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MadhuraKavi Azhwar
MadhuraKavi Azhwar
AD
Place Thirukollur
Other Names Inkaviyaar, Azhwaarukku Adiyaan
Month Chitthirai
Star (Natshatram) Chitthirai (Chithra)
Hamsam Vainatheya (Garuda)
In Paandiya Nadu, lots of temples are found. All the temples are rich in
Spirituality and divine followers are seen. Inspite of lots of Vishnu temples are
found, Thirukkoloor is one of special sthalam is seen. This sthalam is found two
miles on the eastern side away from Azhwar Thirunagari.
Lots of Brahmins who spread the fame of Sriman Narayanan lived here. In one of
those families, in Easwara year, Chittirai month, Sukla Chaturdasi Friday,
Chittirai Natshatram (star) Madhurakavi Alwar was born. His birth is referred to
as the rays of the sun, which comes out before the sun completely comes out. Here
the rays are referred to "Nammalwar", since Madhurakavi born before Nammalwar.
He was taught with all Vedic books and was devoted to Sriman Narayanan by praising
him with songs. He was also well - versed in writing poems and songs in Sanskrit
also. He had talent of writing poems and bhakti songs that could focus the minds
of all the persons who hear (or) read it. He lead a life of solitude not wanting
to ming with those who were leading earthly life.
Reaching North India, he worshipped all the Vishnu sthalams and finally he went to
Ayodhya temple and admired at the beauty of Sri Rama along with Sita Piratti,
Lakshmana and Hanuman. He stayed in Ayodhya for a while.
At that time, he heard about a 16 year old child by name Nammalwar who was in
unconscious stage, living without eating anything under a tamarind tree in Alwar
Thirunagari.
One day, after finishing the daily pooja, he saw a bright star in the sky which
made him to think whether any village (or) house had caught fire (or) some big
fire is burning the forest. He could not definitely get any idea and he left it at
that thinking it was some mystery.
Then he found that bright object was a star and that was travelling towards south.
He decided to follow the star and following it he reached Alwar Thirunagari when
the star disappeared.
He heard about the child Nammalwar who didn't open his eyes (or) ears for almost
16 years. Madhurakavi on seeing Nammalwar could not believe a 16-year-old child
can live without eating (or) moving a little bit for many years. So, he wanted to
test his qualities. He lifted a big stone, which is found near the tree and
dropped it in the ground. On hearing, Nammalwar opened his eyes and smiled at
Madhurakavi Alwar. After this, Madhurakavi was still confused whether he could
speak (or) not. He wanted to test him and questioned him as:
This means if anything that is born in a dead, the subtle thing that is born
inside it, how does it leads his life on eating what and where does ir resides?
This means that the small Jeevathma resides in the soul (the Paramathma) and
enjoys the place which it lives. The answer also explains how all of our human
souls are tied up with ordinary life by doing good and evil things to all the
persons around them. If a person does these kinds of things, he will experience
the same and could not attain the Moksha, the destiny.
On hearing this, Madhurakavi Alwar realised that the Nammalwar is not only either
deaf nor dumb but is a person of erudite philosophical knowledge. He felt
Nammalwar must be a Gyani at whose feet he can learn much. Straightaway he decided
to take Nammalwar as his Spiritual Guru and fell at his feet.
Thus Madhurakavi Alwar was the student to learn the Veda from Nammalwar, which
explains the link between Sriman Narayanan and ordinary human and how to attain
his thiruvadi.
In return Madhurakavi Alwar wrote his Pasurams in praise of Sriman Narayanan and
this is known as "Kanni Nunn Siruthambhu" containing 11 paasurams.
He made a statue of Nammalwar and placed in the temple and did daily poojas for
him and led his life by praising and singing the greatness of his spiritual guru
"Nammalwar".
