Sri Manavala Mamunigal Vaibhavam

by Sri TA Varadhan

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During the time of svAmi maNavALa mAmuni's birth, srI. thiruvAymozhip piLLai was conducting the nirvAham of the emperumAnAr darsanam from AzhvAr thirunagari (during svAmi piLLai lOkAchAr's time, immediately preceding the time period in question, due to the islamic invasion, most of the srIvaishNavAs had to leave srIrangam, including svAmi piLLai lOkAchAriar himself with the namperumAL vigraham; and svAmi vEdAnta dEsikan with the manuscripts of srutaprakAsika, the grand commentary of srI. sudarsana bhattar (a descendant of srI. kUrattAzhvAn) on srI. rAmAnujA's srIbhAshyam.

Earlier, srI. thiruvAymozhip piLLai was the rAja mantri of the king of madurai, and after the death of the king, he was the caretaker of the kingdom. during that time, due to the krpa of svAmi piLLai lOkAchAr and his shishyAs (kUrakulOththuma dAsar, nAlUrAchchAn piLLai, viLAnchOlaip piLLai and others), learnt deeply abuout the darsanam, and slowly became the darsanap pravarthakar. During his reign as the caretaker of the madurai kingdom, srI. thiruvAymozhip piLLai was instrumental in using his influence to regain the vigraha (archa thirumEni) of svAmi nammAzhvAr that was stored in a slope in the kEraLa hills during the islamic invasion.

At that time, AdisEsha took avatAram as the son of srI. thiruvAveeRudaya pirAn thAthar aNNar, in a place called sikkil kidAram (Site Author's Note: Swami Manavala Mamunigal was actually born in Azhvar Thirunagari as noted in the following shloka and note in Yatindra Pravana Prabhavam which details the life history of Mamunigal: "shaThArAte: pure punaravAtarat" - Swami was reborn [Thiruvanandazhvan] in Swami Nammazhvar's place [which is Azhvar Thirunagari]; "thiruvAymozhip piLLaiyinudaiya dhivyakatAkshaththiRku vishayamAmpadiazhagiya maNavALap perumAl nAyanArum *thiruvananthAzvAn saganthannaithiruththa maruviya kurugUr vaLanagar vandhu - engiRapadiyE svamAthula gruhamAna sikkil kidAraththilirundhu thamakku janmabUmiyAna thirunagari ERa ezhundharuLi" - this shows that Swami grew up in Sikkil Kidaram, his maternal uncle's place, but was born in Azhvar Thirunagari), in the southern districts of tamizhnAdu. The year was 4471 years after the birth of kaliyuga, aippasi month, mUla nakshattiram. In the roman calendar, this corresponds to 1370 AD. This child was named azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr by his parents. At the appropriate times as dictated by the sAstrAs, upanayanam and other rites were performed by this child, and he learnt vEdAs and the divya prabhanda, and other sAstrAs at the prescribed age. His marriage also took place, and his father himself taught him the rahasya granthAs and the meanings of the nAlAyira divya prabhanda. At this time, his father attained paramapadam, and svAmi performed the appropriate rites.

At this time, in AzhvAr thirunagari, srI. thiruvAymozhip piLLai was looking for the next teacher for the rAmAnuja sampradAya. srI. AM nAyanAr also wanted to learn more about the sampradAyam, and he took srI . thiruvAymozhip piLLai as his achAryan and learnt the intricacies of thiruvAymozhi and other sAstrAs from him. srI. TMP commanded srI AMNAyanAr to do service to rAmAnujA. srI. AM nAyanAr built a temple for rAmanuja, created a surrounding commuynity called rAmAnuja chaturvEdi mangalam around the temple, and spent his time doing service to the great AchArya. It was during this time that srI AMNAyanar composed the beautiful, simple to understand even by less learned folks, yatirAja vimsati. So pleased was srI. TM PiLLai on seeing yatirAja vimsati, and the devotion of his sishya to rAmAnuja that he presented his sishya with his own vigraha of rAmAnuja. It is appropriate to write about this specific vigraha, and its speciality.

It is the belief of our elders that when svAmi madhurakaviAzhvAr yearned to install a arca thirumEni of svAmi nammAzhvAr and prayed to him, nammAzhvAr commanded him to boil the water or the river tAmraparaNi. When madhurakaviAzhvAr followed the command, and boiled the water, first he obtained a vigraha that is the current rAmAnuja vigraha. On seeing the vigraha, madhurakaviAzhvAr mentioned to nammAzhvAr that he wanted his (i.e. AzhvAr's) vigraha, and that he had obtained a different vigraha. AzhvAr conveyed to him that this icon was that of the universal teacher that was going to take birth (bhavisyathAchAryar) as per the message in the thiruvAymozhi pAsuram "poliga poliga", and that madhurakaviAzhvAr needed to boil the water once again to obtain the nammAzhvAr vigraham. madhurakaviAzhvAr did so, and he obtained the nammAzhvAr vigraham, which we have to this day in AzhvAr thirunagari. The above rAmAnuja vigraham was buried under the tamarind tree in AzhvAr thirunagari when the nammAzhvAr vigraham was taken to a safe place during the islamic invasion. srI. thiruvAymozhip piLLai dug out the vigraha on his return to azhvAr thirunagari along with the nammAzhvAr vigraham that he helped to regain from kEraLa.

A son was born to svAmi AM NAyanar, and he named the son as "em aiyan irAmAnusan". For the next few years, svAmi AM nAyanAr spent his time performing kainkarya to srI. TM piLLai, and performing upadEsa to the sishya varga. srI. TM piLLai's last days on this earth arrived - srI. TM piLLai had a great concern, and that concern was apparent in his face. srI. AM nAyanAr enquired about the concern, to which srI. TM piLLai replied - 'It is the kaliyuga now, and I am very concerned about who has the deepest interest and appreciation of the works of our azhvArs, and who will spread the beautiful message of the AzhvArs for the benefit of all the people". srI.AM nAyanAr replied - "adiyEn will do the same" to which srI. TM piLLai countered "just words alone will not suffice" to which srI. AMnAyanAr replied "adiyEn promises to do so". srI. TM piLLai then commanded srI. AM nAyanAr as follows - "learn and propaget the srIbhAsya once, and spend most of your time in propagating and preaching the aruLicheyal of the AzhvArs that is so dear to srI. rAmAnuja and myself. Just as our teachers did, stay at srIrangam and perform kainkaryam to the Lord there", and he left this world thinking about his AchArya svAmi piLLai lOkAchArya.

srI AM nAyanAr, true to the command of his AchArya performed upanyAsams of the aruLichcheyal and the rahasyas. At this time, srI. azhagiya varadar became svAmis sishya, and undertook sanyAsAshrama. The sanyAsa name was given as "rAmAnuja jIyar". Thus began the most illustrious jIyar maTam in the srIvaishNava sampradAya, the vAnamAmalai maTam, that continues the great unbroken lineage of our AchAryAs to this day.

srI. AM nAyanAr took the permission of svAmi nammAzhvAr, and along with his sishyAs, left for srIrangam. On the way, he spent some time at srIvillipuththUr and thirumAlirunchOlai, and finally reached srIrangam.

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