Once upon a time, twelve alwars were born with the features of Lord Vishnu and spread the Bhakti marga (way) to the people on the earth by the hymns of Nalayira Divya Prapandham. In this blog, we are going to see about One of such Alwars called Thirumangai Alwar and his wife Kumuthavalli Nachiyar.
Thirumangai Alwar Thaniyan and Meaning:
Kalayami kalidhvamsam kavim loka dhivak aram Yasya gobi: prakas abir avidhyam nihatham thama:
I meditate on thirumangai AzhwAr who is named kalikanRi, who is a radiant sun among poets and through whose radiant words the ignorance in the mind was dispelled completely
Birth and Growth of Thirumangai Alwar:
A Long ago, In the Chola dynasty Thirumangai Alwar was born with the feature of Bow of Lord Vishnu in the village called Thirukkuraiyalur near Sirkazhi. Thirumangai Alwar was born in the month and star of Karthigai - Karthigai in the Kalar caste and was named by his parents as Neelan though his skin tone was black. Thirumangai Alwar had all the skills and tactics related to war and shined as a great warrior of the Chola dynasty. So the king appointed Thirumangai Alwar as commander-in-chief for the troops of the Chola dynasty.
Thirumangai Alwar has four friends named NeerMel Nadppan, Niall Udhunguvan, Thaal Oodhuvaan, Thoola Vazhakkan respectively and he had a horse called Aadalma and an elephant called Amari Kadamaa Kalai Yaanai. By seeing the greatness of Thirumangai Alwar, the Chola king named him Kailyan and made Thirumangai Alwar the King of a small place called Thirumangai and become Kurunila Mannan.
Thirumangai Alwar's Marriage with Kumuthavalli Nachiyar:
After some days, Thirumangai Alwar had met Kumuthavalli Nachiyar at Annan Perumal Kovil in Thiruvellakulam near Thirunagari. Thirumangai Alwar wants to marry Kumuthavalli Nachiyar and enquired about her to his friends and asked her father to marry her to him. Kumuthavali Nachiyar's father replied the marriage decision should be taken by the daughter. Kumuthavalli Nachiyar said two conditions to Thirumangai Alwar to marry her. Thirumangai Alwar also promised Kumuthavalli Nachiyar to complete the conditions and the first condition is to get Panchasamskaram from an Aacharya. Due to the bravery of Thirumangai Alwar, many Aacharyas were refused to give Panchasamskaram, So he requested Sri Srinivasa Perumal of Thirunaraiyur Divyadesam and Peumal also gave him Panchasamskaram.
And the second condition is to serve food and do hospitality to 1008 Srivaishnavas continuously for a year, Thirumangai Alwar is also started to do this, but this is not an easy task for him, Thirumangai Alwar slowly drained the wealth from the treasury of his Kingdom but continued his service work. For many months Thirumangai Alwar didn't pay the tax to the Chola dynasty, So the news somehow went to the ears of the Chola King.
King become so angry and ordered his troops to arrest Thirumangai Alwar but he won the war, King he himself came to the battlefield and had the war with Thirumangai Alwar didn't come to an end, so The Chola King tricked Thirumangai Alwar and put him into Prison. On the same night, The Varadharaja Perumal of Kanchipuram came into the dreams of Thirumangai Alwar and Said him to come to Kanchipuram to settle the tax. Thirumangai Alwar informed Minister about his dream and they arrived at Kanchipuram immediately but they didn't find any money or gold and Thirumangai Alwar became worried and slept and again the Varadharaja Perumal came into the dreams of Thirumangai Alwar and said that the wealth is available in the bank of Vegavathi River, So Thirumangai Alwar also arrived at the bank of Vegavathi River and found the excess of wealth such as Gold, Silver coins, Thirumangai Alwar settled the tax of the Chola King and with the remaining wealth he continued his dhadhiyaradhana service to Sri Vaishnavas.
Thirumangai Alwar got the dharishnam of the Perumal:
After a few days, again the wealth is started to drain the treasury so Thirumangai Alwar decided to loot with friends from rich peoples to continue the dhadhiyaradhana service to Sri Vaishnavas. At once Thirumangai Alwar received information about the newly married couple coming through the forest with their family with large golden ornaments, after hearing this Thirumangai Alwar arrived at the place of married couples in the forest with his friends and intimated them to remove their golden ornaments, they removed it, but the bride didn't remove his ring on the leg, So Thirumangai Alwar tried to remove the leg ring using his teeth and mouth but he can't remove it.
So Thirumangai Alwar left his leg ring and tried to move with the ornaments bag but he can't lift it from the ground, Thirumangai Alwar become astonished and asked the bride that you made some magic so only I can't lift it, so say the magic to me and I will leave you alive. The bride thought Thiru Mantra Upadesam to Thirumangai Alwar, the married couple is none other than Vayalali Manavala Perumal and Lakshmi thayar of Thirumankollai Divyadesam. At last, finally, Perumal and Thayar corrected and advised the good path to Thirumangai Alwar and he also surrendered his soul to Lord Vishnu.
Works of Thirumangai Alwar:
Thirumangai Alwar has composed the hymns on 95 divyadesa Vaishnava Perumal temples which scared throughout India, Thirumangai Alwar travelled on his Aadalma Horse to temples. Thirumangai Alwar has built one of the walls of Srirangam Sri Renganathaswamy Temple and composed poems on Lord Sri Ranganathan. Thirumangai Alwar has composed 6 Tamil poets of Nalayira Divya Prapandham called Periya Thirumozhi, ThiruvelukKootraikkai, ThirukKurunthandagam, ThiruNedunthandagam, Siriya Thirumadal and Periya Thirumadal and did many dhadhiyaradhana services to Sri Vaishnavas.
Vazhith Thirunaamam of Thirumangai Alwar:
Thirumangai AzhwAr (Karthigai – Karthigai)
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