||    Thiruppanazhwaar Vaibhavam    ||

Thiruppaana azhwaar is the ninth among the 12 Azhwaars. He has ten paasurams among the divine collect Four Thousand revered as "Amalanaadhipiraan” Prabhandham.

This Azhwaar's prabhandham is different from all the other aazhwaar's prabhndhams in that it does not contain any upadesams, critique of Veda-Baahya Mathams, messages sent to the Lord as His Naayaki et al. Thiruppaanar's prabhandham is an aanandha-lahari (limitless outpourings of the bliss of aanandham) at the anubhavam of the Lord's Sarvaanga Soundharyam and its redeeming effect. Azhwaar is totally lost in that blissful anubhavam and the ten paasurams arose from him as "the revelational hymns"

Thiruppaanar was born in the caste of untouchables and he felt therefore unqualified to enter into Srirangam to have the darsanam of Sri Ranganathan that he longed for. Hence, he stood on the bank of Cauvery river, closed his eyes and sang with deep anubhavam about the kalyana gunams of the Lord every morning.

A great scholar by the name of Loka Saaranga Muni was the temple servant at that time at Srirangam and was assigned the duties of bringing Thirumanjanam water (holy water for the bath of the iconic form of Lord Ranganaathan) every morning. During the collection of the water from cauvery, Loka Saaranga Muni will have a cloth over his mouth and will not speak to anyone until he brought the Cauvery waters to the Lord's sannidhi.

On one particular day, Thiruppaanar was singing on the banks of Cauvery as usual totally unawareof the fact that the place he was singing from was very close to the site, where Loka Saaranga Muni fetched water for the Lord. Since Muni could not speak, he threw a small stone at the Azhwaar signaling him to move away. That stone hit Thiruppaanar's forehead and blood began to ooze out of the wound. Recognizing his mistake, Thiruppaanar moved away to permit the uninterrupted access to the river by Muni to collect thirumnajanam water for the Lord.

Muni collected the water, reached the temple and the sacred bath was conducted for the Lord. That night, Muni had a dream in which Lord Ranganaatha ordered him (Muni) to carry His dearBhakthan on his (Muni’s) shoulders to His sannidhi.

Next morning, Muni rushed to the site, where Thiruppaanar was engaged in singing with his lute and begged him to ride on his shoulders as commanded by Lord Ranganaathan. Although Thiruppaanar was uncomfortable, he obeyed the Lord's command and rode on the shoulders of Muni with closed eyes until he reached the Lord's sannidhi. When he opened his eyes at the Sannidhi to see the Lord's auspicious and majestic Thirumeni, he (Thiruppaanar) was overwhelmed by that blissful experience. He began to salute the beauty of the Lord from Thiruppadhams (Sacred Feet) to His head in ten most moving paasurams.

At he end of his salutations through the ten paasurams of Amalanaadhipiraan, he (Thiruppaanar) declared that his eyes will not care to see anything else anymore and he merged right away in the divine jyothi of Periya Perumaal at His aasthaanam.

ThiruppAnar's prabhandham
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Swamy Desikan was so moved by the Prabhandham of ThiruppANar that he addressed the AzhwAr as PaaN PerumAL. He wrote a beautiful commentary for AmalanAdhipirAn, the Prabhandham of ThiruppANar. It is pertinent to observe that this is the only prabhandham among the assembly of 24 dhivya Prabhandhams that Swamy Desikan has chosen to comment upon in extensive detail (muni Vaahana BhOgam). The other commentaries relating to the Dhivya Prabhandhams by Swamy Desikan such as Madhura Kavi Hrudhayam, Nigama ParimaLam are no longer available to us.

AmalanAdhipirAn
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Swamy Desikan was so moved by the Prabhandham of ThiruppANar that he addressed the AzhwAr as PaaN PerumAL. He wrote a beautiful commentary for AmalanAdhipirAn, the Prabhandham of ThiruppANar. It is pertinent to observe that this is the only prabhandham among the assembly of 24 dhivya Prabhandhams that Swamy Desikan has chosen to comment upon in extensive detail (muni Vaahana BhOgam). The other commentaries relating to the Dhivya Prabhandhams by Swamy Desikan such as Madhura Kavi Hrudhayam, Nigama ParimaLam are no longer available to us.

