Vinnagara Temple

Sometimes trivial incidents lead to events of great
significance. One such incident now occurred to
Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan. Remember, he was standing
by the roadside to watch the procession of the Pazluvoor
Lord and his entourage? His horse stood a little away form
him.

Some of the men walking towards the end of the Pazluvoor
retinue sighted the horse. "Dear chap! Look at this mule!"
said one of them.

"Don't say mule. Say mare," corrected the other. "Set the
semantic research aside! First of all find out if it is a
donkey or a mule!" said a third man. "Let's check it out!"
said yet another as he approached the horse. He tried to
jump on its back, but the intelligent horse realized that this
was not its master; it refused to let him mount.
"Hey! This is a troublesome horse. It will not let me
mount! Perhaps only a prince of well established lineage
can ride it! Well then, Tanjore Muthuaraya will have to
come back!"

His friends laughed at this witticism. Tanjore Muthuaraya's
dynasty had vanished a hundred years ago! Now, a flag
bearing the tiger symbol of the Chozlas flew over Tanjore.
"The horse may think so. However, if you ask me I would
say that a fully alive Thandavaraya is better than a dead
Muthuaraya from Tanjore," said another undaunted man
named Thandavaraya.

"Thandavaraya, find out if this pesky horse that wont let
you come near is really a horse! Perhaps it is a dummy
dance-horse come in for the temple festival," said another
prankster.
"Ok, let's examine it," saying this Thandavaraya twisted
the horse's tail. The proud horse kicked its hind legs
several times and began running amok. "Hey, the mule is
running away! It really is a mare!" shouted the man and
with cries of "Ooi, ooi," they began to chase the horse even
further.

The horse began running helter skelter amidst the festive
crowd. People trying to avoid its hooves moved away in a
hurry. Even so, some of them were kicked down. The
horse ran wild. All this happened within a few seconds
right in front of Vandiya Devan. From the expression on
Vallavarayan's face, Azlvar-adiyan, the Vaishnava,
surmised it to be his horse.
"Thambi, did you see the work of those Pazluvoor brutes?
What happened to the boldness that you showed in front of
me? Could you not show your valor against them?" he
pointed out.

Vandiya Devan felt a piercing outrage. Yet, he grit his
teeth and remained patient. The Pazluvoor men were a
large group. There was no point in confronting the whole
lot. Neither did those men wait for him to pick a fight.
Laughing over their pranks with the horse they had quickly
marched ahead.

Vandiya Devan started walking in the direction in which
the horse had gone. He knew that his horse would run for a
while and then stop. So he did not worry about it. He felt
that one day he should settle the score with those arrogant
men of Pazluvoor and the idea became firmly etched in his
mind.

His horse stood in a clearing beyond the tamarind grove,
wearing a saddened expression. As he approached it, the
horse neighed; the speechless creature seemed to say,
"Why did you part from me and subject me to these
travails?" He quietened the horse by patting its back and
then led it back towards the road.

Several persons of the festive crowd asked, "Thambi why
did you bring this unruly horse here? See how it has kicked
us?" Others pacified them with words like "What will this
young man do? What could the horse have done? We have
to blame those Pazluvoor rogues for this mishap."
Azlvar-adiyan waited at the roadside. Vandiya Devan
frowned. What nuisance is this... It seems as if this fellow
will not let go.

"Thambi, which way are you going?" asked Azlvar-adiyan.

"Me? I plan to go a little ways west and then a bit to the
south; then go around east to travel southwest."

"I am not asking all that. I meant, where do you plan to
stay tonight?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Perhaps, if you were planning to stay at the fort of
Kadamboor Sambuvaraya, I have an assignment to be done
there ..."

"What! Do you know magic or witchcraft? How did you
know that I was going to Kadamboor Palace?" asked
Vandiya Devan.

"What is so surprising about it? Tonight, several
dignitaries from various places are going there. Lord
Pazluvoor and his retainers are also going there."
"Is that true?" said a surprised Vandiya Devan.

"Yes, it is true. The elephant, the horses, liveried footmen
and other honors were from Kadamboor. They came to
receive Lord Pazluvoor; all such protocols are always
observed wherever he goes."

