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ALAVANDAR VAIBHAVAM
(By Sri. U.Ve. Elayavilli Sriraman swami)
Sri Nathamunigal, out of His immense bhakthi towards Lord Krishna and
River Yamuna, resided for a while at Brindavan and therefore asked
His son Iswaramuni to name his grandson Yamunai Thuraivan.
¡°We are not just poets. We are not mere scholars who have seen the
other shore of the Shastras. But we have the strength and ability to
tear open the temple of the wild elephant called the opponent
debaters who indulge only in cheap publicity.
When Aakkialwan read the sloka, his face turned crimson and he
shouted aloud that he would debate with this young imposter. Looking
at Sri Yamuna, the king ordered him ¡°You please start the debate with
our court pundit, Aakkialwan¡±. Sri Yamuna replied, ¡°Well, your
Majesty it is hard for you to decide the winner and the loser when we
debate and we both may not accept defeat. Therefore it would be
appropriate if we argue in the midst of learned scholars who are
assembled here¡±. Having invited all learned men, he occupied the
royal throne along with his queen at the debating hall. The queen,
being very much impressed by the handsome appearance of the young
man, drew the attention of the King towards him and exclaimed that he
would never sustain defeat in the wordy quarrel. If at all he is
defeated, she said that she would become a maid and cook the food for
the dogs in the palace. The King too retorted saying that in case
Aakkialwan was the loser, he would part with half of his kingdom by
presenting it to Sri Yamuna.
Now the debate started. Aakkialwan said to Sri Yamuna, ¡°Let us start
with ordinary worldly affairs. I will negate all your affirmatives
and your negative statements will be made affirmatives by me.¡±
Agreeing to this proposal, Sri Yamuna uttered three sentences to
Aakkialwan.
Pondering over this matter, Sri Aalavandar finally declared that his
relationship with his Acharya Sri Nathamunigal who is also his
grandfather would certainly ensure his emancipation. He also appeals
to the Lord to ignore his good conduct, which may fetch him salvation
but care for only his grandfather¡¯s natural love for His holy feet
and his (Aalavandar¡¯s) relationship with him. We may go on enlisting
all the virtues and activities of Sri Aalavandar which is endless.
As an initial step, a portion of his life history is sketched here
for the benefit of Srivaishnavas, a reading of which will get the
blessings of Sri Aalavandar.
Srimathe Ramanujaya namaha
Sri Vara Vara munaye Namaha
After UyyakondAr attained paramapadam, Manakkal Nambi was looking after the
spreading of the sampradayam to others along with his sishyas. Some days
passed by and Iswara muni was blessed with a son in the month of Aadi
(July-August) under Utthiradam star. On hearing this happy news, Nambi rushed
to the place of Ishwara muni to bless the child and subsequently performed all
the requisite ceremonies for a new born child. According to the verses
After that, Ishwara munigal attained paramapadam and Yamunai thuraivar took the
responsibility of performing his last rites of BrahmamEda samskaram and
completed “Pallipaduttudal” and other appropriate karmas.
After this, when Yamunai thuraivar was involved in doing sAstrAbyAsam with MahA
BhAshya Bhattar, there lived in the same kingdom a Head purohit by name
AkkiyAzhwAn. He proved to be a great scholar in all shastras. He began to
invite all scholars of his kingdom for a dasabhandam (Scholarly
contest/challenge). He also invited MahA Bhashya Bhattar to take part in the
challenge. Knowing AkkiyAzhwan’s capabilites, Bhattar became a bit disturbed.
Sensing this, Yamunai thuraivar enquired to Bhattar the reason behind his
mental disturbance.
