SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
Glories of ALavandhAr
ALavandhar’s original name is yAmunan, later he came to be popularly known as yAmunAchAryar. In his young age when he was learning under a scholar, the king compelled all the scholars to pay taxes. At that time, yAmunan who did not like the order of the king, went to the king’s assembly and won the debate with the royal scholar. Before the debate, the king and queen upon seeing the young yAmunan who was only five years old, made a challenge between them. The queen believed that yAmunan would win the debate and told the king that she would be his servant all her life if yAmunan lost. The king believed that the royal scholar would win and told her that if the royal scholar lost, he would give half of his kingdom to yAmunan. When yAmunan won, the queen said, “emmai ALavandhIrO” (have you came to rule me) and expressed her love towards ALavandhAr. From that day, yAmunan was called “ALavandhAr”.
During the time when ALavandhAr was governing the kingdom received from the king, maNakkAl nambi approaches ALavandhAr. He provides thUdhuvaLai leaves for ALavandhAr. ALavandhAr begins to enjoy these leaves regularly provided by maNakkAl nambi, but after some time, he realises that the leaves were not presented for his enjoyment. He enquires the person in-charge of the kitchen (madappaLLi) in this regard. He replies that the leaves were not brought to the palace anymore by the person who supplied those earlier. After some time, maNakkAl nambi comes again to the palace to meet ALavandhAr. He tells him that ALavandhAr’s grandfather had left him something more precious than thUdhuvaLai leaves. maNakkAl nambi reveals about the divine instructions to ALavandhAr. maNakkAl nambi imparts SrI bhagavath gIthA upadhESam to ALavandhAr. At the end of those instructions, maNakkAl nambi tells ALavandhAr that the emperumAn who has given the upadhESam – SrI bhagavath gIthA is the wealth that his grandfather had left for him. By revealing this, maNakkAl nambi takes ALavandhAr to SrIrangam. As ALavandhAr stands before periya perumAL in SrIrangam, periya perumAL cast his divine glance (katAksham) on ALavandhAr. From that day onwards, ALavandhAr renounced his kingdom and took sanyAsam (renounced life) and lived with his Sishyas in SrIrangam. All these can be known by learning his life histories.
nAthmunigaL’s birth place, kAttumannAr kOyil (also known as vIranArAyaNapuram) is also the birth place of ALavandhAr. As nAthamunigaL was engaged in kainkaryam for many years in the northern regions of India, he wanted to give his grandson yamunaiththuRaivan, krishNa’s divine name. Hence, his parents named him as yAmunan. His birth star is uththirAdam, in the month of Adi. He has mercifully given us many granthams. He has given the condensed meaning of SrI bhagavath gIthA in the form of a SlOkam, known as “gIthArtha sangraham”. He has also written many granthams such as sidhdhi thrayam, Agama prAmANyam, chathu:slOki, and sthOtra rathnam.
ALavandhAr vAzhi thirunAmam
machchaNiyum madhiLarangam vAzhviththAn vAzhiyE
maRai nAngum Oruruvil magizhndhu kaRRAn vAzhiyE
pachchaiyitta rAmarpadham pagarumavan vAzhiyE
pAdiyaththOn IdERap pArvaiseydhOn vAzhiyE
kachchi nagar mAyaniru kazhal paNindhOn vAzhiyE
kataka uththarAdaththuk kAludhiththAn vAzhiyE
achchamaRa manamagizhchchi aNaindhittAn vAzhiyE
ALavandhAr thALiNaigaL anavaradham vAzhiyE
ALavandhAr vAzhi thirunAmam – Explanation
machchaNiyum madhLarangam vAzhviththAn vAzhiyE – May ALavandhAr who brought glory to SrIrangam that is surrounded by tall fortress live long. periya nambi, thirukkOshtiyUr nambi, periya thirumalai nambi, thirumAlai ANdAn, thiruvarangapperumAL araiyar, five prominent Sishyas of ALavandhAr received their upadhESam from him in SrIrangam. Later, periya thirumalai nambi went to thirumalai to perform kainkaryam; and thirukkOshtiyUr nambi went to thirukkOshtiyUr to perform kainkaryam (service). By the orders of ALavandhAr, thirukkachchi nambi performed thiruvAlavatta (fanning) kainkaryam to kAnchipuram dhEvapperumAL. May ALavandhAr who was instrumental in spreading the glories of SrIrangam through his Sishyas live long.
maRai nAngum Oruruvil magizhndhu kaRRAn vAzhiyE – maRai means vEdham. ALavandhAr learnt humbly all the four vEdham and its essence from maNakkAl nambi. He learnt with great joy SrI bhagavath gIthA, the essence of vEdham from maNakkAl nambi. May he live long.
