ज्येष्ठेनूराधा सम्भूतं वीरनारायणे पुरे। गजवक्त्रांशमाचार्यमाद्यं नाथमुनिं भजे॥
jeyeshThe anUrAdhAsambhUtam vIranArAyaNe pure | gajavaktrAmSam AcAryam Adyam nAthamunim bhaje ||
In the divya deSam of Veeranarayanapuram lived ISvaramunigal, a parama SrIvaishaNava belonging to shaThamarshaNa gotra of coTTai Kulam. He was blessed with a son in Kali yugam 3985, Sobhakrt year, Ani month when AnurAdA nakshtram was ascendance. The child was named as Nathar. Nathar was initiated into the ritualistic formalities such as jAtakarma and Veda VedAnta practice at the appropriate age. SrI Nathar was steeped in devotion and mastered all the Veda SAstras and gained a reputation over his mastery of Veda SAstras and devotion.
SrI VangeepurattAcchi gave his daughter, AravindappAvai in marriage to SrI Nathar. After the marriage, SrI Nathar continued his service to the Lord, MannAr the presiding deity of Veeranarayanapuram Temple and practiced Yoga. He was blessed with a son and named the child as ISvaramuni. He was initiated into yogAbhyAsam and Veda adhyayanam (learning and recitation) at the appropriate age. SrI Nathamunigal continued with his yogAbhyAsam.
SrI Nathamunigal wanted to go on a pilgrimage with his entire family to the temples in North India. Accordingly, he took the blessings of the Lord, MannAr and left on pilgrimage to Mathura, SaalagrAmam (in Nepal,) Ayodhya etc., and offered his prayers to the deities of these temples and also took holy a bath in the sacred rivers such as GangA, YamunA and Sarayu. SrI Nathamunigal and his family went to Govardhanam and had darSan of Lord Krishna, Yamunaittturaivan, and the presiding deity of Govardhanam and stayed there happily with his family for some time.
After a few days, the Lord, MannAr appeared in the dream of SrI Nathamunigal and commanded him to come back to Veerarnarayanapuram temple and have His darSan. SrI Nathamunigal took leave of Yamunaitturaivan. He traveled via Kasi and other place and on the way worshipped the deities of Purushottamam (Puri), [[6]] Simhachalam, Ahobilam, Tirumala, Gadikachalam (Sholingur), Kanchipuram, Tiruvaheendrapuram, Tirukkoyilur, Srirangam etc., and reached Veeranarayanapuram. MannAr showered His blessings on SrI Nathamunigal like an adoring mother receiving her son who is returning home after travel to distant lands. All the residents of Veeranarayanapuram were immensely pleased with the devotion of SrI Nathamunigal. They realized that the blessings of MannAr can only be gained through SrI Nathamunigal and so became the disciples of him and continued with their worship of him.
Once, some SrI VaishNavAs from Azhwar Tirunagari divya deSam were offering their prayers to MannAr by singing a pAsuram “ArAvamudE” from TiruvAimozhi and were enthralled by the gracefulness of MannAr. SrI Nathamunigal who closely hearing this, noticed the immense beauty of the verse steeped in bhakti and felt that the prayers offered to Kannan by singing the TiruvAimozhi pAsuram is much more succinct and enthralling than the yoga nishTha form of worship. He offered his daNDavat praNAmams to the bhAgavatAs and learnt that set of ten TiruvAimozhi and enjoyed the bliss of Lord Krishna by reciting the same. He understood from the bhAgavatAs that TiruvAimozhi consisted of one thousand (1000) verses composed by Kurugur SaThakopan. He learnt from them, that the ten pAsurams are in praise of Lord Krishna in the arcA form of ArAvamudan of Tirukudantai (Kumbakonam). SrI Nathamunigal requested the SrIvaishNavAs of Azhwar Tirunagari to bless him with all the thousand pAsurams of the TiruvAimozhi. They replied that Azhwar Tirunagari is their birth place and they took a pilgrimage of the divya deSams and reached Tirukudantai, were offering their prayers to Lord ArAvamudan. There, they heard the bhAgavatAs belonging to Tirukudantai reciting the “ArAvamudE” pAsuram and learnt it from. Sri Nathamunigal honored the Tirunagari bhAgavatAs with the tIrtha prasAdams of MannAr and bid them farewell.
Eager to learn and recite all the thousand pAsurams of TiruvAimozhi, he took the blessings of MannAr and left for Tirukudantai where he offered his prayers to Lord ArAvamudan by reciting the “ArAvamudE” pAsurams and was extremely happy. He sought the help of the bhAgavatAs in the sannidhi to bless him by teaching all the one thousand (1,000) pAsurams of TiruvAimozhi. They said that they know only this set of ten pAsurams and that they were not aware of the remaining ones.
From there, SrI Nathamunigal went to Alzhwar Tirunagari and prayed at the lotus feet of NammAzhvAr and Polintu ninRapirAn Perumal. He [[7]] offered his daNDavat praNAmams to the bhAgavatAs in the temple and appealed to them to teach him all the 1,000 verses of TiruvAimozhi. One of the bhAgavatAs by name ParAnkuSadAsar (who comes in the line of Madhurakavigal) responded to him saying, “We have heard that TiruvAimozhi has one thousand pAsurams, but we do not know the actual verses. However, we knew in a sampradAyic way, “KaNNinuN ciRuttAmpu” pAsurams which are sung in praise of NammAzhvAr”. He said that he will do the upadeSam (initiate) of this prabandham to SrI Nathamunigal. He advised that if “KaNNinuN ciRuttAmpu” pAsurams is recited with concentration twelve thousand times (Avrutti), NammAzhvAr will appear in person before SrI Nathamunigal and bless him.
SrI Nathamunigal learnt this Prabandham and recited the pAsurams twelve thousand times at the feet of tiruppuLiyAzvAr (NammaAzhvAr). Lord SrIman Narayanan and Periya PirATTi, bid AzhvAr to bless SrI Nathamunigal. AzhvAr along with Madhurakavigal (who composed the “KaNNinuN ciRuttAmpu” Prabandham) appeared in front of SrI Nathamunigal and asked him as to what does he want. SrI Nathamunigal appealed to AzhvAr to bless him by upadeSam of TiruvAimozhi and all the other special philosophical teachings. As per the niyamanam of the divya dampatis, AzhvAr blessed SrI Nathamunigal with divya cakshus (divine eyes) and initiated him on to Tirumantiram, vyAsa sUtrArthams, nAlAyira divya Prabandhams including TiruvAimozhi and all the other rahasyArthams. SrI Nathamunigal after thus having been initiated in to these treasures was very grateful and offered his prayers by chanting the nAlAyira divya prabandhams to AzhvAr and Polintu ninRapirAn Perumal. The elders there did their praNAmams to SrI Nathamunigal and were very happy and appreciated the intense devotion to AzhvAr and the special blessing showered on him by AzhvAr. They told SrI Nathamunigal, the story that happened a long time back.
“TirumangaiyAzhvAr praying to Periya Perumal, SrI Ranganathan, used to conduct a utsavam at Srirangam by taking the NammAzhvAr arcA vigraham from Azhwar Tirunagari to Srirangam Temple in a holy procession, recite Veda pArAyaNam and TiruvAimozhi for ten days starting from Sukla Paksha ekAdaSI in the presence of Namperumal and all the other AzhvArs. He named this utsavam as ’tiruvadhyayanotsavam’ and conducted every year. After a few years, this annual event of NammAzvAr vigraham being taken to Srirangam was disrupted and stopped. The divya prabandhams were also lost (luptam). We heard this from our elders”.
[[8]] On hearing this, SrI Nathamunigal told them that the Lord helped the restoration of the divya prabandhams by using him as a tool and that the Lord will definitely offer an appropriate solution for the revival of tiruvadhyayana utsavam too. SrI Nathamunigal went to Srirangam Temple and through the temple officials organized to carryout the wish of Periya Perumal for reviving the procession of NammAzhvAr to Srirangam and revived the adyayana utsavam The utsavam was conducted with the recital of two thousand pAsurams starting from the prathama tithi for ten days prior to ekAdaSI in the month of Margazhi Sukhla Paksham and the TiruvAimozi pAsurams for ten days after ekAdaSI tithi and the remaining pAsurams on the 11th day post EkAdaSI and thus a grand twenty one day utsavam was revived.
