पून्तानम्
[puntanam] IAST: PŪNTĀNAM
General information
The illam (house) of this नम्बूतिरि who was a contemporary of मेप्पत्तूर् नारायण भट्टतिरि was in नेन्मेनि अंश of the taluk of वल्लुवनाडु in south Malabar. Though some say that his original name was ब्रह्मदत्त there are no sufficient records to support the statement. His Guru according to the work ' श्री कृष्णकर्णामृत ' was a नम्बूतिरि named नीलकण्ठ . पून्तानम् had only ordinary education. He worshipped कृष्ण at the temple of गुरुवायूर् for a very long time and became a great devotee of कृष्ण . He lived for ninety years. When he became very old he found it difficult to come to गुरुवायूर् for worship and so one day he bade farewell to the deity. Then a voice from heaven said "Do not worry. I will be near you on your left side." He went and sat on a hill named तिरुमान्ध and to his astonishing ecstasy he found कृष्ण sitting on his left side. He then constructed a temple there and installed his deity कृष्ण there and continued his worship. That was the वामपुर (left place) of पून्तानम् .
Kṛtis (works)
The following are the works of पून्तानम् :
ज्ञानप्पान
पून्तानम् got a son after a long time of prayer and for the ceremony of अन्नप्राशन (feeding rice for the first time) all the people of his community were invited. The women who came for the function threw their upper garments on to the cradle where the little child was suffocated to death. पून्तानम् thereafter became disgusted with life and ज्ञानप्पान was written at that time.
सन्तानगोपालम्
पून्तानम् spent most of his time in the temple of गुरुवायूर् after the death of his child. It was at this same time that the great scholar नारायणभट्टतिरि , author of the famous नारायणीय , was in the temple worshipping the deity there. पून्तानम् had written a poem ' सन्तानगोपालम् ' in the pāna style and he took it to the great pandit नारायण भट्टतिरि for correction. With the haughtiness that was his trait he said "What is there for correction in a मलयालम् poem? Nothing but blunders will there be in it. Especialy when पून्तानम् is not well-versed in Sanskrit grammar. It will therefore be full of mistakes." पून्तानम् could not contain the rebuff and he wept bitterly. Then from the inside of the temple came a voice which said "Though पून्तानम् is not a grammarian like you भट्टतिरि , he is a greater devotee of mine than you. His Bhakti is more appealing to me than your vibhakti." The divine voice made भट्टतिरि feel sorry and ashamed of his behaviour and he begged पून्तानम् to grant him pardon and immediately went through his work giving suggestions for improvement.
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