AzhwAr/AchAryas vAzhi thirunAmams – OrAN vazhi AchAryas – Introduction

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There have been many AchAryas in our sampradhAya. But generally, it is customary for us to recite the vAzhi thirunAmams of our OrAN vazhi AchAryas. OrAN vazhi AchAryas can be understood as those who successively held the seat of the AchArya leadership in an unbroken lineage one after the other.   At the beginning of this OrAN vazhi AchArya lineage is periya perumAL (SrIman nArAyaNan). Our pUrvars (preceptors) have shown in their vyAkyAnams that emperumAn Himself desired the position of an AchArya. They have also shown in their rahasya granthams. Since the position of the AchArya is very glorious and no one can be more qualified as an AchArya than emperumAn, emperumAn himself resides in our guru paramparA as the first AchArya. Not only that, in the kurukshEthra battle-field, he acted as the AchArya for arjuna and gave the githOpadhESam. At badharIkASramam, emperumAn took the form of nArAyaNa rishi and revealed thirumanthram to nara rishi. Thus, emperumAn himself has been the AchArya on many occasions.

Furthermore, in our sampradhAya, we firmly believe that we must surrender to the AchArya, and that we attain liberation from this samsAram because of his compassion. Therefore, as shown by our great elders, the AchArya is considered paramount. Generally, when we go to worship in the sannidhis, we should offer twice the amount of mangaLASAsanam to the AchArya as we do to the perumAL. This is referred to as irattai  sambhAvanai (double offering). Even today, it is customary in our sampradhAyam that if an AchArya comes, special kainkaryam / service and mangaLASAsanam must be performed for him. Even if we wish to present a pathirikai (invitation), we must submit two pathirikais to the AchArya. We understand that an AchArya must be given double honor. Thus, the AchArya is the supreme guide to take us to emperumAn.

The AchAryas in this OrAN vazhi AchAryas are:

  1. periya perumAL – SrI ranganAtha also known as namperumAL
  2. periya pirAtti – periya pirAtti is considered as Second AchArya (SrI ranganAyakith thAyAr). pirAtti is very dear to the emperumAn and is His chief consort. emperumAn gives the dhvaya mahA manthra upadhESam to pirAtti and declares her as the next AchArya for the SrIvaishNava sampradhAya.
  3. sEnai mudhaliyAr – Following periya pirAtti, next AchArya is sEnai mudhaliyAr (known as SrI vishwaksEnar). He resides in paramapadham and acts as a commander-in-chief monitoring all activities in the leelA vibhUthi, including creation, sustenance, and destruction. SrI vishwaksEnar is the third AchArya.
  4. nammAzhwAr – He is considered as the fourth AchArya. By emperumAn mayarvaRa madhinalam aruLap peRRAr (blessed with unblemished knowledge). To ensure spreading the AchArya lineage in this world, the emperumAn arranged for sEnai mudhaliyAr to perform panchasamskAram for nammAzhwAr and establish him as an AchArya. We know nammAzhwAr is foremost among the AzhwArs and is hailed as prapanna jana kUtasthar – i.e., the first one in the prapanna gOshti. And as vaishnava kula pathi – the leader of the vaishnava fold.
  5. nAthamunigaL. He is known as the fifth AchArya. nammAzhwAr lived approximately 5000 years ago, while nAthamunigaL lived around 1200 years ago. Their connection was established when nAthamunigaL heard the pAsurams of nammAzhwAr. A group of SrIvaishNavas from mElnAdu (thirunArAyaNapuram area) visited kAttu mannAr koil (where nAthamunigaL lived) and sings about the ArAvamuthan perumAL padhigam of thirukkudanthai. On hearing the same, nAthamunigaL enthralled by the pAsurams and noted the following phrases in the last pAsuram ‘kurugUrch chatakOpan’ (the leader of AzhwArthirunagari, nammAzhwAr) and ‘OrAyiraththuL ippaththum’ (this decad distinguished among the thousand pAsurams) after getting the pAsurams from them and travelled to AzhwAr thirunagari to find nammAzhwAr. There, the descendants of madhurakavi AzhwAr informed him, “we only know the pAsurams of kaNNinuN chiRuth thAmbu composed by madhurakavi AzhwAr.” Further, they also said that anyone who sits in meditation beneath the thiruppuLiyAzhwAr tree (tamarind tree where nammAzhwAr lived) and recites the kaNNinuN chiRu thAmbu twelve thousand times will be granted by nammAzhwAr, a pratyaksha sEvA (appears in front of him). Since nAthamunigaL was proficient in yOga SAsthram, he sat under the thiruppuLiyAzhwAr tree and performed the recitation of the kaNNinuN chiRuth thAmbu twelve thousand times.  nammAzhwAr, being pleased with nAthamunigaL, appears in front of him and asks, “What do you desire?” nAthamunigaL replied, “Please bless with the one thousand pAsurams that you composed.” nammAzhwAr, as an AchArya, gave nAthamunigaL all the prabandhams he composed (thiruvAimozhi, thiruvAsiriyam, thiruviruththam, periya thiruvandhAdhi) as well as the compositions of all other AzhwArs, compiling them into the nAlAyira divya prabandham. He also gave nAthamunigaL all the meanings of aruLicheyal.

