thiru mazhisai aazhvaar and sivavaakkiyar

[Guest guest]

thamizh words in this mail follow the madhurai transliteration

scheme.

 

The vowels are

 

a aa/A i ii/ee/I u oo/U e E ai o O au/ow ah

 

The consonants are

 

k/g c/ch/s t th p R

NG NY n^ N m n

y r l v zh L

 

 

Some more naturally parsable combinations will be used which

can be easily resolved using the thamizh grammar. Thus 'n^'

will be replaced by a mere 'n' if it occurs in the beginning

of the word and 'panchu' instead of 'paNYchu', 'sangu' instead

of 'saNGgu' etc. will be used.

 

====

 

In the life history of thiru mazhisai aazhvaar (TMA) in my

copy of the 4000, there was a reference that TMA learnt and

followed various disciplines (vedic as well as non-vedic)

until eventually he was converted to vaishnavam by

pEyaazhvaar.

 

Elsewhere, (in the book "The smile of Murugan - On Tamil

literature of South India by K.Zvelebil, pp 229) I saw the

following footnote:

 

A strange story (in Kuruparampara pirapavam, ed.

K.Kirusnamacariyar, 1909) maintains that Civavakkiyar the

siddha converted to Vaisnavism and became one of the

greatest Vaisnava poets under the name Tirumalicai

Alvar. It is a fact that his poems are in tiruccanta

viruttam metre just like the poems of the Vaisnava poet;

even more curious is the fact that there is a number of

stanzas ascribed to both the poets which are nearly

identical. Were these two indeed one and the same person,

or did the iconoclast Saivite cittar copy the Vaisnava

mystic?

 

 

I intend to learn more about this. If any of you happen to

know more on this, please do share them with me. To give a

flavour of poems associated with each, here is one famous

verse from sivavaakkiyar:

 

kaRandha paal mulaippukak kadaindha veNNey mOrpuka

utaindhu pOna san_kinOsai uyirkaLum udaRpuka

virindha poo udhirndha kaayum meentu pOy marampuka

iRandhavar piRappadhillai illai illai illaiyE!

 

[Milk doesn't go back to the udder, nor butter back to buttermilk.

The life that comes out when a sea-shell breaks

doesn't go back to the shell either!

A blown flower or a fallen fruit never returns back to the tree!

Likewise, the dead are never reborn, never, never, never, never!]

 

Here is another one:

 

akaara kaaraNaththilE an^Ekan^Eka roopamaay

ukaara kaaraNaththilE uruththaRiththu ninRanan

makaara kaaraNaththilE mayangukiRa vaiyakam

sikaara kaaraNaththilE theLindhadhE sivaayamE!

 

Through the sound 'a', he stands in many many forms

Through the sound 'u', he takes on many shapes

Through the sound 'm', the universe is confused

Through the sound 'si', however,

the confusion is cleared and 'sivaayam' remains.

 

The first letters of the verse taken together shows

"aum si(vaya nama)".

 

One can see even more amazing, and obscure symbolism in thiru

mazhisai aazhvaar's thiruch chandha viruththam. There was a

posting by Parthasarati Dileepan earlier. I haven't saved that

posting and can not find it offhand from the archives with

Mani. thiru mazhisai aazhvaar uses numbers all over his poems

which needs careful study:

 

 

aaRum aaRum aaRumaay or ainthum ainthum ainthumaay,

ERuseer iraNdum moonRum Ezhum aaRum ettumaay,

vERu vERu NYaanam aagi meyyinodu poyyumaay,

ooRodu Osaiyaaya ainthum aaya aaya maayanE! (TCV - 2)

 

I can't provide a meaning right away since I do not know the

meaning and is just too complicated and I do not have any

commentaries with me.

 

Rough literal meaning goes like:

 

Oh Lord with magical powers born in a shepherd family! You became (?)

a six, a six and another six, a five, a five and another five

in syllables, a two, a three, a seven, a six and an eight

You became of various knowledge, truth and even falsehood too

and all the people and the sound, and a five as well !!

