Sri Parthasarathi thunai
Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha
Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha
Pranams,
In the previous posting we saw that there are totally 96 divyadesams in the
south and only 12 are in the north. Thanjai Sri N.S.Thathacharyar explains the
reason for this, in his ?Thirunaraiyoor stala varalAru? as follows:
In earlier days, temples weren?t built wherever a person or the contributor
wanted. Underneath the earth, there are some places where a nerve responsible
for the existence of life, runs across. This is called ?tharithree sAram?. This
is an improvement over the Newton?s theory of gravitational force. This nerve
runs mainly in the southern part of India, thereby making India to be called as
a sacred land in the world and so more templeswere built in the southern region.
One old tamil song summarises the regions in which the 108 divyadesams are
present. The song goes as follows:
?Er-erupadhAm sOzham Er-onpadhAm pAndi
Or-padhimoondrAm malainAdu Or-erandAm - seer nadunAdu
ArOdu-Er-ettu thondai Av-vadanAdu
Ar-erandu koorum thirunAdu ondrAga kol.?
As per the song, sOzha nAdu-40 dds; pAndiya nAdu-18 dds; malai nAdu- 13 dds;
Nadu nAdu- 2 dds; Thondai nAdu- 22 dds; vada nAdu- 12 dds; thirunAdu-1 dd; The
total of the above adds on to 108 out of which two are not in this world. But
surely a person who has the darshan of the 106 emperumans in this world will be
guided to the other two after this birth by emperuman himself.
Next let us proceed to see the number of dds each of the eleven alwars,
excluding madurakavigal, has sung.
Poigai Alwar ? 6 dds; bhoodhaththAzhvar ? 13 ; pEyAzhvAr ? 15; thirumazhisai
Alwar ? 17; nammAzhvar- 37; kulasEkara Alwar ? 9; periyAzhvAr ? 18; Andal ? 11;
thondaradipodi alwar-1; thiruppAnAzhvAr- 3; thirumangai alwar- 86;
Among the eleven alwars,
11(all) alwars have done mangalAsAsanam to Srirangam;
10 alwars to 2 dds(thirumalai and thiruppArkadal) ;
8 alwars to paramapadam;
7 alwars to thirukkudandai;
6 alwars to thirumAlirunchOlai;
5 alwars to 6 dds;
4 alwars to 3 dds;
3 alwars to 5 dds;
2 alwars to 21 dds;
1 alwar to 67 dds;
In all these dd?s, emperuman gives darshan in any of the postures
namely,nindra(standing), erundha(sitting) or kidandha(lying) postures. Based on
this 5 types of consecrations have been specified in the pAncharAtra pAdmam
given as follows:
1. stApana ? Emperuman in standing posture
2. astApana ? Emperuman in sitting posture
3. samastApana ? Emperuman in lying posture(pallikonda perumal)
4. parastApana ? Emperuman on a vahanam in different forms.
5. pradhishtApana
Emperumans in these dds are classified as in:
1. yOgam ? yOgi?s pray them.
2. bhOgam ? people in a family pray
3. vEram ? god for warriors and kings
4. AbhichAryam ? those who want to kill their enemies pray here.
Mostly only bhOga and yoga moorthis are seen today. Veera moorthis are rare and
AbhichArya moorthis are not in existance. They are sometimes createdwhen needed
and immediately destroyed.
In the 108 dds, emperuman is seen
In standing posture in 67 dds;
East facing ? 39; West facing ? 12; South facing ? 14; North facing ? 2;
In sitting posture in 17 dds;
East facing ? 13; West facing ? 3; South facing ? Nil; North facing ? 1;
In lying posture in 24 dds;
East facing ? 18; West facing ? 3; South facing ?3; North facing ? Nil;
There are totally 10 types of lying postures, namely,
Jala sayanam; Sthala sayanam; bhujanga sayanam; uthyOga sayanam; Veera sayanam;
Bhoga sayanam; dharpa sayanam; pathra sayanam(on a banyan leaf); mAnikka
sayanam; uththAna sayanam;
We will see where the various sayanams are present in the respective stala
purAnams. Some dds where all 3 postures of emperuman can be seen are:
Thiruvallikeni, thiruneermalai, thirukOshtiyur, thirukoodal etc. Talking
aboutthe directions of a temple generally only the direction in which the
primegarbha gruham is facing is taken into consideration.
One another distinguishing factor between divya desa perumals is the hasta
mudhdhirai (hand postures). There are various types of hastams namely, Abhaya
hastam(giving support to devotees); Vaikunda or varada hastam (Like saying,
?mAm Ekam sharanam vraja and showing his feet); AgvAna hastam (calling the
bhakthas to give abhayam).
With the above in mind let us now proceed to visit the dds one by one.
(To be continued)
AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam
Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan
Varadarajan
P.S.: Though each one of the dds has their own specialty, still due to ourlack
of knowledge and lack of care, many dds are in a very bad state today. It is
our prime duty to take care of them and keep them in a good state so that all
our divya desa perumals will be pleased. If you can, help us out in physical
kainkaryam, if not, if you are away from the holy land then atleast contribute
for the welfare of these divya desams. To get more details how to contribute
please send a mail showing your willingness to ramanuja@yahoogroups or visit
http://radioramanuja.com/dhivya.htm.
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