Various vahanams during Brahmotsavam

Sri Parthasarathi Thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya namaha

Srimad vara vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala maha munayE Namaha

Pranams,

In this posting let us see the various vahanams/events on which Sri Parthasarathi gives sevai(darshan) on the brahmotsavam days.

DAY	MORNING	EVENING
FIRST	dharmAdhipeedam	Pinna Kalai Vahanam
SECOND	Sesha Vahanam	Simha Vahanam
THIRD	Garuda Sevai	Hamsa Vahanam
FORTH	Soorya Prabhai	Chandra Prabhai
FIFTH	Nachiar Thirukkolam	Hanumantha Vahanam
SIXTH	Punniyakoti Vimanam	Yaanai vAhanam
SEVENTH	Ther(Chariot)	Thotta (Garden) thirumanjanam
EIGHTH	Vennai Thazhi Kannan	Gudirai vahanam
NINTH	Theertha Vaari, AlmEl pallakku	Kannadi pallaku
TENTH	Saptha Varanam	DvadasaAradhanam,VettivEr sapparam

After this the next ten days will be vidaiyArthi utsavams. After the tiring sessions of utsavams Sri Parthasarathi now relaxes. There is no purappadu during these days. Every day there will be Thirumanjanam and in the evenings Sri Parthasarathi dresses himself simply, but beautifully and then listens to sweet music in the Thiruvaimozhi mandapam. All great singers and instrumentalists wait eagerly for exhibition of their talents in front of Parthasarathi emperuman. So now Emperuman and the Thiruvallikeni vasees enjoy the sweet carnatic and devotional music as concluding part of the Brahmotsavam. On the last day of the Vidaayarthi utsavam Sri Parthasarathi Emperuman gives darshan in pushpa pallaku, one more excellent scene that needs thousands of eyes (not exaggerating but Parthasarathi’s alangaram on this day cannot be really explained by words)

With this ends Parthasarathi Brahmotsavam leaving all the Bhakthas in sorrow that all the joy of utsavam has come to an end.

I will now explain the meaning of the song I have posted in the previous postings.

I stanza - The Brahmotsavam occurs in the month of chitirai and the bhakthas who are lucky to see it are filled with joy. Whoever comes here with full desire, have their lives filled with happiness everyday.

II stanza – Celebrations start grandly with selvar koothu; Senai mudaliyar/vishvaksenar leads the angurarpanam and after thirumulai the next event on the first day is kodi yEtram followed by dharmAdhipeedam indicating the lord protecting dharma;

III stanza - This stanza gives the various vahanams in which parthasarathi gives darshan as listed above punnai vahanam (This is a vahanam which has a pinna kalai inside. Sri Krishna is supposed have liked the punnai tree under which he used to stand in brindavanam with a flute in his hand during the Krishna avatara. (That’s how Sri Parthasarathi also gives darshan on the first day evening of the brahmotsavam with a flute in his hand and under the pinnakalai in the vahanam). Then comes the sesha vahanam on the second day morning. As per the azhvar pasurams adishesha is one nitya soori who likes to do kainkaryam to lord in various forms at various times. When the lord walks, he becomes an umbrella protecting the lord from sun and rain and when the lord wants to sit, he becomes his simhasanam. In the divine abode of the lord srivaikundam the lord is seen sitting on the adisesha. And that is what the second day utsavam signifies. We samsarees cannot get the darshan of sriman narayana in srivaikundham. So to give us that experience, on the second day morning of the brahmotsavam, Sri Parthasarathi emperuman, by his divine grace comes in purappadu through the Thiruveedhis in vaikundanathar thirukolam on the sesha vahanam. On the same day evening, the lord gives darshan in simha vahanam. In Bhagavat Geetha Sri parthasarathi says that “ Iam the king of animals (the lion or simham) among the animals” But now to show that he is more than that, he is a king to the ‘king of animals’ he rides over the simham. It can also be said that the simha vahanam signifies that Sri parthasarathi is none other than Nara-Simham.

