KS

 

Some find glory through their fantastic deeds & achievements. Some become glorious by enabling others perform fantastic deeds & achievements. Madurakavi Alwar is a shining example of the latter.

Despite being senior in age, Madurakavi Alwar became the disciple of Nammalwar (also among the 12 Alwars) and he made sure that the world came to know about Nammalwar’s compositions. The verses of Madurakavi Alwar are not about the Lord. Instead, it is about his Guru – Nammalwar.

937. Even more than the name of the Lord who allowed himself to be tied to a mortar by a small rope, taking the name of my master who was born in Tirukurugur (Nammalwar) is as sweet as tasting nectar!

938. I will find happiness by chanting his name. I will seek refuge at his feet. I know of none other than him. I will sing joyfully about my master of Tirukurugur!

939. Wherever I go, I am able to worship the Lord of all celestials who is accompanied by his consort – Shree (Lakshmi). This is only through the grace of my master of Tirukurugur.

940. Those who know the Vedas well, will consider me as a speck of dust. It is only my master – Sadakopan (Nammalwar) who accepts me and treats me like his own child!

941. Before finding him, I was deceived into pursuing wealth & women. But, now, I have found refuge in the master of Tirukurugur – the place surrounded by beautiful gardens!

942. Starting now, for the next seven rebirths, I will sing praises of the master of Tirukurugur – the place surrounded by huge gardens. I know that he will forsake me not!

943. He has released me from the burden of past sins. In beautiful Tamil, I will sing loudly in eight directions, about Sadakopan (Nammalwar)!

944. Delighting those who seek the meaning of the Vedas, he has composed 1000 verses in Tamil, distilling the essence of the Vedas. Isn’t this astounding?

945. The meaning of Vedas is elusive even to scholars. Yet, he has beautifully conveyed the same and he has found place in my heart. My love for him has no limits. Service to Sadakopan is the purpose of my life!

946. Even if you don’t gain by it, you tutor those who are unworthy! My Lord! I will serve your feet to the best of my abilities.

947. Those who read these verses composed by Madurakvi, who is most devoted to the master of Tirukurugur, will find place in Vaikuntam!

 

 Sri MAdhurakavi AzhwAr?s glories. two Taniyans--one in Sanskrit and the other in Tamil--created by Swamy Naathamuni out of his gratefulness to Madhura Kavi and his powerful Prabhandham ; Swamy Naathamuni had the rarest of blessings of being initiated into the divine collect by Swamy NammAzhwAr himself as a result of reciting Madhura Kavi's prabhandham .

First his life history:

 

AzhwAr Madhurakavi is the one who helped us by compiling the outpourings of NammazhwAr; Not just that, he also sang 11 beautiful "anthAdhi" style pAsurams starting with "kaNNinun siRutthAmbhu" which do not have any parallel to any other pAsuram /slOka for AchArya Bhakti. The other prabandhams on Acharya are Iraamaanusa nooRRanthAthi and Pillai anthAthi.

AzhwAr sang these (11) pasurams only in praise of his AchArya "nammAzhwAr" and claimed, in the end, that one can attain

mOkshA certainly and definitely after reciting just these 11 pAsurams.

 

It is also told that Nathamuni, who compiled 4000 pAsurams of AzhwArs, was blessed with a darshan of nammAzhwAr and was given a set of all 12 AzhwArs' pAsurams (by NammAzhwAr himself) after he recited Madhurakavi's 11 bhakti-laden pAsurams on nammAzhwAr 12000 times. (That is the dynamite packed power of Madhurakavi's pAsurams- It has manthra shakthi).

Madhurakavi (meaning in sanskrit the sweet poet), a vainathEya (divine

bird) incarnate, was born in the year Easwara, chitrai month and in chitrai nakshatram at ThirukkOLoor. He learnt Tamizh and sanskrit and became a great scholar in both the languages. He was a great BhaktA of Sriman NarAyaNa and had an excellent conduct. He was on visits to the North India and obtained divya Darshans of AyodhyA, gayA, Badri, DwArakA etc., and He chose to stay at AyOdhyA as he could not resist being attracted by the Holiness of Sri RAMA's birth place. From there, he was dragged by an unconrolled desire to follow the new Southern BRIGHT Star/Light appeared in the sky (as seen only by his eyes at night) and found himself at the feet of the Greatest AzhwAr "NammAzhwAr". After a brief encounter (setthathin vayiRRil siRiyadhu piRandhaal etthai thiNru yengE kidakkum? " atthai thiNru angE kidakkum..) he prayed to NammAzhwAr requesting him to protect and accept him as his disciple. From then on, he stayed with NammAzhwAr and complied all pAsurams of NammAzhwAr. Madhurakavi was so much devoted to NammAzhwAr, his AchAryA, that he held him equal to (higher than)

