His name was Villidasan. He was a wrestler. Not just any ordinary wrestler but
one of very high standing. Almost all the wrestlers in the ancient Chola Kingdom
used to pay him a ‘protection fee’.
He was the Royal Wrestler, formally attached to the court of the Chola Kings.
He was majestic in his looks, kind in his disposition and a terror to his rivals.
Now let’s cut the scene and move over to the other important character of
this love story. Her name was Ponnachi. You know Pon in Tamil means gold.
Every one who saw her swore that she richly deserved her name. Her
complexion, they said, came closest to the yellow metal. She was slightly on
the plumpy side.
Her dance-like walk, her height and her dimpled cheeks made her the
much-acclaimed beauty in her village. But the most prominent feature of
her face was her eyes.
They were very large, round and you know, the sort, from which you
cannot take your eyes off. Ponnachi’s beauty was at least as well known
as Villi’s prowess.
Villidasan was a very good man and had never abused his strength or
position. And yes, he was the most eligible, most sought after bachelor
in his town, why, even in the Chola Kingdom.
As it would happen in love stories, he heard of Ponnachi’s beauty and
set out to see her, more out of curiousity than anything else. Once he
saw her eyes, he could not think of anyting else. As if possessed he
sought her hand in marriage, something which Ponnachi was only too
eager to give.
Villidasan was virtually consumed by his love for the damsel. He stopped
fighting and was thinking of nothing else other than his lady love.
Villidasan and Ponnachi got married on an auspicious day. It was one of
the rarest instances where the marriage was much grander than the
wedding.
Their married life was one continuous honeymoon, which never ended.
They had been married for years. Still to Villidasan Ponnachi was the most
beautiful woman in the world with the most beautiful eyes.
It was spring time. Festival time at Srirengam. Vasanthotsavam. Ponnachi
wanted to see the festival. To Villidasan her slightest whim was a Royal
Command. He made elaborate arrangements to ensure a comfortable travel
for Ponnachi. She was borne in a palanquin till the main street of Srirengam
where she had to get down and walk.
Ponnachi got down from the palanquin. Villidasan who was standing nearby
was stunned by her beauty. She was dressed up in an exquisite silk saree.
What captivated his attention even after years of marriage was her eyes.
Villidasan could not take his eyes away from hers.
As she started to walk towards the temple, Villidasan did the unthinkable.
He was walking backwards facing her, unable to see anything else but her
large eyes.
Those who saw this amusing sight giggled. Some even laughed out aloud.
Villi gave a damn to what others thought. After all Ponnachi was his lawfully
wedded wife and what was wrong in seeing her eyes?
Ponnachi was half consumed by shyness and half by pride. She too loved her
husband so much that she did not have the mind to object to his act, though
she knew that it made people laugh behind their backs.
This strange procession – Ponnachi walking forward, Villi walking backwards,
and the palanquin bearers and the retinue following Ponnachi – was nearing
the temple gate.
On the other side of the street, a great saint was walking away from the
temple followed by his disciples. The name of the saint was Sri Ramanujacharya.
Ramanujacharya was amused by the strange sight – Ponnachi walking towards
the temple followed by her retinue and Villidasan walking backwards unable to
take off his eyes from those of his beautiful wife!
The great saint was moved on seeing this wonderful sight. He enquired about
the couple and then sent word to Villidasan asking him to come and meet him
in his Asram alone. Ramanuja had decided to do something about that.
Now why should Ramanuja do something about Villi’s love? As a spiritual
leader of people he instinctively knew that Villi’s love was quite unique.
If only Ramanujacharya could make people love something as intensely
as Villi did, yes, he would have made a difference in their lives.
At the same time if he showed Villi’s love as an example to be followed,
then ignorant people might mistakenly think that they also should love
Ponnachi. In other words at the present level Villidasan’s love is not a
copiable, replicable model. So Sri Ramanuja wanted to first shift Villi’s love
to something else and then make people understand the greatness of love.