Next is the most important vahanam. On the third day morning little early than all other purappadu we can see Sri Parthasarathi in Garuda vahanam. Today the lord gets into his vahanam not at the vahana mandapam as usual, but he gets ready inside the temple itself and the temple door opens when he approaches the gopura vAsal. This is one of the important darshans, for any srivaishnava. The gopura vAsal darshan of Sri Parthasarathi in garuda sevai removes all sins from us. Garuda is the official vahanam of perumal and hence garuda sevai has this speciality. So in my next posting I will write more in detail on the garuda sevai and ekantha sevai of emperuman. And the third day night emperuman reminds us about the hamsa avatara he took to save the Vedas and give it to Brahma (the creator). So he comes in Hamsa Vahanam. To have darshan of Sri Parthasarathi in all these vahanas we really need eyes full of love for the divine emperuman.

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

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

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

VII stanza – In Krishna avatara when the lord resided in Gokulam, the most important leela, really enjoyed by all the Krishna bhakthas is the navanitha choram(the leelas of Krishna stealing butter). Sometimes Krishna begs the gopikas for butter. He will ask the gopi’s that he wanted butter. Though they wanted to give everything to him, just to enjoy him more they ask him to dance. So for getting the butter from them he used to dance and hence he is called ‘vennaiku aadum pillai’. After dancing, the gopi’s will give him the butter, but he being not satisfied with little butter he had got, will take away the whole vessel and run off. So now he gives darshan holding a vennaiThAzhi(pot full of butter) in one hand and with butter in the other. So now the kid who danced for getting the butter has become the kid with the vennai thazhi. That’s what the first line in this stanza actually means.

And in the night he comes on a horse dressed as a king (warrior). Now the emperuman is full of jewels so a thief robs him and do you all know who the thief is? Can any one other than his bhaktha rob emperuman? Yes it was Thirumangai mannan, who belonged to the kallar kulam. No one can rob emperuman but emperuman likes to play leelas with his bhakthas and so he acts like he is incapable of preventing the robbery. Then emperumans soldiers catch the thief and bring him to emperuman. This festival is done in front of the gudirai vahana mandapam, located in car street, one of the mada veedhis of Thiruvallikeni. First Sri Parthasarathi shows His charm and nadai azhaghu (gudirai vahana Easal) while thirumangai mannan hides himself under a tree and robs the Lord and walks with pride in front of parthasarathi and perumal’s thalayari (Person incharge of Perumal’s Security) commands Thirumangai alwar to return all the jewels and things he has stolen from the emperuman and his parivaram. (Sri M.A.VenkataKrishnan swamy on behalf of Perumal’s thalayari renders the kainkaryam of reading the commands). Then by Perumal’s divine grace, alwar realizes his mistake and returns all the things and he starts singing “vadinen vaadi varundhinen’(Periya Thirumozhi). After this, alwar is gifted with Perumal’s maalai(garland), parivattam and Sri Sadari. He then, comes around emperuman three times along with the recitation of the first 10 paasurams of Periya Thirumozhi along with the Ghosti. After this event, thirumangai azhwar returns to the temple. Thus this stanza explains how Sri Parthasarathi stole the heart of the thief Thirumangai Azhwar who actually came to steal the possessions of Sri Parthasarathi.

Since this is the last vahana purappadu the ghosti sits there and Parthasarathi after listening to rest of the Nalariya divya prabhandam chanting, returns to his divine temple. Actually beginning from the first day’s purappadu of Brahmotsavam, till today the ghosti would have completed three thousands of the Nalayira Divya Prabhandams. Thiruvaimozhi which is not to be recited in the streets (as it is regarded as tamil vedam) is recited inside the temple on the sapthAvaranam day. All 1000 paasurams are recited on a single day in front of all the emperumans in thiruvallikeni.

 VIII Stanza – On the day of theerthavari, first event is pOrvai kalaidhal (emperuman searches for a lost ring) followed by Mattaiyadi utsavam (facing the wrath of ubhaya nachiyars for returning without the ring). Evening emperuman gives darshan on the kannadi pallaku (palanquin decorated with colourful mirror) and the next day the whole celebrations end with the thiruveedhi ula in vetti vEr sapparam;

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

Adiyen Ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan