Reflections on Sri HemAbjhavalli SamEtha Sri DevanAtha PerumAL of Thiruvaheendhrapuram following Swamy Desikan's dvine footsteps: Part II- MummaNikkOvai

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

At the outset , let me invite your attention to

the excellent home pages created by Sri Mani VaradarAjan

for ThiruvahIndhrapuram in the SrivishNava portal.

I encourage you to visit these lovely pages for the darsanam

of the dhivya dampathis of this KshEthram along with

the archA of Swamy Desikan ( sculpted by himself ) and

Lord Yoga HayagrIvan , His AarAdhana Moorthy presented

by Garuda BhagavAn Himself.

 

MummaNikkOvai: An Introduction

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This composition is one of the nine Sri Sookthis

of Swamy Desikan on the Lord of ThiruvahIndhrapuram:

MummaNikkOvai, Nava maNi Maalai , Panthu, Kazhal ,

Oosal, yEsal , ammAnai , Sri DevanAyaka PanchAsath

and Sri Achyutha Sathakam . The last two are in Sanskrit

and Praakrutham respectively .

 

The MummaNikkOvai means that this Prabhandham is

a rathna Haaram (gem necklace) made of three kinds

of gems : ahaval , VeNNpaa and KattalaikkalitthuRai.

Latter are three types of metres in Tamil poetry .

 

Content and structure of MummaNikkOvai

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In this beautiful Prabhandham ,Swamy starts with

the subject of the importance of Purushakara Prapatthi

to Sri Devi and reminds us of the six meanings of

the " Sri " Sabdham . He follows it up with a salutation

to the limitless auspicious attributes of Lord

DevanAthan and points out that He is the AadhAram (Seshi)

for all chEthanams as well as achEthanams.He recognizes

the Lord of ThiruvahIndhrapuram as " sarva vidha Bhandhu " .

He points out that those , who seek refuge in Him are

abundantly blessed to have the Saayujya MOksham.

The ten paasurams that we have to day have been

structured as examples of Sri Venkata Naayaki

( Sri VedAntha Desikan assuming the feminine form

just as NammAzhwAr and Thirumangai AzhwAr did)

talking to the Lord and the dialog of the friend

and foster Mother of Venakata Naayaki with

Her Lord.

 

Individual Verses in Chaste Tamil

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Swamy Desikan rigorously follows the grammar

of Tamil poetry in the construction of these

verses . Inview of possible difficulty to read

the actual transliterated version , I will

organize the words and passages in a form that

would be easier to read .

 

First Verse celebrating the PurushakaraPrapatthi

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arul tarum adiyAr paal meyaai vaitthu

teruL tara ninRa DhaivanAyaka ninn

aruL yenum sIr ohr arivaiy Aanathu yena

iruL seha yemakku ohr innoLi viLakkAi

maNivarai anna ninn thiru uruvil

aNi amar aahatthu alangalAi ilangi

ninn patikellAm tann pati yERkka

anbhuDan unnOdu avatharitthu aruLi

vENDurai kEttu meeNDavai kEtpitthu

eEeNDiya vinaikaL maaNDida muaynRu

tannadi sErntha tamar unai aNuha

ninnudan sErnthu niRkum ninn ThiruvE

 

Each of the words and the lines of this

Paasuram are the distillation of the essence

of the glories of Sri DEvi and Her unique

role in Prapatthi that we perform to Her Lord.

She is indispensable in that Prapatthi .

We approach Her through Purushakara Prapatthi

and appeal to Her to intercede on our behalf

with Her Lord and reduce His anger at us for

all of our trespasses.

 

She helps us in six ways as indicated by

the analysis of the " SrI " Sabdham :

 

(1) SreeyathE: She is reached by all chEthanams

that seek salvation (Moksham).

 

(2) SrayathE: She reaches Her Lord on our behalf.

 

(3)SruNOthi: She hears all of our prayers for

intercession .

 

(4) SrAvayathi: She makes Her Lord hear the appeals

from the suffering chEthanams.

 

(5) SruNAthi: She removes all the obstacles that

stand in the way of performing Prapatthi.

 

(6)SrINAthi: She perfects our status and qualifies

us to perform Kaimkaryam for Her Lord .

 

Swamy Deikan decides to perform his Prapatthi

to Dhaiva Naayakan and approaches His consort,

HemAbhjavalli ThAyAr first in the manner

prescribed by SaasthrAs .

 

Here Swamy Desikan reminds Sri Dhaiva Naayakan

of an ancient doctrine : He says : " Oh Lord , who is

true to Your promise of showering Your grace on Your

adiyArs ( Kimkara Sathyan , Natha Sathyan )! Oh Lord

who blesses us with the eye of true wisdom to see

Your tatthvams properly ! On Your broad blue chest ,

all of Your jewelery are seen gaining their hue

and glory ;on that auspicious chest , Your divine

consort , who never leaves You for even a fraction

of a second , is seen shining as a beautiful garland .

Whenever and wherever You incarnate , She is there

without fail in a form that is appropriate to that

incarnation of Yours. She stands as a precious gem-

studded lamp and removes our false knowledge. She

listens to the prayers of Your adiyArs and appeals

to You and removes the karmAs of these adiyArs. She

makes sure that those who sought refuge at Her lotus

feet reach Your sacred feet and stands like

the embodiment of Your Daya GuNam.Thus Your

divine consort ,who is inseperable from You

and who enhances Your glories will be pleased with

our Prapatthi and will bless us in every way " .

 

" Thiruvukkum ThiruvAhiya Selvan " is addressed

here and is reminded of the eminence of His Thiru

( Periya PirAtti and Her uniqueness).The key passage

of this paasuram is: " Tannadi sErntha tamar unai

aNuha , ninnudan sErnthu niRku ninn ThruvE " .

 

Swamy Desikan approaches the mithunam ( the couple)

who are inseperable and reminds them that his kaimkaryam

will become fruitful only in presence of Sri Devi.

She enhances the performed kaimkaryam many fold ;hence

She is the one to be reached first and the performance of

Kiamkaryam in Her state of union with Her Lord

is the only one , which is appropriate to

the nature (svarUpam ) of the Jeevan. That is

why , NammAzhwAr tightly questions the Lord:

" ThirumAlE ninRE aatccheyya Nee ninaipathu

thaann yenRE ? " ThiruvAimozhi: 8.3.8 as pointed

out by Srimath Azhagiya singar in one of his recent

article on PurushakAra Prapatthi.The essence of

Sristhavam and ChathusslOki are summarized for

us by Swamy Desikan in this first verse of

MummaNikkOvai.

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam ,

Daasan, OppilA-appan Koil V.Sadagopan