It is
impossible to think about Lord Srinivasa of Thiruvengadam without thinking
about Sri Ananthazhwan; a prominent acharya in the Sri Vaishnava Guru Parampara
who was steeped in acharya bakthi that he was considered to be another Madurakavi
Azhwar. He has written many granthams like the Goda Chatusloki, Ramanuja
Chatusloki and Sri Venkatesa Ithihasa malai. Adiyen wishes to present below the
Vaibhavam of Sri Ananthazhwan.
The Appearance Of Ananthazhwan
The
gentle breeze from the Cauvery River filled the air with divine fragrance of
tulasi leaves and jasmine, the divine fragrance carried from the garland of
Namperumal. The streets around the temple looked charming. The sweet smell of
the agnihothram fire enhanced the serene atmosphere. Parrots and peacocks
flocked to the surrounding orchards while, spotted deer played in the orchards
and woods. Pious men and women walked through the streets well decorated with
beautiful rangoli with eagerness to attend the kalakshepam rendered by Swami
Ramanujar. The lecture hall was packed with eager disciples who concentrated on
each and every word uttered by the great Acharya. They not only focused their
mind on the words of their acharyan but, they also paid attention to the
expression on Swami Ramanujar’s face in order to understand the essence of the
commentaries on the Thiruvaimozhi pasurams.
Swami
Ramanujar had started to explain the ten verses on Thiruvengadam composed by
Swami Namazhwar with the intention of seeking nithya kaimkaryam (eternal
service to the Lord).
‘enthai
thanthai thanthai* thanthai thanthaikkum munthai,*
vaanavar*
vaanavarkOnodum,*
sinthupoo
makizum* thiruvENG kadatthu,*
antha
milpugazk* kaarezil aNNalE.'
While reciting the above pasurams, all the
disciples noticed tears flowing from Swami Ramanujar’s eyes. They looked at one
another trying to decipher the reason for the tears in the eyes of the great
acharyan. Was it tears of joy or sorrow? Which line in the above verse provoked
the Acharya to shed tears? The attentive disciples correctly determined that
the line,’ sinthupoo makizum* thiruvENG kadatthu’ had caused Swami Ramanujar to
shed tears. They wished to know if Swami cried because he was feeling happy or
because he was feeling depressed.
‘We
wish to know the reason for the tears in your eyes while reciting the line
“sinthupoo makizum thiruveng kadatthu”'
‘I feel
dejected at the thought of the flowers growing on the Thiruvengadam hills which
fall to the ground because there is no one there who is dedicated to gather the
flowers and offer them to the Lord of Thiruvengadam. Is there anyone amongst
you who is willing to go to Thiruvengadam and do pushpa kaimkaryam to the Lord
of Seven Hills?’
The
disciples looked at one another. They understood the need for someone to do service
to the Lord of Tirumala. In the time period of Swami Ramanujar, it wasn’t an
easy task to travel to Thiruvengadam. The roads were treacherous, crawling with
fierce thieves and wildlife. Some disciples refrained from volunteering as they
were worried about living in a remote area quite far from civilization. Others
felt distress even at the thought of leaving Sri Rangam. They felt great love
for Lord Ranganatha and couldn’t bear the thought of not being able to worship
Namperumal every day. The disciples who were very close to Swami Ramanujar felt
concerned at the thought of leaving their acharyan. They would even give up
Lord Ranganatha but, they couldn’t think about staying away from their dear
acharyan. While the disciples were fidgeting and trying to avoid looking at
their acharyan lest they should be nominated by him, Sri Ananta Suri got up,
walked towards Swami Ramanujar, paid his obeisance and said, ‘if it would
please you, I wish to go to Thiruvengadam and offer pushpa kaimkaryam (floral
service) to Lord Srinivasa.’ His words struck wonder at the hearts of everyone
who had gathered there.
‘You
are Ananthan Pillai!’ Swami Ramanujar exclaimed as he embraced Sri Ananta Suri.
From that moment, Sri Ananta Suri came to be known as Ananthan Pillai or
Ananthazhwan. ‘You are the only one in this assembly who is courageous enough
to undertake this task.’
‘When
do you plan to leave?’ asked a disciple.
‘Immediately,
with the permission of our acharyan.’
‘Don’t
start immediately,’ advised another. ‘Wait till your wife gives birth as she is
not in a condition to undertake a trek to Thiruvengadam.’
‘What
you say is true but, it would be much difficult to travel with an infant and we
shouldn’t put off following the command of our acharyan for even a second. I
will start to Thiruvengadam immediately with my wife.’
