Srimathe Ranga Ramanuja Mahadesikaya Namaha:
WHY SRIVILLIPUTTUR IS KNOWN AS
‘’CHEVVAI’ (MARS) PARIHARA STHALAM ?
( by
Dasan Kudanthai Amudhan)
GARUDAN
THE SYMBOLIC POWER OF ‘’ CHEVVAI’ -
Garudan is known as ‘manglani‘’ Vijayan’’, pakshirajan, periya thiruvedi, pullarasan,
karuthman, amruta harana, veda svarupi, suparnan, vainateyan ect. Garudan was
born to sage kashyapa prajapathi and his wife Vinatha.Serpents are his step
brothers born to kadhru, another wife of sage kashyapa and sister of vinatha.
He was born in the star of swathi during the month of Aavani on sukla panchami
day called as Garuda jayanthi. Garuda panchami is another important day also
known as Naga panchami falling on the 5th day of Sukla panchami in Aadi month
dedicated to garuda.This day is equally important like garuda jayanthi, the
avatar day. Garuda said to be the embodiment of vedas is the vahana and kodi
(banner) of lord vishnu.He adorns the serpents,his brothers as ornaments on his
body even though he is the bitter enemy of serpents. Garuda being the veda
svarupi, got the equal status with emperuman and bhumi devi in this
kshetram.The veda saram, the essence of vedas in the form of thiruppavai was
originated from the mouth of Sri Andal,the incarnation of sri bhumi devi.
Garudan is not only the bird -chariot but also
the charioteer to lord vishnu and his consorts. Garudan
symbolically signify ‘’chevvai’’ on many aspects – his valour, his parakrama by
conquering all devas and overcoming all the hurdles, his determination to
bring out his mother out of slavery from her own sister, his courage to bring
Amrut from the heaven by fighting with indra, his soft corner approach with his
sibling great serpent adiseshan in the presence of emperuman
ect. Garuda kodi is the symbolic of auspicious beginning of all festivals in
vaishnavite koils. He is the vahana by chariot and as charioteer for lord
Vishnu.He has a scar on his face in nose after being hit by the weapon vijra
thrown by indra when he took away the amrut.In Mahabharath
war,pandavas finally won the battle by forming their army position
in‘’Garuda viyuga’. Garudan shifted the people of Madura by overnight to
dwaraka on the instruction of Sri Krishna in his avatar.
GARUDAN CONNECTION TO MARS ,‘’Chevvai’’is
known as ‘’mangal’’ (auspicious) denoting courage,
boldness, fight, victory, determination, valour, brotherhood and their
relationship, driver for vahana, scar in the body ect. Mars rules over the bird
eagle and as god of war, fast action/quickness,determination ect..Garudan
is the national emblem for many countires but in the form of an eagle in
some countries like usa, germany ect while in south east asian countries,their
emblems are in the form of garudan itself. Thailand,indonesia and mongalia are
the few countries that have garudan as their national emblems. Garudan belongs
to the family of eagle like his brother arunan,the charioteer of sun
vahana.Eagles jadayu, sampathi, the sons of arunan all belong to the same family
visited Vaitheeswaran koil, to worship Subramanian,the amsam of chevvai and
sthalam for chevvai to saivites.Hence one can see a tank known as Jadayu kund
here. Mangolians are called as ‘mangols’ like the name of mars as ‘ mangal’,the
god of war.They were the nomadic tribes raised as warriors in ancient period
with garuda as their national bird as well as their symbol of power.
Indonesian national carrier is called as”Garuda air’.National emblem of
Indonesia is known as ‘coats of arms of indonesia’ with garudan, its national
bird as its symbol. This emblem is portrayed with garudan holding in his hand
a copper metal shield ,the symbolic of martial and mighty power of
this nation. This shield in dark red color is divided in to five sections
with the images of a golden star in the dark sky at the center of shield as its
first section, while its second section has ‘Bulls’ in red background, a
bangle or kanganam in third section,a banyan tree in fourth section,while
the fifth section has agricultural crops of cotton and rice.Mars represent red
color, bulls, banyan trees (vata maram),copper shield, bangle/kanganam worn by
us, agricultural crops from bhumi as found in this national emblem of
Indonesia. Mars signify farming as plough and bhumi are represented by him.This
shows that garudan is closely connected to mars in many respects that reflect
in other countries culture too.
