[tamil] tiruppavai and Tiruvempavai - English

["Dr.N.Ramani" <ramaninaidu@yahoo.com>]

THIRUPPAVAI, THIRUVEMPAVAI AND THIRUPPALLIYELUCCI FROM RAMANI'S DESK

The Prabhandha literature in Tamil has certain unique aspects. Pillai
Pirabhandham is a genre in which God is considered the devotees child. Such
an assumption is not found in other literatures. Pavai Pirabhandham is also
unique to Tamil. The maids observing the Pavai Observance are supposed to
assemble one after the other, bathe in the pond and seek the grace of God.
The drama of the assembly, devotion and surrender to God make up the content
of the Pavai Pirabhandham. The Pavai Pirabhandham is charged with devotional
essence.

Thiruvempavai has been rendered by the Saiva Saint Manikkavasakar. The songs
bear witness to the spread of Tamil culture beyond the seas. The first two
songs of Thiruvempavai are sung in a festival in Syam. Such significance has
been achieved only by Ramayana other than the Thiruvempavai.


The Vaishnavite saint poets are twelve in number. They are known as the
alwars. The name means those who are immersed in the experience of the
Divine in the form of Narayana or Vishnu, the God of the Vaishnavites.

Andal is the only woman saint poet among the twelve alwars. She is
considered to be the human manifestation of the Goddess of Earth,one of
Vishnu's consorts. Legend has it that Andal appeared as a child of five
years from within the earth in the temple grove maintained by Periyalvar, a
devout
 Vaishnavite saint poet, at Villiputtur, a village about 75 kms from
Madurai.

Andal has grown with the utmost consciousness of the Divine in the form of
Vishnu. She had always considered herself  God's bride.As she grew in
years,this conscience of the Divine also grew within her.The legend is that
in accourdance with a Divine order to Periyalvar in his dream, he gave his
foster daughter in marriage to the God at Srirangam. On the day of  the
marriage, Andal is said to have walked into the santum sanctotum and to have
merged with the Divine.

A wholesome ritual has been created and built around the character of Andal.
The best part of the ritual is the month long  celebration of pavai nonpu
during the tamil month of margazhi (December-January) every year.

According to literary historians, Andal had lived during the ninth century
B.C. There are differences of opinion among literary historians about the
period of the Alwars. Such differences however have no bearing on the
quality of the effect of the songs of Alwars on the Vaishnavite community
and Andal is no exception.

Among the Alwar literature collected under the title the divya prabandam,
Andal's works have earned a unique place by virtue of her directness,
simplicity and profoundity. No other Alwar except perhaps Nammalvar has
brought out the intimacy between the Divine and the devotee as Andal has
done.

Andal has to her credit the Tiruppavai and Nacciyar Tirumoli. While Nacciyar
Tirumoli has a certain sensuousness in line with the Bengal Vaishnavite
poetry, Tiruppavai celebrates in thirty songs a certain simple ritualistic
observance on the part of the devotees in the guise of the womenfolk of
ayarpati, the place of  dwelling of the herdsmen clan in which Vishnu is
said to have been brought up as Krishna.

Tiruppavai is made up of thirty songs each of  which is meant for each of
the thirty days of the month of margazhi. The first ten songs celebrate the
fruits of the devotional observance; the second ten songs inspire fellow
devotees  to take the path of devoted service and the last ten songs are
meant to wake Krishna and others up and pray for their grace.

The twelve months of the year are scaled down to a day and night for Gods in
the Hindu mythology. The six months from aadi to margazhi corresponding to
the southern solstice make up the night of the Gods. The other six months
corresponding to the northern solstice make up the day of theGods. Thus the
month of margazhi corresponds with the dawn of the Gods. The right time to
make obeisance to Gods, to praise and to pray for God's grace is naturally
the dawn of God's day - the month of margazhi. That in brief is the
significance of the month-long observance of devotion.

Through the next 30 days, the members of tamilnet will get a mail everyday
from Ramani's desk which will carry a translation of a song from tiruppavai
in order and an elucidation.

Ramani intends that this message reaches the second and the third generation
tamils outside India who may have difficulties in understanding their
tradition through texts in Tamil. Ramani hopes that this mission is well
taken . Any observation made on the texts to follow is welcome. Suggestions
if any  are also welcome. In all humility Ramani prays that inadequacies if
any in his presentation are graciously forgiven.

RAMANI

TIRUPPAVAI

DAY ONE - SONG ONE

Transliteration

markalit tinkal mati nirainta nannalal
niratap potuvir potumino nerilayir
sir malkum ayppatic celvac cirumiyarkal
kurvel kotun tolilan nantakopan kumaran
erarnta kanni yasotai ilan cinkam
karmenic cenkan katirmatiyam pol mukattan
narayanane namakke parai taruvan
paror pukalap patintelor empavay


Translation

On the auspicious day full of the moon,
In the month of markazhi,
Let us go and bathe, you bejewelled maids.
You the girls, the treasure of beauty prevailing ayppati.
Narayana the cloud hued and the red eyed,
With a face dazzling like the sun with his rays,
The son of Nantagopan who holds the sharp spear
Whose business is to destroy (the foe),
The young lion of the beautiful eyed Yasoda,
Will bless us with his grace.
Let us bathe in His name (on the steps of the pond)
Much to the appreciation of the world.

