Thirunaraiyur Nambi Temple,
Nachiyar Koil – Literary Mention
Thirumangai’s Madal to Thiru Naraiyur Nambi:
Thirumangai Azhwar composed
Madal comprising of Siriya Thiru Madal and Periya Thiru Madal in which he
expressed his intent to embarrass and publicly humiliate the Lord by
visualizing himself as Parakala Nayaki and adopting the Madal route to
displaying his love and trying to force the Lord to accept the love. In ancient
Tamil tradition, when one falls in love, the message is conveyed to the other
person through his friends. However, if his attempts turn futile, the man, in a
final desperate move, resorted to Madal Erudhal (a practice of embarrassing and
humiliating the girl in public.
As part of this process, the
lover would make a horse out of palm leaves, then draw the picture of his
beloved on a cloth and hang it as a flag on the horse, wear a garland and go
around the streets shouting slogans and crying in public, of betrayal of love
in a bid to humiliate his lover, announcing as to how he has been suffering as
a result of her not accepting his love. But for a girl to do such a thing was
not a traditional practice as this was considered unbecoming of a woman.
Thiru Mangai in the Madal says
that since the Lord had not accepted the love despite repeated requests of
Parakala Nayaki, the last option was to try and gain acceptance through the
performance of Madal. Even though Madal Erudhal by a woman was not accepted in
Tamil culture, Thiru Mangai says that considering the state of the lovelorn
Parakala Nayaki, this route had to be adopted based on Sanskrit literature and
following the many examples that existed in the Northern culture.
In the Siriya Thirumadal,
Parakala Nayaki refers to this intoxicated state of love with the entire
composition being that of a Nayaki expressing her love in short lines through
someone else. The identity of the lover of Parakala Nayaki is brought out
through a soothsayer, who provides the description of the Nayaki’s lover by
referring to the great qualities of the Lord. In the Periya Thiru Madal, the
narration is from the dejected lover herself and the terrible experience she
has gone through in not being able to convince her man (Lord) accept her love.
Here, she explains how the
handsome Lord, seen in various Vishnu temples in different postures, has been
the reason for her to fall in love as Parakala Nayaki. Periya Thiru Madal ends
with the threat of her performing the forbidden Madal even if it was at the
cost of her being rebuked by everyone. The entire Madal (both Siriya Thirumadal
and Periya Thirumadal) is directed at the Lord of Thiru
Naraiyur as can be seen from the fact that Thirumangai opens and ends
the Madal with reference to Thiru
Naraiyur.
When Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam
for whom Thiru Mangai built the famous huge walls requested him for Madal
verses of praise, Thiru Mangai retorted ‘Madhil Inghe, Madal Anghe’ (Madhil (the
big walls) here for you at Srirangam
and Madal (the songs expressing love for the Lord) there for the Nambi at Thiru
Naraiyur), thus signifying that the Madal was for the Thiru Naraiyur
Lord.
Thiru Naraiyur Nambi initiates Pancha Samaskaaram to
Thiru Mangai Azhvaar:
Thiru Mangai Mannan (Neelan) was
an army chief of a Chola king. He spent all his wealth in the service of Lord Vishnu. As
he was not a Vaishnava, nobody recognized his devotion and services. He
fell in love with Kumudhavalli. She informed him that she could accept him only
if he came to her with true Vaishnavite identity. Thiru Mangai Mannan begged to
Thiru
Naraiyur Lord to give him the Vaishnava identity and help him secure
the hands of Kumudhavalli. Thiru Naraiyur Nambi is said to have initiated Thiru
Mangai Mannan with the Pancha Samaskaaram, which is the true identity for a
Vaishnavite.
Thus, Thiru Mangai Mannan became
Thiru Mangai Azhvaar. As a mark of initiating the Pancha
Samaskaaram on the Thirumangai Mannan, Lord Vishnu is seen leaning forward
slightly, quite a unique sight at this temple. Lords of few Divya
Desams have been praised as Nambi. The most prominent among them is Thiru
Kurungkudi, the other one being the Lord here who is referred to as
Thiru Naraiyur Nambi.
