrI rAmAnujar’s lotus feet.

nadAthUr ammAL who was the leader amongst great

scholars declared that emperumAnAr is both the means and
goal for SrIvaishNavas based on pERonRu maRRillai
pAsuram (45) and ninRa vaN kIrthi pAsuram (76) of this
divine prabhandham named rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi.

periyavAchchAn piLLai‘s son nAyanArAchchAn piLLai extensively

uses rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi in his work charmOpAya nirNayam
(http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/p/charamopaya-nirnayam.html) to
bring out the divine glories of emperumAnAr.

mAmunigaL has written a most beautiful and short

commentary for rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi. In the
introduction section, he is beautifully bringing out the glories
of amudhanAr and rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi. Let us see the
gist of that.

charama parva nishtai (full dependence on AchArya) is the

essence of thirumanthram and all AzhwArs‘ pAsurams. This
was revealed by madhurakavi AzhwAr towards

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

nammAzhwAr. amudhanAr is also very similar to

madhurakavi AzhwAr as he manifests full dependance
towards emperumAnAr in his prabhandham as well as acts.
He was reformed by emperumAnAr purely out of his divine
mercy through AzhwAn‘s tireless and merciful efforts. Just
like madhurakavi AzhwAr revealed his nishtai through his 10
pAsurams, amudhanAr reveals his AchArya nishtai through
108 pAsurams in great detail for the benefit of everyone in
this world to understand the most important principles for
AchArya nishtars, follow the same and redeem themselves.
mAmunigaL also identifies that similar to gAyathri manthram
which is recited by upavIdhIs (the ones who wear the sacred
thread) every day, this is called prapanna sAvithri and should
be recited by SrIvaishNavas everyday.

amudhanAr’s expertise

amudhanAr was an expert in thamizh and samskritham. This

helped him present very beautiful meanings for many
pAsurams in aruLicheyal. Let us see one example here:

In thiruvirutham 72nd pAsuram, nampiLLai brings out the

beautiful narration of amudhanAr. In this pAsuram,
nammAzhwAr in the mood of parAngusa nAyaki is feeling
great anxiety in the dark night out of separation from
emperumAn. Usually lovers feel more anxiety in the night
during separation. At that time, a small crescent moon
appears and shatters the darkness a little bit. While cool
shade of the moon is most enjoyable during union of lovers, it
is most painful during separation. parAngusa nAyaki then
thinks that darkness was better and now with the cool
crescent moon its worse for her to control her emotions
thinking about emperumAn. To explain this, amudhanAr
beautifully presents a story. Once a tender-hearted
brAhmaNa was travelling through the forest during the night.
He was suddenly chased by a wild-beast and some how he
escapes and climbs on a tree. The beast waits for the
brAhmaNa to climb down to feast on him and brAhmaNa is
so scared. At that time, a tiger approaches the beast, kills it

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

and feasts on it. After finishing that, the tiger looks up to the
brAhmaNa and now waits the brAhmaNa to climb down to
feast on him as well. Now, the brAhmaNa becomes more
scared than even before and starts shivering at the prospect
of being killed by the tiger. The same way, parAngusa nAyaki
was initially fearful of darkness but was more fearful of the
cool crescent moon – explains amudhanAr.

bhattar and amudhanAr

bhattar takes great pride in being born as the son of AzhwAn.

He himself declares that in his sahasranAma bhAshyam he
was born to AzhwAn who has the great wealth of the
relationship to emperumAnAr. amudhanAr also has the
connection of AzhwAn which he himself declares in the 7th
pAsuram of rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi. Once, amudhanAr
out of great ecstasy informs to bhattar through another
SrIvaishNava that “You only have bodily relationship with
AzhwAn but I have an intellectual relationship with AzhwAn”.
bhattar replies that “thats fine! but you yourself should not
boast about it”. AzhwAn‘s relationship is so great that it leads
to amudhanAr going over-board on his pride – but the great
thing about this in the matters of our pUrvAchAryas is, they
dont take these issues beyond those discussions and have
any ill-feeling towards others. Issues are resolved then and
there in a magnanimous way and this is what we have to
understand from such incidents. We must also greatly
appreciate our pUrvAchAryas honesty for having recorded
even such incidents instead of hiding them under the carpet
(which could have been easily done).

Finally, mAmunigaL identifies in his beautiful Arthi

prabhanadham 40th pAsuram that to avoid being submerged
in this sorrowful ocean of samsAram, we should surrender
unto the lotus feet of emperumAnAr, spend our time with the
dear devotees of SrI rAmAnujar always and recite/meditate
on rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi constantly.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life

of thiruvarangathu amudhanAr. He was fully situated
bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to both emperumAnAr
and AzhwAn. Let us pray at their lotus feet that we too get a
little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

thiruvarangathu amudhanAr’s thaniyan:

SrIrangE mInahasthE cha jAtham rangAryanandhanam

rAmAnujapadhAskandham ranganAthagurum bhajE

ஸ்ரீரங் னக மீநேஸ்னத ச ஜோதம் ரங் கோர்யநந்தநம்

ரோமோநுஜபதோஸ்கந்தம் ரங் கநோதகுரும் பனஜ

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

24. nadAthUr ammAL

engaLAzhwAn with nadAthUr ammAL at his lotus feet

thirunakshathram: chithrai, chithrai

avathAra sthalam: kAnchIpuram

AchAryan: engaLAzhwAn

sishyas: sruthaprakAsika bhattar (sudharsana sUri), kidAmbi

appiLLAr, etc

Place where he attained paramapadham: kAnchIpuram

Works: thathva sAram, parathvAdhi panchakam (Discussed

briefly in - http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-
anubhavam-parathvadhi.html), gajEndhra mOksha slOka
dhvayam, paramArtha slOka dhvayam, prapanna pArijAtha,
charamOpAya sangraham, SrI bhAshya upanyAsam,
pramEya mAlai, yathirAja vijaya bhANam, etc.

Born in kAnchIpuram, he was named varadharAjan by his

parents. He is the grand son of nadhAthUr AzhwAn who is

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

one of the SrIbhAshya simhAsanAdhipathis (leader)

appointed by emperumAnAr himself.

He was serving kAnchIpuram dhEva perumAL every day by

offering him warm milk. He would prepare the milk with
perfect warmth, just like how a mother would prepare milk for
her child. That is why he was fondly honoured by dhEva
perumAL himself as ammAL or vAthsya varadhAchAryar.

When ammAL wanted to learn SrIbhAshyam from his

grandfather, his grandfather due to his old age, asks ammAL
to go to engaLAzhwAn and learn the same. ammAL goes to
engaLAzhwAn's thirumALigai (home) and knocks on the
door. engaLAzhwAn asks "Who is that?" and ammAL replies
"I am varadhan". engaLAzhwAn says "Come back after the 'I'
dies". ammAL returns to his home and enquires from his
grandfather about the incident. nadhAthUr AzhwAn says we
must always introduce ourselves as "adiyEn" (dhAsan) with
total humility and never use the terms "I", "I am", etc., which
are the cause of ahankAram (ego). Understanding the
principle, ammAL returns to engaLAzhwAn and knocks at the
door. This time when engaLAzhwAn asks who is at the door,
ammAL replies "adiyEn varadhan is here". Being pleased,
engaLAzhwAn welcomes ammAL, accepts him as his sishya
and teaches him all the valuable principles. engaLAzhwAn
also becomes to be known as ammAL AchAryan, since he
became the AchAryan of nadAthUr ammAL who becomes to
be a great scholar.

ammAL's prime sishya is sruthaprakAsika bhattar

(sudharsana sUri - who is the grand son of vEdha vyAsa
bhattar) who learns SrI bhAshyam from ammAL and goes on
to write the glorious commentary sruthaprakAsikai for SrI
bhAshyam and commentaries for vEdhArtha sangraham and
sharaNAgathi gadhyam as well.

Once ammAL was teaching SrI bhAshyam to a dozen

SrIvaishNavas. The students say bhakthi yOgam is very
difficult to follow. He then explains prapathi to them. They

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

further say prapathi is even more difficult to implement. At

that time, ammAL says, "Just think that emperumAnAr's lotus
feet is the only refuge and you will be redeemed".

Similar incident is revealed in charamOpAya nirNayam as

well.

nadAthUr ammAL was teaching SrIbhAshyam to some

srivaishnavas. At that time a few of them asked "bhakthi
yOgam cannot be performed by a jIvAthmA because it is very
difficult to do (as it requires many adhikArams like being
male, thrIvarNika (brAhmaNa, kshthriya, vaisya), constant
meditation and service to emperumAn, etc) and prapathi
cannot be performed because it is against the svarUpam
(jIvAthmA being utterly dependent on emperumAn, doing
something himself for his ultimate goal will be against that
utter dependence). In such case, how can the jIvAthmA attain
the ultimate goal?". nadAthUr ammAL replies that "for those
who are unable to do this, emperumAnAr's abhimAnam is the
ultimate path. Without this there is no other way. I am firmly
confident of this". ammAL's final instructions are explained in
the following popular slOkam:

prayAnNa kAlE chathuras chvasishyAN padhAthikasthAN

varadhO hi vIkshya
bhakthi prapaththi yadhi dhushkarEva: rAmANujAryam
NamathEthyavAdhIth

ப் ரயோண கோனே சதுரஸ் ச்ேஸிஷ்யோந்

பதோதிகஸ்தோந் ேரனதோ ஹி வீக்ஷ்ய
பக்தி ப் ரபத்தி யதி துஷ்கனரே: ரோமோநுஜோர்யம்
நமனதத்யேோதீத்

In his final days, when his sishyas ask nadAthUr ammAL

what is their refuge, he replies "bhakthi and prapathi are not
fit for your svarUpam; Simply take shelter of emperumAnAr
and fully depend on him; your ultimate goal will be
accomplished".

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

In vArthA mAlai, a few incidents involving nadAthUr ammAL

are identified. Let us see them now:

• 118 - engaLAzhwAn was explaining charama slOkam to

nadAthUr ammAL. When explaining "sarva dharmAn
parithyajya" - nadAthUr ammAL wonders why is
emperumAn talking with so much svAthanthriyam in
disregarding all dharmams (upAyams) that are explained
in sAsthram. engaLAzhwAn replies that it is the true
nature of bhagavAn - he is fully independent - so it is
fitting for him to say that. Moreover, he says, emperumAn
is relieving the jIvAthmA from indulging in other upAyams
which are against the true nature of jIvAthmA - since the
jIvAthmA is fully dependent on bhagavAn it is fitting for
the jIvAthmA to accept bhagavAn as upAyam. So,
engaLAzhwAn categorically explains that bhagavAn's
words here are most apt.
• 198 - When nadAthUr ammAL and a SrIvaishNava
named ALipiLLAn (probably an abhrAmaNa SrIvaishNava
or a non-AchArya purushar) were having prasAdham
together, another SrIvaishNava named perungUrppiLLai
watches that with great joy and says "Without seeing you
mixing with this SrIvaishNava freely, had I just heard the
general instruction that varNAsrama dharmam must be
respected all times, I would have completely lost the
essence". ammAL replies "The fact is whoever/whatever
related to a true AchAryan must be accepted/embraced
by us. So, even this anushtAnam of me mixing with this
great SrIvaishNava is understood to be included in the
special instruction (bhAgavatha dharmam) which is
explained by our pUrvAchAryas".

In the vyAkyAnam for piLLai lOkAchAryar's thathva thrayam

(http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/p/thathva-thrayam.html) sUthram
35, maNavALa mAmunigaL quotes a beautiful slOkam from
ammAL's thathva sAram to establish the jIva svAthanthriyam
(independence given by emperumAn to jIvAthmA) in the first
thought of every action and how emperumAn guides the
jIvAthmA from that first thought in every action.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

nadAthUr ammAL. He was a great scholar and was very dear
to engaLAzhwAn. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get
a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

nadAthUr ammAL's thaniyan:

vandhE aham varadhAryam tham vathsAbi janabhUshaNam

bhAshyAmrutha pradhAnAdhya sanjIvayathi mAmapi

ேந்னத அேம் ேரதோர்யம் தம் ேத்ஸோபி

ஜநபூஷணம்
போஷ்யோம் ருத ப் ரதோநோத்ய ஸஞ் ஜீேயதி மோமபி

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

25. vEdha vyAsa bhattar

AzhwAn with parAsara bhattar and vEdha vyAsa bhattar

thirunakshathram: vaikAsi, anusham

avathAra sthalam: SrIrangam

AchAryan: embAr

Place where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

vEdha vyAsa bhattar is the illustrious son of kUraththAzhwAn

and the younger brother of parAsara bhattar. He is also
known as SrI rAma piLLai, SrI rAma sUri, etc. sudharsana
sUri (srutha prakAsikA bhattar), the one who wrote the
commentary for SrI bhAshyam, is a descendant of vEdha
vyAsa bhattar.

Both bhattars were born to AzhwAn and ANdAL out of the

prasAdham from periya perumAL (SrI ranganAthan). Once
when AzhwAn and ANdAL were lying down in the evening
without consuming any prasAdham (AzhwAn was doing unja
vruthi and on that day due to rain he was unable to collect
any grains), they hear the final naivEdhyam bell ringing from

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

the temple. ANdAL says to emperumAn “Here you have

AzhwAn who is your pure devotee without any prasAdham
but you are enjoying nice bhOgam there”. Understanding this,
periya perumAL sends his prasAdham to AzhwAn and
ANdAL with all his paraphernelia through uththama nambi.
Seeing the prasAdham coming in, AzhwAn is awe-struck.
Immediately, he turns to ANdAL and asks did you complain to
emperumAn and ANdAL admits her request. AzhwAn
becomes upset for insisting emperumAn to provide for their
prasAdham. He accepts 2 handfuls of prasAdham alone,
consumes some and gives the remnants to ANdAL. Those 2
handfuls of prasAdham eventually blesses them with two
beautiful children.

On the 12th day after the birth of the two children,

emperumAnAr arrives with embAr and all his sishyas to
AzhwAn‘s home. He asks embAr to bring the children over.
embAr, while bringing the children over, recites dhvaya mahA
manthram in their ears and hands over the children to
emperumAnAr. emperumAnAr at once identifies that they
have had dhvaya manthrOpadhEsam and asks embAr to be
their AchAryan. embAr happily accepts that and teaches
them all the divine principles of our sidhAntham.
emperumAnAr then names the children parAsara bhattar and
vEdha vyAsa bhattar in memory of sage parAsara and sage
vEdha vyAsa for their contribution for sanAthana dharmam.
Thus he fulfills one of the vows to ALavandhAr where he said
he will do something which will show our gratitude to the
sages parAsara and vEdha vyAsa.

Of the two brothers, parAsara bhattar lived for a short period

and left to paramapadham out of great desire to leave
samsAram. ANdAL (bhattar’s mother) was magnanimous
during the last moments of bhattar and oversees bhattar’s
final rites blissfully considering bhattar himself wanted to go
to parampadham to perform eternal service to SrIman
nArAyaNan there. On completion of the final rites, vEdha
vyAsa bhattar returns home and starts crying out loud out of
separation from parAsara bhattar. ANdAL at once chastises
vEdha vyAsa bhattar and asks if he is jealous of parAsara

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

bhattar ascending to paramapadham. vEdha vyAsa bhattar

realizes his mistake at once, consoles himself, begs his
mother for pardon and continues the great celebrations for
parAsara bhattar.

periya perumAL invites vEdha vyAsa bhattar over to his

sannidhi and tells him “Dont think that parAsara bhattar has
left you. I am here for you like your father.”. vEdha vyAsa
bhattar then leads the sampradhAyam with other stalwarts
such as nanjIyar, etc.

In our vyAkyAnams, a few ithihyams (incidents) that show the

glories of vEdha vyAsa bhattar are seen. Let us see some of
them now.

• thirumAlai 37 – periyavAchchAn piLLai vyAkyAnam – In

this pAsuram, thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr explains that
periya perumAL is the eternal relative for us and he will
protect us at all times. In connection to this, it is identified
that when vEdha vyAsa bhattar was going through some
suffering, parAsara bhattar explains to him this principle
and asks him to fully depend on periya perumAL.
• mudhal thiruvanthAdhi 4 – nampiLLai/periyavAchchAn
piLLai vyAkyAnams – poigaiyAzhwAr explains that
rudhran was explaining bhagavath vishayam to agasthya,
pulasthya, dhaksha and mArkandEya (as if he knows
everything about emperumAn). When vEdha vyAsa
bhattar sarcastically comments about rudhran, parAsara
bhattar says “rudhran becomes confused when thamO
guNam overtakes his mind, atleast now he is engaging in
bhagavath vishayam – so dont criticise him now”.
• thiruvAimozhi 1.2.10 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam – In
this pAsuram, nammAzhwAr explains the meaning of
thirumanthram (ashtAkshari). A beautiful incident is
identified by nampiLLai here. The meanings of
ashtAkshari must be heard from the AchAryan only. Once
during a kAlakshEpam of AzhwAn, while explaining the
meanings of this pAsuram, he observes the presence of
his two sons – parAsara bhattar and vEdha vyAsa
bhattar. He asks them to go to embAr (their AchAryan)

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

and learn the meanings. They both oblige and starts

leaving. But AzhwAn calls them back and tells them
“everything in this world is so temporary that, you may not
even reach embAr‘s mutt successfully (something could
happen on the way to both of you). So, I myself will teach
you the meanings of ashtAkshari” and explains the same
to them. AzhwAn was a classic example of how a
SrIvaishNava should be – most merciful towards others
spiritual welfare and most detached from others.
• thiruvAimozhi 3.2 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam
(introduction section) – In this padhigam, nammAzhwAr is
unable to behold the anubhavam of thirumAlirunchOlai
azhagar. Here vEdha vyAsa bhattar raises a doubt to
parAsara bhattar. “Why is AzhwAr suffering so much and
not able to enjoy emperumAn fully in archAvathAram
which is right in front of us now unlike parampadham
(which is far far away) or vibhavam (which happened long
ago)?”. parAsara bhattar replies “For less intelligent
people, the 5 different forms of bhagavAn (para, vyUha,
vibhava, archai, antharyAmi) are different from each
other. But for the ones who have fully understood the
principles, since all these forms represent the same
bhagavAn, all of them are full in all qualities. But now,
AzhwAr is being overwhelmed by the beauty of azhagar
and he is not able to fully enjoy and behold those
emotions”.
• thiruvAimozhi 6.7.5 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam –
When parAsara bhattar explains the beauty of the
gardens, etc around the thirukkOLUr temple of
vaithamAnidhi emperumAn, vEdha vyAsa bhattar reminds
him about the more detailed explanation given by embAr
that AzhwAr‘s mind becomes greatly pacified by seeing
the beauty around the dhivya dhEsam.
• thiruvAimozhi 7.2 – nampiLLai eedu vyAkyAnam – When
the two bhattars became eligible for marriage, ANdAL
asks AzhwAn to go and inform periya perumAL. AzhwAn
says “Why should we worry for bhagavAn’s family?” – he
was totally surrendered to emperumAn that he was not
indulging in any self-efforts. When AzhwAn goes to periya
perumAL, periya perumAL himself asks if AzhwAn wants

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

to say something. AzhwAn replies that “Others are saying

that, these two bhattars need to get married” and
emperumAn subsequently arranges for their marriage.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

vEdha vyAsa bhattar. He was fully situated in bhAgavatha
nishtai and was very dear to emperumAnAr himself. Let us
pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such
bhAgavatha nishtai.

vEdha vyAsa bhattar’s thaniyan:

pauthram SrIrAmamisrasya SrIvathsAngasya nandhanam

rAmasUrim bhajE bhattaparAsAravarAnujam

சபௌத்ரம் ஸ்ரீரோமமிச்ரஸ்ய ஸ்ரீேத்ஸோங் கஸ்ய

நந்தநம்
ரோமஸூரிம் பனஜ பட்டபரோஸோரேரோநுஜம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

26. Srutha prakASikA bhattar

thirunakshathram: not known

avathAra sthalam: SrIrangam

AchAryan: vEdha vyAsa bhattar, nadAthUr ammAL

Works: Srutha prakASikai, Srutha pradhIpikai, vyAkyAnam

for vEdhArtha sangraham (thAthparya dhIpikai), vyAkyAnams
for sharaNAgathi gadhyam and subhAla upanishadh, suka
pakshIyam

Born as the grand son of vEdha vyAsa bhattar and named as

sudhasana sUri (sudharsana bhattar), he becomes to be a
great scholar of our sampradhAyam. He is the one who wrote
the most important/in-depth commentaries for SrI bhAshyam
named srutha prakAsikai and srutha pradhIpikai. He named
them such that it will be understood that the principles are
explained as heard from emperumAnAr through nadAthUr
ammAL.

bhattar went to kAnchIpuram to learn SrI bhAshyam from

ammAL. ammAL, appreciating bhattar’s brilliance and
intellect, use to wait for him to arrive for the kAlakshEpam
and only then he will start his lectures. Some sishyas of
ammAL started saying that it is because of bhattar’s high
family background ammAL was being partial towards him.
ammAL wanting to reveal the glories of bhattar, once stops in
the middle of a lecture and asks everyone what he explained
the previous day on that topic. While everyone else is dumb-
founded, bhattar beautifully explains everything word-by-
word. Seeing that, ammAL‘s sishyas understand the
greatness of bhattar.

Just like nampiLLai, periyavAchchAn piLLai, etc wrote

commentaries for dhivya prabhandhams and firmly
established the in-depth meanings of them, bhattar wrote

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

commentaries for SrI bhAshyam, vEdhArtha sangraham, etc

and established the in-depth meanings of samskritha
vEdhAntham.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

srutha prakAsikA bhattar. He was a great scholar and was
very dear to nadAthUr ammAL. Let us pray at his lotus feet
that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

srutha prakAsikA bhattar’s thaniyan:

yathIndhra krutha bhAshyArthA yadh vyAkyAnEna dharsithA:

varam sudharsanAryam tham vandhE kUra kulAdhipam

யதீந்த்ர க்ருத போஷ்யோர்த்தோ யத் ே் யோக்யோனநந

தர்சிதோ:
ேரம் ஸுதர்சநோர்யம் தம் ேந்னத கூர குேோதிபம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

27. periyavAchchAn piLLai

periyavAchchAn piLLai - sEngaNUr

thirunkaksathram: AvaNi rOhiNi

avathAra sthalam: sanganallUr (sEngaNUr).

AchAryan: nampiLLai

sishyas: nAyanArAchchAn piLLai, vAdhi kEsari azhagiya

maNavALa jIyar, parakAla dhAsar, etc

Born as krishnan as the son of yAmunar in sEngaNUr, he

becomes to be known as periyavAchchAn piLLai. He is one
of the prime sishyas of nampiLLai and learnt all sAsthra
arthams from nampiLLai himself. periyavAchchAn piLLai
became an illustrious AchAryan in our sampradhAyam by the
grace of nampiLLai.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

periyavAchchAn piLLai - nampiLLai

As identified in periya thirumozhi 7.10.10, it is said that

thirukkaNNamangai empeumAn wanted to learn the
meanings of thirumangai AzhwAr's pAsurams from kaliyan
himself - so kaliyan took the avathAram of nampiLLai and
emperumAn took the avathAram of periyavAchchAn piLLai to
learn all the meanings of the aruLicheyal. He is also known
as vyAkyAna chakkaravarthi, abhaya pradha rAjar, etc. He
adopts nAyanArAchchAn piLLai as his son.

In his life time, he has done vyAkyAnams for:

• 4000 dhiyva prabhandham - He has written vyAkyAnams

for all of aruLicheyal. vyAkyAnams for approximately 400
pAsurams for periyAzhwAr thirumozhi was lost and
mAmunigaL just wrote those missing pAsura
vyAkyAnams.
• sthOthra granthams - He has written vyAkyAnams for
pUrvAchArya srisUkthis like sthOthra rathnam, chathu
slOki, gadhya thryayam, etc and jithanthE sthOthram.
• sri rAmAyaNam - He has selected important slOkams
from sri rAmAyaNam and written a detailed commentary
for those in rAmAyaNa thani slOki. He was named
abhaya pradha rAjar for his masterful explanation of
vibhIshaNa sharanAgathi episode.
• He has also written many rahasya granthams such as
mANikka mAlai, parantha rahasyam, sakala prAmANa
thAthparyam, etc which explains rahasya thrayam in an
excellent manner. He was a pioneer in documenting
rahasya thrayam - piLLai lOkAchAryar took the essence
of nampiLLai and periyavAchchAn piLLai's teachings and
wrote his astAdhasa rahasya granthams.

His expertise in aruLicheyal and sri rAmAyaNam can be

understood by his grantham called pAsurapadi rAmyAyanam
where he uses words from aruLicheyal to explain the whole
of sri rAmAyaNam in a crisp manner.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

The power of his grace can also be understood from the

incident happened in vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar.
jIyar, in his pUrvAshramam was serving in the
thirumadappaLLi (kitchen) of periyavAchchAn piLLai's
thirumALigai. He was an illiterate but had strong devotion
towards his AchAryan. Once when he overheard some
srivaishnavas discussing some vEdhAntha vishayam, he
enquired from them about the topic of discussion. Them
being arrogant and considering him as an illiterate said they
were discussing about a grantham called "musala kisalayam"
(newly blossomed pounder). He went and mentioned this to
his AchAryan and periyavAchchAn piLLai out of his grace
decided to teach everything to him. After a few years, he
becomes a master of all sAstram and goes on to become
vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar and writes several
granthams himself on our sampradhAyam.

Just like periya perumAL, periya pirAtti, periya thiruvadi,

periyAzhwAr and periya kOil, AchchAn piLLai also due to his
greatness became to be known as periyavAchchAn piLLai.
maNavALa mAmunigaL in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai
dedicates two pAsurams specifically to periyavAchchAn
piLLai.

pAsuram: 43
nampiLLai thammudaiya NallaruLAl Eviyidap
pin periyavAchchAn piLLai athanAl
inbA varubathi mARan maRaip poruLai chonnathu
irupathu nAlAyiram

நம் பிள் யள தம் முயடய நே் ேருளோே் ஏவியிடப்

பி ் சபரியேோச்சோ ் பிள் யள அத ோே்
இ ் போ ேருபத்தி மோற ் மயறப்சபோருயளச்
சசோ ் து
இருபத்து நோேோயிரம்

Simple Translation: Out of his grace, nampiLLai orders

periyavAchchAn piLLai to write a commentary for
thiruvAimozhi. Having that in mind, periyavAchchAn piLLai

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

wrote the most enjoyable commentary for nammAzhwAr's

thiruvAimozhi which is the essence of all vEdhas. The
commentary was written similar to sri rAmAyaNam, i.e.,
containing 24000 padi (similar to 24000 slOkams in sri
rAmAyaNam).

pAsuram: 46
periyavAchchAn piLLai pinbuLLavaikkum
theriya vyAkiyaigaL cheyvAl
ariya aruLichcheyal poruLai AriyargatkippOthu
aruLichcheyalAyth thaRiNthu

சபரியேோச்சோ ் பிள் யள பி ் புள் ளயேக்கும்

சதரிய ே் யோகியயகள் சசய் ேோே்
அரிய அருளிச்சசயே் சபோருயள
ஆரியர்கட்கிப்னபோது
அருளிச்சசயேோய் த் தறிந்து

Simple Translation: It is due to periyavAchchAn piLLai's

commentaries for aruLicheyal, the great teachers are able to
understand and propagate the true meanings of aruLicheyal.
Without these vyAkyAnams, no one can speak about the
inner meanings of aruLicheyal.