AdiyEn is following the older commentary here of Parama padha vaasi Sri U.Ve.Srirama DeasikAcchAr Swamy.

1) The ten verses arose out of the AzhwAr's lips as the anubhava pravAham (an overflow of the ecstatic joy) from the experience of the divine beauty of the limbs and the body (ThirumEni) of RanganAthan resting in His inner sanctum at Srirangam.

2) The first nine verses progressively describe AzhwAr's immersion in the beauty of the Lord's Lotus feet, the red garment on His waist, His navel that created BrahmA, His Waist band, chest, neck, coral red mouth, bewitching eyes and the whole body (samudhAya- soundharyam). In the final paasuram, AzhwAr concedes that his eyes can not see anything else in this world, now that they have seen and enjoyed the Lord's ThirumEni, His soundharyam and svaroopam.

3) The 15 kalyANa guNams of RanganAthan celebrated by Azhwar in the first paasuram are:

(a) His Power to give Moksha siddhi
(b)His Jagath-kAraNathvam
(c)Him Being the world's protector
(d)His Disposition to rush to the help of His bakthAs
(e)His Special DayA to His BhakthAs
(f)His SvAtanthryam (not being controlled by anybody)
(g)His remaining blemishless always
(h)His Power to be the Lord of ALL
(i)His ease of accesibility by one andAll
(j)His Souseelyam
(k)His Vaathsalyam for us
(l)His being parama prApyathvam/the loftiest of all attainments for chEthanams
(m)His Aaasritha pakshapAtham
(n)His most sacred Thiruvadi, which is bhOgyam for BhakthAs
(o)His ability to let His BhakthAs enjoy Him without any deep effort like harsh penance.

(4) In the second paasuram, the AzhwAr's eyes lift up from the enjoyment of and reflection on the Lord's sacred feet and focus on the PithAmbharam adorning His waist. AzhwAr's course during the enjoyment of the Lord's ThirumEni is "AapAdha chooDam or PaadhAthi kEsAntham” (from the sacred feet to the Lofty crown on the Lord's head). Azhwar mentions that his mind went after the red dress effortlessly. AzhwAr's mind leaves him and goes towards that beautiful dress on the Lord's waist and gets riveted there without any goading from him.

(5) The third paasuram deals with the extension of the AzhwAr's gaze from the PithAmbharam to His navel, where BrahmA was created. AzhwAr uses the word “adiyEn “for the first time in this paasuram. In the earlier two passurams, he had used the word, "Yenn" .The use of adiyEn implies that the daasya aspect overwhelming him in the spirit of "Aathma dasyam , HarE: Swamyam " (Our servitude and Hari's Lordship over us).

(6) It has been pointed out that the first three paasurams start with A (Amalan), U (Uvantha) and M (Manthi). The combination of A+U+M gives us the esoteric PraNavam. Swamy Desikan is of the opinion that the ten paasurams of AmalanAdhipirAn are the distilled essence of the three VaishNavite rahasyams (Moola Manthram, Dhvayam and Charama SlOkam).

(7) In the fourth paasuram, AzhwAr covers the meaning of Nama: sabdham of the Moola Manthram. Here AzhwAr says that the waist band (udhara bandham) of the Lord has entered into his heart, stayed there and is enjoying joyous strolls there. The Udhara Bandham is that small rope (KaNNI nuNN SirutthAmpu) used by YasOdhai, which led to Him being saluted as DaamOdharan. Even today, it is said that the Tazhumpu (welt) formed by Yasodhai's rope is seen on the waist of the Moola BhEram of SriranganAthan. Thoughts about that udhara bandham will remove our samsAra bandhams and lead us to Moksham. AzhwAr is saluting the golden waist chain, which has allegorical links to the small rope used by YasOdhA.

(8)In the fifth paasuram, AzhwAr feels the impact of Lord RanganAthA's abundant grace. He has now entered into AzhwAr's heart instead of just letting the AzhwAr enjoy the beauty of His waist aabharaNam. Azhwar now enjoys the beauty of the Lord's broad chest adorned by the vana Maalai (Vyjayanthi garland) and MahA lakshmi. That auspicious chest enslaved AzhwAr and made him become immediately a servant (Daasan) to the Lord. This happened without the performance of any special penance as stated by AzhwAr.

