THIRUMAZHISAI AZHWAR
|
Place |
Other Names |
Month | Star | Sign |
| Thirumazhisai (Near Kanchi) |
Bhakthi-saarar, Bhaargavar, Magisaaraapuriswarar, Mazhisaipiran | Thai | Magam (Magha) |
Sudarshanan (Discus) |
"Thirumazhisai AzhwAr" (born at Thirumazhisai, to Bhargava rishi and his pathni kanakangi after an unusual of 12 months stay in the womb). Seeing the foetus that came out as just a lifeless lump of flesh with no arms, legs, etc., they were terribly depressed and with unwillingness left it at the "moongil" (bamboo) bush and proceeded on their spiritual journey. Our Lord Sriya: patih appeared with His consort and blessed the "flesh" with Their katAksham and it turned into an alive, Divya tEjas, cute little bundle of joy; a fully developed and lovely baby which was later picked up with both the arms affectionately by a tribe(Harijan) named "ThiruvALan". A really blessed couple Thiruvalan and pankaya chelvi, was very much overwhelmed by the grace of God for this Gift of swarna vigraham-like baby.
Thirumazhisai AzhwAr composed thirucchandha virttham (120) and naanmugan thiruvandhaathi (96)
This aazhvaar studied several schools of philosophy including, sankyam, samaNam, and saivam. For a while he followed saivam and was known as sivavaakkiyar. However, he became a sri vaishnava after meeting pEyaazhvaar and becoming his disciple.
Once, one of aazhvaar's pupils,
kaNikaNNar, refused to sing in praise of the local pallava king. The king banished him. Not
wanting to be separated from his favorite pupil, aazhvaar also left with
kaNikaNNar. This was too much for the Lord of Kanchi and he also left with the two. The king,
realizing his mistake, apologized to kaNikaNNar and brought all the three back to
kaanchi.
One day as the aazhvaar entered a house in a village called perumpuliyoor, a group of
brahmins chanting the vEdhaas, abruptly stopped. Since the aazhvaar belonged to a
shudra caste the brahmins did not want him to hear their chants. Understanding their
dilemma, aazhvaar moved away from there. But the brahmins lost the place where they
stopped and could not resume. Noticing their difficulty the aazhvaar gave a hint and the
brahmins could then resume the chanting. Afterwards, realizing their narrow mindedness, the brahmins sought the
forgiveness of the aazhvaar.
On reaching Tirukkudantai ( Kumbakonam), he let the birchbark leaf containing his writings in the waters of river Kaveri. The leaf floated back to him holding his works viz.,'Tiruchanda Viruttam' ( a poem of beautiful verses) in which he sang the following beautiful verse:
NinRadhu Enthai Ooragathu Irundathu Enthai Paadagathu
AnRu Vekkanaik Kidandhathu EnnilAtha MunnelAm
AnRu NAn PiRandilEn PiRandhapin MaRandilEn
NinRadhum Irundhadhum Kidandhathum En NenjuLe
" Before I was born, He was standing in Ooragam, was sitting in Paadagam and was lying down in Tiruvekka. At that time I was not born with wisdom; When once I was born with this wisdom, I never forgot. Therefore, the Lord left all those places and has taken permanent abode in my heart". The idea is that the great Gnanis never considered themselves as born at all until they realized this ' Artha gnAnam'. And, once they realized this, they had no other avocation than being immersed in the thought of the Lord.This is how Mumukshup padi explains this sentiment.
The other work of the AzhwAr is 'Naanmugan Tiruvantadhi'- an Antadhi commencing with the words 'Naanmugan' - a reference to the four faced Brahma.
The AzhwAr was so straightforwarded, outspoken, fearless and established the oneness and supremacy of Sriman Narayanan and sri vaishnavam. He became an exemplary Sri vaishnava AcharyA and it is told that he spent about 700 years meditating on
Tiruvallikkeni perumAL Sri Venkata krishnan.
|Poigai-Azhwar||Bhoodath-Azhwar||Pey Azhwar||Thirumahishai-Azhwar| |NammAzhwar||Madhurakavi-Azhwar||Kulasekhara-Azhwar||Periya-Azhwar|
|Andal||Thondaradippodi-Azhwar||Thiruppan Azhwar||Thirumangai Azhwar|