Lord Sri nArAyaNa

 

After NammAzhwAr departed from this earthly world, he was blessed with a

Golden vigraham of NammAzhwAr which he cosecrated and performed

ThiruvarAdhanA and uthsavams in his honour. He was so mesmerized and impressed by nammAzhwAr's works so much that wanted to stage NammAzhwAr's works in front of other scholars. the sangam poets objected to such claims and praises NammazhwAr who had no connection with Sangam ( a big deal!). Madhurakavi, it seems was saddened by this protest and was weeping literally.

NammAzhwar, appeared as an old Brahmin and consoled him saying " Do not

woory about these petty issues, my child, You just place this pasuram of

"kaNNan kazhaliNai..." on a boat (sangap palagai) and watch the fun" and

disappeared. Madhurakavi did the same and the boat, it is told capsized

throwing out all the jealous, haughty poets while it retained only the leaf containing "kaNNan kazhaliNai.."

It is also told that each one of those poets struggled to reach the shore and composed a verse dedicating to NammAzhwAr. And when they were about to publish their verses, they were simply AMAZED to find that each one wrote the same verse in same words; (What a marvel! what a divine AzhwAr and Divine Disciple!-simply made for each other)

The sangam chief says " NammAzhwAr's works are superior and other poets are like flies compared to Garudan (that is NammAzhwAr); fire flies (minmini) in the presence of sun; dogs in front of the ferrocious tiger; wolf before the Lord NrsimhA, ugly clumsy dwarfs dancing before the havenly beautiful OOrvasi- All their works are not equal to even one utterance of nammAzhwAr."

Madhurakavi's eyes were full of tears for his (his AchAryA's) success; The eleven pAsurams are counted as part of 4000 verses simply because the whole of 4000 pasurams is claimed to be Bhagavadh vishayam while Madhurakavi's is on his AchAryA which is the central gem that sheds lustre on the other jems of the garland (so says MaNavALa mAmunigaL). It is the work that holds the key to the treasure of other pAsurams.

Needless to say, NAthamuni's t haniyans (Thaniyan means dedeicated verse) on this AzhwAr depict the glory of AzhwAr and it is neccessary for us to be blessed by such Great BhaktALs; Before we conclude about this mahAn who performed AchArya Nishtai and attained the feet of mOksham, let us get benefitted by the rich two thaniyans of NAthamuni:

Aviditha Vishaya Antharas /Sadaarer Upanishadam Upagaana Matra Bogah /

Abhi Saguna Vasaath Tad Eka Seshee /Madhura Kavir Hridaye Mamaavirastu /

(in sanskrit)

" Here is one who knew none other than Nammalwar; the one who made it his

mission in life to sing the Tamizh upanishadam of Nammalwar; The one being overwhelmed by Nammalwar held him as his very God; Let such Madhurakavi fill my heart" (our hearts, too)

Veronrum Naan Ariyen Vedam Tamizh Seitha /Maaran Sadakopan Vun Kurugur -

Yeru Engal /Vaazhvaam Enru Ethum Madhura Kaviyaar Emmai /

Aalwaar Avare Saran /

(in Tamizh)

Madhurakavi said -" I do not know anything other than Nammalwar also known as Maaran(original name of NammAzhwAr) who rendered in Tamil the essence of the Vedas and who is the head of Tirukkurugur. This Madhurakavi is OUR master. He is THE guardian of the group of Prapannaas.

- Let us recite everyday these 11 pAsurams and be blessed!)

 

Let us now enjoy Swamy Desikan's rich tributes:

 

As mentioned earlier, there are 11 paasurams in KaNNinuNN SiRutthAmpu Prabhandham of Madhura Kavi. The last paasuram is a Phala Sruthi describing the fruits of reciting this prabhandham.In the rest of the ten paasurams, Madhura Kavi conceded that all the relationships that he should have with BhagavAn are instead with Swamy NammAzhwAr. Swamy Desikan captured this unique disposition of Madhura Kavi in one insightful paasuram of his adhikaara sangraham:

Inbatthil iRainjuthalil isayum pERRil

ihazhAtha pall uRavilirAgam maaRRil

tann paRRil vinai Vilakkil tahavOkkatthil

tatthuvatthai uNartthutalil tanmai aakkil

anbarkkE avatharikkum Aayan niRka

arumaRaikaL Tamizh seythAn thALE koNDu

thunpaRRa Madhura Kavi thOnRak kaattum

tholl vazhiyE nall vazhikaL thuNivAhatkkE

 

