Krithis, Their Meanings and the Stories They Tell: Akilandeswari Rakshamam : Dikshithar Kriti

akhilaaNDEshvari : raagam: dvijaavanti taaLam: aadi

Composer: Muttuswaamy Dikshitar Language: Sanskrit

pallavi

akhilANDEshvari rakSamAm Agama sampradAya nipuNE shrI

anupallavi

nikhila lOka nityAtmikE vimalE nirmalE shyAmaLE sakala kalE

charaNam

lambOdara guruguha pUjitE lambAlakOdbhAsitEhasitE
vAgdEvatArAdhitE varadE varashailarAjanutE shAradE
jambhAri sambhAvitE janArddananutE jujAvanti rAganutE jallI
maddaLa jhar jhara vAdya nAdamuditE jHnAnapradE

Word by word meaning of the song : (mostly taken from the site : http://guruguha.org/wiki/akhilandeshvari.html)

kshEtra - tiruvAnaikkOil is the "kshetra" - the place - meant here
akhilAnDa - all the worlds
ISvari - Goddess
raksha - protect
mAm - me
Agama - The Agama canons
sampradAya - The path of the ; the tradition
nipuNE - expert
Sri - O auspicious one
nikhila - various
lOka - worlds
nitya - eternal
AtmikE - dwelling in
vimalE - pure
nirmalE - pure
SyAmaLE - dark-hued
sakala kaLe - the complete one / The one that is the essence of all the arts
lambOdara - The long-bellied (Ganesa)
guru guha - Subrahmanya
pUjitE - worshipped by
lamba - long
Alaka - tresses
udbhAsitE - resplendent with
hasitE - having a pleasing countenance; smiling
vAgdEvatA - The goddess of speech
ArAdhitE - worshipped by varadE - giver of boons
vara - revered
zaila - mountain
rAja - king
nutE - worshipped by
SAradE - The one as bright as the autumnal moon
jambha - the demon jambha
ari - enemy
jambhAri - ie Indra
sambhAvitE - celebrated by
janArdana - vishnu
nutE - praised by
jujAvanti rAga nutE - the one who is praised by raag jujavanthi
jhallI maddaLa jharjhara - names of instruments such as jalli (also called jallaki), maddala and jharjharam
vAdya - instruments
nAda - music
muditE - pleased by
jnAna - knowledge
pradE - bestower

The detailed meaning of the song : (mostly taken from the site : http://guruguha.org/wiki/akhilandeshvari.html)

Pallavi:

akhilANDEshvari rakSamAm Agama sampradAya nipuNE shrI

Akhilandeswari! Protect me! O Expert in the tradition of the Agamas.

Anupallavi:

nikhila lOka nityAtmikE vimalE nirmalE shyAmaLE sakala kalE

The one who is the eternal lifeforce of the various worlds. The one who is pure.

The one who is dark as the rain cloud. The one who encompasses all the arts and who is the essence of all the art forms.

charaNaM:

lambOdara guruguha pUjitE lambAlakOdbhAsitEhasitE

vAgdEvatArAdhitE varadE varashailarAjanutE shAradE

jambhAri sambhAvitE janArddananutE jujAvanti rAganutE jallI

maddaLa jhar jhara vAdya nAdamuditE jHnAnapradE

The one worshipped by Ganesha and Shanmukha. The one who has long locks of hair on her forehead.The one with a smiling countenance.

The one worshipped by the vagdhevathas. the bestower of boons. the one worshipped by the king of mountains. The one named Sharada.

The one respected by Indra - who is the enemy of the demon jambhA. The one worshipped by Vishnu. The one praised with the raga jujavanti.

The one pleased by the instruments such as jallI, maddaLa, jarjara. The bestower of knowledge

The stories in the song:

The one key story which appears in the song is that of "lambOdara guruguha pUjitE" which talks about Goddess Akilandeswari being worshipped by Ganapathy and Guruguha - who is Subramanya. This pertains to the Goddess being in a state of anger - which was dissipated by Adi Sankara who took all that anger in the form of tadanga (ear rings) and put it on the ears of the Goddess and also put the idols of Ganapathy and Muruga in front of the Goddess so that she sees her sons all the time and hence becomes pacified.

Key points to note about the song:

As with most other Dikshithar songs, this is pure poetry!

"nityAtmikE vimalE nirmalE shyAmaLE sakala kalE" - all with "E" kaarams; and again,

"guruguha pUjitE; lambAlakOdbhAsitEhasitE; vAgdEvatArAdhitE; varadE ; varashailarAjanutE; shAradE; sambhAvitE; janArddananutE ; rAganutE ; nAdamuditE jHnAnapradE ....all "Ekaarams" in the song making the song all the more beautiful to listen to!

