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Narayaneeyam Day 2024 date – Sri Narayaneeya Dinam

Holy Scripture Narayaneeyam dedicated to Sri Guruvayurappan (Sri Krishna) was completed and offered to Sri Krishna on the Sri Narayaneeya Dinam. Narayaneeyam Day 2024 date is December 13. The day is of great importance at the Guruvayur Temple in Kerala.  Narayaneeyam was composed by Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri and it is a condensation of the Srimad Bhagavad Purana in 1036 shlokas (stanzas). The unparalleled spiritual work is noted for its literary merit and bhakti (devotion) and is a classic in its own right.



It is observed on the 28th day of Vrischika month as per traditional calendar followed in Kerala. Discourses and debates on Narayaneeyam take place on the day. Special functions are also held at Melpathur Illapparambu on the day.

Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri (1559 – 1632) was a student of Achyuta Pisharati and the last scholar from the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. His most important scholarly work, Prakriya-sarvaswam, describes an axiomatic system that elaborates on the classical system of Panini.

എല്ലാ വർഷവും വൃശ്ചികം 28നാണ് നാരായണീയദിനമായി ആഘോഷിക്കുന്നത്. 

മേൽപുത്തൂർ നാരായണ ഭട്ടതിരി നാരായണീയം എന്ന ഭക്തികാവ്യത്തിന്റെ രചന പൂർത്തിയാക്കി ഭഗവാനു സമർപ്പിച്ചത് 436 കൊല്ലം മുൻപത്തെ വൃശ്ചികമാസം 28-നായിരുന്നു എന്നാണു സങ്കൽപം. അതിന്റെ അടിസ്ഥാനത്തിലാണ് എല്ലാ കൊല്ലവും വൃശ്ചികം 28നു നാരായണീയദിനം ആഘോഷിക്കുന്നത്. 

Story of Melpathur Writing Narayaneeyam

When his Guru was afflicted with rheumatism, Bhattathiri transferred the ailment to his body through his yogic powers and cured his Guru. This was his Guru Dakshina.

Melpathur now suffered so much due to the disease and once he happened to meet Ezhuthachan, author of Malayalam Ramayanam. He asked him to go to Guruvayur Temple and said – 'Meen Thottu Kootuga' – the translation means ‘start with tasting fish’ in local language. 

But Bhattathiri realized the true meaning, the great poet meant to start counting from the Matsya Avatar of Vishnu. Kootuga has two meaning in Malayalam one is to taste and another is to count.

Melpathur composed the Narayaneeyam describing the ten avatars of Vishnu. Every avatar description ends with the poet requesting Guruvayoorappan to cure his disease.

It is said that when the poet completed the literary work, he was cured of all illness. He was also blessed with longevity and good health.

Few Lines From  Narayaneeyam

O Supreme Being!
Once I thought that Thy creative activity
is a tragic sport, as it inflicts various forms
of suffering on embodied beings (jivas) involved
in the cycle of birth and deaths (samsara), but now
I do not think so. For, if there were no creation
and therefore no embodied beings, who would have been there
to revel in the ocean of unparalleled joy derived from the
experience of seeing this Form of Thine replete with
consciousness and of hearing Thy glory?

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