Pada URai( Word by word Meanings by Sri V SatakOpan Swamy- New York, USA)

Inbatthil = in gaining(experiencing ) bliss

iRainjuthalil= in performing SaraNAgathi

isayum pERRil= in granting desired purushArthams

ihazhAtha pall uRavil = in sustaining many types of durable relationships

irAgam mARRil = in destroying attachment to other matters

tann paRRil = in giving His hand (Jn~Anak Kai)

vinai vilakkil = in banishing the paapa -puNyams

tahava Okkatthil = in exhibiitng deep compassion(dayA)

tatthuvatthi uNartthutathil = in generating clear Jn~Anam

tanmai aakkil = in blessing the jeevan with many qualities similar to His( above ten being the anugrahams of the Lord for the Jeevan) anbarkkE = That Lord , who incarnates in this world avatharikkum solely for those , who have bhakthi for Him Aayan niRkka = while that Sulabha-Gopaalan is waiting to bless him (Madhura Kavi) with His anugraham , Madhura Kavi let go of Him aru MaraikaL Tamizh seydhaan thALE koNDu= and took refuge instead at the sacred feet of Swamy NammAzhwAr --who transformed the Sanskrit VedAs into pure TamiL-- for gaining the above ten anugrahams granted normally by the Lord Himself Thunpu aRRa Madhura Kavi thOnRak-kaattum tholl VazhiyE nall vazhigaL thuNivArkatkku = That ancient path (AchArya abhimatham) travelled by Madhura Kavi and described in his prabhandha paasurams for the benefit of the people of this world , is the noblest path to be travelled by those with unalloyed AchArya VisvAsam.

Swamy Desikan - the kavi thArkikha simham in his own inimitable style has thus summarized the essence of Madhura Kavi's ten paasurams in his one prabandham each word depicting the meaning of each PAsuram of KaNNinun ChiRutthaambu and the noblest of paths advocated by him for our ujjevanam.

Swamy desikan also pays his obeisance to AzhwAr in Prabandha saaram as follows:

ThERiya maajn~Anamudan ThirukkOLUril

ChitthirayiR Chitthirai naaL Vanthu thOnRi

AaRiya NalanbhudanE KuruhUr Nampikku

anavaratham antharanga-adimai seythu

MaaRanai allAl yenRum maRanthum thEvu

maRRaRiyEn yenum Madhura kaviyE nee munn

kooRiya KaNNinuNN SiRutthAmpu athaniR paattuk-

kulavu pathinonRum yenakku uthavu neeyE

 

(Meaning by Sri Satakopan Swamy): Oh Maadhura Kavi born on

Chitthirai maasa Chitthirai at ThirukkOLUr with clear Jn~Anam and who performed antharanga kaimkaryam for Swamy NammAzhwAr with intense devotion and without let ! You declared that You do not know of any gods other than Swamy NammAzhwAr . Please bless me now with the Jn~Anam about the eleven paasurams of Your aruLiccheyal (blessed work) KaNNinuNN SirutthAmpu that you blessed the world earlier

Sri Manavala Mamunigal pays his tribute to AzhwAr in Upadesa Ratthina malai:

 

yErAr Madhura Kavi ivvulahil vanthu uthittha

seerArum Chitthirayil Chitthirai NaaL --paarulahil

maRRuLLa AazhwArkaL vanthu uthittha nALkaLinum

uRRathu yemakku yeRu nenjEOr (25)

 

meaning: Oh My mind! Please reflect on the fact that the birthday of the auspicious Madhura Kavi ( ChitthrA Nakshathram in the month of Chitthirai ) is even more sacred for celebration than that of

the birthdays of all the other AzhwArs.

 

Vaayttha Thirumanthiratthin matthimamAm patham pOl

seertha Madhura Kavi sey kalayai--aartha Pukazh

Aariyarkal thAngaL aruLiccheyal naduvE

sErvitthAr thARpariyam thErnthu (26)

 

meaning: Our great PoorvAchAryALs joined Madhura Kavi's Prabhnadham of KaNNinuNN SirutthAmpu in the sacred NaalAyira Dhivya Prabhandham inview of the blessed message that this prabhandham houses.They recognized very well that Madhura Kavi's Prabhandham is exactly like the middle padham in our beloved AshtAksharam (viz)., Nama: padham and therefore this prabhandham fits very well in the middle of the sacred collect of 4000