Kulasekhara Azhvar and Tirumala

Of the ten Azhvar mystics, Kulasekhara carries the special honorific of 'Perumaal'. Perumaal signifies 'Mahaa-purusha' which is the integral and specific cognomen ('roodhee-vaachyam') of Sri Narayana.

The Azhvar savants were those who were 'immersed' in the tide of God awareness, and have severally dedicated benedictional hymns ('mangala-aasaasana paasuram') to one or the other or several of the 'divya desam' shrines. To put it differently, divya-desam shrines are sacred centres which have variously received adoration from different aazhvaars. However, it is Kulasekhara alone who has the distinction of having his name for a part in the lay-out of the very sanctum sanctorum of every divya desam shrine. The stone-step in the sanctum is the 'Kulasekharan padi' which secures the consecrated archa deity within the holy of holies, and where the visiting devotee ('sevaarthee') halts and looks at the Lord. The relevant text is found in the decad of verses dedicated to the Lord of Tiruvenkatam in the Azhvar's prabandham known as Perumaal Tirumozhi. The great (Sanskrit) work of hagiology, Prapannaamritam of Anantaachaarya, describes this prabandham as 'Veda sikhaartha garbham' the Upanishadam itself.

Identity of the Lord in Tirumalai and in Srirangam

In the Srivaishnava 'sampradaayam', four shrines are specially adored, and adored principally, for the unique services rendered therein by Sri Ramanujacharya. The shrines are the ones at Srirangam (known as 'Koyil'), Tiruvenkatam (known as 'Tirumalai' or Srisailam), Kancheepuram Hastigiri (known as 'Perumaal Koyil) and Melkote (known as 'Tirunaaraayana Puram'). Of these, the Lords of Srirangam (known as Periya perumaal) and of Tirumalai (referred to simply as 'Appan') are identified with each other in the post - Azhvar 'rahasya' literature nurtured by the Aachaaryas. This inner tradition is based on the affirmation of Tiruppaan Aazhvaar, "The Lord who reclines on the (Ananta) serpent in Srirangam is verily the one that stands in benign stance over the lofty northern Venkata hills where the monkeys leap and roam about, and where He is hymned by the celestials".

The similarity, and frequent simultaneity, of descriptions of Tirumalai and Srirangam through the Divya Prabandham of the Aazhvaar saints is quite striking. Kulasekhara's name is established for the sanctum step in Tirumalai, and it is he that has also marked out the innermost pair of pillars ('Tiru-manattoon' or Aamodastambham) of the sanctum of Sriranga-vimaanam. Aazhvaar Bhuta avers, "Venkatam, the very hill we adore!" This sounds a note complementary to Aazhvaar Tirumangai's declaration, "Srirangam the favoured repose ('Sayanam') of the Lord of the milk-ocean ('ksheeraabdhi-naatha')!

Azhvar saints and Tirumalai

Andal - Goda known to the Telugu classical literature as Amuktamalyada, has dedicated surpassingly beautiful hymns to Tirumalai Tiruvenkatam, but she is not addressed as 'Azhvar' as she is regarded as the Divinity of Mother Earth. Madhurakavi Aazhvaar is also not counted among the Aazhvaars as his single decad of verses is dedicated not to the Lord but to his 'aachaarya' Sri Satakopa Nammaazhvaar; he declares he knows no deity other than Satakopa.

Of the ten Aazhvaar saints, nine have adored the Lord of Tiruvenkatam hills in their divya prabandhams. Their mystic experience is alike, their adoration issues in the same language and diction, but their phrasing is personal to them. Their adoration of the unexcelled visual beauty of Lord Sri Venkatesvara ('Appan') often comes out together with their joyful description of the ravishing beauties of the vast Venkatam hill range itself. This is also accompanied by vivid verbal cameos of the instinctive behaviour of the animals which inhabit, and create episodes out of the rich endowments, of these hills. The Azhvars, to one man, prize the coolness of the slopes, the pellucid water cascading down its high slopes, high rising bamboo clusters that seem to drum at the sky, the numerous crystal pools that dot the generous hillscape, the fantastic array and heady aroma of honey - rich flowers, the soothing drone of swarming beetles, and the like.