Was he not doing a disservice to Ponnachi? May be. But then he also
showed that great object of love to Ponnachi. And in order to make so
many people understand the meaning of love, there is no harm in shifting
one person’s object of love. As a saint and a spiritual leader Sri Ramanuja
had the moral authority to do that.
Ramanuja was a highly respected Acharya. So Villi came running to see
him in his Ashram as soon as he got his call.
It was late in the night. The Srirangam temple would be closed for the
day in another half an hour. Sri Ramanuja wanted to accomplish his mission
within that time. He asked Villidasan in a sarcastic tone,
“Aren’t you ashamed, Villi, to be seeing your wife’s eyes, when God’s
festival is on?”
Villi’s reply was a correct blend of humility and the force of truth.
“Is there anything more beautiful than my wife’s eyes?”
Ramanujacharya was waiting for this question.
“What will you do if I show something more beautiful than that?”
Now Villi knew for sure that there was nothing like that and so his
words came with confidence.
“Then I will fall in love with those eyes. Ponnachi and I will be your
slaves for the rest of our lives.”
“Deal. Come with me.”
Ramanujar took Villidasan to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple.
The God of Love,Sri Ranganathar, Thiruvarangan, was sleeping in his
comfortable snake-bed attended by his Devis. Then the great Acharya
took hold of Villidasan’s hands. The Acharya’s touch sent waves of
electric shock in his body.
Ramanujar closed his eyes and prayed to the Lord.
“Oh, Lord, here’s is an example of perfect love. And the whole world is
steeped in misery unaware of this kind of love. I want the people to know
that there is something like this love and that every one of us is capable
of it. For that you need to give these two people to me.
“I know that these two people are as precious to you as your Devis and
are holier than the holiest scriptures ever written on you. I promise you my
Lord, I’ll give them the reverence they deserve. Now please, Ranganatha,
show the beauty of your eyes to this man of love.”
A selfless prayer! Two loving souls standing before Him! Renganathar was
helpless! He had to grant the Acharya’s wish.
And the great Lord, whose eyes are not to be seen even by the highest of
Devas and the wisest of Rishis, whose Feet cannot even be touched by Vedas
and all the knowledge in the world, opened his most beautiful eyes for Villidasan
to see.
Villidasan was awe-struck; no he was love-struck.
The sight lasted for a fraction of a second. Villi instantly fell in love with those
large, beautiful eyes, for which nothing in the world is even a pale comparison.
Villi prostrated at Sri Ramanujar’s feet proclaiming his slavery to the saint.
Ramanuja lifted him as a loving father would lift his loving son. Ramanujar’s eyes
were so full with tears, his heart so full with love that for a few seconds he
could not talk.
Villidasan (his full name was Pillai Uranga Villidasan) continued to be in a state of
ecstasy. If God decides to show His eyes even for a nanosecond, the effect will
last for centuries, extending into millions of life –times, for ever, for eternity and
even thereafter. When he went back to Ponnachi that night and told about his
experience, she was also transformed. She did not whine that her husband had
found out another object of love. She was ecstatic because she was the loving
wife of a man to whom even the Great God had shown His eyes.
The next morning Villi gave away his possessions, erected a small hut near
Sri Ramanuja’s Asram and started living there along with Ponnachi. The couple
would spend most of the time serving in the Ashram using their hut only for
sleeping for a few hours in the night.
In those days the social order based on caste was very rigid. Apart from being
a saint and a spiritual leader, Ramanuja was also a social revolutionary; but even
then he could not do much about it.
Mutt-heads had disciples from the higher castes as well as from the lower ones.
The latter were needed because running a mutt required a lot of funds and
wealthy disciples from the trading class provided that. The caste-feelings
were so ingrained in the system that the Mutt-heads would show the
discrimination in subtle ways.
