||    PeriyAzhwAr Birth Day Tribute    ||

PeriyAzhwAr

I will follow the cue set by Sriman Sundararajan for this sacred week noted for its integrated celebrations for Sri VaishNavAs. Once again, the brilliant and precise tribute paid by Sri Sundararajan is truly inspirational in setting the stage for this special week.

I will start my salutations to PeriyAzhwAr with the recollection of Swami Desikan's tribute to him in the ninth verse of his work revered as Prabhandha Saaram:

pEraNintha VilliputtUrAni tanniR
perunjyothi taniRROnRum perumAnE mun
seeraNintha pAndiyanRan nenju tanniR-
riyakkaRamAl paratthuvatthaithh tiRamAsseppi
vAraNamEn Mathuraivalam varavE vAnin
mAl garuda vahananAitth tOnRa vAzhtthu
mEraNipallANdu mudaR paattu nAnUR-
Rezhupatthuon RiraNdumenakkudhavu neeyE

( Padha/VakhyArtham ) :

per aNindha : famous , known for its glory

Villiputthur: in the city of Sri Villiputthur ( then puduvai )

aani tannil : in the Tamizh month of Aani

prunjyothi tannil : during the asterism , SvAthi

thOnRum perumAnE : O great one , who incarnated

nee mun : once upon a time , you

seer aNindha paandiyan than nenju tannil : In the mind of the celebrated Pandyan king

thiyakku aRa mAl paratthuvatthai tiramA seppi : You inscribed effectively the supermacy of Sriman NaarAyaNA (in the king's mind) so that he had no doubt whatsoever over that unassailable doctrine

vAraNam mEl valam vara : (then) you ascended the back of the royal elephant and went around the streets of southern Mathurai at the behest of the king in a celebratory ride

vaanil mAl Garuda VahananAi thonRa : (at that time) , Lord Sriman NaarAyaNA appeared on the back of His vAhanam, Garudan (to witness) the scene of "Brahma ratham" for you

vAzhtthum: (you responded to the Lord's grace) through your benedictory verses and performed mangaLAsAsanam for Him out of your prEma paravasam and concern that there is no dhrishti dhOsahm for your Lord and His consorts

yEr aNi pallANdu : (you blessed us with) the most beautiful paasurams known as ThirupallANdu

(pallAndu) mudal paattu nAnURRezhupatthu onRu irandum: The 473 verses starting from ThiruppallAndu

yenakku udhavu: please bless me with the knowledge of them.

PeriyAzhwAr was born during a Aani SvAthi at SrivilliputthUr. He was GarudAmsam . He was given the name of VishNucchitthar, to suggest that he had Lord VishNu on his mind always. He was a sahaja daasyar and considered that kaimkaryam perormed by the florist in Vada Mathurai to Sri KrishNA was the example that he should follow in his life as the kaimkaryam for the Lord of SrivillipputthUr, Vata pathra Saayee. He established a nandavanam and performed flower garland and Tulasi maalai
kaimkaryam to the Lord.

One day, the king of the land, Sri Vallabha Paandyan was going around incognito in the streets of his capital city, Southern Mathurai at night. He saw a Brahmin seated on a pial and asked him as to who he is and what does he do. The Brahmin replied that he is a traveller engaged
in theerthAdanam and was on his way to bathe in the sacred GangA river. The king asked the Brahmin to recite a verse.

The obliging Brahmin responded with a verse that starts with "VarshArtthamashtou prayathEtha maasAn" {One should accumulate what one needs for the rainy season in the other eight months of the year (chaathur Maasyam), one should collect what one needs for the night during the day, one should store things needed for the old age during one's youth and one should seek what one needs for the other world (maRumai) during the stay in this world (Immai). The king was stunned to the quick by the wisdom incorporated in this slokam recited by the Brahmin. He said to himself: " I do not have any wantings in this world. I must now begin to do what is needed for the other world.

The king returned to his palace and consulted with his PurOhithA, Selva Nambi, who recommended that the king assemble learned scholars and learn from their debate about the supreme doctrine that he wanted to know, which would be of help to him for maRumai. The king invited the leading scholars of the alnd and requested them to establish the parataathva nirNayam based on VedAntha siddhAnthams. He set aside a major purse for the winner of the debate and displayed it on the top of a pole in his darbhAr. That was to serve as the sambhAvanai and VidhyA sulkam.