An Acharya is referred to as
Nambi and since Thiru
Naraiyur Lord initiated the Pancha Samaskaaram to Thirumangai
Mannan, he became the Acharya of Thiru Mangai Azhvaar and hence the Azhvaar
referred to him as Thiru Naraiyur Nambi. As a token of his gratitude to Lord
Vishnu, Thirumangai Azhwar sung over 100 verses praising the Lord Vishnu, the
highest for any temple. The only other Lord that Thirumangai Azhvaar has
praised with 100 Paasurams is Thiru
Kannanpuram Sowri Rajan Perumal, where the Lord explained the Thiru
Mandhiram to Thirumangai Azhvaar.
Thiru Mangai Azhwar compares Thirunaraiyur Nambi
Srinivasa of Tirupathy:
Thiru Mangai Azhwar in his verses
of praise compares him with Lord Srinivasa of Tirupati
and says that he found the same beauty here as he had seen at Tirupati.
Maan
Konda Thol Maarvin….. Then Konda Saaral Thiruvenkathaanai Naan Sendru Naadi
Naraiyuril Kandeney
Kochengat Chola was an early Chola king and
one of the 63 Nayanmars (Saivite saints) of Saivism. He is believed
to have attained spiritual rebirth of a spider that fought with an elephant in
its previous birth over the worship of the Lord Shiva. He had red eyes
during birth as he remained in his mother’s womb a little longer. His mother,
looking into the baby red eyes said Kochengkannano (in Tamil Ko=king,
Cheng=red, Kan=eyes), which literally means king with red eyes and hence he was
named Kochengat Cholan.
After becoming a king, he followed Saivism and built 70 Maadakovils, temples with elevated
structure where elephants cannot reach the sanctum, in the Chola empire. Kochengata
Chola had a desire to see Lord Vishnu in his abode Vaikunda. He prayed to Lord
Vishnu. Lord Vishnu granted darshan to the king with two hands and ordered him
to build a temple for him. This is the only Vaishnavite temple built by
Kochengata Chola in Mada Kovil type. He built this temple in a Shaivite design. Thirumangai Azhwar
mentions this temple as Mani Mada Koil.
Thirumangai Azhvaar dedicated an
entire set of 10 verses in his Periya Thirumozhi to the Chola King Ko Chengata
Chola for his contribution to the Nachiyar
Koil. This is the only
Divya Desam where an Azhvaar has praised a single king over 10 verses.
செம்பியன் கோச் செங்கணன் சேர்ந்த கோயில்
திருநறையூர் மணிமாடம் சேர்மின்களே
In the initial verses, he refers
to Thiru
Naraiyur as a temple where Ko Chengata Chola repeatedly visited to invoke
the blessings of Lord Naraiyur Nambi. Thirumangai Azhvaar also brings in the
story of his anger against elephants. In a couple of the verses, he
specifically praises Ko Chengannar as one whose sword slit that throat of
opponent kings on elephant tops. He says time and again Ko Chenganan rode fast
on a horse top and killed the kings who seemed taller sitting on top of an
elephant and brought them down one by one.
He almost seemed to indicate
that Ko Chenganan’s determination to destroy his opponents grew exponentially
when he saw them on elephants. Thirumangai Azhvaar also praises Ko Chenganan as
a great Chola king who built 70 big
sized temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, thereby referring to Nachiyar
Koil as the first Vishnu temple built by him.
இருக்கு இலங்கு திருமொழி வாய் என் தோள்
ஈசற்கு எழில் மாடம் எழுபது செய்து உலகம் ஆண்ட
In all the verses, he refers to
the Thiru
Naraiyur temple as a ‘Mani Mada Koil’ indicating that similar to all the
Saivite temples built by Ko Chenganan, in this one too he made sure that
elephants would not enter by making the steps to the Sanctum steeper than
normal.
திருக்குலத்து வலச் சோழன் சேர்ந்த கோயில்
திருநறையூர் மணிமாடம் சேர்மின்களே