Thus,
without wavering for even a second, Sri Ananthazhwan left behind the beautiful
island town of SriRangam which hosted the blue sapphire called Ranganatha. He
volunteered to leave his acharyan behind in order to put his acharyan’s mind at
peace by offering service to Lord Srinivasa. The couple trekked to
Thiruvengadam with joy. After all, they had been given a chance to serve their
acharyan. They soon arrived at Thiruvengadam.
The Lord’s Pranayakopam
They gathered
flowers from the surrounding hills and Sri Ananthazhwan would tie them into a
beautiful garland for Lord Srinivasa. He had a beautiful garden constructed
close to the temple. The seedlings grew very fast nourished by Sri
Ananthazhwan. He grew jasmine, rose, Spanish Cherry (Magizham poo), Screw Pine
(Thazham poo), Ylang-Ylang (manoranjitham), Indian Magnolia (shenbagappoo),
marukozhundhu (sweet marjoram) and holy basil (tulasi).He raised flowers in
neat rows. He spent his mornings gathering the flowers with great care and by
tying them into huge flower garlands with the help of strings taken from the
banana tree.
One day, it occurred to Sri Ananthazhwan that the trees would stop
flowering once the rainy season comes to an end. He felt concerned at the
thought that after a few months with no rain, there wouldn’t be any flowers to
offer to the Lord. He decided to construct lakes and pond to store the rain
water for his garden. The water from the artificial lake would be sufficient to
water the garden to nourish the flowering plants. It was one thing to make
plans about digging a lake and totally another to actually carry out the plan.
With no help available, Sri Ananthazhwan himself had to dig the lake while his
wife volunteered to carry the
excavated dirt in baskets to be dumped at a far off site. Lord Srinivasa
watched with joy the services the couple were performing to please their
acharyan. He looked with compassion at the wife of Sri Ananthazhwan who was
pregnant and in no condition to haul the dirt away from the excavated lake. The
compassionate Lord Srinivasa decided to help the couple by taking part in the service
which was being carried out with the intention of pleasing Swami Ramanujar.
Sri
Ananthazhwan filled a basket with excavated earth and passed the basket to his
wife. Sri Ananthazhwan’s wife started to walk with the basket to the site which
had been selected by them for dumping the earth. It was quite far from their
garden. She had to walk along the weather-beaten pathways that wound through
the hills. As she turned a corner, she heard someone who asked her to stop. As
she turned around, she saw a hunter. He looked as dark as the rain bearing
clouds. He wore peacock feathers on His hair. He carried a bow with a quiver
bag for His arrows. On His waist belt hung a conch and a sword.
‘You
shouldn’t be carrying such heavy load in your condition. I have been watching
you. I know where to dump the earth.’ Without waiting for her response, He
snatched the basket from her and ran towards the dump site.
Ananthazhwan’s
wife returned to the excavation site.
‘You
have returned very soon. Did you dump the earth in the location I showed you or
did you dump it somewhere nearby?’
‘I didn’t get a chance to go to the site. A
hunter snatched the basket from me saying that, I shouldn’t be working in my
condition and ran away towards the dump site. I didn’t have the strength to
stop Him.’
‘I will
deal with the hunter,’ said Sri Ananthazhwan as he tossed his spade down. ‘Let
us go and find Him.’
‘There
He is,’ pointed Sri Ananthazhwan’s wife.
They
saw the hunter walk towards them with the empty basket.
‘Why
did you snatch the basket from this lady?’ questioned Sri Ananthazhwan. ‘Don’t
you know it’s wrong to prevent people from serving the Lord?’
‘I do
not know anything about your rules. All I know is that it is not right to let a
woman in her condition to do such laborious task.’
‘What
do you know about us?’ thundered Sri Ananthazhwan. ‘Don’t pretend to be
compassionate and hinder the service we are performing for the Lord. I command
you to leave us alone. If you further thwart our work, I will hit you with my
spade!’
The
hunter hurried away without arguing with Sri Ananthazhwan.
‘He
won’t hamper you anymore. I have filled another basket for you to carry.’
Sri
Ananthazhwan’s wife carried the second basket and walked slowly towards the
dump site. As she neared the same corner where she had met the hunter earlier,
she was startled by Him as He once again grabbed the basket from her without
giving her a chance to speak. She once again, returned and complained to Sri
Ananthazhwan.
‘Is He
still troubling you?’ roared Sri Ananthazhwan. ‘I will teach Him a lesson.’ So
saying, he grabbed his spade and went in search of the hunter.
He soon
came across the hunter along the forest path. ‘Didn’t I warn you to leave us
alone? How dare you show your face here again?’
