AzhvAr Arulamudham

 PERIAZHWAR THIRUMOZHI 1 - 2 *PASURAM 13-22* THE BIRTH OF KANNAN  After having the Darshan of The Lord and his consorts, Periazhwar enjoys “The Birth of Krishna” before he starts rearing HIM considering himself as YasOdha PiraaTTi. 13.vaNNa maadaNGgaL soozh *thirukkOttiyoor*  kaNNan kEsavan* nambi piRanthinil*  eNNey suNNam* ethirethir thoovidak*  kaNNan muRRam* kalandhu aLaraayiRRE. (2) 1. 13)KaNNan KEsavan is born in Thirukoshtiyur just as in ThiruAyarpaadi (Gokulam). All the residents are over joyous that they spray fragrant oil and turmeric at each other making the place so slushy. (1) 14: Oduvaar vizhuvaar* ukandhaalippaar*  naaduvaar n^ampiraan* eNGkuththaan enbaar*  paaduvaar kaLum* palpaRai kottan^inRu*  aaduvaar kaLum * aayiRRu aayppaadiyE. 2. 14)Having heard the news of His birth , the whole Ayarpaadi runs hither thither excited , shouting in joy , falling and getting up and screaming “Where is He?” amidst the thunderous musical org

 PERIAZHVAR THIRUMOZHI. PALLANDU. Pasurams- 1 - 12 During his triumph procession through the streets of Madurai city, emperumAn showed himself along with PiraaTTi to  periyAzhwAr. On seeing bhagavAn in the most beautiful form  revealing  his auspicious qualities such as saundharyam (beauty), etc., AzhvAr was concerned and out of great fear started  thinking that, “in this world which is controlled by kAlam (time), what bad might happen to him?, and what evil eyes people might cast on Him”. So he performed mangaLAsAsanam (well-wishing thoughts) to emperumAn‘s divine and beautiful form to stay forever from any evil eyes. Pasuram 1: pallANdu pallANdu pallAyiraththANdu pala kOdi nURAyiram mallANda thiN thOL maNivaNNA! un sEvadi sevvi thirukkAppu # He starts the first pasuram saying “Pallaandu Pallaandu “ praising the Lord who has conquered the enemies with His strong arms. May you be praised for ever and ever and ever and for many crores of years to come as we stand beneath your Divine fee

 Taniyans on PeriyAzhwAr: 1st thaniyan- composed by Sri NAthamuni: guru mukam anadhIthya prAha vEdhAn- asEshaan nara pathi pari kluptham sulkam  AdhAthu kAmaha: svasuram amara vandhyam ranganAthasya sAkshAth dhvija kula thilakam tham vishNu chittham namaami The AzhwAr- who is the thilakam of Brahminhood; who is respected and worshipped even by Devas; who is the father-in-law of Sri Rangnathan; who wished to succeed getting the prize bag of gold coins, arranged by king Vallabha devan (narapathi: ) in order to establish the Supremacy of Sriman Narayanan as the PARATHEIVAM in the debate, without any learning, formally from an Acharyan (teacher) – to that AzhwAr, I bow down and prostrate. Next Two are dedicatory verses by PaaNdiya Bhattar: Minnaar thadamathiL soozh villiputthoor enRu orukaal Sonnaar kazhaRkamalam soodinOm –munnaaL kizhiyaRuththaan enRuraiththOm keezhmaiyiniR chErum vazhiyaRuththOm nenjamE! Vandhu. Oh mind! (nenjamE) - you helped me.. Thus, (with such helpful nature of your

