Narayaniyam - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Narayaniyam is a medieval Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

text, comprising a summary study in poetic form of the Bhagavata Purana

Bhagavata purana

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...

. It was composed by Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri

Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri

Melpathur Narayana Bhattathiri , third student of Achyuta Pisharati, was of Madhava of Sangamagrama's Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. He was a mathematical linguist . His most important scholarly work, Prkriya-sarvawom, sets forth an axiomatic system elaborating on the classical system...

, a devotee-poet who lived in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, in the sixteenth century AD. The Bhagavata Purana is a major Hindu scripture

Hindu scripture

The Literature regarded as central to the Vedic and Hindu literary tradition was originally predominantly composed in Sanskrit. Indeed, much of the morphology inherent in the learning of Sanskrit is inextricably linked to study of the Vedas and other early texts....

consisting of about 18,000 verses, mainly devoted to the worship of Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

The poem

The Narayaniyam condenses the Bhagavata Purana into 1036 verses, divided into one hundred dasakas, or canto

Canto

The canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...

s. The work occupies a very high place in Sanskrit literature

Sanskrit literature

Literature in Sanskrit begins with the Vedas, and continues with the Sanskrit Epics of Iron Age India; the golden age of Classical Sanskrit literature dates to late Antiquity . Literary production saw a late bloom in the 11th century before declining after 1100 AD...

, both because of the intense devotional fervour of the verses, and because of their extraordinary literary merit. The Narayaniyam is one of the most popular religious texts in Kerala and Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

, and devout Hindus often recite it together in festivals and groups.

The author

Melputhur Narayana Bhattadri was born about the year 1560 in a village near the temple of Tirunavaya in Kerala. He composed the Narayaniyam at the age of 27.

Other monumental works by Bhattadri include a treatise on Sanskrit Grammar, entitled Prakriyasarvasva, a work similar to the Siddhanta Kaumudi, but written earlier. It is said that Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita, the author of the Siddhanta Kaumudi, on hearing about Bhattadri, set out for Kerala to meet him, but had to return disappointed on hearing on the way that Bhattadri had died.

Bhattatiri composed many other devotional hymns, as well as a work on Purva-Mimamsa entitled Manameyodaya, and panegyric

Panegyric

A panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...

s in praise of his royal patrons. It is believed that he lived till the age of 105.

Origin legend of the Narayaniyam

The people of Kerala worship Krishna in his Deity form as Guruvayurappan in the temple town of Guruvayur

Guruvayur

Guruvayur is a municipal town in Thrissur District, of Kerala State in India. It houses the famous Guruvayur Sree Krishna Temple, the fourth biggest temple in India in terms of the number of devotees per day.-History:Guruvayur, according to the legends may be 5,000 years old as the Guruvayur...

. According to local legends, Bhattadri had a Guru by the name of Achyuta Pisharati, who fell victim to a severe attack of paralysis, and suffered unbearable pain. Bhattadri desired to find a cure for his master and fervently prayed for the disease to be transferred to himself, freeing his Guru from suffering. According to the legend, Lord Krishna granted Bhattadri his wish, and he soon became a cripple.

Once, when Bhattadri, unable to move, was carried into the Guruvayur temple, he met Tunchath Ezhuthachan, an eminent Malayalam poet of the time. Ezhuthachan advised Bhattadri that he could be cured if he "began his treatment with fish". The disciples of Bhattadri who heard this were shocked because Bhattadri was a devout Hindu and therefore a vegetarian who would consider it sinful to eat fish. Bhattadri however understood what Ezhuthachan really meant - that he would be cured if he could compose a hymn glorifying the incarnations of Lord Krishna beginning with the fish incarnation, known as Matsya.

Accordingly, he started composing the Narayaniyam. It is said that he would recite one dasaka, consisting of ten verses, every day. The local legend says that on the hundredth day he had a vision of the Lord, and rendered a graphic description of this form, after which he was immediately cured of his disease.

Narayaneeya Sahasranama

Narayaneeya Sahasranama is a condensed form of Narayaneeyam consisting of 1000 namas of Vishnu. It is carefully created sangraha, of all the namas (names) of Vishnu avatharas, that appear sequentially and chapterwise in the Narayaneeyam. It is a humble effort made in the path of devotion by Sri Ayyappan Kariyat, a renowned ayurveda vaidya. With the guidance of Bhagavathas and his Guru Sad Darsana Praveena, Sahithya Siromani Sri Seshadrinahtha Sastrigal this work was completed and offered at the lotus feet of sri Guruvayurappan.

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