Beginner's Guide to SrIvaishNavam

Beginner’s guide to
SrIvaishNavam
Authors: rAmAnuja dAsas
Published by Sri VaraVaraMuni Sambandhi Trust
(www.varavaramuni.com)
Book code : E-25-BGTSV-01-D First Edition : 2019 January
This book is available in print with us and can be obtained for a

minimum donation. Please contact us at koyil.org@gmail.com to
get your own copy.
http://koyil.org koyil.org@gmail.com
Beginner’s Guide
Pronunciation guide
 A is used for “aa” sound – example: emperumAnAr,

rAmAnuja
 E is used for “yay” sound – example: EkAdhasi
 I is used for “ee” sound – example: ISvara. "ee" is also
used at times, when the word contains both "l" and
"I" as in the case of lIlA - it will be written as leelA (to
avoid confusion)
 O is used for “Oh” sound – example: Om
 U is used for “oo” sound – example: Urdhva pundram
 zh is used for very strong “l” sound – example:
AzhwAr
 L is used for strong “l” sound – example: muL (thorn)
 N is used for strong “n” sound – example: nArAyaNa
 R is used for strong "r" sound - example: puRappAdu
(procession); its also used for "tr" sound in thamizh
when there is double "R" - example: uRRAr (utRAr -
relative)
 d is used strong “d” sound – example: garuda
 dh is used for meek “d” sound – example: gOvindha
 t is used for strong “t” sound – example: ganta
 th is used for meek “t” sound – example: vratham
 sa, sha, ksha are typed as it is – examples:
samskritham, shashti and kshamA
 S is used for strong “s” sound – example SEsha,
kESava
 : is used for ha sound in samskritham words –
examples: nama: to be said as namaha
http://pillai.koyil.org 2 http://koyil.org
Beginner’s Guide
Our AzhwArs and AchAryas have showed us two great

treasures - archAvathAra emperumAns and granthams
(dhivya prabandham, sthOthrams, vyAkyAnams, rahasya
granthams etc). We strive to provide access to both -
emperumAn and granthams, and the
AzhwArs/AchAryas, through our website portal
(http://koyil.org). As part of this initiative, we are
presenting printed books for the benefit of everyone.
We request and encourage everyone to make use of this
opportunity and
 get these books for oneself and develop/refresh

one's own knowledge
 get these books in bulk and place them in their
AchArya's mutt/thirumALigai, so that the AchArya
can give a copy of these books to those who
become Sishyas. These books can be studied by
Sishyas and any doubts can be clarified by the
AchArya himself - thus leading to an enriching
relationship between AchArya and Sishya.
 share them with others as a compliment during
SrIvaishNava festivals, functions at home etc and
gift them to friends/relatives during functions and
important events at their homes
Beginner’s Guide
 think about many other creative ways of

sharing/spreading knowledge
Reading the principles explained by our pUrvAchAryas in

simple language will make us gain knowledge about our
sampradhAyam and will also stimulate the taste for
progressing further such as learning the literature in
depth through upanyAsams, kAlakshEpams etc under
qualified scholars and engaging in various kainkaryams.
With the intent of spreading this divine knowledge far

and wide to reach all SrIvaishNavas and those who are
aspiring to become a SrIvaishNava, we only expect a
minimum donation that covers the cost to print the
books. Courier/postage charges will be extra.
Please send a mail to koyil.org@gmail.com or a message

to +91-8220151966, 9600595273 or 9445400573, if you
are interested in getting printed copies of these books.
We also have many e-books available with us in multiple

languages at http://koyil.org/index.php/e-books/ .
Full list of printed books available at

http://koyil.org/index.php/printed-books/ and can be
ordered from there.
Kindly download “kOyil” app from Google Play Store or Apple

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Beginner’s Guide
Preface
SrI: SrImathE satakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:
Simple introductory articles.
ANdAL pAtti (grandma) teaches her grand children

parASara and vyAsa who are eager to learn the basics
(and the nitty gritties too) about SrIvaishNavam. vyAsa
and parASara are two smart kids who are fond of
questioning a lot and ANdAL pAtti is smarter and is fond
of answering the questions with patience. It is said that
when one has any queries/doubts in ones conduct,
he/she should enquire from the elderly lady in the family.
Our SrIvaishNava ammangars (grand mothers
specifically) were traditionally filled with wisdom and
were also great story-tellers. They would so beautifully
explain the incidents from SrI rAmAyaNam,
mahAbhAratham and the lives of AzhwArs and
AchAryas. Children too were greatly attached to their
grand mothers for their ability to engage them in
Beginner’s Guide
wonderful matters effortlessly. We hope that you will

enjoy this series of articles and learn from them too.
With contributions from:
 bhArgavai rAmAnuja dAsi

 jAnaki rAmAnuja dAsi
 jayakrishNan rAmAnuja dAsan
 madhusUdhana rAmAnuja dAsan
 parASara rAmAnuja dAsan
 sadagOpa rAmAnuja dAsan
 sAranAyaki rAmAnuja dAsi
 sArathy rAmanuja dAsan
 sowmyA rAmAnuja dAsi
 SrIrAm (SrInivAsa) rAmAnuja dAsan
Source: http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/beginners-guide/
Web:
pramEyam (goal) – http://koyil.org

pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org
Beginner’s Guide
Table of Contents
Part – 1 9
Introduction to SrIvaishNavam 9
Who is SrIman nArAyaNa? 12
SrIman nArAyaNa’s divine form and qualities 15
SrI mahAlakshmI’s motherly nature 20
SrIman nArAyaNa’s divine mercy 25
Part -2 31
Introduction to AzhwArs 31
mudhalAzhwArgaL – part 1 35
mudhalAzhwArgaL – part 2 39
thirumazhisai AzhwAr 42
nammAzhwAr and madhurakavi AzhwAr 45
kulasEkara AzhwAr 50
periyAzhwAr 55
ANdAL 59
thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr 63
thiruppANAzhwAr 66
thirumangai AzhwAr 69
dhivya prabandham – the most valuable gift from
AzhwArs 73
Part 3 77
Introduction to AchAryas 77
nAthamunigaL 80
uyakkoNdAr and maNakkAl nambi 83
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ALavandhAr 87
periya nambi 91
ALavandhAr’s Sishyas – 1 95
ALavandhAr’s Sishyas – 2 100
rAmAnujar – Part 1 108
rAmAnujar – Part 2 115
embAr 125
bhattar 131
nanjIyar 140
nampiLLai 145
nampiLLai’s Sishyas 154
piLLai lOkAchAryar and nAyanAr 164
piLLai lOkAchAryar’s sishyas 171
vEdhAnthAchAryar 176
thiruvAimozhip piLLai 180
azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL 186
ashta dhik gajangaL and others 191
Part 4 201
anushtAnams (Best practices) 201
kainkaryam (Service) 205
apachArams (offenses) 209
Beginner’s Guide
Part - 1
Introduction to SrIvaishNavam
ANdAL pAtti is reciting thiruppAvai, when parASara and
vyAsa comes running towards her.
parASara: pAtti, we have a doubt. We keep hearing

about SrIvaishNavam, please tell me what does that
mean.
ANdAL pAtti: Oh, very nice question parASara.

SrIvaishNavam is the eternal path which outlinesSrIman
nArAyaNa as the supreme lord and his followers
worship him with full faith.
vyAsa: But pAtti, why SrIman nArAyaNa? why not some

one else.
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ANdAL pAtti: vyAsa, that is a good question. let me

explain. SrIvaishNavam is based on vEdham,
vEdhAntham and dhivya prabhandhams of AzhwArs. All
of these are called pramANam – pramANam means
authentic source of information. All these pramANams
unanimously explain that SrIman nArAyaNa is the cause
of all causes. We are supposed to worship the supreme
cause. That supreme cause is explained as SrIman
nArAyaNa. That is why SrIvaishNavam fully focusses on
SrIman nArAyaNa.
vyAsa: That is good to know pAtti. So, we understand

that we are also followers of SrIvaishNavam. Generally,
What are we supposed to do pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: We regularly worship perumAL, thAyAr,

AzhwArs, AchAryas, etc.
parASara: pAtti, you said we focus fully on SrIman

nArAyaNa. But why worship thAyAr, AzhwArs,
AchAryas, etc?
ANdAL pAtti: That is a very good question parASara.

thAyAr is the divine consort (wife) of perumAL. See,
perumAL is our father and thAyAr is our mother. We
worship them together only. Often, you offer
praNAmams to both your father and mother – so
similarly, we also worship perumAL and thAyAr
together. AzhwArs and AchAryas are dear devotees of
SrIman nArAyaNa. They had very strong devotion
towards SrIman nArAyaNa. They were the ones who
clearly highlighted the glories of perumAL and thAyAr –
so we worship them too.
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vyAsa: What else we do pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: As SrIvaishNavas, we understand

everyone is children of perumAL and thAyAr. So, we
pray for the well being of everyone. We help others in
their devotion towards SrIman nArAyaNa.
parASara: How do we do that pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: Oh, that is very easy. Whenever we meet

any one we discuss with them only about perumAL,
thAyAr, AzhwArs and AchAryas. By understanding the
greatness of perumAL, thAyAr, AzhwArs, AchAryas, etc
– they will also develop devotion. That will be very
beneficial to everyone.
vyAsa: This is very nice pAtti. what a wonderful way to

spend our time? Thank you so much pAtti. Today we
learnt some basic things about SrIvaishNavam.
ANdAL pAtti: It is very nice of both of you to ask such

intelligent questions. perumAL and thAyArwill be very
happy for both of you. Come, let us have some
prasAdham now.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/07/introducti
on-to-SrIvaishnavam/
Beginner’s Guide
Who is SrIman nArAyaNa?

ANdAL pAtti takes parASara and vyAsa to SrIrangam
temple.
vyAsa: Wow, pAtti, its a huge temple. We haven‟t seen

anything like this big before. We have heard about kings
living in such huge palaces. Are we going to visit a king?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, We are going to visit the king of all,

rangarAjan here. rangarAjan (the king of SrIrangam), we
fondly call him as periya perumAL and namperumAL in
SrIrangam. periya perumAL in the lying posture over
Adhi sEshan shows his supremacy or swAmithvam. He
waits for his devotees to visit him and showers his
blessings when they visit him, whereas namperumAL
exhibits saulabhyam, one who is easy to approach, he
understands the difficulties of some of his devotees,
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who might not be able to visit him, therefore he visits

them as part of his puRappAdu (savAri/procession). In
SrIrangam almost throughout the year, we will
have namperumAL visiting his devotees and showering
his blessings on them.
parASara: pAtti, but we thought perumAL stays in

vaikuntam, how come he is here as well?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes parASara, what you heard is right.

perumAL is in vaikuntam and he has also come here to
be with us. I‟m sure you might have heard about the
various forms of water: liquid, steam and ice. Likewise,
perumAL has five forms, they are para, vyUha, vibhava,
antharyAmi and archai. The form that perumAL has
taken in SrIrangam is known as archAvathAram.
avatharam means coming down or descending. As I told
you earlier, we pray for the well-being of everyone in this
world. SrIman nArAyaNa came here as an answer to
our prayers. He has a great affection for all of us and
prefers to be with us, that is also one of the reasons for
his presence as SrIranganAthan here.
Beginner’s Guide
pAtti, vyAsa and parASara leaves the sanctum

Sanctorium after worshipping periya perumAL.
vyAsa: We have also started to like him, after hearing

more about him from you, pAtti. Moreover, he looks like
us pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: He not only looks like one of us, but he

also lived like one of us. In vibhava form, he renounced
his supreme vaikuntam to be with us and was born and
lived like us as SrI rAma and krishNa. Many of us have
special liking for either SrI rAma or krishNa, so he
decided to continue to be with us as krishNa in periya
perumAL‟s form and as SrI rAma in namperumAL‟s
form. periya perumAL is always seen lying in a deep
thought, thinking about his devotees and namperumAL
is always in the middle of us, enjoying the love shown by
his devotees.
All three of them reach their home.
vyAsa and parASara: OK, pAtti. We are going to the

playground now.
ANdAL pAtti: Play carefully children and do remember to

talk about SrIman nArAyaNa as much as possible with
your friends as well.
Source: http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/07/who-is-
SrIman-narayana/
Beginner’s Guide
SrIman nArAyaNa’s divine archA form

and qualities
vyAsa and parASara come back to ANdAL pAtti‟s house
after playing with their friends. They find ANdAL pAtti
arranging fruits, flowers and nuts in a plate:
vyAsa: pAtti, whom are you arranging these fruits and

flowers for?
ANdAL pAtti: vyAsa, It is time for SrIranganAthan‟s

procession and he visits us on the way. When someone
visits us as our guests, especially elders, it is our duty to
take care of them, while they are with us. That too when
a grand eternal king visits us, we need to ensure that he
is taken care of thoroughly.
parASara: Oh sure, pAtti. Then, I will give the fruits

to SrIranganAthan, when he arrives.
ANdAL pAtti: That‟s so nice of you, parASara. Come,

let‟s wait at the entrance for his arrival.
namperumAL (SrIranganAthan) arrives in front of

ANdAL pAtti‟s home. parASara is found gleaming at the
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propect of providing the fruits and flowers

to SrIranganAthan
parASara : pAtti, What does he hold on his left hand?
chakram (disc) in right hand, sanku (conch) in left hand

– above his shoulders,
abhaya hastham (posture giving protection) in right
hand, mace in left hand – below his shoulders
ANdAL pAtti: He holds a mace in his left hand,

parASara. In the archAvathAram ofSrIranganAthan, he
has four hands. On the other left hand over his shoulder,
he holds a conch and on the hand seen above his right
shoulder, he holds a sudharsana chakram. He shows
his weapons to inform us, that he is always around to
take care of us and to destroy our difficulties.
vyAsa: What does the right hand signify, pAtti?
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abhaya hastham – posture of hand giving us protection
ANdAL pAtti: That‟s a nice question. His right hand is

directed affectionately towards us to say that “I am here
to take care of you, so don‟t fear” and also to let us
know his affection for all of us. Just like how a cow runs
to a calf, when the calf needs her, no matter how the
calf might have behaved before.
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tall crown (supremacy) and smiling face (simplicity)
vyAsa: Ok, pAtti. Then, what does he have over his

head?
ANdAL pAtti: It‟s a crown, vyAsa. It shows that he is the

owner of everything in this world.
parASara: The crown looks very good, pAtti. It fits very

well with his adorable face
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, he has the most adorable face. He is

always happy being with us, that too when he is
between children like you, he is even happier.
parASara: Yes, pAtti. I saw him from a very close

distance. I could also see him smiling and his feet even
closer.
ANdAL pAtti: Oh, that‟s nice parASara. We usually say

“lotus feet” due to its tender and beautiful nature. His
smiling face indicates that he is easily he has
descended joyfully to be with us. His lotus feet are so
firmly placed over the pItam (lotus flower base), which
means that he has come down for us and he will not
leave us. So, today, we have seen some of his main
auspicious qualities in his archAvatharam form namely
vAthsalyam (motherly forbearance – him showing his h
and in protecting us), svAmithvam (supremacy – long

crown), sauseelyam (mixing freely with us – ever-
present smile in his beautiful face) and saulabhyam
(easy approachability – his lotus feet which is easy to
hold on to).
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vyAsa and parASara stand in awe and their eyes follow

the procession as it goes past them.
Source: http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/08/SrIman-
narayanas-divine-archa-form-and-qualities/
Beginner’s Guide
SrI mahAlakshmI’s motherly nature
The next day pAtti takes parASara and vyAsa to

SrIrangam temple via North Uththara vIdhi (street). As
soon as they enter the temple. vyAsa and parASara
finds a sannidhi on their right side.
vyAsa: pAtti, whose sannidhi is this?
ANdAL pAtti: vyAsa, this is SrI ranganAyaki

thAyAr Sannidhi.
parASara: pAtti, but we only saw SrI

ranganAtha yesterday in the procession.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, parASara. That is right. It is

because, SrI ranganAyaki thAyAr does not come out of
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her Sannidhi. Even SrI ranganAtha has to visit her, if he

wants to see her.
parASara: Oh! ok pAtti. That means, we need to visit her

all the time. Now, we have one more reason to visit the
temple, whenever we are in SrIrangam.
After the dharsan of thAyAr, they come out of the

Sannidhi.
ANdAL pAtti: Let me ask a question to both of you.

When you both return home late in the evening after
playing games, how do your father react?
vyAsa: pAtti, He gets angry during those times.
ANdAL pAtti: Do your father punish you then?
parASara: We rarely get punished pAtti. Whenever he is

angry, our mother stops him from punishing us.
ANdAL pAtti: Just like that, we may do things

which perumAL might not want us to do and he may feel
like punishing us for it, during those times, thAyAr talks
to perumAL and protects us from the punishment.
parASara: Then you are right, pAtti. She is like our

mother.
ANdAL pAtti: Atleast, namperumAL carries weapons

though it is for our protection, but thAyArcarries lotus
flowers only since she is very soft-natured. To
reach perumAL you need to cross ranga-ranga
gOpuram, then nAzhikettAn vAsal (entrance), then
garudar Sannidhi, dhwajasthambam and then SrI
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ranganAtha‟s sannidhi. But As soon as you enter from

North uthra vIdhi (street), you reach thAyAr Sannidhi.
Thats how close she is to us.
vyAsa: yes pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: Even as Mother sIthA, she saved

kAkAsura from SrI rAma. kAkAsura, son of indhra, took
the form of a crow and troubled her. SrI rAma was going
to punish him. But she mercifully saved kAkAsura from
SrI rAma. Similarly, she saves all the rAkshasis in the
asOka vanam after SrI rAma killed rAvaNa. hanumAn
wanted to kill them all for the troubles they gave her. But
she kindly saves them and explains to hanumAn that
they were helpless at that time and had to execute
rAvaNa‟s orders. Thus, out of motherly affection, she
tries to protect every one constantly.
sIthA pirAtti saving kAkAsura
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sIthA pirAtti surrounded by rAkshasis
parASara and vyAsa: Hope she can also save us all the
time pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: She certainly will. She will always

recommend to perumAL to protect us as that is her
primary duty.
parASara: Is that all she does pAtti? I mean “talking to

perumAL in favour of us”?
ANdAL pAtti: Well. She does that until perumAL accepts

us. But once perumAL accepts us, she also sits
with perumAL and enjoy our devotion and service
towards them.
vyAsa: How is that pAtti?
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ANdAL pAtti: Its very easy to understand. When you

serve your parents, do you just serve your father?
parASara: No, pAtti. Both mother and father are equally

dear to us. We would like to serve them both.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes – you got it. Similarly, thAyAr helps us

to reach perumAL by recommending to him. But once
we reach perumAL, she also accepts our loving
devotion along with perumAL.
thAyAr and namperumAL – together on panguni

uthram day
parASara and vyAsa: Wow! This is very easy to

understand pAtti. We hope to hear more next time. We
want to go out and play now for some time.
parASara and vyAsa then runs out to play!.
Source: http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/08/SrI-
mahalakshmis-motherly-nature/
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SrIman nArAyaNa’s divine mercy

vyAsa and parASara hears ANdAL pAtti reciting
amalanAdhipirAn on a lovely Sunday morning
parASara: pAtti, What are you reciting? We hear you

recite this every day in the morning.
ANdAL pAtti : parASara, This is called

amalanAdhipirAn. It was composed
by thiruppANAzhwArwho is one among the 12 AzhwArs.
SrI ranganAthan – thiruppANAzhwAr
vyAsa: Who are AzhwArs? What is amalanAdhipirAn?

We would like to know more about them pAtti, can you
tell us?
ANdAL pAtti: I can certainly tell you more

about AzhwArs and their works, but before that, you
need to know something more about SrI ranganAthan.
vyAsa: What is it, pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: You both need to know about his mercy
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parASara: Please tell us pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: As of now, what I am going to tell you

might be little difficult to comprehend. Hence, Just listen
carefully, OK?
parASara and vyAsa: OK, pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: We already saw in previous discussions

how SrIman nArAyaNa descended from parampadham
as SrI rAma, krishNa, etc., and many archAvathAra
emperumAns starting with SrI ranganAthan. He is also
present inside each one of us as antharyAmi.
parASara and vyAsa are now focusing on each and

every word of ANdAL pAtti with utmost attention.
ANdAL pAtti: Can you recollect from previous

discussions why he appears in so many of these forms?
parASara and vyAsa: Oh yes pAtti! We know that he

likes us all so much. So he comes down to be with us.
ANdAL pAtti: Excellent! You have understood the

principles very well. Not only he comes down to be with
us, but he also wants to bring us with him to
paramapadham eventually.
parASara: Why pAtti? What is so special about that

place? Is it better than SrIrangam?
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paramapadhanAthan in paramapadham
(SrIvaikuNtam)
ANdAL pAtti: ha! ha! ofcourse, SrIrangam is very nice.

But paramapadham is his eternal abode where there is
pure bliss and plenty of opportunities for us to serve him
continuously. See, here, we go to temple, participate in
uthsavams, etc., but at some point we have to come
home and do other things. But in paramapadham there
is no such break – its continuous joy.
vyAsa: wow! that is the way I like it – constant bliss.
ANdAL pAtti: Also, here, our body‟s capacity is limited –

we get tired, sometimes catch cold, fever, etc. But in
paramapadham, we get a divine body which has none of
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these troubles. We can eternally engage in kainkaryam

and still not feel tired or sick ever.
parASara: wow! that is even better. So, what does he do

to bring us to parampadham.
ANdAL pAtti: Excellent question. He does so many

things out of his limitless mercy. Mercy means helping
others out of kindness. He himself descends as SrI
rAma, krishNa, ranganAtha, SrInivAsa, etc. But he still is
unable to bring more of us with him, since many people
dont understand him clearly and accept him as
supreme.
vyAsa: Why dont people understand him when he is in-

front of them?
ANdAL pAtti: It is because he is so big, so some people

are envious and others are scared to approach him
seeing his supremacy.
parASara: Oh OK. I am assuming this is some how

leading up to AzhwArs.
ANdAL pAtti: Brilliant. Yes. perumAL thought of an idea.

Do you know how hunters catch deers? They first catch
a deer with great effort. They then train that deer to
attract other deers. When other deers become attracted
by the original deer, the hunter quickly catches them all.
vyAsa: Yes pAtti. I have heard about the same trick

being applied to catch elephants as well.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. Similarly, perumAL out of his

causeless mercy to help every one, selects a few
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persons and give them full devotion towards him and

blesses them full knowledge about himself and
everything else. Such persons who are immersed in
devotion towards perumALare called AzhwArs.
parASara: Oh. So, through AzhwArs, many become his

devotees and reach him. Wow! Its a great plan
by perumAL.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, this is his great mercy. Remember,

one cannot become an AzhwAr by ones own effort. Only
by bhagavAn„s mercy, one can become an AzhwAr.
Because one can develop some devotion
towards bhagavAn with his/her own effort – but to have
full to devotion towardsbhagavAn only, one needs to
have the full mercy of bhagavAn. Similarly, one can
develop some knowledge through ones own effort – but
to have full knowledge about everything,
onlybhagavAn who has such knowledge can bless
others to have that.
Beginner’s Guide
parASara: Yes, pAtti. We understand now. You are so

good to us in explaining these principles. And see, since
you said its a little bit more difficult subject, we did not
even blink our eyes.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. Before I let you go and play today, I

will just explain you about amalanAdhipirAn, since you
first asked about it. It is the work
of thiruppANAzhwAr who fully enjoyed the divine
beautiful form of periya perumAL. In the 5th pAsuram,
he says to SrI ranganAthan, you have been doing
severe penance for several years, just to relieve me of
my sins and help me understand you and reach you.
That is where our whole conversation about the SrIman
nArAyaNa„s mercy started. Now, you have a good
understanding of the whole thing. Next time, I will
explain you more about the AzhwArs. Now you both can
play for some time.
parASara and vyAsa: Thank you pAtti. We will sure

return to hear about AzhwArs soon.
Source: http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/09/SrIman-
narayanas-divine-mercy/
Beginner’s Guide
Part -2
Introduction to AzhwArs
ANdAL pAtti : vyAsa and parASara! I m going to
kAttazhagiyasinga perumAL sannidhi (a separate
temple for narasimha perumAL). Do you want to join
me?
vyAsa: Sure pAtti. We will join you. Last time you were
telling us about AzhwArs. Can you tell us more about
them now?
ANdAL pAtti: Good that you have asked, I will tell you
both about them now.
All three of them start walking towards

kAttazhagiyasinga perumAL sannidhi.
ANdAL pAtti: There are 12 AzhwArs in total. The

collection of all their songs is now known as „nAlAyira
(4000) dhivya prabhandham‟. Infact, amalanAdhipiran,
the one I recited yesterday is part of this collection of
dhivya prabhandham.
parASara: Oh! Who are those 12 AzhwArs, pAtti?
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: The 12 AzhwArs are poigai

AzhwAr, bhUthathAzhwAr, pEyAzhwAr, thirumazisai
AzhwAr, madhurakavi
AzhwAr, nammAzhwAr, kulasEkara
AzhwAr, periyAzhwAr,ANdAL,thoNdaradippodi
AzhwAr, thiruppANAzhwAr, thirumangai AzhwAr.
vyAsa: Nice, pAtti. So they are the ones who had the
great mercy of perumAL?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, vyAsa. They were fully blessed by

bhagavAn. After being blessed, out of great care
towards other people in this world, they shared the
mercy of perumAL through their pAsurams (songs)
thousands of years back. It is through those pAsurams
we are understanding about bhagavAn and we are
enjoying glories of perumAL.
Beginner’s Guide
parASara: Oh! pAtti, I thought we understood bhagavAn

through vEdham.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. Definitely. But vEdham is very big.

There are many complex matters which are explained in
samskrutham in vEdham that are difficult to understand
without deep study. But,AzhwArs brought about the
essence of vEdham in simple thamizh language in these
4000 pAsurams. And as you well know, the essence of
vEdham is to glorify perumAL. More so, AzhwArs
acquired their knowledge by the direct grace of
bhagavAn instead of their self-effort – so it is all the
more special.
vyAsa: Yes, we understand this now. AzhwArs were

kindly explaining about perumAL in much simpler and
focussed way. Just like you are explaining these matters
to us now.
ANdAL pAtti: Very nice vyAsa – that is very good

example. Now, you remember, previously we discussed
that perumAL exists in 5 different forms – in
paramapadham, in vyUham, avathArams, antharyAmi
and archA form. Different AzhwArs had attachment
towards different forms of perumAL.
parASara: Oh – just like we like SrI ranganAthan so

much, did each AzhwAr had their own
favourite perumAL?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. mudhalAzhwArgaL (First 3 AzhwArs

– poigai AzhwAr, bhUthathAzhwAr,pEyAzhwAr) were
very attached to perumAL„s supremacy – as seen in
paramapadham. thirumazisai AzhwAr had great
Beginner’s Guide
attachment towards antharyAmi – theperumAL inside

the heart of each one of
us. nammAzhwAr, periyAzhwAr and ANdAL had great
attachment towards krishNa. kulasEkara AzhwAr had
great attachment towards SrI rAma. thoNdaradippodi
AzhwAr and thiruppANAzhwAr had great attachment
towards SrI ranganAthan. thirumangai AzhwAr had
great attachment towards all archAvathAra perumALs.
vyAsa and parASara: pAtti, you left madhurakavi

AzhwAr.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes – very nice observation. madhurakavi

AzhwAr was fully devoted tonammAzhwAr.
ANdAL pAtti stops at a flower vendor‟s shop to buy

some flowers for perumAL.
parASara: pAtti, Can you now tell us about each

AzhwAr?
ANdAL pAtti: Surely. But now we have arrived at the

temple. We will go inside and have his dharsan and
glorify him. Next time, I will explain more about each
AzhwAr in detail.
vyAsa and parASara: OK pAtti. Let us go in – we cant

wait to see narasimhar any more.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/10/introducti
on-to-azhwars/
Beginner’s Guide
mudhalAzhwArgaL – part 1
ANdAL pAtti is planning to take vyAsa and parASara
to mudhalAzhwArgaL sannidhi in SrIrangam and explain
them their glories.
poigai AzhwAr
bhUthaththAzhwAr
Beginner’s Guide
pEyAzhwAr
ANdAL pAtti: vyAsa and parASara! Today we will go

to mudhalAzhwArgaL sannidhi in the temple.
vyAsa and parASara: Great pAtti. Let us go now.
ANdAL pAtti: Let me tell a little bit about them while we

walk towards their sannidhi. mudhal means first. We
already know the meaning of AzhwAr – one who is
immersed in devotion. So,mudhalAzhwArgaL are the
first amongst the 12 AzhwArs.
vyAsa: Why is there a plural in mudhalAzhwArgaL pAtti?

