The Temple Vessel

One day Devadevi told Vipra Nārāyaṇa that she wished to visit her mother and sister. He said that he would come with her, for he could not bear to be parted from her even for a moment, and they went together to her home.

There Vipra Nārāyaṇa gave everything he had to Devadevi and her mother, until a day came when he had nothing left to give. Her mother then asked Devadevi to send him away. Devadevi, who truly loved him, could not bring herself to do it, but her mother would not have him in the house, and she told him to leave. Helpless, Vipra Nārāyaṇa left, wandered into a garden, and, utterly weary, fell asleep. Seeing this, Emperumān resolved to free him from māyā and set him on the path that leads to His sacred feet.

The Lord took the form of an ordinary man, went to Devadevi's house and knocked at the door. Her mother asked who he was. He said that he was a disciple of Vipra Nārāyaṇa, and he handed her a large silver vessel, saying it was a gift from his guru for Devadevi.

Receiving it, her mother thanked him and asked that his guru return to the house, for Devadevi had been unwell ever since he left. The Lord, still in the guise of a disciple, went to Vipra Nārāyaṇa, woke him, and told him that Devadevi's mother had asked him to return. Hearing this, Vipra Nārāyaṇa hurried back to the house and embraced Devadevi.

The next morning the archaka entered the sanctum of Sri Ranganātha and found that a vessel used in the daily pūjā was missing. He reported it to the king, who sent his men to search for it, and they found it in Devadevi's house.

They seized Devadevi's mother and Vipra Nārāyaṇa and brought them before the king. When the king asked her mother where she had got the vessel, she said that a disciple of Vipra Nārāyaṇa had given it to her. But Vipra Nārāyaṇa denied this, saying that he had no disciple. After consulting the elders of the court, the king ordered that Vipra Nārāyaṇa be held in prison for the night, and Devadevi's mother was set free.

That night, Vipra Nārāyaṇa wept and asked Emperumān why this had befallen him, and he prayed. The same night, Emperumān appeared in the king's dream, told him all that had happened, and asked him to set Vipra Nārāyaṇa free.

The next day, Vipra Nārāyaṇa was honoured in the court as a devotee of Sriman Nārāyaṇa should be, and was given many precious gifts. The king explained that all of it had been a tiruviḷaiyāḍal, a divine play of Emperumān.

Now knowing truly why he had come into the world, he went to the temple of Sri Ranganātha and sang the Lord's praise. He bowed before the devotees of Sriman Nārāyaṇa, placed upon his head the dust from beneath their feet, and sang in praise of Sri Ranganātha.

From then on he was called Tondaraḍippoḍi Āzhwār, "the Āzhwār who is the dust of the feet of the Lord's devotees." Having at last realised the purpose of his birth, he went on to worship at the kshethrams of Sriman Nārāyaṇa and sang the Lord's praise.