Came across the below message in a discussion forum (My Comments At the End)
This story happened in 1586 AD. The venue was GuruvayoorTemple. It was enacted two of the greatest poets of the yore; Poonthanam and Melpathur. The former wrote Jnanappana (Song of Wisdom) in simple Malayalam. Jnanappana is also called as the Gita of Malayalees. Narayana Bhattathirippad was the author of the Sanskrit work, Narayaneeyam in the form of a poetical hymn, consisting of 1034 slokas. It, in fact is a summarized version of Bhagavata Purana of 14000 slokas.
The following is the extract taken from the Guruvayoor Devaswom official site ( http://www.guruvayurdevaswom.org/lpoonthanam.shtml ) that presents this story beautifully. It goes like this:
“Though Poonthanam and Melpathur were great devotees of Lord Guruvayurappan, Poonthanam, a great poet, who wrote his verses in the vernacular, was famous for his bhakthi where as Melpathur, an erudite scholar and great poet in Sanskrit was known for his vibhakthi.
The Lord was partial towards Poonthanam than Melpathur. Melpathur used to laugh at Poonthanam's Sanskrit reading and recitation. One day Poonthanam was wrongly reciting "Padmanabho Maraprabhu", which means Lord of trees in Malayalam. Melpathur openly laughed at Poonthanam and corrected saying, Padmanabha is not Maraprabhu (Lord of trees) but Amaraprabhu (which means Lord of immortals in Sanskrit). Immediately, there was an asareeri (celestial voice) from the inner shrine, "I am also Maraprabhu" (Lord of trees).
Now there is a statue of "Maraprabhu" in the Sreevalsam Guest house compound fully made of clay. This is the biggest idol made of clay in Asia.”
There is another version to the above.
“The Jnanapana (means the song of wisdom) written in simple Malayalam is Poonthanam 's greatest work. Melpathur was the most knowledgeable and learned man of that time. Poonthanam showed the draft of his Jnanapana to Melpathur. Malayalam was not accepted in the learned circle those days and Melpathur had contempt for Malayalam, which was not considered equal to Sanskrit. He refused to see Poonthanam's work and told him blatantly to learn Sanskrit and then start writing. This act of Melpathur hurt Poonthanam. Melpathur was composing Narayaneeyam in those days and when he came next day to offer d andasaka of ten slokas (ten stanzas) before the Lord, he could not utter a single word. A small boy in his teens, never seen before presented himself and pointed out mistakes after mistakes in the slokas composed by Melpathur. After ten mistakes in ten slokas Melpathur realised the divinity of the boy. He felt at the feet of the boy but the boy disappeared and there was an asareeri (celestial voice) saying, "Poonthanam's Bhakthi (devotion) is more pleasing to me than Melpathur's Vibhakthi (learning or knowledge in Sanskrit grammar)". Melpathur realised his mistake and asked Poonthanam to pardon him and amended his arrogance by reading the works of Poonthanam”.
My Comments:
Though an interesting story in a way, I seriously doubt it's veracity. Melpathur was well known for his Bhakti as well as Vibhakti. (Narayaneeyam and Sreepada Saptati are just two well known examples). He of course wrote many Vyakarana works like "Prakriya Sarvaswom" but even that work is pervaded by humility and broad mindedness.
Here I give just one sloka from Narayaneeyam..(which is a bhakti intensive work, written at the young age of 27) which should contradict any such allegation of "superiority in Vibhakti" in the mind of Melpathur
Chitthardhri Bhavamucchair Vapushi Cha Pulakam Harsha Bashpam Cha Hithva
Chiththam Shuddhyeth Kadham Va ? Kimu Bahuthapasa Vidhyaya VeethaBhakthey
Thvad Gadhaaswadha – Siddhanjana Sathathamari – Mrujyamanoyam Athma
Chakshurvath Thathvasookshmam Bhajathi Na Thu Thadhaabhyasthayaa Tharkka Kotyaa
How can the mind be purified without the bhakti which causes the melting of the mind, Thrill of the body, and tears of joy?
What benefit can a person without devotion acquire merely by doing penance or by becoming a scholar?
If one keeps on cleansing his mind with the divine collyrium of enjoyment got out of knowing your divine stories, then such a soul can clearly see the inner truth,
And this inner truth cannot be attained by any amount of knowledge in Shastras. 95.6
So, most likely, that anecdote was the creation of some insignificant person who might have been reprimanded after incorrectly reciting of Vishnu Sahasranama, and who then concocted the story and passed it onto Poonthanam (a great Sanskrit scholar in his own way, not likely to make such mistakes in Sandhi) and Melpathur.
