AzhwAr thirunagari vaibhavam – Ancient History

SrI: SrimathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama: SrI vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:

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AzhwAr thirunagari, also known as SrI kurugApuri kshEthram, is a puNya kshEthram (virtuous abode) which was also called as Adhi kshEthram.  It has the eminence of having been created by emperumAn (the lord) SrIman nArAyaNan for his pastime. During the time of creation, after creating the universe, he mercifully decided in his mind that he would first create brahmA, who is popularly known as nAnmukhan (one with four faces) and then carry out Srushti (creation of  the rest) through him. That brahmA, with the thought of having dharSan (seeing) of emperumAn and carrying out the task of creation, did severe penance for thousand years and obtained the dharSan and grace of emperumAn. brahmA praised  emperumAn in many ways. At that time, emperumAn mercifully shared a confidential matter with brahmA. On the southern side of bhAratha dhESam (present day India) on earth, there is a mountainous range called malayamalai. River thAmirabaraNi originates from this malayamalai. The abode AdhikshEthram is located on its southern side. emperumAn told brahmA that he has taken a beautiful form, AdhinAtha, and was enjoying the company of SrI mahAlakshmi in that abode, unseen by anyone else. He told brahmA that brahmA could go to that abode and worship him. Learning about the greatness of this abode, brahmA became happy and desired to call this as kurugA kshEthram, to which emperumAn agreed. Subsequently, brahmA reached AdhikshEthram and worshipped emperumAn well, for a long time. This abode and the river thAmirabaraNi, which flows here, are said to be favourite for emperumAn, as shown by our preceptors.

We shall look at a few incidents which had taken place in this abode.

Some maharishis (great sages) came on a pilgrimage to this place and worshipped emperumAn. At that time, a hunter and an elephant fought with and killed each other. Messengers from vishNu lOkam (the abode of mahAishNu) came there and guided both the souls to vishNu lOkam. The maharishis, who saw this, realised that this is due to the glory of the place and praised it.

We can also enjoy the narrative of dhAnthan here. In the dhivyadhESam SrI sALagrAmam in northern part of India, a disciple was learning [vEdhas] from a brAhmaNa who was living in that place. Due to his inadequate knowledge, he did not learn properly from the brAhmaNa. The brAhmaNa cursed the disciple saying “Since you did not learn the vEdhas properly, you will be born as a SUdhra in your next birth”. However, that disciple, instead of becoming fearful of the curse, stayed in that place, cut the grass in the vishNu temple near that place and earned his livelihood, selling the grass. That disciple came under the mercy of vishNu (since he cleaned the temple by cutting the grass from the temple and made it look beautiful). He was born as a SUdhra in AdhikshEthra, in his next birth. Due to emperumAn’s mercy, he remained patient and earned the name dhAnthan. He stayed there, worshipping emperumAn. During the time of war between dhEvas (celestial entities) and asuras (demonic entities), indhra, the head of dhEvas, came here with dhEvas and worshipped emperumAn. However, due to their offence towards dhAnthan, they lost their vision. dhAnthan forgave them of their sins, prayed  to emperumAn to give them their vision and  succeeded. He continued to worship emperumAn here and in the end, attained liberation (from samsAram).

In an earlier time, a sage by name Sankhamunivan was carrying out penance in order to obtain  the position of indhra (the head  of celestial people). nAradha muni (a celestial sage) came to  that place and  Sankhamunivan paid his obeisance to nAradha, who enquired  about his penance. Sankhamunivan told nAradha that he thought that vishNu was on a par with other deities. nAradha told him “You made a grave mistake. Since you equated vishNu, the parabrahmam (supreme entity), with other deities, you will be born in the ocean as a conch” and cursed him. Sankhamunivan realised his  mistake and asked for the means of being relieved from his curse. nAradha told him “You will attain liberation through the mercy of emperumAn at AdhikshEthram”. Sankhamunivan was born as a conch in ocean and reached thAmirabaraNi, where he was meditating constantly on emperumAn. The bank where he stayed was called as SangaNiththuRai. emperumAn liberated Sankhamunivan, who was in the form of conch, as well as several other conches. Moreover, he mercifully manifested his divine form in this divine abode such that many would be able to see his divine form. Through brahmA, he also mercifully brought the divine forms of SrIdhEvi, bhUdhEvi, neeLA dhEvi [his divine consorts], varAhap perumAL (emperumAn in the form of wild boar) and garuda (emperumAn’s divine vehicle) to this divine abode.

Further, great rishis such as brighu and mArkaNdEya, a king by the name kArthavIryArjuna and arjuna, one of  the pancha pANdavas, had dharSan of emperumAn in this divine abode.

In kurugApuri mAhAthmyam it has been vividly explained about vEdhavyAsar narrating the greatness of AdhikshEthram to  his son, SrI Sukar, as well as  to brahmA and vasishtar.

Thus, we have enjoyed the  ancient history of this abode.

Reference – book published by AdhinAthar AzhwAr dhEvasthAnam on kurugApuri kshEthra vaibhavam.

adiyEn krishNan rAmAnuja dhAsan

Source – https://granthams.koyil.org/2021/12/06/azhwarthirunagari-vaibhavam-1-tamil/

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