For instance when the head went to the river in the morning for his bath,
he would lay his hands on the shoulder of a lower-caste disciple. But after
the bath, after performing his morning rituals, when he returned from the
river, he would not go near the lower-caste disciple. Thereafter he would
be only touching a brahmin disciple who has also peformed similar rituals.
Ramanuja was hurt by such practices. Life produces such a rare
combination of love and intelligence only once in several aeons and
we should all be grateful that Sri Ramanuja was born in our aeon.
Ramanujar had a disciple belonging to the highest caste by name
Mudaliyaandan. He hailed from one of the most respected Brahmin
families and he was a great scholar. When Ramanuja went to Cauvery
in the morning for his bath he would place his hands on Mudaliyandan’s
shoulders. Ramanuja had become old and he required support while walking.
After the bath, after applying the sacred symbols all over his body,
after performing his morning prayers, while returning from the river he
would place his hands on the shoulders of…. Yes, you have guessed it
right, Villidasan. After all Villidasan was a disciple gifted by the Lord of
Srirangam, wasn’t he? But Villidasan stood much lower in the pecking
order of castes.
Now this became a curious sight to the people of Srirengam, and an
eyesore to his disciples- Ramanuja holding a high-class Brahmin’s hand
while going to bath and holding a wrestler’s hand after his bathing and
prayers. Given the social order of those days, this spectacle was as
much a curiousity as Villi’s walking backwards, seeing Ponnachi’s eyes.
The whole town was talking about that. Ramanuja’s disciples were furious,
to put it mildly. Mudaliaandan was not upset about it. For he was a good
and a humble brahmin. But the others thought this was an affront to their
caste.
They even thought that Ramanuja had become senile as he was doing
things in a skewed reverse order. They first showed faces, mumbled
something and finally unable to put up with that any longer, one disciple
went ahead and complained to Ramanuja.
“We don’t mind Villi being your disciple. We don’t even mind your placing
your hands on his shoulders while walking. But what we do mind is the
order in which you do things. When you go to the river you can place
your hands on Villidasan. But when you come back, don’t go near him;
use somebody like Mudaliandan for your support. The whole town is
laughing at you.”
Even a hardened sinner, a person who has killed people and raped
women, has some hopes. But a person with pride, especially spiritual pride,
the pride of having been born in a superior class, has absolutely no hopes
of salvation. He is condemned to live a life of misery till he realises in the
depths of his heart, that before God and love, all are the same. Ramanujar
did not want that misery for his other disciples.
He just told them in an apologetic voice,
“Habits die hard. Give this old man a few more days of time. I will try to
reform myself.”
The disciples were happy that their Guru had at least listened to their
words of wisdom.
Ramanuja asked Villidasan to meet him in his chambers that night.
“Will you do whatever I ask you to?”
“I am your slave, Acharya. Your tiniest whim is a divine command for me.”
“If I ask you to commit an act of sin…”
Villidasan did not let his Acharya finish the sentence.
“When my Guru, the person who showed the Great Lord to me, asks me
to do something, it can’t be a sin, even if you ask me to kill or maim.”
“Good. I appreciate your devotion, Villi. It’s late in the night now. The
other disciples are asleep. You know where they would dry their spare dhotis?
Yes. Go there and tear off a portion of their dhotis. From all the dhoties.
OK? Don’t ask me why.”
“As you please, Acharya.”
“And do come early tomorrow for you can watch a wonderful sight.”
Villidasan executed his command and went home.
Pandemonium ruled the Ashram the next day. The disciples were using foul
language to condemn the miscreant who had played with their clothes.
They showered the choicest of abuses on the vandalist.
Villidasan went and bowed to Ramanuja who was dumbfounded by his
disciples’ rude behaviour. On that day too Ramanuja leaned on Mudaliandan
when he went to Cauvery and on Villi when he returned.
That very night Ramanuja summoned two of his disciples belonging to
the highest caste.
