Kodi yEtram

Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Srimad vara vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

Pranams,

Let us now continue enjoying the brahmotsavam of Sri Parthasarathi. The first day is the kodiYetram. It is excellent to see Sri Parthasarathi in divya alankaram in the early morning of this day. Once he comes to the mandapam opposite to the dvajastambam, the festival starts. Homam is started in the yaaga salai and kodiyetram is done under the divine presence of Sri Parthasarathi by the archakas.

The kodi of emperuman is called GARUDA KODI. Let us see how Garudan (the vahanam of emperuman) got the place in his flag. Vinatha was the mother of Garudan (that is why he is called vainatheyan) and kadru his stepmother. Vinatha was elder than kadru. Kadru’s creation or her sons were the nagas. Once after the amrutha madana leela of emperuman there was a debate between Vinatha and kadru about the tail’s colour, of the horse (vuchaishravasu), which came out from the milky ocean. Vinatha said that the colour of the tail was also white as it is a white horse. But Kadru argued that it was black in color. The debate became a challenge. Both of them agreed to be the others slave if what they said were wrong. Kadru very well knew that the tail color was white only but she wanted to make Vinatha her slave so she wantedly called Vinatha for this challenge. Then she asked her sons, the black snakes to go circle the horse’s tail. Since both Vinatha and Kadru saw the horse only from a distance it appeared to be black and so from that day Vinatha became a slave of kadru. After some years when Garuda became big he enquired to his mother why she being elder to his stepmother still was doing service to her. Vinatha told her son about the above story and how she became a slave to Kadru. Then Vainadheya went to his stepmother Kadru and politely enquired what he has to do to release his mother from slavery. She said get me the amrutham which came out of the parkadal then I will release your mother. So Garuda went and took the amrutha kalasam and while he was returning back, he was duly stopped by the Devas in the middle. A big war broke out between Garuda and the Devas. Garuda was so strong that without any weapons only with his wings (Garuda paksham) he trashed all the Devas down. Then the Devas went to Sriman Narayana and surrendered to him. Then, Sriman Narayana came and asked Garuda to return the amrutha kalasam, as it rightly belonged to the Devas. Garuda said according to kshatriya dharma (he is pakshi raja) he has shown his power and taken it from the Devas, and hence, if Narayana wants to take it back from him, he can do so after having a combat with him. But Narayana didn’t want to fight with him and so he said that he wanted to become Garuda's friend and so he put his hands on his shoulders. It was so heavy that, Garuda couldn’t even bear it. Garuda accepted the friendship and so Narayana was pleased and asked him what boon he wanted. Garuda said he wanted the strength to carry lord Narayana and so Narayana granted him that power and said that garuda will remain as his vahanam from now on. Then Garuda requested that, now that I have become your vahanam I will stay under you, but I would also like to be on top of you. So emperuman granted him the boon that he can stay on top as his flag. This is the reason why emperuman’s kodi is called Garuda kodi. Then when Garuda told emperuman that if he returns the amrutha kalasa as emperuman requested he cannot release his mother from slavery but then perumal told him the fact that the horse really has only white tail and what his mother said was right and there was no need for her to be a slave of kadru. So Garuda returned happily and told both his mother and also Kadru who accepted her mistake.

This is the story how Garudan became both the vahanam and kodi of emperuman

So at the start of all brahmotsavams, the Garuda kodi is first hoisted on the dvajastambam. After that Sri Parthasarathi gets into his dharmAdhipeedam and then has veedhi purapadu .On the first day and the last day Anandan, Garudan, Vishvaksenar, Chakrathazhvar all go along with the emperuman. In different corners of the thiruveedhees, bali is offered, that is like offering food to the various devathas who have been assigned for security in those corners. On the last day again, they will be released from their assigned positions. Then after the purapaadu, emperuman comes into the temple and kodi theertham is given to all. This theertham is supposed to be very sacred.

There are some things, which are done on all the ten days of the utsavam. Let us see them one by one. On all days Parthasarathi has thiruveedhi purapadu in different vahanams in the morning and in the evening. After returning from the morning purappadu, and after Iyal sAttu, perumal in kedayam reaches the thiruvaimozhi mandapam.

Then emperuman has thirumanjanam and after that he stays in the kannadi arai adjacent to the thiruvaimozhi mandapam. We will see about Parthasarathi’s thirumanjanam and the other proceedings of the utsavam in the next postings.

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee,

Sumithra Varadarajan.