Also, mAmunigaL in pAsuram 39, identifies that

periyavAchchAn piLLai was one of the 5 vyAkyAna karthAs
for thiruvAimozhi, there by saving it and propagating it to
everyone since without the vyAkyAnams we cannot
understand the inner meanings of aruLicheyal.

Several incidents from his life are recorded in vArthA mAlai

grantham and other pUrVAchArya granthams. Let us see
some here:

• When some asks if we are target of emperumAn's krupai

or leelai - periyavAchchAn piLLai says "if we think that we
are caught in this samsAram, we are target of
emperumAn's krupai and if we think that we are happy in
this samsAram, we are target of emperumAn's leelai".

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• When some one asks what does pArathanthriya mean?

periyavAchchAn piLLai says that depending fully on
emperumAn's sakthi, completely giving up
upAyAntharams (including self efforts) and ever longing
for bhagavath kainkarya mOksham is pArathanthriyam.
• When some one asks what is upAyam? Is it us giving up
everything or holding on to him? periyavAchchAn piLLai
says that both are not upAyam it is emperumAn who
made us give up everything and hold on to him is the
upAyam.
• Once when bandhu of periyavAchchAn piLLai is worried
and he asks for the reason. She says she is very worried
since she has been in this samsAram since anAdhi kAlam
and with so much karma how emperumAn will give her
mOksham. For that periyavAchchAn piLLai says, we are
emperumAn's property and he will take us when he wants
to irrespecitve of our karmas.
• When a srivaishnava finds fault in another srivaishnava,
periyavAchchAn piLLai says that yaman is asking his
servants to move away from srivaishnavas without
looking at their faults, pirAtti says "na kaschin na
aparAdhyathi" - dont look at anyone's faults, perumAL
says even if my bhakthas do mistakes it is good only,
AzhwAr says who ever emperumAn's bhakthas are, they
have to be praised. So sarcastically he says, some one
needs to say the faults in srivaishnavas and let that some
one be this person who finds faults in the other person.
• During a discussion about the greatness about
bhAgavathas, some one starts speaking about
emperumAn and periyavAchchAn piLLai says why speak
sAmAnya vishyam (general matters) when speaking
about visEsha vishayam (special matters).
• periyavAchchAn piLLai says every srivaishnava must
have involvement in aruLicheyal.
• and so on.

periyavAchchAn piLLai's thanian

SrImath krishNa samAhvAya namO yAmuna sUnavE

yath katAkshaika lakshyANam sulabha: SrIdharas sadhA

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ஸ்ரீமத் க்ருஷ்ண ஸமோே்ேோய நனமோ யோமுந

ஸூநனே
யத் கடோயக்ஷக ேக்ஷ்யோணோம் ஸுேப: ஸ்ரீதரஸ்
ஸதோ
I worship periyavAchchAn piLLai who is the son of yAmunar
and whose katAksham will make emperumAn sriman
nArAyanan's grace fall on us very easily.

Let us bow down at his lotus feet and ever remember his
contribution to our sampradhAyam.His special glories can be
read at http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2013/08/mastery-of-
krishnas.html.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

28. eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL

nampiLLai kAlakshEpa gOshti - eeyNNi mAdhava perumAL

seated 2nd from right

thirunakshathram: kArthigai, bharaNi (In yathIndhra

pravaNa prabhAvam it is said to be hastham)

avathAra sthalam: SrIrangam

AchAryan: nampiLLai

sishya: eeyuNNi padmanAbha perumAL (his own son)

eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL is a dear sishya of nampiLLai.

He was also known as siriyAzhwAn appiLLai. It was through
him, eedu mahA vyAkyAnam of thiruvAimozhi got ultimately
transmitted to maNavALa mAmunigaL.

"eethal" means charity in thamizh. "uNNuthal" is eating.

eeyuNNi means one who is very charitable that he will only
eat after feeding other SrIvaishNavas.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

nampiLLai was engaged in constant delivery of bhagavadh

vishaya kAlakshEpams. That was the golden period of
SrIvaishNavam in SrIrangam where everyone was fully
getting drenched in bhagavadh anubhavam through the
supreme intellect of nampiLLai. By the divine grace of
emperumAn and his AchAryan (nanjIyar), nampiLLai was a
classy intellectual who was able to expertly explain the
beautiful principles that are seen in AzhwArs pAsurams
through examples from SrI rAmAyaNam mainly and many
other purANa/ithihAsa incidents.

vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai was a dear sishya of nampiLLai.

While hearing thiruvAimozhi kAlakhsEpams from nampiLLai
during the day time, he was recording them in the night
regularly. After completing the lecture series once, nampiLLai
visits vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai‘s home once. He notices the
palm leaves containing the words which are uttered by him
during his thiruvAimozhi kAlakshEpams. He reads them fully
and was greatly pleased with the manner in which everything
was recorded to perfection. Still, he was upset that vadakku
thiruvIdhi piLLai wrote this without his permission. He shows
his dissent but eventually gets convinced by vadakku
thiruvIdhi piLLai’s great dedication. This vyAkyAnam of
thiruvAimozhi becomes to be famously known as eedu 36000
padi. He hands over the palm leaves to eeyuNNi mAdhava
perumAL and asks him to teach the same to his
descendants. This charithram is explained in
http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/vadakku-
thiruveedhi-pillai/.

eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL teaches this to his son eeyuNNi

padhmanAbha perumAL. eyuNNi padhmanAbha perumAL’s
thirunakshathram is svAthi. eeyuNNi padhmanAbha perumAL
teaches this to his dear sishya nAlur piLLai.

nAlur piLLai is a descendant of nAlurAn (sishya of

kUraththAzhwAn). He was born in mElpAdagam (thoNdai
nAdu). His thirunakshathram is pUsam (pushyam). He is also
known as sumana:kOsElar, kOla varAha perumAL nAyanAr,
rAmAnujArya dhAsar, aruLALar thiruvadi UnRiyavar. His

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

sishyas include nAlUrAchchAn piLLai, thiruppuLingudi jIyar

and thirukkaNNangudi jIyar.

thiruppuLingudi jIyar has written a grantham named

SrIvaishNava charitham.

nAlUrAchchAn piLLai is the son and dear sishya of nAlUr

piLLai. His thirunakshathram is mArgazhi bharaNi. He is also
known as dhEvarAjAchchAn piLLai, dhEvEsar, dhEvAdhipar
and mElnAdu AchchAn piLLai. nAlUrAchchAn piLLai learns
eedu 36000 padi under the lotus feet of his father. His
sishyas include thirunArAyaNapuraththu Ay,
iLampiLichaipiLLai and thiruvAimozhi piLLai.

Both nAlUr piLLai and nAlUrAchchAn piLLai were living in

thirunArAyaNapuram.

thiruvAimozhi piLLai travels to kAnchIpuram to learn the

meanings of thiruvAimozhi under the orders of kUra
kulOthuma dhAsar. At the same time, nAlUr piLLai and
nAlUrAchchAn piLLai also arrive at kAnchipuram. They all
meet in front of dhEva perumAL. dhEva perumAL speaks
through the archakar at that time, reveals that piLLai
lOkAchAryar is none other than emperumAn himself and
orders nAlUr piLLai to teach eedu vyAkyAnam to
thiruvAimozhi piLLai. But nAlUr piLLai asks dhEva perumAL if
he can teach him effectively (due to his old age). dhEva
perumAL then says “Your son (nAlUrAchchAn piLLai) can
teach him then. If he teaches its as good as you yourself
teaching him”. Thus thiruvAimozhi piLLai along with others
learns eedu vyAkyAnam under nAlUrAchchAn piLLai and
eventually he returns to AzhwAr thirunagari and teaches the
same to maNavALa mAmunigaL who becomes to be
famously known as eettu perukkar (one who nourishes eedu
vyakyAnam).

nAlUr piLLai or nAlUrAchchAn piLLai is said to have written

vyAkyAnams for thirumozhi and periyAzhwAr thirumozhi.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

mAmunigaL, in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai, explains the

transmission of eedu vyAkyAnam beautifully in pAsurams 48
and 49.

• In the 48th pAsuram, he says vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai

documented eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam and nampiLLai
took that away from him and handed it over to eeyuNNi
mAdhava perumAL.
• In the 49th pAsuram, he says from eeyuNNi mAdhava
perumAL, his son eeyuNNi padhmanAbha perumAL
learns it and subsequently its transmitted to nAlUr piLLai
and nAlUrAchchAn piLLai. Subsequently it is then taught
to thiruvAimozhi piLLai, thirunArAyaNapuraththu Ay, etc.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL. He was a great scholar and
was very dear to nampiLLai. Let us pray at his lotus feet that
we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai. We have
also seen how eedu was transmitted from nampiLLai to
maNavALa mAmunigaL in this article.

eeyuNNi mAdhava perumAL’s thaniyan:

lOkAchArya padhAmbhOja samsrayam karuNAmbhudhim

vEdhAntha dhvaya sampannam mAdhavAryam aham bhajE

னேோகோசோர்ய பதோம் னபோஜ ஸம் சர் யம்

கருணோம் புதிம்
னேதோந்த த்ேய ஸம் பந்நம் மோதேோர்யம் அேம்
பனஜ

eeyuNNi padhmanAbha perumAL’s thaniyan:

mAdhavAchArya sathputhram thathpAdhakamalAsritham

vAthsalyAdhi guNair yuktham padhmanAbha gurum bhajE

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

மோதேோசோர்ய ஸத்புத்ரம் தத்போதகமேோச்ரிதம்

ேோத்ஸே் யோதி குயணர் யுக்தம் பத்மநோப குரும்
பனஜ

nAlUr piLLai’s thaniyan:

chathurgrAma kulOdhbhUtham dhrAvida bhrahma vEdhinam

yagyArya vamsathilakam SrIvarAhamaham bhajE

சதுர்க்ரோம குனேோத்பூதம் த்ரோவிட ப்ரே்ம னேதிநம்

யஜ் ஞோர்ய ேம் சதிேகம் ஸ்ரீேரோேமேம் பனஜ

nAlUrAchchAn piLLai’s thaniyan:

namOsthu dhEvarAjAya chathurgrAma nivAsinE

rAmAnujArya dhAsasya suthAya guNasAlinE

நனமோஸ்து னதேரோஜோய சதுர்க்ரோம நிேோஸினந

ரோமோனுஜோர்ய தோஸஸ்ய ஸுதோய குணஸோலினந

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

29. naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar

nampiLLai kAlakshEpa gOshti – naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai

bhattar seated 3rd from left

thirunakshathram: ippasi, avittam

avathAra sthalam: SrIrangam

AchAryan: His own father (bhattar), nampiLLai

sishya: vaLamazhagiyAr

Place where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

Works: thiruvAimozhi 125000 padi vyAkyAnam, pishtapasu

nirNayam, ashtAkshara dhIpikai, rahasya thrayam, dhvaya
pItakkattu, thathva vivaraNam, SrIvathsa vimsathi, etc.

He is said to be the son or the grand son of parAsara bhattar.

He was named as uththaNda bhattar and later becomes to be
famously known as naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar. Note: It
is stated that he is the son of parAsara bhattar in periya
thirumudi adaivu and he is identified as the grand son of
kUraththAzhwAn in 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhavam.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

In pattOlai, he is identified as the great grand-son of vEdha

vyAsa bhattar. There is lack of clarity about his identity –
neverthless he becomes to be a dear sishya of nampiLLai.

nampiLLai‘s period in SrIrangam is said to be the most

glorious and golden period for SrIvaishNavam in SrIrangam
due to continuous bhagavath anubhavam without any
disturbance. nampiLLai had great number of sishyas and
followers who were regularly attending his kAlakshEpams.
naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar did not have a favourable
attitude towards nampiLLai though. Due to his rich family
heritage he developed pride and did not respect nampiLLai
initially.

Once, naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar was going to the king’s

court. He meets pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar on the way
and invites him along to attend the king’s court. Since jIyar
had great respect for bhattar for his family heritage, he
accompanied him. The king receives them, honours them
and offers them a nice seat. The king being well learned,
wanting to test the intelligence of bhattar, asks him a question
from SrI rAmAyaNa. He says “SrI rAman himself claims that
‘He is just a human being and is the dear son of
dhasarathan’. But during the last moments of jatAyu, SrI
rAman benedicts him to reach SrIvaikuntam.So, is this not
contradictory?”. bhattar was speechless and could not
respond with any meaningful explanation. Incidentally, the
king gets distracted by some other task. At that time, bhattar
turns to jIyar and asks him “How would nampiLLai explain
this?”. jIyar replies “nampiLLai explains this using ‘sathyEna
lOkAn jayathi‘ slOkam” which means a fully truthful person
can control all worlds – so just by truthfulness alone he was
able to conquer all worlds. bhattar, himself being intelligent,
explains that to the king, when the king focusses back on
them. The king, being intelligent as well, at once agrees to
the principle and honours bhattar with great wealth. bhattar,
with great gratitude/reverence towards nampiLLai, asks jIyar
to connect him with nampiLLai, at once goes to nampiLLai’s
residence and submits all the wealth given by the king at the
lotus feet of nampiLLai. bhattar says to nampiLLai that “I

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

received all these wealth for just 1 small explanation from

your teachings” and offers them all to nampiLLai himself. He
then tells nampiLLai that “all along I have lost the valuable
association/guidance of yourself. From now on, I will ensure
that I will serve you well and learn the sampradhAyam
principles from you”. nampiLLai embraces bhattar and
teaches him all the essence of our sampradhAyam.

nampiLLai teaches thiruvAimozhi to bhattar fully. bhattar

hears them in the morning, contemplates on the meanings
and documents them in detail every night. Once the lecture
series is over, he submits his writing at the lotus feet of
nampiLLai. nampiLLai, observes the detailed documentation
of thiruvAimozhi to the length of 125000 padi (similar in size
to mahAbhAratham). nampiLLai becomes worried that if there
was such detailed documentation, people will ignore the
guru-disciple teaching/learning methodology and will just read
the book and start coming to their own conclusions.
nampiLLai explains to bhattar that when piLLAn did 6000
padi (similar in size to vishNu purANam) vyAkyAnam, he first
took the permission of emperumAnAr. But in this case,
bhattar did not get the permission from nampiLLai to write the
vyAkyAnam. Though bhattar replies saying he only
documented what was said by nampiLLai and did not write
anything on his own. Finally, nampiLLai does not agree to
release that grantham and destroys the same.

(Note: According to this incident here identified in yathIndhra

pravaNa prabhAvam, when AchAryan passes away,
sishyas/sons are supposed to shave their heads while others
who are surrendered to him (not direct sishyas) are supposed
to shave facial and bodily hair). When nampiLLai ascends to
paramapadham, naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar shaves his
head as sishyas are supposed to do. A brother of bhattar
becomes upset at his act and complains to him saying why
should some one born the family of kUraththAzhwAn, shave
the head for nampiLLai’s ascending to paramapadham.
bhattar replies to his brother sarcastically “Oh! I have insulted
the lineage of kUrEsar. How are you going to rectify this?”.
bhattar’s brother, unable to take those sarcastic words, goes

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

to namperumAL and complains to him about bhattar’s act.

namperumAL summons bhattar and asks him through the
archaka “When I am alive why did you do this?” (perumAL
considers himself the father to parAsara bhattar and his
descendants). bhattar responds “Please forgive me for my
act”. He continues “Actually, I should have shown total
surrender to nampiLLai which is the natural quality of any one
coming in the lineage of kUrEsar (to be surrendered to
SrIvaishNavas) and shaved my facial/bodily hair. Instead I
only shaved my head which shows that I am just doing the
minimal anushtAnam for a sishya/son. Are you being upset
with me for just doing the minimum respects?”. Hearing this,
namperumAL becomes very pleased on the dedication of
bhattar towards nampiLLai and honours bhattar with thIrtham,
garlands and vasthrams. Such was the glories of naduvil
thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar.

In the vyAkyAnams, the following incident involving naduvil

thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar is identified. Let us see them now:

• thiruvAimozhi – 9.3 – nampiLLai eedu pravEsam

(introduction) – In this padhigam, nammAzhwAr brings
out the glories of nArAyaNa nAmam (and manthram).
There are mainly 3 vyApaka manthrams (those
manthrams that exhibit bhagavAn‘s omni-presence)
namely ashtAksharam (Om namO nArAyANAya),
shadaksharam (Om namO vishNavE) and
dhvAdhasAksharam (Om namO bhagavathE
vAsudhEvAya). naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar says that
the meaning of praNavam, the meaning of nama:,
bhagavAn‘s omni-presence, etc are revealed in all 3
vyApaka manthrams but AzhwAr‘s heart is close to
nArAyaNa manthram. Note: This importance of nArAyaNa
manthram is further emphasised by piLLai lOkAchAryar in
the beginning of mumukshuppadi.

In vArtha mAlai, a couple of incidents involving naduvil

thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar are identified.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• 216 – naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar quotes a beautiful

conversation between nampiLLai and pinbhazhagiya
perumAL jIyar. jIyar asks a question “Every mumukshu
should be like AzhwAr (fully depending on emperumAn
and contemplating on emperumAn only). But we still have
material desires. How will we get the same result
(kainkarya prApthi in paramapadham) that AzhwAr got?”.
nampiLLai answers “Even though we may not have the
same advancement like AzhwAr in this sarIram, by the
grace of our AchAryan who is pure, bhagavAn will create
that same desire (as that of AzhwArs) in us between the
time we die and we reach paramapadham. So, by the
time we reach parampadham we will be fully purified and
will only have the desire to do kainkaryam to emperumAn
eternally.
• 410 – naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar explains how a
SrIvaishNava should be:
• When observing faults in samsAris (materialistic people),
since we are not all-capable like bhagavAn to reform
them, we should simply ignore them.
• When observing faults in sAthvikas (SrIvaishNavas),
since they are fully dependent on bhagavAn and so they
are capable of curing their faults by the grace of
bhagavAn, we should simply ignore them.
• Just like a person applying chemicals on his body can
behold fire without getting hurt, we should be covered
with bhagavadh gyAnam so we are not affected by the
material desires and issues.
• We should have two aspects of knowledge – a) we should
have great desire to reach paramapadham which is fully
spiritual and b) we should have great desire to be fully
relieved from this samsAram (which is the place holder of
ignorance). Still, our knowledge about this samsAram
being the place of ignorance is most important, since
even if we have a tinge of attachment in samsAram, that
will pull us down and keep us here itself.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar. He was a great scholar and

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

was very dear to nampiLLai. Let us pray at his lotus feet that
we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar’s thaniyan:

lOkAchArya padhAsaktham madhyavIdhi nivAsinam

SrIvathsachihnavamsAbdhisOmam bhattAryamAsrayE

னேோகோசோர்ய பதோஸக்தம் மத்யவீதி நிேோஸிநம்

ஸ்ரீேத்ஸசிே்நேம் சோப் தினஸோமம்
பட்டோர்யமோச்ரனய

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

30. pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar

pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar at the lotus feet of nampiLLai,

SrIrangam

thirunakshathram: ippasi, sathayam

avathAra sthalam: thirupputkuzhi

AchAryan: nampiLLai

Place where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

Works: 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam. He is also

said to be the author of vArthA mAlai but there is lack of
clarity in that.

pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar is a dear sishya of nampiLLai

and is also known as pinbhazhagarAm perumAL jIyar. He
documents the historical accounts of our AzhwAr/AchAryas
lives in his 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhAvam. Similar to
nanjIyar (a sannyAsi) serving bhattar (gruhastha),
pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar (sannyAsi) served nampiLLai
(gruhastha).

When pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar was ill, he asks other

SrIvaishNavas to pray to emperumAn for his speedy recovery
– this is considered as improper per SrIvaishNava etiquette –

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

one should not pray to emperumAn for anything – even for

recovering from illness (what to speak about going to doctor,
etc). Seeing this, sishyas of nampiLLai come and enquire
from nampiLLai on why jIyar was doing that. nampiLLai asks
his sishyas to enquire from few swamys about jIyar’s
behaviour. nampiLLai first says, go and ask engaLAzhwAn
who is an expert in all sAsthram. engaLAzhwAn replies “may
be he is attached to SrIrangam and he wants to stay here for
some more time”. nampiLLai then asks his sishyas to go and
ask thirunArAyaNapuraththu arayar – arayar says “may be he
has some unfinished tasks which he wants to complete, so
he is praying to prolonging his life here”. nampiLLai then asks
his sishyas to ammangi ammAL who says “who would want
to leave nampiLLai’s kAlakshEpa gOshti, he may be praying
so he is here for some more time to listen to nampiLLai’s
kAlakshEpam”. nampiLLai then asks his sishyas to go to
periya mudhaliyAr and he says “may be he is too attached to
namperumAL that he does not want to leave from here”.
nampiLLai finally asks jIyar himself if any of these views are
in line with what he himself is thinking. jIyar replies “No. You
know everything. But out of your mercy, you want to reveal
this by me. Let me say why I want to continue living here.
Everyday, after you taking bath, I get to have the divine
dharshan of your form and serve you by fanning, etc. How
can I give up that service and go to parampadham just yet?”.
Thus, pinbhazhagarAm perumAL jIyar reveals the highest
principle for a sishya – to be fully attached to the divine form
of ones own AchAryan. Hearing this everyone was amazed
by jIyar’s devotion towards nampiLLai.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

nampiLLai kAlakshEpa gOshti – pinbhazhagiya perumAL

jIyar seated 2nd from left

He was instrumental in making naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai

bhattar a sishya of nampiLLai. This incident can be fully seen
at http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2013/04/20/naduvil-
thiruvidhi-pillai-bhattar/.

In the vyAkyAnams, the following incident

involving pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar are identified.

• upadhEsa rathina mAlai 65 and 66 – piLLai lOkam jIyar

vyAkyAnam – The principle of total surrender and
attachment towards AchAryan’s divine form is explained
by piLLai lOkAchAryar in SrIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya
sAsthram (sUthram 333) and maNavALa mAmunigaL in
his upadhEsa rathina mAlai as well (pAsurams 65 and
66). In the 66th pAsuram, mAmunigaL identifies that
pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar was so attached to
nampiLLai that he will even discard the thought of going
to paramapadham. piLLai lOkam jIyar compares
pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar’s AchArya nishtai on
nampiLLai to madhurakavi AzhwAr – nammAzhwAr,
ANdAL – periyAzhwAr, vaduka nambi – emperumAnAr
and mAmunigaL – thiruvAimozhi piLLai. These were the
great stalwarts who were fully situated in AchArya nishtai
which is the top most aspiration for a prapanna. piLLai
lOkam jIyar also quotes appiLLai’s yathirAja vimsathi
vyAkyAnam where he says “pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar
had nampiLLai as his master, refuge and goal and was
always fully focussed on nampiLLai”.

In vArtha mAlai, a few incidents involving pinbhazhagiya

perumAL jIyar are identified.

• 2 – pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar once asks nampiLLai

about the svarUpam (nature of jIvAthmA), upAyam
(process) and upEyam (goal). nampiLLai replies that
jIvAthmA’s icchai (இச்யச – desire) is svarUpam,

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

bhagavAn’s irakkam (இரக்கம் – mercy) is upAyam and

inimai (இ ியம – bliss) is upEyam. jIyar says he thinks
otherwise and nampiLLai wonders if he has a different
philosophy. jIyar goes on to say “I consider the following
as taught by you. To be surrendered to SrIvaishNavas is
my svarUpam; their attachment towards us is my
upAyam; their bliss is my goal”. nampiLLai becomes
greatly pleased by jIyar’s words. Thus he establishes the
most important principle “bhAgavatha sEshathvam” in
front of his AchAryan.
• 69 – jIyar asks the meanings of dhvaya mahA manthram
from nampiLLai. nampiLLai explains that in the first part
we accept that SrIman nArAyaNan is the total refuge and
in the second part we crave to serve both of them
(perumAL and pirAtti) and pray that SrIman nArAyaNan
is the ultimate enjoyer and we have no tinge of self-
interest in that bliss. The sishyas who were blessed by
the Acharya to have such strong faith should have great
gratitude towards the AchArya. Further jIyar asks, if pirAtti
is always engaged in contemplating about emperumAn,
how will she help the jIvAthmAs? nampiLLai replies, just
like bhagavAn is constantly engaged in enjoying pirAtti‘s
beauty yet takes care of creation, etc., thAyAr will also
constantly engage in enjoying bhagavAn yet will
recommend to emperumAn for suffering jIvathmAs to be
uplifted being true to her nature of purushakAra bhUthai
(recommendation authority).
• 174 – This incident of pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar
praying for his well-being to continue serving nampiLLai is
already discussed in this article.
• 216 – naduvil thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar quotes a beautiful
conversation between nampiLLai and pinbhazhagiya
perumAL jIyar. jIyar asks a question “Every mumukshu
should be like AzhwAr (fully depending on emperumAn
and contemplating on emperumAn only). But we still have
material desires. How will we get the same result
(kainkarya prApthi in paramapadham) that AzhwAr got?”.
nampiLLai answers “Even though we may not have the
same advancement like AzhwAr in this sarIram, by the
grace of our AchAryan who is pure, bhagavAn will create

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

that same desire (as that of AzhwArs) in us between the

time we die and we reach paramapadham. So, by the
time we reach parampadham we will be fully purified and
will only have the desire to do kainkaryam to emperumAn
eternally.
• 332 – pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar asks nampiLLai
“When some one has some trouble, he goes and prays to
a SrIvaishNava for relief and eventually he gets relieved.
Is this by the power of bhagavAn or the SrIvaishNava?”.
nampiLLai replies “It is by the power of bhagavAn only”.
jIyar further asks “Can we not pray to bhagavAn directly
to be be relieved of our suffering then?”. nampiLLai
replies “No, we cannot do that. We should always go
through a SrIvaishNava when we approach bhagavAn”.
jIyar further asks “Is there an example where bhagavAn
fulfilled the desire of a vaishNava?”. nampiLLai replies
“When arjuna vowed that he will kill jayathrathan before
the sun-set, sarvEsvaran gave up his own vow of not
touching any weapons during the battle, took up his
sudharsana chakram and hid the sun. Seeing that
jayathrathan came out in the open and bhagavAn
withdrew his chakram indicating the sun had not set and
thus arjunan was able to kill him. From this incident, we
can understand emperumAn will fulfill a SrIvaishNava’s
words and so, we should always go through a
SrIvaishNava to emperumAn”.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar. He was a great scholar and
was very dear to nampiLLai. Let us pray at his lotus feet that
we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar’s thaniyan:

gyAna vairAgya sampUrNam paschAth sundhara dhEsikamm

dhravidOpanishadh bhAshyathAyinam madh gurum bhajE

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ஜ் ஞோந யேரோக்ய ஸம் பூர்ணம் பச்சோத் ஸுந்தர

னதஸிகம்
த்ரவினடோபநிஷத் போஷ்யதோயிநம் மத் குரும் பனஜ

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

31. azhagiya maNavALa

perumAL nAyanAr

Thirunakshathram: mArgazhi, avittam

avathAra sthalam: srirangam

AchAryan: vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai

Place where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

Works: thiruppAvai 6000padi vyAkyAnam, kaNNinuN

chiruthAmbu vyAkyAnam, amalanAdhipirAn vyAkyAnam,
aruLicheyal rahasyam (rahasya thrayam explanation using
AzhwAr words), AchArya hrudhayam, pattOlai (his own
explanation for AchArya hrudhayam which is not found
anymore), etc.

azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr was born in

srirangam to vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai by the grace of
namperumAL (we have already seen this in vadakku
thiruvIdhi piLLai ithihyam -
http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/vadakku-
thiruveedhi-pillai/). He and his elder brother piLLai
lOkAchAryar grew up in srirangam like perumAL and iLaya
perumAL in ayOdhya and kannan emperumAn and nambi

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

mUtha pirAn in gOkulam. They both were blessed to have the

katAksham and guidance of great AchAryas of our
sampradhAyam like nampiLLai, periyavAchchAn piLLai,
vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai, etc at the same time. They learnt
our sampradhAyam under the lotus feet of their father
vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai. Also, one of the unique quality of
these two AchArya simhams is that they both took the vow of
naishtika bramhacharyam and lived by that throughout their
life.

mAmunigaL, in his upadhEsa rathina mAlai pAsuram 47,

glorifies nAyanAr and his contributions.

