Thursday, April 2, 2015

April 3rd 2015 - Panguni Uttiram Serthi - Thirunakshatram of Ranganayaki Thaayar


Panguni Uttiramwhich falls on April 3rd this year,  is a very important day in the Hindu calendar. 


 







For vaishnavites, it marks the day of Andal's marriage to Rangamanar. It is also the thirunakhstram or birthday of Ranganayaki Thaayar (or divine mother) of Srirangam. 

The Ramayana also mentions this day as the wedding day of Rama & Sita at Janakpuri. In all major divyadesams and temples, there is a the Divya Dampati's serthi sevai - i.e the divine couple are placed on the same peetham or pedestal  and together they bless the devotees.



Almost a millenium ago, Swamy Ramanuja, exulted on receiving the serthi darshan,  sought moksham from Namperumal & Thayaar at Srirangam through his 3 works called as gadyams - saranagathi gadyam, sriranga gadyam & vaikunta gadyam. This dialogue between namperumal and ramanujar is enacted even today at Srirangam. Forever after that, the rules of moksha changed - only those who desired moksham and had acharya sambandham and therefore were Ramanuja dasas/dasis could reach vaikuntam.  

Here are some links that explain the festival and describe it as it happens at Srirangam

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/gallery/pu08/pu08.pdf           

http://www.srihayagrivan.org/ebooks/071_pk.pdf 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/message/16154

http://www.vedics.org/index.php/about-us/item/174-vijaya-panguni-uthiram


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