Vandiya Devan became thoughtful. The opportunity to
stay in the same lodgings as Lord Pazluvoor was not easy
to come by. He may even chance to make the acquaintance
of that esteemed warrior. However, the experience with the
unruly retainers of the Lord still rankled bitterly.
Azlvar-adiyan interrupted these thoughts in a begging
voice, "Thambi, will you do me a favor?"

"How can I help you? I am new to these parts."
"It is a task that is possible for you. Take me along to
Kadamboor Fort tonight."

"Why? Is some fanatic Saiva coming there? Are you going
to debate about the greatness of Shiva and Thirumal to
conclude who is the greater God?"

"No. No. Did you think that getting into arguments was my
only occupation? Tonight there will be a lavish banquet at
Kadamboor. After the feasting there would be several
entertainments: music, pantomimes, miracle plays, gypsy
dancers and mystic oracles. I wish to see the gypsy dance
and hear the oracle."

"Even then, how can I take you along?"

"Say that I am your servant."

Vandiya Devan felt that his earlier doubts were confirmed.

"Find someone else for such deception and fraud. I do not
need a servant like you. Anyway no one will believe it;
from what you say, I doubt if they would even let me into
the fort tonight."

"Aha! That means you are not going to Kadamboor upon
invitation!"

"Well, I have an invitation of sorts. Kandamaran, the son
of Lord Sambuvaraya, is my close friend. He has invited
me several times to come and stay at his palace if I come
to these parts."

"Is that all! Then even your situation is kind of doubtful
tonight!"

Both kept walking onwards, silently, for a while. "Why are
you still following me?" asked Vandiya Devan.

"I was about to ask you the same question. why are you
following me? Why don't you go your own way?"

"Well it is because of not knowing which way to go.

Where are you going? Perhaps to Kadamboor?"

"No. You said you cannot take me there. I am going to the
Vinnagara temple."

"To the presence of the deity Veera-narayana-perumal?"

"Yes."

"I too would like to go to that temple and worship that
perumal."

"I thought that you would perhaps not come to a Vishnu
temple. It is a temple that should be seen; a deity worthy to
behold. The priest Eshwara Munigal offers services at the
temple. He is a venerable man."

"I too have heard this. But, it is very crowded. Is there
some special celebration at the temple today?"

"Yes, today is the day of the Saint Andal. It is also the Aadi Festival of Padhinettam Perukku.

All these festivities
are because of this.
Thambi, have you heard any of the
invocative poems of Andal?"

"I have not heard any."

"Don't. Don't ever listen to her poems!"

"Why this hatred?"

"It is not hatred. Nor is it enmity. It is for your benefit that
I say it. If you ever happen to hear any of the melodious
psalms of Andal, you will drop your swords and spears;
like me, you too will fall in love with Kannan and start
upon a pilgrimage to all the Vishnu temples."

"Do you know any of these psalms of Andal? Can you sing
them?"

"I know some. I also know some of the poems of
Nammazlvar who translated the Vedas (scriptures) into
Tamil. I am going to sing some of them at the shrine. If
you wish, you can listen. Here comes the temple." By now
they had reached the Vinnagara temple.

Paranthaka Chozla I, a grandson of Vijayala Chozla, had
won the title Conqueror of Madurai and Lanka. He was the
monarch who established the foundations of the Chozla
Empire. He achieved historical fame because he covered
the roof of the temple at Chidambaram with gold. Besides
titles like Jewel among Chozlas, Greatest of Warriors, he
also had the honored name of Veera Narayana.

During Paranthaka's times, the Rashtrakutas in the north
were powerful monarchs. He expected them to come from
Manyaketa (roughly present day Maharashtra) and invade
the territories of the Tamils. Therefore he stationed a huge
army, led by his eldest son Prince Raja-aditya, in the
Thirumunaipadi Territories north of the Cauvery.

Prince Raja-aditya had a brilliant idea while his large
numbers of soldiers waited in idleness, with nothing to do.
Using them he wished to fulfil a major undertaking for the
benefit of the population. Enormous quantities of flood
waters flowing in the Kollidam river were going
wastefully into the sea. Wishing to make use of these
waters, he made his soldiers build a huge, spreading
reservoir. In honor of his distinguished father he named it
the Veera Narayana Lake. He then established the town of
Veera-narayana-puram on its shores and also built a
Vinnagara temple.