NanjIyar cheytha vyAkkiyaigaL NaliranNdukku (நஞ் சீயர்

சசய் த ே் யோக்கியயகள் நோலிரண்டுக்கு)
enjAmai yAvaikkum illaiyE (எஞ் சோயம யோயேக்கும்
இே் யேனய)
tham sIrAl vaiyaguruvin thambi mannu manNavALamuni
(தம் சீரோே் யேயகுருவி ் தம் பி ம ் னு
மணேோளமு ி)
seyyumavai thAmum sila (சசய் யுமயே தோமும் சிே)

Simple translation:

NanjIyar did vyAkyAnams for a few prabhandhams in

aruLicheyal (even before periyavAchchAn piLLai). After
periyavAchchAn piLLai, azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr who is filled with divine qualities and the dear
brother of piLLai lOkAchAryar wrote vyAkyAnams for some
prabhandhams in aruLicheyal as well.

In the vyAkyAnam piLLai lOkam jIyar brings out the glories of

nAyanAr.

• For “tham sIr”, he brings out one of the important glories

of nAyanAr. He identifies that nAyanAr’s expertise in
aruLicheyal is far greater than all other AchAryas. This
can be understood by studying AchArya hrudhayam

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

which is fully built using the words from aruLicheyal (with

some words from ithihAsa, purANams as well).
• When explaining “vaiya guruvin thambi”, it is show that
nAyanAr’s greatness is due to him being born as the
younger brother of piLLai lOkAchAryar. He is popularly
glorified as “jagath guruvarAnuja” (brother of jagath guru
piLLai lOkAchAryar).

While nAyanAr has done vyAkyAnams for thiruppAvai,

kaNNinun chiruthAmbu, amalanAdhipirAn, etc., which are all
greatly relishable, his master piece is AchArya hrudhayam.

His vyAkyAnams/works:

• His thiruppAvai 6000 padi vyAkyAnam is very detailed

and most beautiful. In the vyAkyAnam, the essence of our
sampradhAyam is beautifully presented. Principles like
emperumAn’s upAyathvam/upEyathvam, emperumAn’s
nirhEthuka krupai, pirAtti’s purushakAram, paragatha
svIkAram, kainkaryathil kaLai (virOdhi), etc are most
eloquently explained by nAyanAr in his thiruppAvai
vyAkyAnam.
• His amalanAdhipirAn vyAkyAnam is one of the best
renderings of our sampradhAyam. He beautifully bridges
the thirumEni anubhavam of emperumAn and the
sidhAntham in his vyAkyAnam. We have already seen
this as part of thiuppANAzhwAr’s archavathAra
anubhavam in http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/10/archavathara-
anubhavam-thiruppanazhwar.html.
• His kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu vyAkyAnam beautifully
reveals the glories of panchamOpAyam (accepting
AchAryan as everything) and AchArya kainkaryam.
• His aruLicheyal rahasyam beautifully explains rahasya
thrayam – thirumanthram, dhvayam and charamaslOkam
through words from aruLicheyal. This is one of the most
classic works which will be fully relished by experts of
aruLicheyal.
• Finally, AchArya hrudhayam, his master piece, brings out
the true emotions of NammAzhwAr and his thiruvAimozhi
dhivya prabhandham. This grantham explains the

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

principles that are presented in srivachana bhUshaNa

dhivya sAsthram (that was written by piLLai lOkAchAryar)
in further detail. We have already seen the archAvathAra
anubhavam of nAyanAr through AchArya hrudhayam in
http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/11/archavathara-
anubhavam-nayanar-anubhavam.html.

To understand some one’s greatness, one has to see the

words of other great personalities on that person. nAyanAr
decided to leave his thirumEni at an early age and ascended
to paramapadham leaving behind piLLai lOkAchAryar. piLLai
lOkAchAryar fell in an ocean of sorrow and cried out keeping
nAyanAr’s thirumudi in his lap and said:

mAmudumbai mannu manNavALa anNnNalodu

(மோமுடும் யப ம ் னு மணேோள அண்ணசேோடு)
sEmamudan vaikuNtham senRakkAl (னசமமுட ்
யேகுந்தம் சச ் றக்கோே் )
mAmenRu thotturaiththa sollum thuyam thanninAzh poruLum
(மோசம ் று சதோட்டுயரத்த சசோே் லும் துயம்
த ் ி ோழ் சபோருளும் )
ettezhuththum inGguraippArAr (எட்சடழுத்தும்
இங் குயரப் போரோர்)

Simple translation:

After nAyanAr ascending to paramapadham with all glories,

who is present here to explain the rahasya thrayam –
thirumanthram, dhvayam and charama slOkam (where
emperumAn touched his heart and said “mAm” – I am the
protector).

Such is nAyanAr’s glories that piLLai lOkAchAryar himself

glorifies him.

Let us pray at the lotus feet of azhagiya maNavALa perumAL

nAyanAr that we also develop such attachment towards
emperumAnAr and our AchAryan.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr’s thanian

dhrAvidAmnAya hrudhayam guruparvakramAgatham

ramyajAmAthrudhEvEna dharsitham krishNasUnunA

த்ரோவிடோம் நோய ே்ருதயம் குருபர்ேக்ரமோகதம்

ரம் யஜோமோத்ருனதனேந தர்ஸிதம் க்ருஷ்ணஸூநுநோ

glorifications to azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr

(usually recited after AchArya hrudhayam)

thantharuLavENum thavaththOr thavappayanAy

vantha mudumbai maNavALa – chinthaiyinAl
nIyuraiththa mARan ninaivin poruLanaiththen
vAyuraiththu vAzhum vagai

His archAvathara anubhavam can be read at

http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/2012/11/archavathara-anubhavam-
nayanar-anubhavam.html.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

32. nAyanArAchchAn piLLai

thirunakshathram: AvaNi, rOhiNi (In yathIndhra pravaNa
prabhAvam it is shown as chithrai)

avathAra sthalam: SrIrangam

AchAryan: periyavAchchAn piLLai

sishyas: vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar, SrI

rangAchAryar, parakAla dhAsar, etc

Place where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

Works:

charamOpAya nirNayam

(http://ponnadi.blogspot.in/p/charamopaya-nirnayam.html),
aNuthva purushakArahtva samarthanam, jnAnArNavam,
muktha bOgAvaLi, vyAkyAnam for ALavandhAr‘s chathu:
slOki, vyAkyAnam for vishNu sEshi slOkam of
periyavAchchAn piLLai, thatva thraya vivaraNam, kaivalya
nirNayam, etc

nAyanAr AchchAn piLLai is the adopted son of

periyavAchchAn piLLai. He was named as azhagiya
maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr (sundhara vara rAjAchAryar).
He was also identified as saumyavarEswarar by parakAla
dhAsar in his work parakAla nallAn rahasyam. He was also
known as “SrI rangarAja dhIkshithar” and identified to be a
very scholarly personality. He wrote many granthams
establishing sath sampradhAya principles in a very
authoritative way. He lived along the likes of piLLai
lOkAchAryar and azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

His works bring out the core essence of our sampradhAyam.

He wrote charamOpAya nirNayam which highlights the true
glories of emperumAnAr and his special position in our
sampradhAyam. In his chatu: slOki vyAkyAnam, he has given
a detail account of the nature of periya pirAttiyAr very clearly.

In pramEya rathnam (written by yAmunAchAryar who is a

sishya of vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar), it is shown
that nAyanArAchchAn piLLai writes muktha bhOgAvaLi when
he was very young and shows that to periyavAchchAn piLLai.
Looking at the great depth in it, periyavAchchAn piLLai
greatly glorifies it and starts teaching him the essence of our
sampradhAyam in detail.

Though vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar, SrI

rangAchAryar, parakAla dhAsar are sishyas of
periyavAchchAn piLLai, they learn bhagavath vishayam, etc
from nAyanArAchchAn piLLai.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

nAyanArAchchAn piLLai. He was a great scholar and was
very dear to periyavAchchAn piLLai. Let us pray at his lotus
feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

nAyanArAchchAn piLLai’s thaniyan:

sruthyarthasArajanakam smruthibAlamithram
padhmOllasadh bhagavadhangri purANabhandhum
gyAnAdhirAjam abhayapradharAja sUnum
asmath gurum paramakAruNikam namAmi

ஸ்ருத்யர்தஸோரஜநகம் ஸ்ம் ருதிபோேமித்ரம்

பத்னமோே் ேஸத் பகேதங் க்ரி புரோணபந்தும்
ஜ் ஞோநோதிரோஜம் அபயப் ரதரோஜ ஸூநும்
அஸ்மத் குரும் பரமகோருணிகம் நமோமி

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

33. vAdhi kEsari azhagiya

manavALa jIyar

thirunakshathram: Ani, swAthi

avathAra sthalam: mannAr kOil (brahma dhEsam), near

ambA samudhram

AchAryan: periyavAchchAn piLLai (samAsrayaNam),

nAyanArAchchAn piLLai (grantha kAlakshEpam)

sishyas: yAmunAchAryar (author of pramEya rathnam,

thathva bhUshaNam), pinchenRa villi, etc

Place from where he attained paramapadham: SrIrangam

Works: thiruvAimozhi 12000 padi vyAkyAnam (word-by-word

meaning), thiruviruththam svApadhEsa vyAkyAnam,
dhramidOpansishadh sangathi – thiruvAimozhi sangathi
slOkams,adhyAthma chinthai, rahasyathraya vivaraNam,
dhIpa sangraham, thathva dhIpam, dhIpa prakAsikai, thathtva
nirUpaNam, bhagavath gIthai veNbA – thamizh pAsurams for
each slOkam in SrI bhagavath gIthai, vyAkyAnam for SrI
bhagavath gIthai, etc

He was named varadharAjar by his parents while he was

born. He becomes a sishya of periyavAchchAn piLLai at a

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

young age and starts serving him at his thirumadappaLLi

(kitchen). Once when he was about 32 years old, he
observes a few vidhwAns discussing philosophy. Out of
curiosity, he goes and asks them what they are discussing
about. Those vidhwAns, knowing that varadharAjar is not
knowledgable in basics, sarcastically say that they are
discussing musalakisalayam (a non-existing grantham). They
also chastise him saying that he does not understand any
sAsthram since he was illiterate. varadharAjar goes to
periyavAchchAn piLLai and explain this incident.
periyavAchchAn piLLai says “since you are illiterate, they
chastised you”. Being ashamed of himself, varadharAjar
prays to periyavAchchAn piLLai to teach him sAsthram.
periyavAchchAn piLLai, being most merciful, at once initiates
him in to sAsthram and starts teaching him kAvya, nAtaka,
alankAra, shabdha, tharkka, pUrva mimAmsa, uththara
mImAmsa, etc. Within a short time frame, by the mercy of his
AchAryan, varadharAjar becomes a great expert in sAsthram
and writes a grantham named “musalakisalayam” and gives
that back to the vidhwAns who chastised him to be illiterate
before. He learns bhagavath vishayam, etc from
nAyanArAchchAn piLLai. His life is a perfect example of how
AchArya katAksham can bring one up to great heights.

Soon, he develops total detachment and accepts sannyAsa

Ashramam and accepts the name azhagiya maNavALa jIyar
(sundhara jAmAthru muni). He also defeats many scholars of
other philosophies through debates and gets the title “vAdhi
kEsari” (lion among debators).

He writes many granthams which are of great value in our

samrpadhAyam. He writes word-by-word meaning for
thiruvAimozhi named 12000 padi (similar in size to SrI
bhAgavatham which has 12000 slOkams). This is a great
work – in all other vyAkyAnams of thiruvAimozhi the overall
flow of the pAsuram and the divine emotions of nammAzhwAr
is explained. But no other vyAkyAnam, explains the word-by-
word meaning which is very essential to understand the
pAsurams in a crystal clear manner. His other notable
grantham is the thamizh pAsuram for each slOkam in gIthai.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

He explains the principles explained in gIthai slOkams in

simple thamizh pAsuram. He has also done a number of
rahasya granthams.

His sishya yAmunAchAryar (who is a descendant of

thirumAlai ANdAn) writes a couple of excellent rahasya
granthams (thathva bhUshaNam and pramEya rathnam) –
both are filled with valuable sampradhAyam principles.

maNavALa mAmunigaL, while discussing the various

vyAkyAnams for thiruvAimozhi, glorifies vAdhi kEsari
azhagiya maNavALa jIyar and his 12000 padi vyAkyAnam in
great detail. Let us see upadhEsa rathina mAlai 45th
pAsuram in detail.

anbOdu azhagiya manNavALach chIyar

pinbOrum kaRRaRiNthu pEsukaikkAth
tham periya pOthamudan mARan maRaiyin poruL
uRaiththathu
Ethamil pannIrAyiram

அ ் னபோடு அழகிய மணேோளச் சீயர்

பி ் னபோரும் கற் றறிந்து னபசுயகக்கோத்
தம் சபரிய னபோதமுட ் மோற ் மயறயி ் சபோருள்
உயறத்தது
ஏதமிே் ப ் ீரோயிரம்

Simple translation: With great love, azhagiya maNavALa

jIyar explained the (word-by-word) meanings of thiruvAimozhi
in his 12000 padi which is pure (blemishless) using his great
intellect, so that every one can speak about thiruvAimozhi in
the future.

In the vyAkyAnam, piLLai lOkam jIyar identifies the following

points:

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• love here means – a) attachment/devotion towards

thiruvAimozhi and b) mercy towards jIvAthmAs (he
blessed this vyAkyAnam for the upliftment of jIvAthmAs).
• Even though there are 4 other vyAkyAnams, if there is
any doubt in actual meaning for a particular word in the
pAsuram, one has to depend on this 12000 padi only. So
this is considered as an important vyAkyAnam.
• vAdhi kEsari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar’s
knowledge/intellect is greatly glorified by mAmunigaL
since he was such an expert in thiruvAimozhi and
presented the most valuable meanings in a crisp manner.
• AzhwAr‘s divine emotions are beautifully revealed in this
vyAkyAnam as it is. It also perfectly lines up with other
vyAkyAnms. For example, where it is brief in piLLAn‘s
6000 padi, this will explain it in detail. Whatever is
explained in periyavAchchAn piLLai‘s 24000 padi or
nampiLLai‘s 36000 padi, this will explain the same in
brief.
• Just like AzhwAr himself declares his pAsurams are
Ethamil (pure/blemishless), mAmunigaL declares 12000
padi is pure/blemishless.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life

of vAdhi kEsari azhagiya manavALa jIyar. He was fully
situated in bhAgavatha nishtai and was very dear to
periyavAchchAn piLLai and nAyanArAchchAn piLLai. Let us
pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such
AchArya nishtai.

vAdhi kEsari azhagiya manavALa jIyar’s thaniyan:

sundharajAmAthrumunE: prapadhyE charaNAmbhujam

samsArArNava sammagna janthu santhArapOthakam

ஸுந்தரஜோமோத்ருமுனந: ப் ரபத்னய சரணோம் புஜம்

ஸம் ஸோரோர்ணே ஸம் மக்ந ஜந்து ஸந்தோரனபோதகம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

34. kUra kulOthama dhAsar

thirunakshathram: ippasi, thiruvAdhirai

avathAra sthalam: srirangam

AchAryan: vadakku thiruveedhi piLLai (heard kAlakshEpams

from piLLai lOkAchAryar and azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr)

Also known as kUra kulOthama nAyan, he was born in

srirangam and was living there.

kUra kulOthama dhAsar is instrumental in bringing thirumalai

AzhwAr (thiruvAimozhi piLLai) back into our sampradhAyam.
He is one of the close associates of piLLai lOkAchAryar and
he travelled with him during thiruvarangan ulA (nampermAL’s
journey during kalAba kAlam). At jyOthishkudi, during his last
moments, piLLai lOkAchAryar instructs kUra kulOthama
dhAsar, thirukkaNNankudi piLLai, thirupputkuzhi jIyar, nAlur
piLLai and viLAnchOlai piLLai to give all the divine knowledge
in our sampradhAyam to thirumalai AzhwAr (who had pancha
samskAram under the lotus feet of piLLai lOkAchAryar at a
very young age) and make him the leader of our
sampradhAyam.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

kUra kulOthama dhAsar first goes to meet thirumalai AzhwAr

who is the minister in the mathurai kingdom. Because of
thirumalai AzhwAr’s expertise in administration and thamizh
language and because the king died at a young age, he was
taking care off the king’s responsibilities and nurturing the
prince. When he first went there, he started reciting
nammAzhwAr’s thiruvirutham. thirumalai AzhwAr was doing
his rounds in his palanquin and noticed him at that time.
Without stepping down from the palanquin he asked kUra
kulOthama dhAsar to teach the meanings of the same and in
return he spit at him. Looking at this thirumalai AzhwAr’s
servants became angry and try to punish kUra kulOthama
dhAsar but was stopped by thirumalai AzhwAr who realised
the greatness of him.

When thirumalai AzhwAr returned to his palace and

explained the incident to his step-mother who was guiding
him, she reminded his relationship with piLLai lOkAchAryar
and glorified kUra kulOthama dhAsar. He started to look for
kUra kulOthama dhAsar again.

Once, when thirumalai AzhwAr was going on an elephant,

kUra kulOthama dhAsar, climbed on a high place so he is
visible to him. thirumalai AzhwAr noticed him and
immediately stepped down from his elephant and fell flat on
the lotus feet of kUra kulOthama dhAsar and started
glorifying him. He then brought kUra kulOthama dhAsar to his
palace and learnt all the valuable instructions of piLLai
lOkAchAryar briefly from him. Being purified by those
instructions, he requested kUra kulOthama dhAsar to visit
him every day during this morning anushtAnam and teach all
the sampradhAya vishayam since he is busy otherwise. He
also arranges a residence for kUra kulOthama dhAsar along
the banks of vaigai river, provides all necessary items
(provisions, etc) for his livelihUd.

kUra kulOthama dhAsar starts visiting thirumalai AzhwAr

every day. He notices thirumalai AzhwAr reciting piLLai
lOkAchAryar‘s thanian while applying thirumaN kAppu (we
are suppose to recite the guru paramparai thanians while

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

applying thirumaN kAppu) and becomes very pleased. He

starts teaching all the meanings but one fine morning he does
not arrive. When thirumalai AzhwAr sends his servants to
kUra kulOthama dhAsar, there is no response. So, he himself
goes directly with great attachment to his AchAryan and kUra
kulOthama dhAsar makes him wait for some time. Finally he
goes and falls flat at the lotus feet of kUra kulOthama dhAsar
and asks for forgiveness for any mistakes he committed.
Since he arrived during kAlakshEpam time, he also attends
the same and accepts sripAdha thIrtham and sEsha
prasAdham of kUra kulOthama dhAsar. The sEsha
prasAdham of bhagavath adiyArs have great ability to purify
any one and it brought in a great change in thirumalai
AzhwAr also. After consuming it, thirumalai Azhwar started
saying “kUra kulOthama dhAsa nAyan thiruvadigaLE
sharaNam” repeatedly and showed great detachment to the
kingdom and worldly affairs.

kUra kulOthama dhAsar then left to sikkil (a place near

thiruppullANi). thirumalai AzhwAr gave up his duties in the
kingdom and went and stayed with kUra kulOthama dhAsar
and served him fully. During his last days, kUra kulOthama
dhAsar instructs thirumalai AzhwAr to go and learn further
sampradhAya vishayams from viLAnchOlai piLLai and
thirukkaNNankudi piLLai. He finally left his charama
thirumEni meditating on piLLai lOkAchAryar and reached
paramapadham.

mAmunigaL glorifies kUra kulOthama dhAsar as “kUra

kulOthama dhAsam udhAram” (one who is very merciful and
generous), because of his unlimited krupai of taking many
efforts to reform thirumalai AzhwAr and for transmitting the
divine knowledge that was learnt from piLLai lOkAchAryar.
He has an important place in our rahasya grantha
kAlakshEpa paramparai and he is glorified in many of the
thanians for the rahasya granthams.

In srivachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram, it is concluded

that for a sishya “AchArya abhimAnamE uththAragam”

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

(ஆசோர்ய அபிமோ னம உத்தோரகம் ). In the vyAkyAnam

mAmunigaL explains that, for a prapanna who has given up
all other upAyams, it is the nirhEthuka krupai of AchAryan
and that AchAryan’s thought that “this is my sishyan” is the
only way for salvation. In the charithram of piLLai
lOkAchAryar, kUra kulOthama dhAsar and thiruvAimozhi
piLLai, we can see this clearly. It was piLLai lOkAchAryars
abhimAnam towards thiruvAimozhi piLLai and kUra kulOtham
dhAsar’s abhimAnam and tireless efforts which gave us the
great AchAryan thiruvAimozhi piLLai who eventually gave us
azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL.

Let us remember kUra kulOthama dhAsar who always

remembers piLLai lOkAchAryar.

kUra kulOthama dhAsar’s thaniyan:

lOkAchArya krupApAthram kauNdinya kula bhUshaNam

samasthAthma guNAvAsam vandhE kUra kulOthamam

னேோகோசோர்ய க்ருபோபோத்ரம் சகௌண்டிந்ய குே

பூஷணம்
ஸமஸ்தோத்ம குணோேோஸம் ேந்னத கூர
குனேோத்தமம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

35. viLanchOlai piLLai

AzhvAr EmperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE charaNam

Taken from Sri Raghuram swamy’s blogsite

(http://acharyar.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/vilancholai-pillai-
vaibhavam/) with his permission and applied minor formatting
changes.

sri viLAnchOlai piLLai is one of the sishyAs of sri piLLai

lOkAchAriar.

His dAshya nAmam is ‘nalam thigazh nArAyANa dhAsar’.

His place of birth is the village of ‘ARanUr’ near

thiruvanandhapuram.

This is in the shores of a river called ‘karaimanai’.

His thirunakshathiram falls on aippasi uthirattAdhi.

He was born in EEzhava kulam. Due to his kulam he was not

able to go inside the temple, so he used to climb ‘viLam’ trees
in his village to get darshan of the gOpuram of

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thiruvanandhapuram anantha padmanABhan temple, and do

mangaLasAsanam.

Thaniyans
thulA..hirbuDhnya samBhootham SrIlOkArya padhAshritham
sapthagAThA pravakthAram nArAyaNa maham BhajE

துேோSஹிர்பு3த்4ந்யஸம் பூ4தம் ஸ்ரீனேோகோர்ய

பதோ3ஸ்ரிதம்
ஸப் தகோ3தோ2 ப்ரேக்தோரம் நோரோயணமேம் ப4னஜ

SrI lOkArya padhAravindhamakilam SruthyarthTha

kOSAmsthaThA
gOshTInjchApi thadhEka lIna manasA sanjithayantham
mudhA
SrI nArAyaNa dhAsamAryamamalam sEvE sathAm SEvDhim
SrI vAgBhUshaNa gUDaBhAva vivruthim yas sapthagAThAm
vyaDhath

ஸ்ரீனேோகோர்ய பதோ3ரவிந்த3மகி2ேம் ஸ்ருத்யர்த்த2

னகோஸோம் ஸ்ததோ2
னகோ ஷ்டீ ஞ் சோபி தனத கலீநமநஸோ ஸஞ் சிதயந்தம்
3 2 3

முதோ3
ஸ்ரீநோரோயண தோ3ஸமோர்யமமேம் னஸனே ஸதோம்
னஸேதி4ம்
ஸ்ரீேோக்3பூ4ஷண கூ3ட4போ4ேவிே் ருதிம்
யஸ்ஸப் தகோ3தோ2ம் ே் யதோ4த்

More about viLAnchOlai piLLai

viLanchOlai piLLai learned EEdu, sri bhAshyam, etc.,

thathvathrayam and other rahasya granthams, etc., from sri
azhagiya maNavALa pErumAL nAyanArAcharyar, who is the
younger brother of sri piLLai lOkachariar.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

He learned SrI vachana bhUshaNam from his AchAryan sri

piLLai lOkAchariar, and was considered an expert in its
meanings (adhikAri).

sri viLAnchOlai piLLai wrote ‘saptha gAThai’, which gives us

the essence of his Acharyan’s sri vachana bhUshaNam.

Note: mUlam for saptha gAThai is available in Sanskrit,

English, and Thamizh at:
http://acharya.org/sloka/vspillai/index.html

One of the biggest kainkaryams he did to his AchAryan is to

follow his AchAryan’s instructions which was given during his
Acharyan’s charama dhasai - sri piLLai lOkAchAriar wanted
his sishyAs to reach out to thiruvoimOzhi piLLai (then
thirumalai AzhvAr) and prepare him to be the next AchAryar
in this golden lineage; Sri piLLailOkAchAriar instructed
viLAnchOlai piLLai to teach thirumalai AzhvAn (Sri
thiruvoimOzhi piLLai), the meaning of SrI vachana
bhUshaNam.

viLanchOlai piLLai and thiruvAimOzhi piLLai

When thiruvAimOzhi piLLai reached thiruvananthapuram, he

was welcomed by the namboodhiries, and did
mangaLasAsanam to ananthapadhmanAbhan through the
three windows, and then looked for SrI viLAnchOlai piLLai.

When he found his place and reached there he was in for a

big surprise! viLanchOlai piLLai was in yOga meditating on
his AchAryan piLLai lOkAchAriar’s thirumEni, and about the
greatness of all his sishyAs and their whole presence in
thiruvarangam during those days.

viLAnchOlai piLLai’s thirumEni (divine body) was covered in

spider webs.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thiruvAimOzhi piLLai fell on his feet and stood silently in front

of him. viLanchOlai piLLai immediately opened his eyes and
his grace fell on thiruvAimOzhi piLLAi. He was happy to see
the sishyA that he has been waiting for.

