The Holy Lives of the Azhvã¢Rs
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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. http://books.google.com 1+ a & 6 o THE 3 t27 HOLY LIVES OF THE AZIIVARS OK The Dravida Saints I?Y ALKONDAVILLI GOVINDACHARYA, T7*a English Translator of Sri Ttdnuanttja'i Comin«n<arie,i on the BlMgavad-GiUi ; The Author of the '-'."* Divine Wisdom of tho Dravida Saints ••••.••• <tc. etc. Ac. r M&ta •v i MYsoRE ;'fl • C. T. A. PRFss. it I902. AH rights reserved. s 11-71 v .•• • .' . I. •I;'*' ''. •'•?..•".'t••_. ."'.''; .;..'•. ..'!•• ;•.-.. v '-. r J -'. ' . '. • •.'. o-.v.; SB -cr> i/B CONTENTS. Introduction i. to lxxxvix i. St. Tonrfar-arfi-pporfi-Azhvar 1— 18 2. St. Peri-y-Azhvar ... , 19 — 40 3. St. kndkl ... ... ... 41-58 The Table of the 1'8 Holy Shrines — 59—70 , .. 4. St. Poygai-Azhvar 5. St. Pudatt-Azhvdrf ..; 71 — 86 .,6. St. Pey-Azhvar j ,.- 7. St. Tiru-Mazhisai-Azhvar... ... 87—115 8. St. Kula-S'ekhar-Azhvar ... n6— 133 9; St. Tiru-p-pan-Azhvar ... 134—144 * '1'. St. Tiru-mawgai-Azhv&r ... 145 — 190 11. St. Madhura-Kaviga/ \ ..'. 191—226 12. St. Nammazhvar ->«-• .. I ' ' I r J ' ...v •..'; J — 3 ted 'n -: idr ions lysms ;i. Ch. esyinlj ood it gold . irst • ERRATA. » ' - Page line tor read xxvi 22 ... cducidation ... elucidation XXX 17 ... Hvese lives xxxiii 17 ... unwordly unwo.ldly lii 15 ... condecession... condescension lxxii 7 .... qalluvar Va//uvar 5 18 ... retur returned 5 • 28 ... temple ceremonial temple-ceremonial 7 3 ... thot thou . 27 12 ... become having become 1 39 5 ... ai - ••• of 39 12 ... methed method 47. 7 ... wear wore .48 18 ... saintes saintess 5i 3 .... than He than Him .53 26 ... waste waist 87 22 ... si ver-like silver-like 9° 1' ... beganto began to 99 ., 9 ... commandad ... commanded 1'' "' . 2' ... from ... for ' . • 1'4 6 ... a real ... real . •.' 114 22 ... they ...• thy 142 23 ... boulders shoulders 144 . 2 ... surplussed ' ... surpassed 148 24 ... wench maiden .151 12 ... costed .... cost, . *54 16 ... then .'... them 157 5 ... riner , ... river 16' 12 . ... anb ... and 16' 24 ... trajic tragic . 172 3 ... sang song *:'*** 177 5 ... teethed toothed orgin -.;•.. 1 78 :5 ••• origin ": "' */ 178 .18 ••• : extened . ' :.V • ' extend •" '• 'r 182 1 •/» Pavilios ...'• Pavilions 189 1 ... catalysms -W; cataclysms ' - • 191 • V ••• Ch. ••••.•.:. Bk. XI. Ch. "' . 191 8 '.•*- propheysing ... prophesying 193 6 .'.•.'' • full -moon day full-moon -'. \ 196 • 17 .'.'•' • dy . by 199 g-ib ... gold gem-made gem -set gold 2'1 ... 16 * f •" fell . ' felt . J '•'"•" . 2'3 14 ... mak make ' •'" ''; '•' ..- ..•. 2'4 . 4 on His His ' .. "''''' -_ 2'8 26 ... head, burst ... head burst 213 *3 ... effective .;•." efficient 216 . 27 ... , imparts imports • . 221 5 ..: breaths breathes 221 8 ... stride strode , ' '. Thou ;''...'• 222 i5 ; ••* How h : (••'.. • Introduction I. Hagiology. ; We give a Hierarchic Table. This will give the readers what may be called the main line of the successio episcoporum of the Sri Vaishwavast or the stemmaof the Visishtadvaitins, I. On tho superiority of Vaislniavism, M. Barth {RcVgiuns of India, pp. 210 — 217) says: — "With tho exception of pro fessional devotees, comparatively few Sivaitcs are met with, that is to say, people who make Siva their principal God, in the mantra of whom they have been specially initiated, and ir the faith of whom they hope to work out their salvation. And the number would he still more reduced if we were to cut off the Stiktas from it who pay their vows to Devi rather than to her husband. In all the countries to the north jf the Yiudhyn, several of which rank among the most thickly inhabited of the globe, the majority wherever local cults of aboriginal derivation do not prevail, belong to Vishiinvite religions. In tho Dckhun the relative proportions are different, the Sivitcs cons'itnlo large masses, especially in the south, and the two religions being probably ctpially balanced. But even there Vishi.uiism seems to be spreading if it alTords less nourishment to superstitious appetites, on the other hand by the deep glimpses which the doctrine of tho Avataras opens in some degree into the Divine Nature, it allies itself more readily with Vcduntic Mysticism, that one of all the systems conceived in India which responds best to its aspirations." The Ainrita Bazar Patrika reports of un American Lady Abhuyunanda coming to India to give a new life to that sweet Kcligion, Vaishuavism {Thomiphitt p.57-t, Vol. XXIII). 