GARUDAN IN SRIVILLIPUTUR-Garudan took reincarnation in the same star of swathi
as‘’Vishnuchitar” later known as” Periazhwar’,the foster father of Sri andal.
She is the divine amsam of bhumi devi, the personification of mother
earth whose son is mars.‘chevvai’ is known as ‘’kujan’ or ‘bhuman’ or
‘bhumiputra’. Ku means earth and ajan means son.The legend believe since
garudan is said to have brought Sri Ranganathar from Srirangam in time to
give his hand to Sri andal on the symbolic occasion of their thirukalyanam at
srivilliputtur, garudan as a charioteer was accorded by the lord the equal
status with him and his consort sri andal piratti by offering him the same
pedestal at moolavar sannidhi. Therefore garudan stands left to Sri Rangamanar
and sir andal together, the unique sight that can be seen
only in this temple.At Srirangam, garudan as a vahana was made to wait outside
to be ready for flying out the lord anytime.But in the case of Srivilliputtur,
as a charioteer, garudan is given an equal position by sri Ranganathar( he is
called in srivilliputtur as sri rangamannar).Sukran denotes luxury, the
comfort of travelling by air.so sukran signify civil aviation, pushpak vimana
(in purana) as a vahana while ‘chevvai’ denotes the pilots, flight
lieutenants who do the job of piloting the airplanes since this job requires
the courage, fast action and brainy work, the kargathvams of which are
ruled by mars.Chevvai denotes the Sama veda whereas garudan being the
vedasvarupi, the sama veda itself is his atmasvarupam.Lord Krishna said in
bhagvat gita “Among the Vedas, I am the sama veda”. Chevvai represents
sama veda. So is garuda who is the embodiment of all Vedas.There is a raga
called as ‘Garudadhwani’ in our classical music which has its roots in Sama
veda.The sign of Scorpio owned by Mars is said to be the oldest sign found in
astrological zodiac and in ancient Egyptian astrology. This sign is symbolized
by eagle, serpent and scorpion. Only Greeks changed this from its original sign
of serpents to the symbol of scorpion in a latter development but by including
the original symbols serpent and eagle with scorpion for this
sign.In fact this is the only sign out of 12 signs of zodiac to represent
three symbols. Serpents represent fertility, progeny and symbolic of
femininity. Eagle represents determination, will power, valour and power
of strength while scorpion denotes poison, pain and sufferings. Similarly
chevvais other sign Aries–mesha represent Ram or goat which is the symbolic of
sacrifice by offering its flesh and blood. Also the sign Aries owned by mars
being the first sign of zodiac denotes the beginning of life and birth.But the
sign of scorpion owned by mars being the 8th sign of zodiac represents the end of
life as 8th house
denotes the death. Eagle kills the serpents and scorpions in the fight as he
is the bitter enemy of both.On account of the above facts it is
significant to note that chevvai represent both serpent adiseshan and eagle
garudan. Therefore as given
above, garudan is closely connected to ‘chevvai’. In this kshetram, Garudan has
been accorded equal status with Sri rangamannar and Piratti as this being
the avatara sthalam of Sri Andal, the amsam of Bhumi piratti, the divine mother
of ‘Chevvai’/ kujan.
SRIVILLIPUTTUR AND CONNOTATION WITH CHEVVAI-
Srivilliputtur kshetram is associated with vata vriksham known as
banyan tree which is closely connected to the worship of serpents
for progeny mostly by women since banyan tree is indicated for this.