Are there more than one “first” AzhwAr?
ANdAL pAtti: Ha! Ha! Very nice question. Yes, amongst

the AzhwArs, the first 3 AzhwArs are always quoted
together.
parASara: Why pAtti? Are they like pancha pANdavas

who were always together?
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: Very nice example parASara. Yes –

though the first 3 AzhwArs were born in 3 different
places, through a divine event, they came together and
met at thirukkOvalUr dhivya dhEsam and
worshipped/enjoyed SrIman nArAyaNan together. After
that incident, they are generally quoted together.
vyAsa: What is that divine event pAtti? I am so curious

to know about it.
ANdAL pAtti: Surely, I will tell you that incident. But

before that, we understand a little about the 3 AzhwArs.
First AzhwAr is named poigai AzhwAr – sarO yOgi.
Second AzhwAr isbhUthaththAzhwAr – bhUtha yOgi.
Third AzhwAr is known as pEyAzhwAr – mahathAhvaya.
parASara: When and where were they born pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: All 3 of them were born in the previous

yuga – dhvApara yuga (the yuga when
krishNAvathAram took place). All 3 of them appeared
from flowers. poigai AzhwAr was born on aippasi
thiruvONam in a pond in thiruvekkA in
kAnchIpuram. bhUthaththAzhwAr was born on aippasi
avittam in a pond in thirukkadalmallai – now you know
this place as mahAbalipuram.pEyAzhwAr was born on
aippasi sathayam in a well in thirumayilai – now you
know this place as mylApUr.
vyAsa: Wow! They were born from flowers. So, dont

they have mother and father?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, they were blessed

by bhagavAn during their birth itself and they fully
Beginner’s Guide
considered thAyAr and perumAL as their mother and

father.
parASara: Oh, that is wonderful to know. So, how did

they meet and what was that divine incident?
ANdAL pAtti: Well, they were individually travelling to

different kshEthrams and were worshipping bhagavAn in
many places. That was their life – just go to a temple,
worshipperumAL and stay there for a few days and then
move on to the next one.
vyAsa: That sounds so wonderful – no need to worry

about anything else. Wish we could do that too pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. Look we have arrived

at mudhalAzhwArgaL sannidhi. Let us go in and have
their dharsan. We will continue with rest of their life on
return.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/11/mudhala
zhwargal-part-1/
Beginner’s Guide
mudhalAzhwArgaL – part 2
ANdAL pAtti, vyAsa and parASara come out
of mudhalAzhwArgaL sannidhi.
parASara: pAtti, it was nice to have the dharsan

of mudhalAzhwArgaL . Are these 3 AzhwArs always
together pAtti?
mudhalAzhwArgaL with
thirukkOvalUr emperumAn – thirrukkOvalUr
ANdAL pAtti: Good question. There is a reason for them

being together. Let me explain. One fine day, by the
divine plan of perumAL, they arrived at thirukkOvalUr
one after another. It was a stormy day. There was heavy
rains. There was a rishi named mrukaNdu who had an
Ashram in thirukkOvalUr. In the front of his Ashram,
there was a small shed. First poigai AzhwAr arrived and
took shelter of the shed to protect himself from the rain.
He lied down there and relaxed for a bit.
parASara: All alone? Wont he be scared?
ANdAL pAtti: No parASara! He wont be scared since he

is always thinking of perumAL. At that
Beginner’s Guide
time, bhUthaththAzhwAr arrives there in the rain and

requests permission to enter the shed. poigai
AzhwAr says “There is limited space here. One person
can lie down but two persons can sit. So, please come
in.”. bhUthaththAzhwAr happily enters and they both sit
next to each other. Soon after, pEyAzhwAr comes
running in the rain wanting to take shelter and he asks
permission to enter the shed. poigai AzhwAr says “Well,
there is limited space here. One person can lie down,
two persons can sit and three persons can stand. So,
please come in, we can all stand.”. Hearing
that pEyAzhwAr, happily enters the place and they all
stand shivering in the cold. They start speaking to each
other, get to know about each other and being very
joyed about the common interest, they start discussing
about perumAL„s beautiful names, forms, qualities, etc.
vyAsa: Wow! That is very nice. Divine indeed. But pAtti,

it would be nice, if perumAL too was present there, just
like he is here as periya perumAL to see us.
ANdAL pAtti: Wait, the incident does not end here. You
have very nicely guessed the next sequence. There is
more divinity on the way. Seeing the assembly of his
dear devotees, nowperumAL wants to be part of this
too. So, he too enters the shed and squeezes himself in
the space. Being dark and suddenly squeezed for
space, the three AzhwArs start wondering what is going
on and who entered the place without their knowledge.
So, first poigai AzhwAr starts singing “vaiyam
thagaLiyA” – imagining the world itself as a lamp.
Then, bhUthaththAzhwAr sings “anbE thagaLiyA” –
imagining his love itself as a lamp. With these lamps,
Beginner’s Guide
the place becomes lit brightly, and pEyAzhwAr first sees

the divine form of SrIman nArAyaNan with his divine
consort SrI mahAlakshmi in the shed amidst them. He
starts singing “thirukkaNdEn …” (I have had the divine
vision of SrIman nArAyaNan with SrI mahAlakshmi, his
divine/beautiful golden form, his divine conch and disc).
All AzhwArs together enjoy the divine vision
of perumAL and thAyAr.
parASara: This is so great. They must have felt so

happy.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes – they were very

happy. perumAL and thAyAr too were very happy. After
this wonderful incident, they visited archAvathAra
emperumAns in many other temples together. They
stayed for the rest of the life together and ascended to
paramapadham finally to be withperumAL always and
serve him.
vyAsa and parASara: This incident is so amazing to

hear. Shall we hear about the next AzhwAr‟s life now?
ANdAL pAtti: You have to wait until next time for that. Its
time for you to play and have some fun outside now
while I go and prepare some food for perumAL which we
can eat later tonight.
vyAsa and parASara: Sure pAtti. We will come back

tomorrow to hear more from you.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/11/mudhala
zhwargal-part-2/
Beginner’s Guide
thirumazhisai AzhwAr
ANdAL pAtti takes parASara and vyAsa

to thiruveLLaRai temple. They board a bus outside
SrIrangam rAja gOpuram.
parASara: pAtti, while we are in the bus, can you tell us

about the fourth AzhwAr?
ANdAL pAtti: Sure, parASara. I am happy to know that

you prefer to speak about AzhwArsduring the journey.
Beginner’s Guide
parASara and vyAsa smile at pAtti. The bus starts from

SrIrangam.
ANdAL PAtti: The fourth AzhwAr is thirumazhisai

AzhwAr, he was fondly called as bhaktisAra. He was
born on thai month magam nakshathram
in thirumazhisai near chennai to bhArgava muni and
kanakAngi. He was the AzhwAr who lived the longest in
this world. He lived for almost 4700 years.
parASara and vyAsa drop their jaw in astonishment and

ask ”4700 years!!!”.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, He traversed through most of the

different philosophies before he met pEyAzhwAr.
vyAsa: Oh! What happened after they met?
ANdAL pAtti: pEyAzhwAr taught him about perumAL in

detail and brought thirumazhisai AzhwAr into
SrIvaishNavam.
The bus reached chathram bus stand.
ANdAL pAtti: He had particular interest in knowing about

antharyami, the perumAL who exists within us and he
was deeply devoted to kumbakONam Aravamudhan, so
much so thatperumAL exchanged his name with
AzhwAr and they came to be known as
ArAvamudhAzhwAr and thirumazhisai pirAn.
parASara: Wow, pAtti. Looks like he had been very

close to perumAL.
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, he had been. Once in a village, when

he was traveling, he visited the temple in that village.
The perumAL was so fond of him, he started turning
towards whichever direction AzhwAr was moving.
Similarly, ArAvamudhan emperumAn was so fond that
he listened to him politely and started to get up from his
reclining posture when AzhwAr asked him to do that.
parASara and vyAsa eyes pop out in astonishment and

ask “What happened then pAtti?”.
ANdAL pAtti: AzhwAr got shocked and

requested perumAL to get back to his reclining
position.perumAL was in double-mind and so he is still
in half reclining position.
vyAsa: Oh! that is very nice pAtti. One day we should go

and visit this perumAL.
ANdAL pAtti: Surely, we will go some time there. He

stays there for a long time. He throws all of his works
into Cauvery river and retains the only 2 prabandhams –
thiruchchantha viruththam and nAnmugan
thiruvanthAdhi. After that he finally ascends to
paramapadham and continues to serve emperumAn in
paramapadham eternally.
The bus reaches thiruveLLaRai. They enter the temple

and have the dharsan of thAyAr and perumAL.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/11/thirumaz
hisai-azhwar/
Beginner’s Guide
nammAzhwAr and madhurakavi

AzhwAr
ANdAL pAtti is in the process of explaining the life
of AzhwArs to vyAsa and parASara.
vyAsa: pAtti, we have now heard

about mudhalAzhwArgaL and thirumazhisai AzhwAr.
Who is next pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: I will tell you about nammAzhwAr who is

considered as the chief among AzhwArs. I will also tell a
little about his dear sishya madhurakavi AzhwAr.
nammAzhwAr – AzhwAr thirunagari, madhurakavi

AzhwAr – thirukkOLUr
parASara: Sure pAtti. We are looking forward to hearing

about them from you.
ANdAL pAtti: nammAzhwAr means “our AzhwAr” in

thamizh. He was honored by perumALhimself with this
title. nammAzhwAr was born in AzhwAr thirunagari on
vaikAsi month visAka nakshathram. He was born as the
Beginner’s Guide
son of the local king/administrator named kAri and his

wife udaiyanangai. kAri and udaiyanangai did not have
any children for a long time. So they went and prayed to
thirukkuRungudi nambi for a child. nambi blesses them
that he himself will appear as their child. kAri and
udaiyanangai returns to AzhwAr thirunagari and soon
udayanangai gives birth to a beautiful child. He is hailed
as an amsam of perumAL himself and as an amsam
of vishwaksEnar at times.
vyAsa: Oh! very nice. So, is he perumAL himself?
ANdAL pAtti: Looking at his glories, surely we can say

that. But as explained by our AchAryas, he himself
proclaims that he was one of the jIvAthmAs wandering
in this world since time-immemorial and was divinely
blessed by SrIman nArAyaNan out of his unconditional
grace. So, we accept that he is some one who was
specially blessed by perumAL.
parASara: Yes pAtti, I remember you saying in the

beginning that perumAL blesses certain persons with full
knowledge and make them AzhwArs so that they will
bring many of us towardsperumAL.
ANdAL pAtti: Very true parASara. It is so wonderful that

you both remember these important points nicely. So,
getting back to nammAzhwAr„s birth, though he was
born like a normal child, he did not eat, cry or do
anything. His parents were initially worried and they
brought him on the 12th day to Adhi
nAtha perumAL temple and placed him in front
of perumAL. Due to his distinctive nature from other
babies, he was given the name mARan (one who is
Beginner’s Guide
different). Seeing his unique nature, his parents

considered him as a divine personality and placed him
under the divine tamarind tree which is located at the
south side of the temple and worshiped him with great
respect. Since then he stayed for 16 years without
speaking a word under the tamarind tree.
vyAsa: So, what was he doing all the time? And did he
ever speak finally?
ANdAL pAtti: Being blessed at the time of birth, he was

in deep meditation on perumALthroughout the time.
Finally, it was the arrival of madhurakavi AzhwAr which
made him speak.
parASara: Who was madhurakavi AzhwAr? What did he

do?
ANdAL pAtti: madhurakavi AzhwAr was born in

thirukkOLUr on chithrai month chithrai nakshathram. He
was a great scholar and devotee of SrIman nArAyaNan.
He was much older than nammAzhwAr and he was on a
pilgrimage in ayOdhyA. He had already heard about
mARan‟s life. At that time, he notices a shining light from
the south side and he follows that light which finally
leads him all the way to AzhwAr thirunagari temple
where mARan is staying.
vyAsa: Did nammAzhwAr speak to madhurakavi

AzhwAr?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, he did. madhurakavi

AzhwAr engages him in a divine conversation and
AzhwAr finally speaks. Understanding his
Beginner’s Guide
glories, madhurakavi AzhwAr at once becomes his

sishya and learns all the essential principles that are to
be learnt. He also fully servesnammAzhwAr and takes
care of him for the rest of his life.
parASara: Oh, that is nice. So, it seems that age is not a

criteria when it comes to learning the true knowledge.
Here, even though madhurakavi AzhwAr was older
than nammAzhwAr, he learnt these principles
from nammAzhwAr.
ANdAL pAtti: Very good observation parASara. Yes, one

has to be humble to learn from any learned person even
if the person is younger than him. That is the true quality
of SrIvaishNavas and is nicely demonstrated
by madhurakavi AzhwAr here. After some years, at the
age of 32,nammAzhwAr decides to ascend to
paramapadham as he was unable to bear the
separation from perumAL any longer. After singing the
glories of perumAL in his four prabandhams namely
thiruviruththam, thiruvAsiriyam, periya thiruvanthAdhi
and thiruvAimozhi, by the grace of perumAL he ascends
to paramapadham to be engaged in eternal kainkaryam
to perumALthere.
vyAsa: That was too young to go to paramapadham

pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. But he wanted to be blissful eternally.

And perumAL wanted him to be there. So, he left this
world and reached there. madhurakavi AzhwAr then
established the archA vigraham of nammAzhwAr which
was received by boiling the water of river and arranged
for proper worship of nammAzhwAr in this dhivya
Beginner’s Guide
dhEsam. He composed a prabandham named

“kaNNinuN chiRu thAmbu” in full glorification
of nammAzhwAr. He also spread the glories
ofnammAzhwAr every where and
established nammAzhwAr„s greatness all over the
region.
parASara: So, it is because of madhurakavi AzhwAr we

fully understand nammAzhwAr„s glories.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. He was totally dedicated

to nammAzhwAr and he himself was glorified due to his
dedication to nammAzhwAr. See, devotees
of perumAL are more glorified than perumALhimself. So,
glorification of devotees of perumAL is considered much
greater than glorifying perumAL. We too should try to
serve the devotees of perumAL whenever possible.
vyAsa and parASara: Surely pAtti. We will keep that

mind and look forward to such opportunities.
ANdAL pAtti: With this we have seen the life

of nammAzhwAr and madhurakavi AzhwAr. Let us go
to nammAzhwAr„s sannidhi and worship him.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/11/nammaz
hwar-and-madhurakavi-azhwar/
Beginner’s Guide
kulasEkara AzhwAr
vyAsa and parASara goes to ANdAL pAtti and ask her
to continue with the AzhwAr stories.
ANdAL pAtti: vyAsa and parASara! Today I am going to

tell you about a king who is an AzhwAr.
vyAsa: Who is that pAtti? What is his name? when and

where was he born? What are his special qualities?
ANdAL pAtti: His name is kulasEkara AzhwAr. He was

born on mAsi month punarpUsam nakshathram in
thiruvanjikkaLam which is located in kEraLa. He was
born in a kshathriya family.
parASara: What does kshathriya mean pAtti?
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: kshathriya means administrators generally,

like king, emperor, etc. They rule the kingdom, protect
the citizens, etc.
vyAsa: Oh, just like our rangarAja, who rules us and

protects us in SrIrangam.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. Our perumAL is the king for

everyone. But each region is ruled by a king and these
kings are greatly respected by the local people. Coming
back to the history, As he was born in kshathriya family,
he was feeling that he was the controller, fully
independent, etc. But by the grace of SrIman
nArAyaNan, he became fully realized that he was fully
dependent onperumAL and developed great taste to
listening to the glories of perumAL and also taking care
of the devotees of perumAL.
parASara: pAtti, I remember you telling that we should

be like madhurakavi AzhwAr in serving devotees
of perumAL. Was he like that pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: Very nice parASara. Yes.

kulasEkarAzhwAr had great attachment to SrI
rAmAyaNam. See, in our sampradhAyam “SrI rAma” is
lovingly called as “perumAL“. Due to kulasEkarAzhwAr‟s
great attachment towards SrI ramAyaNam and SrI
rAma, he himself becomes to be called as “kulasEkara
perumAL”. He would listen to SrI rAmAyaNam every day
from great scholars and be immersed in the incidents.
Once, when he heard that SrI rAma was attacked by
14000 rAkshasas, he became disturbed very much and
called out for his army to go and assist SrI rAma. The
devotees of perumAL would then pacify him and tell him
Beginner’s Guide
that SrI rAma had already defeated the rAkshasas

single handedly.
vyAsa: How did he rule the kingdom pAtti if he was fully

engaged in hearing about perumAL?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. That is a very good question. He was

unable to focus on the kingdom. His ministers planned
to eliminate his attachment towards bhAgavathas who
are devotees ofperumAL. They stole the necklace
of perumAL from his temple in the palace and told him
that it was stolen by the bhAgavathas. He did not
believe the words of the ministers. It was an ancient
practice of proving ones words by putting their hand in a
pot which has snake in it. One must be very confident
on truth and brave to do this. He asked them to bring a
pot which has snake inside it. He boldly put his hand
inside the pot and proclaimed that the bhAgavathas are
innocent.
parASara: That is very nice pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, also, just like SrI rAma had great
attachment to periya perumAL (SrI
ranganAtha), kulasEkara AzhwAr was also greatly
attached to periya perumAL and SrIrangam.
vyAsa: What is the relationship with SrI rAma and periya

perumAL pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: periya perumAL was the thiruvArAdhana

perumAL of SrI rAma in ayOdhya. thiruvArAdhana
perumAL means the perumAL whom we worship at
home. So, in his palace, SrI rAma worshipped periya
Beginner’s Guide
perumAL. But he gave that perumaL as a gift to

vibhIshaNa who is his dear devotee. When vibhIshaNa
was carrying periya perumAL to lankA, he stopped at
SrIrangam to perform sandhyA vandhanam. After his
sandhyA vandhanam, when he wanted to continue his
journey to lankA, periya perumAL said to vibhIshaNa
that he liked this place so much and just wanted to stay
here facing south side where lankA is. vibhIshaNa
agreed toperiya perumAL and left to lankA without him.
Thus, periya perumAL arrived at SrIrangam and
continues to stay here till now.
parASara: Oh! Very nice to hear this pAtti. We did not

know this connection between perumAL(SrI rAma)
and periya perumAL before.
ANdAL pAtti: So, kulasEkara AzhwAr also had great

attachment towards SrIrangam and periya perumAL. He
wanted to visit SrIrangam everyday from his kingdom
and would leave from there. But his ministers would stop
him by giving some reason or the other so that he can
continue to rule the kingdom from there. Eventually, he
gave up his kingdom and reaches SrIrangam. He sings
perumAL thirumozhi in glorification of emperumAn and
stays in SrIrangam for some time. Finally, he leaves
from this world and reaches paramapadham to serve
him permanently.
vyAsa: pAtti, the more we hear about AzhwArs, the

more we know about perumAL since their lives are fully
focussed on perumAL.
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. We should also focus our lives

towards perumAL and his devotees. Now, let us go
to kulasEkara AzhwAr sannidhi and have his dharsan.
vyAsa and parASara: Sure pAtti. Let us go now.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/11/kulasekar
azhwar/
Beginner’s Guide
periyAzhwAr
On a beautiful Sunday morning, ANdAL pAtti sits in the

pyol (thiNNai – veranda) outside her house and makes
garland for perumAL. vyAsa and parASara come and sit
on the pyol next to ANdAL pAtti . They both watch
ANdAL pAtti curiously.
vyAsa: What are you doing pAtti?
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: Making a garland for perumAL, that

reminds me of a couple of AzhwArs? Would you like to
hear about one of them now?
parASara: Oh sure pAtti. We are eagerly waiting for that.
ANdAL pAtti: That‟s like my boy. Then let me tell you

about periyAzhwAr. He was born in Ani month swAthi
nakshathram in SrIvillipuththUr. He was also called as
pattarpirAn. He used to make garlands for
vatapathrasAyi emperumAn. One fine day, the king who
ruled the pAndiyan kingdom, threw open a challenge to
the scholars. He announced that he will award a bag full
of gold coins to anyone who could establish who is the
supreme god.
vyAsa: That would have been very difficult, isn‟t it pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: It wasn‟t so for periyAzhwAr. Due to his

bhakthi and the mercy of perumAL, he went to the king‟s
court and established that perumAL is the almighty
through vEdham. The king was so happy that he
gave periyAzhwAr the prize money and sent him
through the streets of Madurai on a royal elephant.
parASara : That would have been a sight to watch, pAtti.
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: Yes parASara, that was. And that is

why perumAL himself came down from paramapadham
riding his garuda. Even though periyAzhwAr was riding
on top of an elephant, he was ever so humble and was
worried about the safety of perumAL. So he sang
thiruppallANdu to ensure perumAL is protected. That‟s
how he came to be known asperiyAzhwAr. He also sang
periyAzhwAr thirumozhi.
vyAsa: Oh. Yes pAtti – pallANdu pallANdu sounds

familiar. That is what is recited everyday in the
beginning. We have heard it in the temple.
ANdAL pAtti. Yes, you are right vyAsa. periyAzhwAr„s

thiruppallANdu is always recited in the beginning and
the end too.
parASara: That‟s nice pAtti. We will also learn it and

start reciting it in front of perumAL.
ANdAL pAtti: I‟m sure, you will start doing that very
soon. By the way, he was also the father ofANdAL, the
one who sang the most popular thiruppAvai. Will tell you
more about ANdAL later, come let‟s go and offer the
garland to perumAL.
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ANdAL pAtti finishes making the garland and starts

towards SrI ranganAthan temple along with vyAsa and
parASara to offer it to perumAL.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/11/periyazh
war/
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL
ANdAL pAtti collects cow milk from the milkman in the

early morning and brings it inside her house. After
heating the milk, she gives it to vyAsa and parASara.
vyAsa and parASara drink the milk.
parASara: pAtti, on the other day, you said you will tell
us about ANdAL later. Can you tell us now?
ANdAL pAtti: Oh, yes. I do remember telling you both.

Sure, it is time that I tell you aboutANdAL.
ANdAL pAtti, vyAsa and parASara, all three sit in the

lounge.
ANdAL pAtti: ANdAL was the daughter of periyAzhwAr,

She was born
Beginner’s Guide
in SrIvillipuththUr,periyAzhwAr found ANdAL in the

garden next to the temple near a thuLasi plant. She was
born in Adi month pUram nakshathram. This days is
greatly celebrated as thiruvAdippUram. Along with
regular food periyAzhwAr also fed ANdAL with devotion
towards perumAL.
vyAsa: Oh, that is nice pAtti. is it like you are teaching

us now?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. Infact more than this.

Because periyAzhwAr was engaged in kainkaryam fully,
he would always explain to her all the different
wonderful aspects about kainkaryam toperumAL. And
due to that even at a tender age of 5 years, she started
dreaming that perumALwould marry him and she would
serve him.
parASara: Oh. What was his main kainkaryam pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: His main kainkaryam was to maintain the

temple garden and prepare nice garlands
for perumAL every day. He would make nice garlands,
keep them at home, do his routines and then while
going to temple, he would carry the garlands with him
and offer the same to perumAL. While he was keeping
the garland at home, ANdAL would put it on and see if
she looks nice in that and imagine that perumAL looks
at her with the garland with great love.
vyAsa: So, periyAzhwAr did not know this at all?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. For many days, he did not know

this. perumAL was also accepting the garlands with
Beginner’s Guide
great joy since they were worn by ANdAL who is very

dear to him. But one day,periyAzhwAr prepared a
garland, kept it at home and went out. ANdAL as usual
wore it on herself. Later, periyAzhwAr took it to the
temple, but a string of hair was found in the garland and
he brought it back to his home. He realized that his
daughter might have worn it, so he prepared a new
garland and took it back to the temple. perumAL refused
the accept the new garland and asked for the one worn
by ANdAL. periyAzhwAr understood the depth of bhakti
of his daughter and the love of perumAL for her and
came back with the garland worn
by ANdAL.perumAL accepted it with great joy.
vyAsa and parASara stood mesmerized listening

about ANdAL and her love towards perumAL.
vyAsa: What happened after that?
ANdAL pAtti: ANdAL„s devotion for perumAL increased

very much day by day. At a very tender age, she
rendered thiruppAvai and nAchiyar thirumozhi. During
the month of mArgazhi,thiruppAvai is recited in all
homes and temples. Finally, periya
perumAL asked periyAzhwAr to bring her to SrIrangam
to accept her in marriage. periyAzhwAr happily arrived
at SrIrangam withANdAL in a great
procession. ANdAL went straight in to periya
perumAL sannidhi and perumALaccepted her in
marriage and she returned to paramapadham.
parASara: She returned means? Was she originally

from paramapadham?
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. She was bhUmi dhEvi herself. Unlike

other AzhwArs who are from this world and were
blessed by perumAL to
become AzhwArs, ANdAL descended from
parampadham to guide us in the path of devotion. Once
her job was done, she returned to paramapadham.
parASara: Oh, very nice to know pAtti. That is so kind of

her.
ANdAL pAtti: Very good. Now, you both need to learn

and practice thiruppAvai, so that you too can recite them
during mArgazhi month which is arriving soon.
vyAsa and parASara: Sure pAtti, let us start it right now.
ANdAL pAtti starts teaching them and the boys learn it

very eagerly.
Source: http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/12/andal/
Beginner’s Guide
thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr
AndAL pAtti buys flowers from one of the vendor outside

her house. vyAsA and parASara wakes up early in the
morning and goes to ANdAL pAtti.
vyAsa: pAtti, just remembered that you said there were

two AzhwArs who performed pushpa kainkaryam to
perumAL and right now we know one of them
was periyAzhwAr, can you tell us about the second
AzhwAr now?
AndAL pAtti: You really have a very good memory

vyAsa. As you asked for it, let me tell you about the
second AzhwAr who performed pushpa kainkaryam to
perumAL.
vyAsa and parASara sit around pAtti to listen about the

next AzhwAr.
Beginner’s Guide
AndAL pAtti: He was known as thoNdaradippodi

AzhwAr. His parents named him vipra nArAyanAn. He
was born on mArgazhi month kEttai nakshathram at
thirumaNdangudi near kumbakONam. He was very fond
of SrI ranganAthan. So much so that he didn‟t mention
any other perumAL in the two dhivya prabandhams he
rendered, one is thirumAlai and and the other one
is thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi. It is said that one who doesn‟t
know thirumAlai, he will not be able to understand
perumAL.
parASara: Oh! is it pAtti? Then we both will learn

thirumAlai as well.
AndAL pAtti: I am sure, you will learn it too. thirumAlai

fully explains the glories of periya perumAL. Do you
know one special aspect about this AzhwAr?
vyAsa: What is that pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: Have you heard the first slOkam of SrI

vEnkatEsa suprabAtham?
parASara: Yes pAtti. (sings) “kausalyA suprajA rAma…”.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. Do you know that, it is from SrI

rAmAyaNam? This was recited by sage viswAmithra to
wake SrI rAma up. Similarly, periyAzhwAr also woke
kaNNan emperumAn up in his
pAsurams. thoNdaradippodi AzhwAr sung suprabAtham
for SrIranganAthan in
histhiruppaLLiyezhuchchi prabandham.
vyAsa: Oh! This is what we hear araiyar swamy sings

everyday in the morning in front of periya
Beginner’s Guide
perumAL along with thiruppAvai during mArgazhi

mAsam.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. You are very right. Let us prepare a

garland with these flowers and go to periya
perumAL sannidhi.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2014/12/thondara
dippodi-azhwar/
Beginner’s Guide
thiruppANAzhwAr
ANdAL pAtti plans to stay awake on a vAikunta

EkAdhasi day, parASara and vyAsa also express their
interest to stay awake on that day.
ANdAL pAtti : On this auspicious day, staying awake is

not enough. We should be talking and engaging
ourselves in services to perumAL.
parASara: pAtti, as we are planning to stay awake, can

you tell us about the next AzhwAr?
ANdAL pAtti : parASara, you just asked what I had in my

mind. Yes, I will tell you aboutthiruppANAzhwAr now.
parASara and vyAsa: Sure pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: thiruppANAzhwAr was born in kArthikai

mAsam in rOhiNi nakshatram at uRaiyUr near
SrIrangam. He composed amalanAdhipirAn containing
10 pAsurams in which he praises the beauty of
SrIranganAthan from toe to head.
Beginner’s Guide
vyAsa: Oh! Yes pAtti, our perumAL is so beautiful that

anyone who sees him will fully enjoy him.
ANdAL pAtti. Yes dear! He was a very dear devotee

of periya perumAL and an interesting incident lead to
him reaching ascending to parampadham suddenly.
parASara: Please tell us that incident pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: One day, he was singing songs in praise

of perumAL from the shore at the other side of cauvery.
He never physically stepped in to SrIrangam until that
time. One of the kainkaryarparars of periya
perumAL named lOka sArangamuni went to fetch water
from the river. At that time he noticed AzhwAr was on
his way. He asks AzhwAr to move away so he can fetch
water. But AzhwAr is in deep meditation on periya
perumAL. So he does not respond.
vyAsa: What happens next pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: lOka sArangamuni picked up a pebble and

threw it on AzhwAr. AzhwAr got hurt in the process and
blood starts oozing out from him. AzhwAr wakes up from
the meditation and realizes that he was on the way.
parASara: Did he get angry on lOka sAranga muni?
ANdAL pAtti: No dear! SrIvaishNavas never get angry

for these petty things. AzhwAr at once asks for
forgiveness for being on his way and moves away. lOka
sArangamuni goes to the temple but periya perumAL is
very upset with him for his needless offensive act
towards AzhwAr. He refuses to open the doors and asks
lOka sArangamuni to go at once to AzhwAr, beg for
Beginner’s Guide
forgiveness and bring him to the temple. lOka

sArangamuni realizes the great mistake he committed
and runs to AzhwAr. He begs AzhwAr to forgive
him. AzhwAr does not have any ill-feeling towards him
and accepts his words gracefully and very humbly.
vyAsa: He is such an example for us pAtti. We will also

try to be magnanimous like him.
ANdAL pAtti: After lOka sArangamuni repeatedly

insisting, AzhwAr climbs on the shoulders of lOka
sArangamuni and arrives at periya perumAL sannidhi
singing amalanAdhipirAn on his way. He reaches periya
perumAL sannidhi, recites the final pAsuram where he
says “I will not see anything else with the eyes that have
seen periya perumAL” and at once disappears at the
lotus feet of periya perumAL ascending to
paramapadham for eternal kainkaryam.
parASara: Wow! This is so amazing pAtti. Of all

the history of AzhwArs we have heard so far, this is the
best.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, thiruppANAzhwAr was a very special

devotee of periya perumAL and we too can go to
uRaiyUr today and worship him.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2015/01/thiruppan
azhwar/
Beginner’s Guide
thirumangai AzhwAr
thirumangai AzhwAr on his AdalmA horse
ANdAL pAtti, parASara and vyAsa are returning home

from uRaiyUr.
ANdAL pAtti: parASara and vyAsa, looks like you had a

wonderful time at uRaiyUr.
parASara and vyAsa: Yes, pAtti. It was so nice to

see thiruppANAzhwAr there. We like going todhivya
dhEsams and worship the archAvathAra
emperumAns there.
ANdAL pAtti: I will now tell you about thirumangai