“We are in the midst of a grave financial crisis. I don’t think we can
run the mutt this month without additional money. You go to Villi’s
hut tonight. When his wife Ponnachi is asleep silently remove her gold
ornaments and bring them to me.”
“We can Guruji…. We definitely can..but … you …. see…… the….”
“What’s your problem?”
“Villi is our problem. He is a wrestler and if he catches us stealing we
had it. We are afraid of him…”
“Don’t worry. I will retain Villi in the Ashram on some pretext so that you
can do your job in peace.”
Ramanuja retained Villi near his side till mid-night. The disciples went to
Villi’s hut. Ponnachi was sleeping on the floor of the hut using her hand
as a pillow.
The moment one of the disciples bent down to unhook her ear-ring, she
woke up. But then she recognised the disciple and did not want to startle
him. When Ramanuja’s disciple committed such an act of theft it must have
a divine sanction, she thought. She then laid still and let them remove the
ear-rings, bangles and the nose-ring she was wearing on the left side of
her body.
As soon as they were finished, she turned the other side so that they could
remove the ornaments on the right side of her body too. But the disciples
thought she had woken up and fled the scene.
As soon as the two thieves returned to the mutt, Ramanuja sent Villi away
for the day. The disciples handed over the booty to the Acharya and wanted
to go to sleep.
Ramanuja asked them to remain awake. He then instructed them to wake up
all the other disciples. All of them should clean themselves and assemble before
the Acharya for an important lesson.
Eager to hear new lessons from the Acharya, they all gathered around
him in no time. Now Villidasan ran into the mutt with his wife in tow. He fell
down at the Acharya’s feet like an uprooted tree. He and his wife were sobbing.
The other disciples were stunned at the unusual sight. They had never seen
Villidasan crying so much.
“I have sinned Acharya. We have sinned. We are no longer fit to be your
disciples. Condemn us to the worst of hells; even then the retribution will not be
adequate.”
“What happened, my child? Why are you crying? Why is your wife crying?”
Ramanuja asked like an innocent man.
“Some of your learned disciples had come into our hut today to take my wife’s
jewels. She was sleeping. Your disciples took the trouble of removing the jewels
from her person themselves. Ponnachi did not want to startle them by waking
up all of a sudden. When she turned the other side so that they can remove
those jewels also, they just ran away.
“Acharya, I am not even fit to be a dust in the feet of those
learned disciples. Aren’t you called the Udaiyavar? Doesn’t that
mean that all of us,all our belongings, properties and everything
belong to you? When you sent your men to take your things,
Ponnachi should have welcomed them and should have given
them whatever she had. She has sinned, My Lord.
“And I have sinned too. Please name a punishment for us. My
wife has decided not to wear jewels on the one side of her body
for the rest of her life.”
“You gave God to me. And I could not even give some worthless
piece of yellow metal to you, when you needed it! What a sinner
I am! There is no hope for me, there is no salvation for me!”
Ramanuja turned to his other disciples.
‘”You fools, when a piece of your worthless clothes were torn
you shouted, used foul language and gave me hell. See Villidasan!
How many lifetimes would it take for you to acquire his love!
“Now listen to me idiots. Even River Cauvery cannot clean me
completely. But this man’s touch can purify me. That’s why I lean
on him when I return from the river.
Villi, please teach these people how to love.”
The disciple who first complained to Ramanuja about Villi
prostrated at Villis and Ponnachi’s feet begging their pardon.
Ramanuja then returned the jewels to Ponnachi and commanded
her to wear them then and there. And also ordered that she
should never be without those jewels. The silence that reigned
in the Ashram was pregnant with many lessons, many teachings
and many learnings.
Ramanujacharya looked up as if to ask Lord Renganatha,
‘Did I treat your favoured children well? Did I use them to convey
the message of love? Is my mission accomplished?’
The Great Lord, always asleep yet eternally aware, just let out
a smile from the corners of his beautiful lips.
Source: This story has been extracted from the writings of Varalotti
IndusLadies forum