Chevvai is called as kumara’(pillai) which name
is also used to be named for kartikeya,(murugan) the son of agni. Chevvai is also called as
“சேய்” which points to a child as “Bala”. Generally the child is
affectionately called in tamil as ‘’pillai’.This affectionate tamil suffix word that points to
a child is also referred to squirrels, parrots and mongooses as‘ ’anil
pillai, ‘kili pillai’,‘’keeri pillai’ and even for coconut sapling as‘’thennam
pillai’. This is unique only in Dravidian culture which had its roots only in
south india as chevvai direction is south. Hence culture of worshipping murugan
had been in existence for very long time only in tamil nadu since the ancient
period of Harappa. Tirunelveli and jaffna tamils normally used to name their
children as ‘velu pillai’ or ‘muruka pillai’,’Bala kumaran”, “Bala subramaniam”
ect suffixing the word only after names of god murukan whom they
consider is the embodiment of young and war god as an amsam of chevvai. Hence
these people are agitative in mentality with emotional outburst of fighting
spirit. Srivilliputtur is directly connected to all above in many aspects. Grizzled giant squirrels wildlife
sanctuary is in shenbaga thoopu,just 8 kms closer to this kshetram
located at the foothills of western Ghats.This sanctuary head
office is based in srivilliputtur itself. Here small palm squirrels, flying
squirrels and giant grizzled squirrels are under the protective
zone in this natural sanctuary.
Palm squirrels known as “anil”pillai can be tamed as pets since they are smart and active always. When vanara
sena was building a bridge to cross the ocean to lanka, squirrels helped in the
construction of bridge by its own little way.The three white strips on
its back are believed to be the impression of three fingers marks of lord rama
when he affectionately caressed the squirrels. There is a reference about
squirrels in azhwar pasuram.Squirrels also affectionately called as “anil
pillai” are friendly to farmers as they dig holes in ground and buries the nuts
to store for its food during rainy season.There are Many coconut
plantations in and around srivilliputtur where cultivations are done by
planting its saplings called as ‘thennam pillai’ the name derived due to its
ability to yield fruits continuously after 12 years of its planting
of saplings. Coconut find usage as main archana item for poojas.Hence squirrels
were associated with Lord Rama in Ramayana.
Mongoose known as ‘keeri’pillai or ‘nagulam’ in sanskrit is associated with kubera,the god of wealth and
custodian of north.kubera is holding a conch in his right hand and a jewels
spitting mongoose in his left hand. It is believed that this mongoose spits
navaratnas everytime it opens its mouth.Lord Srinivasar borrowed money for his
wedding with sri padmavathi thayar from kubera. Mongoose like garuda fights
with venomous serpents to kill it. Mongoose are trained as pet animal to make a
mock fight with cobra by snake charmers in their roadside shows. Mongoose
is called as “kiri pillai” affectionately for protecting children from
snake bites. It is a good companion to garuda in this
kshetram. one can see mongoose and palm civets in large numbers due
to the inhabitation of snakes in the continuous stretches of forest range
of western Ghats.
Parrots known as “killi”pillai are the intelligence birds with sharp observation and good
memory. They communicate few words in any language by learning quickly. Parrots
are the vahana for manmathan and rathi whose images in monolith pillars are in
the mantapam of andal sannadi. Sri Suka muni who is portrayed and
pictured with a parrot head delivered the great srimad bhagvatham to king
parikshith in seven days. Sriranga vimanam was perished underneath the earth in
kaveri river bed very long time ago. It was a parrot in the forest which kept
on repeating a sloka to hint above message to king dharma varma of chozha
dynasty when he was on his hunting mission to this forest. This prompted
the king to understand its meanings and retrieve the sriranga vimanam from the
earth and had the temple built up at present place.Hence a big wall enclosure
and a mandapam was named after him as dharma varma prakara and ‘killi mandapam”
for “killi pillai “ the little parrot which gave the clue to the king for
locating the sriranga vimahna.
Sri andal in her nachiyar thirumozhi dedicated a pasuram depicting with a
promise to offer her personal emissary cuckoo the pet bird ,a good companion of
small parrot if the bird succeeds in conveying her love to
the lord. As a reminder of this pasuram,even today at srivilliputtur,her idol
is decorated every day with a pet parrot made up of leaves. Sri andal pasuram
in thiruppavai calls a gopika as ‘’எல்லே இளங்கிளியே ! .