AzhwAr who is instrumental in revealing the glories of so
many dhivya dhEsams. He was born on kArthikai
Beginner’s Guide
mAsam kArthikai nakshathram at thirukkuraiyalUr near

thirunAngUr dhivya dhEsam. He composed 6 dhivya
prabandhams namely periya thirumozhi,
thirukkuRunthANdgam, thiruvezhkURRirukkai, siRiya
thirumadal, periya thirumadal and
thirunedunthANdagam. His original name was nIlan
(since he was bluish colored).
parASara: How did he travel to the dhivya

dhEsams those days pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: He had a horse named AdalmA which was

so powerful and he used to travel everywhere in that
horse.
vyAsa: What are his specialities pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: There are many unique aspects

of thirumangai AzhwAr. Initially, he was a great fighter
and was ruling over a small kingdom. At that time he
meets kumudhavalli nAchiyAr and he wants to marry
her. kumudhavalli nAchiyAr tells him that he will only
marry a devotee ofperumAL who also serves
bhAgavathas with great care. AzhwAr agrees and
becomes a devotee of perumAL and thus they marry
each other. AzhwAr serves many SrIvaishNavas by
feeding them prasAdham. But eventually, he runs out of
wealth to support that kainkaryam. So he starts robbing
wealthy people who pass by the near by forest and uses
that money in serving others.
parASara: Oh! can we steal pAtti?
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: No! we should never do that. But

since AzhwAr was so desperate to serve bhAgavathas,
he started robbing wealthy people.
Anyway, perumAL wanted to give full knowledge to him
and reform him fully. So, he himself along with thAyAr,
dresses like a newly married wealthy couple and travels
in the same forest along with a grand
family/relatives.AzhwAr sensing a good opportunity to
earn some money, tries to rob them. But by perumAL„s
grace, he finally realizes that perumAL himself has
arrived. perumAL blesses him fully and reforms him to
be very pure. Since he tried to force perumAL himself to
bless him, perumALnames him “kaliyan” which means
very majestic/prideful. He is also known as parakAlan
(one who is feared by supreme lord himself).
vyAsa: Wow! this is amazing pAtti. What did he do after

that.
ANdAL pAtii: Being overwhelmed with great emotions,

he fully surrendered to perumAL. After that, he travelled
the length and breadth of bhAratha dhEsam visiting
many dhivya dhEsams(over 80) and glorified
the perumALs there. That too, he has exclusively sung
about over 40perumALs who were not sung by any
other AzhwArs – thus revealing those dhivya
dhEsams to us.
parASara: Oh! It is our great fortune – because of him,

we are worshipping these dhivya dhEsams now. We will
always be thankful to him.
ANdAL pAtti: He also performed many kainkaryams in

our SrIrangam, building forts around the temple, etc.
Beginner’s Guide
During his lifetime itself, perumAL orders AzhwAr„s

brother-in-law to make a vigraham of AzhwAr and
worship the same. After some time, thirumangai
AzhwAr goes tothirukkuRungudi dhivya dhEsam,
spends some time there worshipping
nambi emperumAn. Finally, meditating on emperumAn,
he ascends to paramapadham to be engaged in
kainkaryam to emperumAn eternally.
vyAsa: We have understood the importance of

kainkaryam to archAvathAra perumAL and his devotees
from AzhwAr„s life pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, that is the essence of our

sampradhAyam. With this, you have heard about all
the AzhwArs. I will tell you both about our AchAryas next
time.
parASara and vyAsa: OK pAtti! We are eagerly waiting

for that.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2015/02/thiruman
gai-azhwar/
Beginner’s Guide
dhivya prabandham – the most

valuable gift from AzhwArs
ANdAL pAtti is reciting kaNNinuN chiRuth

thAmbu prabandham. parASara and vyAsa arrive there.
vyAsa: pAtti! what are you reciting now?
ANdAL pAtti: vyAsa! I am reciting kaNNinuN chiRtuth

thAmbu which is part of dhivya prabandham.
parASara: pAtti! Isn‟t this the one that was composed

by madhurakavi AzhwAr?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. Very good memory.
vyAsa: pAtti! While explaining the history

of AzhwArs you told that each AzhwAr has composed
some dhivya prabandhams. Please explain about dhivya
prabandhams in detail pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: Sure vyAsa. That is very nice of you to

have the interest to learn things in detail. Our
Beginner’s Guide
SrIranganAthan and SrIranganAchiyAr are called

as dhivya dhampathi (divine couple).AzhwArs are called
as dhivya sUris (divine and auspicious personalities)
because of them being blessed by bhagavAn. The
pAsurams (slOkams in thamizh) that were composed
by AzhwArs are called dhivya prabandham (divine
literature). The kshEthrams that are glorified in dhivya
prabandham by the AzhwArs are called as dhivya
dhEsam (divine town).
parASara: Oh! that is very interesting pAtti. What are

these dhivya prabandhams talking about pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: The main purpose of dhivya

prabandham is to fully discuss the auspicious qualities
of emperumAn. That too, specifically, archAvathAra
emperumAn like our periya
perumAL, thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn, etc.
vyAsa: But we have heard that vEdham is very

important for us pAtti. How is vEdham connected
to dhivya prabandham?
ANdAL pAtti: That is a good question. vEdham is the

main source to know about perumAL. vEdhAntham,
which is the top-most part of vEdham discusses in detail
about perumAL, his divine qualities, philosophy, etc. But
all of these are in samskrutham. AzhwArs brought out
the essence of vEdham and vEdhAntham in their dhivya
prabandhams in beautiful thamizh language.
parASara: Oh! But what is the difference between

vEdham and dhivya prabandham pAtti?
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: It is explained that,

when bhagavAn descended from SrIvaikuNtam to
ayOdhyA as SrIrAma, vEdham also appeared as SrI
rAmAyaNam. Similarly, when that
same perumALdescended as archAvathAra
emperumAn, vEdham appeared as dhivya prabandham
through the words of AzhwArs. paramapadhanAthan is
very difficult for us to comprehend from where we are
now. So, we are approaching archAvathAra
perumAL easily in our own place. Similarly,
vEdham/vEdhAntham are difficult to comprehend. But
the same principles are explained in a much simpler and
crisper manner in dhivya prabandham by AzhwArs.
vyAsa: pAtti! Does that mean vEdham is not important

for us?
ANdAL pAtti: No no! Both vEdham and dhivya

prabandham are equally important for us. vEdham is
important because it is the root of all sources to
understand about perumAL. But for learning and
enjoying the auspicious qualities of perumAL, dhivya
prabandham is most apt. Also, the most complicated
principles that are explained in vEdham, can be easily
understood by studying the meanings of dhivya
prabandham, with the help of the explanations given by
ourpUrvAchAryas. So, one should study vEdham,
vEdhAntham and dhivya prabandham according to ones
own situation.
parASara: What is the main focus of dhivya

prabandham pAtti?
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: The main focus of dhivya prabandham is

to eliminate our engagement in temporary pleasure/pain
in this material world and to elevate us to permanent
and natural bliss in paramapadham by serving SrI
mahAlakshmi and SrIman nArAyaNan eternally there.
Our nature is to serve SrIman nArAyaNan eternally, but
due to us being in this world engaged in worldly
activities, we are missing out on that valuable
joy. dhivya prabandham highlights the importance of
serving perumAL eternally in paramapadham.
vyAsa: Yes pAtti! We understand that a little bit as you

have previously explained this principle before.
parASara: Who are our pUrvAchAryas pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: parASara! very nice question. I will explain

you about the many AchAryas of our sampradhAyam
from now onwards. It is very importance for us to know
about our AchAryas in detail so that we can fully realize
how they lived by the words of AzhwArs and the
importance for us to follow in their foot steps.
parASara and vyAsa: Thanks pAtti! We are looking

forward to hearing about our AchAryas.
Source: http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2015/02/dhivya-
prabandham-the-most-valuable-gift-from-azhwars/
Beginner’s Guide
Part 3
Introduction to AchAryas
AchArya rathna hAram – the necklace of AchAryas
parASara and vyAsa come and see ANdAL pAtti after a

while. They had gone to thiruvallikkENi to be with their
grand parents during vacation.
ANdAL pAtti: parASara! vyAsa! Welcome back. I hope

you had a great time at thiruvallikkENi.
Beginner’s Guide
parASara: Yes pAtti! It was wonderful there. We went to

pArthasArathy perumAL temple everyday. Not only that,
we also visited many near-by dhivya dhEsams such
kAnchIpuram, etc. We also went to SrIperumbUthUr and
worshiped emperumAnAr.
ANdAL pAtti: Very nice to hear. SrIperumbUthUr is the

birth place of rAmAnujar. He is one of the most
important AchAryas. I will tell more about him soon. I
told you last time that I will tell you about AchAryas. I will
give a brief introduction now. Do you know the meaning
of the word “AchArya”?
vyAsa: pAtti! Is AchArya the same as guru?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. AchArya and guru are similar terms.

AchArya means one who is learned in true knowledge,
practices it himself and teaches/inspires others to follow
the same. guru means one who removes our ignorance.
parASara: What is “true knowledge” pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: Very intelligent question parASara. True

knowledge is knowing who we are and what are
responsibilities are. For example, I am your
grandmother and my responsibility is to educate you
with good values, etc. If I have a good understanding
about this – that is true knowledge. Similarly, all of us
are sub-servient to bhagavAn and He is our master. As
a master, he deserves to be served by us and as a
dependent, it is our duty to serve him. This is the
common “true knowledge” for every one to understand.
Those who know this and teach to others through
practical ways are called AchAryas. This “true
knowledge” is available in vEdham, vEdhAntham,
dhivya prabandham, etc.
Beginner’s Guide
vyAsa: Oh! So, who is the first AchArya? Some one

should know about this “true knowledge” first to have
taught to others.
ANdAL pAtti: Brilliant question vyAsa. Our periya

perumAL is the first AchArya. We have already seen
about AzhwArs. perumAL gave them the true
knowledge. AzhwArs showed great attachment towards
perumAL as we have already seen in their lives and also
revealed the true knowledge through their dhivya
prabandhams.
parASara: pAtti! after AzhwArs‟ time, what happened?
ANdAL pAtti: AzhwArs stayed in this world for some

time and they left to paramapadham to be with perumAL
eternally there. There was a dark period when the
knowledge slowly deteriorated and even the dhivya
prabandhams were almost lost. But it was by the divine
grace of nammAzhwAr, we got the dhivya prabandhams
back and was propagated by many AchAryas
subsequently. We will see about those AchAryas
subsequently.
parASara and vyAsa: We are looking forward to it pAtti.
ANdAL pAtti: Well, your parents are calling you now. I

will tell more about the AchAryas when we meet next
time.
Source:http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2015/06/beginner
s-guide-introduction-to-acharyas/
Beginner’s Guide
nAthamunigaL
vyAsa and parASara come home after school. They

bring their friend aththuzhAi along with them.
ANdAL pAtti: Who have you brought along?
vyAsa: pAtti, this is aththuzhAi, our friend. We shared

with her some of the vaibhavams you told us and she
was interested in listening to them from you. So, we
brought her along.
ANdAL pAtti: Welcome aththuzhAi. Happy to hear that

you both are not only listening to what I say, but also
sharing it with your friends.
parASara: pAtti, we came to hear about our AchAryas.
ANdAL pAtti: Good. Today I will tell you about our

AchAryan, who brought back the glory of our
sampradhAyam through divine intervention
from nammAzhwAr.
aththuzhAi: Who was it pAtti?
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti brings some fruits and eatables for

aththuzhAi, vyAsa and parASara.
ANdAL pAtti: He is our very own nAthamunigaL. SrIman

nAthamunigaL was Born in veera nArAyaNa puram
(kAttu mannAr kOyil) to Isvara bhattAzhwAr. He is also
known as SrI ranganAtha muni and nAtha brahmar. He
was an expert in ashtAnga yOgam and divine
sangeetham. Also, he is the one who established the
araiyar sEvai which is still observed in
SrIrangam, AzhwAr thirunagari, SrIvillipuththUr, etc.
parASara: We have seen araiyar sEvai in front of our

perumAL many times pAtti. Its so beautiful the way the
araiyar swamy sings the pAsurams with the thALam in
his hands.
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. One day, A group of SrIvaishNavas

from mElnAdu (thirunArAyaNapuram area) visit kAttu
mannAr kOyil and sings the “ArAvamuthE…” padhigam
(decad) from thiruvAimozhi in front of mannanAr
(emperumAn in kAttu mannAr koil). nAthamunigaL,
enthralled by the meanings of those pAsurams, asks the
SrIvaishNavas about them, but they dont know anything
beyond those 11 pAsurams. They say that if
nAthamunigaL goes to thirukkurugUr, he may be able to
find out more details. nAthamunigaL takes leave from
mannanAr and reaches AzhwAr thirunagari.
aththuzhAi, vyAsa and parASara finish their eatables

soon and continue hearing
about nAthamunigaL eagerly.
ANdAL pAtti: He met parAngusa dhAsar who is a sishya

of madhurakavi AzhwAr, who teaches kaNNinuN
chiruththAmbu to nAthamunigaL and asks him to chant
that 12000 times in front of thiruppuzhiyAzhwAr
Beginner’s Guide
(tamarind tree where nammAzhwAr lived) on a single

stretch. Since nAthamunigaL has already learnt
ashtAnga yOgam, he meditates on nammAzhwAr and
successfully completes chanting kaNNinuN
chiruththAmbu 12000 times. nammAzhwAr being
pleased with nAthamunigaL , appears in front of him and
blesses him with full knowledge in ashtAnga yOgam,
4000 divya prabhandham and all meanings
of aruLichcheyal (dhivya prabandham).
vyAsa: So, is „ArAvamuthE‟ padhigam, a part of 4000

dhivya prabandham?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes. ArAvamuthE padhigam is

about thirukkudanthai ArAvamuthan emperumAn. After
that, nAthamunigaL returns to kAttu mannAr kOyil and
presents the 4000 dhivya prabhandham in front of
mannanAr. mannanAr is very pleased
with nAthamunigaL and asks him to categorize dhivya
prabhandham and propagate it everywhere. He adds
music to aruLichcheyal and teaches the same to his
nephews kIzhai agaththAzhwAn and mElai
agaththAzhwAn and propagates the same through
them. Not only that, through his ashtAnga yOga sidhdhi,
he foresaw the appearance of another great AchAryan
of our sampradhAyam. Next time around, I will tell you
more about him.
Children in chorus: Sure pAtti. We are eager to hear

about it.
aththuzhAi takes blessing from ANdAL pAtti and leaves

to her house, while vyAsa and parASara go to study
their school lessons.
s-guide-nathamunigal/
Beginner’s Guide
uyakkoNdAr and maNakkAl nambi

vyAsa and parASara enter ANdAL pAtti‟s home along
with their friend vEdhavalli. ANdAL pAtti welcomes them
with prasAdham in her hands.
ANdAL pAtti : Here take this prasAdham and tell me

who your new friend is.
vyAsa : pAtti, this is vEdhavalli who has come from

kAnchIpuram for holidays. We brought her along with us
so that she can listen to your stories on glories of
AchAryas.
parASara : pAtti are we celebrating any festival today?
ANdAL pAtti : Today is thirunakshathram

of uyyakkoNdAr who is also known as puNdarIkAkshar
and padhmAkshar.
VyAsa: pAtti, can you tell us about this AchArya?
Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: He was born in thiruveLLaRai dhivya

dhEsam during the month of chithirai in kArthigai star.
He was given the name after the emperumAn of
thiruveLLaRai. He was the prime disciple of
nAthamunigaL along with kurugai
kAvalappan. nAthamunigaL was blessed with ashtAnga
yOgam by nammAzhwAr.
parASara: What is this yOgam pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: It is a type of yOga through which one can

experience bhagavAn non-stop without having to think
about any bodily activities. nAthamunigaL taught
ashtAnga yOgam to kurugai kAvalappan and asked
uyyakkoNdAr if he wanted to learn it, uyyakkoNdAr said
“piNam kidakka maNam puNaralAmO?”
parASara: pAtti, Does he say that one cannot enjoy

when someone has died? Who has died?
ANdAL pAtti: Brilliant parASara! He said that when so

many people are suffering in this world, how can he
think about enjoying bhagavAn individually. Hearing this,
nAthamunigaL was extremely pleased and
appreciated uyyakkoNdAr‟s magnanimity. He instructed
both uyyakkoNdAr and kurugai kAvalappan to teach
ashtAnga yOgam and dhivya prabandham with
meanings to Ishvara muni‟s son (nAthamunigaL‟s own
grandson) who is soon to appear.
VyAsa: pAtti did uyyakkoNdAr have any sishya?
pAtti : maNakkaAl nambi was his prime sishya. At the

time of leaving to paramapadham, maNakkAl nambi
asks him about the successor and uyyakkoNdAr
instructs maNakkAl nambi himself to take care of the
sampradhAyam. He also instructs maNakkAl nambi to
Beginner’s Guide
prepare yAmunaiththuRaivar (Iswara muni‟s son) to be

the next AchArya in line.
parASara : pAtti can you tell us about maNakkAl nambi?
pAtti : His original name was rAma misrAr. He was born

in maNakkAl during the month of mAsi in the star of
magam. Like madhurakavi AzhwAr who was very
devoted to nammAzhwAr, maNakkaAl nambi was very
devoted to uyyakkoNdAr. After the demise of
uyyakkoNdAr‟s wife, he assumed the cooking
kainkaryam and attended to every personal need of his
AchArya. Once uyyakkoNdAr‟s daughters were
returning back after bathing in the river and had to cross
the slush. When they were hesitant to walk on the
muddy waters, rAma misrAr laid himself down on the
slush and allowed the girls to walk on his back. Hearing
this uyyakkoNdAr became very pleased on the
dedication of nambi.
Beginner’s Guide
Children in chorus : pAtti, next time when we meet can

you tell us the story of yAmunaiththuRaivar?
pAtti gladly says “I will be very happy to do that when we

meet next time” and the children leave to their
respective homes.
s-guide-uyakkondar-and-manakkal-nambi/
Beginner’s Guide
ALavandhAr
vyAsa and parASara enter ANdAL pAtti‟s home along
with their friend aththuzhAy. ANdAL pAtti welcomes
them with prasAdham in her hands.
pAtti : Welcome aththuzhAy! Here wash your hands and

feet and take this prasadam. Today is uthrAdam, the
thirunakshathram of ALavandhAr.
parASara : pAtti, last time you said you will tell us the
about yamunaiththuRaivar, remember?
pAtti : Yes! I remember and I‟m happy that you too

remember and want to know about our great AchArya. It
is his thirunakshathram today. Quite the right time to talk
about his glories.
vyAsa : pAtti, but did you not say it was ALavandhAr‟s

thirunakshathram?
ALavandhAr – kAttu mannAr kOyil
Beginner’s Guide
pAtti : Yes. yamunaiththuRaivar who was born in kAttu

mannAr kOyil later became popularly known as
ALavandhAr. He was born as the son of ISvara muni
and the grand son of nAthamunigaL. He studied under
mahAbhashya bhattar. There is a very interesting story
about how he came to be hailed as ALavandhAr. Those
days pandits had to pay taxes to the chief pandit.
AkkiyAzhwAn, the rAja purOhithar sends his
representatives to all pandits and asks them to pay
taxes to him. mahAbhAshya bhattar becomes worried
and yamunaiththuRaivar says that he will take care. He
sends a SlOkam which says “he will destroy the poets
who look for cheap publicity”. Seeing this AkkiyAzhwAn
gets angry and sends his soldiers to bring
yamunaiththuRaivar to the king‟s court.
yamunaiththuRaivar tells them that he will come only if
he was offered proper respects. So, king sends him a
palanquin and yamunaiththuRaivar visits the
court. While the debate is about to start, the queen tells
the king that she is sure that yamunaiththuRaivar will
win and if he loses, she will become a servant of the
king. And the king was confident that AkkiyAzhwAn will
win and he says if yamunaithuRairvar wins, he will give
half the kingdom to him. Finally, with great valor and
knowledge, yamunaiththuRaivar won the debate against
AkkiyAzhwAn. AkkiyAzhwAn becomes so impressed
that he too becomes a disciple of yamunaiththuRaivar.
The queen gives him the name “ALavandhAr” – one
who came to protect her – had he not won, she would
have become a servant and so she too becomes his
Sishyai. He also gets half the kingdom as promised by
the king.
vyAsa : pAtti, if yamunaiththuRaivar got half the

kingdom, he must have been ruling the kingdom. How
did he get into our sampradAyam?
Beginner’s Guide
aththuzhAy : He was brought into our sampradAyam by

maNakkAl nambi who was the disciple of
uyyakkoNdAr. According to the instructions of
uyyakkoNdAr, maNakkAl nambi took the initiative to
bring ALavandhAr to the sampradhAyam.
pAtti : That is exactly right and wonderful aththuzhAy!

How did you know about this?
aththuzhAy: My mother also tells me stories about our

AchAryas and perumAL.
pAtti : ALavandhAr is the great AchAryan who

brought SrI rAmAnuja to the sampradhAyam with lord
dhEvap perumAL‟s blessings.
parASara : But pAtti, how did dhEvap perumAL help

ALavandhAr?
pAtti : It was in kAnchipuram, that ALavandhAr

saw iLaiyAzhwAr who was yet to become rAmAnuja, in
varadharAjap perumAL temple. iLaiyAzhwAr was
learning from his guru yAdhava prakASa. ALavandhAr
prays to dhEvap perumAL to make iLaiyAzhwAr the next
leader of the sampradhAyam. Thus it was dhEvap
perumAL who nurtured and raised iLaiyAzhwAr like a
mother would do to her child and it was this great
ALavandhAr who showered his blessings on
iLaiyAzhwAr who later goes on to do greatest of great
kainkaryams for the sampradhAyam. ALavandhAr also
entrusts thirukkachchi nambi to guide iLaiyAzhwAr as
needed. Remember thirukkachchi nambi?
vyAsa : Yes pAtti, he is the one who does thiruvAlavatta

(fan) kainkaryam to dhEvap perumal and also talks with
dhEvap perumAl and thAyAr. How nice it would be if we
could also talk to perumAL like thirukkachchi nambi? So
Beginner’s Guide
did ALavandhAr and iLaiyAzhwAr meet? Did

ALavandhAr accept iLaiyAzhwAr as his Sishya?
pAtti : Unfortunately no! Before iLaiyAzhwAr could come

to SrIrangam to become ALavandhAr‟s disciple,
ALavandhAr left this world reached paramapadham.
They could not meet each other but
iLaiyAzhwAr promises to fulfill ALavandhAr „s wishes.
Next time, when I meet you kids, I will tell you all about
how periya nambi, one of the many disciples of
ALavandhAr became iLaiyAzhwAr‟s achArya and
guided him throughout. AlavndhAr had numerous
disciples and all of them worked together to bring
iLaiyAzhwAr to the sampradAyam. Apart from periya
nambi, periya thirumalai nambi, thirukkOshtiyur
nambi, thirumAlai AndAn, mARanEri
nambi, thirukkachchi nambi, thiruvarangap perumAL
araiyar and many others were ALavandhAr‟s shishyas.
vyAsa , parASara and aththuzhAy : It was very

interesting pAtti. Next time, please tell us about periya
nambi and iLaiyAzhwAr.
pAtti : I will be very happy to tell it but now it‟s getting

very dark outside. Go to your home children.
The children leave happily to their homes thinking about

ALavandhAr.
s-guide-alavandhar/
Beginner’s Guide
periya nambi
parASara and vyAsa enter ANdAL pAtti‟s house.
aththuzhAy enters with a prize in her hand.
pAtti : What did you win here dear?
vyAsa : pAtti, aththuzhAy enacted as ANdAL in our

school‟s fancy dress competition, sang few pAsurams
from thiruppAvai and won the first prize.
pAtti : That‟s wonderful aththuzhAy! I will hear the

pAsurams from you after I tell you about periya nambi
today.
vyAsa, parASara and aththuzhAy ( in chorus) : And also

about iLaiyAzhwAr, pAtti.
pAtti : yes, of course. As I said the last time, periya

nambi was one of the prime Sishyas of ALavandhAr. He
was born in SrIrangam in the month of mArgazhi, kEttai
nakshatram. He was the one who brought iLaiyAzhwAr
from kAnchipuram to SrIrangam. While periya nambi
was on his way to meet iLaiyAzhwAr in
kAnchi, iLaiyAzhwAr started on his journey to meet
periya nambi in SrIrangam.
parASara : pAtti, why did iLaiyAzhwAr leave for

SrIrangam when he was learning under yAdhava
prakASa in kAnchipuram?
pAtti : Very good question! Remember last time I told

you that AlavandhAr entrusted thirukkachchi nambi to
guide iLaiyAzhwAr as needed? When iLaiyAzhwAr
started having difference of opinions with his guru
yAdhava prakASa and was confused, with many doubts
Beginner’s Guide
and questions lingering like dark clouds in his mind, he

approached thirukkachchi nambi for solution. And who
did thirukkachchi nambi talk to for guidance?
aththuzhAy : dhEvap perumAL!
pAtti : Excellent! It was dhEvap perumAL who always

came to iLaiyAzhwAr‟s rescue and told him to go to
periya nambi, get pancha samskAram from periya
nambi and become his Sishya. He clarified all the
doubts lingering in iLaiyAzhwAr‟s mind just like how a
bright, rising sun would remove the darkness of the
night and bring the dawn. So as iLaiyAzhwAr was
leaving from kAnchi, periya nambi was on his way to
kAnchi to meet iLaiyAzhwAr. They both met at a place
called madhurAnthagam and periya nambi initiates
ilaiyAzhwAr into our sampradAyam by doing pancha
samskAram to him right there.
vyAsa : Oh yes, we have the yEri kAththa rAmar temple

in madhurAnthagam. We went to that temple during my
holidays last time. But, why did he not go to kAnchi or
SrIrangam to get iLaiyAzhwAr initiated? Why did he do it
right there in madhurAnthagam itself?
periya nambi – SrIrangam
Beginner’s Guide
pAtti: periya nambi was a great AchAryan who had

immense attachment and respect towards iLaiyAzhwAr.
He knew that such good deeds must never be
postponed and iLaiyAzhwAr also felt the same.
Children, from this we learn never to delay or postpone
good things or kainkaryams related to our
sampradAyam. The sooner, the better! periya nambi
knew the true principles of our sampradhAyam which is
to never differentiate a devotee of Lord and treat
everyone equally with love and respect. He loved his
disciple rAmAnuja so much that he sacrificed his life for
the future of our sampradhAyam – rAmAnuja!
vyAsa : He sacrificed his life! Why did he have to do that

pAtti?
pAtti : At that time, the Saiva king ordered rAmAnuja to

come to his court to accept his demands. Instead of
rAmAnuja, kUraththAzhwAn, one of the great disciples
of rAmAnuja, disguised as his AchAryan, went to the
court room with periya nambi, who was very old then.
periya nambi was also accompanied by his daughter
whose name is aththuzhAy!
aththuzhAy : That‟s my name too!
pAtti : Yes it is! When the king orders them to accept his
demands, both kUraththAzhwAn and periya nambi
refuse to relent to the king‟s demands. The king got very
angry and ordered his soldiers to pluck their eyes off.
Unable to tolerate the pain due to old age, periya nambi
gives up his life and reaches paramapadham on his way
back to SrIrangam, resting on the lap of
kUraththAzhwAn. These great souls sacrificed
everything without any worry just to safeguard
rAmAnuja, who is like the central gem in a pearl
Beginner’s Guide
necklace. What would happen if we break the pearls in a

necklace?
parASara and vyAsa ( Together in chorus) : The

necklace would break too!
pAtti : Exactly! Similarly, although rAmAnuja was the

central gem in the pearl necklace called our
sampradhAyam, all the AchAryas as the pearls, held
together the necklace and saw to it that the central gem
was safe. So we must all be ever-grateful to our
AchAryas and always feel humbled by their lives.
parASara : pAtti, What happened to kUraththAzhwAn ?
pAtti : kUraththAzhwAn, his eyes blinded, returned back

to SrIrangam. He was one of the greatest disciples of
rAmAnuja and accompanied rAmAnuja in all aspects of
his life. I will tell you more about kUraththAzhwAn and
rAmAnuja the next time we meet. Now, hurry up and go
home. Your parents will be waiting for you. And,
aththuzhAy, next time I will hear the thiruppAvai
pasurams from you.
The children go back home thinking about periya

nambi and kUraththAzhwAn.
s-guide-periya-nambi/
Beginner’s Guide
ALavandhAr’s Sishyas – 1
thiruvarangapperumAL araiyar, periya thirumalai
nambi and thirumAlai AndAn
ALavandhAr‟s Sishyas
parASara and vyAsa enter ANdAL pAtti‟s house with

their friend vEdhavalli.
pAtti : Welcome vEdhavalli. Come in children.
vyAsa : pAtti, last time you said you will tell us more
about rAmAnujar and his AchAryas.
Beginner’s Guide
parASara : pAtti, didn‟t you say that rAmAnujar had

many Acharyas and not just periya nambi? Who were
the others pAtti?
pAtti : As I told you children last time, ALavandhAr had

many Sishyas who worked towards nurturing
iLaiyAzhwAr in to the sampradhAyam. The prominent
ones are :- 1) thiruvarangapperumAL
araiyar 2) thirukkOshtiyUr nambi 3) periya thirumalai
nambi 4) thirumAlai AndAn 5) thirukkachchi nambi along
with periya nambi. Do you remember that we talked
about periya nambi last time when we met? Now, let me
tell you about the other AchAryas and their valuable
contribution to our sampradhAyam.
parASara : pAtti, why did rAmAnuja have so many

