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The Final leg of The Third Day of a Life's journey to SadAchAryan's holy Feet: Feb 7, 2000 : On the way to Srirangam and halt at VeNNARRankari Dhivya Desam .

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • February 24, 2000 


Sri Lakshmi Nrusimha ParabrahmaNE nama:
>Dear BhakthAs :

After the blessed anugraham of asmath AchAryan ,
my sister and myself stopped at VeNNARRankarai 
divya Desam on the way to Srirangam . 

The MahAthmyam of VeNNARRanKarai
*********************************

This dhivya dEsam is also known as Thirutthanjai MaamaNikkOil.
It is two and half miles  from ThanjAvUr. There are three Sannidhis
at this dhivya dEsam sung by three AzhwArs ( Kaliyan , BhUtham and 
perhaps NammAzhwAr in His ThiruvAimozhi 5.3.1 , when He
addresed the Lord as " MaNikkunRu " ).

In the very first decad celebrating the glory of
AshtAksharam (VaadinEn Vaadi VarunthinEn--) ,Kaliyan
performs MangaLAsAsanam for Tanjai MaamaNikkOil :

"--valampulAnchOlai MaamathiL Tanjai MaamaNIkkOil VaNangi,
NambikAL uyya naan KaNDu KoNDEn NaarAyaNAvennum Naamam "
              Periya Thirumozhi: 1.1.6

Later as Kaliyan performed MangaLAsAsanam for 
Thirukkadanmallai Sthala Sayana PerumAL ,
His mind flashed back to the Lord at TanjaikkOil:

"--taDam paruhu karu muhilait ThanjaikkOil
TAVANERIKKOR PERUNERIYAI vaiaam kaakkum ,
kaDum pari mEl KARKKIYAI  kaNDu KoNDEn -- "

            Periya Thirumozhi: 2.5.3

Here  , Kaliyan recognizes the Lord as the illustrious
object of Tapas of Tapasvins and as the Loka SamrakshaNa 
avathAran ( Bhavishyath avathArm ) , Kalki riding a white
horse . 

The third Paasuram by Kaliyan on this dhivya desam 
is a full one ( Periya Thirumozhi: 7.3.8)in the series 
dedicated to the Lord of ThirunaRayUr :
 
"-- TanjayALiyaip ponn peyarOn 
      nenjamanRidanthavanai tazhalEpurai
   minseymaal varayai MANIKKUNRINAI 
     anRi yenn manam pORRi yennAthE " 

Here , Thirumangai AzhwAr celebrates 
his mind's soubhAgyam of being filled with 
the thoughts about the glories of
Sriman NaarAyaNan as Nrusimhan and RaamAvathAran .

There are three dhivya dEsams here , although
all the three are counted as one dhivya dEsam :

(1) Tanjai MaamaNIkkOil: Sri NeelamEgap PerumAL
and Sengamalvalli ThAyAr

(2) TanjayALi Nagar: Sri Tanjai Naayaki SamEtha 
Sri Narasimhan under Vedasundara VimAnam .

(3) MaNikkunRap PerumAL Sannidhi: Sri Ambhujavalli
SamEtha Sri MaNikkunRap PerumAL is the presiding 
Lord here .

The first two Dhivya dEsams are on the banks 
of the Historic VeNNAr river . 

In His 70th Paasuram of Second ThiruvanthAdhi ,
BhUthatthAzhwAr celebrates the presence of 
the Lord of Tanjai MaamaNikkOil as antharyAmi 
Brahmam in the heart lotuses of of His BhakthAs :

" TamaruLLam Tanjai Talaiarangam TaNNkAll
--yEvalla Yenthaikkidam  "

It was a beautiful evening and the young Bhattar 
helped us have the sEvais of the EmprumAns
at each of the three sannidhis.

The Udayavar SatAri (MudaliyANDAn ) , which was consecrated 
by Azhagiya Singar earlier through ManthrAkshadai was travelling 
with us .That SatAri was placed at the sacred feet 
of all the three PerumALs as a part of 
the SatAri's travel towards ThirunArAyaNapuram .

Swamy Desikan's kumArar , Sri NayinArAcchAryar
spent a significant period of time with Sri
Brahma Tantra Svathanthra Swamy here at Sri
NeelamEghap PerumAL Sannidhi ; during such a stay ,
he  estblished the sampradhAyam that during 
the anadhyayana kaalam after ThirukkArthikai , 
only the taniyans for the NaalAyira
dhivya prabhandham  , RaamAnuja NooRRanthAdhi
and Desika Prabhandham  should be recited in place
of the Dhivya prabhandhams .

Here, Sri NainArAchAryAr (Kumaara VaradAchAr )
peformed prathishtai for the vigrahms of AzhwArs, 
EmperumAnAr , Swamy Desikan and Lord HayagrIvan . 

VeNNArrankari is also the birth place of
one of the greatst AchAryAs of Poundarikapuram
Aasramam, Srimath ParamahamsEthyAdhi Sri SrinivAsa
MahA Desikan , whose 150th anniversary was celebrated 
recently.

As the night traffic increased , we travelled to
Srirangam to rest for the night under the safety
of the sacred feet of NamperumAL celebrated by 
Swami Desikan in His celebrated AdhikAra Sangraham 
Paasuram (51) :

" uRusakatamudaya oru kaaluRRuNarnthana--
vidal ariya PERIYA PERUMAAL menn PadhangaLE "

As the morning dawned on the 8th day of February , 
we were ready for the day's woeship to Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha 
Sri RanganAthan's ThirukkOil .

Azhagiya Singar ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchArui Sadagopan