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SRI:
SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:
Dearest Srivaishnavas,

Now let us enjoy Sri MAdhurakavi AzhwAr?s glories. AdiyEn will cover the two Taniyans--one in Sanskrit and the other in Tamil--created by Swamy Naathamuni out of his gratefulness to Madhura Kavi and his powerful Prabhandham ; Swamy Naathamuni had the rarest of blessings of being initiated into the divine collect by Swamy NammAzhwAr himself as a result of reciting Madhura Kavi's prabhandham .

First his life history:

AzhwAr Madhurakavi is the one who helped us by compiling the outpourings of NammazhwAr; Not just that, he also sang 11 beautiful "anthAdhi" style pAsurams starting with "kaNNinun siRutthAmbhu" which do not have any parallel to any other pAsuram /slOka for AchArya Bhakti. The other prabandhams on Acharya are Iraamaanusa nooRRanthAthi and Pillai anthAthi.

AzhwAr sang these (11) pasurams only in praise of his AchArya "nammAzhwAr" and claimed, in the end, that one can attain
mOkshA certainly and definitely after reciting just these 11 pAsurams.

It is also told that Nathamuni, who compiled 4000 pAsurams of AzhwArs, was blessed with a darshan of nammAzhwAr and was given a set of all 12 AzhwArs' pAsurams (by NammAzhwAr himself) after he recited Madhurakavi's 11 bhakti-laden pAsurams on nammAzhwAr 12000 times. (That is the dynamite packed power of Madhurakavi's pAsurams- It has manthra shakthi).

Madhurakavi (meaning in sanskrit the sweet poet), a vainathEya (divine
bird) incarnate, was born in the year Easwara, chitrai month and in chitrai nakshatram at ThirukkOLoor. He learnt Tamizh and sanskrit and became a great scholar in both the languages. He was a great BhaktA of Sriman NarAyaNa and had an excellent conduct. He was on visits to the North India and obtained divya Darshans of AyodhyA, gayA, Badri, DwArakA etc., and He chose to stay at AyOdhyA as he could not resist being attracted by the Holiness of Sri RAMA's birth place. From there, he was dragged by an unconrolled desire to follow the new Southern BRIGHT Star/Light appeared in the sky (as seen only by his eyes at night) and found himself at the feet of the Greatest AzhwAr "NammAzhwAr". After a brief encounter (setthathin vayiRRil siRiyadhu piRandhaal etthai thiNru yengE kidakkum? " atthai thiNru angE kidakkum..) he prayed to NammAzhwAr requesting him to protect and accept him as his disciple. From then on, he stayed with NammAzhwAr and complied all pAsurams of NammAzhwAr. Madhurakavi was so much devoted to NammAzhwAr, his AchAryA, that he held him equal to (higher than)
Lord Sri nArAyaNa

After NammAzhwAr departed from this earthly world, he was blessed with a
Golden vigraham of NammAzhwAr which he cosecrated and performed
ThiruvarAdhanA and uthsavams in his honour. He was so mesmerized and impressed by nammAzhwAr's works so much that wanted to stage NammAzhwAr's works in front of other scholars. the sangam poets objected to such claims and praises NammazhwAr who had no connection with Sangam ( a big deal!). Madhurakavi, it seems was saddened by this protest and was weeping literally.

NammAzhwar, appeared as an old Brahmin and consoled him saying " Do not
woory about these petty issues, my child, You just place this pasuram of
"kaNNan kazhaliNai..." on a boat (sangap palagai) and watch the fun" and
disappeared. Madhurakavi did the same and the boat, it is told capsized
throwing out all the jealous, haughty poets while it retained only the leaf containing "kaNNan kazhaliNai.."

It is also told that each one of those poets struggled to reach the shore and composed a verse dedicating to NammAzhwAr. And when they were about to publish their verses, they were simply AMAZED to find that each one wrote the same verse in same words; (What a marvel! what a divine AzhwAr and Divine Disciple!-simply made for each other)

The sangam chief says " NammAzhwAr's works are superior and other poets are like flies compared to Garudan (that is NammAzhwAr); fire flies (minmini) in the presence of sun; dogs in front of the ferrocious tiger; wolf before the Lord NrsimhA, ugly clumsy dwarfs dancing before the havenly beautiful OOrvasi- All their works are not equal to even one utterance of nammAzhwAr."

