[verizon]

I have been wanting to post in this thread right from the start, but was not sure how it will be received coming from an avowed atheist. But, given the literary genius of the author of the poem, I drummed up the temerity to present 10 pasurams of Thirumangai Azhvar that end with the epithet "நாராயணா என்னும் நாமம்".

The story goes that the Azhvar, having gone bankrupt feeding 1000 mendicant Vasihnavas a day, as promised in exchange for the hand of sweet damsel Kumudavalli, was waylaying rich merchants and relieving of their treasure. To stop this travesty Sriman Narayana and Mahalakshmi came down as newly wed rich merchants to be robbed by the Azhvar. When he was unable to remove a toe ring from one of the toes of Sriman Narayan he tries to bite it off. The touch of Sriman Narayana's foot is supposed to have bestowed the Azhvar with all the esoteric knowledge there is and he launched into singing more than 1000 verses in praise of Sriman Narayana, the first ten of which end with "நாராயணா என்னும் நாமம்", and they are so exquisite that even an atheist can appreciate them.

The first of these ten pasurams:

வாடினேன் வாடி வருந்தினேன் மனத்தால், பெருந்துயர் இடும்பையில் பிறந்து
கூடினேன் கூடி இளையவர் தம்மோடு, அவர் தரும் கலவியே கருதி
ஓடினேன் ஓடி உய்வதோர் பொருளால், உணர்வெனும் பெரும் பதம் தெரிந்து
நாடினேன் நாடி நான் கண்டு கொண்டேன், நாராயணா என்னும் நாமம்!

Such a moving pasurm, it was one that took me deep into SV before I woke up to reality !

Cheers!

p.s. Thirumanagai Azhyvar is the only Azhvar to be revered as a dampathi in his native Thirvali/Thirunagari.