AchAryas?
pAtti : Each of them in their own way moulded SrI

rAmanuja into a great AchArya that he turned out to be.
thiruvarangapperumAL arayar did the great kainkaryam
of bringing rAmAnujar from kAnchipuram to SrIrangam.
vyAsa : How did that happen? Tell us the story pAtti.
pAtti : rAmAnujar was living in kAnchipuram then and

had also accepted sanyAsASramam. araiyar goes to
kAnchipuram at that time and requests thirukkachi
nambi to allow him to perform the araiyar sEvai
before dhEvap perumAL . dhEvap perumAL through his
archakars asks araiyar to render araiyar sEvai in front of
him. araiyar with great love and devotion sings
pAsurams with dance and action. emperumAn becomes
extremely pleased and offers him many gifts. araiyar
says that he does not need those gifts and tells him that
he needs something else. emperumAn agrees and says
“I will give anything; go ahead and ask”. araiyar then
Beginner’s Guide
points at rAmAnujar and says that he wants him to be

brought along to SrIrangam. dhEvap perumAL says “I
did not think you were going to ask for him; ask for
something else”. araiyar replies “you are none other
than SrI rAman who does not have two words – you
cannot refuse any more”. dhEvap perumAL then finally
agrees and gives farewell to rAmAnujar.
vyAsa: What a great trick pAtti? That was very intelligent

of araiyar to some how convince perumAL.
pAtti: Yes vyAsa. Immediately, araiyar holding

rAmAnujar‟s hands, starts his journey towards
SrIrangam. Thus, araiyar did the most important favour
for SrIvaishnavam by bringing rAmAnujar over to
SrIrangam to establish our sampradhAyam firmly and
take it to great heights.
vEdhavalli : pAtti, you said each AchArya moulded

rAmAnujar in some way. What did araiyar teach
rAmAnujar?
pAtti : ALavandhAr instructed each of his prominent

Sishyas to teach different aspects of our sampradAyam
to rAmAnujar. araiyar was asked to teach the true
essence of our sampradhAyam to rAmAnujar. Now ,
rAmAnujar performs a beautiful thing before he went to
araiyar to learn. He performs kainkaryam to his AchArya
(araiyar) for 6 months before he sets forth to learn
anything. This is a very important aspect that
rAmAnujar, kUraththAzhwAn, mudhaliyANdAn and
many other AchAryas did in their lives – kainkaryam to
their respective AchAryas before learning anything from
them. This shows the devotion they have towards what
they are intending to learn and also on the one who will
be teaching them. rAmAnujar used to prepare milk in
Beginner’s Guide
proper warmth every day and also prepared turmeric

paste for araiyar to be applied when necessary.
vyAsa: pAtti, what did the other AchAryas teach

rAmAnujar?
pAtti : Yes, I‟m coming to them one by one. thirumalai

nambi was rAmAnujar‟s maternal uncle. He is the
foremost of SrIvaishNavas hailing from thiruvEnkatam.
He did kainkaryam to lord SrInivAsa and was engaged
in bringing thIrtham (holy water) from AkASa gangA (a
water source on thirumalai) everyday. He served lord
SrInivAsa with great care and dedication. He was
instructed by his AchArya ALavandhAr to teach the
essence and beautiful meanings of SrI rAmAyaNam to
rAmAnujar. SrI rAmAyaNam is famously called as
SaraNAgathi SAsthram in our sampradhAyam. It was
thirumalai nambi who, being the maternal uncle of
rAmAnujar, named him as iLaiyazhwAr when he was
born. Not only this, thirumalai nambi also brought
gOvindhap perumAL , the maternal cousin of rAmAnujar
back to our sampradAyam. His knowledge in our
sampradAyam and his love for AzhwAr‟s pAsurams are
unparalleled.
parASara : pAtti, can you tell us more about thirumAlai

ANdAn? How did he help rAmAnujar?
pAtti : thirumAlai ANdAn was given the responsibility of

teaching the meanings of thiruvAimozhi. After
rAmAnujar arrives at SrIrangam, thirukkOshtiyUr nambi
guides him to thirumAlai ANdAn to listen and learn the
great meanings of nammAzhwAr„s thiruvAimozhi.
Although, initially the two had few differences of
opinions as it happens between any great scholars, it
was resolved amicably and rAmAnujar learnt the
intricate meanings hidden in the pasurams of AzhwArs
Beginner’s Guide
with the blessing of his AchArya thirumAlai AndAn.

thirumAlai AndAn had such great respect and devotion
for his AchArya ALavandhAr. He never swayed away
from the path and the teachings of his AchArya and
taught them to rAmAnujar so that he can carry forward
the kainkaryam to our sampradAyam.
vEdhavalli : and what about thirukkOshtiyUr nambi and

thirukkachchi nambi?
pAtti : I will tell about them the next time we meet. There
are many interesting stories about them.
vyAsa, parASara and vEdavalli ( in chorus) : Tell us the

stories now pAtti.
pAtti : It‟s getting late. This is enough for today. Go

home now and come back tomorrow and don‟t forget to
bring your friends along with you.
The children leave to their homes thinking about the

AchAryas and eagerly waiting for the stories that pAtti
will tell them the next day.
s-guide-alavandhars-sishyas-1/
Beginner’s Guide
ALavandhAr’s Sishyas – 2
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi, thirukkachchi nambi and mARanEri
nambi
parASara and vyAsa enter AndAL pAtti‟s house. They

were accompanied by their friends vEdhavalli,
aththuzhAy and SrIvathsAngan.
pAtti (smiling) : Come in children. vyAsa, looks like you

have brought all your friends as I had said yesterday.
vyAsa : yes pAtti, parASara and I were telling the stories

of rAmAnujar and his AchAryas to SrIvathsAngan and
he wished to join us today to listen more from you.
pAtti : That is great. Come, sit. Today I will tell you all
about thirukkachchi nambi and thirukkOshtiyUr nambi,
the two great AchAryas of rAmAnujar who hold a very
special place in the sampradhAyam.

Beginner’s Guide
SrIvathsAngan : pAtti, thirukkachchi nambi was born in a

place called pUvirunthavalli near Chennai, on the way
to SrIperumbUthUr. We visited that temple last year
during our summer holidays.
pAtti: Wonderful. That is right. He was very well known

for his thiruvAlavatta (fan) kainkaryam to dhEva
perumAL and his regular conversations with perumAL.
He was very dear and close to dhEva perumAL. When
rAmAnujar came to kAnchIpuram, thirukkachchi nambi
was the first AchAryan to take him under his fold and
bless rAmAnujar with his first kainkaryam to
emperumAn.
vyAsa: What kainkaryam did rAmAnujar do, pAtti?
pAtti : On being requested by rAmAnujar for proper

guidance, thirukkachchi nambi asks rAmAnujar to bring
theertham from sAlaik kiNaRu (a near-by well) for
perumAL thirumanjanam. That was the first kainkaryam
bestowed upon rAmAnujar by thirukkachchi nambi. His
knowledge on SAsthram and his love towards
emperumAn was par excellence. rAmAnujar develops
such immense affection and respect towards
thirukkachchi nambi that he requests him to accept
rAmAnujar as his shishya and perform pancha
samskAram.
parASara : But, pAtti, didn‟t you say that periya

nambi did pancha samskAram to rAmAnujar in
madhurAnthakam?
pAtti : Yes parASara. I‟m happy that you remember the

incident. thirukkachchi nambi, a scholar in SAsthram,
was well aware that he cannot perform pancha
samskAram to rAmAnujar based on the restrictions
specified in SAsthram. He explains the same to

Beginner’s Guide
rAmAnujar who accepts it as it is said in SAsthram. This

shows the respect and unwavering belief that rAmAnujar
had on the sanctity and righteousness of our SAsthram.
He believed, like all our AchAryas that if it is said in
SAsthram , it is right beyond any question or doubt as
SAsthram is none other than God‟s own words and will.
thirukkachchi nambi also guided rAmAnujar through all
his doubts and questions related to our sampradhAyam.
There is a very interesting story of how thirukkachchi
nambi conversed with dhEva perumAL to clarify
rAmAnujar‟s doubts.
vEdhavalli : What were the doubts pAtti? What did

dhEva perumAL say?
pAtti : Once rAmAnujar had few confusions and doubts

in his mind. He knew that thirukkachchi nambi could
converse with dhEva perumAL, he requested nambi‟s
guidance once again. Nambi goes to emperumAn and
performs his kainkaryam as usual and waits for the right
time to open up about rAmAnujar‟s request. dhEva
perumAL, enquires about nambi‟s hesitation. Nambi
reveals that rAmAnujar has few doubts to be clarified.
Nambi had no idea what the doubts were but dhEva
perumAL being the antaryAmi of all, the ever merciful
emperumAn states, ” Tell rAmAnuja that 1) I‟m the
supreme of all, no doubt 2) I‟m the one residing in all
living and non-living things as antharyAmi but that
doesn‟t make them equal to me. They are different from
me and always are subservient to me 3) Accepting me
as the only refuge is the only way to understand and
attain me 4) Once surrendered, I will, without fail,
remember and take care of my bhakthas during their
last moments 5) Once my bhakthas leave this world, I
will give them eternal kainkaryam in my abode,
SrIvaikuNtam and finally 6) Accept periya nambi as his
AchAryan. Neither did dhEva perumAL ask what

Beginner’s Guide
rAmAnujar‟s doubts were nor did Nambi know what the

doubts were. When nambi goes back to rAmAnujar with
these answers, rAmAnujar‟s happiness knew no
bounds. Such was the mercy of dhEva perumAL. He
was always there when rAmAnujar had doubts or fear of
any kind. Now that it became very clear that rAmAnujar
must approach periya nambi for samASrayanam, he
takes the blessings of thirukkachchi nambi and leaves to
SrIrangam to meet periya nambi and we all know the
rest of the story, isn‟t it children?
vyAsa : yes pAtti, we remember.
pAtti : One of the very important characteristic qualities

of a SrIvaishNava is humility, often referred to as
naichya bhAvam or feeling humbled in the presence of
other SrIvaishNavas, in our sampradhAyam. periya
nambi was a living example of humility which came
genuinely from his heart and were not just words from
his mouth. periya nambi was very humble and always
treated other SrIvaishnavas with great respect. One very
interesting incident happened which proves this. There
was once a great AchArya called mARanEri nambi who
was also a disciple of ALavandhAr like periya nambi.
mARanEri nambi wanted his last rites to be performed
by a SrIvaishNava and requested periya nambi to take
care of the same. periya nambi gladly agrees to it and
faces the wrath of the local people in the town for
performing the last rites of a person who is lower to
periya nambi by caste and thereby going against
SAsthram. When asked, periya nambi says that he was
just following the teachings of nammAzhwAr who says
that bhAgavatha kainkaryam is of utmost purity and
importance. A bhAgavatha, irrespective of caste or birth,
must be treated with respect. The naichya bhAvam was
not theoretical but put into practise by periya nambi. He
truly believed that all SrI vaishnavAs are dear to

Beginner’s Guide
emperumAn and must be revered and respected. He

also believed that no matter where and how a true
devotee of emperumAn spends his last moments,
emperumAn gives them the eternal bliss of kainkaryam
in SrI vaikuntam, just as assured by dhEva perumAL to
thirukkachchi nambi. He was a great AchArya who lived
by the teachings of his AchArya, AlavandhAr, and
nammAzhwAr throughout his life. Is it enough for today
or do you want to listen about thirukkOshtiyUr nambi
also?
vEdhavalli : Do you have stories about him too?
pAtti : yes, plenty!
aththuzhAy : Then please tell us about thirukkOshtiyUr

nambi too.

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti : thirukkOshtiyUr nambi was also one of the

prominent Sishyas of ALavandhAr who was given the
responsibility to teach the meanings of thirumanthram
and charama SlOkam. Do you know what they are?
vyAsa : Om namo nArAyanAya is called the

thirumanthram.
SrIvatsAngan : sarva dharmAn parithyajya mAmEkam

SaraNam vraja ; aham thvA sarva pApebhyO
mOkshayishyAmI mAsucha: is called charama slOkam.
pAtti : Quite impressive. Now these three verses have

such deep and profound meanings that one needs to
learn it thoroughly from an AchAryan.
vEdhavalli : But pAtti, most of us know the meanings of

these verses.
pAtti: yes, most of us know the generic meaning of

these verses but each of these carry such in-depth
essence of our sampradhAyam that it is beyond one‟s
capability to know it completely without the blessing and
guidance of an AchAryan. That is why thirukkOshtiyUr
nambi was given the important task of teaching
rAmAnuja the meanings of these verses.
aththuzhAy : pAtti, I heard that rAmAnujar had to travel

18 times to learn from thirukkOshtiyUr nambi. Is that
true? Why did he have to go through so much trouble?
pAtti : Yes, it is very much true. It can be taken as a way

used by thirukkOshtiyUr nambi to test rAmAnujar‟s
involvement and sincerity in learning about our
sampradhAyam and it can also be taken as a testimony
to rAmAnujar‟s perseverance and patience. When we
face difficulties, we must face it and overcome the

Beginner’s Guide
hurdle with patience and not give up easily. Look how

many times rAmAnujar had to travel to thirukkOshtiyUr.
18 times! He was steadfast and finally, the 18th time he
was taught the rich meanings of charama slOkam by
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi.
vyAsa : pAtti, thirukkOshtiyUr nambi seems to be a very

strict AchArya. He could have been more kind towards
rAmAnujar.
pAtti : This is the exact misconception that all have after

learning about this incident. But it is not true. He always
had rAmAnujar‟s welfare in his mind and although he
seemed strict outwardly, he was very kind and loved
rAmAnujar. Just like a doting father would seem to be
strict with his son but would do any kind of sacrifice for
the son‟s welfare. Remember, yesterday when talking
about thirumAlai AndAn, I said there were few
differences of opinions between AndAn and rAmAnujar?
It was thirukkOshtiyUr nambi who intervened and
resolved the conflict amicably for the sake of rAmAnujar.
In fact, he was so impressed by rAmAnujar‟s selfless
love for other SrI vaishnavAs that he lovingly bestowed
the name emperumAnAr ( someone who is greater than
emperumAn Himself) to rAmAnujar. Thus came the
beautiful name “emperumAnAr” to rAmAnujar . When
rAmAnujar was poisoned by some miscreants in
SrIrangam, it was thirukkOshtiyUr nambi who came in
time and appointed kidAmbi AchAn to prepare food for
rAmAnujar so that his life is safe. thirukkOshtiyUr nambi
was always concerned about rAmAnujar‟s well-being
just like a loving father. There are so many more stories
on his greatness, abundance of knowledge and his
devotion towards his AchAryan AlavandhAr. I would love
to keep telling you stories and I‟m sure you all would
love to keep listening to them but don‟t you think your
parents will be worried that you all are getting late? Now

Beginner’s Guide
take these fruits and go home. Next time, I will tell you
many such stories about our AchAryas.
The children share the fruits and leave, thinking about

thirukkachchi nambi, periya nambi and thirukkOshtiyUr
nambi.
s-guide-alavandhars-sishyas-2/

Beginner’s Guide
rAmAnujar – Part 1
parASara , vyAsa enter AndAL pAtti‟s house with
vEdhavalli and aththuzhAy.
pAtti : Welcome children. Wash your hands and feet.

Here is the prasAdam for thiruAdip pUram festival that
took place in our temple. Today, we will start our
discussion on someone very dear to AndAL pirAtti,
someone she called as her own brother. Can you guess
who it is?
vyAsa : No pAtti, who is AndAL‟s brother? Did AndAL

have a brother?
pArthasArathy with ubaya nAchchiyArs and

udaiyavar – thiruvallikkENi
pAtti : Yes, he was her brother, not by birth but by his

act of love and affection. He was called gOdhAgrajar or
kOyil aNNan, who is none other than our rAmAnujar!
agrajan means elder brother in sanskrit. Being regarded
as the elder brother by AndAL or gOdhA herself, he is
called gOdhAgrajar. iLaiyAzhwAr was born
in SrIperumbuthUr to kEsava dhIkshithar and

Beginner’s Guide
kAnthimathi ammangAr. He was an avathAram of

AdhiSEshan himself. He was born with the grace
of thiruvallikkENi pArthasArathy perumal.
parASara : pAtti, wasn‟t AndAL born long time before

the birth of rAmAnujar? Then how could he be her elder
brother?
pAtti : Good question parASara. As I said, he was not

her brother by birth but by his action. AndAL , out of
pure love towards perumAL, wanted to offer 100 plates
of akkAra adisil (sweet rice) and 100 plates of butter to
thirumAlirunchOlai azhagar perumAL. But, being a small
child that she was, she couldn‟t practically make it
possible. rAmAnujar reads the pAsuram in nAchchiyAr
thirumozhi, where AndAL conveys her wish to make this
offering happen. rAmAnujar then offers 100 plates of
akkAra adisil and 100 plates of butter to
thirumAlirunchOlai azhagar perumAL on behalf of
AndAL. After he finished offering to azhagar, he goes
to SrIvillipuththUr and on reaching SrIvillipuththUr,
AndAL welcomes him and calls him as her aNNan from
kOyil (SrIrangam), hence the name kOyil aNNAn. He
calls him as her elder brother as brothers are the ones
who care of their sisters and fulfill their sister‟s desires
and wishes.
aththuzhAy, can you recite some pasurams

from thiruppAvai? I remember that you enacted as
ANdAL in your school fancy dress competition and
recited some pAsurams!
(aththuzhAy recites some pasurams )
pAtti : Do you know why I asked you to recite it today?

Because, rAmAnujar was also called thiruppAvai jeeyar.
He always recited thiruppAvai everyday. Being a great

Beginner’s Guide
scholar, rAmAnujar always found thiruppAvai close to

his heart and recited it everyday. Do you know why?
vEdhavalli : because it is easy to learn? I know all the 30

verses!
pAtti (Smiling) : That‟s very good

vEdhavalli. thiruppAvai is not just easy to learn but also
has the entire essence of our sampradhAyam in those
simple 30 verses. It is equal to all the knowledge
available abundantly in our vEdhas. That is why it is
called “vEdham anaiththukkum viththAgum” – the 30
verses contain the core essence of all the 4 vEdas.
aththuzhAy: pAtti, rAmAnujar seems to have a lot of

names. First, you said iLaiyAzhwAr , then rAmAnujar,
and now kOyil aNNan and thiruppAvai jeeyar!
pAtti : yes. He was given such names by

various AchAryas, ANdAL and emperumAn out of
affection. We have already seen all the AchAryas of
rAmAnujar and their contributions in his life. Let us now
see the various names of rAmAnujar and who gave
them to him.
 iLaiyAzhwAr was the birth name given by periya

thirumalai nambi , rAmAnujar‟s maternal uncle.
 SrI rAmAnuja was given by periya nambi during
his pancha samskAram at madhurAntakam.
 yathirAja and rAmAnuja muni was given
by dhEvap perumAL during the time rAmAnujar
accepted his sanyAsASrama.
 udaiyavar was given by namperumAL himself
stating that both the worlds‟ riches are now the
possession of rAmAnujar too.
 lakshmaNa muni was the name given
by thiruvarangap perumAL araiyar.

Beginner’s Guide
 emperumAnAr was given by thirukkOshtiyUr

nambi when rAmAnujar gave the rich meanings
of our sampradhAyam to all the ones who
surrendered to him in thirukkOshtiyUr.
thirukkOshtiyUr nambi was so impressed by
rAmAnujar‟s kindness that he said , “You are
kinder than emperumAn himself, hence the name
emperumAnAr – someone who is more
benevolent than emperumAn himself”.
 He was given the name satakOpan ponnadi
by thirumAlai AndAn.
 We just saw that he was called kOyil aNNan by
AndAL.
 SrI bhAshyakArar was the name given to him by
sarasvathi in kashmir.
 bhUthapurIsar given by Adhi kEsava perumAL of
SrIperumbUthUr and finally
 dhESikEndhrar was the name given to him by
none other than our very
own thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn.
So, to sum it up, rAmAnujar had so many AchAryas who

raised rAmAnujar with all the care and knowledge that
they could provide so that our sampradhAyam can
flourish and carry forward after ALavandhAr. He was
first taken into the folds of SrIvaishNavam
by thirukkachchi nambi with the blessings of
ALavandhAr, later was given pancha samskAram by
periya nambi, learns the essence of thiruvAimozhi fully
from thirumAlai ANdAn , learns the essence of our
sampradhAyam from thiruvarangapperumAL araiyar,
learns charama SlOkam from thirukkOshtiyUr nambi
and finally learns the complete meaning of SrI
rAmAyanam from his maternal uncle periya thirumalai
nambi. Thus, the 6 great disciples
of ALavandhAr fulfilled their duties towards their
AchArya.

Beginner’s Guide
rAmAnujar – SrIperumbuthUr
vEdhavalli : pAtti, while talking about AlavandhAr, you

said that rAmAnujar could not become his disciple but
promised to fulfill his wishes. What were they? How did
rAmAnujar know that AlavandhAr had any wish at all?
pAtti : A very good question. When periya nambi was

asked by ALavandhAr to bring rAmAnujar to SrIrangam,
periya nambi leaves to kanchIpuram. By the time periya
nambi comes back to SrIrangam with rAmAnujar,
ALavandhAr leaves from this world to paramapadham.
On reaching SrIrangam, periya nambi and rAmAnujar
come to know about it. When rAmAnujar sees the
thirumEni (divine form) of ALavandhAr, he notices that 3
fingers of one of his hands are folded. When asked,
ALavandhAr‟s disciples say that ALavandhAr had few
unfulfilled desires. rAmAnujar immediately takes an oath
to :
 establish his gratitude towards vyAsa and

parASara rishis in his lifetime.

Beginner’s Guide
 show his love and gratitude

towards nammAzhwAr in his lifetime.
 have a bhAshyam (commentary) written for
vyAsa‟s brahma sUtram, which is what is later
called as SrIbhAshyam, written by rAmAnujar
with the help of his foremost
disciple kUraththAzhwAn. He travelled to Kashmir
with kUraththAzhwAn, for this purpose
specifically.
As soon as rAmAnujar takes these 3 oaths, the folded

fingers of ALavandhAr straighten themselves up. All the
disciples who watched this incident were surprised and
full of praises for rAmAnujar and hailed him as the next
AchAryar of our sampradhAyam. However, rAmAnujar
was so overwhelmed and sad by the demise of
ALavandhAr that he did not even stop to offer his
prayers to SrI ranganathan of SrIrangam and
immediately left to kAnchIpuram.
vyAsa : But pAtti, how can someone‟s body respond in

such a manner like how ALavandhAr‟s fingers
responded to rAmAnujar‟s oath?
pAtti: vyAsa, the bond that rAmAnujar and ALavandhAr

had was beyond the bodily senses. It was by mind and
soul that they were bonded. Did ALavandhAr tell
rAmAnujar what his last 3 wishes were? Still, rAmAnujar
took the oath as per ALavandhAr‟s wishes. How could
that happen? Such relations did exist vyAsa. Very
similar to the incident where dhEvap perumAL clarifies
the doubts lingering in rAmAnujar‟s mind even without
rAmAnujar telling Him what they were. Such relations
are bound by mind and soul and not by body. Such was
the relation between AlavandhAr and rAmAnujar.

Beginner’s Guide
So long, we have seen everything about rAmAnujar and

the different AchAryas in his life. Tomorrow I will tell you,
all about how rAmAnujar went on to become the great
leader and the various disciples who joined him in his
journey.
s-guide-ramanujar-1/

Beginner’s Guide
rAmAnujar – Part 2
parASara : pAtti, yesterday you said you will be telling

us about the life of rAmAnujar and all the disciples that
he had.
pAtti: Yes. Before telling about his Sishyas, we should

also know one great special aspect of rAmAnujar. That
is, even before his physical appearance, nammAzhwAr
foretold his appearance some 5000 years ago
to madhurakavi AzhwAr and subsequently to
nAthamunigaL too. There is a great grantham
named charamOpAya nirNayam, which fully reveals our
emperumAnAr‟s glories – this book documents
nammAzhwAr – nAthamunigaL conversation and the
revelation of emperumAnAr‟s appearance. The divine
vigraham of emperumAnAr that was presented by
nammAzhwAr to madhurakavi AzhwAr is still
worshipped n AzhwArthirunagari, bhavishyadhAchAryan
sannidhi.
rAmAnujar – AzhwArthirunagari

Beginner’s Guide
vyAsa : Wow! So, AzhwAr and some AchAryas already

knew his birth. That is great pAtti. Please continue with
his life more.
pAtti: Yes, rAmAnujar traveled the length and breadth of

our country propagating the vaishNava philosophy ,
sometimes with no struggle but most of the times with
lot of resistance from the other side. rAmAnujar won
over all the people with his knowledge and affection.
When he was in kAnchIpuram, he was married to
thanjammAL but later accepts sanyAsASramam from
dhEva perumAL. When rAmAnujar accepts
sanyAsASramam, he promises to forego all his
belongings in his life except for his
nephew, mudhaliyANdAn.
vyAsa : pAtti, why did he get married and then accept

sanyAsAshramam? Why couldn‟t he just stay married
and do all the kainkaryams that he did?
pAtti : vyAsa, there are many reasons to it. One, there

were few difference of opinions between him and his
wife, two, you must always be willing to do some
sacrifices for a greater cause. As we all know, he
shouldered the responsibility of winning over the lengths
and breaths of our country by propagating the
vaishNava philosophy. For eg., the soldiers of our
country guard our country, leaving their families and
dear ones because they have a greater responsibility. A
greater good called safeguarding the country. Similarly,
rAmAnujar had a greater cause in his mind. He knew his
purpose was to uplift the true essence of vEdhas. Hence
he accepted sanyAsASramam. Immediately after he
became the jeeyar, great scholars like
mudhaliyANdAn and kUraththAzhwAn become Sishyas
of rAmAnujar.

