Dasavathara Sannidhi

Iccha Meena, Vihara Kachappa, Maha Pothrin, Yadricchya Hari, Raksha Vamana Rosha Rama, Karuna Kakuthstha, Helahalin, Krida Vallabha, Kalka Vahana Dasha... In his inimitable style, as clear as the toll of a perfect bell, the great Vedanta Desika was stimulated to sing about the icons of this unique temple on the southern bank of the Kollidam. He used to worship here after his daily bath in the nearby northern arm of the then, mighty Kaveri(Kollidam). In his justly famous Dasavathara Stotra he applauds the Divya Dampathi of Srirangam for donning these roles. Only our Acharya Sarvabhouma could state that it was Sri Ranganayaki and Sri Ranganatha and not Vyuha Vasudeva and His Consort who incarnated so. It is said that he was very fond of this temple, deep inside Srirangam about a km away from the northern entrance to the Big Temple. The person who built this temple was a denizen of a higher plane than the brilliant Vedantacharya, if one may be permitted to say so. He obtained the esoteric 8 lettered mantra from our Lord by threatening Him with a dagger. His acharyas, he had two, were not mere men but the Lords of Thiru Neraiyur and Thirukannapuram. He was given the name Kaliyan, the redoubtable one, by our Lord. His devotion was of such a high order that he would castigate our Lord when denied vision or service. He had finished the humongous service of completing the ramparts of the Big Temple at Srirangam and a pleased Sri Ranganatha asked him what he desired. He requested our Lord to show him His ten well known avataras, incarnations. Sri Ranganatha did so and keeping those visions in mind Thirumangai Azhwar built this temple. The great 13 tiered Rajagopuram of Sri Ranganathaswamy temple was built by a eighty year old ascetic when emperors of yore couldn't. Like many of his illustrious predecessors The 44th Jeeyar, Sri Van Satakopa Sri Vedantha Desika Yatindra Mahadesika made this temple his HQs when he supervised the super human task of building the world's largest temple tower. For many years the peripatetic processional deity of Sri Ahobila Math, Sri Malola was stationed here. Many many great acharyas and vidwans of our sampradaya stayed here. Many more visited. Brindavanas of two Jeeyars, the 41st and the 44th are nearby. The inherent sanctity of this extraordinary temple was multiplied many fold by the facts mentioned above. Thirumangai Azhwar built it, Vedanta Desika sang about it, Sri Lakshmi Malola stayed here for years being served by the great Azaghiasingars of Sri Ahobila Math. Many of these acharya became ascetics here. HH the 46th Jeeyar was the most recent to ascend to the post of Azhagiasingar. He performed the fire ritual for the last time, being a Rig Veda Agnihotrin, in the northern part of the parikrama, circumambulatory corridor before proceeding to the Kollidam for a bath and then receiving the "tridanda" and the ochre robes from HH the 45th Jeeyar. Nobody who was present there can forget the tearful family members, especially the children. Thousands of people became prapannas here, guided by our acharyas, over the years. Such a hoary temple is now an isle of quietude, coming to life when the present Azaghiasingars come to Srirangam. It is a walled structure with the main gate facing east. One climbs up the steps and enters the temple beneath a small gopura built in the fashion of all gopuras in Srirangam. The circumambulatory corridor is reached. To our left is the madapalli, kitchen, a beehive of activity when Sri Malola is present. Especially on Dvadasis when a huge crowd gathers to get Acharya's sripadathirtham. To the right is a small sanctum of Sri Vedantha Desika. A handsome seated Hayagriva, white in colour, has now been stationed just above the entrance to the sanctum by Kannan mama whose father and grandfather had served here. We pay obeisance to the great

Vedantacharya and step into the main sanctum. This many pillared hall has two sancta to the north, i.e. to the right as one enters. The first one houses the peerless Thirumangai Azhwar and the one to its west has Sri Adivan Satakopa Jeeyar the founder of the Ahobila math. It is in this hall that bhagavathas assemble whenever Sri Malolan and His aradhakas, the Jeeyars are in station. Kaliyan here is in his full military glory. After all he was a king, an indomitable lion, Adyar siyam, Thirumangai manan. He is in the standing posture and Kannan mama lifts his dhoti to show that Kaliyan is standing with his legs bent, in what is called the "tribhangi" posture. He has a lance in his left hand and a sword in his right, a shield can also be seen lower down. The Azhwar is in full military regalia, as if guarding the temple he built. Kannan mama lifts his uttariyam to show that our Kaliyan has a "kili malai" around his shoulders. He looks handsome as ever. Smaller icons of Nammazhwar and Udayavar are also present in this sanctum. To the west is Sri Adivan Satkopa Yathindra Mahadesikan. Hand picked, so to say, by the Lord of Ahobila, he became an ascetic at a very young age, getting a triple promotion from the stage of bhrahmachari to that of a sanyasi. The Lord Himself came as an old man and initiated the young Srinivasan of Melkote into the ascetic order by giving him the "tridanda" triple staffs and the "kashaya" ochre robes. Sri Lakshmi Malolan jumped onto his lap and ordered him to take Him all over the country. Being always ready for travel, Sri Malola has a "mani paaduka" on His foot(only one can be seen) even now. From the hall, which has to exits to the north and south, steps lead upto another hall a rectangular one but much smaller. It is here that Sri Lakshmi Malolan is stationed whenever He visits. A door further to the west leads to the main sanctum of the ten incarnations. The door is covered by silver sheets on which the Dasavathara is embossed. On crossing this threshold we enter the sanctum. It is long in the north south direction. First we must pay obeisance to Visvaksena who is placed near the northern wall, facing south. He is seated and keeps an eye on all the visitors. The ten incarnations are lined up near the west wall with ample space between the icons and the wall. All are black and are placed on raised squarish platforms. They are big and have a solid presence. Matsya, the big fish is the first in the line, at the southern most point. A big fat black fish with its snout to the east. Matsya moorthy does not have arms. Kannan mama shows me the chakra and the shanka that can be seen about the middle of the torso, on either side. The most extraordinary thing is that an embossed Lakshmi, Srivatsa Lakshmi can be seen in front of the chakra. One generous benefactor has donated Sri medallions which is worn by all our Lords when "kavacha" armour is donned. A worthwhile digression here: In the first sloka of his delicious Sri Dasavathara Stotra, Sri Vedanta Desika sings ... Range Dhamni... Yadbhaveshu Prathagvideshvanugunan Bhaavan Svayam Bibhrathi Yadharmairiha Dharmini Viharathe Nanakrithirnayika. ... on the stage (in the shrine) at Srirangam... In His diverse forms He is accompanied by His consort(Lakshmi) who (also) assumes suitable forms with matching qualities, and sports with Him. Incidentally, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th slokas of this stotra elaborate the meaning of the three letters of the pranava Om, A,U and M respectively. Kurma moorthy too is huge and has sankha, chakra and Srivatsa Lakshmi. Reminds one of the Kurmasana in Sri Desika sannidhi at Satyamangala, Mysore. Varaha, Nrisimha and