11 Introduction". the exponents of the Triune Monism and the Divine Love of the Upanishads,— Sri-Vaishwavas, gathered together organizcdly under the leadership of Sri Ramanuja, of the 1 2th Century. The one hundred pages of Introduction . written dy Dr. G. Thibaut, on the Vedanta Sutras, may be said to be one continuous eulogy on the reasonableness of this reputed Reformer's interpretation of the Vedanta. Sri-Vaishnavas have since been also called Ramanujas, inasmuch as Ramanuja was, . that glorious Spiritual Reservoir ' into which flowed all the wisdom of the Ancients, both Saints and Sages anterior to him. The present work . aims at giving the Holy Lives of the former, the Saints, or those who are called Azhvars1 (lit: those drowned in or 1. The A/.hvtus or Saints answer to the description Riven by Emerson :— " A certain tendency to insanity has always attend- cd the opening of the religious sense in men, as if they had been ' blasted with excess of light.' The ' trances ' of Socrates, the 'Union' of Plot in us. tho 'Vision' of Porphyry, the 'con version ' of Paul, the ' aurora ' of Bchmen, the 'convulsions ' of • . George Pox and his Quakers, the ' illumination' of Swcdonhorg, oro of this kind. What was in the case of theso remarkablo persons a ravishment, has in innumerable instances in common life been exhibited in less striking manner. Everywhere the history of religion betrays a tendency to enthusiasm. The rupture of the Moravian and Quictist ; the openiwj of the internal teiue of the Word, in the Language of tho New Jerusalem Chureh; fio reeieal of the Calvinistio churehes j the experience* of tho Methodists, aro varying forms of that shudder of awo and delight with which tho individual soul always mingles with the Universal Soul." (Assays : Tlte Oversold). (i) IIAGIOLOCY. Hi maddened with, God-Love) based upon the traditional works we possess. Tired of experimental science and rcst- . less speculation, there is great requisition in these days for a knowledge of primitive thought, even though it be had se- . condhand and with all possible personal and historical er- •' rors. To meet this desire is the present attempt and as pav ing the way for further inquiry, study, and reflection, which, even if they should succeed in disproving facts presented by tradition, must at least furnish us with a mass of informa tion from sources at present untapped or inaccessible.1 And the Dravida Field in this respect, of the 5,ri Vaislmavas, has so far been regrettably little explored. The Samskrit-ficld has almost been covered, and labourers are wanted for the Dravida-field [Vide Preface, p. XXI. Max Muller's Six '. Systems of Indian philosophy] . • The next volume or Volumes (D.V.) will be the Holy Lives of the Acharyas or Sages beginning from Natha- Muniga/ [Vide Hierarchic Table]. ' The Lord of Queen Sri* (Mercy) dwells in Vaikun/ha. He is surrounded in that Land of Eternal Sunshine and ' 1. Says S. Johnson : — "I cannot but note that a trustworthy statement of what the non-Christian world has to oftVr to the 'eye of thoroughly free inquiry, in mutter* of belief, i.s more and '••• more earnestly demanded." (P. 1. Vol. I. Oriental ilelii/lnns). ' 'And " It is time the older religions were studied in the light of their own intrinsic values. They are at once spoutr neities of desire and faith, and elements in an indivisible unity of growth" (Ibid pp. 13-14 ; . * Are there wives in Heaven ? In this connection, Sweden- lmrg's "'Conjugal Lovo" may be read. Emerson (Kssr.ya, p: • 32U-7. Vol 1, Hohn* says of Swcdenhor^ that: 'th ,u<'h 'the • virgins be saw in heaven were beautiful, the wives wvrc in- ''..' '"• • ''{Continued.) IV INTRODUCTION. Rapture, with the Celestial Hosts, the . Archangels Vishvaksena, Ananta and others, too numerous to count. He dwells there All-satisficd, and Perfect in all the Holy Graces befitting Divinity. The Vaikun/ha or the "Land of unhampered Freedom and Joy" is described as : — "That which lies beyond the Sphere of Rajas (or action)"1 "That which is Three Parts of the whole, and Nectare- . ous"-. "That where Nurayawa — the Centre of the Cosmos — dwells ; that which is Imperishable, Transcendental, and Celestial";t .• .-.. comparably more beautiful, and went on increasing in beauty evermore." "'Sex is universal nnd not local ; virility in tbe male tpialifying every organ, act and thought; and the feminine in woman. (Road Indra's iSrV-stava, Vish : Pur: 1-9 and Lakshni'-Tantra.) Therefore, in the real or spiritual world tho. nuptial union is not momentary, but incessant and total.'' "In fact in the spiritual world, wo change sexes every . moment fcp. Sotyt-klima and /S«/>/<i-nt(1ika7l,rtof the Upanishads). Yon love the worth in me ; then I am your husband ; but it is not me, but the worth that fixes the love; and that worth is a drop of the ocean of worth that is beyond mc. Meantime I adore the greater worth in another, and so become his wife. Ho aspires to a higher worth in another spirit, and is wife' or receiver of that influence." Let those who hate wives in Heaven, first begin to hato their .own wives on earth ! Do they t 1.