He gave the deep meanings of SrI vachana BhUshaNam to

thiruvAimOzhi piLLai. In addition he wrote 7 pasurams that is
saptha gAThai which gives the essence of SrI vachana
bhUshaNam, and explained about saptha gAthai too to
thiruvAimOzhi piLLai.

This was a prime example for ‘kodumin koNmin’ as said by

thONdaradi podi AzhVar – viLanchOlai piLLai of EEzha
kulam gave, and thiruvAimOzhi piLLai of brahmin kulam
received, the essence of sri vaishNavam.

After some time, thiruvAimOzhi piLLai took leave from

viLAnchOlai piLLai, and went on to become a dharsana
pravarthakar of SrI rAmAnuja dharisanam.

viLanchOlai piLLai’s charamam

One day namboodhris were doing thiruvArAdhanam to

anantha padmanAbhan, and viLanchOlai piLLai entered the
temple through east entrance; cross the dhwaja sthambham;
went past narasimhar, and entered through the north
entrance of sanctum sanctOrum (garbha gruham), climbed
the stairs near ‘ORRai kal maNdapam’, and out of the three
windows that give sEvai to peruman, he stood near the
window that gives dharshan to His lotus feet.

When namboodhiris saw this, according to the custom of the

time, did not want to be in the sanctum sanctorum due to the
cast of viLanchOlai piLLai and so they closed the doors of the
sannidhi, and started to go out of the temple.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

At the same time, some of the local sishyas of viLanchOlai

piLLai approached the temple and announced that their
AchAryan viLAnchOlai piLLAi has reached the thiruvadi of his
AchAryar piLLai lOkachariar!! And they wanted ‘thiru
pariyattam, and flower garlands’ from perumAn, for the
charama thirumEni of viLAnchOlai piLLai!! They stood near
the temple entrance and were reciting irAmanusa
nUtrandhAdhi iyal etc.

When namboodhris saw this, they were surprized about the

happenings earlier near the sanctum sanctOrum and
informed about this to every one!

Like how thiruppANAzhvAr reached the thiruvadi of pEriya

pErumAL in pEriya kOil, here viLAnchOlai piLLai had reached
the thiruvadi of anantha padmanAbhan!

thiruvAimOzhi piLLai after hearing this news, did all charama

kainkaryams that sishyas would do for their AchAryan, and
did thiruvadhyayanam too in a complete manner. Reminds
us of pEriya nambi’s kainkaryam to mAranEri nambi.

Following was given by the sishyas who celebrated the

greatness of thiruvAimozhi piLLAi having sishya bhAvam
towards viLAnchOlai piLLai.

patRAdha engaL maNavALa yOgi padham paNindhOn

naRREvarAsa-nalanthigazh nArNa thAdharudan
kaRRArenkUrakulOthama thAdhan kazhal paNivOn
maRRArum ovvA thiruvAimozhip piLLai vAzhiyavE

பற் றோதசேங் கள் மணேோளனயோகி

பதம் பணிந்னதோ ்
நற் னறேரோச ேந்திகழ் நோரணதோ தருட ்
கற் றோசரங் கூரகுனேோத்தமதோத ் கழே்
பணினேோ ்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

மற் றோருசமோே் ேோத் திருேோய் சமோழிப் பிள் யள

ேோழியனே.

Following vAzhi was given by thiruvAimozhi piLLAi on

viLanchOlai piLLai.

vAzhi nalam thikazh nAraNathAdhan aruL

vAzhi avan amudha vAymozhigaL – vAzhiyave
ERu thiruvudaiyAn enthai ulagAriyan sol
thERu thiruvudaiyAn sIr

ேோழி நேம் திகழ் நோரணதோத ் அருள்

ேோழி அே ் அமுத ேோய் சமோழிகள் – ேோழியனே
ஏறு திருவுயடயோ ் எந்யத உேகோரிய ் சசோே்
னதறு திருவுயடயோ ் சீர்.

Sources:

1. “mannu pugazh maNavALa mAmunivan”, irA. arangarAjan,

2011.

2. “nithAyAnusandhAnam” from SrI vaishnava SrI; SrI

sudharsanar trust.

3. yathIndrapravaNa prabhAvam by SrI piLLailOkam jIyar,

published by Sri. U.Ve. Dr. V.V. Ramanujan, 1992, 2000,
2006.

4. mUlam of saptha gAThai found at

http://acharya.org/sloka/vspillai/index.html taken on Oct
27, 2012.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

5. ‘SrI Ramanuja E-Journal’ edition found at

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2437367/Sri-Ramanuja-E-
Journal – taken on Oct 27, 2012.

6. Picture courtesy through Sri Sarathy Thothadri swami.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

36. vEdAnthAchAriar

Taken from Sri Raghuram swamy’s blogsite

(http://acharyar.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/sri-
vedanthachariar-vaibhavam/) with his permission and applied
minor formatting changes.

SrImAn vEnkatanAthArya: kavithArkkika kEsarI

vEdhAnthAchAryavaryO mE sannidhhaththAm sadhA hrudhi

ஸ்ரீமோ ் னேங் கடநோதோர்ய: கவிதோர்க்கிக னகஸரீ

னேதோந்தோசோர்யேர்னயோ னம ஸந்நிதத்தோம் ஸதோ
ே்ருதி

[One who is like a lion to any opposing pundits and debaters,

one who possesses wonderful wealth (of gyAnam, bHakthi,
vairAgyam, and more), and whose thiru nAmam is
‘vEnkatanathan’, such Sri vEdhAnthAchAryar shall always
live in my heart.]

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Thiru avathAram
Name at birth vEnkatanAthan

Year of birth kali yuga year of 4370 (1268 CE)

Month & thirunakshathram purattasi, thiruvONam (same as that

of thiruvEngadamUdaiyAn )

Place of birth Kancheepuram, thiruththanka

gOthram vishvAmithra gOthram

Incarnation Holy bell of thiruvEnkadamudaiyAn

(as he also mentions this in his
grantham ‘sankalpa sUryOdhaya’

Parents anantha sUri and thOthArambai

Age when leaving this About a hundred years.

vibhUthi He left this vibhUthi in about the Kali
yuga year of 4470 (1368 CE) from
Srirangam.

He got the name ‘vEdhAnthAchAriar’ from Sri ranganAthan,

and the name ‘kavithArkika kEsari’ and ‘sarvathanthra
swathanthrar’ by Sri ranga nAchiar.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

He had a son named ‘varadhAchariar’. Sri varadhAchariar

and a jIyar named ‘brahmathanthra swathanthrar jIyar’ were
his sishyas.

KidAmbi AchchAn’s grandson kidAmbi appuLLAr is one of

the sishyas of Sri NadAdhUr ammAL.

“appUL” as mentioned in Thiruviruththam 3 refers to Garuda.

The term ‘appuLLAr’ in his name is based on him being
likened to Garuda in qualities. Another name given to him is
‘vAdhi hamsAmbuvAhar” – like a cloud that defeats hamsas,
he defeats the opposing debaters. His given name was
‘RAmAnujar’.

Sri kidAmbi appuLAr’s nephew and sishyar is the world

famous Sri VedhAnthachAriar.

When vEdAnthAchAriar was young he went with his maternal

uncle (Sri kidAmbi appuLAr) to attend Sri nadAdhUr
ammAL’s kAlakshEpa goshti. vEdAnthAchAriar refers to this
and says that Sri nadAdhUr ammAL had blessed him at that
time that he will establish well and clear all the oppositions of
vishishtAdhvaitha Srivaishnava sidhAntham.

Granthams

As blessed by nadAdhUr ammAL, Sri vEdhAnthachAriar

wrote innumerable granthams, won many philosophers and
debaters who are against vishishtAdhvaitham.

Sri vEdhandhachAriar has written more than a hundred

granthams, and they are in Sanskrit, Tamil, and
maNipravALam (mixture of Sanskrit and Tamil).

Following are some of the most important of his

granthams.
• thAthparya chandhrikai which is a gIta bhAshya
vyakyAnam
• thathvateekai, vyakyAnam for a part of Sri Bhashyam

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• nyAya sidhdHanjanam, which analyses the philosophy

our sampradhAyam
• sadha dhUshani which argues against adhvaitha
philosophy
• adHikarNa sArAvaLi related to groupings in Sri Bhashya
• thathva mukthAkalApam that explains our thathvam; its
vyAkyAnam named ‘sarvArtHa sidhdHi’
• bhAshyams in Sanskrit for sthOthra chatuslOki and
gadhya thrayam
• sankalpa sUryOdhayam which is in the form of drAmA
• dhayA sathakam, pAdhukA sahasram,
yAdhavabhyudhayam, hamsasandhEsam;
• rahasyathraya sAram, sampradhAya parisudhdhi,
abhayapradhAna sAram, para matha bhangam
• munivAhana bhOgam which is a vyAkyAnam on
amalanAdhipirAn
• AhAra niyamam, a tamil text on recommended food
habits
• sthothras like dasAvathAra sthothram, godha sthuthi,
SrI sthuthi, yathiraja sapthathi

dhramidOpanishad thAthparya rathnAvaLi,

dhramidOpanishad sAram, that provide meanings on
thiruvoimozhi, and so on and more.

The content so far in this article is mostly based on a malar

published by Puthur Swami.

kAnchi Sri Thoopul vEdAnthAchAriar during avathAra

uthsavam

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

vEdAnthachariar and other Acharyars

vEdAnthAchAriar has a written a wonderful prabhandham

named lOkAchArya panchAsath glorifying piLLai
lOkAchAryar. vEdhAnthAchAryar was atleast 50 years
younger to piLLai lOkAchAryar and had great admiration for
piLLai lOkAchAryar which can be easily understood from this
grantham; this grantham is recited regularly in
thirunArAyaNapuram (Melkote, Karnataka) even today. A
simple English translation to lOkAchArya panchAsath written
by Shri U.Ve T. C. A. Venkatesan swamy based on Shri U.Ve
V. V. Ramanujam swamy can be downloaded from
http://acharya.org/books/eBooks/vyakhyanam/LokacharyaPa
nchasatVyakhyanaSaram-English.pdf.

vAdhikEsari azhagiya maNavaLa jIyar in his grantham

‘Tatvadeepa’ and others, has referred to vEdAnthAchAriar’s
granthams2.

0 Sri maNavALa mAmunigaL in his vyakyanam for

thathvathrayam and mumukshupadi (which were written by
Sri piLLai lOkAchAriar), refers to the words of
vEdanthAchariAr; and maNavALa mAmunigaL fondly refers
to vEdhAnthAchAriar as ‘abhiyukthar’3.

0 Sri ErumbiappA, one of the ashta dikgajangaL of

maNavALa mAmunigaL, in his ‘vilakshaNamOkshAdhikAri
nirNayam’ references vEdhAnthAchariar’s ‘nyAyavimsathi’,
and provides summary of its meaning as well3.

0 Swami Dhoddachariar of Cholasimhapuram

(Sholingur) wrote a commentary on vedAntha dEsika’s
‘SatadhooshaNi’, called ‘ChandamArutham’. Hence he was
referred to as ‘ChandamArutham Dhoddachar’, and his
descendent AcharyAs are also referred so to this date.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

0 The devotion of PrativAthi bhayankaram aNNa and his

sishyas and descendents for vEdAnthAchAriar is well known.
The descendents living in ThiruvindhaLUr and other southern
centres even bear the name of vEdanthAchAriar’s son
referred to as ‘nAyinAchAriar’, thus extending their devotion
down to his son.

0 Many other AchAryAs and vidwAns have written

commentaries on or referenced vEdAnthAchAriar’s
granthams.

. . . . . narasimharAjAcharya swami who is Sri

dhoddAchAriar’s disciple has written commentaries on
‘nyAya parisuddhi’;

. . . . . Mysore (maNdayam) ananthAzhvAn who lived in the

early part of nineteenth century has made several references
to vEdAnthAchAriar’s granthams in his writings;

. . . . . KunrappAkkam swami who lived in Kancheepuram in

latter part of nineteenth century has in his work ‘Tatwa-
RatnAvaLi’ has fondly referred to vEdAnthAchAriar as ‘Jayati
Bhagavan Vedantarayas sa tharkika-kesari’.

() Sri vEdanthAchAriar too, had a deep love and regard to

purvAchAryas and contemporary achAryAs, as evidenced in
his ‘abhithistavam’, “Kvachana rangamukyE vibhO!
paraspara-hithaishiNAm parisarEshu mAm varthaya”, (O
Lord!, let me reside in Srirangam at the feet of the great ones
who are mutual well-wishers)2.

() “In the last verse of his ‘bhagavad-dhyAna sOpanam’, Sri

vEdAnthAchAriar pays a glowing tribute to the erudite
scholars and art-lovers of Srirangam, who imparted clarity in
his thoughts and enabled him to develop a facile and
pleasing style”.2

() Sri vEdAnthAchAriar’s devotion to Sri rAmanujar is very

well known; in his ‘nyAsa tilakA’ in the verse starting ‘ukthya

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

dhananjaya…’ he pacifies perumAL for having indirectly told

him that mOksham need not be granted by Him, as it had
already been guaranteed to him by his connection with Sri
rAmAnujar.

These go to show that vEdanthAchAriar and other scholars

held mutual respect, love, and reverence for each other, and
paved ways for harmonious discussions on our srivaishnava
sampradhAyam.

AchArya-champu

Sri. S. Satyamurthi Iyengar, Gwalior (also referred to as

‘Gwalior swami’), mentions in his 1967 book “A critical
appreciation of Sri Vedanta Desika Vis-à-vis the
Srivaishnavite World”, about other sources of information to
learn about Sri vedhAnthachAriar. Most of the following text is
attributed to the mentioned book.

He refers to a work called ‘VedAntAcharya Vijaya’ also

known as ‘AchArya-champu’, written in Sanskrit in the form
of prose and verse, by a great scholar and poet named
‘Kousika KavitArkikasimha VedanthAchariAr’, who lived
around 1717 CE. This work is considered the oldest historic
record of VEdAnthAchAriar’s life history and most authentic.

This work starts in first Stabaka (Chapter, or Section) with a

benediction, then speaks about author’s family, about the city
of Kancheepuram, and about Sri Pundarika Yajwa,
grandfather of VEdAnthAchAriar.

The second Stabaka deals with the birth and marriage of

Ananta-Suri (Sri Desika’s father) and the entry of divine Bell
into his wife’s womb.

The third Stabaka describes the birth of VEdAnthAchAriar,

his childhood, his accompanying his maternal uncle to Sri
Vatsya Varadacharya’s school, and securing the latter’s
blessings, getting the sacred thread, initiation to the study of

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

literature, vedhas, and more; marriage, winning the grace of

Lord HayagrIva, composition of various works including
‘nyAya sidhdhAnjana’, and gaining the title of
Kavitarkikasimha.

The fourth Stabaka describes the Uthsavam at Kanchi, the

composition of ‘VaradarAja panchAsat’ by VEdAnthAchAriar,
his encounter with Advaitha scholar named Vidyaranya and
winning him; and pilgrimage to vEnkatAdri.

The fifth Stabaka provides details of the pilgrimage, his

composing ‘dayAsatakA’, and his ‘Vairagya-panchaka’ as a
scoring-of-the-riches reply to an invitation to royal court by
Vidyaranya; pilgrimage to kshethras in the north; return to
Kancheepuram; delivering judgment in the debate between
Vidyaranya and Akshobhya muni a Dwaita scholar);
pilgrimage to shrines in the south; his living in
ThiruvEndhipuram for some time; his bringing out several
works; pilgrimage to sri mushnam; and getting invitation to
visit Srirangam.

The final and sixth Stabaka of ‘AchArya-champu’ describes

vEdAnthAchAriar’s journey to Srirangam, his having darsan
of Sri Ranganathan; composing of ‘Bhagavad dhyana
sopana’ etc.; winning an advaithi named Krishnamisra after a
long debate of 18 days and earning the title of
‘vEdAnthAchAryA’ , ‘Sarvatantra-Swatantra’, etc.; composing
‘pAduka sahasram’ when challenged by a vain Poet; the sack
of Srirangam by Muslims, VEdAnthAchAriar’s stay in the
western part of the country, composing Abhitistava; his visit
to other kshetrams; composing ‘GaruadAndaka’ to meet the
challenge of a snake-charmer, birth of a son to
VEdAnthAchAriar; and composing of ‘RahasyatrayasAra’.

This book ‘AchArya-champu’ commanded wide popularity,

eagerly studied by Sanskrit scholars of yore; there is not
much attempt to bring out a reprint of this valuable book.

Sources:

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

1. Puthur Swami’s pOn vizhA malar

2. Sri. S. Satyamurthi Iyengar, Gwalior; “A critical

appreciation of Sri Vedanta Desika Vis-à-vis the
Srivaishnavite World”; c 1967.

3. ‘Thamizhar thozhu vedhanthavAsiriyan’ (Tamil) by Sri

P.B.Annangarachariar swami.

4. English translation to ‘lOkAchArya panchAsath’ written by

Shri U.Ve T. C. A. Venkatesan swamy based on Shri U.Ve V.
V. Ramanujam swamy’s work in Tamil
http://acharya.org/books/eBooks/vyakhyanam/LokacharyaPa
nchasatVyakhyanaSaram-English.pdf taken on Sep 25, 2012.

5. Photo courtesy an informative email from Koil Aaththan

Kasthurirangan swami, ThiruvallikENi.

6. Logo courtesy from blog of Sarathy Thothathri swami,

ThiruvallikENi: http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com – taken
on Sep 25, 2012.

7. Additional photos courtesy

https://picasaweb.google.com/113539681523551495306/ –
taken on Sep 25, 2012.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

37. thirunArAyaNapuraththu Ay

thirunakshathram: ippasi, pUrAdam

avathAra sthalam: thirunArAyaNapuram

AchAryan: His own father lakshmaNAchAryar (pancha

samskAram), nAlUrAchchAn piLLai (grantha kAlakshEpam)

Place where he attained paramapadham:

thirunArAyaNapuram

Works: thiruppAvai vyAkyAnams (2000padi and 4000padi)

and svApadhEsam, thirumAlai vyAkyAnam, vyAkyAnams for
AchArya hrudhayam and SrIvachana bhUshaNam, thamizh
pAsuram glorifying mAmunigaL, etc

When he was born, He was named dhEvarAjar by his

parents. He is also known as dhEva perumAL, AsUri
dhEvarAyar, thiruththAzhvarai dhAsar, SrIsAnu dhAsar,
mAthru guru, dhEvarAja munIndhrar and jananyAchAryar.

Ay means Mother. He was performing the kainkaryam of

preparing and offering milk to thirunAraNan emperumAn.
Once when he was late for his kainkaryam, emperumAn
asked “Where is my Ay (mother)?” revering Ay’s motherly

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

affection towards him. From that time onwards, he was

famously called as Ay or jananyAchAryar. This is very similar
to nadAthUr ammAL‘s relationship with dhEva perumAL.

He was a great scholar and an expert in both samskritha and

dhrAvida vEdham/vEdhAntham.

Along with thiruvAimozhi piLLai and thiruvAimozhi AchchAn

(iLampiLichai piLLai), he heard nampiLLai‘s eedu
vyAkyAnam from nAlUrAchchAn piLLai (the full history of
eedu can be read at
http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/eeynni-
madhava-perumal/). He is also glorified as part of the
AchArya hrudhaya paramparai (azhagiya maNavALa
perumAL nAyanAr – peRRAr (1) – peRRAr (2) – Ay
jananyAchAryar – maNavALa mAmunigaL).

mAmunigaL starts writing a vyAkyAnam for AchArya

hrudhayam. While writing the vyAkyAnam for 22nd chUrNikai,
mAmunigaL wants to have some clarification. He decides to
discuss the particular chUrNikai with Ay jananyAchAryar who
is thiruvAimozhi piLLai‘s saha adhyAyi (classmate) since
mAmunigaL considers Ay as his AchAryan as well.
mAmunigaL requests permission from nammAzhwAr to go to
thirunArAyaNapuram and leaves AzhwAr thirunagari. About
the same time, hearing about mAmunigaL’s glories and great
fame, Ay jananyAchAryar leaves thirunArAyaNapuram and
approaches AzhwAr thirunagari. They both meet outside
AzhwAr thirunagari and offer obeisances to each other and
embrace each other with great joy. mAmunigaL‘s sishyas
consider the meeting of these great souls as the same as the
meeting of periya nambi and emperumAnAr and become
ecstatic seeing the mutual reverence between each other.
They both return to AzhwAr thirunagari and mAmunigaL
hears AchArya hrudhayam kAlakshEpam from Ay fully once.
At the end of the lecture series, mAmunigaL renders a
beautiful thanian for Ay and submits the same to him. Ay,
considering himself not qualified for that, in response, offers
the following beautiful thamizh pAsuram glorifying
mAmunigaL.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

pUthUril vandhudhiththa puNNiyanO?

pUnGkamazhum thAthArumagizhmArbhan thAnivanO?
thUthUra vantha nedumAlO?
maNavALamAmunivan enthaiyivar mUvarilum yAr?

பூதூரிே் ேந்துதித்த புண்ணியன ோ?

பூங் கமழும் தோதோருமகிழ் மோர்ப ் தோ ிேன ோ?
தூதூர ேந்த சநடுமோனேோ?
மணேோளமோமு ிே ் எந்யதயிேர் மூேரிலும்
யோர்?

Simple translation:
Is he emperumAnAr who appeared in SrIperumbUthUr and is
the most virtuous?
Is he nammAzhwAr who adorns the maghizham garland?
Is he kaNNan himself who went as a messenger for the sake
of pANdavas – manifesting saulabhyam (easy accessibility)?
Who is mAmunigaL among the above three who show
fatherly affection towards me?

Thus Ay spent some time in AzhwAr thirungari and finally

returned to thirunArAyaNa puram. But in his absence, some
people who were jealous of him, declared that he attained
parampadham (since he did not return for a long time) and
annexed all his wealth to the temple’s control. Seeing this, Ay
becomes very happy and says “bhagavAn says that he takes
away the wealth of ones who are dear to him, so this is a
great blessing” and leads a simple life. He requests his
thiruvArAdhana perumAL vigraham (gyAna pirAn) which was
given to him by his AchAryan and continues his kainkaryam.
Subsequently, he accepts sannyAsa Ashramam and finally
he leaves to paramapadham to eternally serve emperumAn
in parampadham.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

thirunArAyaNapuraththu Ay. He was a great scholar and was
very dear to his AchAryan and maNavALa mAmunigaL. Let
us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such
bhAgavatha nishtai.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thirunArAyaNapuraththu Ay’s thaniyan:

AchArya hrudhayasyArththA: sakalA yEna dharsithA:

SrIsAnudhAsam amalam dhEvarAjam thamAsrayE

ஆசோர்ய ே்ருதயஸ்யோர்த்தோ: ஸகேோ னயந

தர்சிதோ:
ஸ்ரீஸோநுதோஸம் அமேம் னதேரோஜம் தமோச்ரனய

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

38. ponnadikkAl jIyar

ponnadikkAl jIyar – vAnamAmalai

Thirunakshathram: purattAsi, punarpUsam

avathAra sthalam: vAnamAmalai

AchAryan: azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL

Sishyas: chOlasimhapuram mahAryar (dhoddAchAryar),

samarabhungavAchAryar, sudhdha saththvam aNNA,
jnAnakkaNNAththAn, rAmAnujam piLLai, paLLakkAl
sidhdhar, gOshti puraththaiyar and appAchiArANNA and
many more.

Place where he attained paramapadham: vAnamAmalai

Works: thiruppAvai svAbhadhEsa vyAkyAnam, etc

Born as azhagiya varadhar, he became to be famously

known as ponnadikkAl jIyar. He is also known as
vAnamAmalai jIyar, vAnAdhri yOgI, rAmAnuja jIyar,
rAmAnuja muni, etc. He was the first and the prime disciple of
azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

azhagiya varadhar became the first disciple of azhagiya

maNavALa mAumingaL when mAmunigaL was a gruhasthar.
azhagiya varadhar immediately accepted sannyAsAshramam
and stayed with mAmunigaL most of his life. ponnadikkAl
means the one who laid the foundation of mAmunigaL’s
sishya sampath. He established many thOthAdhri mutts all
over the bhAratha dhEsam and propagated our
sampradhAyam in many regions.

When mAmunigaL goes for thiumalai yAthrai for the first time,
periya kELvi appan jIyar sees a dream, where a gruhasthar is
lying down and a sannyAsi is at his lotus feet. jIyar asks the
people who are there about these two personalities and they
say one is “eettu perukkar” azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr and the other is ponnadikkAl jIyar as called by
nAyanAr himself.

ponnadikkAl jIyar was always held as purushakAram by

many AchAryas to approach mAmunigaL. In yathIndhra
pravaNa prabhAvam it is seen that many srivaishnavas
comes through ponnadikkAl jIyar and he gladly establishes
the connection for them with mAmunigaL and helps them
engage in kainkaryam.

After kandhAdai aNNan and his relatives become shishyas of

mAmunigaL, mAmunigaL says ponnadikkAl jIyar is his prANa
sukruth and he should get all the glories which mAmunigaL
himself has. Looking at appAchiAraNNA who approached
mAmunigaL to become his sishya, mAmunigaL called for
ponnadikkAl jIyar, seated him in his own Asanam, gave him
his own shankam and chakram and instructed ponnadikkAl
jIyar to do samAshrayaNam for appAchiArANNA.
ponnadikkAl jIyar, initially refuses out of humility, but seeing
mAmunigaL’s determination, he accepts and performs
samAshrayaNam to appAchiAraNNA and a few others at that
time. mAmunigaL also appoints an ashta dig gajangaL (just
like he had eight prime sishyas) to ponndikkAl jIyar as well
namely – chOlasimharpuram mahAryar (dhoddAchAryar),
samarabhungavAchAryar, sudhdha saththvam aNNA,

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

jnAnakkaNNAththAn, rAmAnujam piLLai, paLLakkAl

sidhdhar, gOshti puraththaiyar and appAchiArANNA.

When appAchiAraNNA was instructed to leave srirangam to

go to kAnchipuram by mAmuingaL, he feels very much upset.
At that time mAmunigaL asks appAchiAraNNA to accept his
old rAmunujan (thIrtha sombu is usually called as rAmAnujan
in our sampradhAyam) which was worshipped by
ponnadikkAl jIyar for a long time and asks him to make two
small archA thirumEnis of himself (mAmunigaL) and keep
one for appAchiAraNNA and give the other to his AchAryan
ponnadikkAl jIyar.