Beginner’s Guide
aththuzhAy : Isn‟t it a burden to take up such a huge

responsibility? How did rAmAnujar do it all alone?
pAtti : No aththuzhAy! It was not a burden at all. When

you are passionate about your work, you never find it as
a burden. Moreover, rAmAnujar was never alone. He
was always accompanied by great Sishyas like
mudhaliyAndAn, kUraththAzhwAn,
embAr, ananthAzhwAn , kidAmbi AchchAn, vaduga
nambi, pillai urangavilli dAsar etc who took care of him
day in and day out. They were with him throughout his
journey of accomplishments. There were many attempts
on hurting rAmAnujar and even kill him. On such
occasions, Sishyas like embAr and kUraththaAzhwAn
put their life in danger to save their AchArya‟s life. You
all remember how kUraththAzhwAn and periya nambi
went to the kingdom of the Saiva emperor and lost their
eyesight? With such great disciples around, rAmAnujar
also took great care in re-establishing the correct temple
administration in many temples.
rAmAnujar – SrIrangam

Beginner’s Guide
vEdhavalli : Yes pAtti, I heard that all the temple rules

and customs established in many temples like
SrIrangam and thiruppathi were all established by
rAmAnujar. Can you tell us more about it?
pAtti : That‟s right vEdhavalli. He just re-enforced the

customs that were stated in vEdhas. He saw to it that all
the customs were followed as prescribed and took great
care in establishing them. In SrIrangam, the temple was
guarded by one named periya kOyil nambi. As I said
earlier, rAmAnujar did not get the immediate approval of
periya kOyil nambi to make the needed changes in the
temple administration. rAmAnujar had to send
kUraththAzhwAn to guide and educate periya kOyil
nambi to the folds of SrI vaishNavam and proceeded
with the changes in the temple administration. periya
kOyil nambi, after being guided by AzhwAn , surrenders
to rAmAnujar and is later renamed as thiruvarangaththu
amudhanAr. He later writes rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi
in praise of rAmAnujar. Do you know that the
identification of thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn as a vishNu lord
was done by rAmAnujar and there were other sects of
people who claimed otherwise?
rAmAnujar – thirumalai

Beginner’s Guide
parASara : What? We all know that

thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn is none other than lord VishNu
Himself. When did they have doubts on that?
pAtti : yes! thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn is lord VishNu

Himself. But there were few people who claimed
otherwise. Some said He was rudhran and some
claimed Him to be a form of skandhan. rAmAnujar
traveled to thiruppathi after hearing such claims. He was
very unhappy about the events and established the truth
on the identity of thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn that He is none
other than lord SrIman nArAyaNa with the conch and
the chakra. So, in thiruppathi, rAmAnujar did more than
establishing the temple administration. He established
the very identity of thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn. Hence,
rAmAnujar is glorified as thiruvEnkatamudaiyAn‟s
AchAryan. Here is where, rAmAnujar learns the essence
of rAmAyana from his maternal uncle periya thirumalai
nambi. He goes on to establish the temple duties in
many other temples with thirunArAyaNa puram temple
being the other prominent one.
rAmAnujar – thirunArayaNapuram

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aththuzhAy : pAtti, I heard that the jains in mElkote in

those days created problems to rAmAnujar.
vyAsa : I also heard that the perumAL of thirunArAyaNa

puram temple was stolen by muslim invaders.
pAtti : Yes, that‟s true. rAmAnujar faced numerous

hardships while bringing about the reforms that he was
willing to establish for the betterment of the temples and
our sampradhAyam. However, change is something that
many don‟t welcome. Everybody feels safe with the old
customs, right or wrong and never accept changes or
the person who tries to bring about the much needed
change. That is the common attitude of the society.
Even in today‟s age, change is difficult, so imagine 1000
years back, when customs and beliefs were so rigid,
rAmAnujar had to face so much of resistance before he
could bring any positive outcome. The jains scholars
were reluctant to accept the eternal truth of our
vishishtAdhvaitha philosophy. rAmAnujar was
challenged to answer 1000 questions by the 1000 jain
scholars simultaneously. rAmAnujar takes his original
form – that of AdhishEsha with 1000 hoods and answers
all their questions simultaneously thereby winning over
the debate.
selvappiLLai uthsava mUrthy of thirunArAyaNa puram

temple was stolen by the muslim invaders and was in
the premises of the invader‟s daughter who was filled
with affection and love for selvappiLLai. When
rAmAnujar came to rescue selvappiLLai, the invader‟s
daughter could not bear the separation from
selvappiLLai.
aththuzhAy : Just like AndAL could not bear the

separation from lord krishNa!

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti : yes, exactly like AndAL. The muslim invader‟s

daughter also couldn‟t bear the thought of letting
rAmAnujar go away with selvappiLLai. Eventually,
rAmAnujar performs the marriage of the muslim king‟s
daughter and selvappiLLai. This again shows that true
devotion and love for lord is beyond any caste or creed.
kUraththAhwAn – rAmAnujar – mudhaliyAndAn
vyAsa : pAtti, you never told us how rAmAnujar fulfilled

the 3 wishes of ALavandhAr.
pAtti : kUraththAzhwAn was blessed with two children.

rAmAnujar named the two sons as vyAsa
and parASara thereby acknowledging the greatness of
the two rishis and thereby fulfilling his first promise to
ALavandhAr. gOvindha bhattar, who was later named
as embAr had a younger brother called siriya gOvindha
perumAL , whose son was named parAngusa nambi
after nammAzhwAr, thereby fulfilling the second
promise. And finally, he writes SrIbhAshyam to fulfill the
third promise. To write SrIbhAshyam, rAmAnujar travels
to kashmir with kUraththAzhwAn.
vEdhavalli : What happens in kashmir?

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pAtti : rAmAnujar travels to kashmir to get a previously

written book required to write SrIbhAshyam. When they
get the book, some wicked people over there, who could
not bear the idea that rAmAnujar is using the book from
their repository for his own purpose, followed them and
snatched the book too.
vyAsa : How cruel!
pAtti : yes! However, even before the wicked people

could get their hands on the book, AzhwAn had
memorized the entire book and the contents required for
writing the SrIbhAshyam.
vyAsa : Memorized an entire book? How is that possible

pAtti? Wish even I could memorize my entire subject
books like that!
pAtti ( smiling) : kUraththAzhwAn was not just a disciple

to rAmAnujar , he was a great asset and a blessing to
rAmAnujar. When everyone were uplifted due to the
association with rAmAnujar, rAmAnujar himself says
that he is uplifted by his association with
kUraththAzhwAn. In spite of being such a great scholar,
not even an iota of arrogance seeps into the pure heart
of AzhwAn which is the residence of rAmAnujar. With
the help of kUraththAzhwAn, rAmAnujar completes
writing the SrIbhAshyam thereby fulfilling the final
promise he made to ALavandhAr. After the Saiva king
who ruled SrIrangam, died, rAmAnujar returns to
SrIrangam.
Finally, before leaving this world to reach the eternal

abode, just like ALavandhAr, rAmAnujar decides on the
next AchAryan to lead the torch of our sampradhAyam,
the revered son of AzhwAn, parASara bhattar. He
instructs bhattar and few other Sishyas to take shelter

Beginner’s Guide
of embAr and learn under embAr‟s guidance. He tells all

his disciples to treat bhattar just like how they treat him.
He also tells bhattar to bring nanjIyar to the
sampradhAyam, just like how ALavandhAr appointed
periya nambi to bring rAmAnujar to the sampradhAyam.
Meditating on his AchArya, periya nambi and
ALavandhAr, emperumAnAr leaves this world to
continue his kainkaryam in the eternal abode of lord
SrIman nArAyaNan. Soon, unable to bear the
separation of rAmAnujar, embAr ascends to
paramapadham too.
parASara : pAtti, I heard that rAmAnujar‟s body is still

preserved in SrIrangam. Is that true?
pAtti : Yes parASara, it is true, And when we talk about

great AchAryas, we say thirumEni, just like we refer to
perumAL, with respect. It is indeed true that the
thirumEni of rAmAnujar is preserved inside the
SrIrangam temple, just below the rAmAnujar thirumEni
in his sannidhi. The sannidhi that we see today as
rAmAnujr sannidhi was once the vasantha mandapam
of lord SrI ranganAthan of SrIrangam. Now, let us all
pray at the lotus feet of rAmAnujar and lord SrI
ranganAthan to give us the interest and involvement to
learn more about our AchAryas and their glories. Now,
you all must leave as it is getting late. The next time we
meet, I will tell you about rAmAnujar‟s various Sishyas ,
their glories and their contribution in rAmAnujar‟s
victorious journey.
The children leave thinking about rAmAnujar, his various

kainkaryams, the various difficulties he faced and how
he emerged as the great AchAryan of our
sampradhAyam.

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s-guide-ramanujar-2/

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embAr
pAtti : Welcome children. Wash your hands and feet. Let

me bring some prasAdam. Do you know what day is
tomorrow? Tomorrow is AlavandhAr‟s thirunakshatram ,
Adi, uthrAdam. Who over here,
remembers AlavandhAr?
aththuzhAy : I remember! He was the AchArya who

prayed to dhEvap perumAL to bring rAmAnujar into the
sampradhAyam.
vyAsa : Yes. Also, after he reached paramapadham, on

his thirumEni, three fingers were closed which
denoted his last three unfulfilled wishes and rAmAnujar
promised to fulfill them. As rAmAnujar promised, the
three fingers unfolded.
parASara : pAtti, we also remember how you said that

the relation between rAmAnujar and AlavandhAr was
that of mind and soul and beyond bodily senses.
pAtti : Exactly! It is his thirunakshatram tomorrow. Here

take these prasAdam. Do not forget to go to temple
tomorrow and pay your respects to the great AchArya
who brought rAmAnujar to the sampradhAyam. Moving
on, today, let us know about our next AchArya embAr.
embAr was born in madhuramangalam as the son of
kamala nayana bhattar and SrIdhEvi ammAL. His birth
name was gOvindhap perumAL. He was also known as
gOvindha bhattar, gOvindha dhAsar and rAmAnuja
padha chAyaiyAr. He was a cousin of emperumAnAr
and once saved rAmAnujar from being killed.

Beginner’s Guide
vEdhavalli : killed? pAtti, I thought rAmAnujar‟s life was

in danger only once and kUraththAzhwAn and periya
nambi saved his life. How many times was his life in
danger?
pAtti : Plenty of times! I will tell them as and when the

time comes. His life was in danger for the first time when
his own guru yAdhava prakASar wanted to kill him.
rAmAnujar and yAdhava prakASar always had
difference of opinions when it came to meanings
prescribed in vEdhas. yAdhava prakASar used to give
meanings to certain phrases in the vEdhas in a wrong
and manipulated way. rAmAnujar, on hearing it, would
feel very bad and convey the true meaning as per our
viSishtAdhvaitha sampradhAyam. yAdhava prakASar
who was an advaiti, would never be happy with the
explanations given by rAmAnujar. He knew that the
explanations as told by rAmAnujar were more
meaningful and hence started feeling competitive. He
felt rAmAnujar would soon out throw him out from his
position of AchArya although rAmAnujar had no such
intentions. This led to jealousy and hatred towards
rAmAnujar, in yAdhava prakASar‟s mind. He planned to
kill rAmAnujar while the entire gathering of yAdhava
prakAsar and his Sishyas went to vAraNAsi yAthrA.
gOvindha perumAL who comes to know about this plot
informs rAmAnujar about the same and warns him to not
continue the yAthrA with the group. He asks rAmAnujar
to go south towards kAnchIpuram so that his life is
saved. rAmAnujar does the same and thus escapes the
treacherous plot of his guru. Thus, gOvindhap perumAL
saves rAmAnujar‟s life.
vyAsa : pAtti, was gOvindhap perumAL a Sishya of

yAdhava prakASar too?

Beginner’s Guide
embAr – madhuramangalam
pAtti : Yes vyAsa. Both rAmAnujar and gOvindhap

perumAL were learning from yAdhava prakAsar.
Although rAmAnujar had to go south to save himself,
gOvindhap perumAL continues the yAthrA and becomes
a Siva bhaktha and stays in a place called kALahasthi
as uLLangai koNda nAyanAr. Knowing this , rAmAnujar
sends his maternal uncle periya thirumalai nambi to
reform gOvindhap perumAL and bring him back to the
sampradhAyam. periya thirumalai nambi goes to
kALahasthi and uses the pAsurams
of nammAzhwAr and SlOkas from sthOthra ratnam
of ALavandhAr to reform gOvindhap perumAL.
gOvindhap perumAL realises his mistake and returns
back to our sampradhAyam. So children, ALavandhAr,
even after reaching paramapadham, was instrumental in
bringing not only rAmAnujar but also his brother
gOvindhap perumAL into our sampradhAyam. As periya
thirumalai nambi brought him into the sampradhAyam,
he was his AchAryan and performs his pancha

Beginner’s Guide
samskAram. periya thirumalai nambi returns to

thiruppathi with gOvindhap perumAL and gOvindhap
perumAL continues to do kainkaryam to his AchAryan.
Here , there is a very important thing that you all must
notice. You must notice that rAmAnujar and periya
thirumalai nambi went and reformed gOvindhap
perumAL but gOvindhap perumAL never approached
them to be reformed. Such AchAryas who reach
towards their Sishyas to change them for their
betterment and are very concerned for the goodness of
their Sishyas are called krupA mAthra
prasannAchAryas. They themselves approach their
disciples out of pure , causeless mercy for them just like
emperumAn. Both rAmAnujar and periya thirumalai
nambi were krupA mAthra prasannAchAryas for
gOvindhap perumAL.
parASara : pAtti, tell us more about gOvindhap

perumAL. What kainkaryams did he do?
pAtti: There are many incidents that show the AchArya

abhimAnam that gOvindhap perumAL had for his
AchAryan periya thirumalai nambi. Once, when
gOvindhap perumAL was making the bed for periya
thirumalai nambi, he lies on the bed before his
AchAryan lies on it. nambi enquires from gOvindhap
perumAL about it. gOvindhap perumAL replies that
although he knows that he might go to narakam for this
act, he doesn‟t mind as long as his AchAryan‟s bed is
safe and comfortable to lie on. This shows the AchArya
abhimAnam that he had where he doesn‟t bother about
himself and cares for his AchAryan‟s thirumEni. The
time came when rAmAnujar comes to thiruppathi to
learn the essence of SrI rAmAyanam from periya
thirumalai nambi. After learning it from nambi for an
year, while departing, nambi offers to give something to
rAmAnujar. rAmAnujar asks for gOvindhap perumAL

Beginner’s Guide
and nambi also gladly agrees to give away gOvindha

perumAL to rAmAnujar for kainkaryam. On learning this,
gOvindhap perumAL feels sad to leave periya thirumalai
nambi.
vyAsa : pAtti, why did nambi give away gOvindhap

perumAL? Why did gOvindhap perumAL have to leave if
he was happy doing the kainkaryam to his AchAryan?
pAtti : vyAsa, gOvindhap perumAL had a greater role to

play in the sampradhAyam by doing various
kainkaryams to rAmAnujar. Right from his childhood, he
had great love and affection towards rAmAnujar. After
rAmAnujar reached paramapadham, he also took
in parASara bhattar and other Sishyas of rAmAnujar to
guide them. With so many responsibilities and duties
waiting for him, he must make this sacrifice of leaving
his AchAryan periya thirumalai nambi and accept
rAmAnujar as his guide and mentor. He later accepts
rAmAnujar as his everything and also composes a
beautiful pAsuram depicting the beauty of rAmAnujar‟s
thirumEni (divine form). It is called “emperumAnAr
vadivazhagu pAsuram”. As I told you last time also,
when it comes to sampradhAyam, you must be ready to
make sacrifices for the greater good. So did gOvindhap
perumAL.
aththuzhAy : Did gOvindhap perumAL marry? Did he

have kids?
pAtti : gOvindhap perumAL was always involved in

bhagavath vishayam that he always saw emperumAn in
everything and everyone. Even though he gets married ,
looking at gOvindhap perumAL‟s elevated status in
bhagavath vishayam, emperumAnAr himself initiates
sanyAsASramam to gOvindhap perumAL and gives him
the name embAr. During his final days, embAr

Beginner’s Guide
instructs parASara bhattar to carry forward the beautiful

SrIvaishNava sampradhAyam. He instructs bhattar to
always meditate upon the lotus feet of emperumAnAr
and always chant “emperumAnAr thirvadigaLE thanjam”
. Meditating on his AchAryan rAmAnujar‟s lotus feet and
fulfilling the promises he made to his AchAryan, embAr
reaches paramapadham to continue his kainkaryam to
his AchAryan. bhattar follows in the steps of his
AchAryan and continues the blemish-less and bright
legacy of our sampradhAyam.
vEdhavalli : pAtti , tell us more about bhattar.
pAtti : I will tell you more about bhattar the next time you
visit. Now go home as it is getting dark outside. And do
not forget to visit the temple for ALavandhAr
thirunakshatram tomorrow.
The children leave to their homes thinking about

ALavandhAr, periya thirumalai nambi, rAmAnujar and
embAr.
s-guide-embar/

Beginner’s Guide
bhattar
pAtti : Welcome children. Today we will talk about the

next AchAryan, parASara bhattar, who was the Sishya
of embAr and had great devotion towards embAr
and emperumAnAr. As I told you children already,
emperumAnAr , as a way to express the gratitude
towards parASara and vyAsa maharishis, named the
two sons born to kUraththAzhwAn as parASara bhattar
and vEdha vyAsa bhattar. It was one of the three
promises to ALavandhAr that he fulfilled. parASara
bhattar and vEdha vyAsa bhattar were born to
kUraththAzhwAn and his wife AndAL from the
prasAdham that they received from periya perumAL of
SrIrangam.
kUraththAzhwAn with his sons parASara bhattar

and vEdha vyAsa bhattar on both sides

Beginner’s Guide
parASara : pAtti, are we, me and vyAsa, named after

these AchAryas?
pAtti : yes parASara. Children are often named

after AchAryas or perumAL so that at least for the sake
of calling out the children, we get an opportunity to call
out the divine names of our AchAryas and perumAL.
This is the exact reason why children must be named
after perumAL, thAyAr or AchAryas so that we get to call
out the auspicious names and get a chance to think
about our AchAryas and perumAL and their divine
qualities. Otherwise, in this busy world, who has the
time to separately allocate time to just recite the divine
names of perumAL and think about Him? But nowadays,
things have changed. People go behind fashionable
names which makes no sense and also does not remind
us of perumAL, thAyAr or AchAryas.
After coming to SrIrangam, AzhwAn did unja vruththi

(alms) for everyday food and one day due to heavy
rains, AzhwAn could not go out to do unja vruththi.
Azhwan and his wife AndAL had to sleep empty
stomach. During night, AndAL hears the final
naivEdhyam bell ringing from the temple. ANdAL says to
emperumAn, “Here, you have AzhwAn, your pure
devotee, without any prasAdham but you are enjoying
nice bhOgam there”. Understanding this, periya
perumAL sends his prasAdham to AzhwAn and AndAL
with all his paraphernalia ( due respects from temple )
through uththama nambi. Seeing the prasAdham
coming in, AzhwAn is awe-struck. Immediately, he turns
to AndAL and asks, “Did you complain to emperumAn?”
and AndAL admits her request. AzhwAn becomes upset
for insisting emperumAn to provide for their prasAdham.
He accepts 2 handfuls of prasAdham alone, consumes
some and gives the remnants to AndAL. Those 2

Beginner’s Guide
handfuls of prasAdham eventually blesses them with

two beautiful children.
vyAsa : pAtti, how did embAr become bhattar‟s

AchAryan?
pAtti : After the birth of the two children, emperumAnAr

sends embAr to bring the children to him to have a look
at the children. embAr looks at the two children and
immediately identifies that the two boys are born for the
sampradhAyam. He sees great thEjas (divine glow) on
the faces of the two children and immediately recites the
dhvaya mahA mantram as a rakshai (protection) so that
no ill effects can harm the two children. emperumAnAr
sees the two children and immediately realises that the
two children have been initiated into the sampradhAyam
through dhvayam. On enquiring, embAr says that he
recited the dhvayam as a rakshai to the two children.
Since embAr recited and initiated the dhvayam to the
two children, he was appointed as the AchAryan for the
two boys. The two children grew up learning from embAr
and also their father AzhwAn. Since the two children
were born due to the blessings of periya perumAL, the
two children were deeply in love with periya perumAL
and periya pirAtti (SrI ranga nAchchiyAr). emperumAnAr
also says to AzhwAn that he must give parASara bhattar
as an adopted son for periya perumAL and AzhwAn
does so. It is said that bhattar was literally raised by SrI
ranga nAchchiyAr herself in her sannidhi when he was
very young. Such was the bond and love between
periya perumAL, pirAtti and bhattar. Once, bhattar
recites some pAsurams in perumAL sannidhi and comes
out. rAmAnujar sees bhattar and
instructs ananthAzhwAn and other disciples, that bhattar
should be treated just like himself. rAmAnujar saw
himself in bhattar. rAmAnujar knew that bhattar will be
the next dharSana pravarthakar (Leader of the

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sampradhAyam). bhattar was very brilliant right from his

young days. There are many stories showing his
intelligence.
aththuzhAy : Tell us some stories about his intelligence

pAtti.
pAtti : Once, when bhattar was playing in the street, a

vidhwAn named sarvagya bhattan comes in a
palanquin. bhattar, shocked to see some one being
carried in a palanquin in SrIrangam, a place where great
scholars like rAmAnujar were living, goes straight to him
and challenges him for a debate. sarvagya bhattan
considers bhattar as a child and says bhattar can ask
any question and that will be answered by him. bhattar
picks a handful of sand and asks how much sand he
has in his hand. sarvagya bhattan becomes speechless
and says he does not know. bhattar says that he could
have just answered “it‟s a handful”. Amazed by bhattar‟s
brilliance, sarvagya bhattan at once comes down from
the palanquin and carries bhattar to his parents and
glorifies him.
vEdhavalli : That was a smart answer.
patti : bhattar was very shrewd and had great grasping

power as a child. When he was very young during his
gurukulam time, bhattar was playing in the streets. At
that time, AzhwAn comes by and asks why bhattar was
playing instead of attending the class. bhattar says
“every day they are teaching the same santhai again
and again” – usually the same santhai is repeated for 15
days or so. But bhattar could grasp right in the first day
itself. AzhwAn tests him with a pAsuram and bhattar
easily recites it.
vyAsa : Like father, like son!

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti (Smiling) : Exactly! bhattar was just like his father

AzhwAn who had great knowledge and memory power.
There were few other qualities of AzhwAn that had
come down to bhattar too such as humility and
magnanimity. Once a dog some how enters the temple
in SrIrangam. Generally during such cases, the
archakas of the temple do samprOkshaNam as an act of
cleansing the temple. The archakas decide to do a lagu
(small) samprOkshaNam. Hearing this, bhattar runs to
periya perumAL and tells him that every day he walks
into the temple but no samprOskhanam is done then
why are they doing a samprOkshaNam when a dog
enters the temple. Such was his humility, even after a
being such a great scholar, he considers himself lower
than a dog. He even says that he would prefer to be
born as a dog in SrIrangam than being born as a
dhEvan in dhEvalOkam.
vEdhavalli : pAtti, if ranga nAchchiyAr raised bhattar as

a child then did bhattar also talk to perumAL and pirAtti
like thirukkachchi nambi did with dhEvap perumAL?
pAtti : yes vEdhavalli, you are right. bhattar too speaks

with perumAL and pirAtti of SrIrangam. Do you all know
that once in a year, the day before vaikuNta ekAdhaSi,
on the 10th day of pagal paththu
utsavam, namperumAL adorns the nAchchiyAr
thirukkOlam? He wears all the jewels of ranga
nAchchiyAr and sits beautifully like nAchchiyAr on that
day. namperumAL calls bhattar on one such day and
asks him if He looks like thAyAr. bhattar, who is always
partial towards thAyAr, looks at namperumAL with great
affection and love, and says all the alankArams are
perfectly fine but the karuNai in her eyes are not to be
seen in the eyes of emperumAn. Such was the love that
bhattar had for his mother, ranga nAchchiyAr.

Beginner’s Guide
Although bhattar had hundreds of followers, who

listened to his kAlakshepams regularly and were
influenced by his teachings, there were also few people
who disliked bhattar. This is very common to great
people. This happened even to rAmAnujar. Once, few
people who disliked bhattar, started to scold him out of
jealousy and hatred. What would you do if somebody
yells at you, vyAsa?
vyAsa : I would shout back at him. Why should I be

quiet?
pAtti : That‟s exactly what most of us , even adults,

would do. But do you know what bhattar did? He
presented his ornaments and expensive shawl to the
person who shouted at him. bhattar thanks him by
saying “Every SrIvaishNava should do two things – sing
the glories of emperumAn and also lament about his
own faults. I got so deeply immersed in singing the
glories of emperumAn that I forgot my duty of lamenting
about my faults. Now you have done me a great favour
by fulfilling my duty, so I should only reward you”. Such
was his magnanimity.
parASara bhattar (with nanjIyar at his thiruvadi) –

SrIrangam

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parASara : pAtti, I remember you saying that rAmAnujar

instructed bhattar to bring nanjIyar into
the sampradhAyam. How did bhattar do it?
pAtti: I‟m very happy that you remember it parASara.

Yes, as per rAmAnujar‟s divine instructions, bhattar
goes to thirunArAyaNapuram to bring nanjIyar in to our
sampradhAyam. We have already heard about this
place before? Does anyone remember when?
vEdhavalli: I remember. thirunArAyaNapuram temple

was one of the many temples that were reformed by
rAmAnujar. rAmAnujar re-enforced the temple
administration in mElkotE.
pAtti : Very good vEdhavalli. rAmAnujar brought back

selvappiLLai uthsava mUrthy of thirunArAyaNapuram
temple from the muslim invaders and restored the
temple administration. bhattar goes to the
thadhIyArAdhana kUtam (hall where food is served to
bhAgavathas) of mAdhavAchAryar (nanjIyar‟s original
name). He waits there without eating and
mAdhavAchAryar taking a note of him, comes to him
and asks him why he does not eat and what he wants.
bhattar says that he wants to debate with him.
mAdhavAchAryar, having heard about bhattar quickly
realises this and (since no one will have the guts to
challenge him) agrees for a debate. bhattar first uses
thirunedundhANdakam and subsequently presents all
the relevant meanings from SAsthram to establish the
greatness and supremacy of emperumAn.
mAdhavAchAryar accepts the defeat and falls at the
lotus feet of bhattar and accepts him as AchAryan.
bhattar gives him specific instructions to
learn aruLichcheyal, etc and teaches him our
sampradhAya arthams. bhattar takes leave from him
and goes to SrIrangam. As soon as bhattar reaches

Beginner’s Guide
SrIrangam, he is welcomed in a grand manner. periya

perumAL who was eagerly waiting for bhattar‟s return,
listens with great interest, the entire incident from
bhattar. Pleased at bhattar‟s victory, periya perumAL
asks bhattar to recite thirunedundhANdakam to him
once again.
bhattar had great love towards the thirumEni (divine

form) of namperumAL and ranga nAchchiyAr. Once
bhattar recites some pAsurams and its meanings in front
of periya perumAL who gets very pleased and says “you
are given mOksham now”. bhattar becomes so happy
but tells namperumAL that if He doesn‟t appear as
namperumAL in paramapadham, bhattar would make a
hole and jump out of paramapadham and come back to
SrIrangam. Once when ananthAzhwAn asked bhattar if
paramapadhanAthan has 2 hands or 4 hands, bhattar
replies if He has 2 hands, He will look like periya
perumAL and if He has 4 hands, He will look like
namperumAL. bhattar could not think of looking at
anybody else other than namperumAL. He relates all
dhivya thirumEni of perumAL to namperumAL. As
namperumAL gives him mOksham, bhattar, with the
blessings of his mother ANdAL, leaves this world and
joins the other AchAryas in paramapadham, to do nithya
kainkaryam to emperumAn. He passes the torch of our
SrIvaishnava SampradhAyam to nanjIyar who becomes
the next AchAryan.
aththuzhAy : pAtti, bhattar‟s life is so interesting to listen

to. The devotion that he seems to have had for
namperumAL and their bond is so heart touching. So
blessed was ANdAL to have such illustrious husband
and sons.
pAtti : You are very right aththuzhAy. ANdAL was very

blessed indeed. Tomorrow , I will tell you more about

Beginner’s Guide
nanjIyar, the next AchAryan. Now take these fruits and

go home.
The children leave to their homes thinking about bhattar

and his divine life.
s-guide-bhattar/

Beginner’s Guide
nanjIyar
parASara, vyAsa enter AndAL pAtti‟s house with

next AchAryan nanjIyar who was the Sishya
of parASara bhattar. As I told you the last time we met,
nanjIyar who was born as SrI mAdhavar was brought
into the sampradhAyam by parASara bhattar under the
divine instruction of rAmAnujar. We also saw how
bhattar used thirunedunthANdakam and various other
meanings from SAsthram to win over mAdhavAchAryar
in a debate. mAdhavar was an adhvaitha scholar whom
bhattar later named as nanjIyar. He was also known as
nigamAntha yOgi and vEdhAnthi.
vyAsa : pAtti, if AchAryas like rAmAnujar and bhattar

could reform followers of other philosophies like
yAdhava prakASa (who became gOvindha jIyar),
gOvindhap perumAL (who became embAr), yagya
mUrthi (who became aruLALap perumAL
emperumAnAr) and mAdhavar (who became nanjIyar),
why did they not try to reform the Saiva kings because
of whom they had troubles? Why did they move away
from the Saiva kings?
pAtti : vyAsa, our pUrvAchAryas knew who could be

reformed and who could not be. In the case of the
aforementioned AchArya‟s , once they knew that the
opponent was right, they accepted defeat with dignity
and not only did they accept defeat, they also
surrendered to the lotus feet of periya thirumalai
nambi , rAmAnujar and bhattar and were blessed to
enter the SrI vaishnava sampradhAyam. However, the
Saiva king was neither ready for a fair argument nor was

Beginner’s Guide
he dignified enough to accept defeat and realise the

eternal truth of SrImaN narAyaNan„s supremacy. As the
old saying goes, “It is only possible to wake someone
who is asleep, it is impossible to wake someone who is
pretending to be asleep”. Our pUrvAchAryas knew who
was really asleep and who was just pretentious. Hence
their decisions varied accordingly. Also, in spite of the
defects of such persons, our pUrvAchAryas also tried
genuinely to help them, but only gave up after too much
resistance from the other side.
parASara : pAtti, how did mAdhavar get the name

nanjIyar?
pAtti : After bhattar wins over mAdhavar in the debate,

he instructs him to learn aruLichcheyal, teaches him our
sampradhAya principles and leaves for SrIrangam. After
bhattar leaves, mAdhavar did not receive any support
from his two wives for his decision of becoming bhattar‟s
Sishya. Frustrated with his wives, who were not
supportive of his kainkaryams and unable to bear the
separation from his AchAryan, mAdhavar decides to
become a sanyAsi (mendicant) and travel to SrIrangam
to be with his AchAryan. He divides his huge wealth into
3 parts, gives 2 parts to each of his 2 wives, takes one
part with him for submitting to bhattar, accepts
sanyAsASramam and begins his journey to SrIrangam.
On seeing mAdhavar in SrIrangam, bhattar is moved by
his dedication and AchArya abhimAnam and calls him
“nam jIyar” ( Our beloved jIyar). Since then, he is called
nanjIyar. nanjIyar was very devoted to his AchArya. His
AchArya bhakthi was boundless. He says, “if a
SrIvaishnava looks at another SrIvaishnava‟s sufferings
and if he feels sorry for that, then such person is a
SrIvaishnava”. He had great respect for SrIvaishnavas
and AchAryas of his time.