Vamana are to be seen as one proceeds northwards. Rama with the axe and Rama with the bow and arrow are next. Karuna Kakuthstha is handsome as usual, here He is really tall, dark and handsome. Next we have Balarama with the plough. Krishna is special, as always. He stands on one leg with a ball of butter in one hand. He wants to run away but cant, just like Desika pictured Him so beautifully in Gopala Vimsathi. He also has a sculpted waist band of bells. In the 4th sloka of Sri Gopalavimsati Sri Vedanta Desika sings ...Aakunchithaikacharanam Nibhrithanyapadam... Nathasya Nandabhavane Navaneethanatyam. ... with one leg bent and another steady...the Lord's dance for butter in the house of Nanda. The last icon is that of Kalki who is seated on a steed with a sword in hand. The sanctum is about thirty feet in length and two huge columns hold up the ceiling. In the middle there is a gap between the icons. Here on a raised platform we have Lakshmi Nrisimha, Lakshmi Narayana and a smaller Lakshmi Nrisimha. To the right and left of the middle are seen Garuda and Anjaneya on the floor. There are boxes with huge saligrama. One of them contains small vigrahas, icons, of many of our Lords and saligrama of various sizes, some really huge. Kannan mama informs us that this has come down to us directly from Nadathur Ammal. That great pracharya(acharya of acharya) of Desika worshipped this idols and saligrama. We look at it in awe, to think that the auspicious hands of one of the greatest commentators of Sri Bhasya, a direct sishya of Engalazhvan, used to handle these icons and saligrama! All these precious bits of information are spoon fed to us by Kannan mama, to whom we are deeply indebted. Coming out one reaches the circumambulatory corridor that goes around the sanctum. It is big and a well is there on the northern side. There is a gopura right over the sanctum sanctorum. It is big and is different from all other gopura in Srirangam, of which there are very many. Though it tapers as it proceeds skywards its shape is not as pyramidical. It has some resemblance to the gopura atop the Mettuazhagiasingar sanctum near Sri Ranganayaki's temple adjacent to the north tower. Mettuazhagiasingar's sanctum too was built/renovated by Thirumangai Azhwar. There is a small alcove in the middle of the quadrangular gopura over the Dasavathara sannidhi, where a Sri Lakshmi Narayana image is housed. This is approachable via stairs. It is in disrepair and serves as a store room. One wonders why this is not considered as a divya desa. After all if Thirumangai Azhwar built it, it can be considered that he did mangalasasanam there. Another fact, Thirumangai Azhwar has sung about the ten incarnations in his Peria Thirumozhi 11-4 begining with Nilaiidmenguminri... (no:1035) till Kolaikkezhu... (no:1044). In this, actually, he sings of nine avatharas omitting the future Kalki incarnation. Instead of Balarama he sings about Hamsa. In Sri U.Ve. Uttamur Veeraraghavacharya swami's Prabandharakshai commentary it is stated that Hamsa can also be taken to mean Hayagriva. In these ten stanzas Thirumangai Azhwar has not mentioned any other divya desa, which for him is rare. Maybe he had this temple in mind when he sang about Dasavathara. This point is well worth discussing. Kannan mama also said that many devotees come here to neutralise malefic planetary depredations. Each of the avathara is the presiding deity for a planet, for e.g. Kalki is the Lord of Buddha. Being prapannas we are not interested in these restless planets. To us all the deities in the temple are but representations of Sriman Narayana or to be more specific Sri Ranganayaki sametha Sri Ranganatha. These ten incarnations of our Lord happened in the north.

To compensate our Lord made ten azhwars take birth in the south. Nourished and nurtured by these twenty, by the grace of our acharyas, we are sure to escape from the vicious transmigratory cycle. Sri Ranganayaki sametha Sri Ranganatha swamy Parabrahmane namo namah. Dr.S.Sundar Rajan MS ortho 29 Jun 2011.