According to tradition, Kulasekhara Alwar was born at Thiruvanjikkalam in Kerala to the Chera king Dridhavrata, and after him ruled the Chera land as a just and learned king. Even on the throne, his heart was with Sri Rama and with the Lord's devotees, who gathered around him.
His love for Rama was so real that once, listening to the Ramayana and hearing how Rama stood alone against fourteen thousand rakshasas, he rose and called his army to march to Rama's aid. When his ministers, uneasy at the devotees around the king, hid a temple jewel and blamed them, he put his hand into a pot holding a cobra to show that the Lord's devotees would never steal. The snake did not touch him.
He handed the kingdom to his son, went to Srirangam and lived there in service; tradition says he offered his daughter in marriage to Sri Ranganatha. His Perumal Tirumozhi (105 verses) longs for Srirangam and for Thiruvenkatam. He asks to be anything there, even a step before the Lord, and the threshold of the Tirumala sanctum is still called Kulasekharan padi. He sings Kausalya's lullaby to Rama, Devaki's sorrow at missing Krishna's childhood and Dasaratha's grief, and the final decad retells the Ramayana at Thillai Thiruchitrakootam. He also wrote the Sanskrit Mukunda Mala, which is outside the four thousand.
He is the only Alwar called Perumal, like Sri Rama Himself. His life shows that a crown is a small thing beside the service of the Lord and His devotees. According to tradition, he attained the Lord's feet at Mannarkoil near Ambasamudram.
A pasuram to begin with
Perumal Tirumozhi 1.1 · verse 647 of the four thousand
Kulasekhara Alwar was a king who longed for Srirangam more than for his kingdom. His work opens with that longing.
Meaning
On Ananta, king of serpents, a great radiance, whose thousand hooded heads glitter with gems that drive the darkness away, on that beautiful, lofty white bed, in the great city of Srirangam, where the clear waters of the Ponni stroke His feet with the hands of her waves, He lies resting: that dark gem, that tender beauty. When will the day come when my two eyes see Him and rejoice?
Word by word
- iruḷ iriyac
- driving the darkness away
- aravu-aracap
- the king of serpents
- aṉantaṉ
- Ananta, Adisesha, the Lord's bed
- tiruvaraṅkap peru nakaruḷ
- the great city of Srirangam
- poṉṉi
- the Kaveri river
- tiraik kaiyāl aṭi varuṭap
- stroking His feet with the hands of her waves
- paḷḷikoḷḷum
- who lies resting
- karumaṇiyaik
- the dark gem
- kōmaḷattaik
- tender beauty
- eṉṟukolō kaḷikkum nāḷē
- when will the day of rejoicing come?
The verse is from the e-text of the Nalayira Divya Prabandham by Project Madurai. The meaning is a simple rendering in the light of the acharyas' commentaries, and is awaiting a scholar's review.
Ask Sri Paduka about this pasuram →All the pasurams
Kulasekhara Alwar sang 105 pasurams. Each one is here in English letters, with a simple meaning and the meanings of its key words.