SrI ranganatha unjal final

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Sincere Thanks To: 

1)  Mannargudi SrI SrInivasan Narayanan for Tamil text and Transliteration 

2)  Nedumtheru SrI Mukund Srinivasan, SrI N Santhanagopalan of www.thiruvarangam.com, 

and  SrI Shreekrishna Akilesh for pictures 

3)  Cover Art by SrI Shreekrishna Akilesh 

4)  Smt Sharada Srinivasan for eBook assembly 

 

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C O N T E N T S 

 

 

 

 

Introduction 1 

SrI RanganAthar’s Unjal PAyirams - Meanings and Comments 

7 

Taniyan  

9 

KAppu PAdal 

11 

Usal pATTu 1 - 5 

14 - 24 

Usal pATTu 6 - 10 

26 - 36 

Usal pATTu 11 - 15 

39 - 50 

Usal pATTu 16 - 20 

52 - 61 

Usal pATTu 21 - 25 

63 - 73 

Usal pATTu 26 - 30 

75 - 84 

Usal pATTu 31- 32 

86 - 88 

Niraivu pATTu 

90 

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Unjal utsavam - SrIrangam (Thanks SrI Shreekrishna Akilesh) 

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   1                                       www.sadagopan.org 

ஸ்ரீ: 

ஊஞ்சல் ப்ரபந்தம் 

சீரங்கநாயகர் ஊசல் 

Unjal prabandham

Unjal prabandham

 

 

SrI ranganAyakar Usal

SrI ranganAyakar Usal

 

 

(Composed by SrI PiLLai PerumAL Iyengar) 



 

I

NTRODUCTION

 

Dear bhaktAs of SrIrangam divya dampatis: 

The Unjal utsavams at SrIrangam are famous and most enjoyable as one sees the Lord SrI 

RanganAthan and SrIranganAyaki sway gently back and forth in their specially decorated 

Unjal. 

It is customary to sing beautiful songs as the divine couple enjoy their Unjal utsavams. They 

come near us and they go away from us as the 

arcakAs 

gently push the Unjal forward and 

backward. The 

AbharaNams 

reflect the 

dIpams 

in the hall and one gets mesmerized enjoying 

the 

முன்,  பின் 

(

front and back) sEvais. Saint TyAgarAja composed a lot of krtis for his ishTa 

deivam, Lord RAmacandran and sang them, when he rocked the Dolai for his Lord: 

1)  lAli lAliyani ucedhara vanamAli in rAga HarikAmbhoji 

2)  uyyAla lUgavayya SrIrAma in rAga nIlAmbari 

3)  rAma SrIrAmA lAli in rAgam SankarAbharaNam 

4)  lAli lAlayya lAli in rAgam KedAragauLai and 

5)  lAli UgavE mA-pAli daivama in rAgam nIlAmbari 

These are tender krtis filled with bhagavat 

guNa-rUpa saundarya anubhavam 

as the Unjal 

upacAram is offered to the Lord by the devotee. One of the Azhagiya Singars (the 21st 

paTTam  SrI vaN SaThakopa SrI ParAnkuSa YatIndra MahA DeSikan) has composed many 

songs to be sung during the Unjal utsavam for Dolai KaNNan at SrI Ahobila maTham. 

Two great poets of SrIrangam created the Unjal Prabandhams for the Lord of SrIrangam and 

His divine consort. These Unjal Prabandhams are one of the 96 kinds of Tamizh Prabandhams 

with prescribed 

lakshaNams

. 

Divya Kavi SrI PiLLai PerumAL IyengAr and His grandson, KOnEriappan IyengAr are the 

celebrated creators of the Unjal Prabandhams for SrI RanganAtha and SrI RanganAyaki 

tAyAr. 

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According to some traditions, PiLLai PerumAL IyengAr is considered as a direct disciple of 

SwAmy ParASara BhaTTar and that he was the grandson of Tiruvarangattu AmudanAr, the 

famous composer of SrI RAmAnuja nURRandAti. Divya Kavi PiLLai PerumAL IyengAr is the 

author of 

ashTa Prabandhams

. These are: 

1) TiruvarangattandAti 

2) Tiruvarangattu mAlai 

3) Tiruvaranga Kalambakam 

4)  cI (SrI) RanganAyakar Usal 

5) TiruvEngaDa mAlai 

6) TiruvEngaDattandAti 

7) azhagarandAti 

8)  nURReTTu tirupapati andAti 

SrI RanganAyakar Usal (

Unjal

) will be the focus of this write-up. The scholarly Tamil poetry of 

IyengAr has been a source of unending delight for Tamil scholars. 

Prior to covering all of the 

Unjal ceyyuLkaL 

(

pAyirams

) on Lord RanganAtha, it would be aDiyEn 

bhAgyam to share with you a quick summary of the works of both the Kavis as covered in an 

audio tape on their compositions. This input is an extract from an essay, aDiyEn posted long 

time ago in Bhakti archives. Here it is: 

aDiyEn will start with the summary of the first side of this tape dedicated to AcAryALs and 

the divya dampatis of SrIrangam and other divya desams. 

You can access these recordings at the URL: 

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/Ashta_Prabandham/Full_Audio.mp3

 

F

IRST

 45 

MINUTES

 

OF

 

THE

 

TAPE

: 

The tape begins with a salutation to the uniqueness of 

arcAvatAram 

among the five forms of 

SrIman nArAyaNan (para, vyUhA, vibhava, antaryAmi and arcA). The benefits of arcA worship 

by AzhvArs and AcAryAs are next covered. The special four benefits arising from arcA 

worship are explained as: 

1) 

ruci jAtaktvam 

or the kindling of the spiritual fire in the mind 

2) 

SubhASrayatvam 

or the attainment of inner peace and tranquility through 

darSana  

saubhAgyam

 of the auspicious  

arcA mUrti

 

3) 

akshaya loka caraNyatvam 

or the development of the affection for the divya dampatis in 

arcA 

form that raises the fire of Bhakti further and 

bUta dayA 

and 

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