Alavandar

After his Acharya UyyakondAr went to paramapadham manakAl nambi with his shishyAs continued his achaya's works
After some time in the Month of Adi on utra shAda nakchatram Eshvara muni was blessed with a son
As per the wish of srIman nAthamuni On the 12th of birth manakAl nambi named Eshvara muni's son "Yamunai Thuraivar"
Yamunai Thuraivar leaned every thing from his father Eshvara muni.
He was very clever and intelegent. Latter at priscribed age he got married.
After some time Eshvara muni went to paramapadham.
Yamunai Thuraivar started learning shastras from mahA bAshya battar
At that time, in the King's court, there was a learned man by the name of AkkiyAzhvAn.
Just like the King levies taxes upon his subjects, AkkiyAzhvAn took it upon himself to grab 1/10th of the income of all the learned men in the kingdom.
Once he sent written word through the palace guards to MahAbhAshya Battar asking for a share of his money and Bttar was very disappointed to receive such a letter.
Yamunai Thuraivar was unable to see his Guru in distress and he tore up the letter on the very presence of the palace guards
AkkiyAzhvAn came to know this and sent another letter saying how dare you do this are you a great kavi or a great learned man of tantra sAshtrAs
Then Yamunai Thuraivar wrote the following shlOkam and sent the palace guards back
- "Na vayam kavayastu kEvalam na vayam kEvala tantra pAragAha. Api tu prativAdi vAraNa prakatAtOpa vipAtanakshamA"
- It means: "we will not pay any money. We are not just base poets. We are not just learned men who know tantra-sAshtrAs. We are lions capable of taming the wildest of elephants".
AkkiyazhvAn was furious and he showed this to the king and the queen
The queen said "Oh King, if he was able to retort so bravely, then he must be a very learned man indeed. We have to respectfully ask him to come here so we can pay homage to his Greatness."
The king sent a palanquin and asked that the scholar who wrote the shlOkam to accept his invitation to come to the royal court.
On Yamunai Thuraivar arriving to the court AkkiyAzhvAn asked the king that he wants to debate with Yamunai Thuraivar.
The Queen was very impressed with Yamunai Thuraivan's eluding charm and she had a feeling that he would emerge the winner and the king thought that his AkkiyAzhvan would win. So they had a small bet.
The King agreed to give up half his kingdom if YAmunEyar won and the Queen agreed to become the king's mistress if he didn't.
AkkiyAzhvAn asked YAnunEyar what shAstrAs he was well versed in.
Yamunai Thuraivar said that he could pick anything he wanted at that point. But AkkiyAzhvAn retorted that since he was very young and that it would only be fun to debate with someone on the rank of him in knowledge and experience, he would first pick a topic that was social and not too intensive.
He asked Yamunai Thuraivar to come up with 3 statements that one would normally consider to be true and that he could prove that they could be false. He asked YAmunEyar to go first since he was the younger of the two.
YAmunEyar did not blink twice. He came up with the following questions:
1. Tvan mAtA na vandhyA (Your mother is not barren)
2. RAjA SArvabhoumaha (This king is a SArvabhouman)
3. RAja patnIyam pativratA (The queen is loyal to the King)
Now how could AkkiyAzhvAn refute these 3 statements ?
- His mother cannot be barren since she has obviously given birth to him.
- To say that the King was not a SArvabhouman is punishable by jail sentence
- To say the queen was not loyal to king is punishable by death!
AkkiyAzhvAn said he will accept the defeat but only if Yamunai Thuraivar can refute the above statements.
Yamunai Thuraivar with out waiting a second said yes he can refute all the three statements.
He said yes your mother is vandhyA (barren or infertitle in english). AkkiyAzhvAn asked how is that possible when I am her son. Yamunai Thuraivar replied "If a land has only one tree thought it has a tree it cannot be called fertitle so a women who has only one son is still infertitle and your mother has only one son hence the statement "your mother is vandhya" holds true also Yamunai Thuraivar quoted sastra sentences which quotes that a woman who has only one child is equal to not having any kids. AkkiyAzhvAn was stunned with this explanation
Next Yamunai Thuraivar refuted the second sentence and said The king is not a Good King. Immedeatly palace gaurds rushed to arrest Yamunai Thuraivar. The king told them to hold on and asked Yamunai Thuraivar to explain why he thinks that the king is not a good king. Yamunai Thuraivar explained that a King is good only if all his subjects are good and if they are not good the king should check them and correct them but AkkiyAzhvAn who is a subject of the king is not good and the king did not do any thing about it. AkkiyAzhvAn collecting taxes on his own shows that he is not a good citizen and the king not finding it and correcting him shows the king did not do his duty. Hence The king is not a good king. The king acepted his mistake.
Next comes the more difficult one to refute but Yamunai Thuraivar with out any fear refuted the third sentence also and said The queen is not loyal to the king. Hearing this the king became furious and said "if you do not explain you will loose your head for insulting my queen" Yamunai Thuraivar explained a "loyal queen will allways wants her husband to win be it a battle or a small bet and she will pray God for king's victory but here for the past one hour or so the queen is praying God that she should win and the King should loose the bet. How is she loyal if she is praying for the King to loose."