Beginner’s Guide
nanjIyar – thirunArAyaNapuram
aththuzhAy : pAtti, tell us some stories on nanjIyar‟s

AchArya bhakthi.
pAtti : Once, during a procession of bhattar on his

palanquin, nanjIyar tries to carry him with his
thridhaNdam on one shoulder and the palanquin on the
other. bhattar said “jIyA! this does not fit your
sanyAsASramam. you should not carry me”. For that
nanjIyar says “if my thridhaNdam becomes a hurdle for
my service to you, I will break it and give up the
sanyAsASramam”.
Another time, some of nanjIyar‟s disciples complained to

him that the tranquillity of his garden is disturbed due to
bhattar‟s arrival, nanjIyar immediately clarifies to them
that the purpose of the garden is to serve bhattar and
his family and warns his disciples to remember that
forever.
It is customary for AchAryas to keep their heads on their

Sishyas‟ laps while lying down. Once, when bhattar
wanted to take rest, he lied down and kept his head on
nanjIyar‟s lap and rested for a long time. nanjIyar stayed
put for the whole time without moving. Such was his

Beginner’s Guide
devotion and affection for his AchArya. bhattar and

nanjIyar always had very interesting conversations.
vEdhavalli : Like the conversations that we have ?
pAtti (Smiling) : yes, like our conversations but much

more interesting!
Once, nanjIyar asked bhattar why all azhwArs seem to

be attracted towards kaNNan than rAman. bhattar who
is always supportive of rAman says, people always
remember more recent activities. It is because
krishNAvathAram is the most recent avathAram of
emperumAn, AzhwArs are attached more towards Him.
Another time, nanjIyar asks bhattar why mahAbali goes

to pAthALam and sukrAchAryar loses his eye? bhattar
replies that since sukrAchAryar stopped mahAbali from
performing his duty of keeping his promise to vAmanan,
he lost his eye and since mahAbali did not listen to his
AchArya‟s words he was punished to be in pAthALam.
Hence, here, bhattar stresses on how important it is to
respect one‟s own AchArya. There were many such
interesting conversations between them. These
conversations helped nanjIyar in his written works too.
One day nanjIyar wanted to make nice copies of his

written works and enquires among his Sishyas for
someone who is capable of doing this. nambUr
varadharAjar‟s name was proposed. nanjIyar first gives
full kAlakshEpam of 9000 padi to varadharAjar and then
gives the only original copy to him. varadharAjar decides
to go across cauvery to his native place so that he can
focus on the writing and finish it quickly. While crossing
the river, suddenly floods appear and varadharAjar
starts swimming across. While doing so, the original
grantham slips away from his hands and he is

Beginner’s Guide
devastated. After reaching his native place, he

meditates on his AchAryan and the meanings given by
him and starts re-writing 9000 padi vyAkyAnam. Since
he was an expert in thamizh language and literature, he
adds nice meanings wherever applicable and finally
returns back to nanjIyar and submits the same to him.
nanjIyar seeing the vyAkyAnam, understanding that
there are some changes from the original, enquires what
happened. varadharAjar explains the whole incident and
nanjIyar gets very pleased hearing the same. Truly
understanding varadharAjar‟s glories and pleased by his
work, nanjIyar affectionately calls him nampiLLai and
makes him the next dharSana pravarthakar. nanjIyar
also constantly glorifies nampiLLai when nampiLLai
gives a better explanation than him. This shows
nanjIyar‟s magnanimity.
vyAsa : pAtti, tell us more about nampiLLai.
pAtti : I will tell you more about nampiLLai and his

glories tomorrow. It is getting late. You all must go home
now.
The children leave to their homes thinking about bhattar,

nanjIyar and nampiLLai.
s-guide-nanjiyar/

Beginner’s Guide
nampiLLai

next AchAryan nampiLLAi who was the Sishya
of nanjIyar. As I already told you last time, born as
varadharAjan in nambUr, nampiLLai was a scholar in
both thamizh and samskritham language and literature.
We also know how nanjIyar wanted to make copies of
his 9000 padi vyAkyAnam and varadharAjar‟s name was
proposed due to his proficiency in both the languages. It
was nanjIyar who named varadharAjar as nampiLLai
after seeing and understanding his true glories.
nampiLLai is also known as thirukkalikanRi dhAsar,
kalivairi dhAsar, lOkAchAryar, sUkthi mahArNavar,
jagathAchAryar and ulagAsiriyar.
nampiLLai – thiruvallikkENI

Beginner’s Guide
vyAsa : pAtti, we also remember how nampiLLai rewrote

the entire 9000 vyAkyAnam from his memory after he
lost his AchArya‟s original copy in the floods of river
kAvEri.
pAtti : Yes, in spite of such greatness and knowledge,

nampiLLAi was very humble and treated everyone with
great respect and affection.
vEdhavalli : pAtti, can you tell us some incidents

highlighting nampiLLai‟s glories?
pAtti : After learning AzhwAr‟s pAsurams along with their

meanings from nanjIyar, nampiLLai was regularly
lecturing at the eastern side of perumAL sannidhi in
SrIrangam temple. nampiLLai could attract a huge
crowd due to his great command over thamizh and
samskritham language and literature. He was also an
expert in giving satisfactory reasoning using vAlmIkI
rAmAyaNam whenever a doubt/question arises in the
minds of people. Once, when nampiLLai was giving his
upanyAsam, periya perumAL (mUlavar in SrIrangam)
stood up from his reclining position and tried to watch
nampiLLai‟s upanyAsam. thiruviLakku pichchan (a
SrIvaishnava who took care of the lamps and lighting in
the sannidhi) looked at periya perumAL in standing
posture and asked him to get back to his lying posture
saying that he cannot move in archAvathAram.
emperumAn even broke his archA samAdhi (The
promise not to move or talk in archAvathAram) to watch
and listen to nampiLLai. Such was the attraction of
nampiLLai‟s upanyAsams. Because of his in-depth
knowledge in various literature in both thamizh and
samskritham he was able to mesmerize his audience
during his lectures. He was able to attract people to his
lectures just like namperumAL was able to attract
people with His charming nadai (walk) during his

Beginner’s Guide
purappAdu (procession) and His beautiful thirumEni

which attracts the devotees from all corners of the world.
Has anyone seen namperumAL‟s purappAdu in
SrIrangam?
nampiLLai’s upanyAsam in perumAL sannidhi,

SrIrangam
aththuzhAy : yes pAtti, I have. I went to SrIrangam on

one of the brahmOtsavams when perumAL had veedhi
purappAdu ( procession in streets) and the way He
walked was mesmerising.
parASara : Yes pAtti, we too have watched

namperumAL‟s purappAdu many times.
pAtti : Who wouldn‟t have? Isn‟t it a treat to our eyes?

Just like how namperumAL attracted all his devotees
with his purappAdu, even nampiLLai attracted a huge
crowd to his upanyAsams. In spite of all this, his humility
was unparalleled. Once in front of namperumAL,
kandhAdai thOzhappar (who comes in the lineage

Beginner’s Guide
of mudhaliyANdAn) utters few harsh words towards

nampiLLai. He was not able to appreciate the glories of
nampiLLai and that came out as harsh words.
nampiLLai without saying a word, accepts the insults,
leaves the temple to go to his thirumALigai (home).
When thOzhappar went to his thirumALigai, his wife who
had already heard the news from others, gave him
strong advice on his behaviour and explained the glories
of nampiLLai. She insists that he should go and
apologize at the lotus feet of nampiLLai. Finally he
realizes his mistake and decides to go to nampiLLai‟s
thirumALigai late in the night. When he opened the door
to go, he noticed that there was a person waiting there
and that was none other than nampiLLai himself.
nampiLLai seeing thOzhappar, immediately falls down
and offering his praNAmam and says that he had
committed some mistake which caused thOzhappar to
be upset with him. thOzhappar was shocked to see
nampiLLai‟s greatness – even though it was thOzhappar
who committed the mistake, nampiLLai was gracious
enough to take up the fault on himself and apologise.
thOzhappar immediately offered his praNAmams to
nampiLLai and said from then on nampiLLai will be
called “lOkAchAryar” (teacher for the entire world)
because of his great humility. He said only some one
with great humility even after being such a great
personality can be called lOkAchAryar and nampiLLai
fully fits that position. thOzhappar also gives up his
hatred towards nampiLLai and starts serving nampiLLai
with his wife and also learns all the meanings of
SAsthram from him.
parASara : How wonderful! Isn‟t it very similar to the

incident where parASara bhattar gifted an expensive
shawl to the person who talked ill of him?

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti: Good observation parASara! Our pUrvAchAryas

all had similar qualities – that of a true SrIvaishNava.
Time and again, our AchAryas taught us how to live and
stressed on how to treat everybody by leading a pure
life of a SrIvaishNava. They showed us the path by
being perfect examples. They also showed us that it is
not just theoretical but can be followed even practically.
All it needs is one‟s AchAryan‟s blessings and little effort
from our end to try to live a life like our pUrvAchAryas.
Little baby steps will eventually lead us to our
destination.
When bhattar showed us how to be a true

SrIvaishNava, naduvil thiruvIdhip piLLai bhattarwho
came in the lineage of parASara bhattar, developed
some jealousy towards nampiLLai. Once naduvil
thiruvIdhi piLLai bhattar was going to the king‟s court
with pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar along with him. The
king invited both of them, gave them sambhAvanai and
offered them nice seats. The king asked bhattar a
question from SrI rAmAyaNam. He asked when SrI
rAma always presented himself as a human in
rAmAvathAram and never once did he call himself
paramAthmA, how could he say to jatAyu that he is
given mOksham? bhattar asks jIyar how nampiLLai
would have explained this and jIyar immediately says
that nampiLLAi would explain it as “a truthful person like
rAman can conquer all the worlds with the power of his
honesty” quoting the principle from SAsthram. bhattar
uses the same explanation to answer the king‟s
question. The king being very pleased with the
explanation, praised bhattar for his knowledge and
presented him huge wealth. bhattar immediately
realizing the power of just one explanation of nampiLLai,
goes to nampiLLai and offers all the wealth to him. He
also surrenders to nampiLLai and becomes a disciple of
him and thereafter serves nampiLLai forever. Thus

Beginner’s Guide
naduvil thiruvIdhip piLLai bhattar was redeemed and

becomes one of the many Sishyas of nampiLLai.
vEdhavalli : pAtti, last time you said that bhattar and

najIyar had great conversations between each other.
Did nanjIyar and nampiLLai also have such interesting
conversations?
pAtti : Yes vEdhavalli. nanjIyar and nampiLLai also had

wonderful conversations. Once, nampiLLai asks to
nanjIyar, “what is the purpose of avathArams
(incarnations) taken by emperumAn?”. nanjIyar replies
that “emperumAn took the avathArams with the main
purpose to ensure that one who committed bhAgavatha
apachAram is punished appropriately”. For eg.
emperumAn took krishNAvathAram to ensure that
dhuryOdhanan who committed many apachArams on
his bhakthas gets killed eventually. He came as
narasimhan to ensure that hiraNyakaSipu, who troubled
His devotee prahlAdha, is killed. So, the main motive of
all avathArams is bhAgavatha samrakshaNam.
vyAsa : pAtti, what is bhAgavatha apachAram?
pAtti : nanjIyar says that considering ourselves to be

equal to other SrIvaishNavas is bhAgavatha
apachAram. nanjIyar explains that we should always
treat other SrIvaishNavas to be above us irrespective of
their birth, knowledge, etc. He also says that
like AzhwArs and other pUrvAchAryas we should also
try to constantly glorify other bhAgavathas.
nampiLLai also made it very clear that going and

praying to other demi-gods and goddesses known as
dhEvathAnthara bhajanam is completely meaningless.
aththuzhAy : pAtti, how did nampiLLai explain it?

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti: Once, someone came to nampiLLai and asked,

“you are worshipping dhEvathAntharams (like indhran,
varuNan, agni, sUryan, etc) in your nithya karmas, then
why do you not worship them in their temples?”.
nampiLLai gives an instant and brilliant reply. nampiLLAi
asked, “Why do you worship the fire in yagyam and stay
away from the same fire in a burial ground? The same
way, since SAsthram says nithya karmas must be
performed as bhagavadhArAdhanam (worship of
bhagavAn), keeping that emperumAn is antharyAmi for
all the dhEvathAs, we do it. The same SAsthram says
we should not worship anyone but emperumAn, so we
don‟t go to other temples.
vEdhavalli: pAtti, my mother says this is a very sensitive

topic and not many accept this thought.
pAtti: Some truth, when said, are like bitter pills to those
who deny to realise and accept it. However, like bitter
pills do good to your body, this truth does good to your
soul and body. The authenticity of vaidhika truth can
never be denied or proved otherwise just because
people do not want to accept it. With one‟s own
AchArya‟s blessing and emperumAn‟s causeless mercy,
everybody will realise this truth eventually.
As AzhwAr says in one of his pAsurams, “If everybody
realise the eternal truth of SrIman nArAyaNan‟s
supremacy and reach mOksha, then there will be no
world for the lord to play His divine pastimes, hence this
delay”. AzhwAr also says “realise this trick and
immediately run towards thirukkurugUrand surrender to
the lotus feet of AdhippirAn perumAL”.
vyAsa: pAtti, did nampiLLai get married?
pAtti: yes, nampiLLai had two wives. He once asked one

of his wives how she thinks of him. She replies that she

Beginner’s Guide
considers nampiLLai to be an avathAram of emperumAn

and treats him as her AchAryan. nampiLLai was very
pleased and asks her to be engaged in
thadhiyArAdhana kainkaryam (preparation of food) fully
for the SrIvaishNavas who visit nampiLLai regularly.
nampiLLai showed the importance of AchArya
abhimAnam (respect) with this incident.
parASara: pAtti, nampiLLAi‟s life is so interesting to

listen to. He must have had such great Sishyas!
pAtti: Yes parASara! nampiLLai had great sishyas from

many who themselves belonged to AchArya purusha
families and his times in SrIrangam is glorified by
everyone as nalladikkAlam (glorious times). nampiLLai
also laid the foundation for 2 glorious pillars of our
sampradhAyam – piLLai lOkAchAryar and azhagiya
maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr who were the sons
of vadakku thiruvIdhip piLLai. Some of his other
prominent Sishyas were vadakku thiruvIdhip
piLLai, periyavAchchAn piLLai, pinbhazhagiya perumAL
jIyar, kandhAdai thOzhappar, eeyuNNi mAdhavap
perumAL, naduvil thiruvIdhip piLLai bhattar etc.
nampiLLai with pinbhazhagarAm perumAL jIyar,

SrIrangam

Beginner’s Guide
Next time when we meet, I will tell you about these

Sishyas of nampiLLai , who with his boundless mercy,
went on to provide great granthams and do marvellous
kainkaryams to our sampradhAyam.
The children leave to their respective homes thinking

about nampiLLai‟s glorious life and his teachings.
s-guide-nampillai/

Beginner’s Guide
nampiLLai’s Sishyas
AndAL pAtti is inside the kitchen cooking
when parASara and vyAsa enter pAtti‟s house with
vEdhavalli and aththuzhAy. pAtti hears the children
talking and comes inside the living room to welcome the
children.
pAtti: Come in children. Wash your hands and feet.

Take this prasAdam from temple. Last time, we learnt
about our AchAryan nampiLLai. As I told you last time,
today we will know about some of the prominent
Sishyas of nampiLLai such as vadakkuth thiruvIdhip
piLLai, periyavAchchAn piLLai, pinbhazhagiya perumAL
jIyar, eeyuNNi mAdhavap perumAL, naduvil thiruvIdhip
piLLai bhattar to name a few.
VyAsa: pAtti, nampiLLai seemed to have had many

Sishyas. Can you tell us about them?
Patti : Yes, let us know about them one by one. Let us

start with nampiLLai‟s illustrious Sishya vyAkyAna
chakravarthi, periyavAchchAn piLLai. Born as krishNan,
the son of yAmunar in sEngaNUr (thiruchchanganallUr),
he becomes to be known as periyavAchchAn piLLai. He
is one of the prime Sishyas of nampiLLai and learnt all
SAsthra arthams (meanings) from nampiLLai himself.
He adopts nAyanArAchchAn piLLai as his son. It is also
said that thirukkaNNamangai emperumAn wanted to
learn the meanings of thirumangai AzhwAr„s pAsurams
from thirumangai AzhwAr himself – so thirumangai
AzhwAr appeared as nampiLLai and emperumAn
appeared as periyavAchchAn piLLai to learn all the
meanings of the aruLichcheyal.

Beginner’s Guide
periyavAchchAn piLLai – sEngaNUr
VyAsa: pAtti, why is periyavAchchAn piLLai called as

vyAkyAna chakravarthi?
pAtti: periyavAchchAn piLLai is the only AchArya who

has written vyAkyAnams for all of aruLichcheyal. His
mastery over rAmAyanam and aruLicheyal is
unparalleled. He had written a grantham called
pAsurapadi rAmyAyanam where he uses words
from AzhwArs„ pAsurams alone to explain the whole of
SrI rAmAyaNam in a crisp manner. Had it not been for
his work, no one can speak about or understand the
inner meanings of aruLicheyal. His work extensively
covers vyAkyAnams for all our pUrvAchArya‟s
granthams.
nampiLLai‟s another Sishya was vadakku thiruvIdhip

piLLai, one of the prominent Sishyas of nampiLLai. Born
as SrI krishna pAdhar in SrIrangam, he was completely
immersed in AchArya nishtai. With the grace of his
AchAryan nampiLLai, vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai gave
birth to a son and named him piLLai lOkAchArya since

Beginner’s Guide
the son was born with the blessings of his AchAryan

nampiLLai (Also called as lOkAchAryar). I hope you all
remember the story behind nampiLLai being named as
lOkAchAryar.
vyAsa : Yes, pAtti. It was kandhAdai thOzhappar who

named nampiLLai as lOkAchAryar. We also remember
the story.
vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai – kAnchIpuram
pAtti: When vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai names his son

as piLLai lOkAchArya, nampiLLai conveys his intention
of naming the child azhagiya maNavALan. Soon,
namperumAL, blesses vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai with
another son and the second son was named azhagiya
maNavALa perumAL nAyanAr since he was born out of
the grace of azhagiya maNavALan (namperumAL)
thereby fulfilling nampiLLai‟s wish. The two boys grow
up together like rAma and lakshmana to become great
stalwarts and proceed to do great kainkaryams for our
sampradhAyam. They both were blessed to have the
katAksham and guidance of great AchAryas of our
sampradhAyam like nampiLLai, periyavAchchAn piLLai,
vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai, etc at the same time.

Beginner’s Guide
Once, vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai invites nampiLLai to

his thirumAligai (Homes of SrIvaishNavas must be
called thirumALigai) for thadhiyArAdhanam and
nampiLLai accepts that and visits his thirumALigai.
nampiLLai himself starts the thiruvArAdhanam and in
the kOyilAzhwAr (perumAL sannidhi) he sees the bunch
of palm leaves with the neat and clear explanations to
all his teachings and lectures on nammAzhwAr‟s
pAsurams. Being interested, he starts reading a few of
them and asks vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai what was
that. vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai explains that every
night, he recorded nampiLLai‟s lectures after listening to
them. nampiLLai asks vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai why
he did this without his permission and asks if he did it as
a competition to periyavAchchAn piLLai‟s vyAkyAnam
(detailed explanation of the meanings of AzhwAr‟s
pasurams). vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai feels guilty and
immediately falls at the lotus feet of nampiLLai and
explains that he wrote it only to refer to it in future.
Convinced with his explanations, nampiLLai glorifies the
vyAkyAnam and praises vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai for
his work. Such was the immense knowledge and
AchArya abhimAnam that vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai
possessed.
parASara : What happened to the vyAkyAnam? Did

vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai finish it?
pAtti: yes, vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai finished the

vyAkyAnam and this vyAkyAnam for thiruvAimozhi
is famously called eedu 36000 padi. nampiLLai orders
vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai to give the vyAkyAnam to
eeyuNNi mAdhavap perumAL to be taught to
his descendants.

Beginner’s Guide
nampiLLai kAlakshEpa gOshti – eeyNNi mAdhavap

perumAL seated 2nd from right
Vedhavalli : pAtti, what did eeyuNNi mAdhavap

perumAL do with the vyAkyAnam that nampiLLai gave
to him?
Patti: eeyuNNi mAdhavap perumAL teaches this to his

son eeyuNNi padhmanAbhap perumAL. eeyuNNi
padhmanAbhap perumAL teaches this to his dear
Sishya nAlur piLLai. This way it kept going from one
AchArya to his Sishya in a proper manner.
nAlUrAchchAn piLLai is the son and dear Sishya of
nAlUr piLLai. nAlUrAchchAn piLLai learns eedu 36000
padi under the lotus feet of his father. nAlUrAchchAn
piLLai had many Sishyas and one of them
was thiruvAimozhip piLLai. When nAlUr piLLai and
nAlUrAchchAn piLLai go to kAnchipuram to do
mangalASAsanam to dhEvap perumAL, emperumAn
Himself orders nAlUrAchchAn piLLai to teach eedu
vyAkyAnam to thiruvAimozhip piLLai. thiruvAimozhip
piLLai along with others, learns eedu vyAkyAnam under
nAlUrAchchAn piLLai and teaches the same
to maNavALa mAmunigaL who becomes to be famously
known as eettup perukkar (one who nourishes eedu

Beginner’s Guide
vyAkyAnam). Thus nampiLLai knew that the

vyAkyAnam would reach manavALa mAmunigaL
eventually and hence gave it to eeyuNNi mAdhavap
perumAL.
AththuzhAy : pAtti, in eeyuNNi mAdhavap

perumAL and eeyuNNi padhmanAbhap perumAL, what
does the word “eeyuNNi” mean?
Patti: “eethal” means charity in thamizh. “uNNuthal”

means eating. eeyuNNi means one who is very
charitable that he will only eat after feeding other
SrIvaishNavas.
Another prominent Sishya of nampiLLai

was pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar. He was a sanyAsi
who served nampiLLai (who was a gruhastha) very
similar to nanjIyar (a sanyAsi) who served bhattar. He
was a dear Sishya of nampiLLai and is also known as
pinbhazhagarAm perumAL jIyar. He lived his life as a
true SrI vaishNava with the utmost respect, regard and
affection towards his AchAryan. His AchArya
abhimAnam (respect) is well known.
pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar at the lotus feet of

nampiLLai, SrIrangam

Beginner’s Guide
parASara : pAtti, today you did not tell us any

conversations that nampiLLai and his Sishyas had.
Please tell us some interesting conversations between
them.
pAtti: All our pUrvachAryas converse only related to

bhagavath vishayam and bhAgavatha kainkaryam.
Once when pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar was ill, he
asks other SrIvaishNavas to pray to emperumAn for his
speedy recovery. Generally in our sampradhAyam, a SrI
vaishNava should not pray to emperumAn for anything –
even for recovering from illness. Seeing this, Sishyas of
nampiLLai enquire to nampiLLai about it. nampiLLai first
says, “go and ask engaLAzhwAn who is an expert in all
sAsthram”. engaLAzhwAn replies “may be he is
attached to SrIrangam and he wants to stay here for
some more time”. nampiLLai then asks his Sishyas to
ask ammangi ammAL who says “who would want to
leave nampiLLai‟s kAlakshEpa gOshti, he may be
praying so, so that he can listen to nampiLLai‟s
kAlakshEpam”. nampiLLai finally asks jIyar himself. jIyar
replies, “Although you know the real reason, you want it
to be revealed through me. Let me say why I want to
continue living here. Everyday, after you take bath, I get
to have the divine darshan of your form and serve you
by fanning, etc. How can I give up that service and go to
parampadham just yet?”. Thus, pinbhazhagarAm
perumAL jIyar reveals the true nature of a Sishya – to
be fully attached to the divine form of one‟s own
AchAryan. Hearing this everyone were amazed by
jIyar‟s devotion towards nampiLLai. pinbhazhagiya
perumAL jIyar was so attached to nampiLLai that he
would even discard the thought of going to
paramapadham. His AchArya nishtai was so deep.
Finally, let us see about one more Sishya of nampiLLai

– naduvil thiruvIdhip piLLai bhattar. Initially, naduvil

Beginner’s Guide
thiruvIdhip piLLai bhattar did not have a favourable

attitude towards nampiLLai. Due to his rich family
heritage (coming in the family
of kUraththAzhwAn and parASara bhattar) he developed
pride and did not respect nampiLLai. There is a very
interesting story of how he surrendered to the lotus feet
of nampiLLai.
nampiLLai kAlakshEpa gOshti – naduvil thiruvIdhip

piLLai bhattar seated 3rd from left
vyAsa : What an irony it is that a descendant of

kUraththAzhwAn had qualities of pride and arrogance.
Tell us the story pAtti!
pAtti: Yes, but the unwanted pride did not last for long!
After all, he was the grandson of none other than
kUraththAzhwAn himself! Once, naduvil thiruvIdhip
piLLai bhattar was going to the king‟s court. He meets
pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar on the way and invites him
along to attend the king‟s court. The king welcomes
them, honours them and offers them a nice seat. The
king being well learned, wanting to test the intelligence
of bhattar, asks him a question from SrI rAmAyaNa. He
says, “SrI rAman himself claims that he is just a human

Beginner’s Guide
being and is the dear son of dhaSarathan. But during

the last moments of jatAyu, SrI rAmanblesses him to
reach SrIvaikuntam. If he was a normal human being,
how could he bless someone to reach vaikuNtam?”.
bhattar was speechless and could not respond with any
meaningful explanation. Incidentally, the king gets
distracted by some other task. At that time, bhattar turns
to jIyar and asks him “How would nampiLLai explain
this?”. jIyar replies “nampiLLai would explain that a fully
truthful person can control all worlds”. bhattar, explains
that to the king, when the king focusses back on them.
The king, at once agrees to the answer and honours
bhattar with great wealth. bhattar, with great gratitude
towards nampiLLai , asks jIyar to associate him with
nampiLLai, at once goes to nampiLLai‟s residence and
surrenders all the wealth at the lotus feet of nampiLLai.
bhattar says to nampiLLai, “I received all these wealth
with just one small explanation from your teachings. All
along, I have lost the valuable association/guidance of
you. From now on, I will ensure that I will serve you well
and learn the sampradhAyam principles from you”.
nampiLLai embraces bhattar and teaches him all the
essence of our sampradhAyam. So children, what do
you learn from this story?
vEdhavalli: I learnt that with his ancestors‟ blessings,

bhattar reached the right destination.
aththuzhAy : I learnt about the greatness and knowledge

of nampiLLai.
pAtti: Both of you are right. But there is one more lesson
we learn from this story. Just like how emperumAn
accepts us when we approach Him through our
AchAryas, reaching the AchArya is possible only
through the divine association with a SrIvaishnava. This
is what we call SrIvaishnava sambhandam or adiyArgaL

Beginner’s Guide
sambandam. Here, who was the divine SrIvaishnava

who associated bhattar to nampiLLai?
parASara: pinbhazhagiya perumAL jIyar!
pAtti: Yes! This shows the importance of bhAgavatha

sambandham. jIyar, being the dear disciple of
nampiLLai, blessed bhattar with AchArya gyAnam
(realisation) and sambandham. Let us meditate on the
lotus feet of nampiLLai and his Sishyas. The next time
we meet, I will tell you about vadakkuth thiruvIdhip
piLLai‟s two illustrious sons and their
unparalleled kainkaryam for our sampradhAyam.

about the greatness of various AchAryas and their
divine services.
s-guide-nampillais-sishyas/

Beginner’s Guide
piLLai lOkAchAryar and nAyanAr

parASara, vyAsa enter ANdAL pAtti‟s house with
vEdhavalli and aththuzhAy. The children see pAtti
reciting thiruppAvai and wait till she finishes. pAtti
finishes her recital and welcomes the children.
pAtti: Come in children!
vyAsa: pAtti, last time you said you will tell about
vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai‟s sons. Please tell us about
them.
pAtti. Yes vyAsa. Today we will talk about the two

illustrious sons of vadakkuth thiruvIdhip piLLai. As I said
the last time, with the grace of his
AchAryan nampiLLai and namperumAL, vadakkuth
thiruvIdhip piLLai was blessed with two sons
namely piLLai lOkAchAryar and azhagiya maNavALa
perumAL nAyanAr. The two boys grow up together like
rAma and lakshmaNa to become great stalwarts and
proceed to do great kainkaryams for our
sampradhAyam.
After nampiLLai reaches paramapadham, vadakkuth

thiruvIdhi piLLai becomes the next AchAryan of
our sampradhAyam and proceeds to teach his sons all
the meanings that he had learned from his AchAryan
nampiLLai. After some time vadakkuth thiruvIdhi piLLai
gives up his charama thirumEni thinking about his
Acharyan nampiLLai and attains paramapadham,
following which his son piLLai lOkAchAryar becomes the
next AchAryan of our sampradhAyam.
aththuzhAy : pAtti, I heard that piLLai lOkAcharyan was

none other than dhEvap perumAL Himself.

