Ramanujar….the Seer who lives forever……
With the entire..Vaishnavite and others celebrating this great man's 1000 th birthday on the 1st of May 2017, it is only appropriate that all of us also contribute in every small way to the said celebrations.
As part of this we signed up along with Velukkudi Swamy to go on a one day tour to Melkote where Ramanujar had spent about 12 to 14 years of his life.
Ramanujar reinstated both the Moolavar and Utsvar statues here. While Moolavar was unearthed from under a tulasi bush near kalyani pushkarani, the utsavar Cheluvanarayanar vigraha was brought from Delhi Badsha, by Sri Ramanauja and restarted temple rituals.
When Ramanujar learnt that the utsavar was with the Bhadushah in Delhi He trvelled to Delhi and brought back the utsavar from the Bhadushah|s daughter and the princess came along with them and she died here. To this effect to this day Bibi Nachiyar sits at the feet of the Lord.
Ramanujar treated the utsavar as a child, petted and pampered and had the temple rituals set around this notion .Chella pillai...as he was fondly called ,wakes up late ,goes to bed early and is always escorted outside with his adopted father Ramanujar.
The Melkote temple is celebrating the 1000th year in a very grand scale , the entire village wears a festive look.
there are many stage performances and everyday is a festival where the sacred idol of Ramanujar is brought out in a procession.
We visited the temple in Velukkudi swamins tour. In the morning at 9 the Nav Granthas composed by this Seer are taken in a grand procession around the temple.
And after this we are treated to a thirumanjanam of the Seer.
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Post lunch we visited the Thondanoor eri….a huge lake up in the hills,where Ramanujar is said to have performed his daily ablutions and rituals, also called Nitya karma.
There are two temples of Nambi Narayanan and Venugopalan opposite each other ,built in a huge compound. There is a stone seat in Nambi Narayanan temple where from Ramanujar sat and delivered lectures.
This was earlier a Jain settlement and Bittudeva raya ruled here. His daughter was fraught with mental instability and Ramanujar cured her and the king converted to Sri Vishnavavism. Also Ramanuja won over the hardcore Jains by arguing with them answering all their questions simultaneously from behind a screen.
With a hoary past these three temples and it's surroundings are a veritable site to be preserved for eternity.
The day long trip came to a fitting end with Ramanujar’s procession in Melkote in VairaMudi vahanam.
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