Periazhwar was the first azhwar who adopted the literary genre in tamil
known as “pillai tamizh” in which the devotee looks
upon the almighty as a child. Periazhwar had shown his motherly concern for the lord and rendered
pallandu for long life to him like he blessed his child. Periazhwar
visualised and enjoyed the thoughts of sri krishnas early childhood
and rendered many pasurams in his thirumozhi.This lucid verses in
his hymns are called as “pillai
tamizh”. Sri
periyazhwar found the girl child in his garden under a tulasi plant and carried
home to give his wife as they were childless till then.They named her as
“kothai” and showered their affection on this child which is indicated in a
tamil pasuram as “பெரியாழ்வார் பெற்றெடுத்த பெண் பிள்ளை வாழியே”.
Chevvai is called as “சேய்’or bala (child).The suffix “pillai”in tamil denoting the child is
added for a variety of words to indicate the “youngness of the species”
not resticted only to the child. Hence it is used as ‘killi
pillai,anil pillai,kiri pillai,Thennam pillai, pillai tamizh and pen pillai
which are all invariably connected to srivilliputtur one way or other.A Parrot
in sri andals left hand, squirrels sanctuary in srivillputtur and
mongosse in this forest reflect the above connections.The era of
pioneering pillai thamiz in pasurams was first started by periazhwar.The
gift of mother earth as pen pillai (girl child) to him is due to the
divine grace of lord for his devotion and dedication to
vatapatrasayee.Lord bala Krishna as a child (pillai) was resting before the
pralayam on a banyan leaf as ‘vatapatrasayee’.
The suffix pillai is added in tamil not only to indicate the youngness but
also attested as an appellation for affectionate child. Sri ramanujar went to
mughal sultan king palace in Delhi to recover the utchava idol of Ramapriyan
and found out the same in the possession of Sultan daughter who refused to part
with the idol. Then Sri ramanujar called him as ‘’Varraai Enthan Selva pillai”
which prompted the divine idol jump in to the hands of Sri ramanujar with
joy.This is the idol known as sampath kumaran in the sannidhi of
thirunarayanapuram where diamond crown is adorned for the lord yearly once.
Similarly when Sri ramanujar was discoursing to his sishyas, he asked if any
one can go to tirumala to render puspha kainkaryam to thiruvenkatamudiyan.None
dared to express willingness to go over to tirumala during those days due to
the fear of its coldness, inhabitation of wild animals and inaccessible thick
forest area of hills.Only anathazhwan stood up to show his readiness to render
pushpa kainkaryam to the lord. Sri ramanujar affectionately called him as ‘Nee
Aan pillai’.Aanathazhvan was born in bharthwaja gothram in chittrai star in
chittra month in 975 sakha era of vijaya year, later known as Sri
anathazhvan pillai considered to be the amsam of ananthan,the great
serpent.He was the achariyan for Thiruvenkatamudiyan himself who later
composed thaniyans for this achariyan.chevvai influence on anathazhvan
pillai can be seen with his birth star of chevvai (chittrai),month as
chittrai(mesha) and his gothram(bharthwaj) and his amsam of serpent and
dedication to serve the lord without any fear in the forest hills of
tirumala before 1000 years.Many achariyans who were gifted with spiritual
knowledge were due to the influence of Chevvai and most of them carry a suffix
of pillai along with their name.To name some of them were Periyacchan pillai, Nam
pillai, Pillai lokacharyar,Vadakku thiruveethi pillai, Thiruvaimozhi pillai,
Thirukurugai piran pillai,Pillai uranga vili dasar and pillai perumal iyyengar
ect. Kumara varadacharyar,son of Sri vedantha desikan rendered tamil work known
as “Pillai anthathi” a beautiful 20 verses in praise of swami desikan by
bringing out the divine qualities of his father achariyan. Chevvai is known for
giving spiritual knowledge enlightment and make one as achariyar ,saints and
sages.The red cloth of mars worn by achariyars is only due to the
influence of this red planet.