Kulasekhara Azhvar and his prabandham

Kulasekhara Azhvar was born into royalty in Tiruvanchikkalam in Kerala and his daughter, known simply as Cherakulavalli, is said to have attained wedlock with Lord Sriranganatha Himself. A shrine is dedicated to her in the Srirangam temple, and Lord Sriranganaatha is seated with her on the Sri Rama Navami day for an 'abhishekam' together. The Azhvar lived a life of fulfillment and devotion and spent his last days in Brahmadesam - Mannarkoyil situated to the west of Aazhvar Tirunagari.

The Azhvar's prabandham Perumal Tirumozhi consists of ten decads of hymns, of which one decad (the fourth) is entirely dedicated to Tirumalai. The principal theme-content of this decad is the celebration of the unsuspected gift of being born, the great potentials of 'being', and the ultimate beatitude of perennial God awareness. In his edition of the Divya Prabandham, Sri S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar has provided a succinct capsule of the sequential message of each decad of Perumal Tirumozhi. In the first two decads, the Azhvar savours how, by the grace of the Lord, he came into the spiritually receptive state of Bhagavad Bhaagavata Anukoolyam, that is, being inclined to serve the Lord and simultaneously questing for the fraternity of the Lord's devotees. In the third decad, he has decisively renounced the company of the materialists ('dehatma abhimaani') and the sensualists ('vishaya-pravana'). Despite this manner of spiritual coming of age, the Azhvar is apprehensive that the Lord may remain hidden for him for the reason that the devotee has not been fully liberated from hankering after the many lures of power and pelf in this world or the world beyond. In the fourth (Tirumalai) decad, the Azhvar comes out with affirmation after affirmation that worldly glory holds no fascination whatsoever for him and that he would be fulfilled if only the Lord would grant him a toe hold in any form or capacity on his sacred Tiruvenkatam hill. The Azhvar's insights are best appreciated by an actual reading of this Tirumalai decad, which is offered here in translation, despite that translations are hazardous exercises.

"Ooneru selvattu..." (1) [ I fancy not being born if only to fatten my muscle. There was the one (Sri Krishna) that took on and subdued the seven (charging) bulls (to win the wager of the hand of Nappinnai) and it is to Him that I remain devoted. Venkatam is of the Lord who carries the curved conch-shell, and may I even be hatched as a heron to nest there at the Svami Pushkarini.]

The name used is 'koneri' which is the exact Tamil equivalent of Svami Pushkarini. The Varaha Purana section on Venkatachalam gives the etymology as 'vyutpattih kathitaa yasyaah teerthaanaam svaaminee yatah, svaami pushkarinee tyeva..." Since it is the principal pond there be, it is the Svami Pushkarini. This finds corroboration in several texts in other Puranas.

"Anada selvattu..." (2) [Celestial dames of perennial youth wait on me, or I come into the rulership of the heavens or of this earth: I feign neither. May it be given unto me to be reared as a fish in a Tiruvenkatam pool beside a garden of honey - laden flowers.]

"pinnitta sadaiyaanum piramanum..." (3) [The winding approach to the gateway of this Vaikuntham (on earth) is difficult of entry as crammed with devotees (led by) Rudra of matted locks, Brahma and Indra. Lo, the Lord of Venkatam sports the lightning arc of His discus ! May be I get to carry the golden plate for the Lord to rinse his mouth, and thus gain entry into His sanctum!]

"onn pavala velai..." (4) [He is a skilled mystifier, He that has His beatific repose in the cool milk - ocean even as the waves lap on the shore with luminiscent coral creepers. I want to gaze at His feet and shall be glad to stand as a Champaca tree (anywhere) on Tirumalai which reverberates to the harmonic drone of bees.]

