Narayaneeyam

I spent the most of yesterday at our community temple at Mulund, where a Narayaneeyam chanting was sponsored by Ganesh and Deepa, my in-law family, who are more of friends than relatives. The occasion was the nakshatra janmadinam of their daughter, our niece, Isha. The day began early, with my better half Sudha hustling to get ready and leave for the temple, for the reading / chanting was to begin by sharp 8am. Appropriately dressed up in veshti and uttarayam, I seated myself amongst a huge congregation of Iyer Brahmin folk, who were in one voice lucidly chanting (parayanam) the Sanskrit epic, the famous Narayaneeyam.

Later, while I marveled at the adept manner of the Narayaneeyam’s recital as a single chorus, Sudha referred to the origins of the epic ode, a masterpiece of Mēlpattūr Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭathri; mathematician and poet who lived for 86 years until 1646. I checked out Bhattathri’s information, and what I found was mesmerizing.

Bhattathri was born at Melpathur village very close to the Tirur river, Malappuram district in a pious Brahmin family as the son of a Pandit Mathrudattan Bhattathiri. He studied the Rig Veda from Guru Madhava, Tharka sastra (science of debate in Sanskrit) from Guru Damodara and finally Vyakarana (Sanskrit grammar) from Guru Achyuta Pisharady. He became a pandit by the age of 16, and soon after, married his Vyakarana Guru's niece.

The Narayaneeyam is a devotional Sanskrit poetic legendary work, consisting of 1036 verses. Composed by Bhattathiri, it gives a summary of the Bhagavata Purana, that is comprised of 18000 verses. It narrates a series of episodes from the Bhagavata Purana. Bhattathri transforms these episodes into solemn prayers pouring out his soul in total supplication before the Lord.

The story goes like this. Bhattathri’s Guru Achyuta Pisharady was affected by rheumatism and suffered unbearable pain. Bhattathri desired to find a cure for his Guru's suffering and fervently prayed for the disease to be transferred to himself and cure his Guru. It is said that his pious persistence made Lord Krishna grant Bhattathri his wish.

Unable to move, he was carried into the Guruvayur temple where he met Ezhuthachan, another renowned Malayalam poet and Sanskrit scholar of the times who hinted to him to start his treatment with fish. Bhattathiri understood the hidden meaning, and decided to present the various incarnations of Vishnu starting with the fish (Matsya), as narrated in the Bhagavata Purana in a series of Dasakas (groups of ten shlokas).

Prostrate in front of the Lord, he started composing one Dasaka a day, with the final verse of every Dasaka a prayer to remove ailments and sufferings. Each day, he composed 10 shlokas, that is 1 Dasaka. He finished his composition in exactly 100 days even while his condition gradually improving day by day. On 27 November 1587 when he finished the last Dasaka (Ayuraarogya Sowkhyam) he was miraculously cured completely. On that day, at a mere 27 years of age, it is believed that he had a vision of the Lord in the form of Venugopalan. The 100th canto that was composed on that day, starts with 'Agre Pashyami', which literally means "here as I see in front of me" gives a vivid and colourful description of this form of the Lord from the head to toe.

It is believed that Lord Guruvayurapan appeared himself before Bhattathiri and asked him which of his two hands he wished to receive blessings from. The Lord said that one of his hands did have the power to cure his disease, and his other hand had Karunyam, or compassion. Bhattathiri thought for a moment and chose the hand which had Karunyam. Lord gave the Karunyam and it is said that Bhattathiri's disease was cured. He later explained that if we have Karunyam we all automatically receive prosperity and well-being.

Bhattathiri lived in many places after his cure, and finally settled at the Devi temple at Mookkola near Changaramkulam, present-day Malappuram district, for around 20 years. He wrote his last work there and one day, after returning home from the Temple, he collapsed and died instantly, thereby having a peaceful end as he desired from the Lord.

Fascinating indeed. Such gems are a part and parcel of our rich heritage of Sanatana Dharma. Please also do visit https://tinyurl.com/Akc-si-inv-wa for a passion project to keep heritage values and culture of Sanatana Dharma alive. To access the page, enter password as ‘temple’. Do not forget to please fill the form after you watch the video. Looking forward to you being a part of this community centric enterprise.