Lotus-vision in tiru-veLLaRai.

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The gold 'kavacham' for Lord of tiru-veLLaRai

 

A gold 'kavacham' / anGil (mail of gold) was dedicated in a 3-day celebration

(commencing on Saturday November 9, year chitra-bhAnu, month aippaSi / tulA,

asterism pUrADam/ pUrvAshADham) to Sri puNDareekAksha-p-perumAL (Sri

Sen-tAmarai-k-kaNNan) in the divya-dESam tiru-veLLaRai, situated about 15 km

north of Srirangam.

 

Three-day celebration

 

The day of commencement was marked by the happily appropriate asterism (aippaSi

pUrADam) of Sri vishvak-sEna / sEnai-mudaliAr who, as commanding the celestial

legions, is worshipped at the start of any ceremony as the one that wards off

obstacles (viGhnam niGhnanti satatam vishvak-sEnam tam ASrayE).

 

The ankur/ArpaNam and chanting of ubhaya-vEdam marked the first day, and the

Lord received the kavacham on the second day. The Lord in His new coat of gold

and Sri Pankajavalli-tAyAr had a ceremonial tiru-manjanam / abhishEkam / bath on

the third and concluding day (aippaSi tiru-vONam, asterism of poyikai AzhvAr and

piLLai-lOkAchArya) and also a rich offering of cream-butter and akkAra-aDiSil in

a hundred dishes apiece, movingly recalling ANDAL's rapturous hymn (nAcchiyAr

9:6) to tiru-mAl-irum-SOlai-nambi of Madurai.

 

Beauty that enhances ornaments !

 

The 'sam-pradAya' view is that ornaments are dedicated to the Lord not in any

way to enhance Him but so that the jewellery obscures some of His beauty

nonpareil (nirupama-sAundaryam) and reduces the anxiety about evil eye. This

was even so with the gold kavacham which Sri Sen-tAmarai-k-kaNNan has presently

received. After all, the Lord of tiru-veLLaRai struck tiru-manGai-AzhvAr as

All of Gold Himself (that glows) on the stone sanctum, ["veLLaRaiyuL kall-aRai

mEl ponnai", periya tirumaDal 117, A-praNakhAt suvaRNam, ChhandOgyam]. For

the packed assembly of devotees, it was an other-worldly bliss as the divine

pair (divya-mithunam), the Lord and tAyAr, were revealed after the

tirumanjanam-bath and with flower decoration.

 

Venkata-Ranga

 

Lord puNDareekAksha appears a double of Lord nam-perumAL (of Srirangam) in

stance ("niRkiRa nilai") and warm grin. In fact, on the brahmOtsavam day (in

the month of panGuni / March) the Lord visits the sands of koLLiDam

(vaDa-tiru-k-kAvEri) in Srirangam, the Lord dons the diamond abhaya-hastam and

sapphire-ruby-set Sriranga-vimAna pendant which stand dedicated to nam-perumAL.

 

Lord puNDareekAksha combines in His divine person the characteristics of both

SrirangaRaja (namperumAL) and Srinivasa (tirumalai-appan). The 'abhaya-hastam'

(the protective gesture of the right hand) of namperumAL is quite celebrated in

'sampradAyam' ~~ "vaittu anjal enRa kAiyum" and "hastO Sriranga-bhartu:", as

movingly described by Pillai Lokacharya and Vedantacharya. The Lord of

tirumalai has his own characteristic feature, namely, of hugging His waist with

the left hand, gesturing that He shall not let go of the devotee.

 

Well, Lord puNDareekAksha combines in Himself both these gestures, and thus He

is Venkata-Ranga integrated.

 

Lotus vision

 

The Lord of tiru-veLLaRai has other unique aspects. The name puNDaree-k/Aksha

attaches to Him alone (of all the precious manifestations illuminating our

divya-dESam-s) as 'rUDhee', proper noun. This is the sacred name enshrined in

the 'kapyAsa-Sruti' of ChhAndOgya upanishad, and this is the name which received

the fragrant depiction of uDaiyavar / SriRamanuja in the days of his

studentship.

 

Beauty

 

'sundara' is among the well-known names of the Lord, with the Tamil equivalent

of 'azhakar'. This name specifically attaches to the Lord in an exclusive set

of divya-dESam-s. One can begin with Azhakiya-maNavALan, a name which attached

to Sriranga as he wed kamalavalli-t-tAyAr of uRaiyUr and ANDAL of

Srivilli-puttUr. We have sundara-rAja / azhakia nambi at annbil (east of

Srirangam), the dear (kaL)-azhakar (sundara-bAhu / sundara-t-tOL-uDaiyAn) of

Madurai tirumAl-irum-SOlai, kUDal-azhakar (sundara-rAja /

veeRRirunda-vaLam-uDaiyAr) of Madurai, the surpassing sundara-pari-pURNa

(vaDiv/azhakiya nambi) of tiru-k-kuRun-kuDi.

 

All this notwithstanding, it is the Lord of tiru-veLLaRai who is the first to be

addressed "azhakanE !" in the aruLi-c-cheyal / divya-prabandham (periyAzhvAr

8:6). This is as per the order of arrangement of the hymns of the various

AzhvAr saints.

 

Bless the Lord !

 

Sri Sen-tAmarai-k-kaNNan of tiru-veLLaRai is unique in another manner. The

tiru-ArAdhanam is structured in specific gestures, abhigamanam, su-prabhAtam

(tiru-p-paLLi ezhucchi), tiru-manjanam, taLikai, tiru-anti-k-kAppu etc. It is

well known that the entire tiru-p-paLLi ezhucchi decad is dedicated to Sriranga,

and it deserves to be known that the entire tiru-anti-k-kAppu decad is dedicated

to Sri Sen-tAmarai-k-kaNNan.

 

Some memories

 

Some of the devotees who attended the celebrations recollected that the valuable

sapphire pendant (neela nAyakam) of tiru-veLLaRai-p-perumAL had been stolen in

the 1970s. Not traced, of course. As happened with the thefts in

Adi-kESava in tiru-vATTARu divya-dESam, the azhakiya-SinGar dhvaja-stambham in

tiruvallik-kENi, and the rubies-set bow of Lord SARnGa-pANi at tiru-k-kuTantai.

Not traced. Very consistent. The networking of thieves is efficient, and such

treasures always excite them, they cannot help it. The Lord is there for the

likes of us who seek Him.

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan,

T.S. Sundara Rajan.