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Fwd: Re: kamba rAmAyanam

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lsrinivas • November 6, 2002 


--- In bhakti-list@y..., Sadagopan  wrote:
> Dear SrI Mani Varadarajan:
> 
> SrI Selva nampi of ThirukkOttiyUr
> is generally  recognized as the AchAryan 
> of PeriyAzhwAr prior to the time he was
> commanded by the Lord to go to the Madhurai
> King's sabha to establish NaarAyana Parathvam.
> 

I understand apimAnatuGkan celvan to be the name of a Pandya royal 
personage. (cf BV Ramanujam, History of Vaishnavism upto Ramanuja, 
Annamalai University).

> PeriyAzhwAr until then was not tutored in
> VedAs and Upanishads . He was just doing Maalaa
> Kaimkaryam at SrIvilliputthUr. 

I am not clear what textual or traditional basis there is for the 
understanding that PeriyAzvAr was not tutored in sruti and smrti.  

On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that PeriyAzvAr was a 
highly learned and scholarly person who had perhaps forsworn mere 
sastraic erudition and adopted the way of service of a Vaishnava par 
excellence. For one thing, Sri Vedanta Desika refers to him as a 
commentator on the Kalpasutras. (cf kalpa sUtra AkhyAtAvAna 
periyAzvAr, RahasyatrayasAram) 

It is also interesting to compare his approach with that of Sri 
ALavantAr in AgamaprAmANyam. Thus in the AgamaprAmANyam, the Vaidika 
objector of Bhagavata practices speaks as follows:

"They offer puja to a god, undergo a special consecration, consume 
the eatable offerings, observe a series of sacraments that deviate 
from the traditional series, which begins with the planting of the 
seed and ends with the cremation, " . Again, "they do wear the 
offered garlands and do eat the offered eatables".  (AgamaprAmANyam 
transl. and edited  by JAB Van Buitenen) 

These and other objections of the Vaidika pUrvapakSin are refuted by 
ALavantAr (yAmunAcArya) thus establishing the validity of the 
Bhagavata practices. 

PeriyAzvAr seems to be very much having this polemic in mind in the 
opening verses of tiruppallANTu. But instead of negating and refuting 
the objections of outsiders and proving the validity of Bhagavata 
practices in the Vaidika value system (a sastraic methodology), he 
states each one of these seemingly offending practices as an article 
of faith of the Vaishnava (toNTarkulam).

Various phrases in the tiruppallANTu seem to echo what ALavantAr 
lists as other people's objections:  

"Etu nilattil iTuvatan munnam vantu eGkaL kuzAm pukuntu"
"vantu aTi tozutu Ayira nAmam colli"
"tIyiR polikinRa ceJcuTar Azi tikaz tiruccakkarattin"
"neyyiTai nallatOr cORum niyatamum attANI cEvakamum"
"uTuttuk kaLainta nin pItakavATai uTuttu kalattatuNTu
toTutta tuzAymalar cUTikkaLaintana cUTum ittoNTarkaLOm" 

Thus it turns out PeriyAzvAr was well versed in all the sastraic 
controversies of his time and could comment on it in sastraic terms 
if he wished. It appears that he chose to be a singing devotee i.e., 
bhakta ("pATumanam uTai pattar uLLIr vantu pallANTu kURuminE!"). 

It may be pointed out that yAmunAcArya also adds a stanza, at the end 
of the Agamapramanyam, glorifying the "impeccable scriptures, whose 
spirit has been increased by the glorious Lord Nathamuni".  He is of 
course refering here to the Divyaprabandham. 

Hope this helps,

Lakshmi Srinivas






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