Narayaniyam
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Narayaniyam is a medieaval text that is a summary study in poetic form of the famous Bhagavata Purana. It was composed by Melputhur Narayana Bhattadri, a devotee-poet who lived in the Indian state of Kerala in the sixteenth Century AD. The Bhagavata Purna is a major Hindu scripture consisting of about 18000 verses, mainly devoted to the worship of Krishna.
The Narayaniyam condenses the Bhagavata Purana into 1034 verses, divided into 100 Dasakas (Cantos).
The work occupies a very high place in Sanskrit literature, both because of the intense devotional fervour of the verses, and because of their extraordinary literary merit.
Melputhur Narayana Bhattadri, was born about the year 1560 in a village near the famous temple of Tirunavaya in Kerala. He composed the Narayaniyam at the age of 27.
Other monumental works of Bhattadri include a treatise on Sanskrit Grammar, entitled Prakriyasarvasva, a work similar to the Siddhanta Kaumudi, but written earlier. It is said that Bhattoji Dikshita, the author of the Siddhanta Kaumudi, on hearing about Bhattatiri, set out for Kerala to meet him, but had to return disappointed on hearing on the way that Bhattatiri had passed away. Bhattatiri composed many other devotional hymns and also a work on Purva-Mimamsa entitled Manameyodaya, and panegyrics in praise of his royal patrons. It is believed that he lived till the ripe old age of 105.
The people of Kerala worship Krishna in his Deity form as Guruvayurappan in the temple town of Guruvayur. According to local legends, Narayana Bhattadri had a Guru by the name of Achyuta Pisharoti, who fell victim to a severe attack of paralysis and suffered unbearable pain. Bhattadri desired to find a cure for his master and fervently prayed for the disease to be transferred to him and for his Guru to be freed of suffering.
According to the legend, Lord Krishna granted Narayana Bhattadri his wish and he soon became a cripple. Once, when Bhattadri who was unable to move, was carried into the Guruvayur temple, he met Tunchath Ezhuthachan, an eminent Malayalam poet of the time. Ezhuthachan advised Bhattadri that he could be cured if he "began his treatment with fish".
The disciples of Bhattadri who heard this were shocked because Bhattadri was a devouty Hindu and therefore a vegetarian who would consider it sinful to eat fish.
The Bhattadri however understood what Ezhuthachan really meant - that he would be cured if he could compose a hymn glorifying the incarnations of Lord Krishna beginning with the fish incarnation, known as Matsya.
Accordingly, he started composing the Narayaniyam. It is said that he would recite one dasaka (canto) consisting of ten verses every day.
The local legend says that on the hundredth day he had a vision of the Lord, and rendered a graphic description of this form, after which he was immediately cured of his disease.
The Narayaniyam is now one of the most popular religious texts in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and devout Hindus often recite it together in festivals and groups.
