Search:
Bhakti List Archives

AavaNi VisAkam : Unique(TOP) Divya Desam : Silver Mantapam-Part 1

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • August 28, 1998 


Dear BhakthAs of Sriman NaarAyaNA :

Before I write an article on the greatness 
( #1 Status ) of Thiru ViNNagar , as preface ,
I want to refer to the extraordinary roving 
Divya Desam at the Ahobila Matam Jeeyar"s aasthAnam .
Here presides one of the nine uthsava mUrthys of Ahobila
KshEthram *, MaalOlan , who jumped into the hands of 
the Jeeyar whom he had just initiated into SanyAsa
Asramam on a Purattasi Sukla Paksha Panchami day 
of a BahudAnya year ( 1398 AD).

Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan
***********************

Our MaalOlan* sits on a rathna dOlai in the middle of that 
silver mantapam with abhaya hastham in right hand and 
embracing His dear consort , Mahaa Lakshmi with His left hand .
On His other two hands are Sudarsanam and Paanchajanyam.
He rushed so fast to accompany the Jeeyar on the yAthrAs 
to bless His bhaktha kOtis that he had time only to wear 
the sandal on his right foot alone . He left the left foot 
sandal behind and did not wait for his servants to bring 
it to Him from the inner chambers .

KrishNA archA mUrhtys  
**********************

Our MalOlan of Silver Mantapam prsides over a sathas 
consisting of KrishNan* , who came crawling across 
the water of a lake in KarnAtakA , when he saw AchArya
RaamAnuja entering that lake for anushtAnam . There is
thus KrishNan , who represents ArchAvathAra mUrthys of 
pancha KrishNa kshEthrams* of Tamil Naadu ( ThirukkaNNa 
Puram/SowrirAjan , ThirukkaNNa mangai/Bhaktha Vathsalan, 
ThirukkaNNangudi/ShyamaLa mEni perumAL,ThirukkAvaLampAdi/ 
Gopala KrishNan and ThirukkUdalUr/Vaimk Kaatha PerumAL )
along with the other ArchA mUrthys of other divya desams 
with KrishNa Bhagavaan at the center. Latter FIVE KshEthrams* 
and their ArchA mUrthys are : ThErazhandUr /Gosakan -
Aamuruviappan , DwArakai/KalyANa NaaraayaNan ,
Vada Mathurai/GovardhanEsan , ThiruvAipAdi/Nava-
Mohana KrishNan , ThiruvallikkENi/ParthasArathy 
and Thirup Patakam's Paandavar DhUthan, Thiru NarayUr.
Thus 11 Divya desa KrishNans* can be visualized here 
in the mind's eye .
 
The KrishNa vigraham of the silver mantapam used in 
Dolothsavams has BheejAksharams on His ThirumEni and
is the most sacred one to bless people with santhathi .

Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAthar*
***************************************

Near the SvarNa Laksmi Narasimhan next to MaalOlan
is Sri RanganAthar and Sri RanganAyaki at His sacred
feet .This mUrthy is the one worshipped by another
AchAryA , KanthADai Sri ANNan Swamy and handed over
to Sri Sannidhi. Thus Sri RanganAthan is part of
the assembly of ArchA mUrthys.

This is the representation of Lord , who drove 
Thondaradip Podi Azhwar out of his  mind with His 
beauty and made the AzhwAr ask the SamsAris : 
Yenn seyhEn UlahatthIrE ? in one of his ThirumAlaip 
Paasuram that Sri Vijay Triplicane spot lighted recently
( Kuda disai mudiyai vaitthu---) .

Sri ParimaLa RanganAthan of IndaLUr* is also
here in Veera sayanam poisture is also 
accompanying MaalOlan at this silver mantapam .

The Sri RanganathAn of the Silver mantapam is 
standing in for a total of 27 Sayana ArchA mUrthys* ,
who give us darsanam as Sayana mUrthys including
the Lord of Sri Rangam , AarAvamudhan, Thiru InDalUr 
and few reposing Sri Ramachandra Murthys : 
Thiru Ananthapuram , Thiru Anbil ,Thiru AadhanUr , 
Thiru VeLLUr ,Thiruk Kadanmallai ,Thiruk karampanUr , 
Thiruk Kavitthalam ,Thiruk KOttiyUr ,Thiruk KolUr ,
Thiruc ChitthirakkUtam , Thiruc ChirupuliyUr ,
Thirut Therriampalam ,Thiru Neermalai ,
Thirup PaaRkadal ,Thirup PullANi Darbha sayanan,
Thirup PuLingudi , Thrup PuLLambhUthankudi ,
Thirup Pernagar/Koviladi and Sri VillipputthUr /
Vatapathra Saayee , Thiru VehhA and ThiruveLLiyankudi.  
  
