In this series we bring you the pastimes of great Sri Vaishnava Acharyas who appeared after the celebrated Alwars.

The Chola King, who was ruling the country with Gangai Konda Cholapuram as his capital, was a great patron of different art forms. Therefore, many debates, seminars and competitions were frequently conducted in his court. During one such competition, two courtesans, who were experts in their art forms, competed against each other to prove their supremacy in singing and dancing. One of the courtesans was proficient in manushya-gana, the music of humans, and the other was proficient indeva-gana, the celestial music.

Though deva-gana was considered to be more difficult to sing, and the courtesan who was singing deva-gana was better than the other courtesan, the king and hiscourtiers declared the courtesan who was singing manushya-gana as the winner of the contest due to their ignorance of deva-gana. The courtesan who was singing deva-gana felt humiliated and wanted to convince the king about the supremacy of her art form. She started to sing in front of temples in her efforts to find someone who was knowledgeable in deva-gana and who could explain the intricacies of her art form to the king. The courtesan, eventually, reached Vira Narayanapuram and started to sing before the Lord. Natha Muni, who was present in the temple, was very impressed with the courtesan’s singing and congratulated her. After speaking to Natha Muni, the courtesan realized that she had found the person who could enlighten the king about her art form. She immediately went to Gangai Konda Cholapuram to inform the king.

As soon as the king got to know about Natha Muni, he went to Vira Narayanapuram after making some initial inquires about the sage. Natha Muni set music to the courtesan’s songs with the help of cymbals of different sizes and weights and the courtesan’s singing started sounding very melodious all of a sudden. After learning about the intricacies of deva-gana, the king reversed his decision. Being impressed by Natha Muni’s knowledge and devotion, the king became Natha Muni’s disciple. The king appointed Natha Muni as the administrator of Sri Ranganatha temple at Sri Rangam. Natha Muni started to spend his days happily in the service of the Lord. Natha Muni set the Divya Prabandham to music and started teaching it to aspiring disciples. His nephews, Melaghath-alwan and Keelaghath-alwan, mastered the Divya Prabandham very soon and started to recite them with devotion.

Therefore, Natha Muni made them chant the Divya Prabandham before the Lord during important festivals. The Lord was very pleased with the devoted singing of Melaghath-alwan and Keelaghath-alwan and he directed his priests to confer the titles Manavala Perumal Ariyar and Nada Vinoda Ariyar respectively on them, and their singing service came to be known as Ariyar Sevai. Ariyar Sevai became a regular feature during the festivals at Ranganatha’s temple since then and it started to spread to other important Vaishnava temples. The descendants of Natha Muni’s nephews continue to perform Ariyar Sevai before Lord Ranganatha even today. Thus, Natha Muni was instrumental in introducing the chanting of Divya Prabandham during the festivals and regular worship of the Lord in Vaishnava temples.

As days passed by, the intensity of Natha Muni’s devotional fervor increased and he started to see Lord Rama everywhere. Once the Chola King, who was also Natha Muni’s disciple, visited Sri Rangam and Natha Muni prostrated before him thinking Lord Rama had come to meet him. On another occasion, Natha Muni mistook the king to be Lord Rama and bent before the king like his charioteer when the king was trying to board his chariot. According to the practice, the kings used to board their chariots by stepping on the backs of the charioteers, who acted as a ladder. The king mistook Natha Muni to be his charioteer and stepped on his back to board the chariot. After realizing his mistake, the king disembarked the chariot and offered his obeisance to Natha Muni and apologized to him. Such was the intensity of Natha Muni’s devotional fervor.

…to be continued.