- 01
In vasanta the Ramanuja nandavanam was torn — plants uprooted, fruit strewn. On the ninth night Ananthalvan hid in a bush and caught a princely couple walking the groves. The prince slipped free. The princess, held by his bhakti, he tied under a champaka. She would not name her husband. “I am like your daughter. He is the ruler of these Hills. How can I speak his name?”
- 02
At dawn the golden locket covering Alarmelmanga on the Lord’s chest was missing. A voice from the sanctum told the officers: none of the priests had stolen. The Lord and His consort had been playing in Ananthalvan’s garden; she was still under the champaka. As Yasoda tied Krishna to the mortar in Dvapara, Ananthalvan had tied Lakshmi to the tree in Kali.
- 03
He released her, begged pardon, and she asked to be taken as his daughter. She became a kanyā; he processed her to the temple with flowers. She rose to the Lord’s chest. That is why the vaḻi-tirunāmam sings him as māmaṉār of Veṅkaṭavaṉ and appaṉ of Alarmelmanga.
- 04
On the ther, the eighth day of the Brahmotsavam, the Lord is still adorned with pītāmbara and silk as the sambhāvanā of His father-in-law, and a garland from the God is presented as the Itihāsamālā records. That is not Bagh Savāri. Bagh Savāri is the next evening, after the Garuḍa flag comes down: Malayappa with the two consorts goes anti-clockwise to this garden and returns the same way.
- 05
Once Ananthalvan adorned the Lord with a long winding creeper, full of fragrance. The Lord asked how He looked. “My Lord, you are like a fisherman catching fish from the sea. This creeper reminds me of the net you have spread far and wide to catch the jīvas lost in the saṃsārasāgara.” The Lord was pleased. He had crossed the limitation of arcāvatāra. Underneath the Ānanda-nilaya vimāna, with Alarmelmanga, He kept conversing with His gardener, and the two enjoyed each other’s company.
Malaiyil Veṅkaṭavarkku māmaṉār vāḻiye Alarmelmangai tiruvukku appaṉār vāḻiye
Glory to him who is father-in-law of the Lord of the Hill. Glory to him who is father of Alarmelmanga.