Ananthalvan was stringing a garland in the Yamunatturai mandapa when an arcaka brought the Lord’s command: come at once. He answered that buds must be bound while they are opening; delay withers the kainkarya. When he arrived with the finished malai, the curtain was lowered. The Lord asked what he would do if he were banished from the Hills.
“I am not here at your beckoning,” Ananthalvan said. “I am here because Emberumānār ordered flower and water service. You left Vaikuṇṭha and came to the bank of Svāmi Puṣkariṇī a little earlier; I came a little later. Because you arrived first, can you drive me out? Madhurakavi knew no God but Nammāḻvār. I recite Kaṇṇinuṇ ciṟuttāmpu. Consider me his dāsa.”
He left the garland and turned to go. Srinivasa caught his hand, wore the flowers, and said the anger had been a test of ācārya-bhakti. He granted puruṣārthas beyond Brahma and Rudra, and covered Ananthalvan’s descendants with grace. From that day the line took the name Madhurakavidāsa.
At Tirupati, in the temple of Govindarāja, Madhurakavi and Ananthalvan share a single shrine. The satari in Ramanuja’s shrine on the Hill is called Ananthalvan.
Māyāvī paramānandaṃ tyaktvā vaikuṇṭham uttamam Svāmi-puṣkariṇī-tīre ramayā saha modate
The Lord of wondrous play left highest Vaikuntha and rejoices with Ramaa on the bank of Svami Pushkarini.