(9) The tattvams associated with the Lord's grace covered by the fifth paasuram are:

(a)VirOdhi nigraham /Chasing away of the inner and outer enemies
(b)Ishta prApthi (gaining of desired goals)
(c)His pervasive presence inside and outside the Jeevans
(d)His enduring dayA
(e)His soulabhyam , which stands behind Him serving as UpAyam/means for Moksham
(f)His Parathvam (Supermacy)which stands behind Him to serve as Phalan/fruit of Prapatthi
(g)His presence as Lakshmi-Kaanthan or Sriya:Pathi with Yeka-sEshithva Yogam
(h)His bearing the world as prAkAram and adorning His ThiruvAbharanams
(i)Being the SvarUpam of the Jeevan , who is His Daasan
(j)the Kaimkaryam ,which is the fruitof being a Daasan .

(10)The sixth paasuram has the Lord's throat as its focus. AzhwAr states here that the throat of the Lord, which has performed many miracles before, has now performed another one (viz), infusion of life into AzhwAr and saving him (nall vAzhvu and Ujjeevanam) forever.

(11)In the seventh paasuram, AzhwAr addresses Sri RanganAthan as "IyaanAr” -our Saviour and Rakshakan. AzhwAr's mind is now captivated by the whole ThirumEni of the Lord and particularly carried away by His coral red lips .He can no longer enjoy the beauty of rest of the ThirumEni. He cries out in the mixed mood of ecstasy and anguish for His helpless state with the expression: IyyO! AzhwAr suffers over his inability to fully digest and enjoy the unimaginable beauty of those coral lips.

(12) In the eighth paasuram, AzhwAr tears away from the additional enjoyment of the coral lips and shifts his attention to those magnificent eyes of the Lord,which are lustrous and inviting (SvAgathOdhaara nEthram ). AzhwAr salutes those deep and dayA-laden eyes and concedes that those eyes have reduced him to a helpless state through the spell that they cast on him.

(13) In the ninth paasuram, AzhwAr feels much closer to the Lord and feels secure and comforted as a result of enjoying the individual limbs of the Lord. AzhwAr begins now to celebrates the beauty of the entire ThirumEni of the Lord. That greater anubhavam drives away the sense of self-satisfaction that he had possessed until now. His erstwhile complacence and contentment derived from the enjoyment of the individual limbs are gone as he begins to absorb the matchless beauty of the entire ThirumEni of Sri RanganAthan. AzhwAr is knocked off his feet as he avidly enjoys the Lord's ThirumEni (Dhivya MangaLa Vigraham) as well as His Svaroopam (DhivyAthma Svaroopam). Bowled over by the double power of the Lord's Svaroopam and Roopam, AzhwAr cries out again: IyyO! PeriyavAcchAn PiLlai describes the pitiable state of the AzhwAr this way: " Having donned a green coat (pacchai maamalai pOl mEni), the Lord has shown to me every thing within Him without exception. He has taken away every thing of me” Sri D.Raamaswamy Iyengar adds: “Like a magician attractively dressed hypnotising a person and taking away all his wealth", the Lord has performed this magic on me and captivated me totally.

(14) The last paasuram is marked by SaathvIka ahankaram. As a result of being the beneficiary of the Lord's grace, AzhwAr is totally fulfilled and states a fact that His eyes will not be able to see any one or anything else in all the worlds except Sri RanganAthan (yenn amudhinaik kaNDa kaNNkaL maRRonRinaik kaaNAvE) After experiencing this nectar, which is the Sarva Mangala Vigraha nectar, AzhwAr has no need for any thing else. He indicates that the Lord alone is worth seeing, worth experiencing and naught else. The Lord heard that firm statement of the AzhwAr and permitted the AzhwAr to merge into Him infront of every one assembled at His sannidhi. Azhwar entered into that Svyam JyOthi (Lord RanganAthan) now that His avathAra kaaryam was completed.

Parama Padha Vaasi Sri Dindukkal Ramaswamy Iyengar Known for his devotion to Lord varadarAjan was also a great scholar of Swamy Desikan's Sri Kosams .