Madhurakavi's eyes were full of tears for his (his AchAryA's) success; The eleven pAsurams are counted as part of 4000 verses simply because the whole of 4000 pasurams is claimed to be Bhagavadh vishayam while Madhurakavi's is on his AchAryA which is the central gem that sheds lustre on the other jems of the garland (so says MaNavALa mAmunigaL). It is the work that holds the key to the treasure of other pAsurams.

Needless to say, NAthamuni's t haniyans (Thaniyan means dedeicated verse) on this AzhwAr depict the glory of AzhwAr and it is neccessary for us to be blessed by such Great BhaktALs; Before we conclude about this mahAn who performed AchArya Nishtai and attained the feet of mOksham, let us get benefitted by the rich two thaniyans of NAthamuni:

Aviditha Vishaya Antharas /Sadaarer Upanishadam Upagaana Matra Bogah /
Abhi Saguna Vasaath Tad Eka Seshee /Madhura Kavir Hridaye Mamaavirastu /
(in sanskrit)
" Here is one who knew none other than Nammalwar; the one who made it his
mission in life to sing the Tamizh upanishadam of Nammalwar; The one being overwhelmed by Nammalwar held him as his very God; Let such Madhurakavi fill my heart" (our hearts, too)

Veronrum Naan Ariyen Vedam Tamizh Seitha /Maaran Sadakopan Vun Kurugur -
Yeru Engal /Vaazhvaam Enru Ethum Madhura Kaviyaar Emmai /
Aalwaar Avare Saran /
(in Tamizh)
Madhurakavi said -" I do not know anything other than Nammalwar also known as Maaran(original name of NammAzhwAr) who rendered in Tamil the essence of the Vedas and who is the head of Tirukkurugur. This Madhurakavi is OUR master. He is THE guardian of the group of Prapannaas.
- Let us recite everyday these 11 pAsurams and be blessed!)

Let us now enjoy Swamy Desikan's rich tributes:

As mentioned earlier, there are 11 paasurams in KaNNinuNN SiRutthAmpu Prabhandham of Madhura Kavi. The last paasuram is a Phala Sruthi describing the fruits of reciting this prabhandham.In the rest of the ten paasurams, Madhura Kavi conceded that all the relationships that he should have with BhagavAn are instead with Swamy NammAzhwAr. Swamy Desikan captured this unique disposition of Madhura Kavi in one insightful paasuram of his adhikaara sangraham:

Inbatthil iRainjuthalil isayum pERRil
ihazhAtha pall uRavilirAgam maaRRil
tann paRRil vinai Vilakkil tahavOkkatthil
tatthuvatthai uNartthutalil tanmai aakkil
anbarkkE avatharikkum Aayan niRka
arumaRaikaL Tamizh seythAn thALE koNDu
thunpaRRa Madhura Kavi thOnRak kaattum
tholl vazhiyE nall vazhikaL thuNivAhatkkE

Pada URai( Word by word Meanings by Sri V SatakOpan Swamy- New York, USA)
Inbatthil = in gaining(experiencing ) bliss
iRainjuthalil= in performing SaraNAgathi
isayum pERRil= in granting desired purushArthams
ihazhAtha pall uRavil = in sustaining many types of durable relationships
irAgam mARRil = in destroying attachment to other matters
tann paRRil = in giving His hand (Jn~Anak Kai)
vinai vilakkil = in banishing the paapa -puNyams
tahava Okkatthil = in exhibiitng deep compassion(dayA)
tatthuvatthi uNartthutathil = in generating clear Jn~Anam
tanmai aakkil = in blessing the jeevan with many qualities similar to His( above ten being the anugrahams of the Lord for the Jeevan) anbarkkE = That Lord , who incarnates in this world avatharikkum solely for those , who have bhakthi for Him Aayan niRkka = while that Sulabha-Gopaalan is waiting to bless him (Madhura Kavi) with His anugraham , Madhura Kavi let go of Him aru MaraikaL Tamizh seydhaan thALE koNDu= and took refuge instead at the sacred feet of Swamy NammAzhwAr --who transformed the Sanskrit VedAs into pure TamiL-- for gaining the above ten anugrahams granted normally by the Lord Himself Thunpu aRRa Madhura Kavi thOnRak-kaattum tholl VazhiyE nall vazhigaL thuNivArkatkku = That ancient path (AchArya abhimatham) travelled by Madhura Kavi and described in his prabhandha paasurams for the benefit of the people of this world , is the noblest path to be travelled by those with unalloyed AchArya VisvAsam.