After some time dheivanAyakan emperumAn (vAnamAmalai)

sends a SrImukam (an instruction) through sEnai mudhaliAr
to mAmunigaL that ponnadikkAl jIyar should be sent to
vAnamAmalai dhivya dhEsam to look after the kainkaryam
there. mAmunigaL instructs ponnadikkAl jIyar to accept that
and go to vAnamAmalai. mAmunigaL then orders everyone
to recite 4000 dhivya prabhandham in front of periya
perumAL in 100 pAsurams per day kramam. During periya
thirumozhi sARRumurai, when “aNiyAr pozhil sUzh
aranganagarappA” is recited, emperumAn being very
pleased, gives aranganagarappan (a lakshmi nArayaNan
vigraham) from his sannidhi to ponnadikkAl jIyar to be carried
along to vAnamAmalai. periya perumAL then gives special
prasAdham and SrI satagOpam to ponnadikkAl jIyar and
gives him a nice send off. mAmunigaL also brings
ponnadikkAl jIyar to his mutt, performs a grand
thadhiArAdhanai and sends him off to vAnamAmalai.

ponnadikkAl jIyar then stays at vAnamAmalai, performs many

kainkaryams in vAnamAmalai and the nearby
dhivyadhEsams like nava thiruppathi, thirukkurungudi, etc
and also in places like bhadharikAsramam during his
yAthrais. He also gets many disciples and gives them
kAlakshEpams and instructions for them to conduct their
kainkaryam.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ponnadikkAl jIyar then goes on a lengthy yAthrai to all

northern dhivyadhEsams. In the mean time mAmunigaL
finishes his leelai in samsAram and leaves to
paramapadham. While returning from his yAthrai, after
reaching thirumalai he hears about the mAmunigaL’s
decision to go to paramapadham and out of great sorrow
stays some time in thirumalai. He brings all the wealth
accumulated during his yAthrai to srirangam, meets with jIyar
nAyanAr (grand son of mAmunigaL in his pUrvAshramam)
and all the other srivaishnavas and share the grief of his
separation from his AchAryan. At that time, according to the
orders of mAmunigaL, mAmunigaL’s upadhaNdam (extra
dhaNdam), ring (thirvAzhi mOdhiram) and pAdhukAs are
given to ponnadikkAl jIyar. Even today this upadhaNdam is
tied to the vAnamAmalai jIyars’ thridhaNdam. Also, even
today vAnamAmalai jIyars wear mAmunigaL’s ring on special
occasions. He then returns to vAnamAmalai and continues
his kainkaryam there.

At that time, there was no uthsava vigraham for

srivaramangai nAchiAr in vAnamAmalai. Once in ponnadikkAl
jIyar’s svapnam dheivanAyakan appears and instructs him to
bring the nAchiAr vigraham (thirumEni) from thirumalai. So,
he travels to thirumalai to fulfill the orders of emperumAn. In
his dream, nAchiar appears and says “dear father, please
take me to vAnamAmalai and perform my marriage with
dheivanAyakan”. She also appears in the dream of the
thirumalai jIyar swamys and instruct them to hand over the
vigraham to ponnadikkAl jIyar. The jIyars accepted her order
and arranged nAchiAr to be sent along with ponnadikkAl
jIyar. ponnadikkAl jIyar having brought her over to
vAnamAmalai, arranged for a grand wedding and he himself
performs kannikAdhAnam. dheivanAyakan also claims that
“like periyAzhwAr, ponnadikkAl jIyar is also his father-in-law”
and even today this custom is respected and followed in
vAnamAmalai dhivyakshEthram.

After living for many years giving valuable instructions to

every one, ponnadikkAl jIyar gives up his charama thirumEni
meditating on his Acharyan azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

and attains paramapadham. He appoints the next jIyar of the

vAnamAmalai mutt and this AchArya paramparai is
continuing even today without any break.

ponnadikkAl jIyar – thiruvallikkENi

Let us pray at the lotus feet of ponnadikkAl jIyar that we also

develop such attachment towards emperumAnAr and our
AchAryan.

ponndaikkAl jIyar’s thanian (submitted by

dhoddAchAryar)

ramya jAmAthru yOghIndhra pAdharEkhA mayam sadhA

thathA yaththAthma saththAdhim rAmAnuja munim bhajE

ரம் ய ஜோமோத்ரு னயோகீந்தர

் போதனரகோ மயம் ஸதோ
ததோ யத்தோத்ம ஸத்தோதிம் ரோமோனுஜ முநிம் பனஜ

Let us see a couple of great samskritham works on

ponnadikkAl jIyar by dhoddAchAryar. These two works bring
out the greatness of ponnadikkAl jIyar in a wonderful way.
The original verses by dhoddAchAryar and a simple
translation of these works in Thamizh by sri U.Ve.
thenthiruppErai aravindhalOchanan swamy are archived in
(http://www.kArimAran.com/downloads/PrapathiMangalasasa
nam.pdf).

vAnamAmalai jIyar mangaLAsAsanam

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

1. I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar, who is the holder of

mAmunigaL’s grace, who is an ocean of mercy himself,
pure in heart, full of good qualities right from his birth and
was originally known as azhagiya varadhar.
2. My worships always belong to our rAmAnuja jIyar who is
the leader of the the jIyar swamys and our kulam and is
full of all great qualities that were blessed by mAmunigaL.
3. I worship rAmAnuja jIyar who he is like a honey-bee in the
lotus feet of mAmunigaL and is pleasing to my heart like
the full moon.
4. I worship rAmAnuja jIyar who is an ocean of good
qualities like vAthsalyam, seelam, jnAnam and one who is
considered by mAmunigaL as his life breath.
5. I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar who directly went from
brahmacharyam to sannyAsam, there by making other
two Ashramams (gruhasthAshramam and vAnaprastham)
look embarassed.
6. I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar who was the first to be
blessed by mAmunigaL and who can remove our
dhOshams (defects) like kAmam (lust), etc.
7. I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar who is holder of all good
qualities and who is free of likes and dislikes in material
things and who has lotus like beautiful eyes.
8. vairAgam first manifested in hanumAn. Then it grew well
in bhIshma pithAmahar. Finally it glows in vAnamAmalai
jIyar now. We will enjoy looking at such glorious
vAnamAmalai jIyar.
9. I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar whose explanations to
ubhaya vEdhAntham attracts great vidhwAns, whose
anushtAnam is hailed and followed by all sannyAsis, who
is blemishless and full of knowledge and other good
qualities, and one who surrendered to the lotus feet of
mAmunigaL.
10. I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar, where even birds near his
kAlakshEpa gOshti proclaims that “only sriman
nArAyaNan is supreme, eternal truth, etc and all the
dhEvathAs are his servants”.
11. I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar, whose katAksham is
powerful enough to give artha panchaka jnAnam easily

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

and who is like kalpa vruksham for his sishyas and who
have done many kainkaryams in vAnamAmalai.
12. I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar, who reformed me (who was
interested in material things only and was not showing
any interest in srivaishnavas) out of his pure mercy and
who is the wealth of vAnamAmalai dhivya kshEthram.
13. I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar, who is full of knowledge,
where vairAgyam is resting peacefully and is like a box
containing expensive jewels and is fully determined to
take care of the AchArya pItam that was established by
emperumAnAr himself.
14. I worship vAnamAmalai jIyar, who is the place holder of
mAmunigaL’s mercy, who is an ocean of all good qualities
like jnAnam, etc and has great attachment for sri
dheivanAyakan emperumAn.

vAnamAmalai jIyar prapaththi

1. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar who is

as beautiful as freshly bloomed lotus flower, one who
gives happiness to the ones who look at him and one who
can help us this samsAram which is a ocean of miseries.
2. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar who
gained glories by the blessings of mAmunigaL, who is
capable of destroying our defects, who is an ocean of
good qualities and who is like kalpa vruksham for his
sishyas.
3. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar who
surrendered to mAmunigaL and did not entangle himself
in married life thinking that it will bind him in this jail of
samsAram more and more.
4. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar – first
the creeper of virakthi started from hanuman but now it
has spread on vAnamAmalai jIyar fully and manifests
nicely.
5. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar who
built many mandapams, etc in vAnamAmalai like
AdhisEshan (who works to please emperumAn always) to
please his AchAryan mAmunigaL.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

6. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar who

explained excellently the deep vEdhAntha meanings that
are given by nammAzhwAr.
7. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar whose
name is powerful enough to remove the poison of the
snake called samsAram and will raise the jIvAthmAs to
the level of emperumAn himself.
8. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar which
will relieve us from the sins that were accumulated due to
time immemorial existence in samsAram, and that which
are worshipped by all sAdhus and that which are very
pure.
9. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar whose
sripAdha thItham will purify any one and will destroy the
fire called thApa thrayam immediately.
10. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar who
was surrendered fully by appAchiAraNNA who was very
pure and an ocean of good qualities.
11. I surrender at the lotus feet of vAnamAmalai jIyar who
was surrendered by samarabhungavAchAryar who
worshipped vAnamAmalai jIyar and who was the peak of
all good qualities and who was worshipped by sAdhus.
12. There is no one equal to vAnamAmalai jIyar since his
vairAgyam is greater than that of hanuman, bhIshmar,
etc. His bhakthi is in line with the oRAN vazhi AchAryas
starting with nammAzhwAr. His jnAnam is the same as
nAthamuni, yAmuna muni, etc. So, who can be
considered greater than vAnamAmalai jIyar based on
these facts?
13. He served sri dheivanAyakan emperumAn like Adhi
sEshan. He glorified emperumAn’s bhakthas as
kulasEkara AzhwAr did. He worshipped his AchAryan
mAmunigaL like mathurakavi AzhwAr worshipped
nammAzhwAr. He was following the footsteps of our
pUrvAchAryas and was the place holder for all good
qualities.
14. Long ago, emperumAn descended as nArAyaNan and
naran. Now the same emperumAn has appeared like
mAmunigaL and ponnadikkAl jIyar. Such is the glory of
vAnamAmalai jIyar.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

39. kOil kandhAdai aNNan

kOil kandhAdai aNNan – SrIrangam aNNan thirumALigai

thirunakshathram: purattAsi (kanni) pUrattAdhi

avathAra sthalam: SrIrangam

AchAryan: maNavALa mAmunigaL

sishyas: kandhAdai nAyan (his own son), kandhAdai

rAmAnuja aiyangAr, etc.

Works: SrI parAngusa pancha vimsathi, varavaramuni

ashtakam, mAmunigaL kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu

Born in the illustrious family lineage of mudhaliyANdAn (who

is called yathirAja pAdhukA – the sandals of the lotus feet of
emperumAnAr), as the son of dhEvarAja thOzhappar and the
elder brother of kOil kandhAdai appan, he was named
varadha nArAyaNan by his parents. He goes on to become
one of the dearest disciples and ashta dig gajas (eight main
personalities/disciples to propagate the sath sampradhAyam)
of maNavALa mAmunigaL.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

kOil aNNan (as popularly known) was living in SrIrangam with

many sishyas. At that time, azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr (mAmunigaL in gruhasthAsramam) arrives at
SrIrangam and was greatly welcomed by SrI ranganAthan
and his kainkaryapararars (servitors). nAyanAr accepts
sannyAsAsramam and SrI ranganAthan gives him the name
azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL (insisting that mAmunigaL
keeps the same name as himself – azhagiya maNavALan is
one of the cherished names of SrI ranganAthan).
emperumAn asks him to have pallavarAyan mutt (which is a
historical mutt from emperumAnAr‘s times) as his residence
and live in SrIrangam until he ascends to paramapadham just
like he ordered emperumAnAr to do so. mAmunigaL instructs
ponnadikkAl jIyar and other sishyas to renovate the mutt and
builds a hall for his regular kAlakshEpams (lectures). While
building the hall, he builds with the soil retrieved from piLLai
lOkAchAryar‘s residence – as piLLai lOkAchAryar was the
pioneer in documenting the rahasya arthams (confidential
principles). mAmunigaL spends his time fully on re-
establishing the sath sampradhAyam principles since during
the previous generations there were lots of turbulence in
SrIrangam due to invaders attacking the town and destroying
people and literature. Hearing his glories and benevolence,
many people approach mAmunigaL and become his sishyas.

Once mAmunigaL blesses AychiyAr who is the daughter of

thirumanjanam appA. AychiyAr being greatly devoted to
mAmunigaL (who is the AchArya of her father), requests
mAmunigaL to accept her as his disciple. mAmunigaL initially
hesitates but later accepts her as his disciple seeing
AychiyAr’s total dedication. She does not reveal this to
anyone including her husband kandhAdai siRRaNNar. She
stays at her father’s residence for some time. At that time kOil
aNNan’s father’s srArdhdham occurs where she is requested
to cook for the occassion. She performs that kainkaryam with
a pure attitude and after the srArdham is completed everyone
is resting at the porch (near entrance).

At that time, kOil aNNan notices a SrIvaishNava coming from

periya jIyar‘s (mAmunigaL) mutt. aNNan enquires the

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

wherabouts and the purpose of his visit. The SrIvaishNava

mentions that his name is singaraiyyar he is from vaLLuva
rAjEndhram (near by village) and he has come to become the
disciple of mAmunigaL but his desire is yet not fulfilled.
aNNan says to him that there are many AchAryas in
SrIrangam and he can become a sishya of any one. The
SrIvaishNava replies that it is per the order of bhagavAn
himself that he becomes a sishya of mAmunigaL. aNNan
becomes astonished and wants to know more, but
singaraiyyar says its confidential and wont reveal the details
yet. aNNan invites him inside to accept prasAdham and
thAmbUlam and asks him to rest there for the night. In the
night when aNNan and his brothers were lying outside,
AychiyAr who is inside the house, lies down to go to sleep.
She says “jIyar thiruvadigaLE charaNam, piLLai
thiruvadigaLE charaNam, vAzhi ulagAsiriyan” (salutations to
mAmunigaL, thiruvAimozhi piLLai and piLLai lOkAchAryar).
aNNan and his brothers hear this and one of them go inside
to find out the matter. But aNNan and appan retains him and
says we can check in the morning.

aNNan becomes reverential towards mAmunigaL and could

not sleep. He goes back to singaraiyyar and enquires in the
night. singariyyar explains a long incident – I periodically
collect vegetables, etc from my village and submit them to the
mutts/thirumALigais of AchAryas. Once, a SrIvaishNava
instructed me to submit this to periya jIyar mutt. I considered
it a great fortune and went to jIyar mutt with the vegetables.
jIyar asked me many questions such as where did these
grow?, who watered them?, etc. I humbly replied to him that
these were grown in pure lands and were nurtured by his
sishyas only. periya jIyar became happy hearing that and
accepted the vegetables. He also instructed me to go to
periya perumAL and worship him before leaving. The
archakar (priest) enquired me about the vegetables and to
whom I offered them this time. I replied to him that they were
submitted to periya jIyar mutt. The archakar became very
happy hearing that and told me that I am most fortunate and I
am going to get great AchArya sambandham. He also
blessed me and gave thIrtham (charaNamritham – holy

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

water), SrI satagOpam, garland, abhaya hastham, etc and I

felt very blessed. I returned to jIyar mutt and informed periya
jIyar that periya perumAL greatly blessed me by your grace
and informed him that I am returning. The kainkaryaparars
(servitors) in the mutt gave me some prasAdham and I had it
on my way and that purified my consciousness greatly. In the
night I saw a dream. I was in periya perumAL‘s sannidhi.
periya perumAL pointed towards Adhi sEshan and told me
“azhagiya maNavALa jIyar is the same as Adhi sEsha. You
become his sishya”. From that time onwards, I am waiting to
become the sishya of mAmunigaL. Hearing these incidents,
aNNan starts deep contemplation and goes to sleep.

aNNan sees a dream during his sleep. A SrIvaishNava steps

down from upstairs with a whip on his hand and starts giving
lashes to aNNan. aNNan, even though had the power to stop
him, does not do so and understands that the SrIvaishNava is
punishing him for his wrong-doings. The whip broke after a
while and the SrIvaishNava pulls aNNan by his hand. aNNan
asks what to do and the SrIvaishNava instructs aNNan to go
upstairs. Both aNNan and the SrIvaishNava climbs up. There
he observed a sannyAsi who looked very angry and he too
started giving lashes to aNNan and finally that whip breaks
too. The SrIvaishNava prays to the sannyAsi and tells him
“He is a small boy and does not know what he is doing,
please stop the beatings and bless him now”. The sannyAsi
then takes aNNan and keeps him on his lap and
affectionately speaks to him. He says “Both you and
uththama nambi committed offenses”. aNNan replies “I did
not truly understand the glories of azhagiya maNavALa jIyar
and became confused – please forgive me now”. The
sannyAsi replies affectionately “I am bhAshyakArar (SrI
rAmAnuja) and this SrIvaishNava is mudhaliyANdAn (your
ancestor). You reform yourself and dont misuse the
relationship with mudhaliyANdAn. I am Adhi sEshan and
have come again as maNavALa mAmunigaL. You and your
relatives become the disciple of mAmunigaL and be uplifted”.
The dream stops and aNNan wakes with shock and awe. He
explains the incidents to his brothers with great emotions. He
goes to AychiyAr who is sleeping inside and informs her

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

about the dream. She also informs him about how

mAmunigaL purified her and blessed her with divine
knowledge. He becomes happy to hear about it and returns
to singaraiyyar and informs him about the dream to. Then he
goes to cauvery river and performs his daily anushtAnams.

He then returns to this residence and invites uththama nambi

and many other kandhAdai family members (descendants of
mudhaliyANdAn). Many arrive at his residence and they are
all surprised to hear that every one saw the same dream.
They all go to embA who is the grandson of a famous
AchArya lakshmaNAchAryar. embA becomes angry hearing
about the dream and tells them that it is not befitting for their
family background to go an take shelter of another jIyar. A
few others also same the same and does not want to take
shelter of periya jIyar.

aNNan along with many other kandhAdai family AchArya

purushas go to jIyar mutt to take shelter of mAmunigaL.
aNNan takes the help of his own sishya thiruvAzhiyAzhwAr
and mAmunigaL’s dear sishya sudhdha saththvam aNNan to
approach mAmunigaL. sudhdha sathvam aNNan used to
often explain the glories of mAmunigaL to kOil aNNan. So,
kOil aNNan takes the help of him to approach mAmunigaL.
kOil aNNan then goes to mAmunigaL’s mutt along with many
of his family members. mAmunigaL is giving a lecture at
thirumalai AzhwAr maNdapam. aNNan, not wanting to disturb
mAmunigaL, informs AychiyAr about their arrival and
AychiyAr sends a SrIvaishNava inside to let mAmunigaL
know about their arrival at the right time. That SrIvaishNava
misunderstands the intentions of kOil aNNan and his family
members and informs to mAmunigaL in the wrong sense (as
if they are coming for a debate/argument or something).
mAmunigaL, not wanting to cause any confusion, leaves to
the backside of the mutt. In the mean time, aNNan and his
relatives approach vAnamAmalai jIyar and offers their
respects to him. AychiyAr following the SrIvaishNavar to find
out what happened explains the intentions of kOil aNNan to
mAmunigaL. mAmunigaL then chastises the SrIvaishNavar
and welcomes kOil aNNan and his relatives with great

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

respect. kOil aNNan and his relatives fall at his lotus feet,
offers prayers and glorifications to periya jIyar and offers
fruits, etc. mAmunigaL gives a short lecture on
thiruppallANdu and poliga poliga padhigam (decade) in
thiruvAimozhi briefly. aNNan requests mAmunigaL
through ponnadikkAl jIyar to acknowledge them and accept
them all as his disciples. mAmunigaL at once goes inside to a
private place and invites aNNan inside through ponnadikkAl
jIyar. mAmuniaL asks aNNan “You already belong to vAdhula
clan (of mudhaliyANdAn) which is already well established
and an AchArya purusha family. Why is this (becoming my
sishya) required?”. aNNan insists that he needs to be
accepted, asking forgiveness for his previous state of not
giving proper respect to mAmunigaL and explaining the
divine dreams. mAmunigaL accepts the request and tells
aNNan that there are few other fortunate souls who would be
directed by emperumAn through their dreams and instructs
that every one assemble after 3 days for the pancha
samskAram. aNNan happily accepts the proposal and leaves
along with his relatives.

emperumAn appears in the dreams of many others and

breaking the shackles of archA samAdhi (his own vow of “not
interacting” with anyone in archAvathAram/deity form)
instructs that mAmunigaL is non-different from bhagavAn
himself and everyone should take shelter of his lotus feet to
be uplifted.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

mAmunigaL and kOil aNNan – aNNan thirumALigai,

SrIrangam

After 3 days, everyone assembles at periya jIyar mutt.

aNNan, without any pride about his family heritage and fully
wanting to become surrendered to mAmunigaL, goes to
mAmunigaL and requests him to perform pancha samskAram
to everyone. mAmunigaL instructs vAnamAmalai
(ponnadikkAl) jIyar to prepare the necessary aspects and
performs pancha samskAram (thApam – shanka/chakram
imprint on the shoulders, puNdra – Urdhva puNdram, nAma –
giving a dhAsya nAmam (name), manthra – the rahasya
thraya manthrams and yAga – thiruvArAdhanam procedure)
to kOil aNNan and divinely blesses him.

Immediately, mAmunigaL thinks about ponnadikkAl jIyar and

points towards him and announces in the big assembly
“ponnadikkAl jIyar is like my life breath and well wisher.
Whatever glories I have, he should also get the same”.
aNNan understands mAmunigaL’s emotions and says “You
should have made me a disciple of ponnadikkAl jIyar” and
mAmunigaL shows his special attachment towards aNNan
saying “How can I give up some one who is destined to me
(by the divine orders of periya perumAL himself)?”.
AychiyAr’s son appAchiyAraNNA then raises and requests
mAmunigaL to make him a disciple of ponnadikkAl jIyar.
mAmunigaL becomes very pleased and hails him as “nam
appAchiyAraNNAvO?” (Is this our appAchiyAraNNA?).
mAmunigaL then seats ponnadikkAl jIyar in his own
simhAsanam (throne) and forcefully places the shankam and
chakram in his hands and asks him to perform pancha
samskAram to appAchiyAraNNA. ponnadikkAl jIyar at first
humbly refuses, but mAmunigaL insists him to do it as it will
be very pleasing for him. After appAchiyAraNNA, his brother
dhAsrathi appai also becomes a sishya of ponnadikkAl jIyar.
ponnadikkAl jIyar, out of humility withdraws from the Asanam
(seat) and offers his praNAmams to mAmunigaL out of great
respect. After that, aNNan’s brother kandhAdai appan and
many others become sishyas of mAmunigaL. At that time,
periya perumAL‘s prasAdham arrives and mAmunigaL

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

accepts the same with great reverence. Everyone then goes

to the temple and performs mangaLAsAsanam and returns to
the mutt for a grand thadhIyArAdhanam.

One day, mAmunigaL hails the attachment of sudhdha

sathvam aNNan towards kOil aNNan. He also instructs ANda
perumAL (who is a great scholar coming in the family lineage
of komANdUr iLayavilli AchchAn) to become the sishya of
aNNan and fully serve aNNan in spreading the sath
sampradhAyam.

eRumbi appA who is a relative of kOil aNNan, approaches

mAmunigaL through the purushakAram (recommendation) of
kOil aNNan and becomes a dear disciple of mAmunigaL.

kandhAdai nAyan (who is the son of kandhAdai aNNan) was

most intelligent and knoweldgable even at an young age.
When mAmunigaL was explaining some meanings from
dhivya prabhandha pAsurams, kandhAdai nAyan nicely gives
an interpretation. mAmunigaL lifts him up and places him on
his lap and greatly glorifies him and blesses him to be a
leader of our sampradhAyam. kandhAdai nAyan is the author
of periya thirumudi adaivu.

prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan approaches mAmunigaL

and becomes his sishya. He too first visits kOil aNNan’s
thirumALigai first and had great respect for each other.

mAmunigaL instructs kOil aNNan to explain bhagavath

vishayam to kandhAdai appan, thirukkOpuraththu nAyanAr
bhattar, sudhdhasathvam aNNan, ANda perumAL nAyanAr
and ayyanappA and gives him the title “bhagavath
sambandha AchAryar” and makes him the main AchArya for
bhagavath vishayam. Once, mAmunigaL observes
kandhAdai nAyan (son of aNNan) and jIyar nAyanAr
(mAmunigaL’s own grand-son from his pUrvAsramam)
discussing bhagavath vishayam in a detailed manner and
instructs them to write an arumpadham (detailed explanation)
in samskritham for eedu vyAkyAnam.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

After mAmunigaL performing bhagavath vishaya

kAlakshEpam in SrIrangam in front of SrI ranganAthan,
emperumAn himself appears on the final day of Ani
thirumUlam, submits the “SrIsailEsa dhayApAthram” thanian
and accepts mAmunigaL as his AchAryan. Immediately
emperumAn instructs to all dhivyadhEsams that this thanian
be recited as part of daily routines in the beginning and in the
end. At the same time, in kOil aNNan’s thirumALigai
(residence), aNNan’s wife and other SrIvaishNavis are
discussing about mAmunigaL’s glories. A small boy arrives
there and submits a chit with the same thanian and vanishes.
Every one understands this to be a divine act of emperumAn.

Once, mAmunigaL asks kOil aNNan if we wants to go and

perform mangaLAsAsanam to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn. At that
time, appiLLai glorifies aNNan as “kAvEri kadavAtha
kandhAdai aNNananRO” (one who does not cross the river
cauvery – one who never leaves SrIrangam). But mAmunigaL
highlights that SrI ranganAthan stays at the top of the
thirumalai being worshipped by nithyasUris. aNNan becomes
very pleased and asks permission from mAmunigaL to go for
thirumalai yAthrai. mAmunigaL brings him to periya perumAL
sannidhi and gets his permission/blessings to leave and
sends uththama nambi (dear kainkaryaparar of periya
perumAL) along with aNNan. aNNan is accompanied by
many SrIvaishNavas. When offered a palanquin, aNNan
rejects that and he walks along with the SrIvaishNavas
manifesting great humility. Once he reaches the foot-hills of
thirumalai, ananthAzhwAn (servitor of thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn
coming in the family lineage of thirumalai ananthAzhwAn),
periya kELvi jIyar, AchArya purushas and many
SrIvaishNavas welcome aNNan and the SrIvaishNavas with
great pomp.

aNNan participates in the rathOthsavam and performs

mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn. He meets ayOdhya
rAmAnuja aiyyangAr who was serving in SrI
bhadhrikAsramam. ayOdhyA rAmAnuja aiyyangAr wants to
take shelter of mAmunigaL, but ananthAzhwAn explains that
aiyyangAr should take shelter of aNNan which will be more

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

pleasing to mAmunigaL. aiyyangAr happily obliges and

requests aNNan to accept him as his disciple. aNNan
accepts his request and performs pancha samskAram to
aiyyangAr. thiruvEnkamudaiyAn acknowledging aiyyangAr’s
relationship with aNNan, declares that he will be known as
“kandhAdai rAmAnuja aiyyangAr”. kandhAdai rAmAnuja
aiyyangAr goes on to perform many notable kainkaryams.

aNNan decides to return to SrIrangam and goes to

thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn to seek for permission to leave.
emperumAn gives his own vasthram to aNNan and aNNan
happily accepts the same. emperumAn also instructs aNNan
to return in the palanquin submitted by kandhAdai rAmAnuja
aiyyangAr and returns to SrIrangam. On the way, he
performs mangaLAsAsanam to many dhivyadhEsams and
also visits eRumbi appA and his elders at eRumbi. At
kAnchIpuram, aNNan desires to bring water from
sAlaikkiNaRu (well from which emperumAnAr brought water
for dhEva perumAL’s kainkaryam). aNNan happily performs
this kainkaryam and instructs appAchiyAraNNA to continue
this kainkaryam.

aNNan plans to leave kAnchIpuram to go to SrIperumbUthUr

and other near by dhivyadhEsams. He goes to dhEva
perumAL to seek his permission to leave. At that time dhEva
perumAL was enjoying thiruvArAdhanam. After thaLigai
(bhOgam) is offered to dhEva perumAL, dhEva perumAL
invites aNNan to the front and blesses him with his
vasthrams, garlands, sandal wood and fragrance applied to
him, etc and gives them to aNNan saying that all these for
for periya jIyar and gives him a nice farewell. aNNan comes
out and seated across kachchikku vAyththAn maNdapam and
starts lecturing mAmuigaL’s glories. A few elders highlight
dhEva perumAL himself saying mAmunigaL as “aNNan jIyar”
(kOil aNNan’s AchAryan mAmunigaL) and glorify that very
much. They also remind him how periya perumAL identified
kOil aNNan as “jIyar aNNan” (periya jIyar‘s sishya kOil
aNNan). At that time, a message comes from mAmunigaL to
return to SrIrangam since it had been long since he left. kOil
aNNan at once accepts that invitation from his AchArya,

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

offers his praNAmams towards the direction of

SrIperumbUthUr and other dhivyadhEsams and returns to
SrIrangam.

periya jIyar arrives at kOil aNNan’s residence and thirumAlai

thantha perumAL bhattar arrives along with temple
kainkaryaparars with periya perumAL‘s garlands and
prasAdham. Every one welcomes aNNan with great delight
and mAmunigaL fully blesses aNNan on his arrival. The
SrIvaishNavas mention to mAmunigaL that dhEva perumAL
glorified him as “aNNan jIyar”. mAmunigaL becomes very
pleased hearing that and says that he was blessed to have
such connection with aNNan. prathivAdhi bhayankaram
aNNan highlights that aNNan jIyar sounds similar to
sriya:pathi – just like both emperumAn and pirAtti enhance
each others glories, kOil aNNan and mAmunigaL enhance
each others glories too.