 The Guruparampara Taniyan rendered by KOORATHAZHVAN LakshmI nAtha samArambhAm nAtha yAmuna madhyamAm | asmadhAchArya paryanthAm vandhE guruparam parAm || I worship the entire guruparamparaa that starts with Emperumaan, Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan; which has SrI NAthamuni (in between) upto my AchArya (Sri Ramanuja). This Taniyan is composed by Sri KooratthAzhwAn (Sri Ramanujacharya¡¦s most ardent disciple); This Taniyan describes the parampara of our Acharyas which starts from Sriman Narayanan. Sri AzhwAn pays his obeisance to the parampara upto his Acharya. He does not mention the name of his Acharya. He has made it general by way of mentioning, “upto my Acharya¨ -asmadhAchArya paryanthAm .. It fits in so well for every one of us, even now, when we recite this saying, “upto my Acharyan”, I pay my obeisance to the Gurupamarapara.   AzhwAn is known for his intellect and scholarship. List of  Guruparampara upto Ramanuja Sriman Narayanan Sri Mahalakshmi Sri Vishvaksenar Sri NammAzhwAr S

Before starting to sing the prabandams, Taniyans are sung. These are laudatory verses in praise of our AchAryas. They are recited before every Prabandam and as the first shloka everyday. Podhu thaniyans Let us first enjoy the podhu thaniyans. rAmAnuja dhayApAthram jnAna vairAgya bhooshaNam | srImath vEnkatanAthAyam vandhE vEdhAntha dhESikam || Meaning: I worship Vedanta Desikan (Acharya or preceptor uniquely praised as such due to his great contribution and strict adherence to Vedanthic tradition), named Venkata nAthan, endowed with auspiciousness and glories, who was a receptacle of the mercy (dayA) of his AchArya Sri Ramanuja, and who was adorned with the jewels of wisdom (jnAnam) and detachment (VairAgyam). There is also another thaniyan which is recited :(by the sishyas of thennAcharya sampradayam): Sri SailEsa dayA pAthram dhI bhakthyAdhi guNArNavam | yathIndhra pravaNam vandhE ramya jAmAthram munim || Meaning: I salute Sri ManavaaLa MaamunigaL, who has the blessings of Thiruvaaim

 Now we all know that “Nathamuni”, retrieved all the 4000 hymns. NAMMAZHWAR revealed to Nathamuni the 4000 hymns including “Thiruvaimozhi”, Rahasyatraya and it’s meanings over three consecutive nights. Nathamuni attached apt musical meters to these hymns, consolidated and codified them into 4 categories. Let us see them one by one  FIRST THOUSAND  MUDHAL AYIRAM Mudhal Ayiram is comprised of Periazhwar  1.Pallandu 2.Periazhwar thirumozhi Andal 1.ThiruppAvai 2-NAchyAr thirumozhi Kulasekara Azhwar  1.Perumal thiru mozhi  Thirumazhisai Azhwar  1.Thiruchanda virutham THONDARADIPODI Azhwar  1.Thirumaalai 2.Thiruppalli yezhuchi ThiruppAn Azhwar  1.AmalanAdhi puran Madhurakavi Azhwar  1.Kanninun siruthAmbu SECOND THOUSANDS  IRANDAM AYIRAM Irandam Ayiram is comprised of  THIRUMANGAI AZHWAR 1.Periya Thirumozhi  2.Thirukkurunthandagam 3.ThiruNedunthandagam Thirumangai azhwar wrote a total of 6 Prabandams. Out of which the above 3 were added as the second thousand  THIRD THOUSANDS  EYARPAA EYARPAA

 These 108 DIVYA DESAMS are classified according to the particular region that they are situated in. In that manner we have 6 different regions or naadu as it is said.  These six regions respectively are: 1) CHOOZHA NAADU : THANJAVUR as its headquarters and its adjoining regions. 2) PAANDYA NAADU : MADURAI as its headquarters and its adjoining regions. 3) NADU NAADU : Districts of  VILLUPURAM, CUDDALORE and THIRUVANNAMALAI 4) THONDAI NAADU : Regions of southern ANDHRA and Northern TAMILNADU with KAANCHIPURAM as its headquarter. 5) MALAI NAADU : Regions belonging to KERALA 6)MEL NAADU  : Regions in the northern part.       Here is a verse to help us easily remember the number of Divya Desams in each region        40 aam CHOZHAM,  18, aam PANDIAM 2aam NADUNADU,  22 aam THONDAINADU 13aam MALAINADU, 11am MELNADU