||ஸ்ரீ:||
ஸ்ரீமதே நிகமாந்த மஹாதேசிகாய நம:
ஸ்ரீமதே ராமாநுஜாயநம:
ஆழ்வார் திருவடிகளே சரணம்.
திருப்பாணாழ்வார்
அருளிச்செய்த
அமலனாதிபிரான்.
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Out of the 24 Prabhandhas that go to make up the “Nalayira Divya Prabhandham” this is the 17th in chronological order. It is the shortest of allthe twenty-four, containing as it does only 10 verses. Its name is taken from the opening words of the work. There is Prabhandham, kanni-nun-siruthambu having its opening words as its name. Incidentally it is the next shortest Prabhandha. It has 11 verses. These two Prabhandhas are the last two out of the 9 that go to make up முதலாயிரம் (the first part though not exactly the first thousand) out of the 4000. The only other Prabhandham that derives its name from its opening word is Nanmugan Tiruvandadi நான்முகன திருவந்தாதி.
The Alwar who has given to us this அமலனாதிபிரான் is Tiruppanalwar. In common with the first four Alwars, Poigai Alwar, Bhoothathalwar, Peyalwar and Tirumalisai Alwar, he also appears to have been an Ayonija, born of no one. He has this in common with Tirumalisai Alwar,viz., tha the was brought up by persons who were regarded in those days as of inferior caste. Tiruppanalwar’s foster-parents were of the Panar (பாணர்) caste, a sort of wandering minstrels or songsters. Tiruppanalwar’s birth place is said to be உறையூர் (Woraiyur), now a suburb of Tiruchirapalli. It is known to Vaishnavites as Nichulapuri (நிகளாபுரி) It is also known as கோழி and is celeberated by that name by Tirumangai Alwar who came after Tiruppanalwar.
Tiruppanalwar is believed to be an amsam (part-incarnation) of Srivatsa (the mole on the Lord’s chest). The ten Alwars are referred to by vedanta Desika as an அபிநவதசாவதாரம் (Neo-Dasavatharam) of the Lord Himself. The Alwars came into the world with the set purpose of spreading the Bhakti cult among mankind. Both by precept and example they turned men’s attention Godward. Each achieved this purpose in a different way. Tiruppanalwar’s method is simple, short and straight.
A great love towards God seized the Alwar’s soul even while he was quite young. Accustomed to song and music he came to the banks of the River Kaveri flowing near, and facing Srirangam in the North, used to meditate upon the Lord of that shrine about whom , whose beauty, and whose grace he had heard from elders , and he sang His praises. Not being able to cross the Kaveri and step into Srirangam because of social barriers, he was content to stand on the other side of the sacred river, and sing about the glory of the Lord to his heart’s content. Sometimes in the fulness of his love he used to go into trance and remain in that state for some hours. On one such occasion it happened that the Temple Paricharaka from Srirengam, who used to fetch water from the Kaveri for the Lord’s Abhishekam and worship, found him near the slender stream that was running in the southern edge of the bed of the River Kaveri and shouted him to take himself away. Being in a trance the Alwar did not stir.The Paricharaka took a pebble and hurled it at the Alwar. It struck him in the face above the eyebrow and caused bleeding. Startled out of his trance, the Alwar realised what had happened and hurriedly went away from the spot profusely apologising for his unwitting apachara (fault). The paricharaka took the water from the River to Srirengam, happy and complacent at the thought that he had been able to carry pure water unpolluted. But his happiness and complacency were very short-lived, for when he went into the Sanctum Sanctorum, he was shocked and dismayed beyond words to see blood trickling from the face of the Lord at the exact spot in the face where his pebble had hit the devotee. He realised the great sin he had committed and was struck with remorse. That might be the Lord of rangam appeared in his dream and reminding him of the heinous sin committed that morning, made him understand that the only way of expiating for it was to somehow bring the great devotee to His presence.As soon as day dawned, the paricharaka rushed to the spot where the devotee used to stand and sing, reckoned himself lucky when he found him there ,approached him and delivered to him the Lord’s own command in the dream. The Panar-devotee felt exhilerated and happy beyond words, but politely refused to comply with it because it was unthinkable that he could step on the sacred soil of Srirengam. The Temple priest – his name was Loka- saranga – mamuni –who was very anxious to make amends for the heinous crime committed by him the previous day , came out with a ready solution. “O! Bhaktha so dear to the Lord! You need not do what you felt is wrong –stepping on Srirengam soil. I shall carry you on my shoulders and take you to the Lord’s presence within the shrine”. Panar did not know what to do. On the one hand there was the Lord’s command that he do come to Him. On the other, the prospect, none too pleasant, of having to ride on the Priest’s shoulders – an act which was not only distasteful but also sinful in his eyes. Ultimately the priest’s importunities prevailed and after crossing the River-bed and before entering Srirengam he allowed himself to be carried by Lokasaranga Muni, thereby earning the appellation – Munivahana –one riding on a Muni as on a vehicle. He closed his eyes tight and opened them only when he was made to descend from the shoulders of the Muni, straight in front of the Lord – that Sleeping Beauty of Srirengam alongwith the Smiling Beauty (Uthsava) in front, with His two Consorts. And what he saw then has been described in the Prabhandham he then sang, and which made him an Alwar.The enjoyment vouchsafed by the Lord to the Alwar of His superb Thirumeni from Foot to Head ஆபாதசூடம் is enshrined in the 10 verses of the Prabhandham.The first 9 verses enjoy respectively the பாதகமலம்,நவ்வாடை, உந்தி, உதரபந்தம், திருமார்வு, கண்டம், செவ்வாய், வாட்டமில் கண்கள், and the மேனி in that very order. (Lotus feet, Garment, navel, Waistband, Chest, neck, red mouth, eyes and the whole body) The last verse states how his eyes which saw that Nectar அமுது will never see anything else. And they did not; for the Alwar immediately thereafter merged into the Lord, his individual soul being swallowed up by that Parama purusha, All-Soul.
Acharyas have found several excellences in this Prabhandham. Vedanta Desika was so deeply impressed with it that he wrote a commentary on it, a compliment which he has not paid to any of the 23 other prabhandhams. His commentary which goes by the name of muni-Vahana-bhogam (முனிவாஹனபோகம்) or the enjoyment of the Muni-Vahana (another name for Tiruppanalwar as mentioned above) refers to the Prabhandham as an overflow of ecstatic enjoyment அனுபவ பரீவாஹம். It is also said there that this Prabhandham is neither too long and tiresome, nor too short and cryptic. It does not indulge in being didactic or polemic. That emperor among commentators – vyakyana Chakravarthi – Periyavachan Pillay also refers to these and several other merits. Vedanta Desika draws particular attention to an excellent feature of this Prabhandahm viz., that even the Alwar’s name does not find mention at the end or anywhere in the work. அடியேன் என்னுமதொழிய இப்ரபந்தம் தலைக்கட்டுகிறவளவிலும் தம்முடைய பேரும் ஊரும் பேச மறக்கும்படி தாம் பெற்ற அனுபவம். That is the extent of the intense enjoyment vouchsafed by the Lord to this Alwar.
Let us now go to the Prabhandham itself, and try to understand somewhat the meaning and message of the verses.
தென்னன் தமிழ் 