||   Thirumangai AzhwAr     ||

Thirumangai AzhwAr was the last of the Twelve AzhwArs. His Taniyan is:

KaarthikE KrittikA Jaatham chathushkavi SikhAmaNim
ShaDprabhandha kruthaM Saarnga-mUrthim kaliyamAsrayE

Thirumangai AzhwAr known as Kaliyan, ParakAlan was born in Nala samvathsaram, VriscchikA Maasam, PourNami dinam. It was a Thursday and KritthikA Nakshathram was in ascendance. His place of birth is Thirukkurayaloor near ThiruvAli-Thirunahari. His given name at birth was Neelan. He was born in Chathurtha VarNam and he mastered svakula Vidhyai of DhanussAsthram. With his mastery of archery and weapons handling, he was formidable in fights. He became a chieftain of a district in the kingdom of ChOLAs and served the ChOLA king. He had four ministers with the names of ThALUthuvAN, Neer-mEl NadappAn, Nizhalil MaRaivAn and ThOlA Vazhakkan. With their help and the carrying power of his horse with the name of AadalmA, Neelan was able to drive away many enemies of the ChOLA king and enjoyed a honoured status in the ChOLA Kingdom.

Meanwhile, in a nearby village, there was a female child born as BhUmyamsai in an Aambal pond (Kumuda saras) and a Vaisyan took that child home and adopted it as his own. This child grew to be a beautiful maiden named Kumudavalli. The parents were worried about finding a suitable bridegroom for their daughter. Friends of Neelan mentioned to him about the extraordinary beauty of Kumudavalli. Neelan rushed to the house of the parents of Kumudavalli and requested the father to give his daughter away as his bride. The father asked his daughter about her consent and she replied that any one whom she could marry should have VishNu Chinhams (SamAsrayaNam), VishNu Bhakthi and should in addition perform TadhiyAraadhanams for the BhagavathAs.

Neelan was smitten with love for Kumudavalli and agreed to her conditions. He went to the Sannidhi of ThirunaRayUr PerumAL and prayed for SamAsrayaNa BhAgyam. ThirunaRayUr Nampi consented and pressed the disc and conch on the shoulders of Neelan, presented ThirumaNN Kaappu and initiated Neelan into the meaning of Thirumanthiram. All of these happenings were not visible to the archakAs and the sEvArthis of ThirunarayUr Nampi. Neelan was blessed to receive SamAsrayaNam from the very hands of the Lord and returned home as a Sri VishNavan, wedded Kumudavalli and began the TadhiyArAdhana kaimkaryams.

The spies of ChOLa RaajA reported that Neelan was spending a lot of the revenues due to the king in TadhiyArAdhanams. The angry king ordered his soldiers to capture Neelan and bring him to the court. Thirumangai Mannan confronted the soldiers sent by the king and drove them away. The king himself came to fight Thirumangai Mannan and proved to be no match for his heroic commander. The king also had to withdraw from the battle. The king however tricked Thirumangai with conciliatory words and had him imprisoned. Thirumangai was very sad over the interruption to his TadhiyArAdhana Kaimkaryam and during his dream inside the prison, Lord VaradarAjA appeared before him and instructed him to come to Kaanchi to recover buried treasure close to His temple and gain his release from the prison.
      
Next Morning, Thirumangai proceeded to Kaanchi with a court servant, worshipped Lord VaradarAjan and dug up the treasure  pointed out by the Lord. He returned the funds used from the treasury of the king for TadhiyArAdhanams and used the rest of the funds for the future Kaimkaryam.

Soon the extra funds from Kaanchi were used up and Thirumangai had shortage of funds to carry on his TadhiyArAdhanam. With the counsel of the ministers (asAdhubhyO arTam aadhAya Saadhubhyas sampracchathi), Thirumangai appropriated funds from avaishNavAs and fed the VaishNavAs. Thirumangai did not touch any VaishNava dhanam. One day, Thirumangai did not encounter any avaishNavAs to gather money for the TadhiyArAdhanam and was very sad about the interruption to his Kaimkaryam.

The Dhivya Dampathis saw the plight of their Bhakthan and appeared before him as a rich avaishNava, newly-wedded couple. Thirumangai was happy to see them adorned with rich jewellery and ornaments. He robbed them and put all his plunderings in a box and tried to lift that box so he can go back to his village. Thirumangai could not lift that box, however much he tried. He was angry and thought that the bridegroom had cast a spell that made the box unliftable. Thirumangai drew his sword and demanded that the bridegroom reveal to him the manthram that he (the Bridegroom) had used to make that box super heavy. The bridegroom laughed and addressed Thirumangai as “Namm KaliyA" and asked Kaliyan to come closer so that he can repeat the manthram in to Kaliyan's ears. Lord Sriman NaarAyaNa recited the Moola Manthram in the ears of Kaliyan and blessed him with His Sevai with MahA Lakshmi and His parijanams. Thirumangai Mannan became at that instant Thirumangai AzhwAr and performed SaraNAgathi at the sacred feet of the Dhivya dampathis. The AanandhAnubhava PravAham of Thirumangai found its release through Six Prabhandhams, which serve as the six angams for the four Tamizh vedams of Swamy NammAzhwAr. These Six prabhandhams set in the four modes of poetry known as Aasu, Chithram, Madhuram and Vistharam and earned him the name of Naalu Kavi perumAL. These six prabhandhams extolling Bhagavath GuNAnubhavam, SaraNAgathi and Bhagavath-BhAgavatha kaimkaryams are:

1. Periya Thirumozhi
2. ThirukkuRunthANDakam
3. ThirunedumthANDakam
4. ThiruvEzhukkURRirukkai
5. SiRiya Thiumadal
6. Periya Thirumadal

Thirumangai AzhwAr performed MangaLAsAsanam for 86 of the 108 dhivya dEsams. He performed many kaimkaryams such as the building of the ramparts for the Srirangam temple, construction of the dasAvathAra sannidhi at Srirangam and the creation of the Thiruadhyayana Uthsavam at Srirangam. He ascended to parama Padham from the dhivya desam of ThirukkuRunkudi.

Let us reflect upon one of the ThirukkuRungudi Paasurams at the conclusion of this short celebration of the vaibhavam of this great AzhwAr:

NinRa Vinayum Thuyarum keda Maamalar-yEnthi,
senRu paNimin yezhumin Thozhumin ThoNDIrkALL ,
yenRum iravum pahalum vari vanDu isai paada ,
kunRin Mullai ManRidai nARum KURUMKUDIYE  

Thirumangai Mannan ThiruvadigaLE Saranam

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