Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ

Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ, whom the Sanskrit verses call Varada Viṣṇu, of the line of Vatsa, was Uḍaiyavar's sister's son. His own taṉiyaṉ calls him the dear sister's son of that holy master, and the shorter account calls him Uḍaiyavar's dear nephew, the priya-bhāgineya.

The accounts do not tell how he came to Uḍaiyavar, or where he was born. They find him already among the mudalis, and near the book.

When Emperumāṉār resolved to write the commentary on the Sūtras of Vedavyāsa, the shorter account says, he took with him Kūreśa, Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ, Mudaliyāṇḍāṉ, Embār and other mudalis. He wrote the Vedārthasaṅgraha, the Vedāntasāra and the Vedāntadīpa, and after them the Śrī Bhāṣya, and so fulfilled the first wish of Āḷavandār. And when he went south through the holy places, from Tirukkuḍandai to Tirunagari and Tirukkuṟuṅguḍi, overcoming the other schools as he went, Kūreśa and Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ were among the mudalis with him.

His first taṉiyaṉ remembers his part in that book:

“யஸ்மிந்பதம்யதிவரஸ்யமுகாத்ப்ர

ணேதுந் நிஷ்க்ராமதேவநிததேநிகமாந்தபாஷ்யம்-தஸ்யைவதம்பகவதஃப்ரிய

பாகிநேயம் வந்தேகுரும்வரதவிஷ்ணுபதாபிதாநம்”

“yasminpatamyativarasyamukātpra

ṇētun niṣkrāmatēvanitatēnikamāntapāṣyam-tasyaivatampakavataḵpriya

pākinēyam vantēkurumvarataviṣṇupatāpitānam”

“In whom, word by word, as each word left the mouth of the best of ascetics to be set down, the Vedānta-bhāṣya was laid down: that same holy master's dear sister's son I bow to, the teacher Varada Viṣṇu by name.”

When the longer account sets down the daily services of the disciples at Kōyil, his is the study. Kūreśa, Mudaliyāṇḍāṉ, Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ and the Bhaṭṭars were Uḍaiyavar's companions in the study of the Śrī Bhāṣya. His name stands fifth among the Āzhvāṉs in the roll of those who took refuge at Śrī Bhāṣyakārar's feet, and again among the seventy-four ācāryas on their thrones.

In the bad years, the shorter account gives him one morning.

Uḍaiyavar was teaching with Kūreśa and Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ and the other mudalis about him when the Cōzha king set the scholars to sign that there is nothing higher than Śiva. Some signed for wealth and some for fear. Then Nālūrāṉ told the king that their signing was worth nothing unless Emperumāṉār signed, and the king sent men to bring Emperumāṉār. Mudaliyāṇḍāṉ had gone down for the midday bath and heard of it there. Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ came first with the news, and told it.

Kūreśa heard it from him and was overjoyed. "Are you not the beloved nephew!" he said. Then he put on Uḍaiyavar's triple staff and ochre robe and went with the king's men, and Periya Nambi went with him.

After that Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ, Mudaliyāṇḍāṉ, Tirukkurukaippirāṉ Piḷḷāṉ and others said to Uḍaiyavar, "Your Lordship must not stay here." They dressed him in white and took him away toward the western country.

After Kūreśa had gone to the sacred land, assemblies of Śrīvaiṣṇavas gathered in all the holy places, clear in the Bhāṣya, keeping the surrender the prose hymn teaches and the rule of the daily worship. Some who saw them shed tears of joy and asked how such glory had come to Śrī Bhagavad Rāmānuja, who had set the world right. The answer the shorter account gives is a verse of Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ's:

“ ஸ்ரீமத்ரங்கபதிஶ்ச வேங்கடபதிஶ்

ஸ்ரீவாரணாத்ரே: பதிஶ்

ஸ்ரீயத்வத்ரிபதிஶ்ச கேசந ததா

திவ்யஸ்தலாதீஶ்வரா: |

“ srīmatraṅkapatiśca vēṅkaṭapatiś

srīvāraṇātrēḥ patiś

srīyatvatripatiśca kēcana tatā

tivyastalātīśvarāḥ |

“The Lord of Raṅga, and the Lord of Veṅkaṭa, the Lord of the Elephant Hill, the Lord of the Yadu Hill, and some other Lords of the holy places too;

The shorter account goes through the verse grace by grace. Periya Perumāḷ gave him the lordship of both worlds and the name Uḍaiyavar. Tiruvēṅkaṭamuḍaiyāṉ took up the discus and the conch and gave him the power to overcome all who stood against him. Pēraruḷāḷar became a hunter and a huntress and brought him out of the forest, took water from his hand, and gave him six sayings. Tirunārāyaṇaṉ told him in a dream where he was. Other Lords helped in their own ways. Āḷavandār made surrender to the Lord for his sake and set him three wishes to fulfil. Śrīśailapūrṇa looked on his sister's child, said, "This one is the very first," and gave him the holy seal for his protection. And the word "too" in the verse, the account says, takes in Periya Nambi and the other teachers.