Similarly the saivites name their children as ‘velu pillai’ or
‘muruga Pillai’ after their affectionate god murugan who is the amsam of
chevvai. Murugan is also called as “Bala Kumaran”,balamurugan
and“Balasubramaniyan “.The presiding deity of lord subramaniyan in
vaitheeswaran koil,the kshetram for chevvai for saivites is known as
“selva muthu kumaraswami’ in whose name the poetic text works“ Muthu
kumaraswamy pillai thamizh” was written by a saivite scholar
kumaragurubaraswami.This koil was believed to have been visited by jatayu and
sambathi, the birds of eagle brothers in whose name there is a tank known as
“jatayu kund” exists near the temple. Eagle birds are denoted by both sun and
mars. The eagle symbol is used in most of the national flags of developed
countries.
சகோதரகாரகன்
செவ்வாய் (brotherhood) and Srivilliputtur
koil-
Chevvai represents siblings as he is the karagha for the 3rd sign in horoscope chart which
denotes brothers,sisters and courage ect. Chevvai is called as “குருதி, as it indicates the blood and
blood relationship mainly that of siblings like brothers and
sisters.Srivilliputtur has three such connections of brotherhood as given below-
a) Villi and Kandan, were the brothers
born to queen malli of vallanadu who ruled this small kingdom.They were hunters
and used to go on hunting missions together daily to the nearby forest
shenbaga thoopu.One day in an hunting adventure,kandan lost his life as he was
killed by a tiger. This resulted in Villi to realize the divinity and sanctity
of this forest by the grace of lord before he retrieved the idol of
Vatapathrasayee underneath the shrubs and anthills in this forest.The name of
this kshetram and temple owed to the sacrifices of these two brothers whose
idols are portrayed in pious posture together praying before the lord
Vatapatrasayee in moolavar sannidhi of temple.
b) Sri Ramanujar and Sri andal- The episode exhibiting the incident of brother-sister relationship between
them is very interesting here.Sri andal rendered in her nachiyar thirumozhi a
pasuram dedicated to the lord of thirumaliurmchoolai offering him
100 tadas of akaara adisal and butter each, if her desire to marry lord
ranganathar would be fulfilled. But she could not keep up her promise since she
got merged with lord ranganathar. However when sri ramanujar went to
thirumaliumchoolai, after many hundreds of years past this incident, he
fulfilled the promise of sri andal as given in her pasuram by submitting 100
vessels of akaara adisil to the lord kallazhgar.Subsequently when
Sri ramanujar went to Srivilliputtur, Sri
andal forgetting her archameni rupam,came out of sanctum in joy and cordially
invited sri ramanujar affectionately by calling him as ‘En annave!”(my
elder brother). It is
believed that sri andal came out of sanctum by 16 steps outside to artha
mandapam and stayed permanently here.Hence Sri andal stayed along with sri
rangamannar and garudan as utsava murthis in the outer artha mandapam just before
the sanctum sanctorium where all the three moolavar idols are together in the
same platform.To remind the brother-sister relationship between sri ramanujar
and sri andal,even now on panguni uttram day of sri andals marriage, her
brothers seer (presentations) are sent from koil annan thirumaligai. Hence Sri
baghwad ramanujar is called as “koil
annan” and also as
“Thiruppavai jeer” to show his brotherly relationship with sri andal piratti.To
signify this, although sri ramanujar avatar took place many thousands of years
later to the period of sri andal, his status as brother is denoted in Sri
andals thaniyan as “ பெரும்பூதூர் மாமுனிக்குப்
பின்னானாள் வாழியே”.
c) Garudan and adiseshan –Both are siblings. They were born to the sisters Vinatha and Kadhru
the twin wifes of Sage Kashya parjapathi.This sage is father to Arunan
and garudan, the eagle birds born to Vinatha, his first wife and 1000 serpents
including adiseshan,vasuki and other nagas born to his scond wife kadhru.Due to
the feud between the sisters -wifes of sage ,their offsprings became enemies to
each other.However garudan adorns serpents as his aparanas due to his brotherly
relationship. Garuda wears adisesha and kuligan as bangles on his
left and right wrists,Vasuki as his sacred thread while Dakshan as
a rope in his hip. Garudan wears ‘padhman’ and ‘maha padhman’ as Studs in
his right and left ears while ‘Karkodagan’ is worn by him as a ‘malai” in his
chest and ‘sankapalan”as a jewel in his hair.Garudan always stands just in
front of lord Vishnu as his vahana while adiseshan is very much in close
association with lord since he forms as a paduka or as a bed or as a pedestal
or as a simhasana or as an umbrella to lord Vishnu.In this kshetram adiseshan
became a banyan leaf to bala Krishna during the time of pralayam.poigaiazhvar mentioned in his pasuram as
‘சென்றால் குடையாம், இருந்தால் சிங்காதனமாம்,
Above pasuram gives invariably an impression that if a tiny
leaf of banyan tree becomes the bed as adiseshan for bala Krishna
which gave him the name as “vatapatrasayee in this kshetram , the big pedestal
where lord rangamanar and Sri andal stand together with garudan is
none but adiseshan itself who holds them together since it is believed
that adiseshan holds earth on its 1000 heads. Sri andal being the amsam
of bhumi piratti and garudan being the elder brother of adiseshan, their
connection is understood from above since garudan has been accorded equal
status with the lord in this Kshetram.
