SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavaramunayE nama:
jIyar mercifully writes vyAkhyAnam for AchArya hrydhayam
Subsequently, jIyar decided in his divine mind to write the vyAkhyAnam for AchArya hrudhayam (a prabandham composed by azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr, younger brother of piLLai lOkAchAryar), not minding the weakness in his divine body. He used to recline on the divine seat, with his divine neck causing pain and write the vyAkhyAnam. Looking at this, kandhAnai aNNan asked him “Why is dhEvarIr taking so much of effort?” jIyar mercifully responded saying “adiyEn is taking the effort for the sake of dhEvarIr’s sons and grandsons” and completed writing the vyAkhyAnam.
EttUr singarAchAriyar takes refuge under jIyar; order of eight gOthrams
During that time, EttUr singarAchAriyar, who hailed from the divine clan of periya thirumalai nambi [rAmAnujar’s maternal uncle as well as one of his five AchAryars], hearing about the incomparable glories of jIyar, left his pride and shyness [of hailing from a great clan] and came to take refuge under the divine feet of jIyar, since he had Akinchanyam [having nothing with him to claim as his] and ananyagathithvam [having nowhere else to go] which are the primary requisites for a person to surrender. With the wealth surrendered by EttUr singarAchAriyar, jIyar took up the reparation work for the divine gOpuam (tower) for AzhwAr at thirunagari. When there was a little bit of shortage of funds for completing that work, jIyar nAyanAr [pUrvASrama grandson of jIyar] set right that shortage and completed the reparation work. jIyar then sent word for poLippAkkam nAyanAr, mercifully carried out the sapthagOthra nibandhanai (bringing to order, arrangement among people belonging to seven clans), adding EttUr singarAchAriyar too to those seven clans and making it ashtagOthrasankhyai (count of eight clans). Just as it had been said in the SlOkam
jagathrakshayAparO’nandhO janishyathyaparOmuni:
thadhAraSyAs sadhAcharAs sAthvikAs thathva dharSina:
(thiruvanthAzhwAn, who is fully engaged in protecting the world (apart from his incarnation as rAmANuja muni) is going to incarnate as another muni (one who meditates for the betterment of all); those who take refuge under him (at that time) will have purely good conduct, good qualities and will know the meanings of entities correctly), people who had taken refuge under jIyar were having good conduct, being engaged in proper activities, knowing the meanings of our philosophy fully, worshipping jIyar constantly.
ashtadhikkajangaL
Just as it has been mentioned in the pAsuram
pArArumangai thiruvEngadamuni bhattarpirAn
ArAmam sUzh kOyil kandhAdai aNNan eRumbiyappA
ErArumappiLLai appiLLAr vAdhi bhayankararen
pErArndha dhikkayanjUzh varayOgiyaich chindhiyumE
jIyar had eight primary disciples, namely vAnAmAmalai jIyar, thiruvEngadam jIyar, bhattarpirAn jIyar, kandhAdai aNNan, eRumbiyappA, appiLLai, appiLLAr and prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNa. Along with these, who were identified by the term ashtadhikkajangaL (elephants in the eight directions), there were others too starting with thiruppANAzhwAr dhAsar, EttUr singarAchAriyar, varam tharum perumAL piLLai, mEnAttuth thOzhappar, azhagiya maNavALap perumAL nAyanAr, jIyar nAyanAr, aNNarAya chakravarthigaL et al, who were all in line with the previously seen SlOkam jagathrAkshaparOnandhO ……. thathva dharSina:, being great people, being deeply engaged with good conduct, knowing the principles of dharSanam and living for uplifting the world.
kainkaryams given to the disciples
Among the disciples mentioned, including the ashtadhikkajangaLs , the following are the ones who were carrying out nithya kainkaryams (permanent kainkaryam) at the divine feet of jIyar:
- vAnamAmalai jIyar – Right from his early days, as a celebrated, affectionate person, when he took refuge under jIyar, he was with jIyar always.
- kandhAdai aNNan – Just as mudhaliyANdAn was for rAmAnujar as brought by the phrase rAmAnuja munidhrasya SrImAndhASarathiryathA, aNNan was most affectionate towards jIyar and was in the position of looking after his safety.
- eRumbiyappA – Just like vaduga nambi towards rAmAnujar, he was very loving towards jIyar, not knowing any other lord as brought out by the term dhEvumaRRaRiyEn (I do not know of any other lord)
- prathivAdhi bhayankaram aNNan – He was similar to kUraththAzhwAn for rAmAnujar; he was engaged in dispelling people from other philosophies, and was a constant companion to jIyar in SrIbhAshyam.
- sEnai mudhalliyAr aNNan, SatakOpa dhAsar, appiLLai, thiruppANAzhwAr dhAsar – all these disciples were companions to jIyar in aruLichcheyals such as thiruvAimozhi. Particularly, appiLLai, on jIyar’s order, wrote detailed notes for the five thiruvandhAdhis [mudhal, iraNdAm, mUnRAm, nAnmuga and periya thiruvandhAdhis]; he also wrote vyAkhyAnam for yathirAja vimSathi (composed by jIyar).
- appiLLAr – He was looking after all the administrative work in the matam, arranging for cooking of various foods such as rice, lentils, vegetables, milk, ghee, curd etc, appropriate for each time.
- bhattarpirAn jIyar – Just like embAr for rAmAnujar, bhattarpirAn jIyar was the shadow of jIyar’s divine feet, unable to sustain himself in separation from jIyar, carrying out all services, being engaged only with jIyar and not knowing anyone other than jIyar as his lord.
- jIyar nAyanAr – Just like a prince, he was liked by all; like thirukkurugaippirAn piLLAn towards rAmAnujar, he was most supportive of jIyar.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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