Key points about the temple and the Temple Stories (Sthala Purana) : (Taken from wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jambukeswarar_Temple,_Thiruvanaikaval)

Thiruvanaikaval (also Thiruvanaikal, Jambekeswaram) is a famous Shiva temple in Tiruchirapalli (Trichy), in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The temple was built by Kocengannan (Kochenga Chola), one of the Early Cholas, around 1,800 years ago. It is located in the Srirangam island, which has the famous Ranganathaswamy temple.

Thiruvanaikal is one of the five major Shiva Temples of Tamil Nadu (Panchabhoota Sthalams) representing the Mahābhūta or five great elements; this temple represents the element of water, or neer in Tamil.^[1] The sanctum of Jambukeswara has an underground water stream and in spite of pumping water out, it is always filled with water.^[2]

It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams, where all the four most revered Nayanars (Saivite Saints) have sung glories of the deity in this temple. The temple has inscriptions from the Chola period.

Pancha Bhoota Stalam (Sanskrit: पन्च भूत स्थल) refers to the five Shiva temples,^[9] each representing the manifestation of the five prime elements of nature - space, air, fire, water, earth.^[10] Pancha indicates five, Bhoota means elements and Sthala means place. All these temples are located in South India with four of these temples at Tamil Nadu and one at Andhra Pradesh. The five elements are believed to be enshrined in the five lingams^[9] and each of the lingams representing Shiva in the temple have five different names based on the elements they represent. In the temple, Shiva is said to have manifested himself in the form of water (Appu Lingam). The other four manifestations are Prithivi Lingam (representing land) at Ekambareswarar Temple,^[11] Akasa Lingam (representing sky)^[9] at Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram,^[11] Agni Lingam (representing fire)^[12] at Annamalaiyar Temple^[11] and Vayu Lingam (representing air) at Srikalahasti Temple.^[11]^[13]

Once Parvati mocked Shiva’s penance for betterment of the world. Shiva wanted to condemn her act and directed her to go to the earth from Kailasam (Shiva's abode) to do penance. Parvathi in the form of Akilandeswari as per Shiva's wish found Jambu forest (Thiruvanaikoil) to conduct her penance. She made a lingam out of water of river Cauvery (also called as river Ponni) under the Venn Naaval tree (the Venn Naaval tree on top of the saint Jambu) and commenced her worship. The lingam is known as Appu Lingam (Water Lingam).^[3] Siva at last gave darshan to Akilandeswari and taught her Siva Gnana. Akilandeswari took Upadesa(lessons) facing East from Shiva, who stood facing west.^[2]

The temples idols are installed opposite to each other - Such temples are known as Upadesa Sthalams. As the Devi was like a student and Jambukeswara like a Guru (teacher) in this temple, there is no Thiru Kalyanam (marriage) conducted in this temple for Shiva and Parvathi, unlike the other Shiva temples. The sannathy of the goddess Akilandeshwari and the sannathy of Prasanna Vinayaka are in the shape of the pranava manthracalled "Om". It is believed that the Amman in the temple was in deep anger hence during one of Adi Sankara's visit he installed the Prasanna Ganapathy idol right opposite to her Sannathy and installed a pair of Sri Chakra thaatankas (ear-rings) to reduce her anger.^[2]

There were two Siva Ganas (Siva’s disciples who live in Kailash): 'Malyavan' and 'Pushpadanta'. Though they are Siva Ganas they always quarrel with each other and fight for one thing or other. In one fight 'Malyavan' cursed 'Pushpadanta' to become an elephant on earth and the latter cursed the former to become a spider on earth. The elephant and the spider came to Jambukeswaram and continued their Siva worship. The elephant collected water from river Cauvery and conducted ablution to the lingam under the Jambu tree (Eugenia jambolana) daily. The spider constructed his web over the lingam to prevent dry leaves from dropping on it and prevent sunlight directly falling on it. When the elephant saw the web and thought it was dust onlingam. The elephant tore them and cleaned the lingam by pouring water and the practice continued daily. The spider became angry one day and crawled into the trunk of the elephant and bit the elephant to death, killing itself. Siva, in the form of Jambukeswara, moved by the deep devotion of the two, relieved them from the curse. As an elephant worshipped Siva here, this place came to be known as Thiru Aanai Kaa (thiru means holy, aanai is elephant, kaa (kaadu) means forest).^[2] Later the name 'Thiruaanaikaa' become 'Thiruvanaikaval' and 'Thiruvanaikoil'.

As an outcome of making sin by killing the elephant, in the next birth, the spider was born as the King Kochengot Chola (kotchengannan cholan meaning red-eyed king) and built 70 temples and this temple is the one among them.^[2] Remembering his enmity with the elephant in his previous birth, he built the Siva Sannathi (sanctorum) such that not even a small elephant can enter. The entrance on the sanctorum of Jambukeswara is only 4 foot high and 2.5 foot wide.^[2]

Tamil sage & poet "Thirunavukkarasar" has sung about this temple (in tamil) - for those who understand tamil : (all from Tamil wiki)

இந்த தல வரலாற்றை திருநாவுக்கரசர் தனது திருக்குறுக்கை சிவஸ்தலம் பதிகத்தில் (4-ம் திருமுறை - "ஆதியில் பிரமனார் தாம்" என்று தொடங்கும் பதிகம் - 4வது பாடல்) தெரிவிக்கிறார்.