Beginner’s Guide
piLLai lOkAchAryar doing kAlakshEpam in

kAttazhagiya singar kOyil – SrIrangam
pAtti: You heard it right aththuzhAy. piLLai lOkAcharyar

was none other than dhEvap perumAL Himself. piLLai
lOkAcharyar during his final days at jyOthishkudi,
instructs nAlUr piLLai to teach vyAkyAnams to
thirumalai AzhwAr (thiruvAimozhi piLLai), the next
AchAryan of our sampradhAyam. When thirumalai
AzhwAr visits dhEva perumAL for mangaLAsAsanam in
kAnchipuram, dhEva perumAL speaks directly to nAlUr
piLLai who was standing nearby and says “as I
mentioned in jyOthishkudi you should teach thirumalai
AzhwAr all the meanings of aruLichcheyal”.
vEdhavalli: pAtti, why did piLLai lOkAcharyar spend his

final days in a place called jyOthishkudi? Wasn‟t he born
in SrIrangam?
pAtti: piLLai lOkAcharyar was a great AchAryan who

wrote beautiful granthams on AzhwArs‟ pAsurams in
easy thamizh language for the benefit of one and all.

Beginner’s Guide
Not all are well versed in Samskritham or thamizh. For

those who are not too well versed with the languages
but still have the desire to learn and benefit from our
pUrvAchAryas‟ works, piLLai lOkAchAryar , with great
mercy, documented what he heard from his AchAryas in
simple/crisp language. The magnum opus was
SrIvachana bhUshaNa dhivya SAsthram which details
our sampradhAya meanings. Thus he was the main
AchAryan who did pramANa rakshaNam
(protecting/nourishing the knowledge base of our
sampradhAyam).
piLLai lOkAchAryar – SrIrangam
piLLai lOkAchAryar not only protected the knowledge

base of our sampradhAyam but also the root of our
sampradhAyam – namperumAL of SrIrangam. When
everything was going good in SrIrangam, suddenly the
news of muslim invasion spread like wild fire. Everyone
got very worried since these muslim kings are well
known to target temples for the abundant wealth of the
temples. Immediately piLLai lOkAchAryar (being the
senior most SrIvaishNava AchArya) took control of the
situation. He instructed the SrIvaishNavas to raise a wall
in front of periya perumAL and left with namperumAL

Beginner’s Guide
and ubhaya nAchchiyArs towards south of India. He was

much older at that time but did not care about his own
health and traveled along with namperumAL in the
journey. When they were going through the forests,
some thieves came and robbed all the jewels of
namperumAL. piLLai lOkAchAryar changes the mind of
the thieves who later surrender to him and return the
jewels back.
After this, they reach a spot named jyOthishkudi (near

madhurai). piLLai lOkAchAryar due to his old age
becomes ill and decides to leave to paramapadham. He
thinks about thirumalai AzhwAr (thiruvAimozhip piLLai) ,
who is one of his Sishyas, to be groomed to be the next
leader of the sampradhAyam. This is when he instructs
nAlUr piLLai to teach vyAkyAnams to thirumalai
AzhwAr. He instructs kUra kulOththama
dhAsar and vilAnchOlaippiLLai that SrISaileSa
(thiruvAmozhip piLLai) was working for the king at
madhurai and that they should bring him back into the
SrIvaishNava fold so that he could become the next
AchArya and lead the dharSanam. Finally he gives up
his charama thirumEni and reaches paramapadham in
jyOthishkudi. Thus piLLai lOkAchAryar sacrificed his life
for the safety of namperumAL. If it hadn‟t been for him
and thousands of other SrIvaishnavas who sacrificed
their lives for namperumAL, we wouldn‟t be seeing and
worshipping namperumAL today in SrIrangam.

Beginner’s Guide
jyOthishkudi – place where piLLai lOkAchAryar

attained paramapadham
parASara : No wonder he was the incarnation of dhEvap

perumAL Himself, epitome of utmost sacrifice!
pAtti: yes parASara, that is why dhEvap perumAL is

called our sampradhAyap perumAL. piLLai lOkAchAryar
not only did pramANa rakshaNam (protection of the
knowledge base of our sampradhAyam in the form of
granthams), he was also instrumental in pramEya
rakshaNam (protection of namperumAL). He showed us
the true quality of a SrIvaishNava by thinking about the
safety of namperumAL. Just like periyAzhwAr, who was
worried about the thirumEni of emperumAn and sung
pallAndu to him, piLLai lOkAchAryar saw the archA
mUrthi of namperumAL as a child and overcome by
paternal love and care, safeguarded namperumAL and
went to the extent of sacrificing his life but never let the

Beginner’s Guide
muslim invaders take namperumAL. Hence, the next

time you go to perumAL temple, remember that the
sampradhAyam that we have today is built by the
selfless sacrifices done by thousands of SrIvaishNavas
before us. They protected the sampradhAyam and
namperumAL so that we, the future generation, can
enjoy the fruits of their labour. There is nothing that we
can do to repay them except for being thankful to such
SrIvaishnavas by remembering their sacrifices, respect
our sampradhAyam and not take it for granted and carry
forward the values and knowledge, given to us by them,
to our next generation.
aththuzhAy : pAtti, tell us more about piLLai

lOkAcharyar‟s younger brother, azhagiya maNavALap
perumAL nAyanAr.
azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr
pAtti: nAyanAr wrote wonderful granthams on the

essential principles of our sampradhAyam, the master

Beginner’s Guide
piece being AchArya hrudhayam. He was considered

equal to great AchAryas like periyavAchchAn piLLai, in
knowledge on our sampradhAyam and dhivya
prabhandhams. nAyanAr was extolled as a great
AchArya. He is popularly glorified as “jagath
guruvarAnuja – the younger brother of lOkAchAryar”.
His works are nothing but gems of wisdom without
which the intricate meanings and details of our
sampradhAyam would have been out of reach for
common people. mAmunigaL glorifies nAyanAr and his
contributions and says that after periyavAchchAn piLLai,
its nAyanAr who has contributed immensely with his
works. nAyanAr decided to leave his thirumEni at an
early age and ascended to paramapadham leaving
behind piLLai lOkAcharyar. When nAyanAr reaches
paramapadham, piLLai lOkAcharyar falls in an ocean of
sorrow and cries out keeping nAyanAr‟s thirumudi
(head) on his lap. He looks at nAyanAr more as an
extraordinary SrIvaishNava whom the world has lost in a
short period of time.
vyAsa : pAtti, piLLai lOkAcharyar and nAyanAr‟s lives

are very interesting and emotional to listen to.
pAtti : Yes vyAsa. When we start talking about our

AchAryas and their lives, we never know the time
passing. It‟s getting dark outside. You children must
leave to your homes now. The next time we meet, I will
tell you about the Sishyas of piLLai lOkAcharyar.

about vadakkuth thiruvIdhi piLLai, piLLai lOkAchAryan,
azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr and their
glorious lives.
s-guide-pillai-lokacharyar-and-nayanar/

Beginner’s Guide
piLLai lOkAchAryar’s sishyas

parASara, vyAsa, vEdhavalli and aththuzhAy enter
ANdAL pAtti‟s home with full curiosity as they are going
to learn about the Sishya‟s of piLLai lOkAchAryar.
pAtti: Welcome children, How are you all? I could see

excitement in all your faces.
vyAsa: Hello pAtti, we are doing good! How are you

patti? Yes pAtti you are correct we been eagerly waiting
to hear about the sishyas of piLLai lOkAchAryar.
pAtti: Yes kids, even I was waiting to share with you all.
Hope you all remember our last discussion. Can any
one tell me his sishyas‟ names?
aththuzhAy: pAtti! I do remember the names. kUra

kulOththama dhAsar, viLAnchOlaip piLLai, thirumalai
AzhwAr (thiruvAimozhip piLLai), maNapAkkaththu
nambi, kOttUr aNNar, thirupputkuzhi jIyar,
thirukkaNNangudip piLLai, kolli kAvala dhAsar.
pAtti: Very nice aththuzhAy, glad that you kids

remember. Now let us discuss in detail. First, I will tell
you all about kUra kulOththama dhAsar.
All children: Sure pAtti!

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti: kUra kulOththama dhAsar was born in SrIrangam.

His role was very important in bringing thirumalai
AzhwAr (thiruvAimozhip piLLai) back to our
sampradhAyam. He was close associate of piLLai
lOkAchAryar and he travelled with piLLai lOkAchAryar
during thiruvarangan ula (when namperumAL travelled
to various places during muslim invasion). mAmunigaL
glorifies kUra kulOththama dhAsar as “kUra
kulOththama dhAsam udhAram” (one who is very
merciful and generous) because of his unlimited krupai
of taking many efforts to reform thirumalai Azhwar.
Eventually, thirumalai AzhwAr became so grateful and
surrendered to kUra kulOththama dhAsar that he always
lived with dhAsar serving him and left to
AzhwArthirunagari only after dhAsar‟s ascending to
parampadham. In SrI vachana bhushaNam, it is said
that for a Sishya “AchArya abhimAname
uththAragam“. This absolutely suites kUra kulOththama
dhAsar and thirumalai Azhwar. So let us all
remember kUra kulOththama dhAsar who always
remembers the feet of piLLai lOkAchAryar.

Beginner’s Guide
vEdhavalli: pAtti, we are all happy to hear about kUra

kulOththama dhAsar. We all learned how a Sishya
should respect Acharyan.
pAtti: Yes vEdhavalli everyone should remember

“AchArya abhimAname uththAragam”. Now we will
learn another important Sishya named viLAnchOlaip
piLLai.
vyAsa: pAtti, I already know why he is called

viLAnchOlai piLLai. He used to climb “ViLam” trees to
get dharSan of the gOpuram of the
thiruvananthapuram, padhmanAbha swAmi temple.
pAtti: Very good vyAsa,you are right. Being born

in eezhava kulam, he was not allowed inside the temple.
So to have dharSan of perumAL, he will climb “viLam”
tree and perform mangaLASAsanam. Due to piLLai

Beginner’s Guide
lOkAchAryar‟s grace, he learned eedu, SrI bhAshyam,

thathva thrayam and other rahasya granthams
from azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr, who is
the younger brother of piLLai lOkAchAryar.
viLAnchOlai piLLai learned SrI vachana

bhUshaNam from his Acharyan piLLai lOkAchAryar. He
become an expert in the meaning of SrI vachana
bhUshaNam. He wrote “saptha gAthai” which is the
essence of his AchArya‟s SrI vachana bhUshaNam.
parASara: We are greatly surprised seeing viLAnchOlai

piLLai”s attachment towards his AchAryan.
pAtti: Yes, parASara! One of the biggest kainkarayams

he did was to follow his AchAryan‟s instructions in
reforming thirumalai AzhwAr. piLLai lOkAchAryar
wanted viLanchOlai piLLai to teach the meanings of SrI
vachana bhUshaNam to thirumalai Azhwar. Children!
Now, I would like to share one important incident
happened in the life of viLAnchOlaip piLLai.
aththuzhAy: pAtti, please tell us about the incident.
pAtti: I know you all be curious to listen to it and my duty

is to share sathvishyam with you all, so listen carefully,
One day nambUdaris were doing thiruvArAdhanam to

padhmanAbha swAmi. viLAnchOlai piLLai entered in to
the temple. As we all know, the sanctum has three
doors to facilitate our dharSan of perumAL. viLAnchOlai
piLLai stood near the door that gives dharSan of
perumAL‟s lotus feet. Seeing all this, nambUdaris
became shocked, as he was not allowed inside the
temple premises those days. nambUdaris closed the
door of the sannidhi, started to move out of the temple.

Beginner’s Guide
At the same time, some local Sishyas of viLAnchOlai

piLLai approached the temple and announced that their
Acharyan viLanchOlai piLLai has left his body and
reached the lotus feet of his Acharayan piLLai
lOkAchAryar. They wanted “thirupariyattam”
(emperumAn‟s vasthram as prasAdham) and
emperumAn‟s garlands for the charama thirumEni (final
sacred body) of viLAnchOlai piLLai.
Hearing this nambUdharis became shocked and

understood the greatness of viLAnchOlaip piLLai. He
then offered perumAL‟s thiruppariyattam and garlands.
vEdhavalli: pAtti, I had goose bumps hearing about

viLAnchOlai piLLai final moments.
vyAsa: Yes pAtti, I am also getting happy tears from my

eyes. This truly explains how a person from “eezhava
kulam” is glorified in our sampradhAyam.
pAtti: Alright kids, I had a nice time with you all. Hope
you all will remember what we discussed today. Next
time, I will tell you in detail about thiruvAimozhip piLLai,
see you all soon.
All the kids left Andal patti‟s home with full energy and
happiness thinking about the discussions.
s-guide-pillai-lokacharyars-sishyas/

Beginner’s Guide
vEdhAnthAchAryar
ANdAL pAtti was wreathing a garland and watching the
passersby walking to the temple, from her home. She
caught the children running to her home by the corner of
her eye and smiled to herself. She adorned periya
perumAL and thAyAr‟s picture with the garland and
welcomed them.
pAtti: Come in children. Do you know whom are we

going to discuss about today?
All children in Chorus: vEdhAnthAchAryar
pAtti: Yes. Do you know who named him so?
vyAsA: periya perumAL named him as

vEdhAnthAchAryar. Is that right pAtti?
pAtti: Right, vyAsA. His birth name was vEnkatanAthan.

He was born in kAnchIpuram to the divine couple
anantha sUri and thOthArambai.
parAsaran: Tell us more about his initiation into our

sampradAyam, pAtti.
pAtti: Sure, parAsara. In the kAlakshEpa ghoshti of

NadaadUr Ammal, there was a a famous Srivaishnava
named kidAmbi appuLLAr. When vEdhAnthAchAryar
was young he went with his maternal uncle (Sri kidAmbi
appuLAr) to attend Sri nadAdhUr ammAL‟s kAlakshEpa
goshti. Sri nadAdhUr ammAL had blessed him at that
time that he will establish well and clear all the
oppositions of viSishtAdhvaitha Srivaishnava
sidhdhAntham.

Beginner’s Guide
aththuzhAy : Wow! Indeed his blessing came true!
pAtti (with a beaming smile): Yes, aththuzhAy. The

blessings of elders will never go unfulfilled.
vEdhavalli: I heard he is an incarnation of the holy bell of

thiruvEnkadamudaiyAn. Is that right, pAtti?
pAtti: Yes, you are right, aththuzhAy. He has written

more than a hundred granthams in samskrutham,
thamizh and maNipravALam.
vyAsAn: Wow! A hundred ?
pAtti: Yes, some of the important ones are thAthparya

chandhrikai (a commentary on SrI bhagavath gIthA),
thathvateekai, nyAya sidhdhAnjanam, Satha
dhUshani and AhAra
niyamam (a commentary on food habits).
parAsaran: PAtti, I cannot stop wondering about how

can one person write basic granthams for eating habits
and also write about complex philosophical
commentaries at the same time.
pAtti: Our pUrvAchAryas‟ knowledge was as deep as

the ocean, parASara! No wonder, he was conferred the
title „sarva-thanthra-svathanthra‟ (master of all arts and
crafts) by our own thAyAr (SrI ranganAachchiyAr).
aththuzhAy : Tell us more, pAtti. It is interesting to hear

all these facts about him
pAtti: vEdhAnthAchAryar was also known as

„kavithArkika kEsari‟ (lion amongst poets). He once
won over an advaithi named krishNamiSra after a long
debate of 18 days. He composed „pAdhuka sahasram‟

Beginner’s Guide
when challenged by a vain Poet. This is a 1008 verse

poem praising the divine sandals of Lord ranganAtha.
kAnchi thUppuL vEdAnthAchAryar during avathAra

uthsavam
vEdhavalli: That is impressive! We are indeed blessed

to have such noble Acharyas who had such humility
despite such phenomenal accomplishments.
pAtti: Well said, vEdhavalli. vEdhAntha dhESikan and

many other contemporary Acharyas had mutual love
and reverence for each other. In his
abhithistavam, he asks Lord ranganAtha “Oh Lord! let
me reside in SrIrangam at the feet of the great ones who
are mutual well-wishers‟. maNavALa mAmunigaL,
eRumbi appA, vAdhikESari azhagiya maNavALa jIyar,
dhoddAcharyar of choLasimhapuram (Sholingur) have
all quoted his granthams in their works. vEdhAntha
dhESikan himself had great admiration for piLLai
lOkAchAryar , which can be easily understood from the
grantham he composed called “lOkAchArya
panchAsath”. This grantham is recited regularly in
thirunArAyaNapuram (Melkote, Karnataka).

Beginner’s Guide
parAsaran: How did vEdhAnthAchAryar regard Sri

Ramanujar?
pAtti: Sri vEdhAnthAchAryar‟s devotion to Sri rAmanujar

is very well known; in his „nyAsa thilakA‟ in the verse
starting „ukthya dhananjaya…‟ he pacifies perumAL for
having indirectly told him that mOksham need not be
granted by Him, as it had already been guaranteed to
him by his connection with Sri rAmAnujar.
vyAsa: There is so much to learn about our AcharyAs,

pAtti!
pAtti: Yes, vEdhAnthAchArya Vijaya’ also known as

„AchArya-champu’, written in Sanskrit in the form of
prose and verse, by a great scholar and poet named
„kouSika kavithArkikasimha vEdanthAcharyar’, who
lived around 1717 CE gives a good glimpse into the life
and works of vEdhAntha dhESikan
aththuzhAy : Oh, nice! pAtti, today we learnt about

vEdhAnthAchAryar‟s literary prowess in samskrutham
and thamizh, his humility and bhakthi. We are truly
blessed to follow such a great example.
pAtti: Yes, children. Let us remember such great souls

always! We will meet again tomorrow. Its time for you all
to go home.
Children (in chorus): Thank you pAtti!
Source:
http://pillai.koyil.org/index.php/2019/02/beginners-guide-
vedhanthacharyar/

Beginner’s Guide
thiruvAimozhip piLLai
AndAL pAtti was busy in kitchen cooking when kids
entered the house to discuss more about piLLai
lOkAchAryar‟s Sishyas. AndAL pAtti welcomed them
with broad smile. She was waiting with SrIranganAtha‟s
prasadam to distribute to kids.
pAtti: Come in children. Here take the perumAL

prasAdham. Hope everyone remembers our previous
discussion.
vyAsa: pAtti, We learnt about kUra kulOththama

dhAsar, viLAnchOlai piLLai, and have even learned
about “AchArya abhimAname uththAragam“.
pAtti: Very proud of you kids, today I will tell more about
one such Sishya of piLLai lOkAchAryar named
thirumalai AzhwAr.
aththuzhAy: pAtti , I have heard that thirumalai

AzhwAr got his name due to his attachment towards
AzhwAr‟s thiruvAimozhi. Am I right pAtti !
pAtti: Absolutely correct aththuzhAy, he was known as

SrISailESar, SatakOpa dhAsar and most importantly
thiruvAimozhip piLLai. Due to his attachment towards
nammAzhwAr and AzhwAr‟s thiruvAimozhi he got this
name. thirumalai AzhwAr had his pancha samaskaram
at his young age at the lotus feet of piLLai lOkAchAryar
. But after some time thirumalai AzhwAr drifted off from
our sampradhAyam and became the chief advisor of
the madhurai kingdom .
vyAsa : Oh , but pAtti then who brought thirumalai

AzhwAr back into our sampradhAyam ?

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti : Children, I appreciate your curiosity. piLLai

lOkAchAryar during his final days , instructed kUra
kulOththama dhAsar and other Sishyas to reform
thirumalai AzhwAr and bring him back to lead the
sampradhAyam.
vEdhavalli : pAtti, what did kUra kulOththama dhAsar

do to reform thirumalai AzhwAr? Can you tell us pAtti ?
pAtti : Yes , Once thirumalai AzhwAr was doing his

routine rounds in his palanquin. He comes across kUra
kulOththama dhAsar who was reciting AzhwAr‟s
thiruviruththam. Since thirumalai AzhwAr had the
blessings of piLLai lOkAchAryar, he was able to
understand the greatness of dhAsar. thirumalai AzhwAr
stepped down from his palanquin and requested dhAsar
to teach him the meanings of thiruviruththam.
parASara : pAtti , tell us more about how thirumalai

AzhwAr learned from dhAsar.
pAtti : dhAsar arrives to teach thirumalai AzhwAr; he

notices that thirumalai AzhwAr is reciting piLLai

Beginner’s Guide
lOkAchAryar thaniyan while applying thirumaN kAppu

and was very pleased with that. But thirumalai AzhwAr
is unable to attend the class some times. thirumalai
AzhwAr asks for pardon to dhAsar. dhAsar accepts him
and gives him his SEsha prasAdham (food
remnants). thirumalai AzhwAr accepts with great joy and
from then on he completely becomes detached from
worldly activities, transfers the power to the young
prince and leaves the kingdom.
During his final days, dhAsar instructs thirumalai

AzhwAr to go thirukkaNNangudip piLLai to learn
thiruvAimozhi in detail. Later, he learned all rahasya
arthams (confidential meanings) from viLAnchOlaip
piLLai. dhAsar appoints thirumalai AzhwAr as the leader
of our sampradhAyam. After dhAsar attaining
paramapadham, meditating on piLLai lOkAchAryar,
thirumalai AzhwAr does all the charama kainkaryam
(final rites) for him in a grand manner.
vyAsa : pAtti, did thirumalai AzhwAr lead

our sampradhAyam from then onwards?
pAtti : No vyAsa, as I said before, thirumalai AzhwAr

goes to thirukkaNNangudip piLLai and starts learning
thiruvAimozhi. He wants to know the meaning of all the
pAsurams in detail. So piLLai sends him to
thirupputkuzhi jIyar to learn the same. Unfortunately just
before his arrival jIyar had attained
paramapadham. thirumalai AzhwAr becomes very upset
and then decides to perform mangaLAsAsanam to
dhEvap perumAL (kAnchIpuram varadhar).
parASara : pAtti , this incident is similar like rAmanujar

once visits ALavaNdhAr, but before udaiyavar‟s arrival
ALavaNdhAr attained paramapadham. Am I right pAtti ?

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti : Absolutely correct parASara, then he arrives to do

mangaLAsAsanam to dhEvap perumAL; he was
welcomed by every one there and dhEvap perumAL
blesses thirumalai AzhwAr with his SrI SatakOpam,
mAlai (garland), sARRupadi (sandalwood
paste). dhEvap perumAL ordered nAlUr piLLai to teach
thirumalai AzhwAr all the meanings of aruLichcheyal
(dhivya prabandham) including thiruvAimozhi
eedu vyAkyAnam which he could not hear from
thirupputkuzhi jIyar .
nAlUr piLLai felt happy to teach, but he felt his old age
would not allow him to teach thirumalai AzhwAr
properly. Then dhEvap perumAL ordered nAlUr piLLai‟s
son nAlUr AchchAn piLLai to teach thirumalai
AzhwAr. Hearing this divine order, nAlUr piLLai accepts
thirumalai AzhwAr with great joy and brings him to nAlUr
AchchAn piLLai and instructs him to teach eedu along
with other aruLichcheyal meanings. Hearing the
incident, thirunArAyaNapuraththu Ayi,
thirunArAyaNapuraththup piLLai and others request
nAlUr AchAn piLLai and thirumalai AzhwAr to come and
live at thirunArAyaNapuram and continue the
kAlakshEpam there so they can also learn this in detail.
They accept the invitation and reach thirunArAyaNa
puram and performs the kAlakshEpam fully there. There
thirumalai AzhwAr learns eedu in full depth and being
pleased with him and his service attitude, nAlUr
AchchAn piLLai presents his
thiruvArAdhanap perumAL to thirumalai AzhwAr. Thus
eedu 36000 padi gets propagated from nAlUr AchchAn
piLLai through 3 great scholars – thirumalai AzhwAr,
thirunArAyanapuraththu Ayi , and
thirunArAyanapuraththup piLLai. Then thirumalai
AzhwAr decides to go to AzhwArthirunagari to live there
permanently .

Beginner’s Guide
vyAsa : Isn‟t AzhwArthirunagari the birth place of

nammAzhwAr? I have heard that thirumalai AzhwAr is
the one who rebuilt AzhwArthirunagari when it was in a
very bad shape. Please tell us that chaithram pAtti.
pAtti : You are right vyAsa. When thirumalai AzhwAr

arrived in AzhwArthirunagari, it was like a forest. During
muslim invasion, AzhwAr left AzhwArthirunagari and
travelled to Karnataka/Kerala border. thirumalai AzhwAr
with great efforts, cleared the forest, reconstructed the
town and the temple, re-established the temple norms.
He also brought back AzhwAr with the help of madhurai
king. He showed great love for AzhwAr and
thiruvAimozhi. He became to be known as
thiruvAimozhip piLLai as he was constantly reciting
thiruvAimozhi. He also found the
divine bhavishyadhAchAryan (emperumAnAr) vigraham
and established a separate temple for emperumAnAr in
the western part of the town with separate 4 streets
surrounding it and a sannidhi street in front of the
temple. He also established care takers for this temple
too. Without him, we cannot imaging the
AzhwArthirunagari we are seeing and enjoying today.

Beginner’s Guide
Then Hearing about thiruvAimozhi piLLai,

azhagiya maNavALan (maNavALa mAmunigaL before
accepting sanyAsa) went to AzhwArthirunagari,
becomes a Sishya of him, starts serving him and
learning aruLichcheyal and its meanings from him fully.
During his last days , thiruvAimozhip piLLai starts
worrying about a successor to carry our sampradhAyam
after his time. azhagiya maNavALan vowed to take up
the responsibility. thiruvAimozhip piLLai becoming very
pleased with that and instructed mAmunigaL to learn
SrIbhAshyam once and asked him to fully focus
on thiruvAimozhi and its vyAkyAnams for the rest of his
life. Later thiruvAimozhip piLLai attained paramapadham
and azhagiya maNavALan performs all the
charama kainkaryams to thiruvAimozhip piLLai .
thiruvAimozhi piLLai dedicated his life for nammAzhwAr

and thiruvAimozhi. It is by the efforts of thiruvAimozhip
piLLai we have received the eedu 36000 padi
vyAkyAnam which was spread widely to great heights
by azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL subsequently. So
children, let us pray at the lotus feet of thiruvAimozhip
piLLai to give us the same attachment towards
emperumAnAr and our AchAryan.
Kids felt fully blessed and left AndAl pAtti‟s home

thinking about discussions.
s-guide-thiruvaimozhip-pillai/

Beginner’s Guide
azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL
ANdAL pAtti greets the children, who all are excited to

learn and hear about maNavALa mAmunigaL .
pAtti : Welcome children, how did you all enjoy your

summer vacation?
parASara : pAtti , vacation was good. We are now eager

to hear about maNavALa mAmunigaL. Can you tell us
about him?

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti : Sure children. He was born in AzhwAr thirunagari

to thigazhak kidanthAn thirunAvIrudaiya pirAn and SrI
ranga nAchchiyAr as an avathAram of AdhiSEshan and
punar avathAram (reincarnation) of yathirAjar. He was
named azhagiya maNavALan (also azhagiya
maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr). He learns all sAmAnya
SAsthram (basic principles) and does vEdha
adhyayanam under his father‟s guidance .
vyAsa : pAtti, wasn‟t thiruvAimozhip piLLai his

AchAryan?
pAtti : yes vyAsa, hearing about thiruvAimozhip piLLai‟s

greatness, He surrenders unto him. He becomes expert
in aruLichcheyal (dhivya prabandham) especially
thiruvAimozhi and eedu 36000 padi vyakyAnam. He was
also greatly attached SrI rAmAnuja and served him in
bhavishyadhAchAryan sannidhi in AzhwArthirunagari.
Due to his overwhelming affection towards yathIndhra
(SrI rAmAnuja), he was fondly known as “yathIndhra
pravaNa” (one who is very attached to yathIndhra).
Later on, recollecting his AchAryan‟s niyamanam he

goes and lives in SrIrangam to propagate our
sampradhAyam. After reaching SrIrangam, he also
accepts sanyAsa ASramam and becomes to be
popularly known as azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL
and periya jIyar.
He writes beautiful commentaries to rahasya granthams

such as mumukshuppadi, thathva thrayam , SrIvachana
bhUshaNam with many references from vEdham,
vEdhantham, ithihAsams, purANams and aruLichcheyal
.
He writes commentaries to rAmAnuja nURRanthAdhi ,

gyAna sAram and pramEya sAram which explains the

Beginner’s Guide
charama upAya nishtai (understanding AchAryan is

everything). mAmunigaL wrote
thiruvAimozhi nURRanthAdhi which highlights the
meanings of thiruvAimozhi and greatness of
nammAzhwAr, based on the request from few
SrIvaishNavas. He even recorded the valuable
teachings of our pUrvAchAryas by writing upadhEsa
rathina mAlai which highlights AzhwArs‟ birth places,
thirunakshathrams, thiruvAimozhi and SrIvachana
bhUshaNam .
mAmunigaL also performs dhivya dhESa yAthrAs and

performs mangaLAsAsanam to all the perumALs and
AzhwArs.
vEdhavalli : pAtti, amazing to hear about mAmunigaL,

and his hard work for our sampradhAyam.
pAtti : yes vEdhavalli, even namperumAL was very

interested to hear the kAlakshEpam of nammAzhwAr‟s
thiruvAimozhi with eedu 36000 padi vyAkyAnam from
mAmunigaL. mAmunigaL was very pleased and
performed kAlakshEpam of the same for 10 months and
finally performed sARRumurai on Ani thirumUlam.