When Uḍaiyavar grew ill and gave his three images to Āccāṉ, Piḷḷāṉ and Āṇḍāṉ, Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ spoke up.

"What fault has our Pēraruḷāḷar committed?"

Pēraruḷāḷar is the Lord of Kāñcī, and no image had been named for his town.

Uḍaiyavar was greatly pleased. "When Kūrattāzhvāṉ called you 'the beloved nephew' long ago," he said, "it was right indeed."

Then Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ prayed, "You must command images like these in every holy place." And Uḍaiyavar commanded it.

So when Uḍaiyavar was gone, Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ set up his image at Perumāḷ Kōyil, which is Kāñcī. In the other holy places, here and there, the people of each place set him up.

The longer account gives Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ something more in Uḍaiyavar's last days.

Uḍaiyavar had resolved to go to the sacred land. The priests of Periya Perumāḷ brought him the Lord's prasāda with every instrument sounding, and he received it on his head, and repeated the dvaya, the prayer of refuge, as food for the journey. He gave orders that the Śrī Sūkti on copper and the Śrī Bhāṣya should be kept safe. Then he looked graciously on Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ, that he should go on spreading the Śrī Bhāṣya and carrying it forward, and gave him the throne of the Śrī Bhāṣya. A verse the account gives says it:

“ஸத்குர்வதா

ஸம்ஸதிஶிஷ்யவர்க்கா நநந்யலப்யைரதிகைஶ்சசிஹ்நை: - ஸ்ரீபாஷ்யஸிம்ஹா

ஸநமாத்மகீயம் யஸ்மைசதத்தம்யதிஶேகரேண”

“satkurvatā

samsatiśiṣyavarkkā nananyalapyairatikaiścacihnaiḥ - srīpāṣyasimhā

sanamātmakīyam yasmaicatattamyatiśēkarēṇa”

“Honouring the ranks of his disciples in the assembly with marks of favour no other could win, and surpassing: the lion-throne of the Śrī Bhāṣya, his own, to him the crown of ascetics gave.”

In the same great assembly he gave Periya Bhaṭṭar the throne of the Śrī Sūkti, and to Kandāḍai Āṇḍāṉ he gave the care of his own last form. Some copies of that account do not have this passage; in its place they keep a short exchange between Uḍaiyavar and the grieving mudalis.

In those last days, the same account says, Uḍaiyavar gave Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ, with Kiḍāmbi Āccāṉ and Eṅgaḷāzhvāṉ and others, into the hands of Tirukkurukaippirāṉ Piḷḷāṉ.

When he was gone, and the disciples had bathed and adorned his body, and Piḷḷāṉ had done the last rite, they carried him out. The mudalis, Bhaṭṭar, Kandāḍai Āṇḍāṉ and Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ among them, came close about him, each bearing the things of his own service.

His second taṉiyaṉ keeps a story the accounts do not tell:

“ஜ்ஞாநோத்தமோ

த்ததிநிராகரணப்ரதுஷ்யத் ராமாநுஜார்யகருணாபரிணாஹபாத்ரம் - வத்ஸாந்

வவாயதிலகம்வஸதிங்குணாநாம் வந்தாமஹேவரதவிஷ்ணு குரும்வரேண்யம்.”

“jñānōttamō

ttatinirākaraṇapratuṣyat rāmānujāryakaruṇāpariṇāhapātram - vatsān

vavāyatilakamvasatiṅkuṇānām vantāmahēvarataviṣṇu kurumvarēṇyam.”

“Jñānottama's pride put down made Rāmānuja glad, and he is the vessel that held the full breadth of that master's compassion; of the line of Vatsa the ornament, home of every virtue: we bow to Varada Viṣṇu, the teacher to be chosen.”

Who Jñānottama was, and how his pride was put down, the accounts do not say. They do not give Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ's birth-star, or tell of his passing.

Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ had a son, Devarājap Perumāḷ. To him, in Cittirai under the star Citrā, a son was born, and he was named Varadācāryar. He studied the śāstras, the Vedas and their limbs, and everyone came to call him Naḍātūr Ammāḷ. His taṉiyaṉ says he was born at Kāñcī.

Ammāḷ received the mantra and its meaning from his father, and then he wanted to hear the Śrī Bhāṣya. His father saw his ability and sent him to learn the Bhāṣya, with the special meanings Piḷḷāṉ had taught, from Eṅgaḷāzhvāṉ, who taught, the account says, so as to take the itch away.

