Sri Varadha Rajar Nachiyar thirukolam 2022

Sri Devathi Rajar Brahmothsavam is grandly being conducted at Perumal Kovil (Thirukachi aka Kanchipuram).  Today (17/5/2022) is    day 5 of the uthsavam – Nachiyar thirukolam.  

Special thanks to those of you who read and appreciated my yesterday’s post on Sri Varadharajar uthsavam laced with History excerpted  from the book “Pallavas “ by G Jouveau – Dubreuil, Doctor of Univ of Paris,  - and that encourages me to put some more history of Pallavas and their capital Kanchipuram in this post. !!

The recorded  history begins with three copper plate grants, all in Prakrit, all dating from the time of Skandavarman, and all belonging possibly to the latter part of the third century. The earliest of his grant was issued when Skandavarman was the Yuvaraja; the others after he had become king. The title Yuvaraja suggests that he was not the first Pallava ruler. But it is not known who his predecessors were, although among them there was probably one Simhavarman, a king mentioned in a Prakrit stone inscription recently discovered in the Guntur district. Bkandavamian belonged to the Bharadvaja gotra, performed agnistoma, vajapeya and asvamedha sacrifices and bore the title ‘ Supreme King of Kings devoted to dharma. His capital was Kanchi and his kingdom extended up to the Krishna in the north and the Arabian Sea in the west.  A tradition of the ninth century affirms that Virakurcba; a renowned early Pallava King, seized the insignia of royalty together with the daugtber of the Kaga King.   Skanda varman’s successor was his  son Buddhavarman.  The Allahabad pillar inscription of about the middle of the fourth century, records Samudragupta's invasion of the south, mentions Vishnugopa, as the ruler of Kanchi.  

Nandivarman II (731-793) who is known as Pallavamalla had  long reign bristling with wars and invasions. Early in his resign, the Pandyan king, Maravarman, Bajasimha.I, espoused the pause of Chitramaya and inflicted a number of defeats upon him and besieged him.   He was succeeded by his son Dantivarman (795— 845}. He seems to have married a Eadamba princess and made many gifts of lands to the temples, including the Parthasarathi temple at Triplicane.  

The Pallava army consisted of elephants, horses and infantry. Elephants in it occupied a chief place as is evident from the sculptures. It had its war trumpets (katumukhavaditra) and its' war drum (samudra ghosha), and  was well organised. This is testified by its various victories on the battle-field. The Pallava navy too seems to have been well organized  as is clear from Narasimhavarman’s naval expeditions to Ceylon and Rajasimha’s overseas connection with China and Siam. Its principal base was Mababalipuram and its secondary base Nagapattinam.

Pallavas patronized arts and culture.  The Pallava age was also the age in which classical dancing as expounded by Bharatha in its  Natya Sastra was practised and admired. That this is so, is clear from the dancing poses exhibited in the numerous sculptures found in the Sittannavasal cave temple, the Siva temple at Tiruvottiyur, the Vaikuntaperumal temple and the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchi. It is equally clear from the descriptions of the dances in the Mattavilasa.  There are recorded evidences of Pallava kings having made provision for dancing by endowing lands to a temple, and that temple is the Muktesvara temple at Kanchi.   They patronized painting too.  Fragments of paintings have been discovered in their cave temples and structural monuments at Mahabalipuram, Mamandur, Amaramalai, Sittannavasal, Kanchi and Malayadipatti.  Some of the Bubjects painted were Varaha Avatar,  Durga, Dwarapalas, Apsaras, animals, lotuses, creepers, and floral and metrical designs. The colours used were vegetable colours.

[Excerpted from Madras Dist Gazetteers – South Arcot by Dr BS Baliga, printed by the Controller of Stationery and Printing in 1962]

Among classical writers, the first direct notice of South India occurs in Megasthenes who gives a quaint account of the Pandyan kingdom – which was organized into 365 villages.  Trade between South India and Egypt was carried on in the Hellenistic period and continued more actively under the roman epire.  Strabo records the increase in the knowledge of India among the Romans of his day and the success of the expedition under Gallus sent by Augustus to secure for the empire the command of Aden and Red sea route to India.

Sea trade between China and South India as early as the 2nd century BC is attensted to by the record of a Chinese embassy to Kanchi (Houang-tche) and the discovery of a Chinese coin of about the same date from Chandravalli in Mysore.  Chinese annals record receipt of Vaidurya (the semi-precious cat’s eye), sandalwood and pearls which are specifically South Indian products.  Fa-hien did not visit the mainland of South India; e took ship from Tamluk to Ceylon and his account of Deccan and the pigeon monastery is just edifying gossip. 

[A History of South India by KA Nilakanta Sastri]. 

At Kanchipuram, the grand Brahmothsavam of Sri Devathi Rajar is on and today [17^th May 2022] is the fifth day of the Uthsvam.   

                   இன்று வரதராஜர் உத்சவத்தில் ஐந்தாம் நாள் ~ நாச்சியார்  திருக்கோலம். சர்வலக்ஷணங்களும் பொருந்திய எம்பெருமான் தாயராக நாச்சியார் திருக்கோலத்தில் மேலும் வாத்சல்யமும் சேர்ந்து மிக்க அழகாக பக்தர்களுக்கு அருள்  பாலித்தார். 

திருவல்லிக்கேணியில் எல்லா பெரிய உத்சவங்களிலும் ஐந்தாம் நாள் ஸ்வாமி நம்மாழ்வார் அருளிச்செய்த 'திருவிருத்தம்' சேவிக்கப்பெறுகிறது. ருக்வேத சாரமான திருவிருத்தம்  100 பாடல்கள் கொண்ட  அந்தாதி; கட்டளைக்கலித்துறைப் பாடல்களால் ஆனது. நம்மாழ்வார் 'பராங்குச நாயகியாய்' தம்மை பாவித்து பாடிய பாடல்கள் இதில் உள்ளன. முதல் பாட்டில் "பொய் நின்ற ஞானமும் பொல்லா ஒழுக்கும் அழுக்கு உடம்பும்"  மனித குலத்து குறைகளை கூறி அயர்வறுமமரர்களதிபதியான  எம்பெருமானை தான் செய்யும் விண்ணப்பத்தைச் செவிதாழ்த்துக் கேட்டருளுமாறு விண்ணப்பிக்கிறார்.

எம்பெருமானுடைய உத்தம புருஷத் தன்மையை அநுஸந்திக்கையாலே அப்பொழுதே அவனைக் கிட்ட வேண்டும்படியான ஆசை கிளர்ந்து, ஆழ்வார் ஆற்றாமை அதிகரித்துத் தாமான தன்மையழந்து பிராட்டி நிலைமையடைந்து ‘பராங்குச நாயகி’யானார்.  திருவல்லிக்கேணி உறை ஸ்ரீ வரதராஜர் கம்பீரம் மிக்கவர். அவரது அழகு சௌந்தர்யம் வார்த்தைகளால் விவரிக்கமுடியாதது. பெருமாள் தனது கல்யாண குணங்களை எல்லாம் நமக்கு அருளி, மிக அழகாக குத்துக்காலிட்டு அமர்ந்து அபயஹஸ்தத்துடன் காட்சி தரும் எழில் மிகு திருக்கோலமே  நாச்சியார் திருக்கோலம்;  புறப்பாட்டின் போது எடுக்கப்பட்ட சில  படங்கள் இங்கே :

அடியேன்  ஸ்ரீனிவாச  தாசன் 

adiyen Srinivasa dhasan
Mamandur Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar
17.5.2022.