Towards the end of his time in this world, mAmunigaL was

writing the vyAkyAnam for AchArya hrudhayam with great
personal discomfort. When aNNan goes and asks
mAmunigaL why he was putting himself under so much
trouble, mAmunigaL magnanimously replies that he is writing
these commentaries for the benefit of his sons and
grandsons (future generations to come).

mAmunigaL was instrumental in re-establishing the rights and

privileges for kOil aNNan which were lost during the bad
times of SrIrangam when the invaders destroyed everything.

eRumbi appA (another sishya of mAmunigaL) highlights a

beautiful incident in his pUrva dhinacharyA (a divine
grantham narrating the daily activities of mAmunigaL) slOkam
4.

pArsvatha: pANipadhmAbhyAm parigruhya bhavathpriyau

vinyasyantham sanair angrI mrudhulau mEdhinIthalE

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

போர்ச்ேத: போணிபத்மோப் யோம் பரிக்ருே்ய

பேத்ப்ரிசயௌ
விந்யஸ்யந்தம் சயநர் அங் க்ரீ ம் ருதுசேௌ
னமதிநீ தனே

Simple translation: eRumbi appA to mAmunigaL – “Your

highness is having your two dear sishyas (kOil aNNan and
kOil appan) on either side and holding on to them tightly with
your lotus like tender hands and walking with your tender
(lotus) feet on mEdhinI (earth)”.

mAmunigaL with aNNan and appan on either side (portrait

from appan swamy thirumALigai, kAnchIpuram)

thirumazhisai aNNAvappangAr, in his vyAkyAnam for

dhinacharyA, highlights that here the two dear sishyas mean
“kOil aNNan and kOil appan”. A question arises here –
should mAmunigaL not be holding on to his thridhaNdam as it
is said in pAncharAthra thathvasAra samhithai that ‘a
sannyAsi should always be holding on to thridhaNdam’?
aNNAvappangAr nicely explains this in a few ways:

• For a sannyAsi who is fully realised – if he does not carry

his thridhaNdam for some reason – there is no defect.
• A sannyAsi who is in constant meditation of bhagavAn,
who is well-behaved and who has properly heard the
meanings of sAsthram from his AchAryas, one who is
knowledgable in bhagavAth vishayam and one who has

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

control over his own senses and the whole world – for
such sannyAsis their thridhaNdam, etc., are not required.
• When prostrating before emperumAn fully, since the
thridhaNdam may be a hinderance to perform such full
prostration, he may not carry the thridhaNdam at that
time.

mAmunigaL himself glorifies kOil aNNan through a beautiful

pAsuram:

ekkuNaththOr ekkulaththOr evviyalvOr Ayidinum

akkaNaththE nammiRaivarAvarE
mikkapughazhk kArAr pozhil kOyil kandhAdai aNNanennum
pErALanai adaintha pEr

எக்குணத்னதோர் எக்குேத்னதோர் எே் வியே் னேோர்

ஆயிடினும்
அக்கணத்னத நம் மியறேரோேனர
மிக்கபுகழ் க் கோரோர் சபோழிே் னகோயிே் கந்தோயட
அண்ணச ் னும்
னபரோளய அயடந்த னபர்

Simple translation: If one takes shelter of kOil kandhAdai

aNNan (who is most popular due to his merciful nature),
whatever may be his qualities, creed or nature - he will
become my master at once.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of kOil

kandhAdai aNNan. He was very dear to mAmunigaL. Let us
pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such
abhimAnam of AchAryan.

kOil kandhAdai aNNan’s thaniyan:

sakala vEdhAntha sArArtha pUrNAsayam

vipula vAdhUla gOthrOdhbhavAnAm varam
ruchira jAmAthru yOgIndhra pAdhAsrayam
varadha nArAyaNam madh gurum samsrayE

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ஸகே னேதோந்த ஸோரோர்த்த பூர்ணோசயம்

விபுே ேோதூே னகோத்னரோத்பேோநோம் ேரம்
ருசிர ஜோமோத்ரு னயோகீந்தர
் போதோச்ரயம்
ேரத நோரோயணம் மத் குரும் ஸம் சர் னய

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

40. prathivAdhi
bhayankaram aNNan

thirunakshathram: Adi pUsam

avathAra sthalam: kAnchIpuram (near thirutthaNkA dhIpa

prakAsar sannidhi)

AchAryan: maNavALa mAmunigaL

sishyas: His own sons aNNanappA, ananthAchAryar,

azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr

Works:

• short vyAkyAnams (commentaries) for SrI bhAshyam,

SrI bhAgavatham, subhAlOpanishad
• vyAkyAnam for bhattar’s ashtaslOkI
• SrI vEnkatEsa suprabhAtham, sthOthram, prapathi,
mangaLAsAsanam per the divine orders of
mAmunigaL – http://acharya.org/books/eBooks/index-
all.html (see sri venkatesa suprabatham)
• varavaramuni sathakam (100 slOkas in samskritham
in glorification of mAmunigaL)
• varavaramuni mangaLam –
http://acharya.org/sloka/pb-anna/index.html

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

• varavaramuni suprabhAtham –
http://acharya.org/sloka/pb-anna/varavaramuni-
suprabhatam-tml.pdf
• “cheyya thAmarai thALiNai vAzhiyE…” – vAzhi
thirunAmam of mAmunigaL (recited at the end of
aruLicheyal gOshti)
• Other slOka/sthOthra granthams

Born as hasthigirinAthar in the lineage of mudumbai nambi

thiruvamsam, he was also known as aNNA and becomes to
be popularly known as paravAdhi bhayankarar.

Similar to kUraththAzhwAn who appeared before

emperumAnAr but became a dear sishya of emperumAnAr
subsequently, aNNA appeared before mAmunigaL but
became a dear sishya of mAmunigaL. He is also one of the
ashta dhig gajas (eight main sishyas of mAmunigaL).

In the early part of his life, he lived in kAnchIpuram and was

blessed by vEdhAnthAchAryar. He studied under the
guidance of kumAra nayanAchAryar (the son of
vEdhAnthAchAryar). He becomes a great scholar and wins
over many scholars of other sampradhAyams by his
expertise in debating. He becomes to be known as
prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNA, highlighting his ability to
bring terror in the minds of the opponents by his ability to
debate clearly and establish the sidhAntham.

After entering gruhasthAsramam, aNNA goes to thirumalai

(thiruvEnkatam) to serve thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn. His wife
who is equally knowledgable in sAsthram and comparable to
kUraththAzhwAn‘s dharma pathni (wife) ANdAL in
knowledge/vairAgyam (AzhwAn’s wife was very knowlegable
in the essential principles of sAsthram and is seen as an ideal
example for how a woman should live her life in total
dedication to bhagavAn/bhAgavathas), gives birth to 3 sons
who also grow up to be great scholars. aNNA, who develops
great detachment in sensual pleasures, goes to
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn and requests emperumAn to engage

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

him in blemishless service (like AzhwAr prayed in ozhivil

kAlamellAm padhigam – thiruvAimozhi 3.3). Accepting his
request, thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn instructs aNNA through
thOzhappar (a SrIvaishNava AchArya in thirumalai) to
engage in the kainkaryam of bringing water for
thirumanjanam (holy bathing) and thiruvArAdhanam (pUja).
thOzhappar says to aNNA that emperumAn is most easily
pleased and fetching water for his daily routines will itself be
most-pleasing for emperumAn. thOzhappar hands over a
silver pot to aNNA and instructs him to bring water from
AkAsa gangai and add fragrances (cardamom, clove, etc) to
the water before submitting the same to the archaka (priest)
for thiruvArAdhanam. aNNA happily obliges and starts doing
that kainkaryam since then with great love thus manifesting
his servitorship towards bhagavAn.

One day, a SrIvaishNava from SrIrangam arrives at

thirumalai. aNNA brings him to emperumAn and arranges for
his dharshan. After that aNNA hears from the SrIvaishNava
about the glorious activities in SrIrangam for SrI
ranganAthan, SrI ranganAchiyAr, AzhwArs and AchAryas. He
also hears about the glories of maNavALa mAmunigaL, his
divine activities at SrIrangam and becomes very attracted
towards his compassion, scholarship, etc. Subsequently a
few days later, aNNA brings the SrIvaishNava to AkAsa
gangai for his kainkaryam. Both on the way and during the
return, he fully drenches himself in mAmunigaL’s anubhavam
through the SrIvaishNava. He realizes he did not add the
fragrances in the water and prepares to do that – but an
EkAngi (dedicated servitor of bhagavAn) grabs the pot of
water since it was getting late for the thiruvArAdhanam.
aNNA tries to inform him that the fragrances have not been
added but the EkAngi does not hear it. With anxiety, aNNA
runs to the sannidhi and observes that the thiruvArAdhanam
is already started and he presents the fragrances to the
archaka. The archakar says “Today, I see that the fragrances
are most pleasing than ever”. aNNA realises that it was due
to his hearing of mAmunigaL‘s glories which lead to
emperumAn’s pleasure and by grace the grace of
emperumAn, the water acquired fragrance automatically. He

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thanks the SrIvaishNava for sharing such beautiful matters

and informs him that he wants to have the dharshan of
mAmunigaL soon. After a few days he takes permission from
thiuvEnkatamudaiyAn and leaves to SrIrangam along with his
family to take shelter of maNavALa mAmunigaL.

After reaching SrIrangam, he goes to worship periya

perumAL in proper order (ANdAL, emperumAnAr, sEnai
mudhaliyAr, etc leading up to periya perumAL and periya
pirAtti). But before having dharshan of periya perumAL, he
observes mAmunigaL giving a divine discourse on
nammAzhwAr‘s thiruvAimozhi 4.10 padhigam – onRum
dhEvum. AzhwAr establishes bhagavAn’s supremacy in
archAvathAram specifically in Athi nAthan emperumAn of
AzhwAr thirunagari. aNNA prostrates in front of the gOshti
and mAmunigaL joyfully embraces aNNA and enquires about
the well-being of him. mAmunigaL reveals that he is very
happy to meet aNNA. mAmunigaL lectures the first 3
pAsurams of the padhigam and stops at that. A visually
ecstatic aNNA being amazed at mAmunigaL‘s expertise in
ubhaya vEdhAntham (samskritha vEdhAntham and dhrAvida
vEdhAntham) says that unless he becomes a sishya of
mAmunigaL he cannot get the full mercy of mAmunigaL and
understand these most important principle of “supremacy in
archAvathAram” clearly. mAmunigaL stops the lecture and
brings him over to periya perumAL. periya perumAL blesses
aNNA with thIrtham, SrI satagOpan, garlands, etc., and
speaks to aNNA through the archaka. He says “Oh
prathivAdhi bhayankarAchAryar! Remember, once you
brought water from AkAsa gangai in thirumalai, you heard the
glories of mAmunigaL and automatially the water became
pure with divine fragrance. You have come here to perform
an act that will give pleasure to me – you will now have the
unique and divine relationship with mAmunigaL” and points
him towards mAmunigaL. periya jIyar then leaves to his mutt
after that.

aNNA being very pleased goes to kanthAdai aNNan’s

residence and both aNNA and kanthAdai aNNAn pay mutual
obeisances as it is the normal practice. “vaishNavO

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

vaishNavam dhrustvA dhandavath praNamEdh bhuvi” says

sAsthram – when a vaishNava meets another vaishNava
mutual prostration must happen. They enquire about the
spiritual well-being of each other and enter the residence of
aNNan. Incidentally, ponnadikkAl (vAnamAmalai) jIyar was
also there at that time. aNNA glorifies ponnadikkAl jIyar as
“aruL koNdAdum adiyavar” (kaNNinuN chiruthAmbu – 7) –
one who is constantly engaged in enjoying/glorifying the
mercy of mAmunigaL and offers his obeisances unto him.
ponnadikkAl jIyar embraces aNNA and discuss the divine
glories of yathi punaravathAram (mAmunigaL – the second
coming of yathirAja). aNNA (along with his wife and children)
then goes to periya jIyar mutt with the guidance of
ponnadikkAl jIyar and kanthAdai aNNan. They all reach out to
jIyar and accept him as the only refuge by undergoing
pancha samskAram from him. He then accepts the SrIpAdha
thIrtham and prasAdham of mAmunigaL. mAmunigaL asks
aNNA “You are prathivAdhi bhayankarAchAryar. How can
you accept me as your AchArya?” and aNNA replies with
great humility that “He is prathivAdhi bhayankarAchAryar for
the ones who oppose the SrIvaishNava sidhAntham but a
pure servant at the lotus feet of SrIvaishNavas”. mAmunigaL
is very pleased to hear this and also identifies aNNA as
“SrIvaishNava dhAsan”. Being situated fully in AchArya
nishtai, he spends his life glorifying mAmunigaL. Just like
kUraththAzhwAn assisted emperumAnAr in establishing the
sidhAntham, aNNA assisted mAmunigaL throughout his time
in establishing the sath sampradhAya sidhAntham.

mAmunigaL goes on a yAthrai to thirumalai via kAnchIpuram,

chOLasimhapuram, eRumbi, etc. aNNA also accompanies
him in the yAthrai. Observing the lack of suprabAtham for
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn in thirumalai, mAmunigaL instructs
aNNA to submit one for emperumAn. aNNA, meditating on
his AchAryan with gratitude, compiles SrI vEnkatEsa
suprabhAtham, sthOthram, prapathi and mangaLA slOkams.
mAmunigaL is greatly pleased with aNNA’s work and
instructs that these are recited every day in thirumalai for the
pleasure of thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

After returning to SrIrangam, once, mAmunigaL invites aNNA

and instructs him to teach SrI bhAshyam to kanthAdai
aNNan, pOrERRu nAyanAr, anantthayyanappai,
emperumAnAr jIyar nAyanAr, kanthAdai nAyan and all.
mAmunigaL then blesses aNNA with the title
“SrIbhAshyAchAryar” and anoints him as the leader of
SrIbhAshya simhAsanam.

aNNA compiles many literary works in glorification of

mAmunigaL. “cheyya thAmarai thAzhiNai vAzhiyE….” is his
divine narration of mAmunigaLs beautiful form and his
unlimited mercy. There are many such works which are so
beautiful and brings out mAmunigaL’s glory fully. Let us see a
couple of such glorification:

SrInivAsan with ubhaya nAchiyAras, mAmunigaL, aNNA

(thirupathi)

SrI vEnkatEsa prapathi (slOkam 15)

sathvOttharais sathatha sEvya padhAmbujEna
samsAra thAraka dhayArdhra dhruganchalEna
saumyO payanthru muninA mama dharshithau thE
SrIvEnkatEsa charaNau sharaNam prapadhyE

ஸத்னேோத்தயரஸ் ஸதத னஸே் ய பதோம் புனஜந

ஸம் ஸோர தோரக தயோர்த்ர த்ருகஞ் சனேந
சஸௌம் னயோ பயந்தரு் முநிநோ மம தர்ஷிசதௌ னத
ஸ்ரீனேங் கனடச சரசணௌ சரணம் ப் ரபத்னய

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

I surrender unto the lotus feet of SrIvEnktatEsan which is

shown to me by maNavALa mAmunigaL out of great
compassion. mAmunigaL is worshipped and served by
parama sAthvikas with pure heart. Such mAmunigaL showed
me that it is the divine lotus feet of emperumAn which uplifts
us from this samsAram and places us in paramapadham.

SrIvEnkatEsa mangaLam (slOkam 13)

SrImath sundharajAmAthrumuni mAnasa vAsinE
sarvalOkanivAsAya SrInivAsAya mangaLam

ஸ்ரீமத் ஸுந்தரஜோமோத்ருமுநி மோநஸ ேோஸினந

ஸர்ேனேோகநிேோஸோய ஸ்ரீநிேோஸோய மங் களம்

Let all auspiciousness prevail on thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn who

is omni present, whose chest is the residence of
SrImahAlakshmi and he is the one who eternally lives in the
heart of azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL.

All the sthOthrams of prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan on

thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn are available in different languages at
http://acharya.org/acharya/pbanna/index.html.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan. He was a great scholar in
ubhaya vEdhAntham, fully situated in AchArya nishtai and
was very dear to mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet
that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan’s thaniyan:

vEdhAntha dhEsika katAksha vivrudhdhabhOdham

kAnthOpayanthru yamina: karuNaika pAthram
vathsAnvavAyamanavadhya guNairupEtham
bhakthyA bhajAmi paravAthi bhayankarAryam

னேதோந்த னதசிக கடோக்ஷ விே் ருத்தனபோதம்

கோந்னதோபயந்த்ரு யமிந: கருயணக போத்ரம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ேத்ஸோந்ேேோயமநேத்ய குயணருனபதம்
பக்த்யோ பஜோமி பரேோதி பயங் கரோர்யம்

41. paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar

thirunakshathram: kArthikai punarpUsam

avathAra sthalam: kAnchipuram (thirumalai according to

periya thirumudi adaivu)

AchAryan: maNavALa mAmunigaL

sishyas: kOilappan (his own pUrvAsrama son), paravasthu

aNNan, paravasthu azhagiya maNavALa jIyar, aNNarAya
chakkaravarthi, mElnAttu thOzhappar nAyanAr, etc

Works: anthimOpAya nishtai

Place where he attained paramapadham: thirumalai

Born as gOvindhar to madhurakavi ayyar (who comes in the

lineage of araNappurathAzhwAn, it is also said that he comes
in naduvil AzhwAn thiruvamsam) in the patthangi paravasthu
family, he was also known as gOvindhadhAsarappan,
bhattanAthar in his pUrvAshramam. After accepting

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

sannyAsam, he becomes to be known as pattarpirAn jIyar,

bhattanAtha muni, etc. He is one of the ashta dhik gajangaL
(eight prime disciples and leaders of our sampradhAyam) of
mAmunigaL. piLLai lOkam jIyar who performed many
valuable literary kainkaryams is his great-grand son.

mAmunigaL himself glorifies gOvindhadhAsarappan

(pattarpirAn jIyar) in the assembly of his sishyas. Once, while
every one is present, mAmunigaL says SrI
gOvindhadhAsarappan is the only one qualifies to be like
madhurakavi AzhwAr who said dhEvumaRRaRiyEn (I dont
know any other god than nammAzhwAr). pattarpirAn jIyar is
thus compared to be madhurakavi AzhwAr for nammAzhwAr,
dheivavAriyANdAn for ALavandhAr and vaduka nambi for
emperumAnAr. He stayed with mAmunigaL without ever
separating from him just like embAr who always stayed with
emperumAnAr. Thus, he learns all the essence of sAsthram
from mAmunigaL directly and constantly serve him.

For 30 years (in his pUrvAshramam), he ate the sEsha

prasAdham (remnants) of mAmunigaL. He is famously known
as "mOr munnAr ayyar" (the respected one who consumed
curd rice first). In a traditional meal, we would first eat rice
with dhAl, vegetables, etc. In the end will finish with curd rice.
pattarpirAn jIyar, consumes his prasAdham on the same
banana leaf on which mAmunigaL eats. As mAmunigaL
finishes with curd rice and since gOvindhadhAsarappan
wants to consume prasAdham without changing the taste
(from curd to dhAl), he first consumes curd rice everyday.
Thus, he becomes to be known popularly as "mOr munnAr
ayyar".

mAmunigaL's sishyas identify mAmunigaL as "bhattanAtha

munivara abhIshta dhaivatham", meaning "the one who is the
dear master of pattarpirAn jIyar". They also glorify
pattarpirAn jIyar as the one who is in the AchArya nishtai of
madhurakavi AzhwAr towards mAmunigaL.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

During the final days of mAmunigaL, aNNarAya

chakkaravarthi (who comes in the lineage of thirumalai nallAn
chakkaravarthi) visits SrIrangam from thirumalai. After his
mangaLAsAsanam at periya kOil, by the advise of his
mother, goes to periya jIyar (mAmunigaL) mutt to pay his
obeisances and respects to him. While going there with his
whole family, he approaches mAmunigaL through pattarpirAn
jIyar. periya jIyar places his divine lotus feet on the head of
aNNarAya chakkaravarthi and blesses him fully. He glorifies
aNNarAya chakkaravarthi's kainkaryams in thirumalai and
invites pattarpirAn jIyar to accept aNNarAya chakkaravarthi
as his sishya. mAmunigaL says like "rAmasya dhakshiNo
bhAhu:" (lakshmaNan is right hand for SrI rAman),
pattarpirAn jIyar is my right hand - so, let him perform pancha
samskAram to you, accept you as his sishya and establish
you as a leader in our sampradhAyam. aNNarAya
chakkaravarthi happily obliges and accepts pattarpirAn jIyar
as his AchArya.

Finally, after mAmunigaL ascending to paramapadham,

pattarpirAn jIyar settles down at thirumalai and purify many
jIvAthmAs there. He writes a grantham named anthimOpAya
nishtai, which fully brings out the glories of our AchArya
paramaparai and how our pUrvAchAryas fully depended on
their respective AchAryans. He declares in the beginning of
the grantham that the whole of the incidents/principles in the
grantham are explained by mAmunigaL himself and he is just
like the pen and paper to document those valuable
instructions.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar. He was a great scholar and was
very dear to mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we
too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar's thaniyan:

ramyajAmAthruyOgIndhra pAdhasEvaika dhArakam

bhattanAtha munim vandhE vAthsalyAdhi guNArNavam

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ரம் யஜோமோத்ருனயோகீந்தர
் போதனஸயேக தோரகம்
பட்டநோத முநிம் ேந்னத ேோத்ஸே் யோதி
குணோர்ணேம்

42. eRumbi appA

eRumbi appA - kAnchIpuram appan swamy thirumALigai

thirunakshathram: ippasi, rEvathi

avathAra sthalam: eRumbi

AchAryan: azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL

sishyAs: periyavappA (his own son), sEnApathi AzhwAn

Works: pUrva dhinacharyai, uththara dhinacharyai,

varavaramuni sathakam, vilakshaNa mOksha adhikAri
nirNayam, last pAsuram of upadhEsa raththina mAlai
(mannuyirgAL …)

eRumbiappA is one of the ashta-dik-gajangaL (eight primary

disciples who were established to protect/develop our
sampradAyam) of maNavALa mAmunigaL. His original name
is dhEvarAjan.

While living and performing his dharmam at his village,

eRumbiappA hears about maNavALa mAmunigaL and gets

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

attracted towards him. This time period (of maNavALa

mAmunigaL) is called NalladikkAlam (golden period) by our
pUrvAchAryas. It is because of the fact that, during this
period, srivaishnavas could uninterruptedly enjoy the kalyAna
guNams (divine qualities) of emperumAn through our
acharyas (mainly maNavALa mAmunigaL) without any
disturbance from external forces. For example: During
emperumAnAr’s time, he had to leave srirangam to go to
thirunArAyaNapuram due to the disturbances from saiva king.
During bhattar‘s time, he had to leave to thirukkOttiyur due to
the disturbances from a disobedient king who was AzhwAn’s
sishyan himself. During piLLai lOkAchAryar’s time, he had to
leave srirangam to go to down south due to muslim invasion.
But when maNavALa mAmunigaL arrived to sriranga he re-
established the temple worship, revived the AchArya
purushas and most importantly collected all the lost
granthams and documented them properly. He was also
constantly engaged in performing kAlakshEpams of
aruLicheyal based on pUrvAchArya vyAkyAnams.

When eRumbiappA hears about maNavALa mAmunigaL‘s

vaibhavam, he comes to srirangam to meet him. When he
enters the mutt, mAmunigaL is explaining thiruvAimozhi 1st
pAsuram – “uyarvara uyar nalam …”. eRumbiappA is
mesmerized by the way mAmunigaL explains the great
meanings of vEdham and vEdhAntham to explain
emperumAn’s parathvam. After that mAmunigaL welcomes
him and requests him to participate in the
thadhiyArAdhanam. But eRumbiappA refuses to accept
prasAdham at the mutt citing sAmAnya sAsthram which says
one should not accept sannyAsi’s food, food from the plate of
a sannyAsi and food that was sent by a sannyAsi – accepting
this one has to do chAndhrAyaNa vratham. He did not realize
the visEsha sAsthram like in thirumAlai 41st pAsuram –
“tharuvarEl punidhamanRE” (if the great srivaishnavas
mercifully give their prasAdham, it is very purifying and we
should accept the same).

When he returns to his home town, in the morning after

completing his anushtAnams, he tries to open the kOvil

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

AzhwAr (thiruvArAdhanam room) and his thiruvArAdhana

perumAL chakkaravarthi thirumagan (sri rAman) does not let
him open the doors. Out of sorrow and anxiety he does not
take any food and goes to sleep. In his svapnam,
chakkaravarthi thirumagan appears and instructs him to take
shelter of maNavALa mAmunigaL. He says mAmunigaL is
none other than AdhisEshan who descended as iLaya
perumAL during rAmAvathAram. He says now mAmunigaL
has appeared again to give benediction to the suffering
samsAris. He instructs him to go and take shelter of
mAmunigaL and develop proper thathva jnAnam. Hearing
this eRumbiappA runs back to srirangam and with the
purushakAram of kOil kandhAdai aNNan, he takes shelter of
maNavALa mAmunigaL and eventually becomes one of the
ashta-dik-gajangaL.

