Srivaishnava Sampradhayam > Articles > Sri Manavala Mamunigal Vaibhavam
Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 |
Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | By Sri T.A. Varadhan |
From this posting onwards, I am going to use the other names of svAmi maNavALa mAmnuni - either periya jIyar or just jIyar.
jIyar wanted to worship the Lords of thirumalai
and kAnchipuram once again, and after obtaining
permission from Lord ranganAthA, left for
the yAtra along with numerous sishyAs including
svAmi PB aNNa. First, they went to kAnchipuram
to worship the Lord that gives and gives to
His devotees - pEraruLaaLan - Lord vardarAja.
svAmi maNavALa mAmuni gave us two wonderful
slOkAs in sanskrit and 2 pAsurams that describe
the temple and the Lord. I paraphrase the
sanskrit temple first -
"I fall at the feet of the Lord who is surrounded
by srIdEvi and bhUdEvi under the puNyakOti
vimAnam, after worshipping the holy
pushkariNi that is opposite the bali pIta,
Lord vENugOpAla, Lord gnyAnap pirAn, srI
bhattarpiraan, srI saTAkOpa, srI kali kari
thirumangai AzhvAr, thirumazhisaip pirAn,
periya nambi, emperumAnAr, the mudhal AzhVArs,
the mudalis that guard the entrance, the
abhishEka maNtapam, perundEvith thAyAr,
thiru Azhi AzhvAn, thiru anantAzhvAn,
chakkaravarthi thirumagan, kariya mANikka
varadar, thiru madap paLLi, periya thiruvadi,
azhagiya singar, sEnai mudanmaiyAr,
and the thiru aththi mAmalai".
This slOka describes the layout of the temple as it was during svAmi maNavALa mAmuni's time. One can see the most of the same layout even to this day in the temple.
Another slOka is as follows - " I medidate on the LOrd whose feet are Lotus feet, the one who is Lakshmi vallabha, whose divine body glows with the light generated by the divine ornaments, whose beautiful hands tells us not to worry and has the gadhA, sankha and chakra, and the LOrd of hasthigiri"
Then, he also composed dEvarAja mangaLam -
that beautiful maNgaLa stOtra for the LOrd,
a slOka of which we recite every day -
asthi srIsthu na kasthUri vAsanA vAsithOrsE
srI hasthigiri nAthAya dEvarAjAya maNgaLAm
After he performed the maNgaLAsAsanam, the kAnchipuram srIvaishNavAs gave jIyar a maTam to stay, and requested him to give upanyAsams on thiruvAymozhi and rahasyas. jIyar stayed at kAnchi for sometime, during which the annual brahmOtsavam happened. svAmi performed maNgaLAsAsanams to the Lord during the 10 days of the utsavam on the vAhanams. During this time, erumbi appa came from shOlingar to pay his obeisances to svAmi.
The srIvaishNavAs at kAnchipuram requested svAmi to establish a learned person at kAnchipuram from whom they can continue their learning the rahasya granthas and the sampradAyam. jIyar commanded vAnamAmalai jIyar svAmi to bring him svAmi appAchchiyAr aNNa. This svami was a learned scholar and a great srIvishNava that was a descendant of svAmi mudaliyANdAn. jIyar commanded him to reside at kAnchi and perform the darsana nirvAham on his behalf from kAnchi. Further, the local people gave this svAmi a vigraha called "azhaiththu vAzhiviththavar", one of the shat bErAs of the kAnchi temple, that is to this day present in the sannadhi of this thirumALigai.
After this, jIyar and his sishyAs left kAnchipuram and reached thirumalai after worshipping at thiru-k-kadigai (shOLingar).
In thirumalai, a slOka has been given to
us by elders again, that describes the temple
layout as it was during that time - The
paraphrasing is as follows -
"One should worship the big bali peeTA
after that the maNtapam known as yamunaith
thuraivar (named after ALAvandAr by srI
ananthAzhvAn svAmi, who performed
pushpa kainkaryam to the Lord of thirumalai),
then the entrance that is near the shenbaga
tree (called shenbaga vrksha vAsal),
srI garudA, the thiru madap paLLi, the
thirumAmaNi maNtapam, the Ananda nilaya
vimAnam that is covered with gold, sEnai
mudanmaiyAr, rAmAnuja, the Lord nrsimha
and then Lord rAmA. After that, one should
worship the Lord of thiruvEngadam, the one
who has faultless glory, the one who has
beautiful thirumArbu (chest) that is the
abode of Lakshmi and whose eyes are like
beautiful lotuses".
adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan
varadhan