Rama Priyan - Original name of Ethiraja Sampathkumaran

Srimathe SriLakshmi Nrisimha Parabrahmane Namaha

This is an very interesting piece of information which i had infered from Swamy U.Ve.Sri.Velukuddi Krishnan's Upanyasam. Everybody is aware that Melkote(Thirunarayanapuram) which is called the "Gnana mandapam " is one out of the four foremost divyadesams of our Srivaishnava sampradhayam, the other three being Srirangam,Kancheepuram & Thirumalai(Tirupathi).

The perumal who resides in this divyadesam is called Thirunayanan(moolavar) and Ethiraja Sampathkumaran(Chellapillai-in tamil) is the utsavar's thirunamam.Everybody would be aware of the fact that swami Ramanujar was directed by the lord himself to find him from the Tulasi tree in the kalyani Pushkarani which he communicated to Swami in his dream. The story behind Swami Ramanujar coming to this divyadesam is very touching. During the muslim invasions almost all our divyadesams were under scurnity of the sultans and all the bhaghawatas and our perumals and their properties were either stolen or damaged. Under these circumstances Swami who was in srirangam had the danger of being captured and it was Koorathazhwar who decided to disguise himself as Ethirajar due to which he lost both his eyes, the culprit being Krimikanda cholan and gave Grahasthashrama Kashayam (white dhoti) which normally none of the sanyasi is entitled to wear and had requested Swami to go in the direction of Melkotai.Thus Swami arrived here.

After finding out the moolavar he was also instructed by the lord himself to fetch him(utsavar) from Yammadarayan in Delhi. Swami went there and found perumal in the Princess' palace and pledged the utsavamoorthy to come with him. No sooner did swamy call him than the lord came jumping out of the Cradle in which he was kept by the princess like a new born baby and sat on the laps of Swamy Ramanujar. Hence the name Ethiraja Sampathkumaran(Sellapillai).

Then How does the name "Rama Priyan" arise......?

Everyone is aware that our Srirangam namperual prior to his arrival in to this divyadesam was intially with Brahma in his sathyalogam and then it was given to Raghuvamsham in which all the kings including Rama had been doing aradhanai for this perumal. After Rama's Pattabishekam this perumal was handed over to Vibheeshanan and the rest is history..... Since Rama had given his aradhya devathai to Vibheeshanan Bramha gave another idol(our Sellapillai) to him for his Nithya Aradhana. Since the perumal was so close to Rama he is "Rama Priyan". There is one more explanation being given for the evolution of this name, i.e after Rama's period it was during the Kucha(rama's son) who was performing the aradhana for this perumal and while he conducted the marriage of his daughter with an Yadava king he gave this perumal as a seedhanam and thereon this perumal's aradhanam was done by Yadavas and it was Balarama(brother of krishna) who identified this idol as the utsavar for the Thirunarayanan and installed it in Melkotai and hence the name "(Bala)Rama Priyan".......