based on the vyakhyanam of Sri Periyavaccan Pillai
by Smt Sumithra Varadarajan

As we already saw that Sri Thondaradipodi Alwar wrote his Thirumaalai prabhandam based on the Vishnu Dharma Sastram let us now see some features of Vishnu Dharmam and Thirumaalai. Vishnu Dharmam appears to be a dialogue between Sathaneekar, a king and Sownakar, a rishi. The king questions the rishi "Which is the easiest method for people in kaliyuga(Acharaheena, VairAkhyaheena jeevatmas) to attain Bhagavan?" The answer given by Sownakar to this question is Vishnu Dharma Sastram. In contrast, in Thirumaalai, Alwar is the Vaktha(person who lectures) and Periya perumal Stota(one who hears). Here one doubt will arise. Sathaneekar was a raja and he wanted to clarify his doubt and learn more from the rishi. But Periya Perumal has no doubt and he has all the knowledge why should he listen to alwar? Our great PVP clears our doubt in the avatArikai to Thirumaalai. Emperuman listens to Alwar not because he doesn't know the nAma magimai but because he wants to hear it from Alwar. Like a mother after teaching her kid a short story enjoys listening it back from the kid emperuman also enjoys the paasurams of the Alwar. There is one saying in Sanskrit "Kim Vrishtam -Sutha vachanam"(which is the thing which is very sweet to hear? It is the child's innocent talk). When we ask more than that which is sweet to hear again it is child's innocent talk 'Punarapi tateka sruthavachanam'. Even Thiruvalluvar says "kuzhal enidhu Yazh enidhu enbar than makkal mazhalaisol kelAdhavar". So the Mazhalai elam sol of a kid is an atmost sweetest thing to hear. Here alwar is the kid of emperuman and emperuman enjoys hearing alwar's Mazhalaisol(child talk-Thirumaalai paasurams).

So the speciality of Thirumaalai is that it was not listened by an innocent king but it was listened by Periya Perumal himself. In our Sampradhayam even very learned elders sit and listen to younger peoples upanyasams since they consider that Bhagavat vishayam has its value whether it is told by a kid or a young man or an elderly person. Even emperuman cherishes listening to his bhakthas words. There is one story in our guru paramparai. Once Sri Nampillai was delivering kalashepam in the mandapam near Sri Ranganatha sannadhi. A person by name Thiruvilakku picchan was standing in front of the sannadhi with a lamp in his hand. Periya Perumal was so impressed by hearing Nampillai's bhagavat guna kalashepam that he left his archA samAdhi and came to see the kalashepa ghosti of Nampillai. Suddenly Thiruvilakku picchan saw somebody near him and realizing that it was Periya Perumal he ordered perumal that he should not do this and he has to go back to his archA SamAdhi. Such was the attraction of bhagavan to listen to his adiyars lectures.

The next speciality of this prabhandham is it explains the paratvam of Sriman Narayanan without any doubt arising in any of our minds. For instance even in Thiruvaimozhi we find places like "sivanAi ayanai…", "muniye mukkanappa" were one tends to think that alwar is talking about Thrimoorthi samyam(equality of the trios). In these places only the vyakhyAnams clearly explain that it refers to the paratvam of Bhagavan alone. But in Thirumaalai alwar doesn't give room to any such doubts. He clearly says "MattrumOr deivam vundO"(Is there any other deivam other than lord Krishna?) and "Elangayai settra dEvane dEvanAvAn"( the deva who won langa is the only deva, here he refers to rAmaavatAra). So without any doubt alwar confirms that the only god is Narayana who took avatarams as rAmA and Krishna.

After seeing the specialty of the prabhandam let us now see the specialty of Thondaradi podi alwar. Maharishis had divya jnanam but we consider alwars higher than the maharishis since they were "Mayarvaru Madinalam Arulapettravargal" that is they were bestowed on with good Jnana and bhakthi by the lord himself unlike the rishis who got it due to their tapas. The mudalalwars and Thirumazhisai alwar were involved in the antaryami, Nammazhwar was immersed in the paratvam of bhagavan, Kulesekara alwar and periyazhwar enjoyed singing the praise of Rama Krishna avataaras and Thirumangai alwar was impressed by the charm of the archavataaras. So the hierarchy goes as follows. The alwars are considered more special than the Maharishis. Among the alwars, Nammazhvar is more special than the mudal alwars and Alwars involved in vibhava moorthi more special than Nammazhvar and Thirumangai alwar more special than all the above. Now Sri PVP says Thondaradipodi alwar is regarded more special than even Thirumangai alwar. How is that?

"Periya Perumalai alladu veru ariyadu erruppaar Oruvar Aiththu evar" (He was one person who knew no other emperuman other than Periya Perumal). Thirumangai alwar went from sedhu to Himalayas and did mangalaasasanam to the maximum number of divyadesams more than any other alwar but Thondaradipodialwar has a credit that he never sang anyother emperuman other than Sriranganathan. All other alwars sang Thirupathi venkatesa perumal but even today Srirangam holds the first place only because of this alwar singing only about Ranganathan. He refused to sing even about the great thirupathi Srinivasan. Even Thirupanalwar who sang only 10 paasurams that too as paadadi kesantha varnanai of Periya Perumal in the very first paasuram says "virayAr pozhil venkadavan" but Thondaradi podi alwar in his 55 paasurams of thirumaalai and Thirupalliyezhuchi has never given room for any other divya desa perumal other than Sri Ranganathan. Even when he talks about the vibhavaavatArams he attributes them only to Arangathamman. This alwar alone lived like this with parama Ikantyam towards ranganathan. He has not gone to anyother temple, he hasn't taken a dip in any other pushkarini and he has never taken the prasaadam of any other perumal other than arangan.

From his vyakhyanam we find that PVP is very attached to this alwar. We find that Thondaradi podi alwar's avadhAra stalam(Thirumandangudi) and PVP's avadhara Stalam(Senganoor) are very close by. Probably PVP considered thondaradipodigal as an alwar of his place and hence was attached to him and to add to this both were poorvashika brahmanas. Even though their birthplaces were different both of them came and settled in Srirangam and spent their whole time under the feet of Periya Perumal.

With this let us complete the introduction to Thirumaalai and from the next postings we will dive deep into the divine arthas of the alwar's paasurams.