 

Now, I have no idea what various numbers above represent. The

last of the fives, I suspect are the water, earth, firmament,

fire and air. The numbered syllables could very well represent

things like 'Om', 'naarayaNaaya nama:' etc.

 

 

I hope to learn (with the help of various commentaries), the

hidden meaning in thiru mazhisai aazhvaar's works and any

possible connection between him and sivavaakiyar. I appreciate

any help from you in this connection.

 

--badri

 

 

-----------------

S.Badrinarayanan

Graduate Student

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Cornell University

-----------------

[Guest guest]

On Dec 27, 2:01pm, Badrinarayanan Seshadri wrote:

> thiru mazhisai aazhvaar uses numbers all over his poems

> which needs careful study:

>

>

> aaRum aaRum aaRumaay or ainthum ainthum ainthumaay,

> ERuseer iraNdum moonRum Ezhum aaRum ettumaay,

> vERu vERu NYaanam aagi meyyinodu poyyumaay,

> ooRodu Osaiyaaya ainthum aaya aaya maayanE! (TCV - 2)

>

[...]

>

> Rough literal meaning goes like:

>

> Oh Lord with magical powers born in a shepherd family! You became (?)

> a six, a six and another six, a five, a five and another five

> in syllables, a two, a three, a seven, a six and an eight

> You became of various knowledge, truth and even falsehood too

> and all the people and the sound, and a five as well !!

 

K.C. Varadachari translated this paasuram in

his book ``Alvars of South India'', published

by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He does not mention

the source for his interpretation, so some of

this may not be traditional, but it is plausible.

 

Being the six 1

the six 2

and the six 3

being (worshipped) by the five, 4

the five 5

and the five 6

He who is the excellent two, 7

the three 8

the seven 9

the six 10

and the eight 11

having made distinct the knowledge 12

being the True and the Untrue 13

the Self of the five 14

He is the Lord, the magician 15

 

By line:

 

1. The six are said to be the duties: adhyayanam, adhyaapanam,

yajanam, yaajanam, daanam and pratigrahaNam. (Manu, I.88 ff)

2. The six are said to be the seasons: vasanta, grIshma, varsha,

Sarat, hemanta, and SiSira.

3. The six refer to the yaagas such as aagneya, jyotishToma,

viSvajit, etc.

4. The five are said to be the yajnas: bhUta, manuSya, pitR,

deva, and brahma. Manu III.70 adds a sixth, mahAyajna.

5. The five are said to be prANahutis. It may refer to the

five prANas -- prANa, apAna, vyAna, udAna and samAna.

6. These are the five agni-s, gArhapatya, Ahavaniya, dakshiNa,

sabhdya, and avasatya.

7. The two are said to be God-knowledge and renunication of

all the rest. But see Manu IV.4-5 which mention Rtam and

amRtam (or satyam) as the characteristics of the Divine.

8. The three are said to be lordship, liberation, and realization,

but more truly the three may be said to be creation, sustention,

and withdrawal or destruction. (Brahma-Sutras: janmAdy asya yatah,

I.i.2.

9. The seven are said to refer the co-requisites of bhakti-yoga,

i.e., practice of viveka, vimoka, abhyAsa, kriyA, kalyANa,

anuddharsha, and anavasAda. (Sribhashya, I.i.1)

10. The six refer to jnAna, bala, aiSvarya, vIrya, Sakti, and tejas.

These six attributes are preeminent among the kalyAna-guNas of

the Lord.

11. The eight qualities refer to svarUpa of the Divine described in

BrhadAraNyaka Upanishad: apahatapApma (freedom from sin), vijara

(freedom from age), vimRtyu, (freedom from death), viSoka (freedom

from sorrow), vijigIsa, (freedom from hunger), avipASa (freedom

from thirst), satyakAma (desires are true), satyasankalpa (whose

will is true). This also may refer to the eight qualities of

Brahman from the Isa Upanishad.

12. As Isa 8 puts it, one perceives the real nature of things.

13. Revealing the good to the good and the bad to the bad.

14. Reference may be to the previous verse, where the five elements

are mentioned, or to the five-fold manifestation of the Lord

as para, vyuha, vibhava, arca, and antaryamin.

 

Mani