In the beautiful kingdom of Kanchi
The essence of the
greatest epic “Mahabaratham” – is the story of ‘The Man who went as Ambassador
” (Thoothu sendravan Aerram) …. ~ and the presiding deity at this Divyadesam is
Lord Krishna Himself as “Pandava
Thoothar” – in a sitting posture, gigantic,
imposing with ornately carved dress.
Legend has it that King Janamejayan listened to the epic Mahabarat from
Sage Vaisambhayana and got enlightened by the event of Lord Krishna going as
emissary to the Rajyasabha of Gauvaras ~
the King upon doing penance and Aswamedha yaga, had Viswaroopa darshan of Lord
here.
The Presiding deity
is Pandava Thoothar in sitting posture with Rukmini and Sathyabhama
nachiyars. The temple is quite ancient
and is believed to have been built by King Rajakesari Varman. This temple is nearer the big Ekambareswarar
temple, in the vicinity of Sankara Mutt and Gangai Kondan Mandapam.
In the sannadhi,
there is (besides our Acharyar Sri Ramanuja) – Arulalap Perumal Emperumanaar
also. Known earlier as Yagna Murthi, he
was a great scholar who defeated many people with his ‘tarkha vatham’ i.e.,
Tarkham (logic). It is a great study
involving analytics and more. Those who
were defeated in the defeat had to embrace the Advaitha philosophy. Yagya Murthy was travelling far and wide,
defeating many noted scholars and the wins were getting on to his head making
him haughty. He had to be defeated and
be convinced of the greatness of Lord Sriman Narayana and Vishisthadvaita
principles.
It reportedly was a
very grand debate between Yagna Murthi and our great Acharyar Sri Ramanujar –
the battle of words raged for days together and appeared as if it would never
end. On a particular day, when Sri
Ramanujacharya could not conclusively respond on a particular point and had to
retire for the day, Swami prayed to his
"Aaradhana Perumal – Sri Perarulalar [Kachi Varadarajan aka
Devathirajar] ~ with the divine
blessings of the Lord Himself, Udayavar referred to the excerpts from
Swami Alavandar's Sidhithrayam. Yagna Murthi was defeated and he bowed
before Udayavar who was shining in resplendent splendour wearing 12 urdhva pundrams. He was to become an ardent
disciple of Ramanujar from then on.
The disciple of
Udayavar was now known as Arulala Perumal Emperumanaar – as Swami Udayavar
conjoined his name with that of Sri Per Arulalar. During the time of Sri Ramanujar a separate
mutt for AruLaLa Perumal Emberumanar was also established. It is told by our Sampradhaya vidwans that
once there were some strangers who wanted to visit Swami Ramanujar's madam.
Since they were new to the place, they asked one of the locals "Where is
Emperunaar's mutt?". Immediately, the local person replied them,
"which Emberumaanar mutt are you looking for? - Is it the one of Swami Ramanujar (Ethirajar)
or that of Swami Arulala Perumal Emperumanaar ? Swami Arulala Perumal Emperumanar who was
immersed in his bakthi, on hearing this – wept thinking of the confusion of
comparison with the Lokacharyar.
He said, in Srivaishnavic
parlance, "Swami", can refer to one and only Sri Ramanujar and closed
down the mutt then and there – such was his devotion and attachment. Num Swami Udayavar gave various kainkaryams to
his disciples – from Sri Mudali Andan to Sri Koorathazhwan and others…… Arulala Perumal Emperumanar was assigned the
task of ‘nithya thiruvaradhanam’ to Sri PerArulalan. AruLaLa Perumal Emberumanar wrote two
wonderful Tamil granthams called "Gnyana Saaram" and "Prameya
Saaram".Sri Manavala MamunigaL has written vyakhyanam for these granthams.
AruLaLa Perumal
Emperumanar's thirunakshathiram is Karthigai Bharani, which was celebrated
recently and here are some photos of the grand Uthsavam. [photos courtesy : Sri
VN Kesava Bashyam Swami].
Adiyen Srinivasadhasan.
Above - view of Vimanam and Prakaram
Divyaprabandha goshti
Sri Arulala Perumal Emperumanar
Sri Pandava Thoothar ~ Thayar and Arulala Perumal Emperumanar
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