The Place Where Nammalvar Sat Silent Under a Tamarind Tree - Adinatha Perumal Temple, Alwarthirunagari Story
Adinatha Perumal Temple is in Alwarthirunagari, in
Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu, about 26 km from Tirunelveli. It is
dedicated to Bhagavan Vishnu, who is worshipped here as Adinathar, with Goddess
Lakshmi as Adinathanayaki. In old times the place was called Thirukkurugur. It
is one of the 108 Divya Desams praised in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the
collection of hymns by the Alwar saints of the 6th to 9th centuries CE.
Alwarthirunagari Temple Story - Brahma and the Beginning of the Kshetra
According to Hindu belief, Brahma did penance at
Thirukkurugur to get divine wisdom. Bhagavan Vishnu appeared before him as
Adinatha, meaning the first or original Bhagavan, and gave him sacred
knowledge. This is why the kshetra is seen as a place of wisdom and spiritual
knowledge from the very beginning.
The Story of Nammalvar and
The place is most famous as the avatara sthala of Nammalvar.
Tradition says he was born in a Vellalar family in Thirukkurugur, in the 43rd
year of Kali Yuga. As a baby he did not cry, did not drink milk and did not
open his eyes. His parents were worried and left him at the feet of Adinathar
in this temple.
The child then crawled to a hole in the tamarind tree inside
the temple, sat in lotus posture and started meditating. He stayed like this
for around sixteen years. Devotees call this tree Uranga Puli, the tamarind
tree that never sleeps, because its leaves are said to remain closed at night.
Many believe the tree is an amsa of Adisesha.
Madhurakavi Alwar and the Riddle
In Madurai there lived a Tamil scholar, Madhurakavi Alwar,
who saw a bright light in the south sky and followed it to Thirukkurugur. He
found the boy under the tree but could not get any reply. So he asked a riddle:
"If the small is born inside a dead body, what will it eat and where will
it stay?" He meant that when the tiny soul is inside the body, what does
it do and think?
Nammalvar broke his silence and answered, "That it will
eat, that it will rest." The meaning is that if the soul thinks it is only
the body, it stays in the body. If the soul serves Bhagavan, it stays in
Vaikuntha and enjoys the thought of Vishnu. Madhurakavi Alwar understood the
greatness of the boy and became his disciple. He never accepted any other guru
and wrote a hymn only in praise of Nammalvar.
Importance of Tiruvaymoli
Nammalvar then gave four works: Tiruviruttam, Tiruvasiriyam,
Periya Tiruvandadi and Tiruvaymoli. Vaishnava tradition sees these as the
essence of the four Vedas, and for this reason Tiruvaymoli is called Dravida
Veda. Nammalvar is regarded as the chief of all Alwars, and his devotion is
described as the highest state of a jiva, the love of the soul for Bhagavan.
Symbolism
The silent child shows that real knowledge comes from within
and not from words. The tamarind tree stands for patience and long tapas. The
riddle teaches that a person is not the body but the atma, and its final aim is
service to Bhagavan.
Note on the Temple
The temple is built in Dravida style. It is the most
important of the Navatirupathi, the nine temples on the banks of Tamiraparani
river that Nammalvar praised. It is also the Navagraha temple of Guru (Jupiter)
among the nine. A unique thing here is the idol of Bhavishyadacharya, believed
to be Ramanuja, which is said to have been revealed from the ground near the
tamarind tree, long before Ramanuja took birth. The Garuda Sevai festival in
Vaikasi month is very famous, when the utsava idols of all nine temples are
brought here for the darshan of Nammalvar.
Alwarthirunagari is also traditionally respected as the birthplace of Manavala Mamunigal, the great Vaishnava acharya.