As this kshetram is named after ‘Villi’, besides offering equal status to
garudazhwar with the lord in same pedestal in andal sannidhi and also by
glorifying Sri Ramanujar with the title of ‘koil annan”due to the episode that
happened here, this temple is connected closely with the brotherhood, the
karagha of which is denoted by chevvai.
Periazhvar, the amsam of garudazhvar -
Periazhvar known as“Vishnu chittar” was the fifth son of a devout brahmin parents Mukuntha bhattar and
padmavathi ammavaru.He was born in krothna year of tamil almanac in Aani masam
on a Sunday falling Sukla paksha Ekadesi thithi in swathi star at
Srivilliputtur.From the early age,he was engaged in pushpa
kainkaryam by plucking variety of flowers and tulasi leaves to make garlands
for daily worship to the lord.One day when king of Madurai vallbhadevan came in
disguise to srivilliputtur on his daily nocturnal rounds in the night,he came
across a Brahmin sleeping at the front porch of a house.After enquiring his
welfare,the king asked him to impart him with some worthy philosophy since this
Brahmin just returned from holy pilgrimage.This person then recited a poem
which struck the mind of king over his parting shot, wondering as to how one
could realize the ultimate reality and get moksha.He asked his minister
selvanambi to call upon all scholars and philosophers of various faiths in his
country for a contest which will enlighten him and determine the ultimate truth
for showing the path to moksha.
Accordingly the prize money of valuable jewels in a casket tied up on the
top of a long vertical pole was installed in the court of kings palace in
Madurai. For many days, scholars from all faiths tried in vain to win over the
prize money and returned unsuccessfully. One day the lord appeared in the dream
of Vishnuchittar and ordered him to attend the kings court and establish his
supremacy to claim the reward. As per the directive of perumal, vishnuchittar
went to kings palace and proceeded to talk on ‘Sriman narayanan” as the
ultimate reality. The words started flowing as a torrent as he went on quoting
the Vedas,the Upanishads and the puranas.The entire assembly of scholars
including the king and selvanambi were thrilled to the core by his conviction
in his faith and were astounded to see the casket of prize fall on its own
accord in to vishnuchittars palms.The trumpets were sounded, the conches blew.
The king conferred on him with the title ‘Bhattar piran’.That evening the king
took vishnuchitta on a ceremonial parade around the city on his elephant.Sriman
narayanan delighted to see the honors being showered on vishnuchttiar, appeared
in the sky on his garuda vahana with his consorts.Vishnuchittar was happy to
see this sight and at the same time was worried. Beholding the lords
supernatural splendor, vishnuchittar out of concern offered benediction to the
lord in verses of hymn“ pallandu” lest someone would cast an evil eye on him.
Vishnuchitta came to be called as ‘periyazhvar’ later on many reasons -
A. He renderded the
immortal Thirupallandu hymn to the lord by blessing him with verses “pallandu “
for long life to emperuman himself.
B. He got the name as
‘periyazhvar’ because he became the father-in-law for the periya perumal
Sri ranganathar.
C. Since he was born as
an amsam of ‘Peirya thiruvadi“, he got the name as ‘periyazhvar”.
