SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
What is dhivya prabandham?
dhivya prabandham is also called aruLichcheyal. prabandham means one that binds. AzhwArs’ prabandham have the ability to bind emperumAn (srIman nArAyaNa) himself to adiyArgaL (followers) and it helps adiyArgaL to engage in bhagavad anubhavam (matters relating to emperumAn) and binds them to emperumAn.Hence they are called as prabandham.
dhivya prabandham is divine prabandham as it is not bound by the flaws of the samsAric material world, it helps one to engage in flawless, pure divinity.
Who are AzhwArs?
emperumAn selected and graced a few people with “ mayarvaRa madhinalam ”, that is, he gave them true knowledge and devotion and destroyed ignorance completely. He made them AzhwArs.The term “AzhwArs” refers to those who are immersed in bhagavad anubhavam. They are in bhakthi paravasam, that is, they are in ecstasy thinking about the divine beauty and kalyANa guNas (auspicious qualities) of emperumAn.
There are 12 AzhwArs.
poigai AzhwAr, bhUthaththAzhwAr, pEyAzhwAr, thirumazhisai AzhwAr, nammAzhwAr, kulaSEkharAzhwAr, periyAzhwAr,thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr ,thiruppANAzhwAr , thirumangai AzhwAr are the ten AzhwArs. madhurakavi AzhwAr and ANdAL are also added to the list of AzhwArs which makes them twelve in number.
Both madhurakavi AzhwAr and ANdAL were with AchArya nishtai(fully engaged and devoted with their respective AchArya). ANdAL nAchiyAr is an incarnation of bhUmi dEvi, she had divine bhakthi towards emperumAn, based on the teachings and guidance of her AchArya, periyAzhwAr. Similarly, madhurakavi AzhwAr was also fully engaged with AchArya bhakti towards nammAzhwAr.
maNavALa mAmunigaL in upadhESa ratthhina mAlai glorifies AzhwArs and their works:
May the divine AzhwArs live long!
May their works, the aruLichcheyal, live long!
May the pUrvAchAryas, who were without any shortcoming, live long!
May their commentaries live long along with vEdha!
nammAzhwAr’s dhivya prabandham in connection to vEdhas: nammAzhwAr is considered the leader of AzhwArs.
nammAzhwAr’s works are considered equivalent to the 4 vEdhas,
- thiruvAimozhi -1102 verses – equivalent to sAma vEdha
- thiruvirutham-100 verses – rig vEdha
- periya thiruvandhAdhi- 87 verses – atharva vEdha
- thiruvAsiriyam-7 verses – yajur vEdha
Just as vEdhas have 6 anga or auxiliaries, thirumangai AzhwAr’s works are considered as the 6 auxiliaries to nammAzhwAr’s 4 works. The six auxiliaries of vEdhas are: (1) SHIkshA (articulation or pronunciation of words), (2) vyAkaraNa (grammar), (3) chandas (poetic metrics), (4) niruktham (etymology), (5) jyOthiSham (astrology) and (6) kalpam (rituals). thirumangai AzhwArs works are periya thirumozhi, thirukkuRunthANdagam, thiruvezhukkURRirukkai, siriyath thirumadal, periyath thirumadal, thiruneduNthANdagam
The Five States of perumAL and the pramANam:
- pramEyam- emperumAn is pramEyam – the goal
- pramANams are the scriptures which show us the way to emperumAn.
- pramAthA – preceptors – the AchAryas, the gurus
The five forms of emperumAn – para,vyUha, vibhava, antharyAmi and archA vigraham
For each form of emperumAn, there are pramANams:
- For parathvam (supreme form in parama padham) – vEdhas are the pramANams
- For vyUha state -(his form in kshIrAbdhi, milky ocean) – pancharAthra AgAma is the pramANam
- For vibhava state -(incarnations)- ithihAsa & purANams are the pramANams
- For antaryAmi state – manu smrithi is the pramANam
- For archAvathAram State – dhivya prabhandha pAsurams are the pramANams.
AzhwArs were immersed in the archAvathAram experience, dhivya prabandham mirrors the heart of AzhwArs. dhivyadhEsams are divine abodes of emperumAn where AzhwArs carried out mangaLASAsanams (praising emperumAn through their prabandhams). AzhwAr’s experience with archAvathAram is captured nicely in dhivya prabandhams.
How does dhivya prabandham help ?
varavaramuni dinacharya is a documentation of maNavALa mAmunigaL’s daily activities written by eRumbiyappA, who was one of the 8 disciples of maNavALa mAmunigaL. He is considered as one of the ashta dhik gajangaL (elephants on eight sides – eRumbiyappA was one of the 8 prime disciples of maNavALa mAmunigaL). He salutes maNavALa mAmunigaL and explains the activities of maNavALa mAmunigaL in pUrva dinacharyA (activities in the morning) and uttara dinacharyA (activities in the evening).
eRumbiyappA explains the importance of dhivya prabandham in his works. He says that the goal of dhivya prabandham is to help us get virakthi – viz. a detachment from worldly pursuits in order to attain our goal. Also in dhivya prabandham, the most important concept of rahasya thrayam (three concepts – thirumanthram, dwaya manthram and charama slOkam) is well explained.
In purva dhinacharyA 27, eRumbiyappA says
thathvam dhivyaprabandAnAm sAram samsAra vairinNAm |
sarasam sarahasyAnAm vyAchakshAaNam namAmi tham ||
(adiyEn salutes maNavALa mAmunigaL who has explained without any doubt that the dhivya prabandhams are the essence of the truth [that emperumAn and his followers are the goal to be attained] and that they will eradicate repeated births in this samsAram. The dhivya prabandhams also bring about the meanings of rahasya thrayam without any doubt).
Is there any prabandham which mentions about bringing virakthi in life? nammAzhwAr highlights this concept of virakthi in material life in thiruviruththam , 1st pAsuram (verse)
poynninRa jnAnamum pollA ozhukkum azhukkudambum
inninRa nIrmai iniyAm uRAmai uyiraLippAn
enninRa yOniyumAyp piRandhAy imaiyOr thalaivA
meynninRu kEttaruLAy adiyEn seyyum viNNappamE
Simple Meaning:
Oh one who incarnated in many births in order to protect all those who were created! Oh the lord of nithyasUris (permanent dwellers of srIvaikuNtam)! We should be without these births which are the cause for our sorrow and which are full of false knowledge, with wrongful deeds, physical forms which are full of impurity etc. You should stand firmly and hear from your servitor’s appeal!
Word by Word meaning
poynninRa – not being truthful
jnAnamum – knowledge
pollA ozhukkum – bad conduct
azhukku – impure
udambum – body
inninRa – of this nature
nIrmai – quality
ini – hereafter
yAm – we
uRAmai – do not attain
uyir – all the created entities
aLippAn – to protect
enninRa – many different types
yOniyumAy – births
piRandhAy – Oh one who incarnated!
imaiyOr – nithyasUris (permanent dwellers of srIvaikuNtam)
thalaivA – Oh one who is the Lord!
mey – reality
ninRu – remaining firm
kEttaruLAy – please listen to, mercifully
adiyEn – I, who am your servitor
seyyum – make
viNNappam – appeal
The more we read these pAsurams, the more we will get virakthi (detachment) in samsAric life and we will get attachment to bhagavath anubhavam(matters relating to emperumAn). When we see emperumAn’s kalyANa guNas (auspicious qualities) , avathAra lIlA (divine activities), they will bring joy… we will experience the pure bliss of AtmA (soul) and understand our role as a servitor to perumAL.
When we see from the perspective of AtmA instead of body, we will be able to experience serving perumAL, just as ANdAL quotes in “ vaiyaththu vAzhvIrgAL”…we can have a fulfilling life here in bhUlOkam (earth) itself, if we are immersed in bhagavath anubhavam. Also we will enjoy after life, leaving the body and serving perumAL in SrI vaikuNtam.
The goal of AtmA in this life and after this life is beautifully explained in dhivya prabandham
AtmA is subservient to perumAL, and the role of the AtmA is to serve perumAL’s divine lotus feet. This is what is highlighted in thirumanthiram.
- In thirumanthiram- AtmA is the servant of perumAL and should surrender to His lotus feet
- In dwaya mantram – We learn that we need to surrender to perumAL through thAyAr (srI mahAlakshmi) and that we should surrender and carry out service for their prIthi/happiness
- In charama slOkam – krishNa in the bhagavath gIthA says, “Leave all other dharma and just hold on to my lotus feet. I will liberate you from all your sins. . Do not worry”
So through these rahasya thraya meanings, we understand AtmA’s role as an eternal servitor to perumAL in both lIlA vibhUthi (materialistic realm or samsAram) and nitya vibhUthi (SrI vaikuNtam). AtmA’s main role is carrying out nitya kainkaryam (permanent service) in paramapadham (SrI vaikuNtam).
How is dhivya prabandham divided?
Even though vEdha is one sAsthra, vEdha vyAsa divided it into 4 parts… to make it easier for people to follow.
vEdha vyAsa split the vEdhas into 4 parts. rig;yajur; sAma and atharvaNa.
Similarly nAthamunigaL divided the dhivya prabandham into 4 parts.
mudhal Ayiram (First Thousand) ; periya thirumozhi (Second Thousand) , iyaRpA (Third Thousand) and thiruvAi mozhi (Fourth Thousand).
The constituents of the four parts of the dhivya prabandham are:
- In the First Thousand – nAthamunigaL included the works of periyAzhwAr, ANdAL, kulaSEkharAzhwAr, thoNdaradipodi AzhwAr, thirumazhisai AzhwAr (thiruchchandaviruththam), thiruppANAzhwAr and madhurakavi AzhwAr.
- In the Second Thousand, nAthamunigaL included the entire periya thirumozhi, thirukkuRundhANdagam and thiruneduNdhANdagam .
- In the Third Thousand- he included iyaRpA- songs that are in prose form. They are not typically set to rAgam or thALam.
There are 3 classifications in tamil literature:
- iyal – gadhyam – prose form.
- isai – that which can be set to music
- nAtakam- play / drama
In iyaRpa, the works of first three AzhwArs (poygai AzhwAr, bhUdhaththAzhwAr, pEyAzhwAr), thirumazhisai AzhwAr (nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi), nammAzhwAr (thiruviruththam, thiruvAsiriyam and periya thiruvandhAdhi) and thirumangai AzhwAr (thiruvezhukURRirukkai, siRiya thirumadal and periya thirumadal) have been included.
In the Fourth Thousand, nAthamunigaL included the entire thiruvAimozhi, nammAzhwAr’s work.
What are paththu / padhigam/ dhaSakam?
Are there exactly 4000 verses?
nammAzhwAr says “AyiraththuL ippathu” – among the 1000 these 10 songs” but actually there are 1102 pAsurams in thiruvAimozhi
Each padhigam of thiruvAimozhi has 11 pAsurams. In kEsavan thamar padhigam (thiruvAimozhi 2.7) alone of thiruvAimozhi, there are 13 pAsurams.
What is padhigam?
The 10 verses or 11 verses together are called padhigam. padhigam is called dhaSakam (decad) in samaskrutham.
What is a paththu?
When there are 10 padhigams, or 100 verses, they are called paththu. thiruvAimozhi has 10 patthu. periya thirumozhi has 11 paththu.
periyAzhwAr’s thirumozhi has 5 paththu, but it is not exactly 500, it has 461 verses.
How did dhivya prabandham come to us?
mudhal AzhwArs and thirumazhisai AzhwAr came towards the end of dwApara yugam. From nammAzhwAr onwards, all the other AzhwArs came in kali yugam.
These AzhwArs gave us the dhivya prabandham and it was flourishing. Even during thirumangai AzhwAr’s time, we understand that he had started the adhyayana utsavam in thiruvarangam. He wanted to honor the event of nammAzhwAr going to paramapadham and prayed to namperumAL. He glorified nammAzhwAr’s pAsurams starting on vaikuNta EkAdaSi, and chanted nammAzhwAr’s pAsurams for 10 days.
Then the pAsurams slowly disappeared, and started to lose importance, and very few knew and they knew very little about the pAsurams. nAthamunigaL got these pAsurams from nammAzhwAr and re-kindled the interest in the pAsurams.
In Mahabharata it is stated: Arjuna, had a doubt on who krishNa, is … what power He has. In bhagavath gIthA Chapter 4, kaNNan emperumAn says “I first explained to vivaswan- manu- then to ikshvAku, and then at one point of time this knowledge disappeared, that is why I’m telling you this now”.
arjuna expresses his doubt as to how krishNa would have been there at the time when manu was there. krishNa responds:
SrI bhagavAn uvAcha
bahUni mE vyathIthAni janmAni thava chArjuna
thAni ahaṁ vEdha sarvAṇi na thvaṁ vEththa paranthapa
(Many births have passed for me; for you also, arjuna! I remember them all, but not you paranthapa (one who burns his enemies)!)
yadhA yadhA hi dharmasya glAnir bhavathi bhAratha
abhyukthAnam adharmasya thadAthmAnaṁ sṛujAmyaham
(Whensoever and wheresoever, bhAratha!, virtue wanes and vice waxes, then (and there) do I create Myself)
parithrANAya sAdhUnAṁ vinASAya cha dushkruthAm
dharma samsthApanArthAya sambhavAmi yugE yugE
(For protecting the virtuous and destroying (punishing) the wicked, and for firmly re-installing dharma, I am born from yuga to yuga(age to age))
Thus, emperumAn explains the purpose of His avathAram and His greatness. In Chapter 4, perumAL explains that the knowledge was lost for some time and it had to be revived. Similarly, the prabandham had been lost, emperumAn revived the dhivya prabandham through nAthamunigaL.
A few srIvaishNavas from mElnAdu (thirunArAyaNapuram area) visit kAttumannAr kOyil and sing the “ArAvamudhE…” padhigam from thiruvAimozhi (5.8) in front of mannanAr (emperumAn in kAttumannAr kOyil). nAthamunigaL, enthralled by the meanings of those pAsurams, asks the srIvaishNavas about them, but they don’t know anything beyond those 11 pAsurams. They say that if nAthamunigaL goes to thirukkurugUr, he may be able to find out more details. nAthamunigaL takes leave from mannanAr and reaches AzhwAr thirunagari. He meets parAnkuSa dAsar who is a sishya of madhurakavi AzhwAr and he teaches nAthamunigaL, kaNNinuN chiruththAmbu and asks him to chant 12000 times in front of thiruppuLiyAzhwAr (tamarind tree where nammAzhwAr lived) at a single stretch. Since nAthamunigaL has already learnt ashtAnga yOgam, he meditates on nammAzhwAr and successfully completes chanting kaNNinuNch chiruththAmbu 12000 times. nammAzhwAr, being pleased with nAthamunigaL, appears in front of him and blesses him with full knowledge in ashtAnga yOgam, 4000 dhivya prabandham and all meanings of aruLichcheyal.. Just as nammAzhwAr is blessed by emperumAn with divine knowledge, nAthamunigaL is blessed by nammAzhwAr with the same divine knowledge. This is what maNavALa mAmunigaL says in upadEsa rathinamAlai – aruL peRRa nAtha muni (அருள் பெற்ற நாதமுனி)(nAthamuni who received mercy from nammAzhwAr). This is how nAthamunigaL became a sishya of nammAzhwAr.
nAthamunigaL being well versed in ashtAnga yOgam was able to completely internalize the 4000 prabandham and the prabandhams became well entrenched in his mind. nAthamunigaL returns to kAttumannAr kOyil and presents 4000 dhivya prabandham in front of emperumAn mannanAr. mannanAr is very pleased with nAthamunigaL and asks him to categorize dhivya prabandham and propagate it everywhere. He adds music to aruLichcheyal for the 3000 pAsurams and teaches the same to his nephews keezhaiyagaththAzhwAn and mElaiyagaththAzhwAn. He propagates the same through them and establishes araiyar sEvai (a method of reciting nAlAyira dhivya prabandham through dance movements in front of emperumAn), and the remaining 1000 pAsurams of iyaRpA as well. He teaches these to his disciple uyyakkoNdAr, and uyyakkoNdAr, in turn, teaches them to maNakkAl nambi. maNakkAl nambi teaches these to nAthamunigaL’s grandson ALavandhAr.
ALavandhAr, takes on sannyAsa (renouncing everything) and promotes srIvaishNavam. Some of his prominent sishyAs/disciples are periya nambi, periya thirumalai nambi, thirukkOshtiyUr nambi, thirumAlaiyANdAn, dheivavAri AndAn, mARanEri nambi and thirukkachchi nambi
periyanambi’s sishya, rAmAnuja has a lot of involvement with dhivya prabandham but he does not write the vyAkhyAnam (commentaries) for these. It is said that emperumAnAr instructed thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn to write a commentary for thiruvAimozhi. After that parASara bhattar, gave important and beautiful explanations for dhivya prabandham. bhattar teaches thiruvAimozhi to nanjIyar based on 6000 padi vyAkyAnam (one padi refers to 32 syllables) of thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn. bhattar instructs him to write a vyAkyAnam for thiruvAimozhi and nanjIyar duly writes 9000 padi vyAkyAnam. nanjIyar’s sishya is nampillai and nampiLLai was a great vidwAn (expert);he was also known by the names of kalivairi dhAsar and lOkAchAryar. He was an expert in thamizh, samaskrutham, itihAsams, purANams, grammar etc. He gave a detailed explanation of thiruvAimozhi and gave kAlakshEpam (discourse) in srIrangam. His lectures were so popular that often everyone will ask whether the assembly was of namperumAL gOshti or nampiLLai gOshti. He was able to attract people to his lectures just like namperumAL was able to attract them for his puRappAdu (ceremonial procession). He gave deep inner meanings of sampradhAyam (traditional beliefs), and brought the rise of aruLichcheyaL. His prominent sishyas were vadakku thiruvIdhip piLLai, periyavAchchAn piLLai et al
periyavAchchAn piLLai has written vyAkhyAnam for all of 4000 prabandham.. His contribution to the dhivya prabandham is immense. Without vyAkhyAnam we cannot understand the deep meanings of AzhwArs’ dhivya prabandham. He compiled the work of the AchAryas, and whatever he has heard as kalakshEpam from nampiLLai, he compiled together and he made these detailed and great vyAkhyAnam.
Similarly vadakku thiruvIdhi piLLai, hears thiruvAimozhi lectures from nampiLLai, and makes pattOlai (first copy of manuscript on palm leaves). Thus he writes the detailed Idu 36000 padi vyAkhyAnam based on nampiLLai’s lectures. These are the great contributions of nampiLLai, periyavAchchAn piLLai and vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai. vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai’s two sons, piLLai lOkAchAryar and azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr are two great gems to our sampradhAyam.
The greatness of piLLai lOkAchAryar and azhagiya maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr is that they mercifully documented and compiled dhivya prabandham’s internal deep meanings into rahasya granthams in thamizh language which can be understood by anyone who has the desire. Thus they did pramANa rakshaNam (protecting/nourishing the knowledge base). piLLai lOkAchAryar in his srI vachana bhUshaNam , took the internal meanings of thiruvAimozhi and dhivya prabandhams. He compiled it and created an important rahasya grantham and azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr in AchArya hrudayam highlights thiruvAimozhi’s greatness, as well as that of AzhwArs and their works in a detailed manner.
piLLai lOkAchAryar’s disciple thiruvAimozhip piLLai, did the great kainkaryam of transforming AzhwAr thirunagari into a divine area, and he did the prathishtai (installation) of nammAzhwAr there. He helped bring nammAzhwAr’s vigraham (idol) from thirukkaNAmbi (in kEraLA) to AzhwAr thirunagari and re-established the temple worship there. He also established a temple for emperumAnAr (bhavaishyadhAchAryan thirumEni which was given by nammAzhwAr himself long ago to madhurakavi AzhwAr) in AzhwAr thirunagari in the western part of the town, built a chathurvEdhi mangalam (4 streets around the temple) and established a set of families to look after the kainkaryams in that temple.