Beginner’s Guide
Once the sARRumurai was completed, namperumAl

assumes the form of a small child named
aranganAyakam comes in front of mAmunigaL and
starts reciting “SrISailESa dhayApAthram
dhIbhakthyAdhi guNArNavam” with anjali mudhrA
(joined palms). Everyone becomes amazed and
understood that it was none other than namperumAl
himself.
parASara : Wow – that‟s great to be honoured by

namperumAL himself. pAtti, is that why we start all of
our sEvAkAlam with this thaniyan?
pAtti : yes parASara. emperumAn sends this thaniyan to

all dhivya dhESams and ordered that it is recited during
the commencement and at the end of the sEvAkAlam.
Even thiruvEnkatamudayAn and thirumAlirunjOlai
azhagar instructed that this thaniyan is recited at the
beginning and at the end of aruLichcheyal
anusandhAnam.
During his final days, mAmunigaL was writing the

commentary for AchArya hrudhayam with great
difficulty. Finally he decides to give up his thirumEni
(divine form) and go to paramapadham. He recites
Arththi prabhandham crying out to emperumAnAr to
accept him and relieve him from this material realm.
Subsequently, mAmunigaL, by the grace of
emperumAn ascends to paramapadham. ponnadikkAl
jIyar, who was away during that time, returns to
SrIrangam on hearing the news and completes all the
charama kainkaryams for mAmunigaL.
aththuzhAy: pAtti , all of us benefited immensely by

speaking about him. Thanks for sharing the divine
charithram of mAmunigaL with us.

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti : Pleasure is mine too aththuzhAy , last but not the

least, as he was accepted as AchAryan by periya
perumAL, he completes the AchArya rathna hAram and
the OrAN vazhi guru paramparai which started from
periya perumAL himself.
In our next discussion we will discuss about Sishyas

(ashta dhik gajangal) of mAmunigaL.
s-guide-mamunigal/

Beginner’s Guide
ashta dhik gajangaL and others

pAtti : Welcome kids , hope you all remember our last
discussion .
Children (in chorus) : Hello pAtti , yes we do, and we are

here to listen more about ashta dhik gajangaL .
pAtti : Sounds good , Let us start discussing .
parASara : pAtti, ashta dhik gajangaL means 8 Sishyas.

Am I right pAtti?
pAtti : parASara, you are right , ashta dhik gajangaL are

the 8 primary Sishyas of maNavALa
mAmunigaL. ponnadikkAl jIyar, kOyil aNNan, pathangi
paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar, thiruvEnkata
jIyar, eRumbiappA, prathivAdhi bhayankaram
aNNan, appiLLai, appiLLAr. These great Sishyas of
mAmunigaL were most influential in the growth of our
sampradhAyam after mAmunigaL‟s times.
Let us start with ponnadikkAl jIyar who was prANa

sukruth (dear like life) to his AchAryan maNavALa
mAmunigaL .

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti : Born as azhagiya varadhar, he became to be

famously known as ponnadikkAl jIyar.
parASara : pAtti, why he is called as ponnadikkAl jIyar

?
pAtti : ponnadikkAl means the one who laid the

foundation of mAmunigaL‟s Sishya sampath (i.e. wealth
of Sishyas). ponnadikkAl jIyar was held as
purushakAram by many AchAryas to approach
mAmunigaL.
mAmunigaL also appointed ashta dhik gajangaL to

ponndikkAl jIyar. mAmunigaL instructed ponnadikkAl
jIyar to go to vAnamAmalai as dheyvanAyakan
emperumAn (vAnamAmalai) sends SrImukam (an
instruction) through sEnai mudhaliAr to mAmunigaL that
ponnadikkAl jIyar should be sent to vAnamAmalai
dhivya dhEsam to look after the kainkaryam there.
vyAsa : pAtti, ponnadikkAl jIyar was father-in-law to

dheyvanAyakan emperumAn. Am I right ?
pAtti : yes vyAsa, correct. ponnadikkAl jIyar was the one

to bring nAchiyAr vigraham (divine deity of thAyAr) from
thirumalai and arranged a grand wedding with
dheyvanAyakan emperumAn and he himself performs
kannikAdhAnam. dheyvanAyakan emperumAn
proclaimed that “like periyAzhwAr, ponnadikkAl jIyar is
also his father-in-law”.
He went to various parts of bhAratha dhESam and

spread our sampradhAyam based on mAmunigaL‟s
orders. In the end, meditating upon his AchAryan
azhagiya maNavALa mAmunigaL‟s divine
feet, ponnadikkAl jIyar gives up his charama thirumEni
and attains paramapadham.

Beginner’s Guide
Let us pray at the lotus feet of ponnadikkAl jIyar that we

also develop such attachment towards emperumAnAr
and our AchAryan.
pAtti : Our next discussion is about kOyil aNNan, He

becomes one of the dearest disciples and ashta dig
gajangaL. An interesting incident happened in the life of
koil aNNan , which took him to take the shelter of
mAmunigal.
parASara : pAtti, what was the incident ??
pAtti : Appreciating your curiosity parASara , Born in the

illustrious family lineage of mudhaliyANdAn , he did not
want to take shelter of mAmunigaL. The incident
brought him back to take the lotus feet
of mAmunigaL. kOyil aNNan (as popularly known) was
living in SrIrangam with many Sishyas . You all know

Beginner’s Guide
SrI bhAshyakArar (SrI rAmAnujar) was the one who

ordered kOyil aNNan to become the disciple of
mAmunigaL. SrI rAmAnujar guided kOyil aNNan and
asked to utilise his relationship with mudhaliyANdAn
properly.
emperumAnAr said “I am Adhi sEshan and have come

again as maNavALa mAmunigaL. You and your
relatives become the disciple of mAmunigaL and be
uplifted”. Children, the whole incident happened in his
dream. The dream stops and aNNan wakes being totally
shocked. He explains the incidents to his brothers with
great emotions.
aNNan along with many other kandhAdai family

AchArya purushas go to jIyar mutt to take shelter
of mAmunigaL. mAmunigaL instructs vAnamAmalai
(ponnadikkAl) jIyar to prepare the necessary aspects
and performs pancha samskAram to all of them.
So Kids , we have seen some glimpses of the glorious

life of kOyil kandhAdai aNNan. He was very dear
to mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too
get a little bit of such abhimAnam of AchAryan.
Next I will tell about mOr munnAr ayyar (paravasthu

pattarpirAn jIyar). He is one of the ashta dhik
gajangaL of mAmunigaL. He stayed
with mAmunigaL without ever separating from him just
like embAr who always stayed with emperumAnAr.

Beginner’s Guide
vEdhavalli: pAtti, why he is known as mOr munnAr

ayyar ?
pAtti : Sounds interesting right. Everyday, he ate the

SEsha prasAdham (remnants) of mAmunigaL. He used
to consume his prasAdham on the same banana leaf on
which mAmunigaL ate. As mAmunigaL finishes with
curd rice, paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar wants to
consume prasAdham without changing the taste (from
curd to dhAl). Thus, he became to be known popularly
as “mOr munnAr ayyar .
He learned all the essence of SAsthram from

mAmunigaL directly and constantly served him.
After mAmunigaL ascended to paramapadham,
pattarpirAn jIyar settles down at thirumalai and purify
many jIvAthmAs there. Having more AchArya nishtai, he
writes a grantham named anthimOpAya nishtai, which
fully brings out the glories of our AchArya paramaparai
and how our pUrvAchAryas fully depended on their
respective AchAryas. He was a great scholar and was
very dear to mAmunigaL .

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti : Kids. next I will tell you about eRumbi appA. His
original name is dhEvarAjan. While living and
performing his dharmam at his village, eRumbi appA
heard about maNavALa mAmunigaL and wished to
meet him. eRumbi appA stayed with mAmunigaL for
some time, learned all the rahasya granthams and
finally returned to his village and continued his
kainkaryam there.
He was constantly thinking about his AchAryan and

compiled pUrva and uththara dhinacharyai (which
summarizes mAmunigaL‟s daily activities) and sent
them to mAmunigaL through a SrIvaishNava.
mAmunigaL was very pleased to see eRumbi appA‟s
nishtai and glorified him. He also sent an invitation to
eRumbi appA to come and visit him .
vyAsa : pAtti, like pattarpirAn jIyar, ponnadikkAl

jIyar, eRumbi appA is also more attached towards
his AchAryan. Isn‟t it so pAtti?
pAtti : Right vyAsa. One of the most important

contributions of eRumbi appA is “vilakshaNa mOksha

Beginner’s Guide
adhikAri nirNayam”. This is a compilation of

conversations between eRumbi appA and his Sishyas
like sEnApathi AzhwAn .
vEdhavalli : pAtti, what is vilakshaNa mOksha adhikAri

nirNayam ?
pAtti : This grantham clarifies many of the doubts that

arises out of misunderstanding our AzhwAr/AchArya
SrIsUkthis . eRumbi appA taught us the importance of
developing vairAgyam in samsAram and attachment
towards our pUrvAchArya‟s gyAnam and anushtAnam
and guided us to put them into practice .
Let us remember eRumbi appA who always

remembers maNavALa mAmunigaL.
pAtti : Kids, now will discuss about prathivAdhi

bhayankaram aNNA. Born as hasthigirinAthar, in the
early part of his life, he lived in kAnchIpuram and was
blessed by vEdhAnthAchAryar. He became a great
scholar and won over many scholars of other
sampradhAyams .
Later he was living in thirumalA and serving

thiruvEngadamudaiyAn. Hearing about the glories
of maNavALa mAmunigaL , he decided to join as Sishya

Beginner’s Guide
to maNavALa mAmunigaL. He reached SrIrangam and

visited mAmunigaL‟s mutt. mAmunigaL was performing
kAlakshEpam and as aNNA heard the kAlakshEpam he
understood the great knowledge of mAmunigaL in the
various fields of SAsthram. He surrendered to
mAmunigaL and became a Sishya.
He wrote many granthams on praise of emperumAn and

mAmunigaL. The most popular vEnkatESa
suprabhAtham, vEnkatESa prapaththi etc were
submitted to thiruvEngadamudaiyAn by aNNA for the
pleasure of his AchArya, mAmunigaL.
pAtti : Kids, our last discussion will be about appiLLai,

appiLLAr . There is not much information available
about them . They become dear disciples of maNavALa
mAmunigaL and one of ashta dhik gajas. They both are
great vidhwAn who won over many scholars in northern
part of bhAratha dhEsam

Beginner’s Guide
Though they heard about mAmunigaL, they did not

have great attachment towards him. But slowly they
came to know about the glories of mAmunigaL and even
heard that many great personalities such as kandhAdai
aNNan, eRumbi appA have taken shelter of
mAmunigaL.
vEdhavalli: pAtti , how did they become disciples

of maNavALa mAmunigaL?
pAtti : Yes vEdhavalli , eRumbi appA was the one to

inform mAmunigaL that they are ready for AchArya
sambandham . ponnadikkAl jIyar says to mAmunigaL
“they have been blessed with discussions with eRumbi
appA and they have all the qualification to become your
Sishyas”. They both asked mAmunigaL to accept them
and bless them . Like wise, mAmunigaL did pancha
samaskaram to both appiLLai, appiLLAr .
appiLLAr is given the responsibility of taking care of jIyar

mutt‟s all daily activities such as
thadhIyArAdhanam. Just like kidAmbi
AchAn served emperumAnAr by fully taking care of mutt
responsibilities, mAmunigaL was served by appiLLAr.
appiLLai writes vyAkyAnams for thiruvanthAdhis per

mAmunigaL‟s divine instructions and assists
mAmunigaL in his many dhivya prabhandham related
kainkaryams.
During the final days of mAmunigaL, appiLLAr prays to

him, and requests him to bless him with archA vigraham
(deity) of mAmunigaL for their daily
worship. mAmunigaL gives the sombu (vessel) which he
uses daily and they use that to prepare two vigrahams
(deities) and each keep one vigraham (deity) of
mAmunigaL for their daily worship .

Beginner’s Guide
So kids let us pray at their lotus feet that we too get a

little bit of such abhimAnam of AchAryan.
Kids so far we discussed about glories of mAmunigaL

and his ashta dhik gajangaL .
parASara : We learned so much today pAtti.
pAtti : Yes dear. I am also going to tell you all something

very important now. Listen carefully.
Subsequent to the times of mAmunigaL, many great

AchAryas continued to bless the devoted ones in every
town and village. The AchAryas stayed in dhivya
dhESams, abhimAna sthalams, AzhwAr/AchArya
avathAra sthalams and other kshEthrams, and shared
the knowledge and nurtured bhakthi in everyone.
thirumazhisai aNNavappangAr and first SrIperumbUthUr

embAr jIyar were from recent past (200 years ago) and
contributed significantly to our sampradhAyam through
their in-depth granthams and kainkaryams.
Whatever knowledge I have shared with you has come

through this paramparA of AchAryas. We have to be
thankful to them always. Hope you all had a nice time .
Our mind, senses and body and should be engaged in
kainkaryam to such AchAryas, AzhwArs and
emperumAn. Alright, it has become dark. Let us think
about the AchAryas and complete our session today.
Children : Thank you pAtti.
s-guide-ashta-dhik-gajas-and-others/

Beginner’s Guide
Part 4
anushtAnams (Best practices)

parASara, vyAsa, vEdhavalli and aththuzhAy entered
ANdAL pAtti‟s house.
pAtti: Welcome children. Wash your hands and feet I will

give you fruits offered to perumAL. Do you know what is
special this month?
vEdhavalli: I will tell pAtti. I remember what you have

told us before. It is “sUdik koduththa sudarkkodi” ANdAL
nAchchiyAr‟s birth month. Her birthday is on thamizh
month “Adi” & star “pUram”.
parASara: Yes. This month is also the birth month of

nAthamunigaL‟s grandson ALavandhAr. thamizh birth
month “Adi” & star “uthrAdam”. Am I right pAtti ?
pAtti: Well said. We have seen about AzhwArs and

AchAryas so far. Next we will learn about
anushtAnangal (best practices) which we should follow
daily.
aththuzhAy: pAtti, what is anushtAnam?
pAtti: There are some rules set by SAsthras for our well
being, following those rules are called anushtAnam
(best practices). For example: early morning we have to
wake up and take bath. This is one rule set for us. This
was also told by our ANdAL nAchchiyAr in her
thiruppAvai as “nAtkAlE nIrAdi”
vyAsa: Yes pAtti, I remember it is in thiruppAvai second

pAsuram.

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti: Exactly! Early morning while we think and chant

the names of emperumAn, our mind gets purified. Most
important thing is, every morning after bathing we must
wear thirumaN kAppu and those who had upanayanam,
must do sandhyAvandhanam and other daily
karmAnushtAnams.
parASara and vyAsa : pAtti, we will perform nithya

karmAnushtAnams without fail.
pAtti: Happy to hear!
vEdhavalli: We are wearing thirumaN kAppu with full of

happiness. Please tell the importance and reason
behind wearing thirumaN kAppu. We are very eager to
listen pAtti.
pAtti: Alright, listen. thirumaN kAppu – meaning of

kAppu is rakshai (protection). emperumAn and pirAtti

Beginner’s Guide
are staying with us and protecting us always. By

wearing thirumaN kAppu, it is very clear that we are
devotees of them. So we should wear happily and with
lots of pride.
vEdhavalli: We have understood the importance of

thirumaN kAppu. Very good to listen.
Everyone (in chorus) : Yes pAtti.
pAtti: Very good children. similarly there are many other

rules set by SAsthras for our well-being. I will share a
few of those now, listen carefully. We should wash our
hands and feet before and after eating. Because, only if
we are clean, our health will be good. Most important
thing is, we should only take food which is offered to
perumAL. Food which we eat determines our character.
By consuming perumAL prasAdham sathva guNa (good
qualities) will develop with his grace.
parASara: In our home, my mother prepares food and

my father offers that to emperumAn. Only after taking
perumAL thIrtham, we will consume the prasAdham.
pAtti: good habit. Keep it up dear children.
All four said ok with smiling face
pAtti: Further we should take prasAdham only after

reciting few pAsurams of AzhwArs. Food offered to
perumAL is food for our stomach. Do you know what is
the food for our tongue?
aththuzhAy: Food for tongue! Please tell! What is it

pAtti?

Beginner’s Guide
pAtti: yes dear. Chanting emperumAn‟s divine names is

the food for our tongue. madhurakavi AzhwAr
considered nammAzhwAr as his lord. madhurakavi
AzhwAr in his kaNNinuN chiRuth thAmbu says that
saying then kurugUr nambi (One of the names of
nammAzhwAr) is like tasting honey in his tongue.
(nammAzhwAr – madhurakavi AzhwAr)
vEdhavalli: pAtti, madhurakavi AzhwAr‟s devotion for

nammAzhwAr is so heart touching and you have
explained it very well pAtti. Here after, we will recite
kaNNinuN chiRuth thAmbu and only then, we will take
prasAdham.
pAtti : Good to hear VEdhavalli.
vyAsa : pAtti, it is very interesting to listen your words.

Please tell us more.
pAtti: I will be very happy to tell it but now it‟s getting

very dark outside. Go to your home now.
The children leave happily to their home thinking about

the conversation they had with pAtti.
s-guide-anushtanams/

Beginner’s Guide
kainkaryam (Service)
parASaran, vyAsan, vEdhavalli and aththuzhAy enter

ANdAL PAtti‟s house.
ANdAL pAtti: Welcome children. Wash your hands and

feet, I will give you fruits offered to perumAL. Did you
celebrate ALavandhAr‟s thirunakshathram?
parASaran: Yes, We celebrated well. We had good

dharSan at ALavandhAr‟s sannidhi. There,
they celebrated thirunakshathram in a grand manner.
Our father taught us ALavandhAr‟s
vAzhi thirunAmam and we also recited the same in our
home.
ANdAL pAtti: Very happy to hear.
vEdhavalli: Last time you told us that you will tell the
importance of kainkaryam. Do you remember that pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: Yes, I remember. I am very happy that you

remember and you asked me this.

Beginner’s Guide
kainkaryam is doing service for emperumAn and his

devotees. Our kainkaryam should make
emperumAn happy and please his heart.
vyAsan: If emperumAn will become happy then we are

very eager to do kainkaryams to him. How can we do
kainkaryams pAtti ?
ANdAL pAtti: We can do kainkaryam with our heart

(mAnasIka kainkaryam), our words (vAchika
kainkaryam) and with our body (SarIra kainkaryam).
ANdAL nAchchiyAr also said the same
in her thiruppAvai 5th pAsuram that we can sing his
glories, think about him and offer
flowers to him. By this way we can please his heart.
Thinking about emperumAn‟s divine qualities falls under
mAnasIka kainkaryam. Praising/singing his divine
glories and speaking about emperumAn and his
devotees‟ greatness, very importantly, reciting AzhwAr‟s
hymns and pUrvAchAryas‟ sthothrams make
emperumAn very happy. These kainkaryams fall under
vAchika Kainkaryam. Cleaning emperumAn‟s temple
premises/sannidhi, decorating his premises/sannidhi by
drawing kOlams (beautiful shapes), by making garlands,
grinding sandal paste for his thiruvArAdhanam etc fall
under SarIra kainkaryam. First, we have do possible
kainkaryams to emperumAn at our homes. emperumAn
happily accepts kainkaryam performed by kids like you.
parASaran: You have explained this very well pAtti. We

will happily participate in thiruvArAdhanam performed by
our father at our home.
ANdAL pAtti: Good to hear.
aththuzhAy: vEdhavalli and I will participate in drawing

kOlam, making garlands etc.

Beginner’s Guide
ANdAL pAtti: Very happy to hear aththuzhAy. Another

important aspect is, doing kainkaryams to emperumAn‟s
adiyArs (devotees) is more important than doing
kainkaryams to emperumAn. Example, lakshmaNa did
all kainkaryams to emperumAn SrI rAma but Sathrugna
did kainkaryams to SrI rAmA‟s dear brother and devotee
bharatha. Also, nammAzhwAr considered his
dear krishNa as his food, water and betel leaves/nuts,
but madhurakavi AzhwAr considered nammAzhwAr as
his only Lord. This emphasises the greatness of
emperumAn‟s adiyArs. So, we should always be
devotees of emperumAn‟s adiyArs.
aththuzhAy: As you said, we will definitely give priority to

do kainkaryams to emperumAn‟s adiyArs. But how do
we serve the devotees pAtti?
ANdAL pAtti: When devotees visit our homes, we should

offer obeisances to them and make them feel
comfortable. We should assist them as necessary. We
should also enquire wonderful charithrams about
emperumAn, AzhwArs and AchAryas from them and try
to learn as much as possible from them. We should
humbly ask them if they need any help in their

Beginner’s Guide
kainkaryams and support them. There are many such

ways one can engage in kainkaryams for devotees.
aththuzhAy: Sure pAtti. We get an idea about it now. We

will certainly look out for such opportunities.
(Other three kids also say “Yes” in chorus)
ANdAL pAtti: Very happy to hear dear kids.
vEdhavalli: PAtti, It is very interesting to listen your

words. Please tell us more.
ANdAL pAtti: I will be very happy to explain more it but

now it‟s getting very dark outside. Next time, we will
discuss another topic. Now, you all should go to your
homes.
The children leave happily to their homes thinking about

the wonderful conversation they had with ANdAL pAtti.
s-guide-kainkaryam/

Beginner’s Guide
apachArams (offenses)
parASara, vyAsa, vEdhavalli and aththuzhAy enter
ANdAL pAtti‟s house.
pAtti: Welcome children. Wash your hands and feet. I

will give you fruits offered to perumAL. Do you know
what is special this month?
parASara: I will tell pAtti. It is manavAla mAmunigaL‟s

birth month. His birthday / thirunakshathram is on
thamizh month “aippasi” & star “thirumUlam”.
vEdhavalli : Yes. This month is also the birth month of

mudhal AzhwArgal, sEnai mudhaliAr and piLLai
lOkAchAryar. Am I right pAtti ?
pAtti: Well said. We have seen about AzhwArs,

AchAryAs, anushtAnams/best practices,
kainkaryam/service so far. Next we will learn about
apachArams.
vyAsa: pAtti, what is apachAram?
pAtti: apachAram is an offense committed towards

emperumAn or his adiyArs (devotees). We should
always be keen on pleasing emperumAn and his
adiyArs. Any action which will displease emperumAn
and bhAgavathAs is an apachAram. We can see what
are the apachArams (offenses) that we should avoid.
aththuzhAy: pAtti, can you please explain in detail?
pAtti: Yes. For SrIvaishNavas, SAsthram is the

base/foundation/guide. Our pUrvAchAryas were
extremely respectful to SAsthram and followed their

Beginner’s Guide
anushtAnams/best practices properly. They were very

fearful to commit any offense to emperumAn and his
devotees. So, we should also be cautious all the time to
avoid apachArams. Now we can see one by one (types
of apachAram) in detail. Firstly we will see about
bhagavath apachAram.
vyAsa: committing apachArams to emperumAn is

bhagavath apachAram, am I right pAtti?
pAtti: Yes, you are correct. The following are listed as

bhagavath apachAram.
 To consider emperumAn at par with other dhEvathAs

including brahma, Siva, vAyu, varuNa, indhra is an
offense.
 After becoming a SrIvaishNava, worshipping other

dhEvathAs is also a bhagavath apachAram. All are
emperumAn‟s creations.

Beginner’s Guide
 Not performing nithya karmAnushtAnams comes

under bhagavath apachAram. nithya
karmAnushtAnams are emperumAn‟s commands to
us, so we must obey his words. If we do not act as
per his orders, it means we are committing offense.
Hope you all remember that we have discussed
about this earlier.
parASara: Yes pAtti. vyAsa and I are performing

sandhyAvandhanam everyday without fail.
pAtti: Happy to hear that you are following nithya

karmAnushtAnams.
 Next important thing we should avoid is to consider

avathArams such as rAma, krishNa as normal or
even super power humans. emperumAn out of his
love and mercy for his devotees took his
avathArams, to help us all.

Beginner’s Guide
 To consider us to be independent and take

possession in this materialistic world. We should
understand that all are subservient to emperumAn
and act accordingly.
 To steal things that belongs to emperumAn. This
includes stealing emperumAn‟s properties like his
vasthram (clothes), thiruvAbaraNam (ornaments)
and immovable properties like his land etc.
aththuzhAy: Very interesting to hear pAtti, can you

explain us about bhAgavatha apachAram?
pAtti: Sure aththuzhAy. committing apachArams to

emperumAn‟s adiyArs comes under bhAgavatha
apachArams. Among bhagavath apachAram and
bhAgavatha apachAram, bhAgavatha apachAram is the
most cruel one. emperumAn can‟t tolerate the sufferings
of his devotees. so we should be cautious to avoid
bhAgavatha apachArams. The following are listed as
bhAgavatha apachAram.

Beginner’s Guide
 considering other SrIvaishNavas equal to us. we

should always consider ourselves lower than other
SrIvaishNavas .
 we should not hurt anyone both physically and
mentally.
 disrespecting a SrIvaishNava based on his/her birth,
knowledge, acts, wealth, place of living, colour etc
must be avoided.
Our pUrvAchAryas have maintained strict standards

while dealing with other SrIvaishNavas. They were very

Beginner’s Guide
cautious all the time not to displease/upset other

SrIvaishNavas. They treated everyone with dignity.
vEdhavalli: pAtti, We will surely avoid such apachArams

and make emperumAn happy.
Remaining three kids (in chorus): yes pAtti.
pAtti: Very good dear children. So far I have taught you

many things about our sampradhAyam. Next time when
you visit here, will teach you more. Now it‟s getting very
dark outside. It is time for you all to leave.
Children : We have learnt so much pAtti. We will try to

put these teachings in to practice as much as possible
by the grace of emperumAn and AchAryas.
pAtti: Very happy to hear.
The children leave happily to their home thinking about

the conversation they had with pAtti.
s-guide-apacharams/

Beginner's Guide to SrIvaishNavam

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Book code : E-25-BGTSV-01-D First Edition : 2019 January

This book is available in print with us and can be obtained for a

 A is used for “aa” sound – example: emperumAnAr,

Our AzhwArs and AchAryas have showed us two great

 get these books for oneself and develop/refresh

 think about many other creative ways of

Reading the principles explained by our pUrvAchAryas in

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Simple introductory articles.

ANdAL pAtti (grandma) teaches her grand children

wonderful matters effortlessly. We hope that you will

With contributions from:

 bhArgavai rAmAnuja dAsi

pramEyam (goal) – http://koyil.org

parASara: pAtti, we have a doubt. We keep hearing

ANdAL pAtti: Oh, very nice question parASara.

vyAsa: But pAtti, why SrIman nArAyaNa? why not some

ANdAL pAtti: vyAsa, that is a good question. let me

vyAsa: That is good to know pAtti. So, we understand

ANdAL pAtti: We regularly worship perumAL, thAyAr,

parASara: pAtti, you said we focus fully on SrIman

ANdAL pAtti: That is a very good question parASara.

vyAsa: What else we do pAtti?

ANdAL pAtti: As SrIvaishNavas, we understand

parASara: How do we do that pAtti?

ANdAL pAtti: Oh, that is very easy. Whenever we meet

vyAsa: This is very nice pAtti. what a wonderful way to

ANdAL pAtti: It is very nice of both of you to ask such

Who is SrIman nArAyaNa?

vyAsa: Wow, pAtti, its a huge temple. We haven‟t seen

ANdAL pAtti: Yes, We are going to visit the king of all,

who might not be able to visit him, therefore he visits

parASara: pAtti, but we thought perumAL stays in

ANdAL pAtti: Yes parASara, what you heard is right.

pAtti, vyAsa and parASara leaves the sanctum

vyAsa: We have also started to like him, after hearing

ANdAL pAtti: He not only looks like one of us, but he

All three of them reach their home.

vyAsa and parASara: OK, pAtti. We are going to the

ANdAL pAtti: Play carefully children and do remember to

SrIman nArAyaNa’s divine archA form

vyAsa: pAtti, whom are you arranging these fruits and

ANdAL pAtti: vyAsa, It is time for SrIranganAthan‟s

parASara: Oh sure, pAtti. Then, I will give the fruits

ANdAL pAtti: That‟s so nice of you, parASara. Come,

namperumAL (SrIranganAthan) arrives in front of

propect of providing the fruits and flowers

parASara : pAtti, What does he hold on his left hand?

chakram (disc) in right hand, sanku (conch) in left hand

ANdAL pAtti: He holds a mace in his left hand,

vyAsa: What does the right hand signify, pAtti?

abhaya hastham – posture of hand giving us protection

ANdAL pAtti: That‟s a nice question. His right hand is

tall crown (supremacy) and smiling face (simplicity)

vyAsa: Ok, pAtti. Then, what does he have over his

ANdAL pAtti: It‟s a crown, vyAsa. It shows that he is the

parASara: The crown looks very good, pAtti. It fits very

ANdAL pAtti: Yes, he has the most adorable face. He is