AkkiyAzhvAn accepted his defeat and as per the initial agrement the winer has to punch the looser in his head but Yamunai Thuraivar said "I will not do it as you are a learned person and a elderly person"
Hearing this the king and queen were very pleased and the queen came running to this small boy (Yamunai Thuraivar) and huged him and said "ennai AlavandErO" ( Did you come to rule me) Thus Yamunai Thuraivar received a new name AlavandAr.
The king also gave Yamunai Thuraivar half of the kingdom and AlavandAr with his wife lived a lavish life (raja bhogam)
Though much younger in age AlavandAr ruled like a king.
manakkAl nambi came to know this and he went to see AlavandAr.
Palace gaurds did not let Him go inside and meet AlavandAr.
manakkAl nambi did not know what to do and finally with His AchArya katakcham He came up with an idea. He made friend with some local Brahmins working as cook in AlavandAr palace and found out that AlavandAr's favorite food was a type of greens called tUtulai.
From that day on, manakkAl nambi started supplying it to the Royal Kitchens expecting to meet AlavandAr. This went on for about 6 months but AlavandAr did not notice it and manakAl nambi did not get a change to meet AlavandAr.
Then for 4 days manakkAl nambi stopped supplying the tUtulai. When Alavandar dined, he asked the royal chefs why his favorite dish was not being served to which they indicated to him that the learned man who supplied it usually had not shown up for 4 days.
Alavandar found out that the learned man who was supllying the dish did not even take any money.
AlavandAr then ordered "when the learned man show up again, bring him to me ".
manakkAl nambi wants to try try one more time and showed up the next day and He was taken to AlavandAr.
When Alavandar saw his charm, he got up and welcomed him and said that he was so pleased with his action and asked manakkAl nambi "why did you bring this dish daily what do you want money ? House or Land ? ask me I will give you"
manakAl nambi replied "Raja adiyEn did not come here to get from you adiyEn came here to give your ancestors treasure "
AlavandAr was surprised to know that and asked what should He do to get it.
manakAl nambi replied "Till you get all the treasure please tell your gaurds that they will not stop me to come and meet you "
AlavandAr ordered that manakAl nambi be granted full access.
The next day, the upadEsams started on Bhagavat Gita. AlavandAr was taken aback by all that facts.
His bhakti grew by leaps and bounds. He was terribly disappointed for having wasted a portion of his lifetime not knowing all of this. His aruchi(vairAgyam) on samsara increased.
AlavandAr thanked manakAl nambi from the bottom of his heart and asked for his complete blessings.manakkAl nambi dutifully continued his teachings.
When AlavandAr finished learning, he went with manakkAl nambi to ShrIrangam and was stunned with the darshan of Lord RanganAtar.
manakkAl nambi told AlavandAr that this was the wealth that his ancestors gave him. In that very instant AlavandAr took up sanyAsam there itself. He settled right there
While AlavandAr settled in srI rangam many shishyas came and surrendered to Him the most famous among them are
Periya Nambi, Tituk KOttaiyUr Nambi, Periya Tirumalai Nambi,MARanEr Nambi, Thiru katchi nambi, AlavandArAlvAn, Thiru mAlai AnadAn, vAna mAmalai AndAn, deiva vAri Andan, Eshan AndAn, Jeeyar AndAn, Thiru kUrappan, Thiru mOgUr appan, Thiru mOgur ninrAn, deiva perumal, vakulabarana sOmayAjiyAr, Thiru kurugUr dAsar, ThirumAlirun chOlai dAsar, vada madurai pirandAn and Adkondiyam mangi.
Alavandar thought all that he knows to his shishyAs
While AlavandAr and shishyAs are spreading the knowledge manakAl nambi informed AlavandAr "there is one more treasure that your grand father left it with kurukai kAvalappan go and ask him" and then after some time manakAl nambi went to paramapatham
After that One day AlavandAr took his shishyAs and went to see kurukai kAvalappan. When AlavadAr went to see him, he was deep in meditation. Not wanting to disturb him, AlavandAr went and stood behind the wall.
After a few minutes, Kurugai KAvalappan asked "Is anyone from Sottai kulam here"? (AlavandAr is from Sottai kulam)
AlavandAr said "adiyEn swamy dasoham adiyEn yamnunai turaivan " and offered his danda pranAmAs.
AlavandAr requested Kurugai KAvalappan "Swamy how did you know that adiyEn is here when adiyEn is standing behind the wall.
Kurugai KAvalappan replied "adiyEn was enjoying the company of perumal, and when adiyEn is enjoying the company of perumAl, perumAl does not turn this side or that side and He will not even turn towards Lakshmi Devi even if She comes and hugs Him but today adiyEn noticed noticed the Lord glance over my shoulder and look behind me a few times. As Perumal only loved the Sottai kulam descendants more than He loved me, adiyEn guessed that descendant of NAdamunigal must be here".
AlavandAr felt very happy to hear this and requested Kurugai KAvalappan to teach him the Yoga sastram.
KAvalappan told him that he was to attain the lotus feet of the Lord on the coming Tai month Pushya star. And he wrote down a date on which he wanted AlavandAr to come to him so the knowledge transfer could take place.
AlavandAr accepted the letter and went on a tour of temples.
He went to Tiruvanadapuram and get the darshan of Lord PadmanAbhan. He was enthralled by the divinity of the Lord and stayed there for a few days. Suddenly he remembered the letter he had forgotten to open and when he did it was too late - that was the exact day he was supposed to go and learn YOgarahasyam. He felt terrible. On that day, the secret of YOgarahasyam was lost to us forever.

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