Anantha aazhwar's legacy.

This time around on a visit to Tirumala i was determined to see the pond dug by Ananatha aazhwar in the 11 cent AD at the request of his acharya Sri Ramanuja [the greatest acharya of Sri Vaishnavism]to supply water within hands reach of Srinivasar's temple at Tirumala ,to maintain a garden of flowers and herbs so as to offer them to the Lord every day for decoration as well as in the pooja's performed therein.

The tree jasmines lining the ghat roads leading to the temple were in full bloom.The flowers hung in delicate bunches of pearly white completely hiding the green boughs and leaves with their ethereal sheen.The sacred hills were filled with their sweet fragrance .

The garden and the pond is quite near the temple and is quite quiet.It seemed , very well tended at first look from behind the bars of a locked iron gate at the entrance.

But for an old man performing sandya vandanam near the pond there wasn't a single soul around.
The sun had set scorching the sky at the horizon with a band of fiery red that could be mistaken as a blaze of some distant forest fire.Meanwhile a silvery moon , nearly full ,had  risen quietly without its rise being heralded by birds unlike its radiant counterpart in the  morning ,spreading its cool rays and dousing the streak of red fire in the darkening sky.A gentle breeze rustled the silent trees .An atmosphere as sylvan and peaceful as it would have been nearly a thousand years earlier ,when the devoted disciple of Ramanujar undertook very bravely and solely the onerous task of renovating the crumbling prakaras of this remote temple [then] and dug the pond all by himself with his bare hands and a crowbar and laid the garden and spent his entire life in service of Sri nivasa ,leading a  simple liife in a nearby cottage where his descendants 28 th in line , greeted us from his house as he directed us to enter the garden from another entrance.
 .
He explained that when Anantha aazhwar first came here, the place was thickly forested with fierce animals like tigers etc  that roamed freely and that there were no water bodies nearby.
It was purely the immense dedication , will power and determination of Anantha aazhwar as well as the blessings of Balaji  that made him bear all the travails in clearing the overgrowth and ensure a constant supply of tulsi, jasmine , and other flowers to his beloved deity.

An pioneer who made it easier for succeeding generations of priests to deck the lord with flowers and in worship.
An maghizham poo tree right in the middle of the garden is said to be off shoot of the original tree planted by him .This is also the place where he shed his mortal coils.and it is believed that Sri Venkateswara in recognition of his selfless service visits the tree unfailingly every day.The processional deity of Srinivasar/Venkateswara  visit and halt ,twice a year in this very spot ,in remembrance and out of gratitude.

As we walked back to our lodgings ,came upon the fountains spraying water on granite Shanku and Chakram and crowds of devotees milling around noisily .My thoughts flew 1000years back  to the time Anantha aazhwar laboured all by himself in a inhospitable place with hardly any human beings around .Would he have ever imagined that this remote dark and silent [except for the menacing calls of animals and alarm cry birds] pilgrimage spot would be flooded with high mast lights burning fiercely at every corner turning the night into day and water so sparse then, would be emptying in gallons  from fountains and uncountable crowd of people would displace all those wild denizens with many of then munching bhelpuri as they watched the water, music and light show?
His lonely toil has been forgotten and blown away by the winds of time.In the fast paced life that we live in   he doesn't exist to the masses  nor would they care to know .It is only a few, who look back in gratitude at one man's solitary endeavour that made all this possible.

Photo:The garden laid down by Anantha aazhwar.The pond is right at the back.The small tree under the banyan tree at the centre is believed to have been grafted from the  original maghizhum poo tree planted y Anantha aazhwar.

Post script.Ananthaazhwar took only his wife's  help who obliged whole heartedly though she was in advanced stage of pregnancy .Pitying her plight Lord Venkateswara assumed the form of a young boy  and helped  her carry  the mud scraped out whilst aazwar dug out that pond .On seeing this the aazhwar threw  a stone that hurt the boy in his chin and chased him away when that lad insisted on helping his wife, since the aazhwar didnot want his 'punya' to be shared with an unknown person.Srinivasar's moorthy started bleeding in the chin that very instant and could staunched only when Anantha aazhwar sought forgivness and applied camphor on the dent .The camphor is  applied till date.

Date of travel and this write up --26.11.12