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From: Madhavakkannan V (srivaishnavan_at_hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Feb 26 2002 - 04:28:27 PST
SrI:
SrImathE ramanujaya namah:
Dear Sri Rajaram,
Possibly sri NathamunigaL would have addressed them as AzhwArs as he was the
one who compiled the pAsurams. AzhwArs really and very deeply immersed
themselves in their devotion and bhakti towards the Lord Sriya: Pathi
Sriman Narayanan. The AzhwArs are reported to be incarnations of
NithyasUris of Sri Vaikuntam, namely, the weapons, the Vanamaali, the
GarudA, et al. They lived like human beings and burst out bhakti laden
great works for the sake of humanity. The works of Alwars stood
mysteriously a replica of the Vedas themselves and therefore came to be
known as Dravida Veda. In fact, there is a view that even the great
Rishis are no match to the greatness of the Alwars because these
Rishis got their 'jnAnam' ( wisdom) as a result of their own actions of
'spiritual merit' ( Punyam) whereas the wisdom of the Alwars was the
direct result of the Lord's divine grace and therefore called ' Divyam'.
It is because of this that the works of Alwars is called ' Divya
Prabandham' are 4000 poems (pAsurams).
These works of AzhwArs are non-paralleled in every sense- be it in
sentiment, style or syntax.They take even a casual reader on a guided
tour into the esoteric exegesis of the Vedas without offending the
provisions of exclusions and prohibitions enjoined in the study of the
Vedas in original. (from Sri Anbil Ramaswamy's write up)
AzhwAr's paasurams (poems) called naalaayira dhivyap prabhandam
composed by twelve AzhwArs.The paasurams were collected and brought out
by one of the much revered Sri vaishnava AchAryAs called Sriman
Naathamuni. By the time of sriman Naathamuni (9th century A.D.) the
AzhwAr paasurams were not lost or unknown. It was by divine grace of
Sriman Narayanan that Sriman Naathamuni came to know of the Tamil poems
praising Lord Vishnu. It is believed that Sriman Naathamuni heard some
devotees visiting his home town of VeeranaaraayaNapuram (present day
kaattu mannaarkudi near Mayilaadurthurai or Mayavaram) singing a few (11)
Tamil songs starting with "aaraa amudhE adiyEn udalam" and ending with
"... kurugoor sadagOpan
kuzhalil maliyach sonna Or
aayiratthuL ippatthum,
mazhalai theera vallaar kaamar
maanEy nOkkiyarkE."
(NammAzhwAr's Thiruvaaymozhi 5.8.1 - 5.8.11)
Sriman Naathamuni was greatly excited and enchanted with the exquisite
beauty of the poems. He approached the devotees and enquired about
its origin. The ending of the 11 poems, "aayiratthuL ippatthu,"(means
this ten of the thousand) suggested that there are many more such
poems (may be thousand?). This possibility intrigued Sriman Naathamuni.
Unfortunately, the devotees were unaware of any other poems besides the
eleven they had just finished reciting. However, they suggested to Sriman
Naathamuni that he may try enquiring in the town of thiruk kurugoor,
present day AzhwAr thiru nagari near thirunelvEli. So he set out to
travel from kaattumannarkudi to thiruk kurugoor, a long journey indeed
in his time. There he found one paraangusa daasar. From him, Sriman
Naathamuni learnt 11 more paasurams called kaNNinuN sirutthaambu. These
were composed by Madhurakavi AzhwAr and all 11 paasurams are in praise
of kurugoor SadagOpan (NammAzhwAr). Sriman Naathamuni was excited to
have doubled his collection. But this only whetted his desire to seek out
the more than 1,000, promised in the first set of paasurams he fell in
love with at his home town.
Paraangusa daasar suggested that he repeatedly recite this great
kaNNinuN sirutthaambu (sung in praise of Sri Sadagopan- NammAzhwAr)
in the hope of pleasing the Lord. Sriman Naathamuni took his advice
sincerely and recited it about 12,000 times! It is said that NammAzhwAr
was impressed with Sriman Naathamuni's persistence and appeared
before him. NammAzhwAr was so impressed that he revealed to Sriman
Naathamuni not just the 1102 paasurams of his own "thiruvaay mozhi", but
also all the rest of the paasurams composed by the other eleven AzhwArs.
>From this, we may deduce that it is Sriman Naathamuni, who gathered the
Tamil treatise (these 4000 peoms) praising Lord Vishnu composed by the
twelve AzhwArs. Sriman naadhamuni called this collection of paasurams or
prabhandams naalaayira dhivya prabhandam or draavida vEdham.
Due perhaps to historical reasons, much of these treasures had been
lost to humanity for a while. It was given to the great Naathamuni to
retrieve and revivify them in their pristine glory for the benefit of
posterity. The long line of the lineage of preceptors who followed him
kept the torch burning and handed them over to successive generations .
We can justifiably be proud of the rich heritage . It is our duty,
therefore, to familiarize ourselves with the lives and works of these
preceptors , the least we can do as a token of our gratitude for the
invaluable treasures bequeathed to us.
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