"kampa-mada-yaanai..." (5) [It could be the riches of pleasure and pageantry of kingly ride on the back of a trampling elephant (wild) in rut. This has no fascination for me whatever. The Lord is my ruler, He of the ravishing Venkatam hill. I shall rather be a clump of grass-weed on this very hill!]

"minn-anaiya nunn-idaiyaar..." (6) [Nymphs like Urvasi and Menaka are famed for their slender waist and come in music and dance. This holds no charm for me and, could I be a lustrous rock on any of the hills of Venkatam range? The beetle swarms spread their enchanting lays.]

"vaann aalum maamati pol..." (7) [I have not been in wealth or in emperorship seated under the white umbrella adored as the moon that rules the sky. May I flow in current as a stream through the honeyed flower beds of Tiruvenkatam slopes!]

"pirai eru sadaiyaanum..." (8) [He, my Lord, is the very purport of the scriptures. He the one that grants the prayers made in graded sacrifices rendered by the one that carries the moon's crescent in his tangled hair, by Brahma, by Indra. Would that I be prone as the upward foot-track on (the Lord's) Tiruvenkatam hill!]

"sediyaaya val vinaikal..." (9) [Oh Sri Narayana, thou be the one that negates dense clusters of evil deeds ! You are in majesty, thou of Venkatam ! It is in me to peer at your coral lips ! How else than by simply to lay myself (to direct my fervent stare) in the form of the sanctum-step increasingly traversed by your devotees, by the celestials and by various nymphs ?]

"umbar ulaku aandu..." (10) [He of coral red lips is the Lord, and it is He that is of the golden hill of Tiruvenkatam, and it is thereon that I shall lodge as any object whatsoever ! What do I care for the love of Urvasi in her golden fabrics ? Oh what either for the sole suzerainty of even the celestial worlds ?]

"mannia tann saaral..." (11) [They that learn this sensitive hymn shall be favoured of the Lord, for this was sung by Kulasekhara deft of spear (against social foes). He, Kulasekhara, sang this prayer out of his passion to see the golden-hued feet of the Lord of Venkatam in the north, Venkatam which is cool with perennial streams.]

The Tirumalai Lord Beautiful

The Maha Narayana Upanishad delineates the five manifestations of the Maker in the famous verse ..

[He reposes on the shoreless waters. He (comes) into the created world. He is over the high heavens greater than any. He suffuses the seeds of light, and this Prajaapati animates the natal nucleus.]

This well known, 'rik', lists (in the order they occur here) the 'vyooham' (of Para Vasudeva etc.), the 'vibhavam' (the 'avatarams'), the 'param' (of Vaikuntthanatha), the effulgent 'archa vigraham' (consecrated image worshipped in temples), and 'antar-yami' (the indwelling director). Of the five forms, it is in the archavigraham that the Lord is plausibly comprehended 'viseshena graahyate" by the devoted seeker. The Lord manifesting in His 'vigraham' becomes a great facilitator for the devotee to reach and communicate with Him. As Pillai Lokacharya lyrically describes the 'utsava' (festive) deity of Sriranga naatha.

"Lord (Sriranga) Namperumal stands on a lotus base, holding the divine weaponry in his hands. His palm gestures protection ('abhaya') for the devotee. His head is slightly bent (in eager prospecting for the devotee), with a benign smile on His visage. This stance be our sole refuge!" (Mumukshu-p-padi, 2: 142).

It is thus evident that the 'archaa - vigraham' forms the passionate core of the practice of the Sri vaishnava religion. The given Tirumalai prabandham of Kulasekhara Azhvaar owes its heightened lyricism to the saint's ecstatic adoration of the physical beauty of the Lord of Tirumalai.