The Lord of Srivilliputthur (VadaperumkoviludayAn) decided to demonstrate his Parathvam through His servant , VishNucchitthA. He appeared in the dream of His servant and commanded him to go to the king's court and bring down the purse from the pole, where it was hanging. VishnucchitthA was overwhelmed with the Lord's command and pointed out that he has no formal education of any kind and therefore was totally unqualified to enagage in any discussion with the learned scholars at the king's special sadas.

The Lord replied: " My dear child ! you go to the court. I will be there with you ". VishNucchitthar proceeded to the court and was welcomed by Selva Nambi and the king. The assmbled scholars did not want to engage VishNucchitthA in debate, since he had no training in VedAs and SaasthrAs. The king requested VishNucchitthar to debate the scholars on Para Tattva NirNayam. Just as the hunter Vaalmeeki was blessed by the blessings of BrahmA, Just as child Dhruvan became sarva~jnA through the contact of the Lord's conch on his face, VishNucchittha became proficient in all aspects of VedAnthA and VedAs and established without any doubt that the AkAravaachyanAna Sriman NaarAyaNan is sarvasmath paran ". He defeated the arguments of all the other scholars and proved that Sriman NaarAyaNan is the supreme God. At hat time, the purse attached on top of the tall pole bent over and came to the level of VishNucchitthA for him to take hold of it.

The impressed and grateful king bowed before VishNucchitthA and placed him on the back of the royal elephant and named him " Bhattar PirAn ". The Lord with His consorts wanted to witness this scene honoring his servant and appeared in the sky seated on His vahanam, Garudan. Bhattar pirAn was overwhelmed by the Lord's dayA ,anugraham and incomparable beauty and omniscience (Sarva~jnthva , Sarva sakthithva , Sarva Raksha-
thva , Soundharya , SoukumArya , LaavaNyadhi guNams). Before he could salute the omnipotence , omniscience and omnipresence and bhaktha rakshakthvam aspects , Bhattar PirAn was overcome with a fear about any "evil eye " that may befall the Lord during the occasion of appearing before the jealous mortals in person. Bhattar pirAn grabbed the bells attached to the neck of the elephant on which he was riding and used them as the tALam and sang with great affection the twelve verses of ThiruppallAndu . This parivu and kanivu born out of Bhattar's worry about any inauspiciousness coming the way of the Lord is the basis of the origin of these12 moving verses that arose spontaneously from this great bahkthA. Sri MaNavALa Maamuni referred to this pongum parivu in his salutation to Bhattar PirAn during the occasion of explaining how he got the name of PeriyAzhwAr: "MangaLAsAsanatthin maRRuLLa AzhwArgaL, tangaLArvatthaLavu taananRi --ponghum parivAlE VilliputthUr Bhattar PirAn peRRAn , PeriyAzhwAr yennum peyar " in his Upadesa Rathna Maala paasuram.

Bhattar PirAn returned to SrivilliputthUr and placed the purse that he won at the feet of the Lord and spent his life immersed in thoughts about KrishNAvathAram and decribed to us in sweet paasurams the baala kreetAs of the Gopi ManOharan. He blessed us with 473 verses through his Periya Thirumozhi of the MudalAyiram. He was the foster parent for AaNDAL (SakshAth KshamA /Bhumi Devi) and became the father-in-law of Sri RanganAthA. In the house of PeriyAzhwAr and AanDAL resides even today, the Lord of Srirangam as RangamannAr. Such is the glory of PeriyAzhwAr!

I will translate and comment next on the 12 verses of ThirupallAndu, which are equivalent to the DwAdasa Naamams of the Lord in response to a long standing request from Professor M.G. PrasAd of New Jersey and his Divya Prabhandha Adhyayana group. They have expressed interest in ThirupallAndu and NeerAttam paasurams of PeriyAzhwAr. I will invoke the blessings of PeriyAzhwAr to undertake this kaimkaryam.

Oppiliappan Kovil VaradAchAri Sadagopan
Isvara Samvathsaram , Aani SvAthi .

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