This pasuram sings the glory of periazhwar who used to do garland kainkaryam for Srivilliputtur Vatapatrasayee. He was asked to go to the court of the Pandian king in Madurai to establish the supremacy of Sriman Narayana. Though there were pandithas(experts) in all fields this true devotee of the lord won the contest because Perumal the prathama guru( first acharyan) did upadesham to him. By referring to the pertinent Vedams and Dravida Vedams periazhwar convincingly established Paratatvam.
Pasuram -3 of Tirunedunthandakam was taken up next and Perumal’s roopam and varnam were discussed. Perumal takes up many forms and colours acording to the situation. He enters even into the small vigraham a devotee worships and has a sublime Tirumeni. Like a gem He is pleasing to others and exists for others.During samudra mathanam many unique and rare things emerged. It was Halahala(poison ) which came out first and was swallowed by Shiva. Airavathan the elephant was taken by Indra, kausthubha gem adorned Vishnu and all the gods received amrutham(ambrosia) but the actual amrutham was Mahalakshmi who walked straight up to Perumal’s chest to remain there permanently. Nanjeeyar questioned the appropriateness of Lakshmi walking up to His chest in public view . Bhattar answered that since all those assembled there were His parijanams( servitors) She had no qualms about occupying Her place on His chest right infront of them. Perumal’s hue during samudra mathanam was black and dark blue. He took several roopams (forms) during this period. He took Koorma (tortoise) roopam to form a firm platform for churning the ocean. He took one form to encourage the devas another to dissuade the asuras. He assumed Mohini roopam ( the form of a beautiful damsel) to distract the asuras and give amrutham to the devas. Thus there were several forms taken by Him in several colours. Perumal captures our attention with His alankaram and ornaments. One stands bewitched by Ranganatha’s alankarams. When we see His bejewelled feet, the different crowns He wears like Pandian kondai, Muthu kondai, the different pendants like Vimana padhakam, Mahalakshmi padhakam we observe Him more intently.. He is handsome in all respects. Andal calls Him as “kan azhagar “( beautiful eyes) Vay azhagar(beautiful mouth) etc. He is Beauty Personified and it is not possible for anyone to describe His handsomeness completely. Namperumal asked Bhattar who was partial to Thayar how good was His nachiyar tirukolam? He dresses up in Thayar’s clothes and ornaments on the day previous to Vaikunta ekadashi. Bhattar commented that though the disguise was perfect the eyes betrayed Him since only Her eyes were full of Karuna (mercy). Swami Desikan calls Ranganatha’s eyes as Divyam chakshu:(divine eyes) and says He welcomes us with His eyes (swaghatho dhara nethram). Ranganathan and Aravamudhan attract by their Tirumeni Beauty which calls for second and third looks. Yet it is not possible for anyone to describe Him in full. Because of our limited intelligence and the constraints of Time and space no one can describe fully His forms, gunams ,greatness or beauty. This is possible only in Paramapadam where all mukthatmas will get a divine body and intelligence to comprehend Him. In sum He cannot be contained in essays or poems or shlokas.
Writeup & Video : Vyjayanthi & Sundararajan