SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
emperumAn is the consort of SrI mahAlakshmi; he does not have any unfulfilled desires; he is the repository of all the auspicious qualities; he is the protector of all. Such sarvESvaran (one who controls all the others) with his consorts atop garuda, came in the proximity of periyAzhwAr when AzhwAr was being carried on a decorated elephant, on the orders of king vallabhadhEvan, after he had established the supremacy of emperumAn, to enjoy the sight of periyAzhwAr being honoured. Upon looking at emperumAn, recalling praNavam where it is mentioned that emperumAn is the SEshi (one who owns) and he [reference here is to AzhwAr] is the SEshabhUthan (the owned) and that befitting his role, he should carry out kainkaryam (service) at the divine feet of such emperumAn, periyAzhwAr looked first at his qualities such as beauty, affability, softness, honesty etc. Engaging with those qualities of beauty etc, AzhwAr thought of emperumAn as the entity to be protected and of himself, as the protector. He thought “This entity is heading a realm where time is not relevant [in SrI vaikuNtam, time is not relevant]; such an entity has come to this realm where time reigns supreme [everything in samsAram is dependent on time and changes with time]. What will befall him in this realm?” He looked at emperumAn’s vulnerability in samsAram, thought of emperumAn as the entity to be protected and decided that he has to protect him. He carried out mangaLASAsanam [wishing well and praising] for emperumAn, by reciting “pallANdu pallANdu pallAyiraththANdu” [may you live forever]. He meditated upon the activities of emperumAn when he incarnated in this samsAram in order to protect his devotees [as SrIrAma, krishNa et al] and became worried, in this yugam [kali yugam, the last of the four epochs], about the dangers which surrounded emperumAn when he incarnated here in earlier yugams [krutha, thrEtha and dhwApara yugams]. Due to his loving nature of caring for emperumAn [even after all the incarnations had been completed until then] he carried out mangaLASAsanam for emperumAn by reciting thiruppallANdu [his first divine composition]. Among these, he carried out mangaLASAsanam for nrusimhap perumAn in “andhiyam pOdhil ari uruvAgi ariyai azhiththavanaip pandhanai thIrap pallANdu pallAyiraththANdu enRu pAdudhum” (let us praise emperumAn to live forever since he incarnated at the time of dusk, in the form of human-lion and destroyed the demon hiraNya kashyap) and for SrI rAma perumAn in “irAkkadhar vAzh ilangai pAzhALAgap padaiporudhAnukkup pallANdu kURudhum” (let us praise emperumAn to live forever since he incarnated as SrI rAma, led an army to lankA which was infested with demons and destroyed it). Apart from these two incarnations, he also carried out mangaLASAsanam for krishNa by reciting “mAyap poru padai vANanai Ayiram thOLum pozhi kurudhi pAyach chuzhaRRiya Azhi vallANukkup pallANdu kURudhum” (let us praise emperumAn, who holds the divine disc, and who swirled the monster vANan [bANAsuran] by severing his one thousand shoulders such that blood poured out as a stream) and in “aindhalaiyap painnAgaththalaip pAyndhavanE unnaip pallANdu kURudhum” (let us praise emperumAn who jumped onto and danced atop the multi hooded snake kALiyan). Thus, while he recited one pAsuram each for the other incarnations, even in his thiruppallANdu prabandham, he recited two pAsurams exclusively for krishNAvathAram [thus manifesting his deep involvement with krishNa].
What is the reason for AzhwArs to be more involved with krishNAvathAram (incarnation as krishNa) than with the other avathArams? While other incarnations took place in earlier epochs, krishNAvathAram happened closer to AzhwArs’ incarnations [first four AzhwArs were born towards the end of dhwApara yugam, nammAzhwAr incarnated just at the beginning of kali yugam and other AzhwArs too followed within about 300 years of nammAzhwAr]. Also, in this avathAram [of krishNa], everyone felt anxious about his safety and the resultant worry made them to be more involved with krishNAvathAram. In SrI rAmAvathAram, SrI rAma’s father was a great warrior; the children [SrI rAma, lakshmaNa, bharatha and Sathrughna] were also like tiger cubs; through their auspicious qualities, they [SrI rAma and his brothers] had brought the entire nation under their control. Hence, there was no question of there being any enemy. In krishNAvathAram, the father was powerless [vasudhEvar was in jail at the time of krishNa’s birth]; krishNa himself was born inside the prison, he grew up in proximity with kamsan, who had taken it upon himself to find out and destroy krishNa; even plants and animals in SrI brindhAvanam could have monsters pervaded within them; on days when balarAma, krishNa’s elder brother, was not around, krishNa would jump atop a multi-hooded snake. Thus, AzhwArs were constantly worried about krishNa’s safety.
