Sri Ramanuja and Sri Andal

[Guest guest]

The following pasuram in praise of Sri Andal is part of Sri Vaishnava

saaRRumurRai:

 

\bt

thiruvaadip pooratthuc jegatthuthitthaaL vaazhiyE!

thiruppaavai muppathoom seppinaaL vaazhiyE!

periyaazvaar peRReduttha peNpiLLai vaazhiyE!

perumpoothoor maamunikku pinnaanaaL vaazhiyE! (My post is about this line)

orunNooRRu naaRpatthu moonRuraitthaaL vaaziyE!

uyararangark kEkaNNi yuganthaLitthaaL vaazhiyE!

maruvaarum thirumalli vaLanNaadu vaazhiyE!

vaNputhuvai nagarkOthai malarppathangaL vaaziyE!

\et

 

I want to draw your attention to the fourth line. Why is Sri Andal

referred here as "pinnaanaaL" to Sri Ramanuja? One explanation I

once heard was that Sri Ramanuja fulfilled Sri Andal's desire for

offering 100 containers of "akkaaravadisal," -- Naacciyaar thirumozhi 9.6.

I forgot how that made Sri Ramanuja a older brother. Are there any

other explanations?

 

 

 

Regards,

 

P. Dileepan

[Guest guest]

You are correct about the explanation. Dr. Narayamnan says that eventhough he

(rAma Ramanuja belonged to a later time period, because he fulfilled Andal's

desire, he is referred to as Koyil Annan - literally meaning brother -elder

brother in the temple and since

 

Sorry for the incomplete words/ sentences.

 

Having designated him as elder brother, anyone else is considered younger

and hence pinnanaL (literally means followed -implying order in some abstract

family ties or because both contributed enormously to Vaishnava samprathayam

and were such ardent devotees of Govinda).

 

 

I will follow this up with a meaning of the verses.

 

Vaidehi V.

[Guest guest]

Parthasarati Dileepan writes:

> Why is Sri Andal

> referred here as "pinnaanaaL" to Sri Ramanuja? One explanation I

> once heard was that Sri Ramanuja fulfilled Sri Andal's desire for

> offering 100 containers of "akkaaravadisal," -- Naacciyaar thirumozhi 9.6.

> I forgot how that made Sri Ramanuja a older brother. Are there any

> other explanations?

 

A paper entitled "Andal and Acharyas", read at

the All India Seminar on Andal, 1983, tells

the following story:

 

"While discoursing on the poem 'naaRu naRum pozhil' (Naacc Thiru 9.6)

in which Andal desires to offer a hundred vessels of butter and a

hundred others of 'akkara-vadisil' or 'kshirannam', it occurred

to Ramanuja that only Andal's desire had been chronicled, but nowhere

was it said that it had been fulfilled. He therefore fulfilled her

wish as his duty at the shrine of Thiru-mal-irum-cholai and then

repaired to Srivilliputtur to pay his respects to Andal. Andal was

pleased with him and transcending her archa called him her 'aNNan'

elder brother, as he has carried out her wish as an elder brother

would do for his sister. Consequently, the Vazhithirunamam of

Andal contains the line 'perumpoothoor maamunikku pinnaanaaL vaazhiyE'.

The Prapannamritam (53-8,9) mentions this as under:

 

[A Sanskrit sloka is cited].

 

The Astottaram on Ramanuja by Andhrapoorna contained in chapter

54 of the Prapannamritam also has this line 'gOdAgrajO digvijEtA

gOdAbhIShTaprapUraka.h'. It is said that as a reminder of the

incident, the idol of Andal in Srivilliputtur remains in front

of the 'sanctum sanctorum' and not inside it as would normally

be the case."

 

Mani