pachchaiyitta rAmarpadham pagurumavan vAzhiyE – pachchaiyiduvathu means to attract someone to ones’ side by doing good things for them. maNakkAl nambi, on his own accord went to ALavandhAr with thUdhuvaLai leaves and transformed him with his upadhESam. May ALavandhAr who celebrates the glories of the divine feet of pachchaiyitta rAma miSra, maNakkAl nambi live long.
pAdiyaththOn IdERap pArvaiseythOn vAzhiyE– pAdiyaththOn refers to SrI bhAshyakArar, emperumAnAr (SrI rAmAnujar), the one who graced us with SrIbhAshyam. ALavAndhar cast his merciful divine glance (katAksham) on emperumAnAr so he could become an AchAryan in SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam. When rAmAnujar (known as iLaiyAzhwAr at that time) was learning under yAdhavaprakASa in kAnchIpuram, ALavandhAr knew about the appearance of a great gyAni, rAmAnujar. ALavandhAr who also had received through his nAthamunigaL lineage the bhavishyadhAchAryan vigraham, found iLaiyAzhwAr’s radiance comparable to the one in that vigraham. So, he comes to kAnchIpuram and after performing mangaLASAsanam to dhEvapperumAL goes to meet iLaiyAzhwAr.
He sees yAdhavaprakASa and his Sishyas in kariyamANikkam sannidhi (near dhEvapperumAL sannidhi), among them he sees iLaiyAzhwAr. From a distance ALavandhAr cast his divine glance on iLaiyAzhwAr. As such, he was instrumental in SrI rAmAnujar becoming a great AchArya in our SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam.
yath padhAmbhOruhadhyAna vidhvasthASEsha kalmasha: I
vasthuthAmupayA thOham yAmunEyam namAmitham II
In this thaniyan, SrI rAmAnujar says, ALavandhAr has transformed me who was like asath (non-existing) to sath (existing). May ALavandhAr with such greatness live long.
kachchi nagar mAyaniru kazhal paNindhOn vAzhiyE – kachchi nagar refers to kAnchipuram. ALavandhAr not only showered his divine glance on emperumAnAr, he also went and prayed to kAnchipuram dhEvapperumAL to make SrI rAmAnujar an AchArya in our guruparamparai. Thus ALavandhAr brought SrI rAmAnujar as an AchArya to SrIvaishNava guruparamparai by worshipping at the divine feet of kAnchipuram dhEvapperumAL. May he live long.
kataka uththarAdaththuk kAludhiththAn vAzhiyE– May ALavandhAr who appeared in Adi month (kataka month), in the star – uthrAda, live long.
achchamaRa manamagizhchchi aNaindhittAn vAzhiyE – May ALavandhAr who became happy after the fears in his mind were removed, live long. ALavandhAr’s desire was to make SrI rAmAnujar as his Sishya. But emperumAn’s intention (thiruvuLLam) was different. periya nambi brings iLaiyAzhwAr from kAchipuram to SrIangam. When they reach the city limit of SrIrangam, they see people overwhelmed with intense sorrow and distress. When enquired they learn that ALavandhAr has ascended to thirunAdu (supreme abode). iLaiyAzhwAr regrets having lost this blessing of having ALavandhAr as his AchArya. He prostrates to ALavandhAr’s thirumEni. At that time, he notices ALavandhAr’s three fingers which were folded. When he enquired about this with the SrIvaishNavas who were present there, they informed emperumAnAr about ALavandhAr’s three unfulfilled desires.
- To write an explanation for vyAsa bhagavAn’s brahma sUthram as per viSishtAdhvaitha sidhdhAntham.
- To spread the meanings of thiruvAimozhi far and wide.
- To show gratitude towards vyAsa and parASara rishi.
Those present there said that since these wishes were unfulfilled, the fingers remained folded. On hearing this, iLaiyAzhwAr says, “if this is the thiruvuLLum of emperumAn and AchArya, I vow to fulfill ALavandhAr’s desires”. And immediately, the fingers became unfolded. Because of this, it is said that ALavandhAr’s fear was removed and he became happy. May such ALavandhAr live long. bhagavath rAmAnujar, as per his vow wrote SrI bhAshyam – commentary for brahma Suthram. He instructed thirukurugaip pirAn piLLAn to write vyAkhyAnam (detailed explanation) for thiruvAimozhi. He named kUraththAzhwAn’s divine sons as vEdha vyAsar and parASarar after the rishis. He showered his divine glance (katAksham) on them to become illustrious scholars.
ALavandhAr thALiNaigaL anavaradham vAzhiyE – May the divine feet of ALavandhAr live long.
Thus concludes the vAzhi thirunAmam of ALavandhAr.
AzhwAr emperumAnAr jIyar thiruvadigaLE SaraNam
adiyEn chithrA rAmAnuja dhAsi
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