Eṅgaḷāzhvāṉ was glad, for he saw that all Piḷḷāṉ had given him would come to light through this one. "If you pledge to take on both sonship and discipleship to us," he said, "we will teach you. Bring the book of the Śrī Bhāṣya." Ammāḷ told his father, his father gave leave, and Ammāḷ brought the book and gave the pledge. Eṅgaḷāzhvāṉ taught him the Śrī Bhāṣya with every question and its answer, until it stood firm in him, and when he went to the sacred land Ammāḷ did his last rites as for his own father. So what Piḷḷāṉ had taught came to Naḍātūr Āzhvāṉ's grandson.

By Eṅgaḷāzhvāṉ's grace Ammāḷ grew very wise. He wrote works beginning with the Tattvasāra. Each day he expounded the Śrī Bhāṣya and the Āṟāyirappaḍi before Pēraruḷāḷar at Kāñcī, near the Kaccivāyttāṉ maṇḍapam, and disciples came to his feet.

One of them was Kiḍāmbi Appiḷḷār, Kiḍāmbi Āccāṉ's great-grandson, who had been waiting for the Vedānta. He came with others to take refuge with Ammāḷ and learn the Śrī Bhāṣya, and Ammāḷ taught him, and Sudarśanācāryar, and Naḍuvilāzhvāṉ.

Some asked Ammāḷ once whether there was anything special about teaching every day in that one place. He answered with a verse of the six things the Lord Varada had once told Pūrṇa there:

“ பரம் தத்த்வம் ஶ்ரீமாநஹமபி ச பேதோ மம மதம்

ப்ரபத்திஸ்தூபாயஶ்ச சரமஸமயே ந ஸ்ம்ருதிரபி |

ஶரீராந்தே மோக்ஷோ குருரபி மஹாபூர்ண இதி தா-

நவாதீதர்த்தாந் ஷட் வரத இஹ பூர்ணாய து புரா || ”

“ param tattvam śrīmānahamapi ca pētō mama matam

prapattistūpāyaśca caramasamayē na smrutirapi |

śarīrāntē mōkṣō kururapi mahāpūrṇa iti tā-

navātītarttān ṣaṭ varata iha pūrṇāya tu purā || ”

“The highest reality is I, the Lord with Śrī; and difference is my teaching; surrender is the means; at the last hour, not even remembering; at the body's end, release; the teacher is Mahāpūrṇa: these six things Varada told Pūrṇa here long ago.”

Sudarśanācāryar wrote down Ammāḷ's lectures on the Śrī Bhāṣya on palm leaf. Ammāḷ looked on the leaves with grace. "This is the Śrutaprakāśikā," he said. "You must look it over and make it current."

The longer account keeps two of Ammāḷ's sayings. Ten or twelve men were reading the Śrī Bhāṣya at his feet, and when he expounded bhakti to them they said it seemed a heavy means. He expounded surrender, and they said surrender was harder still. "If so," he said, "trust that Emperumāṉār's feet alone are the refuge, and be saved." And he used to say that holding to Emperumāṉār is itself surrender, that the four syllables "Rāmānuja" are themselves the tirumantra, and that service at his holy feet is itself the highest goal. "This alone," he said, "is my settled teaching."

Another account, kept at Śrīraṅgam about the temple there, tells how Uḍaiyavar set the reciters before the Lord, each with his text, and among them it gives the Śrī Bhāṣya to Naḍātūr Ammāḷ. It names an Āccāṉ there too, to recite the glory of Śrīraṅgam, but it does not say which Āccāṉ; and how the grandson came to stand in Uḍaiyavar's own arrangement, it does not say either.

So the two lines of this life met at Kāñcī.

Appiḷḷār took refuge at Ammāḷ's feet and learned the Śrī Bhāṣya thoroughly, and he held to the one Lord alone. The great ones of that time rejoiced over him, the shorter account says, because the full grace of Uḍaiyavar had come down by two channels, one by way of Tirukkurukaippirāṉ Piḷḷāṉ and one by way of Kiḍāmbi Āccāṉ, and had gathered in Appiḷḷār as in a great tank, to pour out over a great field and bear fruit that all the Śrīvaiṣṇavas might eat and live.

In Kāñcī, at the holy place called Tiruttaṇkā, near the shrine of Dīpaprakāśar, there lived Ananta Sōmayājiyār, the jewel of the Tūppul family. His son Puṇḍarīkākṣa Dīkṣitar came to Appiḷḷār and asked for his sister, Tōtārammaṉ, as a bride for his son Anantasūri, who was learned in all the Vedas. Appiḷḷār gave her gladly. She and Anantasūri lived in great happiness, keeping the five daily times of worship and serving the Lord, his devotees and the ācāryas.

There the account turns to the coming of Vedānta Deśika.