Among AzhwArs, periyAzhwAr was more involved with krishNAvathAram than other AzhwArs. This is so since emperumAn wanted periyAzhwAr to recite about all his narratives from the time that he was born to all the times when he was engaged with various activities, just as it has been mentioned in his prabandhaam, periyAzhwAr thirumozhi, 5-4-11 “vittuchiththan manaththE kOyil koNda kOvalan” (the cowherd who was constantly dwelling inside the divine heart of vishNu chiththan, considering it as his temple). emperumAn wanted periyAzhwAr to submerge in the enjoyment of his activities during his incarnation, just as it has been mentioned in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi “bhOgaththil vazhuvAdha pudhuvaiyar kOn” (the leader of SrIvillipuththUr who had not slipped from enjoying the activities [of krishNAvathAram]). Thus, starting with announcing the birth of krishNa in thirukkOttiyUr, just as it has been mentioned in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 1-1-1 “kannan kEsavan nambi piRandhinil” (at the time when emperumAn kaNNan incarnated), periyAzhwAr enjoyed all the activities in krishNAvathAram, unlike the other AzhwArs. Also, even when expressing affection for emperumAn, the other AzhwArs would carry that out occasionally while for periyAzhwAr, it was a constant denomination.
Thus, while he was totally immersed in the activities of emperumAn in krishNAvathAram, why did periyAzhwAr say that krishNa was born in thirukkOttiyUr? Do not pramANams (authentic texts) such as harivamsam 55-52 say “Esha nArAyaNa SrImAn kshIrArNava nikEthana: nAgaparyankam uthsrujya hyAgathO madhurAmpurim” (this nArAyaNan, who is endowed with wealth, came from the mattress [of ananthAzhwAn, AdhiSEshan] in the milky ocean and incarnated in mathurA), confirming that emperumAn incarnated in mathurA? periyAzhwAr goes a few incarnations back, to the incarnation of nrusimha, when emperumAn joined the assembly of the worried celestial entities at thirukkOttiyUr and to protect them, planned his incarnation as nrusimha to destroy the demon hiraNya kashyap. Since emperumAn stayed forever in that divine abode of thirukkOttiyUr as uragamellaNaiyAn (the divine name of emperumAn in thirukkOttiyUr), periyAzhwAr considered thirukkOttiyUr as the divine abode where he incarnated, in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi too. Also, the person responsible for his composing thiruppallANdu, selva nambi [the guru for pANdiya king vallabhadhEvan’s clan] was born in thirukkOttiyUr. In order to express his joy over the fact that it was because of selva nambi that he was able to compose thiruippallANdu, periyAzhwAr considered thirukkOttiyUr as the place of incarnation of emperumAn in krishNAvathAram.
Thus, while enjoying the activities of emperumAn in krishNAvathAram, unlike sages [such as parASarar and vyAsar] who had spoken about the auspicious qualities of emperumAn in their divine compositions [SrI vishNu purANam and SrI bhAgavatham, respectively], periyAzhwAr took upon the pathos of herd-women such as yaSOdhA and enjoyed krishNa’s activities in their words, in his periyAzhwAr thirumozhi.
Subsequently, periyAzhwAr had a divine daughter, ANdAL. He taught her all about krishNa’s activities and she became very fond of krishNa. She desired and married emperumAn, thus making periyAzhwAr, as the father-in-law of emperumAn himself.
Next, we will consider the first centum [mudhal paththu] of this prabandham.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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