-By Shivashankar N

 

 

Vinayaka, the foremost among all the divine manifestations of the Supreme Being, and the Ishta Devata of several AstikAs, is a set of balancing opposites -- with the most amusing of appearances, He is the favorite lord of little children, and being a child Himself, is pleased by the simplest acts of worship. Notwithstanding, Sri Shankara Bhagavatpada refers to Him as ‘terror to those who do not believe (Him)’ (नतेतरातिभीकरं – Sri Ganesha Pancharatnam, 2).

 

He, with the head of a tusker and colossal body, kindly took the little mouse as His vAhanA. His svarupa, the manifestation of all His astras, his whole being is of exalted symbolism. Yet with His presence under trees and rocks, near lakes and waterfalls, from hilltops and volcanoes to doorways and stickers on school-books – He remains most accessible. Ganesha, who played a significant role in compiling the great devabhasha epic Mahabharata, effected remarkably, the revelation of the greatness of Parameshwara’s devotees thereby catalyzing the composition of the greatest of epics in divine Tamizh.

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Legend has it that a Gandharva cursed to be a stork by Sage Durvasa, flew to the river Ganga daily to fetch water in his beak, and offered libations to Goddess Tripurasundari sametha Lord Soundaryeswarar, in the beautiful village of Tirunaraiyur (about 30 km from Kattumannarkoil). Sometime around late 10th century CE, Ananthesar, an archaka of Lord Soundaryeswarar, begat a charming boy. Named Nambi by his parents, the child grew into a precocious, devoted son, albeit with benighted scholarly abilities. One day, the child Nambi assisted his father’s temple duties that included offering naivedyam to the benevolent Lord Polla Pillayar. The Lord, pleased by Nambi’s faultless love, appeared and ate Nambi’s offerings and blessed the child with instantaneous and complete knowledge of scriptures besides mastery in divine Tamizh.

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Nambi Andar Nambi instantly sang Tirunaraiyur Vinayakar Irattai Mani Malai, an extraordinary composition of 20 verses that alternates between venba and kattalai kalithurai. This composition of Nambi brilliantly uses Tamizh homonyms to convey Lord Vinayaka svarupa’s oxymoronic splendour via Tamizh முரண்தொடைகள்.

 

In the first venpa:

என்னை நினைந்தடிமை கொண்டென் இடர்கெடுத்துத்

தன்னை நினையத் தருகின்றான் - புன்னை

விரசுமகிழ் சோலை வியன்நாரை யூர்முக்கண்

அரசுமகிழ் அத்திமுகத் தான்

 

The words magizh, arasu and aththi in one sense are the various sthalavrikshams of the divine kshetra Tirunaraiyur. Aththi is also the Tamizh equivalent of Hasthi (elephant); Magizh can be interpreted as magizchi (happiness); arasu when read with mukkan morphs into mukkan-arasu: Sri Nambi easily blends Parameswara into the starting venba.

The second verse, which is in kattalai kalithurai, is:

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முகத்தாற் கரியனென் றாலும்

தனையே முயன்றவர்க்கு

மிகத்தான் வெளியனென் றேமெய்ம்மை

உன்னும் விரும்படியார்

அகத்தான் திகழ்தரு நாரையூர்

அம்மான் பயந்தவெம்மான்

உகத்தா னவன்தன் னுடலம்

பிளந்த ஒருகொம்பனே

 

Sri Nambi neatly lays out one of Polla Pillayar’s முரண்தொடை using the words kariyan and veLiyan. When these two words are interpreted to mean ‘elephant faced’ and ‘one who shines forth’, the first two sentences may be understood to convey ‘The benevolent elephant faced Lord, who shines forth and blesses devotees who bow to him’. On the other hand, kariyan and veLiyan can also be interpreted to mean ‘dark’ and ‘white’ – to the child Nambi, the dark murthi of Sri Polla Pillayar revealed forth the blazing white form of Sri Vinayaka -- the sublime idea threaded into these lines.

 

Again, உகத்தா னவன்தன் னுடலம் பிளந்த ஒருகொம்பனே can be either interpreted as uga – thanavan – avan udalam – pilanda – oru kombane (meaning, the Lord who split Gajamukhasuran’s body asunder with his right tusk), or can also be read along with the previous word as emman – uga – than avan – than udalam pilantha – oru kombane (The one-tusked Lord, raised by Emman Parameswaran, who redeems us from this bodily prison)

 

Sri Nambiandar Nambi was an exemplary Tamizh exponent, and every single word in his Irattai Mani Malai is a specifically placed gem. This is beautifully evident again in the first venpa verse with the use of the word ninainthu: ‘enna ninainthu adimai kondu en idar keduthu..’. Ninainthu (as opposed to ninaithu, which Nambi uses to indicate what he himself does) denotes a purposeful thought of Sri Polla Pillayar, about why the Lord chose Nambi for his blessing and salvation. Sri Polla Pillayar designated Nambi for the sacred purpose of collecting the life stories of great Saiviite saints, that ultimately constituted the Thiruthondar Puranam.

Emperor Raja Raja Chola heard about the boy blessed by Sri Polla Pillayar, and upon his request, Nambiandar Nambi went about collecting the legends of all thiruthondars as laid down in Sundaramoorthy Nayanar’s Thiruthondar Thogai.

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Sri Polla Pillayar blessed Nambi twice in Chidambaram. The Lord first revealed the existence of palm leaf manuscripts of the works of Sambandar, Appar and Sundaramoorthy Nayanar in a room in one of the upper decks of the Nritta Sabha of Sri Nataraja temple (that room can still be reached, albeit with some effort. A divine murthi of Sri Ganesha graces the place, and he’s still worshipped today as Tirumurai Kattiya Ganapathi). A delighted Nambi, with the king’s support, started organizing the manuscripts and augured the genesis of what has come to be known as the Twelve Tirumurais.

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Sri Polla Pillayar’s intervention again came to Sri Nambi’s rescue, when Vinayaka indicated to Nambi the existence of a bard who was a direct descendant of Tiru Neelakanda Yazhpanar. She and Nambi together formulated the pann murai of the Tirumurais that we know today, which emperor Raja Raja instructed to be assiduously taught and propagated through othuvar murthis and devasiriyar mandapams in temples across the breadth of Tamizh Nadu.

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At present, 384 pathigams composed by Sambandar, 312 by Navukkarasar and 100 pathigams composed by Sundarar are known – countless more were lost in the mists of time, and yet those that remain with us are so, by the sole grace of Sri Polla Pillayar through Nambiandar Nambi. Nambi’s Tiruthondar Tiruvanthathi germinated Sekkizhar’s magnum opus Periya Puranam. Vinayaka’s centrality in ensuring the continued sustenance of the Saiva Tirumurais and the birth of Periya Puranam has been eulogized by Sekkizhar in the 3rd song of the vazthupayiram of Periya Puranam.

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எடுக்கும் மாக்கதை இன்றமிழ்ச் செய்யுளாய்

நடக்கும் மேன்மை நமக்கருள் செய்திடத்

தடக்கை ஐந்துடைத் தாழ்செவி நீள் முடிக்

கடக்க ளிற்றைக் கருத்துள் இருத்துவாம்

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Sri Sekkizhar worships the Five Armed Lord before beginning his epic (ma-kadhai). Any endeavor, big or small will surely be blessed when well-begun with salutations to Sri Vinayaka.