Upadesa Rathnamalai

Question

108 slokas composed by Thiruvarangat amudhanar is a description about Ramanujacharya. A small temple for him inside sudarsana temple in srirangam prevails. Apart from this any temple for him? I need the meaning of first 10 slokas in a brief manner.

Answer 1

First of all, Thiruvarangathu Amudhanar's 108-verse poem in praise of Ramanujacharya is called the Ramanuja Nootrandhadhi. Here are the first ten verses:

1. O Hean! Come let us recite Ramanuja's name. He set men of learning on the proper track. He worshipped the feet of the prolific poet Maran who rendered mouthfuls of praise for the lord who bears the lotus dame Lakshmi on his chest, May we always live close to his lotus feet.

2. I cannot understand this good fortune. My heart does not think of anything other than the extreme benevolence of Ramanuja. He gave up the company of men who do not contemplate the lotus feet of the nectar-groves-surrounded-Arangam lord, and only sought the feet of the kuraiyalur king. Tirumangai Alvar.

3. O Benevolent Heart! cutting as under the cords of association with men of devilish birth, you placed me at the feet of the most worshipful beloved ones of our peerless lord and sage Ramanuja. For this grace, I bow to you.

4. Our lord Ramanjua, who exhorted all to worship the first-Lord alone, made a person out of me in this world. He destroyed by the root the darkness my age-old Karmas, and gave me his feet to wear on my head, I have nothing to fear.

5. If me of pervese hearts who do not consider Ramnauja their asset, heap slander, I take it as praise. Surely those who love his good qualities will not find fault with my poetry, by which I am only recalling his name.

6. Sweet poets with love in their hearts lose themselves praising Raamanjua, blending proper words and meaning, Alas! endowed with a devotion sinful heart, I too am trying to speak of his glory,-it is sheer madness!

7. After taking refuge in our Kurattalvar, -his glory is beyond our words, -who takes us out of the piffalls of deceptive knowledge, I sing the praise of Ramanuja who lifts me above sin. I have escaped from non-paths, now I have no regrets.

8. Paygao! Alvar blended together the substance of the Veda and the sweetness of Tamil Poetry to light a lamp and dispel the darkness of affliction, Ramanuja placed that lamp in his heart. He is our lord and our master.

9. Butattalvar lit a lamp of knowledge to dispel the darkness of seeker's hearts. Ramanuja placed the Alvar's feet in his heart and rejoiced. The good ones who preserve the Vedas will always sing his praise.

10. After the pail of darkness was dispelled that night in Tirukkovalur, Peyalvar saw the cowherd lord, the wonder lord with the lotus-dame Lakshmi, Ramanuja worshipped the Alvar's golden feet. Those who pour their lover over Ramanuja are fortune-favoured devotees of excellent merit.

Thiruvarangathu Amudhanar, by the way, was a disciple of Ramanujacharya's beloved disciple Kurathalwan. I don't know any shrines for him outside of his namesake of Sri Rangam. (Thiruvarangam is the Tamil name for Sri Rangam.). In any case, this is a completely different work from the Upadesa Ratnamala, which is a 74-verse poem by the later Sri Vaishnava Acharya Manavala Mamunigal in praise of the Alwars and Sri Vaishnava Acharyas in general. But since you asked, here are the first ten verses of the Upadesa Ratnamala:

1. I offer the knowledge gained through the grace of my preceptor Thiruvaimozhippillai to those who follow me in the form of instructions tuned in a poetical construct called venpaa, such that they can learn them and put them to practice.

2. Those who are well-trained in the scriptures will acknowledge the greatness of these instructions. Those interested in acquiring true knowledge will gladly receive these instructions and put them to practice. If people, belonging to neither of these groups, were to demean the importance of these instructions, what harm will befall us? Isn’t it in the nature of such people to ridicule?

3. May the divine azhwars live long! May their works, the divya prabandhams, live long! May the spotless poorvacharyas live long! May their accurate commentaries, which were generously codified so that people of the seven worlds can benefit from them; live long along with the sanskrit vedas!

4. In this pasuram, Manavala Mamunigal explains the order of incarnation of the Azhwars on this earth. The first three azhwars to incarnate in this world were poigai AzhwAr, bhoodhathAzhwAr and pEyAzhwar. Then came the reputed Thirumazhisai AzhwAr, the illustrious grace of NammAzhwAr, Kulasekara AzhwAr, the spotless periyAzhwAr, thondaradippodi AzhwAr, the epitome of humility – thiruppAn AzhwAr and Thirumangai Azhwar.

5. In order that they get to know, I will be informing the people of this world about the birth months and stars of the AzhwArs – who incarnated on this earth to dispel the darkness of ignorance by offering the essence of the vedas in beautiful tamil language.

6. O’ the people of the world! The vibrant Poigai, Boodath and pEyAzhwArs, by virtue of their incarnations in the world, have brought incomparable and unparalled glory to their birth month and stars – Aippasi ONam, Avittam and Sadhayam.

7. By incarnating on this earth before the remaining seven AzhwArs and by offering (to the people of the world) the means of salvation through the divya prabandhams of mudhal thiruvandhAdhi, irandAm thiruvandhAdhi and moondrAm thiruvandhAdhi, the first three AzhwArs earned the name “mudhalAzhwArs” – a reference that has come to stay since then.

8. Oh foolish mind! Don’t you know the glory associated with this day? If you ask me what makes this day special, I will tell you. The illustrious Thirumangai Azhwar incarnated in this world in the Karthigai month under Karthigal star.

9. O’ my heart! Sing the glory of the lotus feet of those who celebrate this auspicious day associated with the birth of thirumangai AzhwAr (kArthigai month, kArthikai star) – the one who incarnated in this world to supplement the dravida vedAs of nammAzhwAr with his six auxiliary works – periya thirumozhi, thirukurunthAndakam, thirunedunthAndakam, thiruvEzhukooRRirukkai, siRiya thirumadal and periya thirumadal.

10. O’ the people of the world! Today, in the month of Karthigai and under the star Rohini, the illustrious thiruppAn AzhwAr incarnated in this world. Today is the day on which the believers, who are well versed in the prabandham of amalanAdhipirAn, celebrate the occasion associated with thiruppAnAzhwArs birth.

But Manavala Mamunigal also composed a poem specifically about Ramanujacharya - the Arthi Prabandham, which you can read here. This is the poem that Manavala Mamunigal recited requesting Artha Prapatti, an extreme form of Sharanagati where someone who is really desperate to attain Vishnu's abode of Paramapadam requests immediate death. Vishnu only grants this request in very rare cases for extraordinary devotees, but Manavala Mamunigal was successful.

Manavala Mamunigal, by the way, is associated with the Thenkalai sub-sect of the Sri Vaishnava sect, which I discuss in my answer here.