Andal’s Tiruppavai lends itself to innumerable interpretations. At a deeper level, Tirupaavai is considered to be a discourse on the nature of Ultimate Reality and the attainment of the supreme goal. One can also interpret it as encapsulating the ideal traits of a great acharya like the Vaishnavite acharya Kurattazhwan, said Tirukkudanthai Dr. Venkatesh.
The eleventh Tiruppavai, Kattru Karavai, in particular can be referenced for Kurattazhwan, who milked the essence of all the Vedas — Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana Veda being the four with Mahabharat considered to be the fifth — and rendered them as panchastavas. The five works are Vaikunta Stava, Atimanusha Stava, Sundarabahu Stava, Varadaraja Stava and Sri Stava. It is said that goddess Veda, who wears the works of acharyas as jewels on her, symbolically, has given pride of place to Kurattazhwan’s work by adorning it as her mangalasutra.
A staunch devotee of Ramanuja, Kurattazhwan met his enemies in their place without any fear or hesitation. When a king commanded Ramanuja to a debate on two different faiths, Kurattazhwan went as Ramanuja and emerged victorious; however, when it was ordained that his eyes be gouged for the impersonation, he fearlessly removed them himself. So pure was his character that Ramanuja treated him as though he were his sacred thread. Kurattazhwan, born in a wealthy family but renouncing the same in order to be an ordinary devotee of his preceptor Ramanuja, twined himself to him, like a creeper clinging to a pole. Once, when Kurattazhwan was about to enter the Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, the security guards barred his entry, as a person close to Ramanuja, in line with a royal decree. However, one of them relented saying, ‘let him pass, he is personally a good person.’ Kurattazhwan turned down the offer, preferring to be identified as Ramanuja’s sishya. Devoid of the three taints, ego wrought by wealth, education or high birth, he is, as Andal says, the ideal one to wake everyone from the slumber of ignorance.
Published – January 04, 2025 05:06 am IST