The first song in Tiruppavai is a  call to the maids of Ayppati to prepare
themselves after a bath in the pond to make obeisance to Krishna. Nantakopan
is the Cheif of the herdsmen clan who is the foster father of Krishna.
Krishna is supposed to have been born in the prison. His mother Devaki had
been imprisoned by
her brother in fear of annihilation at the hands of  his sister's son as
predicted by astrologers. Seven children were born to Devaki before Krishna
and they were all girl children. Overdoing his act in fear, Devaki's
brother, Kamsa, had thrown the children up in the air and killed them as
they fell upon an upheld sword. Fearing the same fate to the only son
begotten, Krishna had been carried stealthily with Divine assistance to the
house of Nantakopan when his wife Yasoda had given birth to a girl child.
Substituting the babies, Krishna's father, Vasudeva returned to the prison.
When Devaki's brother threw the girl child up in the air, the baby flew up
to heaven instead of falling down on the sword. Meanwhile Yasoda took
Krishna for her own child and brought him up. Therefore parentage is
ascribed to Nandakopan and Yasoda.

The reference to the jewels of the maids being the treasure of Ayppati in
effect means that they are at one and at the same time endowed with physical
grace and spiritual qualities. Margazhi is supposed to be the best of tamil
months. Even in the Gita, Krishna claims to be margazhi of all months. Thus
the reference to the moon filled day in the month of margazhi is synonymous
with divine association. The reference to the sharp spear and the business
of destruction implies the valour of the chieftain of the herdsmen clan.
Feminine beauty is associated with beautiful eyes in the case of Yasoda.The
act of bathing in preparation of devoted worship and praise of God is a
surety of Divine grace. Therefore is the assertion that Narayana will bless
them with His grace.Thus right at the beginning of Tiruppavai, Andal comes
out with a note of assurance of God's grace to the devotee.

The Vaishnava faith is that uttering the name of Narayana in itself is a
surety for His grace.Nammalvar in one of his songs will say ,"Those of you
who are inclined to reach the feet of Narayana! The very thought of  the
name of Narayana is surety enough for salvation."

Kannan kalalinai nannum manamutaiyir
Ennum tirunaman tinnam naraname.


TIRUVEMPAVAI
DAY ONE SONG ONE

Transliteration

atiyum antamum illa arumperun
cotiyai yam patak ketteyum valthatankan
mathe valaruthiyo van ceviyo nin cevithan
mathevan varkalalkal valthiya valtholi poy
vithi vayk kettalume vimmi vimmi meymmaranthu
pothar amaliyin mel ninrum purantum inkan
ethenum akal kitanthal enne enne
ithe em tholi pariselor empavay.

Translation

Sing do we the Great Effulgence
With no perceptible beginning or end.
Yet you keep your long eyes closed in sleep.
Have your ears become immune.
Our praise of the feet of the Great Lord fills the streets everywhere.
You ought to have lost the sense of the self in heaving breath.
How is it, unaffected, you remain in bed, lost in cosy sleep?
Come forth our maid!

There lies a maid indoors lost in sleep. Her friends stand at the threshold
of her house and sing a song. Such is the nature of the text of first song
of Thiruvempavai by Manikkavasakar.

"God has neither a beginning nor an end. He is such a vast pillar of
efflulgence. He flares forth as Wisdom Efflugent. We sing his praise in
mellifluous Tamil. Does it become of you to be indulgent enough to ignore
the inevitable appeal of the song? Shouldn't you have sighed in longing and
in total forgetfulness of the self, shouldn't you have run out to join the
troop of the singers? How is it your ears have become immune to the praise
of the Lord? It does not become of the maid our friend as we know her. Come
out and join us." Such is the exhortation of the maids friends who had
assembled to observe the pavai ritual.

The appeal is for  the soul to wake off its slumber in ignorance. Such
waking up to the Effulgent presence of God is to raise up to the grace of
God who has neither a beginning nor an end. The purpose of the song is to
inspire such a wakefulness off the afflicting earthly existence. The appeal
is for experiencing a transvaluated existence.

This song is said to have been the most favourite song of Thayumanavar, a
later day Saiva Saint. He wanted to become one with the song. He expressed
his longing thus : "When is it that I am going to be one with the spirit of
the song which hails the Lord as the Effulgent with neither a beginning nor
an end?"

When Manikkavasakar appealed for the forgetfulness of the self, Thayumanavar
can be said to have appealed for the sublimation of the self.





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