Here is a translation of the ten verses of AmalanaahdipirAn as per Sri U.Ve.D.Ramaswamy Iyengar of blessed memory .

Paasuram 1:
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Sri Ranganathan is (1) ever pure (2) the primordial being (3) the great benefactor (4)the ever-blemishless One consigning me to the service of the devoted (5) the Lord of the celestials (6) the Resident of Venkatam with fragrant groves (7)the One who has no faults (8)the One ever remaining unaffected by the faults (of devotees)(9)the One residing in His righteous Paramapadham(10) He is my Lord of Arangam with its long ramparts.

His radiant lotus feet appear as if they have come into, and are , in my eyes.

Paasuram 2:
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The Lord of Arangam with tall and erect head-ornament, which pierced the higher worlds, measured the world with great delectation in His heart. He is the scion of the race of kakuth (an early king of the solar race), whose sharp and stinging arrows devoured the rakshasAs,who confronted Him (then).My mind has gone towards the reddish pithAmbharam worn by Him in His waist .

Pasasuram 3:
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The Lord reclining on the serpent couch in Srirangam. is the Lord , who stood on the great Venkatam mountain in the north , with monkeys running hither and thither, --in order that the celestials may worship Him there at the Thiru Venkata dhivya dEsam .

The twilight-colored pithAmbharam of that Lord (Sri RanganAthan) and the shining navel above it, which created the (four-faced) BrahmA on it, is the place of rest for my mind's sweet soul.

The Fourth Paasuram:
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That Ocean-hued Lord (Sri Rama), who after driving RavaNA once , later aimed a specially powered sharp arrow and made the ten heads of the ruler of LankA (surrounded by
square and immense ramparts), drop down,--that Lord of Srirangam is now my sole relation and protector .There at Srirangam , the bees sing sweetly and big peacocks dance gaily. The waist-band around His lovely stomach pleasantly strolls about within my mind.

The Fifth Paasuram:
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Having cut asunder the firm hold of ancient and heavy load of sins of mine, He (the Lord) has made me His (exclusive) slave; not only that, but He has also entered into me. (For achieving this), What great and severe penance has been performed by me (or by Him), I do not know. (But this I see)It is the chest of my Lord of Srirangam beautified by Lakshmi and the garland of wild flowers (Vyjayanthi) that has captured and captivated me.

The Sixth Paasuram:
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He, who dispelled the grief of Paramasiva having the white crescent moon (in His head), is my Lord who has come to the city of Arangam surrounded by groves in which live (swarms of) bees with charming wings. His throat which (once upon a time) completely swallowed the worlds inhabited by a class of people known as Andar and the world beyond those worlds, and this unique big earth, and also the seven KulAchalAs,--that throat, it is that has saved me--behold!

The Seventh Paasuram:
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He holds in His hands the conch with winding rekha, and the fiery wheel (chakra). He has a body like an elongated hill. He with the long kireetA exuding in in abundance the fragrance of the TuLasi is our father and saviour. His (coral lips) and red mouth, alas, has enticed and carried away my mind.

The Eighth Paasuram:
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That primordial Benefactor tore into shreds the asuran (HiraNyakasipu), who came to assault Him with his massive body. He is not easily accessible or available to the devAs (like BrahmA, SivA, Indra Et Al). Those big eyes in the face of that Amalan of Arangam , which are dark, spread out on all sides, always restless (inquiring about the Yoga KshEmam of His bhakthAs) with red streaks running (across), and very long, --they have bewitched me simply and made a fool of me.

The Ninth Paasuram:
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He who is now reclining on the serpent couch at Srirangam was (seen once upon a time as) a non pareil (comparisonless) baby on the leaf of a banyan tree, having consumed (devoured) the seven worlds.

The blue-tinted ThirumEni of endless dazzle of that Lord adorned by a beautiful garland studded with big and priceless gems, and an equally grand and glorious pearl garland, has, alas, destroyed the feeling of fullness and satisfaction in my mind.

The Tenth Paasuram:
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My eyes which have seen my nectar, Lord RanganAthan, who has the colour of the clouds, whose mouth ate butter when He became a cowherd, who stole my heart, who is the ruler over all the worlds and their residents--those eyes of mine will not see anything else anymore after seeing Him.

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