All of us know that in the whole of the Nalaayira Divya Prabhandam only the 11
paasurams of Madurakavigal doesn't praise the bhagavan. Instead it talks about
the magimai of sri Nammazhvar, aacharya of Madurakavigal.
Madurakavigal was a Brahmana by birth and he was far elder than Sri Nammazhvar and
also well versed in Vedas and highly educated. But shri Madurakavigal smashed the
pride of being a brahmana or elder by age or well educated and surrendered to the
feet of Shri Nammazhvar who was supposed to be the incarnation of Shri
Vishvaksenar.
Sri Manavala Mamunigal in his Upadesa Ratnamalai sings the praise of Madurakavigal
as follows,
Sri Mamunigal praises this day, chitiraiyil chitirai on which day shri
Madurakavigal came to this earth to show us the right path which will lead us
directly to moksham. He asks us to praise this day more than the Thirunakshatram
days of the other alwars who has taken birth.
Oh my mind meditate on this day about the great Madurakavi Alwar. The other alwars
showed the feet of emperuman which is very difficult for the jeevatmas filled with
paavam to attain but shri Madurakavigal showed the feet of shri Nammazhvar
(aacharya) who is full of mercy and forgives our mistakes and leads us to the feet
of the Emperuman.
In our sampradayam, we regard aacharyas more important than the bhagavan himself
since our acharyas lead us to the bhagavan's feet whereas Emperuman stops with
saying Mam ekam charanam vraja. When we are confused, how to do saranagathi in the
feet of Emperuman our aacharyas come to our help and like guiding a kid they
guide us to the Emperuman's feet .
In the next paasuram Shri Mamunigal continues to say about the divine work of Shri
Madurakavigal(kanninun siruthambhu)
Now that we have seen the magimai of shri Madurakavigal and his work from the
words of Shri Mamunigal let us see some interesting explanations regarding
Kanninun Chiruthambu.
Here there are 2 explanations given by our aacharyas. One is, in this paasuram
there is reference only to Nammazhvar who by his krupai gave the meaning of the
Vedas for the benefit of the adiyars in the form of sweet 1000 paasurams . But
then the second explanation shows Madurakavigal's Aacharya bhakthi to the maximum
according to which the first arulinan avvarumarain porul refers to the
Geethaacharyan who gave the essence of the Vedas in his Bhagavat Geetha and the
second aayiram entamizh refers to Sri Nammazhvar's Thiruvaimozhi. Here Shri
Madurakavigal questions the readers whose arul is more the geethacharya's, who
gave the geetha in Sanskrit which is tough for many people to understand or shri
Nammazhvar's, who gave the same in a simplified form in sentamizh understood by
all?
Here our aacharyas again show the greatness of Shri Nammazhvar as a teacher. Shri
Krishna taught the essence of the Vedas through his bhagavat geetha to Arjuna.
After completing Krishna asked arjuna if he understood what all he has told
till now. Arjuna replied you have told a lot of things in very high standard but
much of it didn't stay in my mind but now I am clear in one thing that what ever
you say I am ready to follow. That was reply by the shisya(Arjuna) to his
Aacharya(Krishna). But here the disciple of Nammazhvar Shri Madurakavigal says
"paadi ennenjul niruthinan"
my aacharya has sung all the veda arthas and put them into my minds. So thereby
our aacharyas prove that Nammazhvar was a better teacher than the Geethacharyan
himself since Nammazhvar is able to strongly put all his teachings in the minds of
his disciple.
Though it is a very small work with only 11 paasurams the depth of meaning in it
is extraordinary and that is why it is placed equal to the other alwar paasurams
and valued even more by our aacharyas.
Madhura Kavi was born before Swamy NammAzhwAr , when Lord had
incarnated as KrishNaBhagavAn and He was ruling from DhvArakai.
This was at the end of dhvApara Yugam. Swamy NammazhwAr
was born on the 43rd day of Kali Yugam that follows dhvApara
yugam. While the Lord was in this world , Madhura Kavi did
not elect to seek Him out , but waited and sought refuge later
at Swamy NammAzhwAr's Thiruvadi deliberately.He sought all
the ten anugrahams normally granted by the Lord from
his AchAryan Swamy NammAzhwAr , since AchAryan was every
thing for Madhura Kavi and he restricted all his sambhandhams
to his AchAryan. The aasrayaNam of his AchAryan was the only
thing that mattered to Madhura Kavi.He performed upadesam
for us that without AchArya Sambhandham and AaasrayaNam ,
Bhakthi and Prapathti would not become fruitful. As a tathtva
Jn~Ani , Madhura Kavi practised the truism , " AchAryavatthayA
mukthou" (because of having a SadAchArya sambhandham alone ,
one gains mOksha Siddhi).
Of the two Tamil verses in his Guru Parampara Saaram of the Rahasya Traya Saaram
dedicated to Alwars, Swami Sri Vedanta Desika grouped together all other Alwars
(including Nammalwar!) in one verse and dedicated the whole of the 2nd verse
exclusively to Madhurakavi Alwar whom he calls as "Thunbatra Madhurakavi"
(Blemishless)
(meaning)
' To those who venture to attain release from the bondage of Samsara, the
ancient path indicated to us by the spotless Madhurakavi by his own example is
the only safe path because while there is Sri Krishna, the great cowherd, who
incarnated solely for the sake of his devotees - to confer bliss on them, - to
be their refuge, - to be their final goal, - to stand in relation to them as
mother, father, brother and so on, - to change their desire for the pleasures
of the world - into a desire for Himself, - to remove all their sins, - to
show them infinite compassion, - to reveal the truth and so also - to bring
about in them a likeness to Himself---while there is Sri Krishna ever ready to
do all this, he sought only the feet of the Sage Satakopa (Nammalwar) who
rendered in Tamil the truths contained in the Vedas which are otherwise hard to
understand".
(Vide the English translation of Srimad Rahasya Traya Saaram by Sri
M.R.Rajagopala Ayyangar)
In fact, Madhurakavi Alwar makes only a passing reference to Sri Krishna in the
first line of his work saying "Kanninun Siruthaambinaal Kattunnap Panniya Peru
Maayan". This is just because his own Acharya was reputed to be the very
personification of the thirst for Sri Krishna (Krishna Thrishnaa Tattvamiva
Udhitham). Out of respect for his Acharya, he had to make at least this casual
reference to Sri Krishna. It will be seen that form the very next line, he
leaves aside Sri Krishna and switches over to describe the glories of
Nammalwar.
Let us see how the Swami Desika's verse relates to the various aspects enshrined
in "Kanninun Siru Thaambhu". Swami Desika's verse lists the following 10
benefits which Lord Krishna is said to confer but which were obtainable not
necessarily through Bhagavad Bhakti but through sheer Acharya Bhakti itself.
Swamy Desikan thus summarized in his inimitable way the essence of Madhura
Kavi's ten paasurams and the noblest of paths advocated by him for our
ujjevanam.
Thanks to Sri Anbil Ramaswamy Swamin and Sri Sadagopan swami for their wonderful
write ups.
Swami Desikan has pointed out that it is impossible to pay back in any manner to
The AchAryA, who lights the lamp of knowledge in our minds and banishes the
nescience and vibhareetha JnAnam that occupied our mind before. The only service
that we can do is to praise His kalyANa guNAs and reflect on them and to spread
the message of the great help that he gave us ( Gurum prakAsayEth ):
Swami Desikan states authoritatively that even the Lord can not find a proper
way to return the gratitude for the AchAryan who lit the JnAna deepam in our
minds and chased away the darkness of ajnAnam.