Swamy Desikan - the kavi thArkikha simham in his own inimitable style has thus summarized the essence of Madhura Kavi's ten paasurams in his one prabandham each word depicting the meaning of each PAsuram of KaNNinun ChiRutthaambu and the noblest of paths advocated by him for our ujjevanam.

Swamy desikan also pays his obeisance to AzhwAr in Prabandha saaram as follows:

ThERiya maajn~Anamudan ThirukkOLUril
ChitthirayiR Chitthirai naaL Vanthu thOnRi
AaRiya NalanbhudanE KuruhUr Nampikku
anavaratham antharanga-adimai seythu
MaaRanai allAl yenRum maRanthum thEvu
maRRaRiyEn yenum Madhura kaviyE nee munn
kooRiya KaNNinuNN SiRutthAmpu athaniR paattuk-
kulavu pathinonRum yenakku uthavu neeyE

(Meaning by Sri Satakopan Swamy): Oh Maadhura Kavi born on
Chitthirai maasa Chitthirai at ThirukkOLUr with clear Jn~Anam and who performed antharanga kaimkaryam for Swamy NammAzhwAr with intense devotion and without let ! You declared that You do not know of any gods other than Swamy NammAzhwAr . Please bless me now with the Jn~Anam about the eleven paasurams of Your aruLiccheyal (blessed work) KaNNinuNN SirutthAmpu that you blessed the world earlier

Sri Manavala Mamunigal pays his tribute to AzhwAr in Upadesa Ratthina malai:

yErAr Madhura Kavi ivvulahil vanthu uthittha
seerArum Chitthirayil Chitthirai NaaL --paarulahil
maRRuLLa AazhwArkaL vanthu uthittha nALkaLinum
uRRathu yemakku yeRu nenjEOr (25)

meaning: Oh My mind! Please reflect on the fact that the birthday of the auspicious Madhura Kavi ( ChitthrA Nakshathram in the month of Chitthirai ) is even more sacred for celebration than that of
the birthdays of all the other AzhwArs.

Vaayttha Thirumanthiratthin matthimamAm patham pOl
seertha Madhura Kavi sey kalayai--aartha Pukazh
Aariyarkal thAngaL aruLiccheyal naduvE
sErvitthAr thARpariyam thErnthu (26)

meaning: Our great PoorvAchAryALs joined Madhura Kavi's Prabhnadham of KaNNinuNN SirutthAmpu in the sacred NaalAyira Dhivya Prabhandham inview of the blessed message that this prabhandham houses.They recognized very well that Madhura Kavi's Prabhandham is exactly like the middle padham in our beloved AshtAksharam (viz)., Nama: padham and therefore this prabhandham fits very well in the middle of the sacred collect of
the Four Thousand .
References:
1. KanninunchiRutthambu vyAkhyAnam- Prabandha raksha by Sri UttamUr Swamy
2. Kanninun chiRutthambhu vyakhyanam by Thirukkudanthai Desikan and Periya Parakala Swamy (book released by Srimad Poundarikapuram Andavan Ashramam)
3. Sri V Satakopan Swamy's article on Madhurakavi AzhwAr

Madhurakavi AzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
AzhwAr Emeprumaanaar Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Regards
namo narayana
dAsan



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