SrI darbhaSayana RAman of ThiruppullANi

 

Here EmperumAn is pratyaksham to Sukhar and SAraNar. Unlike other divya kshetrams where the eyes of EmperumAn in Sayana Thirukkolam always look upwards, (except in ThiruevvuL) here in this kshetram, SrI darbha-Sayana Raman looks at us with His side glances showering auspiciousness on all His devotees. SrI Rama here sports a PaTTaakkathi (broadsword) at His waist as a lakshaNam of a warrior prince. When we look closely at the majestic SrI RAmachandramUrthy, we see that His eyes still reflect the anger He felt on being ignored by samudra rAjan when He prayed to him on the darbhAsanam. So to calm His anger, a vigraham of SrI SitA PirATTi has also been installed inside the sannidhi eventhough during the vibhavAvatAra time, the two young princes were on their own when SrI RAma undertook darbhaSayanam.

On the lotus that grows from His nAbhi we get to see Brahma. We can also see sculptures of Chandra, Sooryas and thirty three crores of devAs standing in prayerful worship, on either side of Brahma. At SrI Raman's thiruvadi we can have the darSanam of His bhakthan Sri Veera HanumAn. On either side of the ardha-mandapam we can see VibhIshaNan and SamudrarAjan with his wife.

 

Adhi Sethu

 

THEERTA VISESAM:

This kshetram has the unique feature of having the presence of Adhi Sethu (sea water), Chakratheertham (Tank water-PushkariNi) and HiraNya nadhi (river water) and hence is famously called as "Munneer Thalam". The power of these sacred waters to heal and bless all is a proven fact from time immemorial.

 

ADHI SETHU:

An age old proverb describes the benefits accrued by just seeing the Adhi Sethu thus: "setu darSanam idam puNyam, SesheNapi na gaNyate" which means that even Adhi Seshan with His thousand tongues cannot describe the puNyams that accrue from just seeing the Adhi Sethu leave alone taking bath in it. In the following verse from Srimad RamayaNam, Sri Rama informs Sri Sita about the benefits obtained by taking bath in this Sethu and afterwards giving anna dAnam to a qualified person:

gayAyAm eka lakshantu vArANasyam dvilakshakam
prayAge saptalakshantu SrI setau krAsa mAtrata:

Meaning:

"Performing anna dAnam with humility and respect to one qualified person after taking bath in Adhi Sethu is greater than performing the same dAnam to one lakh persons at the sacred place called as GayA, greater than performing anna

dAnam to two lakhs of people at the PuNya kshetram of KAsi and loftier than performing the same dAnam to seven lakhs of people at the holy place of PrayAg"

 

Chakra Theertham — ThiruppullANi

 

CHAKRA THEERTHAM

This is the name of the Holy Tank (ThirukkuLam) in front of the Temple. The sthala puraNam mentions that the name is to highlight the connection (sambhandam) with Sri SudarshaNar — ChakrathAzhwAn.

Long ago, there lived two evil raakshasaas by the names of Maali and Sumaali in the island of Lanka. Sriman NArAyaNan decided to end their atrocities and arrived on GarudAzhwAn to destroy them. BhagavAn directed His divya Ayudam — Sri Sudarsanam to destroy the asuraas. On the death of the asurAs, Sri Sudarsanar wanted to cleanse the impurity that had tainted His Divine Body due to the contact with the evil asura blood. To do that He sought the theertham in front of the ThiruppullANi Temple to bathe and as a result got rid of all the impurities; since then this theertham has been called "Chakra Theertham". Sriman NArAyaNan appeared on Garudan before ChakrathAzhwAn while he was taking the holy bath in the pushkariNi and blessed Sri Sudarshanar and told him that He will come to this kshetram during His Rama AvathAram with LakshmaNa and take bath in the same theertham and be blessed with the Divine Bow from Sri Adhi JagannAtha PerumAL at that time. Further more BhagavAn extolled the glory of the Chakratheertham by saying that who ever takes the prescribed bath in this theertham and worships PerumAL, GarudAzhwan and ChakrathAzhwan will surely attain Moksham without fail. Just like the Pushkar Theertham found in North India, this Chakratheertham is also famous for the removal of terrible sins like adhi paathakam and mahaa paathakam. For this reason this theertham is also called as "anantha krcra phala prada theertham".

