The last of the Azhwars- Thirumangai Azhwar - made a significant contribution, visiting and singing the praise of Lord Vishnu in over 85 temples (Divya Desams). While all other Azhwars got things done by showing love and devotion to the Lord, Thirumangai Azhwar alone was different. The only Azhwar with a spear in his hand, he was aggressive, even threatening in his interactions with the Lord, who sometimes had to come down a step to please Thirumangai and to get him to sing praise - a couple of cases in point being Thiru Indhalur and Thiru Ninravur Divya Desams.
Born in Thiru Kuraiyulur, 2 km from Thiruvali-ThiruNagari near Sirkazhi, Thirumangai Mannan (king), who belonged to the Kallar Community, fell in love with the beautiful Kumudavalli of Annan Koil (another Divya Desam near Sirkazhi). To get Thirumangai Mannan initiated into Vaishnavism and devoted to Lord Vishnu, Kumudavalli laid tough ‘wedding’ conditions, one of which was to feed 1008 Vaishnavites every day. Thirumangai Mannan, in this attempt, lost a lot of his wealth. But determined to fulfil her conditions, he turned a thief and resorted to ‘stealing.’
One night, Thirumangai saw a newly married couple, decked with jewellery, coming his way. It was Lord Ranganatha of Thirunagari taking along with him Amruthavalli Thayar of Thiruvali. In that darkness, in Vedarajapuram (the village between Thiruvali and Thirunagari), Thirumangai waylaid the couple threaenig idisguised Lord Ranganatha and threatening them with his spear.
Having relieved the two of their jewellery, Thirumangai put the booty in a bag and found it too heavy to even lift it from the ground. Lord Ranganatha revealed himself and initiated the bandit king into the ‘Ashtakshara Mantra.’ The divine couple appeared in their wedding splendour.
‘Thirumangai Mannan’ thus became ‘Thirumangai Azhwar.’
Thirumangai Azhwar wanted the Margazhi Festival to be a Tamil Divya Prabhandham festival as against just the Vedic recital that existed before his time. The 10-day ‘Era Pathu’ festival called ‘Thiruvoimozhi Thirunaal’ was specially created for the Lord to listen to the beautiful Tamil composition of Nammazhwar.
At the Ranganatha temple in Srirangam, the story of ‘Vedu Pari’ is enacted every year as part of the eighth day celebrations of the Era Pathu festival. The episode took place last week. Namperumal seated atop a golden horse was brought to the sand expanse on the eastern side of the temple. The deity held in his right hand a sword, javelin and arrows while his left hand held the reins. A speciality was the performance of Kona Vaiyali (zig zag fast paced procession).
The gathering was also treated to an enactment of Vedu Pari as young members of the Kallar community armed with long sticks surrounded the deity. Thirumangai, who earlier in the evening walked in as the king (Mannan) with a bow and arrow in hand, was seen in a completely different form at the end of the Vedu Pari, dressed as Azhwar, one who had just received the initiation of the Ashtakshara Mantra.
The drama was followed by a ceremony, where the list of the Lord’s jewels was read out. This is the only day in the year when the list of jewels is read out.
Veena Ekantham
The events of this annual Vedu Pari Utsavam came to an end with Veena Ekantham, a unique and the only one of its kind veena presentation. Srirangam is the only Divya Desam where this Yaazh Isai tradition of waking up the Lord and putting him to sleep is followed.
Namperumal listened in peace for almost an hour from 1 a.m. to the sweet tunes of the four-member Sathya Kootam Veena Vidwans (Srinivasan, Ramanujam, Govindan and Gopalakrishnan) and their presentation of Thirumangai Azhwar’s pasurams.
One could almost visualise the Lord nodding in happiness when they presented ‘Vaadinen Vaadi Varunthinen Manaththal …..Narayana Ennum Naamam’- the first song of Thirumangai Azhwar after he identified the disguised Lord Ranganatha during Vedu Pari.
