5. mātā pitā yuvatayastanayā vibhūtiḥ sarvaṃ yadēva niyamēna madanvayānām

ādyasya naḥ kulapatērvakulābhirāmaṃ śrīmattadaṅghriyugaḷaṃ praṇamāmi mūrdhnā

mat anvayānām - Of my descendants,

niyamēna - forever,

mātā - mother,

pitā - father,

yuvatayaḥ - wife,

tanayāḥ - children,

vibhūtiḥ - wealth,

sarvam - and everything else,

yad ēva - are which Āzhvār's divine feet,

tat aṅghriyugaḷam - unto those lotus beautiful feet,

vakuḷa abhirāmam - that are decorated by vakuḷa flowers,

śrīmat - and are endowed with the spiritual wealth (śrīvaiṣṇavaśrī),

naḥ ādyasya kulapatēḥ - of foremost and lord of our clan,

praṇamāmi - I bow

mūrdhnā - by the head.

Which divine feet of Āzhvār are mother, father, spouse, children, wealth and everything else to me and my descendants, to those beautiful lotus feet of the foremost preceptor and the lord of our clan, that are decorated by vakuḷa flowers and are endowed with śrīvaiṣṇavaśrī, I bow my head.

Though the Stōtra Ratnam is originally about the Lord, one can say that this is 'The Hymn of The Stōtra Ratnam'. This hymn is recited by Śrīvaiṣṇavas everyday.

In the previous hymn, the spiritual teachings of Sage Parāśara were spoken. However, this teaching was limited to a few sages. It requires great spiritual qualification to understand the true purport of the teachings. How would dull heads like us who have no such qualification obtain these lofty meanings of the scripture? Yāmuna Muni respectfully salutes the foremost preceptor of the Śrīvaiṣṇava clan, who made available to all the teachings of the scripture.

Besides, talking of Nāthamuni and Parāśara Muni, who are full of love for the Lord, Yāmuna Muni is reminded of the peak of love for Kṛṣṇa, the Kṛṣṇatṛṣṇātatvam, Svāmi Nammāzhvār.

(mātā) The mother. The mother undergoes various ritualistic disciplines pleasing the gods to obtain a baby. She then bears the baby for ten months and undergoes various difficulties. She suffers the pain of delivering the baby. She tolerates the saliva and excreta of the baby and nourishes it with love. She tolerates her child's rudeness when he grows up. She does everything that he likes.

(pitā) The father. He is the cause of the baby, alongside the mother and is responsible for giving the physical body. He is always interested in the welfare of his children.

(yuvatayaḥ) The spouse. When the child grows into youth, he forgets his parents and completely turns to his wife, and desires her the most.

(tanayāḥ) the children that he obtains through his wife. They cause him delight in their baby days, protect him in his old age and after death ensure that he does not go to hell.

(vibhūtiḥ) wealth. How can one enjoy the above in poverty? Wealth enhances his experience.

(sarvam) and everything else that has not been said, but are very desirable to him.

(yadēva) are which lotus feet of Āzhvār. The above mentioned are identified with Āzhvār's lotus feet alone. When?

(niyamēna) forever. There is no time discipline for this. It is not that one spends his youth running after material pleasures and turns to Āzhvār only when he thinks he is going to breathe his last. The love of Āzhvār's lotus feet exists forever.

Which are the people endowed with such love?

(mat anvayānām) my descendants. vidyayā janmayā vā - descendants by knowledge or through birth. This includes both physical and spiritual descendants.

(ādyasya) The foremost dispenser of the Vēdic wealth.

(naḥ kulapatēḥ) The women take the name of the family into which they are married. The Vēdics such as brāhmaṇas talk about their ṛṣi gōtra. For prapannas, such identifications are useless. They should only say that they belong to the gōtra of Śaṭakōpa muni. Āzhvār is the lord of their clan.

(vakuḷābhirāmam) the lotus feet of Āzhvār are well decorated with vakuḷa flowers. This shows the enjoyable nature of these feet.

(śrīmat) endowed with the spiritual wealth - śrīvaiṣṇava śrī. It is along the lines of 'antarikṣagataḥ śrīmān', 'sa tu nāgavaraḥ śrīmān' and 'lakṣmaṇō lakṣmisampannaḥ'.

(tadaṅghri yugaḷam) those lotus feet. One can only say 'those' because the auspiciousness and desirable nature of these feet is beyond words.

(yugaḷam) the beauty arising out of the combined pair of lotus feet.

(praṇamāmi) - I bow.

(mūrdhnā praṇamāmi) - the mere utterance of namaḥ is insufficient for the lotus feet of Āzhvār. He puts his head to his feet and worships him respectfully.

