Sri Periya Nambi

(Image is just an illusion)

Sri Periya Nambi, also known as Mahapurna, is well known for his contribution towards the development of Sri Vaishnavam. He was one of the prominent disciples of Sri Alavandar. He was born in year 997 and lived for a total of 105 years. He was also know as Parankusa Daasar.

Periya Nambi mastered several branches of learning at a very young age and became a disciple of Alavandar. Under the guidance of Alavandar, Periya Nambi mastered the texts of Vedanta and Divya Prabandam, a result of which he came to be known as Mahapurna. He became the primary AcArya for Sri Ramanuja.

During the same period, Alavandar's greatness was well known to other Sri Vaishnavas such as Thiruk kottiyur nambi, Thirukkacchi nambikal, Thirumaalai Andaan, Periya Thirumalai Nambikal. Alavandar, after receiving the blessing of Sri Ranganathar, paid a visit to Kanchi. When he entered Sri AruLaaLap perumaaL shrine, Thirukkacchi NambikaL, brought Ramanuja to his attention, saying "He is the one who naturally understands that The Lord Vishnu, who has the eyes that resemble a lotus, is the true meaning of Vedanta". Alavandar was very much impressed with Ramanuja. Periya Nambi was with Alavandar all this while.

After returning to Sri Rangam, Alavandar was restless to meet Ramanuja. As his health started to fail, Alavandar requested Periya Nambi to bring Ramanuja to Srirangam. Sir Periya Nambi reached Kanchi and extended Alavandar's invitation to Ramanuja. However, before he could reach Srirangam, Alavandar reached the devine feet of Sri Ranganathar at Vaikundam. Ramanuja returned to Kanchi after promising to satisfy the three requests from Alavandar:

The name of Parasara, should be commemorated on the earth by giving it to a person worthy to bear it.

Compose a commentary on Tiruvaymozhi of St. Nammaazhvaar.
Compose a commentary on Upanishads, Vedanta Sutras and Bhagavad Gita.

Periya Nambi, who became the AcArya after Alavandar, could not wait to meet Ramanuja. So he decided to meet him at Kanchi. Meanwhile, Ramanuja, was equally anxious to meet Periya Nambi, and decided to get to Sri Rangam. They both met at MadhurAnthakam.
Ramanuja requested Periya Nambi to be initiated in SriVaishnavam and started learning the

Prabandam from him. They both returned to Kanchi and got the blessings of Lord Varadha. Priya Nambi and his wife stayed with Ramanuja for a while. During this time, Ramanuja's wife and Periya Nambi's wife had an altercation while drawing water from a near by well. Nambi, who was witness to this, decided to return to Sri Rangam, as a prolonged stay at Ramanuja's home would result in more conflicts. When Ramanuja returned he was told of the altercation and subsequent Nambi's departure. Ramanuja, who was was outraged at his wife's behavior, sent her to her parents place, and decided to take up the ascetic order.

Later when one of Alavandar's disciples, Sri MaranEri Nambi passed away, Periya Nambi performed the last rites, inspite of the fact that MaranEri nambi was from a lower caste. When Ramanuja questioned him of his action, Nambi recalled that Sri Rama performed the last rites of Jataayu, and added he was neither bigger that Sri Rama nor was Maraneri nambi lower than Jataayu. Though Ramanuja was satisfied with his answer, the rest of vaishnavas in Srirangam were not. They decided to isolate periya nambi. Once when Ranganathar was taking a procession, the temple car came to a complete halt at the entrance of Periya nambi's house and refused to move. Only after Periya nambi was given the theertham and the aaraadhana, the car allowed itself to proceed. It took Sri Ranganathar to demonstrate the greatness of Periya nambi.

When the Chola King (Kulothungan) wanted to do harm to Ramanujar, Periya nambi and Koorathazhvan went to the king in place of Ramanuja. They both sacrificed their eye sight to save the Sri Vaishnava sampradhayam and Sri Ramanuja. On their return to Srirangam, due to his failing health, Periya Nmabi could not complete the journey and attained Vaikundam. It is believed that, though Periya nambi wanted to reach Srirangam and attain Vaikundam while being there, he decided to do otherwise fearing that it would generate a false impression and other Sri Vaishnavas would worry about passing away at places other than Sri Rangam, in order to attain moksham.

Sri Vaishnava Universe - http://www.srivaishnava.org/

қαvї - கவி

Some From The Actual Part

First Thought

(Image is just an illusion)

Kulothunga Chola II was a 12th century king of the Chola Dynasty, among the Tamil people in the region that now primarily in southern India. He succeeded his father Vikrama Chola to the Chola throne in 1135 C.E. Vikrama Chola made his heir apparent and coregent in 1133 C.E and so the inscriptions of Kulothunga II count his reign from 1133 C.E.

Kulothunga II reigned over a period of general peace and good governance. There is no record of any warfare except for the consolidation of the Chola control over the northern Vengi territories, which had been won by his father Vikrama Chola by routing the Western Chalukyas.

Kulothunga was a great devotee of the Siva shrine of Chidambaram. He celebrated his coronation in that city. Chidambaram is one of those five places where chola princes were invested with crown. He also financed the elaborate renovation of the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram. The poem Kulothunga Cholan Ula describes in detail the work carried out in Chidambaram. It is possible that this renovation work is the continuation of the work started by Vikrama Chola. He commissioned the work called "thiru thondar puranam", by his Noble Sekkilar, who composed it from Thillai(Chidambaram).

Kulothunga II had a comparatively peaceful reign. His intolerance or persecution of "Vaishnavas" is disputed. As explained in the 'Kulothunga Cholan Ula', during his time major development work at the Natarajar Temple at Thillai (Chidambaram) was carried out. Incidentally, this major Shaiva shrine also houses the (separate) temple of Lord Vishnu as Govindarajar, which is among the 108 Divya Desams (sacred temples of Lord Vishnu). Under Kulothunga II's orders, an attempt to persuade the patrons of the Vishnu shrine was made for temporarily removing the idol of Vishnu, ostensibly with the purpose of repairing and renovation, which was initially opposed by the Vaishnava community. Kulothunga-II probably got the idol forcibly shifted mainly so that the repair work is carried on smoothly and also with the intention of not causing any damage to the Vishnu shrine. This opposition of Vaishnavas to the (intended but not deliberate) removal and closure of Lord Vishnu's temple was interpreted in some quarters as persecution of Vaishnavites, because in Hinduism closure of a temple is opposed and at least a small lamp has to be lit in the temple, without which that temple is not considered fit for worship. It is also a well known fact that the great preceptor of the vaishnavites, Ramanuja was forced by his disciples who feared for his life, to leave Srirangam for Melkote where the hoysala king, though a jain, was secular. Kulothunga blinded all Vaishnavites who refused to accept that Siva was the supreme God and Ramanuja's aging preceptor Periya Nambi and his staunch disciple Kuresan were chief among those. Periya Nambi lost his life after that.

Kulothunga Chola II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

қαvї - கவி