(To be continued)
In reply to Yamunai Thuraivar’s question, Bhattar explained him the reason for
his mental state. In turn, Yamunai Thuraivar took the invitation from Bhattar
and tore the same into pieces. This news reached Akkiyazhwan and he now started
wondering whether Yamunai Thuraivar is just a poet or a great scholar of very
high caliber. He requested Yamunai Thuraivar to visit his court. Yamunai
Thuraivar sent the following sloka as a reply to Akkiyazhwan’s invitation:
“Navayam kavayasthu kEvalam navayam kEvala thatra pArakaha: -
Akkiyazhwan started the debate by posing “In this worldly life, he can challenge
to refute, whatever said by YT and subsequently whatever refuted by YT can be
argued against his refute and the winner can step on the head of the loser. YT
accepted the challenge and told the following three things for AkkiAzhwan to
refute:
Your mother doesn’t have motherhood; (or your mother is a barren women)
King is a Sarvabowman; (Righteous and powerful ruler)
The queen is a pathivrathA; (role model of chastity)
AkkiyAzhwan was dumbfounded by the above three statements and could not refute
any of the above three.
Then they entered into debate on saastram “There are three things in saastram ,
Uttamam, Madyamam and Adhamam; In this which is three worded, five worded and
seven worded. If you can win this I can accept your victory. Again AkkiAzhwan
was ignorant of the above and accepted defeat. According to the challenge, the
winner had the right to step over the loser’s head. But since AkkiAzhwan was
the purohit of the kingdom and also an elderly person by age he refused to do
so. Seeing this, all the other Scholars became very happy and celebrated
Yamunai Thuraivar’s victory and the queen happily remarked “Have you come to
rule over us?”(emmai AlavandeerO?).
SRI ALAVANDAR VAIBHAVAM-6
At the same time, Aalavandaar also started his return journey back to Srirangam.
On the way, he met his oncoming shisyas at the banks of the river karaimani. On
the very sight of his Acharya, DeivavAriAndan with great respect, fell onto his
feet. Due to his illness he couldn’t even get up. Aalavandaar was surprised to
see his shisya in this state and he remarked,
This remark made deivavAriAndan further weak due to the realization of his
mistake that he has done an act which is against his own svaroopam (nature).
Aalavandaar further asked him, “Are you going to stay lying down until I become
a svathantran and sooran?” Hearing this deivavAriAndAn raised in a great hurry
not wanting to commit one another mistake, which will cause svaroopa hAni
(deterioration of his nature) along with the one already committed by going
against his acharya’s order.
The other shisyas (SreepAdhaththu mudaligal) then explained in detail the state
to which deivavAriAndan went, equating it to the state, explained by ilaya
perumal if he had to get separated from perumal (“jalAn matsyAn nivOdhrudhou:”).
Alavandaar was highly pleased with the acharya bhakthi of his shisya and he
patted him on his back and felt for the sad state of deivavAriAndAn. Later
showing the Gopuram of thiruvananadhapuram, Alavandaar asked deivavAriAndan to
go and visit the perumal, anantha padmanAbhan lying on thousand headed adisesha,
and return back. But deivavAriAndAn refused saying that his anandhapuram is
right in front of him (referring to his acharya).
Aalavandaar was amazed to see such a great shisya bhAvam and he was reminded of
the following verses: “yEnaivagurunAyasya nyAsa vidhyA pradheeyathE-tasya
vaikundha dukthApthi dvArakAsarva Eva sa:” “villAr mani kozhikkum venkatap
porkundra mudal sellAr pozhil soozh thiruppathigal ellam, marula mirul Oda
maththagaththuth thandhAr arulAlE vaiththa avar” and the verse starting with
“nindra vankeerthiyum………….vunninai malarththAl endranakkum adhu”
Aalavandaar along with deivavAriAndAn and his other shisyas reached srirangam
and had the darshan of periya perumal with great joy. Aalavandaar sat in the
seat of darshana pravartakar and started spreading our sampradayam. One fine
day, a question aroused in his mind- “Who will follow me to be the darshana
pravarthakar and spread this sampradayam?” Not finding a suitable person
aalavandaar was worried when: -----------------