The
hunter did not wait to reply. He threw down the basket and started to run towards
the temple with Sri Ananthazhwan pursuing Him through the jungle path. They
soon came within the temple premises. The hunter started running around the
temple. Unable to keep up with the hunter, Sri Ananthazhwan threw his
spade at the hunter with the intention of stopping him. The spade hit the
hunter on His jaw. The hunter rubbed His jaw as He ran away without stopping to
look at Sri Ananthazhwan. The hunter turned a corner and vanished from view. He
was nowhere to be seen. Sri Ananthazhwan gave up his pursuit and returned to
his wife. ‘The hunter won’t trouble us anymore.’
He looked at the Sun and realized
that the excavation had to wait till the next day since he had to tie the
flowers he had gathered from the garden for Lord Srinivasa. Lord Srinivasa, who
had appeared in the form of a hunter before Sri Ananthazhwan, wished to reveal
His leelai to Sri Ananthazhwan. He commanded a Sri Vaishnava at the temple to
bring Sri Ananthazhwan with him to the sanctum. The Sri Vaishnava found Sri
Ananthazhwan in his garden tying flowers. He paid his obeisance to Sri
Ananthazhwan and conveyed the Lord’s message. He expected Sri Ananthazhwan to
start with him to the temple immediately, but, to his surprise, Sri
Ananthazhwan refused to come.
‘I have to tie these flowers for
the Lord. If I delay, they will wilt before they can be offered to the Lord.
Please let Perumal know that I will see Him when I come with the flower
garland.’
The messenger stood speechless. He
looked at the mound of flowers which by themselves resembled a hill.’ How long
will it take to tie these flowers?’ wondered the messenger. He did not know of
anyone who would refuse to obey the lord’s command. The messenger returned to
the temple and conveyed that Sri Ananthazhwan would only pay the Lord a visit
after he had tied together all the flowers into a garland.
‘Go tell Him that, the flowers
can wait. I do not care if they wilt. Tell him that I order him to appear
before me immediately!’
‘I have already told you once
that I cannot abandon my pushpa kaimkaryam. Let the Lord know that I cannot
come before Him now!’ replied Sri Ananthazhwan to the perplexed messenger.
Once again the messenger carried
Sri Ananthazhwan’s refusal to Lord Srinivasa. Perumal feigned anger and
responded heatedly. ‘Ask him for whom is he tying the garland? If he doesn’t
come this instant, tell him that I will not accept his garland!’
‘Tell Lord Srinivasa that I do
not care if He accepts my garland or not. It is my duty to tie the garland and
I will not neglect my duty!’
The Lord once again responded
angrily. ‘Ask him; to please whom, is he tying the garland?’
‘I am only tying this garland to
please my acharyan Swami Ramanujar!’
The messenger once again brought
Lord Srinivasa’s message in reply to Sri Ananthazhwan’s. ‘The lord doesn’t want
you to stay at Thiruvengadam for even a second; since, you do not obey His
divine command.’
To the messenger’s surprise, Sri
Ananthazhwan remained cool and composed. ‘Tell the Lord that He too is a
visitor to these hills like me. He has come here few thousand years ago from
Vaikuntam while I have come here recently. This makes both of us visitors to
this hill which means that He doesn’t have the right to evict me. Moreover, I
came here to serve my acharyan. Unless my acharyan asks me to return, I will
not leave these hills, even if it is the will of the Lord to send me away!’
Lord Srinivasa smiled when He
heard Sri Ananthazhwan’s reply. He felt very happy to witness Sri
Ananthazhwan’s acharya bakthi. He waited eagerly to see Sri Ananthazhwan. After
tying the garlands, Sri Ananthazhwan walked to the temple carrying the garlands
in a basket on his head.
‘The Lord will be very angry with
me,’ he thought. ‘It is better that I do not meet the Lord’s eyes today. I
should give Him a chance to cool down.’
Sri Ananthazhwan entered the
sanctum, but, without even looking at Lord Srinivasa, he left the basket at the
Lord’s feet and turned to go.
‘Don’t you wish to see me wear
your garland?’
Sri Ananthazhwan turned around
when he heard the divine voice and to his shock, saw a gash on the Lord’s jaw.
‘I wished to show you that I had
appeared before you as the hunter.’
Sri Ananthazhwan felt horrified when he
realized that he had hit the Lord with a spade. ‘I can get a doctor to cure
human beings whose bodies are Prakruthik in nature, but, how can I find a cure
to heal your aprakruthik Divya Managala Vigraham? Oh! What have I done! I came
here to please my acharyan by serving you but, alas! I have instead hurt you!
What will I tell my acharyan?’
Lord Srinivasa consoled Sri
Ananthazhwan. He asked for a paste made out of the foot dust of His devotees to
be applied on His chin to heal the wound. To this day, this paste is offered to
devotees and is called “Sripada Renu”.