From Srirangam, SrI Nathamunigal went to Tirukudantai and prayed to Lord ArAvamudan and consecrated the arcA form of NammAzhvAr in that temple. There, he conducted tiruvadhyayana utsavam. He named the Perumal as “ArAvamudAzhvAn”. Perumal being instrumental in reviving the nAlAiyira divya Prabandhams and re-establishing the ViSishTAdvaita siddhAntam thus becoming siddhAnta pravartakar was thus honored and ArAvamudAzhvAn showered His graceful blessings on SrI Nathamunigal. He then on getting the niyamanam of ArAvamudAzhvAn returned to his home town, Veeranarayanapuram.
On the niyamanam of Perumal (MannAr), he was living at Veeranarayanapuram. He taught his SishyAs, KeezhaiyagattAzhvAn, and mElaiyagattAzhvAn and others on nAlAyira divya Prabandhams set to tune in devagAnam. He sent some of his SishyAs to Srirangam Temple to sing the prabandhams in the sannidhi of Periya Perumal, Sri Ranganathan.
His methodology of chanting the divya prabandhams set to divya gAnam tunes similar to the methodology of Veda VyAsa teaching the Vedas in udAtta anudAtta svarAs, gained acclaim and reputation quickly.
At one time two women, one a deva dAsi trained in deva gAnam style and the other woman expert in manushya gAnam style performed in the court of the Gangaikonda Cholapuram King. The king honored the lady who sung in manushya gAnam style and ignored the other lady singer who sung in deva gAnam Style. The one who was singing in deva gAnam in praise of the Lord of various temples steeped in bhakti and in due course performed at Veeranarayanapuram in the sannidhi of MannAr. On listening to the divya gAnam of the woman, SrI Nathamunigal appreciated her and asked the priest to present the [[9]] garland and other prasAdams of the Lord, MannAar to her. She went to the court of the Gangaikonda Cholapuram king and requested him to invite SrI Nathamunigal to his court and ask her sing in front of SrI Nathamunigal to realize the supremacy of the deva gAnam style of singing. The King was curious and he sent his invite through his ministers to SrI Nathamunigal. Even though the issue is not relewant personally to him, SrI Nathamunigal respecting the request of the singer presented himself at the court of the king. The king extended all honors and requested SrI Nathamunigal the uniqueness of singing in deva ganja style by the woman. SrI Nathamunigal placed a tAlam (cymbal, a musical instrument made of metal which is resonated to maintain the tempo while singing) on a divine sculpted pillar made of granite and asked the lady to perform her deva gAnam. Immediately the granite pillar turned into a water fountain and he asked the lady to stop the singing and asked the courtier to remove that tAlam, but they could not do so. He asked the lady to resume singing and they could now remove the tAlam. Next he asked the courtier to play four hundred tAlams simultaneously and explained that the deva gAnam resonance is of similar dimension. The king experimented the tAlam and songs of the lady and realized the truth in the observation of SrI Nathamunigal and offered his daNDavat PraNAmams to his sacred feet, offered him several gifts as sampAvanA. SrI Nathamunigal was not tempted by this and politely declined the gifts and returned to Veeranarayanapuram. He continued with his devotion and prayer happily to MannAr. The king extended all the honors to the lady singer and bid her farewell. From that day onwards the king was devoted to SrI Nathamunigal and his disciples and lived a life of devotion.
Sri Nathamunigal composed two granthams, nyAyatatvam and Yogarahasyam.
taniyan –
नाथेन मुनिना तेन भवेयं नाथवानहम् । यस्य नैगमिकंA तत्वं हस्तामलकतां गतम् ॥
nAthene muninA tena bhaveyam nAthavAnaham | yasya naikamikam tatvam hastAmalakatAm gatam ||
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