AchAryas who came after nAthamunigaL are given in the following order:

  1. puNdarIkAkshar, known as uyyakkoNḍAr.
  2. SrI rAma miSrar, known as maNakkAl nambi.
  3. yAmunAchArya, known as ALavandhAr, the grandson of nAthamunigaL.
  4. mahApUrNar, known as periya nambi. He was a great AchArya who lived in SrIrangam and was considered as one of the prime Sishyas of ALavandhAr and AchArya to iLaiyAzhwAr (SrI rAmAnuja), performing his panchasamskAram. iLaiyAzhwAr desired to be a disciple of ALavandhAr. kAnchipuram dhEvap perumAL commanded iLaiyAzhwAr through thirukkachchi nambigaL to receive panchasamskAram from periya nambi, which periya nambi duly performed for SrI rAmAnujar.
  5. emperumAnAr, known as SrI rAmAnujar. SrI rAmAnuja fostered the SrIvaishNava sampradhAya.
  6. embAr, whose birth name was gOvindhap perumAL. He also greatly helped the growth of our sampradhAya. Unable to bear the separation from emperumAnAr, he followed emperumAnAr to paramapadham.
  7. parASara bhattar. He was the son of kUraththAzhwAn and the Sishya of embAr.
  8. nanjIyar, known as vEdhAnthi jIyar. He was called as mAdhavAchAryar and parASara bhattar brought him into the SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam. parASara bhattar named him ” nanjIyar” meaning “Our Jīyar.”
  9. nampiLLai, known as nambUr varadharAjan was named as nampiLLai due to the blessings and grace of nanjIyar. He possessed profound knowledge of the sAstras and great fluency in both thamizh and samskrutham. He gave a very detailed vyAkyAnam on thiruvAimozhi, which is celebrated as the eeḍu vyAkyAnam even today. He is also known as “lOkAchAryar”
  10. vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai, known as Sri krishna pAdhar. He was one of the prime disciples of nampiLLai. He listened to nampiLLai’s kAlakshEpam, diligently wrote them down and as our benefactor gifted us the vyAkyAnam. His sons are piLLai lOkAchAryar and azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr.
  11. piLLai lOkAchAryar. He served as a pillar for the SrIvaishNava sampradhAya. He has written many rahasya granthams. He also protected namperumAL during the foreign invasions and gave namperumAL back to us.
  12. thiruvAimozhip piLLai, known as srisailEsar and thirumalai AzhwAr. He was the primary disciple of piLLai lOkAchAryar. He was born in kunthInagaram near Madurai and was there as a chief advisor of the madhurai kingdom for sometime. He was corrected by  kUra kulOththama dhAsar, Sishya of piLLai lOkAchAryar, and, as per piLLai lOkAchAryar’s wish, appoints him as the leader of our sampradhAyam. thiruvAimozhip piLLai, who lived in AzhwAr thirunagari, cleared all the bushes and woods and brought back to its beautiful shape. He also rebuilt the sannidhis for AdhinAtha perumAL and nammAzhwAr and re-establishes the temple worship there. After the time of invasion, he arranged for nammAzhwAr to be brought back into the town from outside and ensured that all kainkaryams were performed splendidly. Having dreamt of emperumAnAr’s thirumEni located beneath the thiruppuLiyAzhwAr tree. He established the chathurvEdhi mangalam (4 streets around the temple) in the western part of the town and enshrined the idol of emperumAnAr in the bhavaishyadhAchAryan sannidhi and ensured all kainkaryams were carried out in an exemplary manner. Due to his interest and propagation of AzhwAr’s thiuvAimozhi, he was known as thiruvAimozhip piLLai. He was always engaged in glorifying nammAzhwAr and known by the name SatakOpa dAsar.
  13. periya jIyar, known as maNavALa mAmunigaL. He was born in AzhwAr thirunagari, became a Sishya of thiruvAimozhip piLLai, and lovingly performed kainkaryam at the bhavishyadhAchAryar sannidhi. He is known as yathIndhra pravaNar because of his kainkaryams to emperumAnAr. After thiruvAimozhip piLLai attained paramapadham, maNavALa mAmunigaL went to SrIrangam. In SrIrangam, he renovated the temple, which was damaged during times of invasion, restored the honor of those who had lost their privileges and kainkaryams, and ensured the kainkaryams were performed with splendor. He became an expert and focussed on eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam, earning him the name eettup perukkar. He was even considered an AchArya to emperumAn himself. As instructed by namperumAL in SrIrangam, he performed many kainkaryams by living in SrIrangam. Later, namperumAL orders mAmunigaL to perform kAlakshEpam of nammAzhwAr’s thiruvAimozhi with eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam. For an entire year, the emperumAn (along with His parivArams) stopped His uthsavams and thoroughly enjoyed maNavALa mAmunigaL’s thiruvAimozhi kAlakshEpam. At the end of the kAlakshEpam, emperumAn appeared in the form of a small child and accepted maNavALa mAmunigaL as His AchArya, offering him the thaniyan “SriSailESa dhayApAthram.” emperumAn being his Sishya, offers his own SEsha paryankam (AdhiSEsha throne) to mAmunigaL as a sambhAvanai (offering), celebrating him greatly. He is also known as ramya jAmAthru muni.

Thus, we learn that the OrAN vazhi AchArya lineage began with periya perumAL and concluded with maNavALa mAmunigaL, only to be extended again with maNavALa mAmunigaL as the AchArya, through periya perumAL.

We can experience the explanation on the vAzhi thirunAmams of the OrAN vazhi AchAryas in the next few sections.

aDiyEn govindarAja rAmAnuja dAsan

Source: https://divyaprabandham.koyil.org/index.php/2020/12/vazhi-thirunamams-oranvazhi-intro-tamil-simple/

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