If only I could turn back time....

If I could turn back time, i.e., travel back in time. I would like to meet at least the following 3 persons from the past

1. Thirumoolar
2. Thirumangai Azhwar
3. King RajaRaja Cholan

Why I chose these three people was because of their masterpieces that they have created or in fact have bestowed for us and the generations to come!!!

Thirumoolar - famous for his exemplary masterpiece, The Thirumandhiram - stands out of the crowd because I am surprised at how he visualised and found great things that scientists of this modern era have found out after years of research. For e.g. he mentions the size of a human cell, with that of a cows hair, being divided into 1,00,001 parts is the size of the cell. However, I have not actually compared his measurement with the actual human cell's size. In spite, I am amazed at the way he says the proportion he mentions. In addition, he mentions that the pituitary gland is the control centre of the human body and he even infers it as the third eye of the human and compares it to Lord Shiva who is said to have 3 eyes. In fact, the reason, why Hindu women apply kumkum or stick the bindi and the men apply the holy ash on their forehead is to stimulate the pituitary gland that maintains the hormone levels intact and this helps prevent children attaining physical maturity at an early age. There are many interesting things to explore in his exemplary work. Nevertheless, the reason why I want to meet him is that I want to know, where he learnt all these great information from and who is his Guru? How long did he take to understand and get the knowledge of the things he mentions? Is it possible for us humans to attain such knowledge in our lifetime? More about him in the next blogs...

Thirumangai Azhwar - The most well known of the 12 Azhwars, the devotees of Lord Vishnu venerated as saints. His original name being Kaliyan, he was an army chief of the Chola king and then he was crowned as a king for a small land called Thirumangai. And hence the name, Thirumangai Mannan (means King - in Tamil). He has sung so many songs in praise of Lord Vishnu. I am really astonished how a normal man who plundered, had weakness for women and what not.., was able to be exalt himself to a position of an Azhwar. I have read a few of his pasurams and it really stands out of the crowd. The reason why I would like to meet him is because his attitude to accept all the mistakes and crime plainly without any justification to his act is simply the most divine aspect of a human. Most of us usually try to justify our mistakes but no one accepts them plainly that they have done a mistake/crime. One example of his pasuram is

Kondraen palluyirai kurikol ondrillamayinal....

meaning, "I have killed lots of lives, without any reason......"

Maanay kann madavar mayakirrpattu maanilathu naanay naanavidha naragam pugum pavam seidhaen...

meaning, "For the love of women, I committed sins that would take me to all the four types hell.."

The absolute surrender to GOD accepting all his mistakes and crimes without any justification has exalted him to an Azhwar. I really admire him for his devotion to GOD and his pasurams are really out of this world. You need to read them, understand them, feel them to realise the ethereal and blissful connection with GOD, and hence the name Dhivya Prabandham, for all the pasurams by all the Azhwars.

King RajaRaja Cholan - I really admire this great Chola king for many things esp, the magnificient masterpieces that he has left for the his next generations and the generations to come. What really make me think that i need meet him are

• His passion to construct the stupendous masterpiece of all times, The Brahadeeshwara Temple at Thanjavur (Tanjore) - The Granary India.
• The engineering behind the great temple and the massive efforts
• The administrative skills becoz without it, it is almost impossible to build such a massive architecture within 6 years, yes I mean SIX years.

It is simply awe-inspiring to just even imagine these details. Some thought provoking questions arise viz.,

1. How was he able to have such great engineers, called Sthabadhees, at that time?
2. What tools did they use to decide the plan, select the land, transport such heavy granites?
   
   For splitting apart massive pieces of granite, the technology is from Avaiyar's song
   
   "Methenavai Vettenavai Vellavam Vezhathil
   Patturuvum Kol Panjil Paayaathu
   Nettirupaaraikku Nekku Vida Paarai
   Pasumaraththu Verukku Nekku Vidum"
   
   meaning, "Hard and Aggressive things will never win over Soft and Humble things. The spear that pierces through an elephant will never pierce through cotton. Likewise, a hard rock that never gives way to strong iron crowbar gives way to the slender root of a green tree". Amazed!!!!. Still to come, but how did this song help him!!!, The thing is that the rock was cut with such a precision, where the rock was selected and lots of small shaft like holes were made in the rock across a stretch and then in those holes, tree roots were driven and water was poured into it. As water, soaks the root, the root starts to expand and that would slowly break the rock apart. And those large rocks were transported the temple spot using elephants. More about this in the next blogs...
   
3. Where did he learn the technology from?
   I guess it should be anscetral, as there is a literature and rules on how to build temples called Aagama Vidhis
   
4. Who was behind him to build such a massive piece of architecture?
   I found that the person behind him was his sister Kundavai Naachiar and his grandmother Chembian Maadevi
   
5. How was he able to handle such a great kingdom and then administer the temple building activites?
   

For some of the questions, that I have provided the answers by probing into Tamil Literature and many other books to find answers to those questions, but for the rest that are unanswered, I have to meet him...

More to come in my next blogs, until then....