An elegant delineation of the Azhvar's worship of Tirumalai ['Venkatesa-samaadhi' as the Varaaha Puraanam captivatingly puts it] is available in the writings of Kanchi Sri Prativaadi-bhayankaram Annangaraachaarya. The yearning expressed by the Azhvar (verse 1) to dwell as a heron beside the Svaami Pushkarini is his way of channelling the celestial river Virajaa itself on to this earth. His seeking to be even a fish (verse 2) in a Tirumalai pool seems an improvement over the previous prayer to be a bird for, the bird may take wings and easily migrate away from Tirumalai, where as the fish in a pool would stay on in the sacred hill and would live while the water is there. The life sustaining water is the metaphor for the Lord's compassion. [The Bhavishyottara Puraanam carries a strident declaration - tatra sthitaanaam jantoonaam bhaagyam bhaagyam aho nmaam! The various creatures that inhabit the Venkatam hills are veritably a blessing for mankind !]

The next prayer (verse 3) shows an apprehension that existence as a fish is so fragile, whereas the Azhvar wants to live here and now, and has no desire but to be in Tirumalai only. He applies to be a temple servant (parichaaraka') to carry the ceremonial mouth rinsing golden salver of the Lord as would get him easy entry into the sanctum ! This could well be the yearning of millions of people who throng Tirumalai even today and fall under the spell of Venkatesvara's visual beauty!

The next thought of the Azhvar (verse 5) shows him to be very worldly-wise. The service as a temple servant has its own uncertainties, and the Azhvar would no way accept dismissal from the holy hill of Venkatam. In the 'Sampradaayam', Srirangam is known as the 'bhoga mandapam', Kanchipuram as the 'tyaaga mandapm', Melkote Tirunarayanapuram as 'jnaana mandapam', and Tirumalai has the unique name of 'pushpa mandapam'. This gives the Azhvar the idea that he could ask to be raised as a champaca tree on the hill, and he could all the time remain in active contact with the Lord through the champaca blossoms offered to Him.

On second thoughts, the Azhvar is apprehensive that a highly coveted tree like the champaca could be eyed by someone and removed from Tirumalai, even as Sri Krishna translocated to his capital Dvaaraka the 'kalpaka' tree from the world of Indra, in order to please his spouse Satyabhama. Accordingly, he seeks (verse 5) rather to be a clump of grass-weed on this very hill so that no one would grab and remove him away from Tirumalai hills ! [The Brahmanda Puranam somewhat echoes this sentiment and says - Tasyopari prabhootaa ye trna-gulma-lataadayah, tey hi sthaavara-roopena vasanto yogi-poorushaah that the clumps of grass and weeds that grow on this Seshagiri are actually the 'yogi' savants in the form of vegetation.]

The concerns continue, and it makes the Azhvar wonder if someone would launch a weeding project, and uproot him too ! If he chose (verse 6) to stand as a rock somewhere on the Venkatam range, he could peacefully keep contemplating the Lord to his heart's content.

There is no end to the Azhvar's consternation. A rock could excite a sculptor and temple builder, and could be picked up and taken away from the holy hill ! He now prays (verse 7) that he be allowed to flow in current as a stream down the slopes of Venkatam and be safely inalienable from the sacred mountain face !

Mountain-stream, yes, but perhaps it would dry up ! Would that (verse 8) he could be prone as the foot-track on (the Lord's) Tiruvenkatam hill, and gather the sacred dust off the feet of numerous devotees on the upward trek !

Mountain tracks could be changed, after all. The Azhvar seeks (verse 9) to gain the entire world by simply laying down in the form of the sanctum step so that he could directly and unceasingly absorb the benign smile of the dear, dear Lord. (He could thus secure for himself the perennial pleasure which the heaven's immortals enjoy, namely of simply feasting their eyes all the time on the form and beauty of the Maker).

The sanctum step could some time get covered by gold plating as befits the blessed site, and thus shut out his much desired and uninterrupted vision of the Lord. The Azhvar realizes that there is no end to making wish-lists and all of them, even if granted, are indeed flawed. May I be, he prays (verse 10) any kind of object on this golden mountain of his Lord, even if the Lord Himself would not know or notice !

This is the culmination of the Azhvar's prayers to the Lord of Tirumalai !