Thiruvallikkeni Thelliya Singar - சிங்கப்பிரான் பெருமை ஆராயும் சீர்மைத்தே?

 In modern society, we see crimes, corruption and many other evils.  Evils must be eradicated and its perpetrators must be punished – not through a very long course but Justice should be immediate and sudden.  It should punish the evil-doer and create fear in others in not doing any mischief.  The  immediate consequence of any crime should be  punishment.  Punishments are  suffering, loss, pain, or any other penalty that is inflicted on a person for the crime by the concerned authority.   Besides being retributive,  a painful stimulus would act as a punisher for most and could be a powerful deterrant. 

Retribution is a recurrent theme in many a movies.  In the action drama movie starring Michael Paré, Charles Napier - Instant Justice, a.k.a. Marine Issue;  Pare plays the role of Scott Youngblood, a marine in Spain who seeks revenge for his sister's murder.  In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s all-time great novel Crime and Punishment, the hero Rodion Raskolnikov initiates a classical discourse on the sociology of crime and the rationale of society punishing the “criminal”. It was a common belief for many centuries.  when this immortal character was created, that a criminal is a cursed creature who deserves exemplary punishment, that too publicly.  Justice was often instant with very few rights available to the person facing the “judge”. In many cases, a person declared guilty was stoned, beheaded or hanged to death in full public view.

Our Ithihasa puranas are moral teachings.   Those who stood closer to Emperuman still by their misdeeds were cursed and took birth as demons in this earthly World.  Sukha muni elaborates the curse and the killing of once gate-keepers of Vaikundam.  Hiranyakasipu was enraged at the demise of his brother Hiranyaksha. To avenge the death of his brother, Hiranyakasupu performed unprecedented austerities to please Lord Brahma.  He sought benedictions aiming to conquer Brahma’s abode.  Thus self-interested persons, by demoniac austerity, want to kill even their benedictors.

Hiranyakasipu who was at the height of arrogance was doing all mistakes ad was confronted by his son  Prahlada.  In trying to punish his son for praying to Sriman Narayana, the demon  asked sarcastically if this Hari was indeed a real and live being or a figment of the boy's imagination, and where He could be found. In his clear, piping voice, the blessed boy told his father that Sri Hari was the most real and unchanging Lord amidst a world of changing objects and beings, passing from birth to death endlessly. Sriman Narayana is Omni present -  ever-present everywhere. His pervading presence was there as much in a stone pillar as the one beside which they were standing, as in a blade of grass growing in the meadow opposite. "ThooNilum iruppAn, thurumbilum iruppAn" declared Prahlada fearlessly, reiterating the Upanishadic dictum, "antar bahischa tat sarvam vyApya Narayana: stittha:" Prahlada gave a detailed account to his father, to demonstrate the Lord's omnipresence.

The precocious child, held up as a model of all goodness  told his father that the Lord was to be found on the earth, in water, in air, in the sky and in the four directions. He is ever present inside and outside all animals and others. "He is present everywhere all the time, present in you and me", concludes Prahlada.

It is great concept of :  பிரதி வஸ்து பரி பூரணத்வம்  (எங்கும் உளன் கண்ணன்) – it was a big sprawling palace of Hiranyakasipu, with its lofty roof supported by numerous artistically carved stone pillars. These pillars were put up under the personal supervision of the asurA, who wanted the best for his residence. Each of the pillars was inset with precious stones and gave off brilliant light.  At the height of arrogance, Hiranyakasipu pointed out a pillar and Lord Sriman Narayana transforming  Himself into a wonderful Man-Lion form, half-lion and half-man,  entered into all beings animate and inanimate, ready to spring out from anything that the asurA should choose for demonstrational purposes. This avatara was meant to show to posterity the lengths to which the Lord would go, to make their words come true-"Satyam vidhAtum nija bhritya bhAshitam".

The half Lion half Man was a terrifying figure, with huge eyes red with anger at the insult meted out to His young devotee, a broad mane of golden hair framing His face, dense eyebrows shaking in anger, ferocious mouth bared to reveal razor-sharp, protruding teeth capable of tearing anything, long, powerful arms ending in nails resembling deadly sceptres on all His fingers, a roar that could benumb the entire universe.   He appeared then, there – and distributed instant justice, protecting His Bakth Prahlada. 

Narasimha slaying on pallakku and Sri Narasimha on vimanam

ஸ்ரீநரசிம்ம அவதாரம் பக்தர்களுக்கு உதவின ஒரு திருவவதாரம். ஸ்வாமி நம்மாழ்வார்  ப்ரஹ்லாதாழ்வானுக்கு  கூப்பிட்ட குரலுக்கு அளந்திட்ட தூணிலே நரசிங்கமாய் வந்து தோன்றினதாய் ஆழ்வார் சாதிக்கிறார்.   நம்மாழ்வார்  தமது திருவாய்மொழியிலே குறிப்பூறும் அற்புதம் இங்கே :  

எங்கும் உளன் கண்ணன்’ என்ற  மகனைக் காய்ந்து*

இங்கு இல்லையால்  ’என்று இரணியன் தூண்புடைப்ப*

அங்கு  அப்பொழுதே அவன்வீயத் தோன்றிய  என்*

சிங்கப்பிரான்  பெருமை ஆராயும் சீர்மைத்தே?  

                                 ‘கண்ணன் எல்லா இடத்திலும் இருக்கிறான்’ என்று கூறிய  பிரஹ்லாதனைத் தந்தையாகிய இரணியன், ‘நீ கூறுகிற கண்ணன் இவ்விடத்தில் இல்லாதவனேயாவன்,’ என்று தூணை அடிக்க, அத்தூணில் அப்பொழுதே அவ்விரணியன் மாயும்படியாகத் தோன்றிய என் சிங்கப்பிரானுடைய பெருமை ஆராய்தற்குரிய தன்மையதோ?’ என்கிறார்.   

திருவல்லிக்கேணி திவ்யதேசத்தில் நரசிம்ஹர் மேற்கு நோக்கி யோகாசனத்தில் பிணி தீர்க்கும் பெருமாளாக சேவை சாதிக்கிறார்.  இப்பெருமாளுக்கு தனி த்வஜஸ்தம்பம்  ~பிரம்மோத்சவம்  உண்டு.  அவ்வளவு சிறப்பு வாய்ந்த உத்சவர்  இங்கே சாந்த ஸ்வரூபியாய் அழகே வடிவாக - ஸ்ரீ அழகிய சிங்கனாய்  ~ சேவை சாதிக்கின்றார்.

Here are photos of Ugra Narasimha (as in the Ael mel pallakku); Narasimha coming out the pillar (as in the gopuram) and Sri Thelliya Singar taken in  yesteryears.  

adiyen Srinivasa dhasan
Mamandur Veeravalli Srinivasan Sampathkumar
2.12.2023