maNakkAl nambi

sri:
srimathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srimadh varavaramunayE nama:
sri vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:

In the previous article (https://acharyas.koyil.org/index.php/2012/08/24/uyyakkondar-english/) we discussed about uyyakkondAr. Now we will move on to the next AchAryan in the OrAN vazhi guru paramparai.

maNakkAl nambi – maNakkAl

Thirunakshathram: mAsi, magam

avathAra sthalam: maNakkAl (a village on the banks of river cauvery, near srirangam)

AchAryan: uyyakkondAr

Sishyas: ALavandhAr, thiruvaranga perumAL arayar (ALavandhAr’s son), dheivathukkarasu nambi, piLLai arasu nambi, siru puLLUrudaiyAr piLLai, thirumAlirunchOlai dhAsar, vangipurathu Aychi.

sri rAma misrar was born in maNakkAl. He eventually and popularly became to be known as maNakkAl nambi.

He lived with his Acharyan uyyakkondAr and served him for 12 years together. During that time uyyakkondAr’s dharma pathini (wife) attains paramapadham – so maNakkAl nambi completely takes care of his AchAryan’s thirumALigai and children. Once, when his AchAryan’s daughters were returning from cauvery, they were stopped by a large puddle of muddy water and were hesitating to cross the same. At that time, nambi falls flat on the puddle and let the girls cross over by walking over him. On hearing this, uyyakkondAr becomes very pleased and decorates nambi’s thirumudi (head) with his lotus feet. He asks nambi what he needs and nambi says he only wants to serve his AchAryan. Being extermely pleased with his sishyan’s conduct/desire, uyyakkondAr immediately does dvaya mahA manthrOpadhEsam once more (it was customary for AchAryas to do dvaya mahA manthrOpadhEsam when they are pleased with their sishyas).

uyyakkondAr appoints maNakkAl nambi as his successor while leaving to paramapadham and instructs him to train Ishvara muni’s son to become the leader of our dharisanam. Ishvara muni begets yamunaithuraivar and nambi performs pancha samskAram to him (It seems customary those days that sanka chakra lAnchanam is also done during nAma karaNam on the 11th day – while the sishya will learn the thirumanthra artha upadhEsam and thiruvArAdhanam after attaining appropriate maturity).

yamunaithuraivar being very intelligent, goes on to become ALavandhAr, gets half the kingdom (which we will see in his vaibhavam) and gets entangled in administrative duties forgetting his position. When maNakkAl nambi tries to meet ALavandhAr, the security guards does not allow him to do so.

maNakkAl nambi takes up the task of reforming ALavandhAr. To re-engage his sishya, he starts giving thUthuvaLai keerai (a green leafy vegetable) daily to the palace kitchen kainkaryaparAs. ALavandhAr starts liking it and suddenly when one day it was stopped, asks his kainkaryaparas what happened to it. They mention that an elderly srivaishnava regularly gave that and he stopped now. Finding out that it was maNakkAl nambi, he invites him to his palace, gives him a special seat and asks him if he needs any wealth. maNakkAl nambi says, he has the real wealth (srivaishnavasri) generated by nAthamunigaL and wants to give that to ALavandhAr. Hearing this ALavandhAr orders his security guards to let him in any time.

maNakkAl nambi starts teaching the meanings of bhagavath githai fully to ALavandhAr which slowly transforms ALavandhAr back to his old self. ALavandhAr, once reformed, asks what is the essence of gIthai that will allow him to have bhagavath sAkshAthkAram and nambi explains charama slOka artham in a detailed manner. He then takes ALavandhAr along with him to thiruvarangam and makes him worship periya perumAL and ALavandhAr gives up all worldly attachments by being mesmerized by the beauty of periya perumAL.

maNakkAl nambi, thus fullfilling the desires of nAthamunigaL, happily leaves to paramapadham. He instructs ALavandhAr to always think about nAthamunigaL and protect and propagate our dharisanam. He also instructs ALavandhAr to identify/bless a dharisana pravarthakar like him for the future as well. Rest is history, as we know, ALavandhAr blesses emperumAnAr to become our dharisana pravarthakar and all.

We will see ALavandhAr’s vaibhavam in the next article.

maNakkAl nambi’s thanian:

ayathnathO yAumunam Athma dhAsam alarkka pathrArppaNa NishkrayENa
ya: krIthvAnAsthitha yauvarAjyam namAmitham rAmamEya sathvam

அயத்நதோ யாமுநம் ஆத்ம தாஸம் அலர்க்க பத்ரார்ப்பண நிஷ்க்ரயேண
ய: க்ரீதவான் ஆஸ்தித யௌவராஜ்யம் நமாமிதம் ராமமேய ஸத்வம்

In our next article, we will see ALavandhAr vaibhavam.

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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Sources: 6000 padi guru paramparA prabhavam, periya thirumudi adaivu