pirattiyar magimai (oppavarillA mAdhargal)

Sri Parthasarathi thunai,

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha.

Srimad vara vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

Pranams,

Let us get the divine grace of the thayars in the present posting. As Acharya Ramanuja started in his Gadya Trayam with the prayer to Sridevi Nachiyar (Ranganayaki) similarly my first posting was also on the Thirukalyanam of Sri Vedavalli Thayar with Sri Mannathan. Let me continue with the divine qualities of this thayar.

When Arjuna asks Sri Krishna to tell him about his vibuthi, Krishna is taken aback and replies that even he himself cannot say in full about his divine qualities. In our sampradayam piratti also has innumerable kalyana gunas like the emperuman. When emperuman or the vedas are unable to say about the kalyana gunas of the emperuman or that of the piratti, who am I, a mandha buddhi jeevatma trying to post something about perumal and piratti. But as our acharyas say there is no harm to the kalyana gunas of the perumal and piratti but it will surely show us the right path and enlighten us.

About Vedavalli thayar, her charm and beauty no words can describe. If I say sugar will be sweet can anyone really know the taste just because I tasted it? Even thousands of words of description for the taste of a dish cannot match to a person who actually tastes it. Similarly, even if I select infinite number of words from the dictionary and try to explain about Shree Vedavalli thayar, it will be no match to the real anubavam of being their in person and enjoying her Kalyana Gunas. So please do go to Thiruvallikeni to get the real anubhavam. To have the top most joy, go and see the thayar during a friday evening Purapaddu with the Madal Ghoshti. You will then realise that there is no other joy in this world even miles close to that. Then the 10 days Navarathri Utsavam for thayar is THE absolute. I can say nothing more than this.

There is one story in the guru paramparai. Once when Ranganathan dressed himself like thayar wearing all the jewels of thayar(Nachiyar tirukolam) came on purapadu, one shisya of Sri Parasara Bhattar remarked how beautiful perumal was and that he looks similar to thayar. But Bhattar replied, "Yes he is very beautiful but still he cannot have the same look of the thayar"(AAnalum avvizhi vizhika vonnadhu). Thayar has a special kadakshum that even perumal doesn’t have. That karunai vizhi is present with Vedavalli thayar also, as in Srirangam we call her as Ranganayaki and the same thayar in Thiruvallikeni is called Vedavalli. Even in our day-to-day life, we see ladies have a different name in their parents place and they are called by a different name in their in-laws place. What ever is in our ancestor’s practice it is shown by perumal and thayar.

Then Sri Andal has a separate sannadhi here. She being an alwar takes the post of thayar here, being the consort of Sri Parthasarathi perumal. Andal wants to be all in one. She began as an alwar, suddenly wants to become a gopi and so assumes herself to be a gopi and Srivilliputtur as Aayapadi and Mannar as Sri Krishna and does the marghazhi nombhu and also gave us the sweet 30 verses of Thiruppavai. Then Andal also became the divine consort of the emperuman. It is well known that Andal got married to Sri Ranganatha but the beauty is Ranganatha has serthi utsavam with Ranganayaki, Andal and Uraiyur Nachaiyar at different times of the year but in Thiruvallikeni Andal is regarded as the sole Nachiyar for Parthasarathi with whom he undergoes kalyana utsavam and serthi. Andal has 10 days neerata utsavam in her special neerata mandapam and also 10 days of aadipoora utsavam, which ends with the kalyanam and the serthi. Andal stays in the Parthasarathi sannadhi after this utsavam till the next pooram after which she returns to her sannadhi.

Though vedavalli thayar is a padi thandha paththini Andal is not like that. She is both modern and traditional. She is a gopi, an alwar and a thayar and henceforth has purappadu in the thiruveedhi and even her neeratu mandapam is also outside the premises of the Koil near the pushkarini. The way the neeratam is done to Sri Andal is extraordinary. Though there is no end to describe the divya dampadhis, still let me stop with this. The next posting will be a conclusion.

I pray in the divine feet of the learned bhagavatas to forgive all my mistakes and enlighten me with them too.

To those of you, who have given their precious time to read my humble postings 'talaiallal kaimarilene'.

Adiyen Ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan