SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Glories of thiruppANAzhwAr
thiruppANAzhwAr appeared in a dhivyadhESam called uRaiyUr. Today, it is celebrated as thirukkOzhi. It is near SrIrangam. kamalavalli nAchchiyAr has importance in this dhivyadhESam. During a special celebration called sErththi uthsavam, namperumAL from SrIrangam comes to uRaiyUr to be with nAchchiyAr here. thiruppANAzhwAr appeared in a place filled with such glory. His birth star is rOhiNi, in the thamizh month of kArthigai. He blessed us with a prabandham called “amalanAdhipirAn”. Just like thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr, thiruppANAzhwAr was also very devoted to SrIranganAthan. It is said that the last three AzhwArs – thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr, thiruppANAzhwAr and thirumangai AzhwAr were very much engrossed with archAvathArams. Of the three, thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr and thiruppANAzhwAr were immersed in their devotion mainly with SrIranganAthan only. thirumangai AzhwAr was involved with all the archAvathAra emperumAns. thiruppANAzhwAr performed mangaLASAsanam to namperumAL’s dhivya mangaLa thirumEni by composing amalanAdhipirAn. He lived his entire life with a single goal of getting a divine experience of emperumAn SrIranganAthan’s thirumEni. thiruppANAzhwAr was born in panchama clan. SAsthram has given 4 classifications of varNa – brAhmaNa, kshathriya, vaiSya and SUdhra. There are some who are not classified in any of the above 4 varNas, who do not accept anything shown by SAsthram and they live their life in any manner they like. But even in such a clan, due to emperumAn’s grace, a few are born with a lot of devotion to emperumAn. Just like nampAduvAn, thiruppANAzhwAr also appeared in such a clan, that was not within the 4 varNas defined by the vEdhas.
While explaining the glories of thiruppANAzhwAr, our AchAryas in the commentaries say that people in this world may think that thiruppANAzhwAr is from a lower birth since he is from a clan outside of the four varNas given by the vEdham. However, when emperumAn thinks about thiruppANAzhwAr as someone belonging to outside of the 4 varNas, he thinks of him as the nithyasUris who also do not belong to any of the four varNas. Thus thiruppANAzhwAr is someone who has received the complete mercy from emperumAn.
thiruppANAzhwAr’s story is well known. He regularly sits on the other side of the thirukkAvEri river and sings the glories of SrIranganAthan without coming inside SrI rangam. On one such occasion, when thiruppANAzhwAr stood in the way of lOka sAranga muni, immersed in singing the glories of emperumAn, he threw a stone at thiruppANAzhwAr to make him give way, but the stone wounded thiruppANAzhwAr’s forehead and it began to bleed.
lOka sAranga muni went back to the temple with sadness. emperumAn called lOka sAranga muni and said, “You have done a very big apachAram (offence)”. He further ordered lOka sAranga muni to go back and bring thiruppANAzhwAr to the temple. Immediately lOka sAranga muni rushed to thiruppANAzhwAr and seeked his forgiveness and pleaded with him to come to SrIrangam temple. But thiruppANAzhwAr responded by saying that he belongs to a lower birth and hence, his feet cannot touch the divine abode SrIrangam, and that he should only stay outside the divine place. Then, lOka sAranga muni said, “No, this is the divine order of SrIranganAthan and one should not disobey his orders”. He further added, “If your feet should not touch the place, you can sit on my shoulders and I will carry you inside”. At first, thiruppANAzhwAr did not accept it but later he accepted when lOka sAranga muni insisted. AchAryas consider this incident to be very surprising and awe-inspiring. thiruppANAzhwAr even though he did not readily agree to the request of lOka sAranga muni at first, he had realised well that one should be subservient to the devotees of emperumAn. Because lOka sAranga muni is a true devotee of emperumAn, he agreed to his request and climbed up on his shoulders and entered SrIrangam. thiruppANAzhwAr starts singing the pAsurams of amalanAdhipirAn as he enters SrIrangam temple. It is known that as he comes to periya perumAL sannidhi, he gets down from the shoulders of lOka sAranga muni and attains the divine feet of emperumAn. Our AchAryas say that even today, even after thiruppANAzhwAr had attained paramapadham, he is still said to be immersed in the divine experience of emperumAn’s lotus feet.
thiruppANAzhwAr vAzhi thirunAmam
umbarthozhum meijnAnaththu uRaiyUrAn vAzhiyE
urOgiNinAL kArththigaiyil udhiththa vaLLal vAzhiyE
vambavizhthAr munithOLil vandha pirAn vAzhiyE
malarkkaNNil vERonRum vaiyAdhAn vAzhiyE
ambuviyil madhiLarangaragam pugundhAn vAzhiyE
amalanAdhipirAn paththum aruLinAn vAzhiyE
sempon adi mudi aLavum sEvippOn vAzhiyE
thiruppANan poRpadhangaL segathalaththil vAzhiyE
thiruppANAzhwAr vAzhi thirunAmam – simple explanation
umbarthozhum meijnAnaththu uRaiyUrAn vAzhiyE – umbar refers to the nithyasUris/dhEvas. It is said that even the nithyasUris worship thiruppANAzhwAr. That’s how big his glories are. Long live thiruppANAzhwAr who appeared in uRaiyUr and who has the true knowledge.
True knowledge is knowing that the same emperumAn who is in paramapadham is also in the archAvathAram form. We might think that paramapadham is superior to archAvathAram. However, in paramapadham – emperumAn’s ‘parathvam’ will only be experienced, his ‘saulabyam’ will be like a lamp lit in a bright daylight. He cannot show his saulabyam in paramapadham because there is no one in paramapadham who makes mistakes. Only in bhUlOkam (which implies samsAram here), which is full of people making mistakes, emperumAn’s saulabyam is visible. Hence, on this earth it can be said that his archAvathAram is significant. In archAvathAram, emperumAn is parathanthran (bound to) to archakar (priest). Whenever archakar performs thirumanjanam, he accepts it at that time. Whenever archakar offers bhOgam (food), he accepts that. Whatever clothes archakar adorns him, he gladly wears that. Like this, he comes down to such a level that he is accessible for everyone in archAvathAram, even though he is the supreme being. thiruppANAzhwAr having fully understood about emperumAn’s archAvathAram and its supremacy has sung about the beauty of emperumAn’s thirumEni in the ten pAsurams of amalanAdhipirAn. Hail that thiruppANAzhwAr who has such great glories.
urOgiNinAL kArththigaiyil udhiththa vaLLal vAzhiyE – thiruppANAzhwAr appeared on kArthigai month rOhiNi star. Long live such thiruppANAzhwAr who has such a great benevolence to show the greatness of archAvathAram to all those living in bhUlOkam.
vambavizhthAr munithOLil vandha pirAn vAzhiyE – pirAn means one who does good to us. thiruppANAzhwAr, a pirAn who does good to us, came to SrIrangam by climbing on the shoulders of lOka sAranga muni who wears a fragrant garland. Long live such thiruppANAzhwAr.
malarkkaNNil vERonRum vaiyAdhAn vAzhiyE – in his eyes which are like flowers, thiruppANAzhwAr kept nothing other than the vision of periya perumAL. Long live such thiruppANAzhwAr.
ambuviyil madhiLarangaragam pugundhAn vAzhiyE – In this beautiful world, thiruppANAzhwAr entered the divine heart of arangan who resides in SrIrangam that has saptha prakAram (7 concentric walls surrounding the temple). Long live such glorious thiruppANAzhwAr.
amalanAdhipirAn paththum aruLinAn vAzhiyE– Long live thiruppANAzhwAr who graced us with the prabandham amalanAdhipirAn that has 10 pAsurams.
sempon adi mudi aLavum sEvippOn vAzhiyE – thiruppANAzhwAr has explained in detail about SrIrangam periya perumAL’s beauty starting from emperumAn’s reddish golden lotus feet to his thirumudi (crown) in the prabandham – amalanAdhipirAn. Long live such thiruppANAzhwAr who takes dharshanam of each and every limb of periya perumAL.
thiruppANan poRpadhangaL segathalaththil vAzhiyE – Long live the divine golden feet of thiruppANAzhwAr in this bhUlOkam. Thus ends the vAzhi thirunAmam of thiruppANAzhwAr.
AzhwAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
adiyEn vidhyA rAmAnuja dhAsi
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