NAMMALWAR'S BIRTH PLACE

THIRUKKURUGUR (ALWAR THIRUNAGARI)

THIRUKKURUGUR - popularly known as ALWAR THIRUNAGARI comes under Navathirupathy in Thoothukkudi District of TamilNadu. This holy town is situated on the Tirunelveli-Tiruchendur route on the banks of perennial Tambaraparani river. This place is about 32km from Tirunelveli junction. Mystic saint Nammalwar's birth place is Alwarthirunagari,where he attained salvation. Kurugur ,Thirukkurugur,Thirunagari and then it becomes Alwarthirunagari after Nammalwar.

Alwarthirunagari is known as Pancha kshetram i.e comprising of five kshetrams namely Adi, Dantha, Varaha, Sesha and Sangha. Sthalavruksham is the tamarind tree(thiruppuli alwar) under which Swami Nammalwar did his meditation for sixteen long years. This tree has seven branches covering Nammalwar Sannidhi as an 'amsa' of Adisesha. This tree has medicinal properties. Brahma and Tambaraparani theerthams at Alwarthirunagari and the Vimana is known as Govinda Vimanam. God is prathyaksham to Brahma,Nammalwar,Madhurakavi,Danthan and Sanghamuni.

The Presiding deity at Alwarthirunagari is Athinatha (Moolavar) with His two consorts at sanctum sanctorum and Polindu Nindra Piran is the Utsavamurthi with His five consorts Sridevi,Bhudevi,Andal,Athinathavalli Tayar,Kurugurvalli Tayar.Moolavar Athinathar in Nindra Kolam facing east direction. Like Srirangam, almost all the months have festivals at Alwarthirunagari. The temple is central to the town ,surrounded by mada streets. Temple tank and Nandavanam are away from the temple in the western part of the town. Margazhi (Dec-Jan) and Vaikasi (May-Jun) uthsavams are very important festivals. Arayar Seva in Thiru Athyayana Uthsavam in Margazhi similar to Srirangam and Nava Thirupathi Garuda Seva in Vaikasi are unique and famous in Pandiya Nadu. Thirunangoor Eleven Garuda Seva in Chola Nadu in Thai (Jan-Feb) follows closely the Garuda Seva at Alwarthirunagari in custom,belief and rituals.

The Story of Alwarthirunagari is revolving around and in unison with the life history of Swami Nammalwar. All other eight Thirupathis do not have idols of Nammalwar except Alwarthirunagari. The Tirumeni of Alwar is 'Thanugandhameni'. The image emerged on its own and not sculpted. The time had come to Alwar to shed his mortal coils and reach Vaikunta, Madhurakavi Alwar, the disciple of Nammalwar, went through intolerable agony and sadness and was adamantly insisting like a child to take him also to Vaikuntam as he (Madhurakavi) could not bear the acharya's seperation. Perumal and Nammalwar impressed upon Madurakavi Alwar that he had to fulfill the unaccomplished works and after completion he (Madurakavi) would attain moksha. To comply to his request Nammalwar advised Madurakavi to fetch water from Thambraparani river and boil it as his (Nammalwar) image would emerge. Faithfully, he carried out his acharya's advice. An image,dissimilar to Nammalwar ,came out first but of Sri Ramanuja,the Jagadacharya. After that Alwar repeated again by boiling the river water as per the dictum of his acharya. Beautiful and adorable Srimurthy of Nammalwar came out.At Alwarthirunagari, we can find temples for Acharyas like PillaiLokachariyar, Nampillai, Emberumanar, Manavalamamunigal,Desikan and also for Azhwars. Nachiyar, ThiruVegadamudayan, Alagar, Krishnan, Ranganathan have seperate sannidhis for worship here. We have independent sannidhis for Gnanapiran and ParamapadaNathan, Sudarsanan, Narasimhan, Nathamunigal, Periya Thiruvadi inside the AthiNathar Koil. Nammalwar Sannidhi is in the north side of the main temple and Nammalwar facing south towards AthiNathar Koil. On our way out we can worship Chiriya Thiruvadi (Hanuman) Sannidhi. Moola Garudan at northeast corner of the temple compound wall must be worshipped. In Vaikasi monthas Vaikasi Utsavam is Swami Nammalwar's Tirunakshatra Utsavam since Vaikasi Visaka is swami's birth star.

Even today the Nammalwar is being worshipped at Alwarthirunagari in Padmasana Pose. The Nammalwar srimurthy looks like an exuberant youth in mid-thirties with princely features. Mudra combining index finger and thumb in right hand depicts a great siddantha. During rainy/winter season only warm water 'Thirumanjanam' is performed to Swami Nammalwar;perhaps this may be unique and strange phenomenon in Vaishnavite shrines. The 'mangalsasanam pasuram' by Swami Nammalwar reveals the characterstic quality of each divya desa perumal and in Alwarthirunagari the 'Paratvam' of Srimannarayana is enunciated remarkably well.

Living in Alwarthirunagari will bring salvattion to the devotees and single utterance of the name of this deity in the course of one's life also bring him everlasting peace and salvation.

Alwar Emberumanar Jeeyar Tiruvadigale Saranam