D. Swami desikan view was
that Vishnuchitta came to be known as“periazhwar” because the lord liked very
much the garlands tried and worn first by andal herself. vishnuchitta was
instrumental in bringing that garlands unknowingly to adorn the lord. Hence he
got this name.
Influence of Chevvai on Vishnuchittar–chevvai denotes drive,
motivation,courage,spirit, inspiration,initiative ect. Mars also gives success
in debates, competitions, contests, conferences and arguments
besides ruling over the purse of prize money won.Vishnuchitta had never read
any Vedas or Upanishads or puranas nor having had any idea about sastras.He set
up a garden for growing flowers near the temple of vatapatrasayee and was
engaged in puspha kainkaryam.How come he was able to deliver such a scholarly
talk in the midst of assembly of various scholars in kings court to establish
the para thathvam,the ultimate reality.VishnuChitta was one among
the five sons of a pious Brahmin family who are all totally devoted to
render kainkaryam only to Sri Vatapatrasayee temple. Hence Vishnuchittar never
went out of Srivilliputtur as his family was known as “அஞ்சு குடி” implies as a member of five and also the one who is afraid to move or to
do any work other than the kainkaryam for lord vatapatrasayee .How come he
dared to step out of Srivillputtur to Madurai for participating in the contest
at kings court. It was due to the influence of Chevvai, who triggered the fire
in his mind to achieve the goal set by the supreme lord. Periyazhvar on his
return to srivilliputtur used the entire prize money won for renovating the
prakara walls,the mantapas and sannidhis for vatapatrasayee temple.Hence he was
the first trustee of this koil.The prize money won in competitions or in
contests or in debates or in any game or in fighting is due to the influence of
mars which signified the episode of Periyazhvar as given above.
Srivilliputtur Vimanam -
Srivilliputtur Vimanam -
Srivilliputtur vimanam is called as ‘’vimala krithi’ which means ‘’ pure creation ‘ as the word ‘vimala’
denotes ‘pure ‘ and ‘ krithi’ means ‘’classical form of musical composition‘ or‘the creation‘ generally used to mention the work of
art or literature invariably pointing in this context to sri andals
thiruppavai created by her in this kshetram.The vimana is also called as ‘’samsana
vimana’. There are many variants in this word like ‘’sama + asana” with the meaning of equal position
since ‘’sama’ points to equal and ‘ asana’ is referred to the “seat or
position”.Indeed to testimony,this temple is credited with the equal status
given by the lord to his vahana garudan who stands together with
emperuman and Sri andal in the same platform.
On the other hand, “samsana”
has got another variant like ,‘sama’
meaning ‘melody or sweet hymn’ as sama veda is denoted, while ‘sana’ is pointed out to ‘praise of god’ which means sweet hymn in praise
of god.This word also refers to Sri andals thiruppavai.Chevvai represent Sama
veda. Thirdly the word ‘sama +sana’ also gives the meaning of ‘equal +
radiance’ as ‘Sana’ or “sanam” also gives meaning as ‘radiance’.This points out
that thiruppavai is considered to be giving equal radiance or brillance
like Vedas as a beacon to the people in kali yuga.Therefore Sri andal mentioned
in her pasuram as ‘’வேதம்
அனைத்துக்கும் வித்தாகும்- கோதை தமிழ்.
Radiance or brilliance is denoted by chevvai who was born with
radiance of red color similar to the red color of Sun.Samsana in one word
invariably gives another meaning as ‘’To extinguish ‘or‘’to burn ‘the sins of
all jeevathmas to get rid of ocean of samsara, the birth and rebirth again.Mars
planet has many volcanoes which erupt the fires often but it has
carbon-di-oxide 95% in the atmosphere which extinguish the fire .In this
temple, Sri andal is in Eka simhasana with Sri Rangamannar in the middle and
garudan on the left as a‘’pranava roopam’.Sri Rangammanar represent‘Akaram’,Sri
andal represent “ukaram’ and garudan represent’ Makaram”. Therefore
Srivilliputtur is known as ‘Pranava kshetram’ with emperuman as ‘eswara’,Sri
andal stands for ‘chit’ and garudan signify ‘achit’.
Sarvam sri krishnarpanam
!!OM NAMO NARAYANAYA!!
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