Muthu / SPS,
Indeed whatever you heard/read about Ramanuja opening the temple for
all the “Thirukkulathar” (Yes, that is what he termed them as… as
belonging to the Divine Family, to give them the morale boost for
all the sufferings they underwent) is very true and is history.
Almost all the historians who had done a research on Ramanuja’s life
history has confirmed this.
Looks very rosy. But Ramanuja had to struggle a lot against a very
dominant Brahmin society to get this done. Though in his mind, he
was always wanting to do this much earlier, he could not achieve
this until the Thirukkulathars played a major role in bringing
back “Selvapillai” to Melkote from the clutches of a Delhi Sultan
ruler. He waited till this incident and then using this help from
then as a pretext to silence/convince (yes, “silence” the perennial
trouble makers and “convince” the neutrals) the opposing Brahmins to
allow the Thirukkulathars into the temple.
The fact that Ramanuja was always thinking of this is clearly
visible from the Thirukkoshtiyur episode, where he gets the Mantra
Upadesam of Thirumanthiram (Om Namo Narayanaya) from Thirukkoshtiyur
Nambi, who in turn cautions Ramanuja that this has to be kept a
secret, and passed only to another “able” successor (the
qualification for “able” was not the caste, though) as otherwise
Ramanuja would go to hell. But Ramanuja broke the promise and
climbed up the Gopuram of Thirukkoshtiyur temple and called all the
interested people, irrespective of their caste or gender, and gave
the Thirumanthira Upadesam to all. This is glorified by Manavala
Mamunigal in his work “upadEsa ratna mAlai” where he says…
“..pArulagil Aasai udaiyOrgaLukkellAm AriyargAL kURum endRu, pEsi
varambu aRuthAr pin”.
The lines are very informative. “varambu aRuthAr” denotes that he
broke a lineage which was maintaining the secrecy for this Manthram
and for who did he do it? “pArulagil Aasai udaiyOrgaLukkellAm”!!
This infuriated Thirukkoshtiyur Nambi and he summoned Ramanuja and
asked him as to why he chose to put down the caution as he would now
definitely go to hell. For which, Ramanuja, very calmly with all
humility, said “swAmin, if I were to go to hell for this reason I am
ready for it. But all the other souls in the world who heard this
will definitely get mOksha, right?”. Thirukkoshtiyur Nambi was
immensely moved and realised the great soul in Ramanuja and embraced
him and said “em perumAnAr neer”, meaning you are my God! What an
Emperumanar. And to crown all these, it is said that Ranganatha,
being pleased immensely with the social reforms and religious
reforms of Emperumanar, termed the entire Srivaishnava sampradhayam
as “Emperumanar Darisanam”, meaning the “path”(Darisanam) shown by
Emperumanar.
This act itself invited some angst from some of the racially
inclined Brahmins (I know that this is a very strong term, but the
facts are always strange and even undigestable), but was able to
contain them with his ever growing popularity and clout. One great
example of using the popularity or clout, exclusively for
constructive purposes.
After this, with the Selvapillai episode, he finally managed to get
all the Thirukkulathars into the temple. He also included all the
castes into the Srirangam temple, and also gave certain duties to
everyone. “Thennarangar selvam muRRum thiruthi vaitthAn vAzhiyE”.
This is how Ramanuja’s glory is sung every day by the
Srivaishnavites in the temple.
I know that I wrote more about Ramanuja, than about the Nachiyar
Koil. Let me come to that now. I dont know much about this temple as
I had never visited this. But the Perumal of this temple is said to
have done the “Panchasamskaram” (Sangu Chakram Impressions)or
the “dIkshai” for Thirumangai Azhwar. One can see even today, the
Moolavar having the Sangu Chakra moulds (not the one that every
Perumal has)in his hands.
Regarding Thirumangai Azhwar date being later to that of Nammazhwar,
it seems that KAN Sastri differs in this view. He holds both to be
contemporaries, though neither makes a reference to others,
directly, in their works. I am trying to get this article, but am
not able to get it.
For the records I only until the Nammazhwar being a Bee, part as
indicated by SPS on this Divya Desam. I dont know about the other
legends. Will get back to you soon on them.