nampiLLai gave the Idu vyAkhyAnam to IyuNNi mAdhava perumAL who in turn taught it to his son IyuNNi padmanAbha perumAL. nAlUr piLLai, the direct sishya of IyuNNi padmanAbha perumAL, learnt Idu vyAkhyAnam fully and taught the same to his son nAlUr AchAn piLLai.
thiruvAimozhi piLLai learnt Idu in full depth from nAlUr AchchAn piLLai and being pleased with him and his service attitude, nAlUr AchAn piLLai presents his thiruvArAdhana perumAL (inavAyar thalaivan) to thiruvAimozhip piLLai Thus, Idu 36000 padi gets propagated from nAlUr AchAn piLLai. thiruvAimozhippiLLai stays in AzhwAr thirunagari.
Hearing about thiruvAimozhi piLLai’s vaibhavam, maNavALa mAmunigaL who is ,an incarnation of adisEshan, a re-incarnation of rAmAnuja, goes to AzhwAr thirunagari and surrenders to thiruvAimozhi piLLai as his disciple. He had a lot of deep attachment to emperumAnar, and he was called as yathIndra pravaNar (one who is deeply attached to rAmANuja). He was doing kainkaryam to the emperumAnar sannidhi in AzhwAr thirunagari.He became an expert in aruLichcheyal. especially thiuvAimozhi and Idu 36000 padi vyAkhyAnam. He starts collecting all the supporting pramANams for Idu vyAkhyAnam and documents them. Recollecting his AchAryan’s order, he goes and lives in srIrangam to propagate our sampradAyam. He goes to AzhwAr and takes permission from Him to travel to srIrangam. . He brought a lot of prominence to dhivya prabandham.
namperumAL orders maNavALa mAmunigaL in front of all the kainkaryaparars, AchArya purushas, jIyars, srIvaishNavas et al, to perform kAlakshEpam of nammAzhwAr’s thiruvAimozhi with Idu 36000 padi vyAkhyAnam. He orders this to continue without any disruption/disturbance until the kAlakshEpam completes. maNavALa mAmunigaL, feeling blessed, starts the kAlakshEpam of Idu 36000 padi vyAkhyAnam with all the other vyAkhyAnam (6000 padi, 9000 padi, 12000 padi and 24000 padi). He explains the deep meanings, he also explains word by word meanings, inner meanings etc. This goes on for close to 10 months and finally they reach the date of sARRumuRai (benediction) on Ani thirumUlam. Once the sARRumuRai is complete, namperumAL takes the form of a small child named aranganAyakam, comes to the front of the gOshti and offers “srIsailESa dayApAthram..” taniyan as an honor to maNavALa mAmunigaL.
After maNavALa mAmunigaL’s time, the dhivya prabandham, is continuing to rise and flourish. Just as vEdhas are considered anAdhi, that is with no beginning and end, dhivya prabandham is also considered anAdhi. nammAzhwAr glorifies emperumAn in thiruvAimozhi EzhAm paththu (seventh centum) , 7.9.1 by saying that emperumAn used him as a tool to show emperumAn’s greatness.
enRaikkum ennai uyyakkoNdu pOgiya
anRaikkanRennaith thannAkki ennAL thannai
in thamizh pAdiya Isanai AdhiyAy
ninRa en sOdhiyai en solli niRpanO
(Acknowledging first time so that it is eternal, specially blessing me and conducting me forever, causing the craving in me to exist only for him, having me who doesn’t have knowledge etc to sing praises, as the reason and being the root cause due to remaining inside me and singing, and becoming stable due to that, he, the natural lord, sang himself in these very sweet thamizh pAsurams. What will I say about the one who revealed his having a radiant form, and held me together? Should I say that he has not acknowledged me first to become favorable towards him? Should I say that he has not carried that forward? Should I say that he has not made me exist fully for him? Should I say that he has not sung these to be claimed as sung by me? Should I say that he has not become radiant due to that? Implies “Saying what, can I hold myself together?”)
Source: https://youtu.be/r_AU-bU3kys
adiyen smrithi rAmAnuja dAsi
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