paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar

sri:
srimathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srimadh varavaramunayE nama:
sri vAnAchala mahAmunayE nama:

thirunakshathram: kArthikai punarpUsam

avathAra sthalam:  kAnchipuram (thirumalai according to periya thirumudi adaivu)

AchAryan: maNavALa mAmunigaL

sishyas: kOilappan (his own pUrvAsrama son),  paravasthu aNNan, paravasthu azhagiya maNavALa jIyar, aNNarAya chakkaravarthi, mElnAttu thOzhappar nAyanAr, etc

Works: anthimOpAya nishtai

Place where he attained paramapadham: thirumalai

Born as gOvindhar to madhurakavi ayyar (who comes in the lineage of araNappurathAzhwAn, it is also said that he comes in naduvil AzhwAn thiruvamsam) in the patthangi paravasthu family, he was also known as gOvindhadhAsarappan, bhattanAthar in his pUrvAshramam. After accepting sannyAsam, he becomes to be known as pattarpirAn jIyar, bhattanAtha muni, etc. He is one of the ashta dhik gajangaL (eight prime disciples and leaders of our sampradhAyam) of mAmunigaL. piLLai lOkam jIyar who performed many valuable literary kainkaryams is his great-grand son.

mAmunigaL himself glorifies gOvindhadhAsarappan (pattarpirAn jIyar) in the assembly of his sishyas. Once, while every one is present, mAmunigaL says srI gOvindhadhAsarappan is the only one qualifies to be like madhurakavi AzhwAr who said dhEvumaRRaRiyEn (I dont know any other god than nammAzhwAr). pattarpirAn jIyar is thus compared to be madhurakavi AzhwAr for nammAzhwAr, dheivavAriyANdAn for ALavandhAr and vaduka nambi for emperumAnAr. He stayed with mAmunigaL without ever separating from him just like embAr who always stayed with emperumAnAr. Thus, he learns all the essence of sAsthram from mAmunigaL directly and constantly serve him.

For 30 years (in his pUrvAshramam), he ate the sEsha prasAdham (remnants) of mAmunigaL. He is famously known as “mOr munnAr ayyar” (the respected one who consumed curd rice first). In a traditional meal, we would first eat rice with dhAl, vegetables, etc. In the end will finish with curd rice. pattarpirAn jIyar, consumes his prasAdham on the same banana leaf on which mAmunigaL eats. As mAmunigaL finishes with curd rice and since gOvindhadhAsarappan wants to consume prasAdham without changing the taste (from curd to dhAl), he first consumes curd rice everyday. Thus, he becomes to be known popularly as “mOr munnAr ayyar”.

mAmunigaL‘s sishyas identify mAmunigaL as “bhattanAtha munivara abhIshta dhaivatham“, meaning “the one who is the dear master of pattarpirAn jIyar”.  They also glorify pattarpirAn jIyar as the one who is in the AchArya nishtai of madhurakavi AzhwAr towards mAmunigaL.

During the final days of mAmunigaL, aNNarAya chakkaravarthi (who comes in the lineage of thirumalai nallAn chakkaravarthi) visits srIrangam from thirumalai. After his mangaLAsAsanam at periya kOil, by the advise of his mother, goes to periya jIyar (mAmunigaL) mutt to pay his obeisances and respects to him. While going there with his whole family, he approaches mAmunigaL through pattarpirAn jIyar. periya jIyar places his divine lotus feet on the head of aNNarAya chakkaravarthi and blesses him fully. He glorifies aNNarAya chakkaravarthi’s kainkaryams in thirumalai and invites pattarpirAn jIyar to accept aNNarAya chakkaravarthi as his sishya. mAmunigaL says like “rAmasya dhakshiNo bhAhu:” (lakshmaNan is right hand for srI rAman), pattarpirAn jIyar is my right hand – so, let him perform pancha samskAram to you, accept you as his sishya and establish you as a leader in our sampradhAyam. aNNarAya chakkaravarthi happily obliges and accepts pattarpirAn jIyar as his AchArya.

Finally, after mAmunigaL ascending to paramapadham, pattarpirAn jIyar settles down at thirumalai and purify many jIvAthmAs there. He writes a grantham named anthimOpAya nishtai, which fully brings out the glories of our AchArya paramaparai and how our pUrvAchAryas fully depended on their respective AchAryans. He declares in the beginning of the grantham that the whole of the incidents/principles in the grantham are explained by mAmunigaL himself and he is just like the pen and paper to document those valuable instructions.

Thus, we have seen some glimpses of the glorious life of paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar. He was a great scholar and was very dear to mAmunigaL. Let us pray at his lotus feet that we too get a little bit of such bhAgavatha nishtai.

paravasthu pattarpirAn jIyar’s thaniyan:

ramyajAmAthruyOgIndhra pAdhasEvaika dhArakam
bhattanAtha munim vandhE vAthsalyAdhi guNArNavam

ரம்யஜாமாத்ருயோகீந்த்ர பாதஸேவைக தாரகம்
பட்டநாத முநிம் வந்தே வாத்ஸல்யாதி குணார்ணவம்

adiyen sarathy ramanuja dasan

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Sources: periya thirumudi adaivu, yathIndhra pravaNa prabhAvam