The Sanskrit term Vishnu Griha meaning Abode of
Vishnu, became Vinnagara in Tamil. Does not Sri
Narayana, i.e., Vishnu recline upon the primeval waters in
sublime meditation? Therefore, it was customary in those
days to build Vinnagaras on lake shores so that the deity
would protect the reservoir. Therefore, the Prince constructed a temple for Veera-Narayana at Veeranarayana-
puram.

It was to this temple that Vandiya Devan went in Azlvaradiyan's
company. At the sanctum sanctorium Azlvaradiyan
began singing. He sang a few devotional poems by
Andal. He then sang a few verses of Nammazlvar:

Praise, praise,praise the Lord,
Gone is the curse of this wretched life;
There is nothing left here for Lord Yama,
Who created the hells of despair and death;
These creatures of the ocean-colored Lord,
Reckoned on this earth, the sorrows of these times;
See, they have come to worship him,
Serve him with dance and song;
We saw, we saw, we saw,
We saw things pleasing to the eye;
Come, Come all ye worshippers!
Come adore him, come here to salvation;
Follow the path of these souls dear to Lord Madhava,
Live on this earth with dance and song of his glory.

When Azlvar-adiyan sang these songs, tears overflowed
from his eyes and streamed down his cheeks. Vandiya
Devan listened attentively. Though tears did not stream
from his eyes, he was very moved. His biased opinions
about Azlvar-adiyan were somewhat transformed. This
fellow is very devout, he thought.

Several others listened to the songs with interest. The
temple trustees came to listen. The priest Eshwara Munigal
heard them with tear laden eyes. The priest's son, a mere
child, stood nearby and listened with rapt attention.
Azlvar-adiyan sang ten such poems and then stopped with
these words:

These be merely parts
Of Thennan Gurukoor Maran Sadagopan's
Devotional compositions
numbering one-thousand and twenty
which would melt any devout heart.
The priest's son whispered something into his fathers ears.
Wiping his tear-laden eyes the priest came forward to ask,
"Sir, it is said that Gurukoor Sadagopa known as
Nammazlvar has sung more than thousand such poems. Do
you know them all?"

"I do not have that fortune. I know just a few of his tenliners,"
replied Azlvar-adiyan Nambi.
"I entreat you to teach this child all the songs you know,"
requested the priest.

In later years this town was to attain several honors. The
boy with the childish face shining with devotion would
grow up to be known as Nadamuni Adigal the foremost of
Vaishnava teachers.

He would go to Gurukoor, the blessed town from where Nammazlvar hailed; search and collect
all thousand poems; set them to music; sing them and
along with his disciples popularize those songs all over the
country. Alavandar who would be born as the grandson of
Nadamuni Adigal would perform several miracles.
Even the great Saint Sri Ramanuja himself would come to
visit this hallowed place of their birth. When he comes he
will be amazed by the Veera Narayana Lake and its
seventy-four irrigation-gates. He would wish to establish
seventy-four monastic seats to spread the holy word of
Lord Narayana's grace and benevolence to all the populace
in the same fashion that the reservoir distributed its
bountiful waters through seventy-four irrigation canals for
the welfare of the people. Later seventy four such
monastic-teaching-seats or pitams would be established.
Let us leave it to scholars to describe all these magnificent
happenings of Vaishnava history and return to our hero
Vallavarayan Vandiya Devan.

When they came outside the temple after their worship,
Vandiya Devan said "Sir, Mr. Nambi! I did not realize that
you were such a devout and learned person. If I had
annoyed you with my impudence please forgive me."

"I forgive you Thambi. Say, will you now do me a favor?"
"Did I not say that I cannot help you on your request? Did
you also not agree?"

"This is something else. I will give you a small note. If you
stay at Kadamboor Fort, you must find an appropriate time
to give it to someone."

"To whom?"

"To the lady who was in the closed palanquin behind Lord
Pazluvoor's elephant."

"Mr. Nambi! Whom do you take me to be? Am I the
fellow for such activities? If anyone but you had uttered
such words to me ..."

"Thambi! Don't be agitated. If it is not possible you can let
it be. Go your way. However, if you help me in this matter,
my help might be useful to you at some later time. There is
no harm done. You can go."

After this Vandiya Devan did not tarry any longer. He
jumped on his horse and sent it galloping towards
Kadamboor.