 

Successful rain-water harvesting engineered by the ancient architects of the Temple resulting in a beautiful ThirukkuLam that never goes dry!

Due to the ravages of Time, over the ages the Thirukkulam was left unattended to and slowly turned into a stagnant patch of water with unbearable stench and filth. In the year 1993, under the administration of Sri.Krishnan, I.A.S — a sishya of SrI Ahobila Mutt and the District Collector of Ramanathapuram — the repair of the Thirukkulam was taken up and completed. The present Thirukkulam looks lovely and inviting with clear water throughout the year due to the successful harvesting of rain water from wastefully running off into the sea. For his service in renovating this Holy Tank, Sri.Krishnan I.A.S is still very respectfully remembered by the locals of ThiruppullaNi.

 

HIRANYA NADHI:

The river to the West of Chakra Theertham is called as HiraNya nadhi. In the present day it appears as an uppankazhi (salt water reservoir). But in ancient times, it was on the banks of this river that HiraNyan did his penance and got the boons and hence the name "Hiranya nadhi" or "ponnam kazhi".

This Ponnam kazhi has been eulogized by Thirumangai Mannan in his ThiruppullANi pAsurams thus:

Ponnam kazhik kAnal puLinangAL! PullANi
annamAi nool payanthArkku aangu idanai seppumine.

Thirumangai Mannan asks the various birds living on the beaches of the Ocean into which the HiraNya River flows to convey his abject state to the nAthan of ThiruppullANi (Sri Adhi JagannAtha PerumAL).

 

STHALA VRKSHAM:

The Aswattha tree (arasa maram — banyan tree) is the sthala vrksham of this kshetram. GeethAcharyan elevates the status of this tree by saying that of all the trees He is Aswatta — "aswattha: sarva vrkshANaam". Also in Padma PurANam (KriyA Yoga Saaram section), Bhagavan says to Sri Lakshmi:"aswattha vrkshamAsAdya sadA lakshmI sthirA bhava" meaning, "Oh Lakshmi! May you be present forever in the Aswatta tree". There is also an adage that being filled with the presence of Sri Devi, the darsanam and worship of Aswatta tree confers longevity and all auspiciousness on the devotee — "Aayur vrddi: bhavet tasya varttante sarva sampada:"

The presence (maruval) of Sri PadmAsani ThAyar of ThiruppullANi in the aswattha tree is brought out in the verse:"marumalar piRanda kOdai maruvi makizhum pullANi vaLar arasu". It was under this Aswattha tree that the sages Pullar, KaNvar and kAlavar did their penance (tapas) towards Sriman NArAyaNan and had the darsana bhAgyam of Him as the golden hued Aswatta NArAyaNan. On their request, the Aswattha NArAyaNan agreed to stay permanently in the ThiruppullANi kshetram as Adhi JagannAtha PerumAL. This glorious tree can be seen even today, to the North of ThAyAr sannidhi and to the West of PerumAL sannidhi. It stands as a testimony of Time to the ancient heritage of this temple. Pullai andAdi calls this Tree as "vaLararasu" (vqrrC) and gives a long list of diseases that are cured by the mere darSanam of this Holy Tree.

A famous work called as Thiruppullani VaNNam praises the Aswatta Tree thus:

Vaazhi ThiruppullANi vaazhi thiruvarasu
vaazhi ilangai vazhi kaNDaar — vaazhimuRai
vaazhi poomElinrundhamaadhu sekanAthar
vaazhi dhaivacchilai mAmaram.

Why is it called as "vaLararasu"? Though not growing much vertically, the tree spreads out its aerial prop roots which grow into thick woody trunks which, with age grows laterally covering a wide area. This lateral growth has made the Tree to appear to move from its place of origin near the PerumAL sannidhi to its present location. This movement and growth has earned the epithet of "VaLararasu" for this Tree!