SrI Manavala maanuigaL also mentions about this way of worshipping Acharyan
equal to the Lord (if not more) in Artthi prabandham:
thennarangar seeraruLukku ilakkAga peRROm/
thiruvarangam thiruppathiyE iruppAgap peRROm
manniya seer maaRan pugazh uNavaagap peRROm
Let us recite KaNNinunChiRutthambu today as many times as we can and pay our
obeisance to AzhwAr- Acharya- Prapanna jana santhAna kUtasthar SrI SaTakOpar-
NammAzhwAr.
SrI:
SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya nama:
Continuing on our AzhwAr life history and works ?series, we now
enjoy Sri Madhurakavi AzhwAr's life and work.
AzhwAr Madhurakavi is the one who helped us by compiling the
outpourings of NammazhwAr;
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 Narasimha, ugly clumsy dwarfs
dancing before the havenly beautiful Oorvasi- All their works are
not equal to even one utterance of nammAzhwAr."
" 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)
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.
Madhura Kavi was born before Swamy NammAzhwAr , when Lord had
incarnated as KrishNaBhagavAn and He was ruling from DhvArakai.
This was at the end of dhvApara Yugam. Swamy NammazhwAr
was born on the 43rd day of Kali Yugam that follows dhvApara
yugam. While the Lord was in this world , Madhura Kavi did
not elect to seek Him out , but waited and sought refuge later
at Swamy NammAzhwAr's Thiruvadi deliberately.He sought all
the ten anugrahams normally granted by the Lord from
his AchAryan Swamy NammAzhwAr , since AchAryan was every
thing for Madhura Kavi and he restricted all his sambhandhams
to his AchAryan. The aasrayaNam of his AchAryan was the only
thing that mattered to Madhura Kavi.He performed upadesam
for us that without AchArya Sambhandham and AaasrayaNam ,
Bhakthi and Prapathti would not become fruitful. As a tathtva
Jn~Ani , Madhura Kavi practised the truism , " AchAryavatthayA
mukthou" (because of having a SadAchArya sambhandham alone ,
one gains mOksha Siddhi).
Of the two Tamil verses in his Guru Parampara Saaram of the Rahasya Traya
Saaram dedicated to Alwars, Swami Sri Vedanta Desika grouped together all other
Alwars (including Nammalwar!) in one verse and dedicated the whole of the 2nd
verse exclusively to Madhurakavi Alwar whom he calls as "Thunbatra Madhurakavi"
(Blemishless)
(meaning)
' To those who venture to attain release from the bondage of Samsara, the
ancient path indicated to us by the spotless Madhurakavi by his own example is
the only safe path because while there is Sri Krishna, the great cowherd, who
incarnated solely for the sake of his devotees - to confer bliss on them, - to
be their refuge, - to be their final goal, - to stand in relation to them as
mother, father, brother and so on, - to change their desire for the pleasures
of the world - into a desire for Himself, - to remove all their sins, - to
show them infinite compassion, - to reveal the truth and so also - to bring
about in them a likeness to Himself---while there is Sri Krishna ever ready to
do all this, he sought only the feet of the Sage Satakopa (Nammalwar) who
rendered in Tamil the truths contained in the Vedas which are otherwise hard to
understand".
(Vide the English translation of Srimad Rahasya Traya Saaram by Sri
M.R.Rajagopala Ayyangar)
In fact, Madhurakavi Alwar makes only a passing reference to Sri Krishna in the
first line of his work saying "Kanninun Siruthaambinaal Kattunnap Panniya Peru
Maayan". This is just because his own Acharya was reputed to be the very
personification of the thirst for Sri Krishna (Krishna Thrishnaa Tattvamiva
Udhitham). Out of respect for his Acharya, he had to make at least this casual
reference to Sri Krishna. It will be seen that form the very next line, he
leaves aside Sri Krishna and switches over to describe the glories of
Nammalwar.
Let us see how the Swami Desika's verse relates to the various aspects
enshrined in "Kanninun Siru Thaambhu". Swami Desika's verse lists the
following 10 benefits which Lord Krishna is said to confer but which were
obtainable not necessarily through Bhagavad Bhakti but through sheer Acharya
Bhakti itself.
