You are here: SriPedia - Ramanuja - Archives - Oct 2004

Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00187 Oct 2004

 
Oct 2004 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]



Sri:
Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

Dear Sri Balaji,

Azhvar did lead a colorful life. By the way, there 
is a claim that the vEl in his hand was given to 
him by Thirugnana Sambandhar (one of the nAyanmars,
I think) after a debate. It is true that he led a 
dynamic life - before and after receiving 
mantrOpadesham from the Lord. In many places, he 
shows up with a sword and shield as well.

Nevertheless, the story you have written seems to
be a dramatic variation on what I have read about
Azhvar.

That Azhvar stole a golden idol of Buddha from
Nagapattinam vihAra is accepted by all. However,
this is the first time, I have heard that one of
his associates was killed in the process or that
he came back and killed Azhvar.

I am attaching a rough translation of Azhvar's
effort in getting the idol from Nagapattinam to
this post - from 6000padi and as well as another
source. As you can see, there is no hint of any
one getting killed there. And, as I mentioned 
before, both texts simply state that Azhvar spent
his days enjoying the Lord - at Srirangam or at
Thirukkurunkudi. There is no indication of a
violent end for Azhvar.

I request bhAgavatas to shed some light on this,
if they have heard anything similar to what Sri
Balaji is stating and/or if they have heard that 
Kaliyan met a violent end.


adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan


--

>From 6000padi Guru Parampara Prabhavam:

Thirumangai Azhvar wishing to do service to Sri Ranganatha 
decided to renovate the gopuram, vimAnam and maNdapas at
Srirangam. He called his associates and asked them how to
get the wealth needed for doing madhiL (wall) service at 
the temple. They replied that in the vihara at 
Nagapattinam, there is a Buddha vigraha which is made of
gold and if they get that, it could be used for this 
purpose.

Azhvar then left for Nagapattinam and staying in the house 
of a Srivaishnava lady asked her about the secret of the 
vihara (apparently Azhvar tried to get in first and
found that he was not able to get a hold of the vigraha).
She replied that the architect who built the vihara lived
in an island.

Azhvar immediately left Nagapattinam with his associates
and reached the island where the architect lived. There
he asked some folks in the street where the architect who 
is equal to Vishvakarma lives. They showed him the house.

Azhvar then went to that house and was standing in the
veranda talking with his associates. The architect then
came out after his bath and food and was resting in the 
veranda having some betelnuts.

Azhvar then started talking to his people in a sad voice
saying that Nagapattinam had been sacked, the vihara had
been destroyed and muslims have taken away the vigraha. 
The architect became shocked and asked them to tell him 
the whole story. Upon hearing what they said, he cried
out that some traitor had given away the secret that he 
had put in place - which was that from the top of the 
vihara roof and into a stone in the place where the 
water falls, a chain had been built that no one could 
see. He fell down sobbing that someone had somehow
managed to take the idol in spite of it. Azhvar 
immediately left there, glad that he had found out the 
secret. 

Upon reaching the shore, they managed get into a vessel
carrying betelnuts. In between, Azhvar cut a large 
betelnut in two, gave the cargo owner one half and asked
hime for a note stating that he owed Azhvar half of
the betelnut. Upon reaching the shore, Azhvar asked for
half of his cargo (of betelnuts). The merchant became
surprised and searched and gave him the one half of
the betelnut. Demanding half of all his cargo instead
Azhvar then took him to court based on his note and 
won his case. The merchant then gave him money equal 
to half his cargo.

Azhvar and his associates then hid in the vihara and in
the middle of the night broke the chain under the water
fall. Then they climbed into the vimAna and twisting the
top opened it and took the shining golden idol. (Some
prints say that Azhvar used his brother-in-law to get
the idol out). Prior to its capture, the idol is 
supposed to have cried out "IyaththAlAgAdhO irumbinAl
AgAdhO, bUyaththAl mikkathoru bUthaththAlAgAdhO, 
thEyaththEy piththaLai naRsembugaLAlAgAdhO, mAyappon
vENumO, madhiththennaip paNNugaikkE".

That night, Azhvar and others left the place and hid
the idol in a newly ploughed field in a village. In
the morning, the farmer who owned that land came there
to work. Azhvar prevented him from working in the land
by claiming that it was his ancestral land. After much
debate, Azhvar promised him that he will procure 
paperwork to prove his case the next morning and the
farmer agreed and left. That night, Azhvar took the
idol out of the land and left the village and 
reached Uththamar Koil.

Meanwhile in Nagappattinam, after investigation of the
loss of the idol, the administrators followed Azhvar's
tracks. They caught up with him in Uththamar Koil.
There they enquired him and Azhvar said that he did
not know anything about the idol. When they asked him 
to prove it, Azhvar promised to provide the idol back
without missing even the small finger (this is tough
to translate as Azhvar is going to play with the
words; same as he did with the betelnut cargo merchant),
by a certain date. They agreed and left. Azhvar then
melted the idol, sold the gold and built the walls for
the Srirangam temple. It was during this time that
Azhvar built the wall around Thorndaradippodi Azhvar's
flower garden (rather than through it) and pleased by
it Thondaradippodi Azhvar named the tool he used to
pluck flowers as "aruLmAri" for Thirumangai Azhvar.

In some prints, there is a followup story - that the
Nagapattinam administrators came back on the day
promised and asked for the idol back. Azhvar read the 
note he gave them and playing with its words offered
them just his little finger. They went to court and
losing the case, declined Azhvar's little finger and
went back.

(In all these cases and note writing, Azhvar must have
been heavily assisted by his associate thOlAvazhakkan -
one who never lost a case).


>From Sri Vaishnava Sri Azhvargal Vaibhavam:

Azhvar reached Nagapattinam with his associates. He
located the vihara but was unable to find an entrance
into it. After much searching around it, he found a
yantra in the form of a chakra rotating non-stop at
the top of the vihara. So, he brought several plantain
pieces and fed them into the yantra. Getting caught
in the strings of the plantain, the chakra came to a
stop.

Azhvar then asked one of his disciples to climb down
that way and get the golden idol. When he tried, due
to a magical power, the bimbam began to run all over
the temple and the disciple was not able to catch it.
After that, using a suggestion by Azhvar, the disciple
was able to make it impure. Upon which, it lost its
power and fell down crying "IyaththAlAgAdhO irumbinAl
AgAdhO, bUyaththAl mikkathoru bUthaththAlAgAdhO, 
thEyaththEy piththaLai naRsembugaLAlAgAdhO, mAyappon
vENumO, madhiththennaip paNNugaikkE" (there are some
prints where it is said that the disciple said
"madhiththunnaip paNNugaikkE" and captured the idol).
The disciple then picked up the golden idol and gave
it to Azhvar. All of them left Nagappattinam that
night itself.





                
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Address AutoComplete - You start. We finish.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail 





------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/.itolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

azhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyAr thiruvadigalE saranam
 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ramanuja/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ramanuja-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 




[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
ramanuja-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list