SrI rAma parivAr - appA's thiruvArAdhana perumAL (as seen

in kAnchIpuram appan swamy thirumALigai)

It is at this juncture (while taking shelter), he glorifies

mAmunigaL’s daily activities through many slOkams which
are compiled by him eventually as dhinacharyais.

eRumbiappA stays with mAmunigaL for some time, learns all

the rahasya granthams and finally returns to his village and
continues his kainkaryam there. He is constantly thinking
about his AchAryan and compiles pUrva and uththara
dhinacharyai (which summarizes mAmunigaL’s daily
activities) and sends them to mAmunigaL through a
srivaishnava. mAmunigaL is very pleased to see
eRumbiappA’s nishtai and glorifies him. He also sends an

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

invitation to eRumbiappA to come and visit him. eRumbiappA

stays with his AchAryan for a while and participates in the
bhagavath vishaya kAlakshEpam of mAmunigaL in front of
namperumAL. He finally returns to his village again.

eRumbiappA hears the news about mAmunigaL reaching

paramapadham and is filled with the sorrow of separation
from his AchAryan. He glorifies the benedictions that was
given to him by his AchAryan and prays to emperumAn to
accept him also as soon as possible.

One of the most important contributions of eRumbiappA is

“vilakshaNa mOksha adhikAri nirNayam”. This is a
compilation of conversations between eRumbiappA and his
sishyas like sEnApathi AzhwAn, etc. In this beautiful
grantham eRumbiappA expertly clarifies many of the doubts
that arises out of misunderstanding our AzhwAr/AchArya
srisUkthis. The importance of developing vairAgyam in
samsAram and attachment towards our pUrvAchArya’s
jnAnam and anushtAnam and ourselves putting them into
practice (without this being just theoretical knowledge) is
greatly emphasized by him based on pUrvAchArya
srisUkthis.

It is stated by our pUrvAchAryas that, one should not eat

prasAdham without chanting pUrva and uththara
dinacharyais (remembering the most exalted/uncomparable
lifestyle of maNavALa mAmunigaL). It is such wonderful
composition which makes even a stone melt after hearing
these dinacharyais. The dinacharyais (text) can be
downloaded in different languages
from http://acharya.org/sloka/erumbiyappa/index.html.

Let us remember eRumbiappA who always remembers

maNavALa mAmunigaL.

eRumbiappA’s thaniyan (pUrva/uththara dinacharayais

thaniyan):

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

saumya jAmAthru yOgIndhra sharanAmbhuja shatpadham

dhEvarAja gurum vandhE dhivya jnAna pradham shubham

சஸௌம் ய ஜோமோத்ரு னயோகீந்த்ர சரணோம் புஜ

ஷட்பதம்
னதேரோஜ குரும் ேந்னத திே் ய ஜ் ஞோ ப்ரதம் சுபம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

43. appiLLai

appiLLai – a portrait

thirunakshathram: unknown

avathAra sthalam: unknown

AchAryan: maNavALa mAmunigaL

Works: vyAkyAnam for all thiruvanthAdhis in iyarpA,

vyAkyAnam for thiruvirutham (first 15 pAsurams),
vyAkyAnam for yathirAja vimsathi, vAzhi thirunAmams

Originally named praNathArththiharar, he becomes to be

popularly known as appiLLai. He goes on to become one of
the dear disciples of maNavALa mAmunigaL and one of
ashta dhik gajas.

mAmunigaL resides in SrIrangam per periya perumAL‘s

orders and spends his time spreading the glories of our sath
sampradhAyam. Seeing his greatness, many AchArya
purushas and scholars become his sishyas.

eRumbi appA visits SrIrangam and becomes a sishya of

mAmunigaL. He stays with mAmunigaL for some time and

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

wants to leave SrIrangam. He wants to return to eRumbi (his

native village) after serving mAmunigaL for some time. He
sees some inauspicious signs/omens, so he does not leave.
When he comes back to mAmunigaL, mAmunigaL says “You
wait and see – something auspicious is going to happen. We
will let you leave after that”. Others hearing this become
ecstatic and are waiting for the auspicious incident.

At that time, appiLLai and appiLLAr arrive at SrIrangam with

their families and associates to worship SrIranganAthan.
Though they have heard about mAmunigaL they dont have
great attachment towards him. Being great scholars, they
arrive with their sishyas and great wealth (acquired from
winning debates) at the banks of cauvery river and stay put
there for a couple of days. While staying there, they hear
about the glories of mAmunigaL and hear that many great
personalities such as kandhAdai aNNan, eRumbi appA, etc
have taken shelter of mAmunigaL. They become amazed and
wonder if such great AchAryas can become sishyas of
mAmunigaL. appiLLAr knowing eRumbi appA‘s expertise in
sAsthram, wonders if such experts in sAsthram takes shelter
of mAmunigaL there must be something special in him.
appiLLAr then goes inside SrIrangam with his close associate
who is intelligent and goes near jIyar’s mutt. Staying outside,
he sends his associate inside and asks him to announce that
“appiLLAn has arrived” and if eRumbi appA is present in the
gOshti he will recognize him and welcome him. His associate
goes inside, spots eRumbi appA and says “appiLLAn has
arrived” and hearing that eRumbi appA feels happy and
thinks that “this is a good dawn for appiLLAr”. eRumbi appA
comes out immediately to meet appiLLAr. appiLLAr notices
the shankam (conch) and chakram (disc) marks in the
shoulders of eRumbi appA and understands that he has
recently become a sishya of mAmunigaL. appiLLAr offers his
obeisances to eRumbi appA and they both enquire their
mutual well-being. eRumbi appA explains the whole set of
incidents through which emperumAn directed him to become
the sishya of mAmunigaL. appiLLAr slowly realises the
glories of mAmunigaL and tells eRumbi appA that appiLLai
and many others have arrived and they are waiting at the

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

banks of cauvery. He also requests eRumbi appA to visit

them all (to explain the glories of mAmunigaL and reform
them all). eRumbi appA feeling delighted to hear appiLLAr‘s
intentions, goes to vAnamAmalai jIyar and informs him. He
requests vAnamAmalai jIyar to bless him to reform everyone
to accept mAmunigaL as their AchArya. He then leaves to the
banks of cauvery and explains the essential principles to
everyone.

In the meantime vAnamAmalai jIyar goes to mAmunigaL and

informs him about the arrival of the great scholars appiLLAr
and appiLLai. He tells mAmunigaL that they are ready for
AchArya sambandham. It is highlighted that there are 6
things that happen before AchArya sambandham and this
principle is explained in the following slOkam.

Isvarasya cha sauhArdham yathruchchA suhrudham thathA

vishNO: katAksham adhvEsham Abhimukhyam cha
sAthvikai: sambhAshaNam shadEthAni

ஈச்ேரஸ்ய ச சஸௌேோர்தம் யத்ருச்சோ

ஸுே்ருதம் ததோ விஷ்னணோ: கடோக்ஷம் அத்னேஷம்
ஆபிமுக்யம் ச ஸோத்வியக: ஸம் போஷணம்
ஷனடதோநி

• At first, as bhagavAn is kind-hearted, he looks out for the

well being of every one.
• Second, there is incidental desire/action for goodness.
• Third, bhagavAn‘s merciful vision falls on the jIvAthmA.
• Fourth, jIvAthmA manifests adhvEsham – he does not
stop bhagavAn‘s mercy.
• Fifth, jIvAthmA manifests Abhimukyam – he turns towards
bhagavAn.
• Sixth, he gets into discussion of bhagavath vishayam with
bhAgavathas who will promptly reform him and send him
to an AchAryan.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ponnadikkAl jIyar says to mAmunigaL that they have been

blessed with discussions with eRumbi appA and they have all
the qualification to become your sishyas. So, you too, who
are constantly thinking about the upliftment of jIvAthmAs
should accept them and bless them to fulfill the desire of
eRumbi appA and myself. mAmunigaL accepts his request
and says “emperumAnAr has revealed his divine heart to me”
and says to ponnadikkAl jIyar that one of them will have his
dhAsya nAmam (name after panchasamskAram) of
emperumAnAr. ponnadikkAl jIyar seeks the permission of
mAmunigaL to go and welcome
them and mAmunigaL accepts for that. ponnadikkAl jIyar
sends a SrIvaishNava to appiLLAr to inform about their
arrival.

Hearing about the arrival of ponnadikkAl jIyar and other

sishyas of mAmunigaL, appiLLAr becomes ecstatic and asks
his associates to spread his favourite green shawl on the
ground to have ponnadikkAl jIyar and others step on it, collect
the dust of the lotus feet and bring him the same to decorate
his head with that. He then brings fruits and thAmbUlam
(beetle leaves and nuts) and welcomes ponnadikkAl jIyar with
prayers. He offers his full obeisances and accepts the dust of
their lotus feet on his head. After enquiries about mutual well-
being, ponnadikkAl jIyar brings everyone to kOil aNNan‘s
thirumALigai (residence). kOil aNNan elaborately explains
mAmunigaL‘s glories, that he is the re-incarnation of SrI
rAmanuja himself. Hearing this, appiLLAr and appiLLAi wants
to take shelter of mAmunigaL and they all reach jIyar mutt
with fruits, thAmbUlam and many other offerings. They reach
thirumalai AzhwAr maNdapam where mAmunigaL is seated
in a radiant manner. mAmunigaL looks in a unique shining
form with beautiful and broad shoulders, chest, eyes, etc. He
is wearing clean saffron clothes and holding on to his
thridhaNdam. With a beautiful smile on his face, he welcomes
everyone. Seeing this beautiful form, appiLLai and appiLLAr
falls at his lotus feet and wait for his acknowledgement.
mAmunigaL affectionately accepts their offerings and
explains them the divine essential principles which amazes
the two great scholars. They immediately request

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

mAmunigaL to perform pancha samskAram to them.

mAmunigaL accepts their request, performs pancha
samskAram and accepts them as his disciples. He then
brings them to periya perumAL‘s sannidhi in the proper
sequence (This is the sequence mAmunigaL follows while
going for his mangaLAsAsanam at SrIrangam temple as
outlined in pUrva dhinacharyai – ANdAL, emperumAnAr,
nammAzhwAr, sEnai mudhaliAr, garudAzhwAr, SrI
ranganAthan, SrI ranganAchiyAr, paramapadha nAthan) and
submits the great scholars to emperumAn. After
mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn, they return to the mutt
and appiLLai and appiLLAr accepts the food remnants of
mAmunigaL as stated in the sAsthram that a sishya should
accept food remnants of his AchArya.

appiLLai writes vyAkyAnams for thiruvanthAdhis per

mAmunigaL’s divine instructions and assists mAmunigaL in
his many dhivya prabhandham related kainkaryams.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

appiLLai. He was very dear to mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his
lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such abhimAnam of
AchAryan.

appiLLai’s thaniyan:

kAnthOpayanthru yOgIndhra charaNAmbhuja shatpadham

vathsAnvayabhavam vandhE praNathArrhthiharam gurum

கோந்னதோபயந்த்ரு னயோகீந்த்ர சரணோம் புஜ

ஷட்பதம்
ேத்ஸோந்ேயபேம் ேந்னத ப்ரணதோர்த்திேரம்
குரும்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

44. appiLLAr

appiLLAr – a portrait

thirunakshathram: unknown

avathAra sthalam: unknown

AchAryan: maNavALa mAmunigaL

Works: sampradhAya chandhirkai, kAla prakAsikai

Also known as appiLLAn, appiLLAr was a great scholar. He is

said to be coming in the lineage of kidAmbi AchchAn who is a
dear sishya of emperumAnAr. He goes on to become one of
the dear disciples of maNavALa mAmunigaL and one of the
ashta dhik gajas.

mAmunigaL resides in SrIrangam per periya perumAL‘s

orders and spends his time spreading the glories of our sath
sampradhAyam. Seeing his greatness, many AchArya
purushas and scholars become his sishyas.

appiLLAr was a great vidhwAn who won over many scholars

in northern part of bhAratha dhEsam. He was filled with pride

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

about his knowledge and arrives at eRumbi to debate with

eRumbi appA. But, seeing eRumbi appA‘s greatness, he
submits to him and learns the essential principles from him.
After a few days, he decides to leave. While sending him off,
eRumbi appA asks where he was going. appiLLAr says, he is
planning to go to SrIrangam to debate with jIyar
(mAmunigaL). eRumbi appA wanting to give good advice to
him, says “You should not do that. I know the glories of jIyar.
He studied SrI bhAshyam under kidAmbi nAyanAr in
kAnchIpuram. At that time kidAmbi nAyanAr asked me to
enquire previous lessons from jIyar to verify jIyar’s memory
and I was amazed to his sharp intellect. He is well aware of
the entire principles. No one can debate with him. More over
he is a leader among sannyAsis and the one who rejuvenates
SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam. We should only have
reverence towards him. I will explain more about him in the
future”. Hearing this appiLLAr leaves eRumbi with some
understanding about mAmunigaL.

After that eRumbi appA visits SrIrangam and becomes a

sishya of mAmunigaL. He stays with mAmunigaL for some
time and wants to leave SrIrangam. He wants to return to
eRumbi (his native village) after serving mAmunigaL for some
time. He sees some inauspicious signs/omens, so he does
not leave. When he comes back to mAmunigaL, mAmunigaL
says “You wait and see – something auspicious is going to
happen. We will let you leave after that”. Others hearing this
become ecstatic and are waiting for the auspicious incident.

At that time, appiLLai and appiLLAr arrive at SrIrangam with

their familes and associates to worship SrIranganAthan.
Though they have heard about mAmunigaL they dont have
great attachment towards him. Being great scholars, they
arrive with their sishyas and great wealth (acquired from
winning debates) at the banks of cauvery river and stay put
there for a couple of days. While staying there, they hear
about the glories of mAmunigaL and hear that many great
personalities such as kandhAdai aNNan, eRumbi appA, etc
have taken shelter of mAmunigaL. They become amazed and
wonder if such great AchAryas can become sishyas of

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

mAmunigaL. appiLLAr knowing eRumbi appA‘s expertise in

sAsthram, wonders if such experts in sAsthram takes shelter
of mAmunigaL there must be something special in him.
appiLLAr then goes inside SrIrangam with his close associate
who is intelligent and goes near jIyar’s mutt. Staying outside,
he sends his associate inside and asks him to announce that
“appiLLAn has arrived” and if eRumbi appA is present in the
gOshti he will recognize him and welcome him. His associate
goes inside, spots eRumbi appA and says “appiLLAn has
arrived” and hearing that eRumbi appA feels happy and
thinks that “this is a good dawn for appiLLAr”. eRumbi appA
comes out immediately to meet appiLLAr. appiLLAr notices
the shankam (conch) and chakram (disc) marks in the
shoulders of eRumbi appA and understands that he has
recently become a sishya of mAmunigaL. appiLLAr offers his
obeisances to eRumbi appA and they both enquire their
mutual well-being. eRumbi appA explains the whole set of
incidents through which emperumAn directed him to become
the sishya of mAmunigaL. appiLLAr slowly realises the
glories of mAmunigaL and tells eRumbi appA that appiLLai
and many others have arrived and they are waiting at the
banks of cauvery. He also requests eRumbi appA to visit
them all (to explain the glories of mAmunigaL and reform
them all). eRumbi appA feeling delighted to hear appiLLAr’s
intentions, goes to vAnamAmalai jIyar and informs him. He
requests vAnamAmalai jIyar to bless him to reform everyone
to accept mAmunigaL as their AchArya. He then leaves to the
banks of cauvery and explains the essential
principles to everyone.

In the meantime vAnamAmalai jIyar goes to mAmunigaL and

informs him about the arrival of the great scholars appiLLAr
and appiLLai. He tells mAmunigaL that they are ready for
AchArya sambandham. It is highlighted that there are 6
things that happen before AchArya sambandham and this
principle is explained in the following slOkam.

Isvarasya cha sauhArdham yathruchchA suhrudham thathA

vishNO: katAksham adhvEsham Abhimukhyam cha
sAthvikai: sambhAshaNam shadEthAni

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

ஈச்ேரஸ்ய ச சஸௌேோர்தம் யத்ருச்சோ

ஸுே்ருதம் ததோ விஷ்னணோ: கடோக்ஷம் அத்னேஷம்
ஆபிமுக்யம் ச ஸோத்வியக: ஸம் போஷணம்
ஷனடதோநி

• At first, as bhagavAn is kind-hearted, he looks out for the

well being of every one.
• Second, there is incidental desire/action for goodness.
• Third, bhagavAn‘s merciful vision falls on the jIvAthmA.
• Fourth, jIvAthmA manifests adhvEsham – he does not
stop bhagavAn‘s mercy.
• Fifth, jIvAthmA manifests Abhimukyam – he turns towards
bhagavAn.
• Sixth, he gets into discussion of bhagavath vishayam with
bhAgavathas who will promptly reform him and send him
to an AchAryan.

ponnadikkAl jIyar says to mAmunigaL that they have been

blessed with discussions with eRumbi appA and they have all
the qualification to become your sishyas. So, you too, who
are constantly thinking about the upliftment of jIvAthmAs
should accept them and bless them to fulfill the desire of
eRumbi appA and myself. mAmunigaL accepts his request
and says “emperumAnAr has revealed his divine heart to me”
and says to ponnadikkAl jIyar that one of them will have his
dhAsya nAmam (name after panchasamskAram) of
emperumAnAr. ponnadikkAl jIyar seeks the permission of
mAmunigaL to go and welcome
them and mAmunigaL accepts for that. ponnadikkAl jIyar
sends a SrIvaishNava to appiLLAr to inform about their
arrival.

Hearing about the arrival of ponnadikkAl jIyar and other

sishyas of mAmunigaL, appiLLAr becomes ecstatic and asks
his associates to spread his favourite green shawl on the
ground to have ponnadikkAl jIyar and others step on it, collect
the dust of the lotus feet and bring him the same to decorate
his head with that. He then brings fruits and thAmbUlam
(beetle leaves and nuts) and welcomes ponnadikkAl jIyar with

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

prayers. He offers his full obeisances and accepts the dust of

their lotus feet on his head. After enquiries about mutual well-
being, ponnadikkAl jIyar brings everyone to kOil aNNan‘s
thirumALigai (residence). kOil aNNan elaborately explains
mAmunigaL‘s glories, that he is the re-incarnation of SrI
rAmanuja himself. Hearing this, appiLLAr and appiLLAi wants
to take shelter of mAmunigaL and they all reach jIyar mutt
with fruits, thAmbUlam and many other offerings. They reach
thirumalai AzhwAr maNdapam where mAmunigaL is seated
in a radiant manner. mAmunigaL looks in a unique shining
form with beautiful and broad shoulders, chest, eyes, etc. He
is wearing clean saffron clothes and holding on to his
thridhaNdam. With a beautiful smile on his face, he welcomes
everyone. Seeing this beautiful form, appiLLai and appiLLAr
falls at his lotus feet and wait for his acknowledgement.
mAmunigaL affectionately accepts their offerings and
explains them the divine essential principles which amazes
the two great scholars. They immediately request
mAmunigaL to perform pancha samskAram to them.
mAmunigaL accepts their request, performs pancha
samskAram and accepts them as his disciples. He then
brings them to periya perumAL‘s sannidhi in the proper
sequence (This is the sequence mAmunigaL follows while
going for his mangaLAsAsanam at SrIrangam temple as
outlined in pUrva dhinacharyai – ANdAL, emperumAnAr,
nammAzhwAr, sEnai mudhaliAr, garudAzhwAr, SrI
ranganAthan, SrI ranganAchiyAr, paramapadha nAthan) and
submits the great scholars to emperumAn. After
mangaLAsAsanam to emperumAn, they return to the mutt
and appiLLai and appiLLAr accepts the food remnants of
mAmunigaL as stated in the sAsthram that a sishya should
accept food remnants of his AchArya.

appiLLAr is given the responsibility of taking care of jIyar

mutt’s all daily activities such as thadhIyArAdhanam, etc. Just
like kidAmbi AchchAn served emperumAnAr by fully taking
care of mutt responsibilities, mAmunigaL was served by
appiLLAr.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

During the final days of mAmunigaL, appiLLAr and jIyar

nAyanAr (the grand son of mAmunigaL from his
pUrvAsramam) prays to mAmunigaL and requests him to
bless him with archA vigraham (deity) of mAmunigaL for their
daily worship. mAmunigaL gives the sombu (vessel) which he
uses daily and they use that to prepare two vigrahams
(deities) and each keep one vigraham (deity) of mAmunigaL
for their daily worship.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

appiLLAr. He was very dear to mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his
lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such abhimAnam of
AchAryan.

appiLLAr’s thaniyan:

kAnthOpayanthru yOgIndhra sarva kainkaryadhUrvaham

thadhEka dhaivatham saumyam rAmAnuja gurum bhajE

கோந்னதோபயந்த்ரு னயோகீந்த்ர ஸர்ே

யகங் கர்யதூர்ேேம்
தனதக யதேதம் சஸௌம் யம் ரோமோநுஜ குரும் பனஜ

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

45. kOil kandhAdai appan

kOil kandhAdai appan – kAnchIpuram appan swamy

thirumALigai

thirunakshathram: purattAsi (kanni) magam

thIrtham: kArthikai shukla panchami

avathAra sthalam: SrIrangam

AchAryan: maNavALa mAmunigaL

Works: varavaramuni vaibhava vijayam

Born in the illustrious family lineage of mudhaliyANdAn (who

is called yathirAja pAdhukA – the sandals of the lotus feet of
emperumAnAr), as the son of dhEvarAja thOzhappar and the
younger brother of kOil kandhAdai aNNan, he was named
SrInivAsan by his parents. He goes on to become one of the
dear disciples of maNavALa mAmunigaL.

When maNavALa mAmunigaL arrives to SrIrangam from

AzhwAr thirunagari, SrI ranganAthan orders him to reside in
SrIrangam and nurture/nourish the sath sampradhAyam from
the head quarters of our sath sampradhAyam. mAmunigaL

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

then starts gathering all the pUrvAchArya granthams,

documents them fully and performs grantha kAlakshEpam
regularly. Being attracted towards mAmunigaL‘s divine
glories, many persons (including AchArya purushas) come
and take shelter of his lotus feet

Through the divine will of bhagavAn, kOil kandhAdai aNNan

(a prominent AchArya coming in the lineage of
mudhaliyANdAn) becomes the sishya of mAmunigaL and
goes on to become one of the ashta dik gajas (eight
prominent leaders appointed by mAmunigaL for sath
sampradhAya pravarththanam) of mAmunigaL. When he
comes to take shelter of mAmunigaL’s lotus feet, he brings
along many of his relatives and all of them become sishyas of
mAmunigaL. One such brother of him is kOil kandhAdai
appan who is blessed by mAmunigaL at that time. From his
thanian we can understand that he was fully situated in
charama parva nishtai (serving bhAgavathas and AchAryas).

eRumbi appA (another sishya of mAmunigaL) highlights a

beautiful incident in his pUrva dhinacharyA (a divine
grantham narrating the daily activities of mAmunigaL) slOkam
4.

pArsvatha: pANipadhmAbhyAm parigruhya bhavathpriyau

vinyasyantham sanair angrI mrudhulau mEdhinIthalE

போர்ச்ேத: போணிபத்மோப் யோம் பரிக்ருே்ய

பேத்ப்ரிசயௌ
விந்யஸ்யந்தம் சயநர் அங் க்ரீ ம் ருதுசேௌ
னமதிநீ தனே

Simple translation: eRumbi appA to mAmunigaL – “Your

highness is having your two dear sishyas (kOil aNNan and
kOil appan) on either side and holding on to them tightly with
your lotus like tender hands and walking with your tender
(lotus) feet on mEdhinI (earth)”.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

mAmunigaL with aNNan and appan on either side (portrait

from appan swamy thirumALigai, kAnchIpuram)

thirumazhisai aNNAvappangAr, in his vyAkyAnam for

dhinacharyA, highlights that here the two dear sishyas mean
“kOil aNNan and kOil appan”. A question arises here –
should mAmunigaL not be holding on to his thridhaNdam as it
is said in pAncharAthra thathvasAra samhithai that ‘a
sannyAsi should always be holding on to thridhaNdam’?
aNNAvappangAr nicely explains this in a few ways:

• For a sannyAsi who is fully realised – if he does not carry

his thridhaNdam for some reason – there is no defect.
• A sannyAsi who is in constant meditation of bhagavAn,
who is well-behaved and who has properly heard the
meanings of sAsthram from his AchAryas, one who is
knowledgable in bhagavAth vishayam and one who has
control over his own senses and the whole world – for
such sannyAsis their thridhaNdam, etc., are not required.
• When prostrating before emperumAn fully, since the
thridhaNdam may be a hinderance to perform such full
prostration, he may not carry the thridhaNdam at that
time.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of kOil

kandhAdai appan. He was very dear to mAmunigaL. Let us
pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such
abhimAnam of AchAryan.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

kOil kandhAdai appan’s thaniyan:

varadhaguru charaNam varavaramunivarya ganakrupA

pAthram
pravaraguNa rathna jaladhim praNamAmi SrInivAsa
guruvaryam

ேரதகுரு சரணம் ேரேரமுநிேர்ய கநக்ருபோ

போத்ரம்
ப் ரேரகுண ரத்ந ஜேதிம் ப்ரணமோமி ஸ்ரீநிேோஸ
குருேர்யம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

46. SrIperumbUthUr Adhi

yathirAja jIyar

yathirAja jIyar – SrIperumbUthUr yathirAja jIyar mutt

thirunakshathram: aippasi pUsam (pushyam)

avathAra sthalam: unknown

AchAryan: maNavALa mAmunigaL

Place where he attained paramapadham from:

SrIperumbUthUr

yathirAja jIyar mutt, SrIperumbUthUr (avathAra sthalam of

emperumAnAr) was established by Adhi (first) yathirAja jIyar.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

SrIperumbUthUr yathirAja jIyar mutt, SrIperumbUthUr

This yathirAja jIyar mutt is very unique in the sense that, this
is one of the very few mutts established in AzhwAr/AchArya
avathAra sthalams for performing kainkaryams at the temple
and over-seeing kainkaryams that are done in the temple.
emperumAn and emperumAnAr visit this mutt quite often
through out the year.

From his thanian we can understand that he had wonderful

relationship with mAmunigaL and other AchAryas such as
ponnadikkAl (vAnamAmalai) jIyar, koil kanthAdai aNNan and
dhoddAchAryar. yathirAja jIyar studied under the lotus feet of
these many great AchAryas.

From his vAzhi thirunAmam we can understand that he had

great attachment towards emperumAnAr. His vAzhi
thirunAmam also closely resembles mAmunigaL‘s vAzhi
thirunAmam.

In yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam, it is said that, per the

orders of paramasvAmy (thirumAlirunchOlai kaLLazhagar),
mAmunigaL sent one of his confidential kainkaryaparars
named yathirAja jIyar to reform and set up the
thirumAlirunchOlai temple. While some consider this yathirAja
jIyar as the SrIperumbUthUr Adhi yathirAja jIyar, others
consider that he is a different jIyar who goes on to become

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

the first jIyar of thirumAlirunchOlai jIyar mutt.To learn further

about this, one can inquire about this from learned scholars.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

SrIperumbUthUr Adhi yathirAja jIyar. Let us pray at his lotus
feet that we too get bhagavath/bhAgavatha/AchArya
kainkaryam.

SrIpeurmbUthUr Adhi yathirAja jIyar’s thaniyan:

SrImath rAmAnujAngri pravaNa varamunE: pAdhukam

jAthabrungam
SrImath vAnAdhri rAmAnuja gaNaguru sathvaibhava
sthOthra dhIksham
vAdhUla SrInivAsArya charaNasharaNam thath krupA
labhdha bhAshyam
vandhE prAgyam yathIndhram varavaradhagurO: prAptha
bhakthAmruthArththam

ஸ்ரீமத் ரோமோநுஜோங் க்ரி ப் ரேண ேரமுனந: போதுகம்

ஜோதப் ருங் கம்
ஸ்ரீமத் ேோநோத்ரி ரோமோநுஜ கணகுரு ஸத்யேபே
ஸ்னதோத்ர தீக்ஷம்
ேோதூே ஸ்ரீநிேோஸோர்ய சரணசரணம் தத் க்ருபோ
ேப் த போஷ்யம்
ேந்னத ப் ரோஜ் ஞம் யதீந்த்ரம் ேரேரதகுனரோ: ப் ரோப்த
பக்தோம் ருதோர்த்தம்

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

archived in http://guruparamparai.wordpress.com, also visit

http://ponnadi.blogspot.com/,
http://sriperumbuthur.wordpress.com

Sources: yathirAja jIyar mutt thanian and vAzhi thirunAmam

book, yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

47. appAchiyAraNNA

appAchiyAraNNA – mudhaliyANdAn swamy thirumALigai,

singapperumAL kOil

thirunakshathram: AvaNi hastham

avathAra sthalam: SrIrangam

AchAryan: ponnadikkAl jIyar

Sishyas: aNNAvilappan (his own son), etc

Born in SrIrangam, he was named varadharAjan by his father

siRRaNNar. He was born in the glorious vAdhula lineage of
mudhaliyANdAn and is 9th in the lineage of ANdAn family. He
is also the son of AychiyAr who is the daughter of
thirumanjanam appA. He was named by appAchiyAraNNA by
maNavALa mAmunigaL who consider him very dear and
hailed him as “nam appAchiyAraNNAvO” (நம்
அப் போசியோரண்ணோனேோ – Is this our
appAchiyAraNNA?). He is also the dear sishya of
ponnadikkAl jIyar and is hailed as the lotus feet
of ponnadikkAl jIyar (just like ponnadikkAl jIyar is hailed as
the lotus feet of mAmunigaL).

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

thrirumanjanam appA was a self-less kainkaryaparar at

SrIrangam periya kOil and had great attachment towards
mAmunigaL. Understanding mAmunigaL’s glories, he
regularly followed mAmunigaL while mAmunigaL went for his
bathing everyday. He would bath in the water that flows from
where mAmunigaL bathes and he becomes blessed with
pure knowledge by that divine water that was used by
mAmunigaL to bathe. He then fully takes shelter of
mAmunigaL and starts serving mAmunigaL fully.

Once when mAmunigaL was going for his bathing. At that

time, it starts raining. So, he takes shelter at the front porch of
a vaishNava house. The lady of the house comes out rushing
seeing jIyar and prepares a seat for him to sit. She also takes
the wet pAdhukas (sandals) of mAmunigaL, places them at
her head with the water dripping from them. She then wipes
off the water and places the same again on her head with
great devotion. By that contact, she becomes fully blessed
and wants to accept mAmunigaL as her AchArya. When jIyar
asks her about her identity, she reveals that her name is
“Achi” she is the daughter of thirumanjanam appA
and mAmunigaL was happy to hear about her connection
with thirumanjanam appA. She also says that she is married
to kandhAdai siRRaNNar (mudhaliyANdAn lineage). When
the rain stops, mAmunigaL leaves from there to cauvery.

After some time, she reveals her desire to her father and her
father arranges for her pancha samskAram by mAmunigaL in
a secret fashion (since she was married into an AchArya
purusha family, she was scared to do it publicly). While
mAmunigaL hesitates initially due to her existing
sambandham (connections), seeing her extreme devotion, he
performs pancha samskAram for her.

Eventually, most of the kandhAdai family AchAryas take

shelter of mAmunigaL through the divine arrangement of
emperumAn. kOil kandhAdai aNNan who is the main
AchArya sees a divine dream which guides him to
approach mAmunigaL through ponnadikkAl jIyar and takes
shelter of him. He brings along most of the AchArya purushas

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

of kandhAdai thiruvamsam and they all take shelter of

mAmunigaL.

After performing pancha samskAram to kOil aNNan and

others, mAmunigaL reveals his divine attachment towards
ponnadikkAl jIyar. He says to everyone in the gOshti that
“ponnadikkAl jIyar is my life breath and well-wisher. Whatever
glories are present for me, he should also have the same.
Just like I now have the connection (as AchArya) for the
descendants of mudhaliyANdAn, he should also have some
sishyas from the same family”. kOil aNNan, understanding
the divine emotions of mAmunigaL, at once says “You should
have shown me the lotus feet of ponnadikkAl jIyar and I
would have taken shelter” and mAmunigaL replies “How can I
give up, what is to be accomplished by me?”. kOil aNNan
then looks around his relatives and appAchiyAraNNA stands
up and humbly says “Please give me the shelter our lord
vAnamAmalai rAmAnuja jIyar“. jIyar becomes very pleased
and says “nam appAchiyAraNNAvO?” (Is this our
appAchiyAraNNa?). mAmunigaL raises from him Asanam
and asks ponnadikkAl jIyar to sit in his own Asanam and
hands over thiruvAzhi (chakkaram) and thiruchangu (sangu)
and instructs him to perform pancha samskAram to
appAchiyAraNNA. ponnadikkAl jIyar at first refuses to do that
out of humility but mAmunigaL insists that he must do that
since that is very dear to him. So, ponnadikkAl jIyar obliges
and accepts appAchiyAraNNA as his sishya.

mAmunigaL (SrIrangam) – ponnadikkAl jIyar (vAnamAmalai)

– appAchiyAraNNA

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Thereafter appAchiyAraNNA constantly engages in serving

ponnadikkAl jIyar and mAmunigaL in SrIrangam.

Once when mAmunigaL goes on thiruvEnkata yAthrai, all his

sishyas accompany him. They first reach kAnchipuram and
perform mangaLAsAsanam to dhEva perumAL. At that time
jIyar and his entourage worships dhEva perumAL’s vaikAsi
mahOthsavam and perform mangaLAsAsanam to
emperumAn in garuda vAhanam.

dhEva perumAL on garuda vAhanam – mAmunigaL

The SrIvaishNavas of kAnchipuram approach mAmunigaL

and glorify mAmunigaL. mAmunigaL highlights them the
importance of SrIvaishNava etiquette and principles and asks
them to be well-versed in dhiyva prabhandham, etc. They
happily agree to his suggestions and request him to appoint
some one to stay there permanently and guide them.
mAmunigaL requests ponnadikkAl jIyar to bring
appAchiyAraNNA and he does so. He then says “Consider
appAchiyAraNNA as myself” to the SrIvaishNavas and
instructs appAchiyAraNNA “Since you come in the lineage of
mudhaliyANdAn, you guide everyone here as a
representative of me and thus please your ancestors like
ANdAn, kandhAdai thOzhappar, etc and perform
mangaLAsAsanam to dhEva perumAL every day. hasthigiri
nAthan will bring all auspiciousness to you”.
appAchiyAraNNA accepts mAmunigaL’s instructions but
follows jIyar in his thirumalai yAthrai. After visiting many
dhivya dhEsams, they return to SrIrangam finally.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

At that time, mAmunigaL invites appAchiyAraNNA and

reminds him about his responsibility to return to
kAnchipuram. appAchiyAraNNA reveals his sorrow in leaving
the wonderful company of SrIvaishNava gOshti at the lotus
feet of mAmunigaL. mAmunigaL understanding
appAchiyAraNNA’s emotions, brings him over to his perumAL
sannidhi. He was having a sombu (small pot) which was
named “SrI rAmAnujam” but he handed over the same
to ponnadikkAl jIyar who kept that in a basket and
worshipped the same with devotion everyday as prasAdham
of his AchArya. mAmunigaL ordered ponnadikkAl jIyar to
bring that sombu, collects that, hands over the same to
appAchiyAraNNA and says “As the engraved thirumaN,
sangu, chakram and the name SrIrAmAnujam have all
vanished, please create two small vigrahams of me out of this
metal and you submit one to your AchAryan (ponnadikkAl
jIyar) and keep one for your thiruvArAdhanam”. He also
presents a divine vigraham named “ennaith thImanam
keduththAr” (எ ் ய த் தீம ம் சகடுத்தோர் – one who
purified my mind – this divine name is from nammAzhwAr‘s
thiruvAimozhi 2.8 padhigam) from his own thiruvArAdhanam
to appAchiyAraNNA.

ennaith thImanam keduththAr – mudhaliyANdAn swamy

thirumALigai, singapperumAL kOil

This emperumAn was worshipped by AtkoNdavilli jIyar (who

is a sishya of emperumAnAr) and kandhAdai ANdAn (son of
mudhaliyANdAn) was very dear to AtkoNdavilli jIyar.
mAmunigaL says “As you also come in the lineage of
kandhAdai ANdAn and you also deserve to worship this

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

emperumAn, you place him in your thiruvArAdhanam and

worship him daily”. mAmunigaL also reveals out of great
attachment towards appAchiyAraNNA that appAchiyAraNNA
is an amsam of dhEva perumAL himself. Accepting
mAmunigaL’s orders, appAchiyAraNNA settles down in
kAnchipuram and guides all the SrIvaishNavas there.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

appAchiyAraNNA. He was very dear to mAmunigaL and his
AchAryan ponnadikkAl jIyar. Let us pray at his lotus feet that
we too get a little bit of such abhimAnam of our AchAryan.

appAchiyAraNNA’s thaniyan:

SrImath vAnamahAsaila rAmAnuja munipiryam

vAdhUla varadhAchAryam vandhE vAthsalya sAgaram

ஸ்ரீமத் ேோநமேோயசே ரோமோநுஜ முநிப்ரியம்

ேோதூே ேரதோசோர்யம் ேந்னத ேோத்ஸே் ய ஸோகரம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

48. piLLai lOkam jIyar

piLLai lOkam jIyar, thiruvallikkENi

thirunakshathram: chithrai, thiruvONam (sravaNam)
avathAra sthalam: kAnchIpuram
AchAryan: satakOpAchAryar
Works: thanian vyAkyAnams, rAmAnujArya dhivya charithai,
yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam, vyAkyAnam for rAmAnusa
nURRanthAdhi, vyAkyAnams for most of mAmunigaL's
SrIsUkthis, vyAkyAnams for some rahasya granthams,
vyAkyAnam for cheyya thAmarai thAzhinai (mAmunigaL
vAzhi thirunAmam), SrI vaishNava samayAchAra
nishkarsham
Born in kAnchipuram, he was the great-grandson of
paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar (who is one of the ashta-dik-
gajangaL (eight prime sishyas) of mAmunigaL) and was
named varadhAchAryar. He became to be popularly known
as piLLai lOkam jIyar and piLLai lOkAchArya jIyar.
He renovated the sthalasayana perumAL temple in
thirukkadalmallai (mahAbalipuram - mAmallapuram) and re-
established proper code of worship in this temple. He was
honoured by the king for his contribution and his descendants
are continuing to enjoy special honours at the temple even
today.
He was a great scholar and a great historian as well. Not
much is known about his life. But his works are of great
importance to our sampradhAyam.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

A few inscriptions are found showing his contribution to

dhivyadhEsams.
• A copper plate of year 1614 CE (AD) relating to
thirukkadalmallai dhivyadhEsam refers to jIyar as
yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam piLLai lOkam jIyar (which
indicates that by that time itself he was popularly and
widely known by his biography on maNavALa
mAmunigaL).
• A stone inscription of year 1614 CE (AD) is found in
SrIrangam 2nd prAkAram where a sishya of piLLai lOkam
jIyar has contributed 120 gold coins as capital to offer
sweet rice during emperumAnAr thirunakshathram day.
He has written vyAkyAnams (commentaries) to most of the
thaniyans (invocatory verses of dhivya prabhandhams).
These vyAkyAnams bring out the most important aspects of
the particular dhiyva prabhandham and gives us an insight
into the heart/mood of the author of the particular dhivya
prabhandham.
His rAmAnujArya dhivya charithai is a beautiful depiction of
emperumAnAr's life history. emperumAnAr's various
journeys, his history along with many of his sishyas are nicely
captured in this grantham.
His yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam brings out the glorious
life history of periyavAchchAn piLLai, vadakku thiruvIdhi
piLLai, piLLai lOkAchAryar, azhagiya maNavALa perumAL
nAyanAr, thiruvAimozhi piLLai and maNavALa mAmunigaL
among few others. mAmunigaL's life history is depicted in a
detailed manner and his many glorious instructions are
narrated beautifully in this grantham as well.
Both rAmAnujArya dhivya charithai and yathIndhra pravaNa
prabhAvam are filled with so many thamizh pAsurams
(poems) which show his deep knowledge in thamizh.
He has done vyAkyAnam for some rahasya granthams as
well.
He has done a beautiful vyAkyAnam for viLAnchOlai piLLai's
saptha kAthai. saptha kAthai brings out the essence of piLLai

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

lOkAchAryar's SrIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram, i.e.,

AchArya nishtai.
He has also written comprehensive vyAkyAnams for
mAmunigaL's SrI sUkthis upadhEsa rathina mAlai,
thiruvAimozhi nURRanthAdhi and Arthi prabhandham.
He has written a beautiful prose grantham named
SrIvaishNava samayAchAra nishkarsham which
authoritatively establishes the important principles of
emperumAnAr dharisanam (our sath sampradhAyam). There
are so many pramANams referred in this grantham which
shows the deep knowledge of piLLai lOkam jIyar in sAsthram.
Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of
piLLai lOkam jIyar. He has done great favours to the
SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam by writing detailed
commentaries for the SrIsUkthis of our pUrvAchAryas and
also recorded the illustrious lives of emperumAnAr and
maNavALa mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we
also develop such attachment towards emperumAnAr and
mAmunigaL.
piLLai lOkam jIyar's thaniyan (as seen in yathIndhra pravaNa
prabhAvam):
SrIsatAri gurOrdhivya SrIpAdhAbhja madhuvratham
SrImathyathIndhrapravaNam SrI lOkArya munim bhajE
ஸ்ரீசடோரி குனரோர்திே் ய ஸ்ரீபோதோப்ஜ மதுே் ரதம்
ஸ்ரீமத்யதீந்த்ரப்ரேணம் ஸ்ரீ னேோகோர்ய முநிம்
பனஜ

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

49. thirumazhisai aNNavappangAr

thirunakshathram: Ani avittam

avathAra sthalam: thirumazhisai

AchAryan: narasimhAchAryar (His own father)

Born in thirumazhisai (mahIsAra kshEthram), he was named

vIrarAghavan by his father narasimhAchAryar. He was born
in the glorious vAdhula lineage of mudhaliyANdAn. His grand
father is identified by himself as raghuvarAchAryar in his
sthOthra grantham named bhakthisArOdhayam. He is also
known as vAdhUla vIrarAgavaAchAryar. He was born in the
year 1766 CE.

He was most intelligent and completed his own yajUr vEdha

shAkais by the time he became 15 years old along with
completing tharkam, vyAkaraNam, mImAmsam, sAnkhyam,
pAthanjali yOgam, etc and became an expert in jyOthisham,
sangItham, bharatha nAtyam, etc. By the time he became 20
years old, he was an expert and authority in all sAsthrams.
He also learns rahasya granthams, etc., from his father and
started writing divine literature establishing the essential
principles of our sath sampradhAyam. He also learnt under
vAdhUla varadhAchAryar and SrIrangAchAryar (who went on
several dhivyadhEsa yAthrais and defeated many pseudo-
scholars in debates).

He lived for a very short period of 51 years and ascended to

paramapadham on Ishwara year, ippasi month, shukla
paksha chathurdhasi.

One of his most important works is the arumpadham (detailed

commentary) for mAmunigaL‘s vyAkyAnam for piLLai
lOkAchAryar‘s SrIvachana bhUshaNam. His other grantham,
bhakthisArOdhayam beautifully depicts the life of
thirumazhisai AzhwAr.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Works:

In his short life span, he has contributed quite a bit of literary

works. Here is the list of his works:

1. SrI bhakthisArOdhayam
2. vEdhavalli sathakam
3. hEmalathAshtakam
4. abIshta dhaNdakam
5. suka sandhEsam
6. kamalA kalyANa nAtakam
7. malayajApariNaya nAtikA
8. nrusimhAshtakam
9. arumpadham explanation for mAmunigaL‘s SrIvachana
bhUshaNa vyAkyAnam
10. thirucchantha viruttha prathipadham
11. SrIrangarAja sthava vyAkyAnam
12. mahAvIracharitha vyAkyA
13. utthararAmachairtha vyAkyA
14. sathaslOki vyAkyA
15. rAmAnujAshtaka vyAkyA
16. nakshathramAlikA vyAkyA
17. dhEvarAjaguru virachitha varavaramunisathaka vyAkyA
18. dhushkaraslOka tippaNi
19. dhinacharyA
20. shaNmatha dharsinI
21. lakshmyA: upAyathva nirAsa:
22. lakshmIvibuthva nirAsa:
23. sUkthisAdhuthvamAlA
24. thatvasudhA
25. thathvasAra vyAkyA-rathnasAriNI
26. saccharithra parithrANam
27. pazhanadai viLakkam
28. thrimsathprashNOttharam
29. lakshmImangaLadhIpikA
30. rAmAnuja athimAnusha vaibava sthOthram
31. anupravEsa sruthi vivaraNam
32. “sailOgnischa” slOka vyAkyA
33. mahIsAravishaya chUrNikA

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

34. ‘svAnthE mE madhanasthithim parihara’ ithyAdhi slOka

vyAkyAnam
35. saccharyAkshakam
36. prApyaprapanchana panchavimsathi:
37. nyAyamantharam
38. thAthparya sacchrIkaram
39. vachassuthAmImAmsA
40. vachassuthApUrvapakshOththAram
41. brahmavathvatangam
42. lakshmIsthOthram
43. varaNapanchavimsathi:

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

thirumazhisai aNNavappangAr. He was a great scholar
and has contributed greatly to our sampradhAyam
through his literary works. Let us pray at his lotus feet that
we too get a little bit of such gyAnam in bhagavath
vishayam.

thirumazhisai aNNavappangAr’s thaniyan:

SrImadh vAdhula narasimha gurOsthanUjam

SrImath thadhIya padhapankaja brungarAjam
SrIrangarAja varadhArya krupAththa bhAshyam
sEvE sadhA raguvarAryam udhAracharyam

ஸ்ரீமத் ேோதுே நரஸிம் ே குனரோஸ்தநூஜம்

ஸ்ரீமத் ததீய பதபங் கஜ ப் ருங் கரோஜம்
ஸ்ரீரங் கரோஜ ேரதோர்ய க்ருபோத்த போஷ்யம்
னஸனே ஸதோ ரகுேரோர்யம் உதோரசர்யம்

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

50. thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja

embAr jIyar

thirunakshathram: AvaNi rOhiNi

avathAra sthalam: madhuramangalam

AchAryan: kOil kanthAdai rangAchAryar swamy

(chaNdamArutham dhoddAchAryar thiruvamsam)

Sishyas: Many

Place where he attained paramapadham from:

SrIperumbUthUr

Born in madhuramangalam, he was named krishNan by his

parents rAgavAchAryar and jAnaki ammAL since he was
born on the same thirunakshathram as krishNa and
periyavAchchAn piLLai. He was born in the glorious
SrIvathsa lineage. He was born in the year 1834 CE.

His parents performed all applicable vaidhIka samskArams

for him at the right ages. Even at a young age, he had great

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

attachment towards emperumAn. In his childhood, He was

always playing with divine vigrahams of emperumAn and
showed great attachment towards bhagavath vishayam.

After some time, his father wanted to look for a bride for him
to have him married. His father set out on a journey and
krishNamAchAryar accompanied him in the journey. On the
way, he observes a couple with their child also travelling at
the same time. He sees that the husband is carrying lots of
luggage and the child as well and is often seen quarelling
with the wife but was also being submissive towards her due
to his attachment towards her. krishNamAchAryar was struck
with the miseries of married life and at once calls out his
father and says that he never wants to get married. He was
then blessed with AchArya sambandham when his AchAryan
visits his village (kappiyamUr). kOil kanthAdai rangAchAryar
performs pancha samskAram to him and teaches the
essential principles of sath sampradhAyam. He also starts
going to many yAthrais along with his AchAryan and serves
him constantly.

Once when he was in thiruvEnkatam, embAr appears in his

dream and invites him to madhuramangalam and instructs
him to bring a shawl as he was feeling very cold.
krishNamAchAryar goes to thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn to request
his permission to leave and thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn blesses
with his own shawl which is carried by him and submitted to
embAr at madhuramangalam. Subsequently, by the grace of
embAr, krishNamAchAryar develops great desire to accept
sannyAsAsramam. He returns to thiruvEnkatam and requests
vakuLAbharaNa jIyar (periya jIyar) to bless him with
sannyAsAsramam. vakuLAbharaNa jIyar feels
krishNamAchAryar is too young and informs him to wait for
some more time. But krishNamAchAryar insists that by the
grace of embAr he has become totally detached and cannot
continue without the sannyAsAsramam. vakuLAbharaNa jIyar
then says, if perumAL sanctions it, he will proceed. jIyar then
leaves to thirumalai and on his way he observes a properly
prepared thridhaNdam and collects that. When he lies down
to rest, emperumAn appears in his dream and instructs him

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

to bless krishNamAchAryar with that thridhaNdam and crown

him with sannyAsAsramam.

A painting of thirumalai jIyar with embAr jIyar in the side – as

seen in thirumalai jIyar mutt

periya jIyar then happily invites him and blesses him with
sannyAsAsramam. Since vakuLAbharaNa jIyar knew the
great attachment of krishNamAchAryar towards
thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn, he names krishNamAchAryar as
thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja jIyar. He returns to
madhuramangalam and serves embAr for some time and
becomes to be popularly known as madhuramangalam
embAr jIyar.

He travelled to many dhivya dhEsams and finally arrived at

SrIperumbUthUr to stay there and serve emperumAnAr at his
avathAra sthalam. His sishyas arranged for a mutt for him to
stay in the south side of the temple and he started living in
that mutt.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

Adhi kEsava perumaL – bhAshyakArar temple,

SrIperumbUthUr

embAr jIyar mutt, maNavALa mAmunigaL kOil street,

SrIperumbUthUr

Several SrIvaishNavas approached him and studied the pure

principles of our sath sampradhAyam during his times at
SrIperumbUthUr. He expertly explained the principles in our
pUrvAchArya SrIsUkthis and nurtured many vidhwAns
(scholars) during his time.

He lived for a short period of time (48 years) in this leelA

vibhUthi and ascended to paramapadham on vishu varsham
thai month krishNa paksham thrayOdhasi thithi.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

One of his most important works is the arumpadham (detailed

explanations) for mAmunigaL‘s vyAkyAnam for piLLai
lOkAchAryar‘s SrIvachana bhUshaNam. Not only he wrote a
commentary for the magnum opus of our sath
sampradhAyam (SrIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya sAsthram),
he also lived a life of total dedication to
bhagavath/bhAgavatha kainkaryam as highlighted in
SrIvachana bhUshaNam. He had also written several other
granthams to establish the principles of our sath
sampradhAyam.

He also explained the structure of the brahmANdam very

nicely based on the descriptions in vishNu purANam, thathva
thrayam, yathIndhram matha dhIpikA, etc. This structure was
represented in a pictorial form and was recently re-published
by the sincere efforts of one SrIvaishNava named Sri Ravi.

A portrait of thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar swamy.

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

brahmANdam – pictorial representation of one brahmA’s

universe

Works:

Here is the list of his literary works:

1. arumpadham for SrIvachana bhUsaNam

2. sidhdhOpAya sudharisanam
3. sadhdharisana sudharisanam
4. dhudhdharisana karisanam
5. viprathipaththi nirasanam
6. vyAkyAnam for “cheththaththin …” SrIsUkthi (of
nammAzhwAr)
7. SaraNAgathikku adhikAri visEshaNathva samarththanam
8. jyOthisha purANangaLukku aika kantya samarththanam
9. dhurupadhEsadhikkAram
10. sharaNa SabdhArtha vichAram
11. shruthaprakAchikA vivaraNam
12. mukthipadhashakthi vAdham
13. brahmapadhashakthi vAdham
14. bhUkOLa nirNayam
15. thyAgasabdhArththa tippaNi
16. gIthArththa tippaNi
17. kaivalya sathadhUshaNi
18. SrIrAmAnuja ashtapathi
19. sidhAntha thUlikai
20. sidhdhOpAya mangaLa dhIpikai

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 SrIvaishNava rathnams

21. dharmagyA prAmANya prakAchikai

22. sidhdhAntha paribhAshai
23. immersing in SrIrAmAnuja’s divine form – thirumanjana
kattiyam , etc

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of

appan thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar. He was a great
scholar and has contributed greatly to our sampradhAyam
through his literary works. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we
too get a little bit of such gyAnam/bhakthi in
bhagavath/bhAgavatha/AchArya vishayam.

appan thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja embAr jIyar’s thaniyan:

SrIvAdhUla ramApravALa ruchira sraksainya nAthAmchaja

SrIkurvIndhram mahArya labhdha nijasath saththam chruthA
bhIshtatham
SrIrAmAnuja mukya dhEsikalasath kainkarya samsthApakam
SrImathvEnkatalakshmaNArya yaminam thamsathguNam
bhAvayE

ஸ்ரீேோதூே ரமோப்ரேோள ருசிர ஸ்ரக்யஸந்ய

நோதோம் சஜ
ஸ்ரீகுர்வீந்த்ரம் மேோர்ய ேப்த நிஜஸத் ஸத்தம்
ச்ருதோ பீஷ்டதம்
ஸ்ரீரோமோநுஜ முக்ய னதசிகேஸத் யகங் கர்ய
ஸம் ஸ்தோபகம்
ஸ்ரீமத்னேங் கடேக்ஷ்மணோர்ய யமிநம்
தம் ஸத்குணம் போேனய

Sources: an old publication named “thiruvEnkata rAmAnuja

embAr jIyar prabhAvam” – full grantham can be viewed
online at
https://drive.google.com/?tab=go&authuser=0#folders/0ByVe
mcKfGLucZnZBMjlIa1JHdFk

SrImathE ramyajAmAthru munIndhrAya mahAthmanE |

SrIrangavAsinE bhUyAth nithyaSrIr nithya mangaLam ||

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