Swamy Desikan thus summarized in his inimitable way the essence of Madhura
Kavi's ten paasurams and the noblest of paths advocated by him for our
ujjevanam.
Thanks to Sri Anbil Ramaswamy Swamin and Sri Sadagopan swami for their
wonderful write ups.
Swami Desikan has pointed out that it is impossible to pay back in any manner
to The AchAryA, who lights the lamp of knowledge in our minds and banishes the
nescience and vibhareetha JnAnam that occupied our mind before. The only
service that we can do is to praise His kalyANa guNAs and reflect on them and
to spread the message of the great help that he gave us ( Gurum prakAsayEth ):
Swami Desikan states authoritatively that even the Lord can not find a proper
way to return the gratitude for the AchAryan who lit the JnAna deepam in our
minds and chased away the darkness of ajnAnam.
SrI Manavala maanuigaL also mentions about this way of worshipping Acharyan
equal to the Lord (if not more) in Artthi prabandham:
Madhurakavi (Sweet poet), the incarnation of Vainatheya (the divine bird) was born
in the year Easwara, Chitrai month, Sukla Paksha, Chaturdasi day (a Friday) in the
constellation of Chitrai at Tirukkolur in the Pandya kingdom. He was well versed
in Tamil and Sanskrit, was of excellent conduct and absolutely devoted to Lord
Narayana.
During Madhurakavi's pilgrimage to North India while he was bathing in the River
Saraya, he found a bright start in the sky. He was dragged uncontrollably by the
light / star all the way South until he reached Thirunagari. He heard about the
child Nammalwar who didn't open his eyes or ears for almost 16 years and couldn't
believe that a child could be in deep meditation for so long. He drew his
attention with the profound question
"Senthin Vayitril Siriyadhu Pirandhal Eatthai Thindru Engae Kidakkum?" - "If the
small is born in a dead's body(or stomach), what will it eat and where will it
stay?" meaning, if the subtle soul is embodied in the gross body, what are its
actions and thoughts?
"Atthai Thindru Angae Kidakkum" - "If the soul identifies with the body, it will
be the body but if it merges with the divine, it will stay in vaikunta and eat
(think) of God.
On hearing this, Madhurakavi realized that this was no ordinary boy and
immediately accepted Nammalwar as his spiritual guru. Madhurakavi became the boy's
student and helped compile the outpourings of Nammalwar and set them to music.
Kanninun Siruthambu
It may be truly said that if there were no 'Kanninun Siruthambu', there would be
no 4000 Divya Prabandhams at all. Thus, Madhurakavi was responsible for literally
the rebirth and publicity of the Prabandhams. It is, therefore, customarily
incumbent in 'Anusanthaanam' to first recite 'Kanninun Siruthambu' before
beginning the other Pasurams, especially Nammalwar's Tiruvoimozhi.
A question arose as to how this work exclusively devoted to the Alwar could be
counted as part of the 4000 Divya Prabandham- the whole of which is claimed to be
dedicated to the Lord. Manavaala Maamunigal has answered this question as follows:
The greatness of its contents raises it to be the central gem that sheds luster on
the other gems of the garland. That is why it was counted in the midst of the 4000
Divya Prabandhams.
Of the two verses dedicated to Alwars, Swami Sri Vedanta Desikan has grouped
together all other Alwars in his first verse and has dedicated the whole of his
second verse exclusively to Madhurakavi Alwar in Guruparampara Saaram of his
Rahasya Traya Saaram.
Divya Desams consecrated by Madhurakavi Alwar are the 'Punya Kshetras' of Ayodhya,
Mathura, Gaya, Kasi, Kanchi, Avanti and Dwaraka.
" 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; May
such Madhurakavi fill my heart" (our hearts, too)