Thirukandam Kadi Nagar

Thirukandam Kadi Nagar is traditionally enumerated as number 98 among the 108 Divya Desams — the sacred abodes of Sri Maha Vishnu sung by the Alvars.

Perialvar is the only Alvar who has done mangalasasana to the Perumal of this divyadesa in eleven pasurams. One of the pasurams is given below with its meaning:-

108 Vaishnavite Divya Desams - VIT 256

This is a very important pasuram in which the Alvar through simple words expresses the evolution and the significance of pranava mantra.

The Alvar says Thirukandam also known as Kadi nagar is on the banks of the Ganga and is full of luscious, scented groves. He is the Lord Who shows utmost compassion and kindness to those who are firmly and consistently of the belief that pranava mantra is our saviour. That pranava mantra (OM) consisting of three letters (a, u & ma) is also three independent words conveying three meanings. He is the one who made that pranava mantra into Ashtakshara mantra consisting of three words. Those three words in turn reflect the three aspects of the Lord as well as the devotee. The place where the Purushothama who gave us this Truth manifested himself in Thirukadi nagar (Devaprayag).

The Alvar in the entire pasuram plays upon the word “moonru” i.e. the number 3. Using this number, he explains the intricacies of pranava mantra and the Ashtakshara mantra and the three qualities of God as well as the three qualities of the devotee as enunciated by that mantra. The pranava is OM which is a combination of three letters viz. (A) + (U)+ (Ma). The word A represents Bhagavan Who is the sarva rakshaka. The letter Ma represents jeevathma who is the jnana swaroopi. The letter U says that the jeevatma who is the jnana swaroopi belongs to Baghavan who is the sarva rakshaka. God obtained these three words A U and Ma by taking from the Rigveda the vyaahruthi (primordial utterance) known as Bhooh and from the Yajurveda

257 Badrinath - Thirupiridhi - Devaprayag

the vyaahruthi known as Bhuvaha and from the Samaveda the vyaahruthi known as Suvaha. Baghavan out of His sankalpa combined these three vyaahruthis into one and from that took these three aksharas viz., A U and Ma. Those three when combined became the pranava. The three letters in pranava are also independent words with their own meaning. As stated earlier these three letters A, U and Ma have their independent meanings referring to God, Athma and the relationship between the two. The Lord added to that pranava word the two words Namaha and Narayana thereby making it the Ashtakshara mantra. That mantra is like two faces of a coin, one face reflecting three qualities of the Lord and the other face the three qualities of the devotee. The three qualities of God and the three qualities of the athma which as stated earlier are two faces of the same coin are as follows:-