"சிலந்தியும் ஆனைக்காவில் திருநிழல் பந்தர் செய்து
உலந்து அவண் இறந்த போதே கோச்செங்கணானும் ஆகக்
கலந்த நீர்க் காவிரீ சூழ் சோணாட்டுச் சோழர் தங்கள்
குலந்தனில் பிறப்பித்திட்டார் குறுக்கைவீ ரட்டனாரே"

இப்பாடலின் பொழிப்புரை : 

திருவானைக்காவிலுள்ள பெருமானுக்கு அழகிய நிழலைத்தரும் பந்தலை அமைத்த 
சிலந்தி இறந்தபின் மறுபிறப்பில், சுவாமியுடன் கலந்து பயின்ற நீரை உடைய 
காவிரியாற் சூழப்பட்ட சோழ நாட்டில் அந்நாட்டு மன்னர் மரபிலே கோச்செங்கண்ணான்
என்ற பெயருடைய அரசனாகுமாறு பிறப்பித்து விட்டார் குறுக்கை வீரட்டனார்
The other old tamil poems on this temple (again in tamil are as follows)




திருத்தலப் பாடல்கள்[தொகு]

திருவானைக்கா நாயன்மார்கள் மற்றும் தாயுமானவரின் பாடல் பெற்ற ஒரு தலம். திருநாவுக்கரசர் அருளிய ஒரு தேவாரப் பதிகம் கீழே:


துன்பம் இன்றித் துயரின்றி என்றும்நீர்

இன்பம் வேண்டில் இராப்பகல் ஏத்துமின்

எம்பொன் ஈசன் இறைவன் என்று உள்குவார்க்கு

அன்பன் ஆயிடும் ஆனைக்கா அண்ணலே.


காவேரி நதியோடு சென்று விட்ட சோழனின் மணியாரம், திருமஞ்சனக் குடத்தில் சிக்கிக் கொண்டு எம்பிரானுக்கு ஆபரணமாக விளைந்த அற்புதத்தைசுந்தரமூர்த்தி நாயனார் இவ்வாறு வடிக்கிறார்:

தாரமாகிய பொன்னித் தண்டுறையாடி விழுத்து

நீரினின்றடி போற்றி நின்மலாக் கொள்ளென வாங்கே

ஆரங்கொண்ட வெம்மானைக் காவுடையாதியைநாளும்

எனவும் , திருஞானசம்பந்தப்பெருமான்

ஆரம் நீரோ டேந்தினா னானைக்காவு சேர்மினே




சைவ ஆகமமாம் பெரிய புராணத்தில் ஏயர்கோன் கலிக்காமநாயனார் வரலாற்றினில், சேக்கிழார் தலத்தின் பெருமையை இவ்வாறு உரைக்கிறார்:

வளவர் பெருமான் திருவாரஞ் சாத்திக் கொண்டு வரும் பொன்னிக்

கிளருந் திரைநீர் மூழ்குதலும் வழுவிப் போகக் கேதமுற

அளவில் திருமஞ் சனக்குடத்தி லதுபுக்காட்ட வணிந்தருளி

தளரு மவனுக் கருள்புரிந்த தன்மை சிறக்கச் சாற்றினார்




தலப் பெருமையைப் பறைசாற்றும் பழந்தமிழ்ப் பாடலொன்று:


மேதகைய பயன்விழைவோர் ஞானதலத் துறைகுவது மேவாதாயின்

ஓதுக அத்தலப்பெயரை யாங்கதுவு முற்றாதே லுரைப்பக்கேட்க

காதலொடு கேட்டவரு மூவகைய பாதகமுங் கடந்துமேலாம்

போதமுணர்ந் தெமதடியிற் புக்கிருப்ப ரிஃதுண்மை பொலங்கொம்பன்னாய்



Once Goddess Akilandeswari was angry. At that point in time, the temple was not at all a place of worship. All the people were afraid of the Goddess. Adi Shankara learnt about this and came to the temple. He, thru the mantra shastra, collected all the forces of anger from the Goddess and put that into two ear rings. The ear rings were made in the form of "Sri Chakra" - which again is a form of worship in Hindu - Saktha tradition. He put them onto the Goddess who was by now, peace and serenity personified. Adhi Shankara also ensured that he put the idols of Ganesa in front of the Goddess and the idol of Subramanya on the back side of the Goddess so that the first thing the Goddess sees is that of Ganesa and she is surrounded also by Muruga. This also ensured that the Goddess stayed as a Goddess of love and affection. 




The kriti, makes a deft reference to this sthala purana in the line " lambodara gurugua pujithe"



To listen to this song : 




1. by MS : 

















2. by Kavalam Srikumar : this is amazing rendition!!