   
PeraruLAlan of Kaanchi*
***********************
Near Sri RanganAthA is the Atthigiri Varadar ,
who was worshipped by NadAthUr ammAL , his
grandson GatikA Satham ammAL , who in turn 
blessed his prime disciple Aadhi VaNN SatakOpa
Jeeyar , the first Jeeyar of AhObila Matam .

This is the Lord , whom Swami Desikan 
described as Visva adhisAyi Sukha rUpan 
( The One with the most beautiful and delectable
soundharyam ).Swami begged for the most merciful
glances of this ArchA mUrthy to fall on him
and redeem him ( Unnidhra madhrA: dayALO: 
thE katAkshA; mayi pathanthu--Sri Varada Raaja 
Panchakam: 38 th slOkam ) . 

This ArchA mUrthy is also representing pEraruLALan
of Thiruc Chemponnsey Koil* divya desam near ThirunAngUr .
   

Sri SeshAdhri Sekhara Vibhu*and ThiruviNNagarappan*
***************************************************

Close to Sri Atthigiri Varadar is ThiruvEnakatamudayAn 
with AlarmEl mangai ThAyar on His Vakshasthalam .
Swami Desikan followed KulasEkhara AzhwAr's foot steps
and prayed for the blessing of residence in the foothills of 
ThiruvEnakatam thru a prayer to the DayA dEvi of 
Sri VenakatEsA :

vrushagiri katakEshu vyanjayathsu prathIthai:
Madhumathana dayE tvAm vaari dhArA visEshai:

(Meaning : Oh DayA dEvi , who is the embodiment 
of the DayA of the Lord , who destroyed the asuran ,
Madhu ! May I be bkessed to be at the foothills 
of ThiruvEnkatam known for their beautiful water
falls that remind me of Yourself ! )

Sri SrinivAsan stands in for the ArchA mUrthys
of ThiruviNNagar and Annan Koil as  well . 

Thiru nArAyaNapuram EmperumAn*
******************************

Close by is the Chellap PiLLai with Yathugiri
NaacchiyAr of ThirunAraayaNa puram ( DakshiNa
BadarikAsramam ) , where the first Jeeyar 
was born and three more Jeeyars of Ahobila 
matam besides the first Jeeyar (2nd, 10th and the 12th
Jeeyars ) have their BrindhAvanams . This ThirunArAyaNan
is representing other NaarAyaNans of other divya dEsams
a s well( Thirukkatit ThAnam / Adhbhutha NaarAyanan , 
ThirukkOttiyUr /Soumya NaarAyaNan , BadarikAsramam/
Badari NaarAyaNan ).

Other EmperumAns of Divya Desams* in the sathas
***********************************************

BhU VarAhan of Svayam Vyaktha KshEthram , Sri MushNam,
and Thiruvidaventhai ,Sri Lakshmi VarAhan of TampraparaNI
tatam , Sudarsana BhagavAn of Srirangam , ANDAL SamEtha
Sri RangamannAr of Sri VilliputthUr , Sri AarAvamudhan
of Thiruk Kudanthai , HayagrIvan of ThiruvahInrapuram 
and Aadhi Kesavan of ThiruvAttARu , SithA LakshmaNa 
sahitha Sri Raamabhadran of AyOddhi . 

SvarNa Narasimhan , who came before a King 
*******************************************
When a Siva Bhakthan named PrathApa Rudran 
cast a Golden Sivalingam for his daily puJa ,
the statue that came out of the dye was that 
of Narasimhan . However much he repeated his castings, 
he always got Narasimha MUrtham at AhObilam .
He understood the power of the KshEthram and 
presented the SvarNa Narasimhan to the Azhagiya 
Singhar of his time and that ArchA mUrthy 
visits the ThirumadappaLLI during the IjyArAdhana
kaalam . 

There is a MangaLagiri Narasimhan in the Rajatha
mantapam known also as Paanaka Narasimhan . These
Narasimhans stand for the narasimha mUrthys 
of Thiru VeLUkkai , GatikAchalam , ThiruvallikkENi's
TeLLiya Singham , ThiruvAli Narasimhan and TanjayALi
nagar .

Thus inside the Silver mantapam housing the Koil
of MaalOlan , we can have the darsana soubhAgyam
of Sri RanganAthAn , VaradarAjAn , SrinivAsan/
ThiruviNNagarappan , KrishNan , ThirunArAyaNan ,
HayagrIvan , Raamchandran and a host of other
Divya Desa MUrthys . SaaLagrAmams worshipped by
great yathIsvarALs are also enshrined there. 
SampradhAya AarAdhanam for these mUrthys
for many hundred years now have enhanced their
Saannidhyam .

Hence , The Silver Mantapam is one of the top most
divya dEsam having the integrated essence of 
many divya dEsams put together .

MaalOlan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Daasan , V.Sadagopan