This story happened in 1586 AD. The venue was GuruvayoorTemple. It was enacted two of the greatest poets of the yore; Poonthanam and Melpathur. The former wrote Jnanappana (Song of Wisdom) in simple Malayalam. Jnanappana is also called as the Gita of Malayalees. Narayana Bhattathirippad was the author of the Sanskrit work, Narayaneeyam in the form of a poetical hymn, consisting of 1034 slokas. It, in fact is a summarized version of Bhagavata Purana of 14000 slokas.
The following is the extract taken from the Guruvayoor Devaswom official site ( http://www.guruvayurdevaswom.org/lpoonthanam.shtml ) that presents this story beautifully. It goes like this:
“Though Poonthanam and Melpathur were great devotees of Lord Guruvayurappan, Poonthanam, a great poet, who wrote his verses in the vernacular, was famous for his bhakthi where as Melpathur, an erudite scholar and great poet in Sanskrit was known for his vibhakthi.
The Lord was partial towards Poonthanam than Melpathur. Melpathur used to laugh at Poonthanam's Sanskrit reading and recitation. One day Poonthanam was wrongly reciting "Padmanabho Maraprabhu", which means Lord of trees in Malayalam. Melpathur openly laughed at Poonthanam and corrected saying, Padmanabha is not Maraprabhu (Lord of trees) but Amaraprabhu (which means Lord of immortals in Sanskrit). Immediately, there was an asareeri (celestial voice) from the inner shrine, "I am also Maraprabhu" (Lord of trees).
Now there is a statue of "Maraprabhu" in the Sreevalsam Guest house compound fully made of clay. This is the biggest idol made of clay in Asia.”
There is another version to the above.
“The Jnanapana (means the song of wisdom) written in simple Malayalam is Poonthanam 's greatest work. Melpathur was the most knowledgeable and learned man of that time. Poonthanam showed the draft of his Jnanapana to Melpathur. Malayalam was not accepted in the learned circle those days and Melpathur had contempt for Malayalam, which was not considered equal to Sanskrit. He refused to see Poonthanam's work and told him blatantly to learn Sanskrit and then start writing. This act of Melpathur hurt Poonthanam. Melpathur was composing Narayaneeyam in those days and when he came next day to offer d andasaka of ten slokas (ten stanzas) before the Lord, he could not utter a single word. A small boy in his teens, never seen before presented himself and pointed out mistakes after mistakes in the slokas composed by Melpathur. After ten mistakes in ten slokas Melpathur realised the divinity of the boy. He felt at the feet of the boy but the boy disappeared and there was an asareeri (celestial voice) saying, "Poonthanam's Bhakthi (devotion) is more pleasing to me than Melpathur's Vibhakthi (learning or knowledge in Sanskrit grammar)". Melpathur realised his mistake and asked Poonthanam to pardon him and amended his arrogance by reading the works of Poonthanam”.
My Comments:
Though an interesting story in a way, I seriously doubt it's veracity. Melpathur was well known for his Bhakti as well as Vibhakti. (Narayaneeyam and Sreepada Saptati are just two well known examples). He of course wrote many Vyakarana works like "Prakriya Sarvaswom" but even that work is pervaded by humility and broad mindedness.
Here I give just one sloka from Narayaneeyam..(which is a bhakti intensive work, written at the young age of 27) which should contradict any such allegation of "superiority in Vibhakti" in the mind of Melpathur
Chitthardhri Bhavamucchair Vapushi Cha Pulakam Harsha Bashpam Cha Hithva
Chiththam Shuddhyeth Kadham Va ? Kimu Bahuthapasa Vidhyaya VeethaBhakthey
Thvad Gadhaaswadha – Siddhanjana Sathathamari – Mrujyamanoyam Athma
Chakshurvath Thathvasookshmam Bhajathi Na Thu Thadhaabhyasthayaa Tharkka Kotyaa
How can the mind be purified without the bhakti which causes the melting of the mind, Thrill of the body, and tears of joy?
What benefit can a person without devotion acquire merely by doing penance or by becoming a scholar?
If one keeps on cleansing his mind with the divine collyrium of enjoyment got out of knowing your divine stories, then such a soul can clearly see the inner truth,
And this inner truth cannot be attained by any amount of knowledge in Shastras. 95.6
So, most likely, that anecdote was the creation of some insignificant person who might have been reprimanded after incorrectly reciting of Vishnu Sahasranama, and who then concocted the story and passed it onto Poonthanam (a great Sanskrit scholar in his own way, not likely to make such mistakes in Sandhi) and Melpathur.
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