Thirumangai, in this first Periya Thirumozhi Pasuram, expresses his wilting mind and wavering thoughts and how he finally found that chanting the Narayana Mantra gives one the peace of mind in life. Their final song on the Vedu Pari night – ‘Eth Sariga Sathanambu Ekantha Ranga’ (Vijaya Ranga Sokka Nathar’s composition) put Namperumal to sleep after a long and tiring evening with the Lord entering his sanctum at around 2am.
Vedu Pari Highlights
8th Day of Thiruvoimozhi Thirunal celebrated as Vedu Pari
900 year old ‘Veena Ekantham’ puts Namperumal to sleep
Only occasion of Kona Vaiyali inside the temple
The story of 900-year old Veena Ekantham
Ramanuja, who returned to Srirangam after his exile, laid down very specific processes to be followed in each area of service allocating a role for people from different walks of life.
Origin
Having found reference to Yaazh Isai (Veena Recital) in several pasurams including in Thirumangai Azhwar’s Periya Thirumozhi-‘Pannin In Mozhi Yaazh Narambil Petra’, NamAzhwar’s Thiruvoimozhi praising the sweetness of Veena recital – ‘Soozh Kandaai En Thollai Vinaiyai Yaazhin Isaiye Amuthey Arivin Payaney Arierey’ and Thondaradipodi Azhwar’s Thirupalli Yezhuchi – ‘Etham Il Thannumai Ekkam Matha Thali Yaazh Kuzhal Muzhavamodu’, Ramanuja wanted the Veena Recital to be an integral part of the daily routine at the Srirangam temple and gave it the most sacred role- that of both waking up the Lord as well as putting him to sleep.
Ramanuja assigned ‘Sathya Kootam’, a clan that belonged to a village near Srirangam for the Yaazh Isai performance. Thus began the Veena recital at the Ranganatha temple in Srirangam. Over nine centuries, this has come to be included in the Limca book of records for paternal service at temples and its longevity and the now 76-year old former National College (Tiruchi) Vice- Principal, Veena G. Rangarajan features in the Limca records as the 45th descendent of this tradition.
Different Ragas of Thirupalli Yezhuchi
Every morning at around 5.15, the veena vidwans present for about 30 minutes Thondaripodi Azhwar’s 10 beautiful verses called Thirupalli Yezhuchi to wake Lord Ranganatha from his sleep. They have broken up these 10 verses of Thondaradipodi into five different ragas, one raga for every two verses- Roopalam, Bilahari, Dhanyasi, Malaya Marutham and Saveri.
Similarly in the evening for about 20 minutes beginning 10 p.m., they present Kulasekara Azhwar’s Pasurams to put the Lord to sleep. The evening presentation has been composed in 4 different Ragas starting with Neelambari, going on to Ananda Bairavi, Sahana, Revathi and ending again with Neelambari.
They present this daily Veena Recital for 262 days (there are no recitals on some special festival days) in the year. In addition to this daily service, they also present the Veena recital on another 29 festival days. They were paid Rupees3 Paise48 every month for their divine service! Shockingly, the Srirangam temple authorities have stopped even this miniscule payment beginning this year.
900-year history
During the 10 day Era Pathu festival, they present Yaazh Isai for about an hour every evening. Interestingly, while the daily morning and evening recitals are solo performances presented in a sitting posture, Veena Ekantham during the Era Pathu Thiruvoimozhi festival is presented as a group in a standing posture with the Veena tied to their shoulder. In all, they present around 250 pasurams during this Tamil Prabandham festival. In addition, they also present Kritis composed by Thyagaraja, Dikshitar, Arunachala Kaviraya, Adi Shankara, Purandaradasa and Venkatathri Swamigal in languages such as Telugu, Kannada and Sanskrit.
The tunes composed by them are elegant and simple in its presentation and in a conversational style. Perfecting this Veena recital takes at least 10 years, the first 2-3 years, in perfecting the vocal music, the next few years in learning the Veena and finally learning the art of presenting the pasurams through the Veena.
This is the only Divya Desam in India where this Yaazh Isai tradition of waking up and putting the Lord to sleep has been followed, and that for 900 years now.
