question on ninda stuti

[Guest guest]

Dear members of the group,

 

I have a question regarding the ninda stuti of thirumangai aazhwaar

in siriya thirumadal. I had sent an email to Sri.Sadagopan regarding this

and on his suggestion, am posting the email to the group so that

knowledgeable people in this group can give their thoughts.

 

Varadhan

 

begin attachment-------------------------

Dear Sri.Sadagopan

 

Regards. I was reading through some of the bhakti archives in some detail and

was reading through the post on kaliyan's works by you. I have had some

interest in kaliyan's paasurams and am particularly interested in the madals.

(In Kanchipuram, every Friday evening(except on special occasions and during

the brahmotsavam), PerundEvi Thaayar's purapaadu

will take place from the thottam inside the Varadharaajar temple, around the

main pradhakshinaM and back to Her sannadhi. During the procession, siriya

thirumadal

will be sung by the goshti. Siriya thirumadal is usually one of the first

paasurams that anyone who grows up in Kanchipuram learns. It is a great sight

to see the thaayar just before sunset ('manjaL veyyil') with the goshti singing

siriya thirumadal. Especially because the way siriya thirumadal is sung by the

goshti is very slow and flowing......)

 

I have a few questions regarding the following paragraph.

 

 

-----------------------------start quote---

Madal and Ninda Stuti

**************************

Another distinguishing feature of the Madals is the Ninda Stuti or praise in the

form

of censure are no aspersions on the glory of the Lord, but the outbursts of

great bhakthas taking liberties with the Lord because of their special

relationships with Him a stheir Nayaka. Traducing His name and fame

throughout the world is their threat to gain Him back. The deep love of the

Azhwar takes the forms of both Ninda or Negative Stuti and postive stuti

in the two Madals of Parakala Nayaki. Negatively, the Azhwar abandons all

human values (Purusharthas) as worthless except Kamam for Him ; on the

positive side, the Azhwar emphasizes the importance of Bhakti , Kainkaryam

(service ) and Thyagam(sacrifice ) of other temptations that take one away

from Him.

-----------------------------end quote---

 

My question is regarding the ninda stuti.

My understanding of where aazhwaar uses the ninda stuti is that

he uses ninda stuti in the first few lines of siriya thirumadal to

establish the greatness of the archamoorthys on this earth as compared

to SriVaikuntam/paramapadam.

 

I am quoting the siriya thrumadal here, and my understanding of it. I do not

know where I am missing something. That is why I thought I would quote the

relevant

portion of the siriya thirumadal and my understanding of it. My understanding

of the siriya thirumadal is solely based on P.B.Annangaraachaaryaar's works

and my grandfather's teaching of the siriya thirumadal to me (of course

corrupted by my own interpretation of the siriya thirumadal and what our

aazhvaar says).

 

Please bear with me on this.

 

 

'kaaraarvarai kongai kaNNar kadaludukkai

seerarsudar chutti seNgaLuzhipperaaRRu

peraaramaarbin perumaamazhaikkundhal

neeraaraveli nilamaNgaiyennum -- ip

paaroor solappattamoonnanre --ammoonrum

aarayilthaane aramporuLinbamenru'

 

In the above few lines, our aazhwaar describes Bhoomidevi and says that there

are three purushaarthaas for the people that inhabit this earth - aRam, poruL

and inbam (i.e dharmam, arththam and kaamam).

 

 

'aaraarivaRRinitaiyadhanai eidhuvaar

cheeraar irukalayum eithuvar '

 

Here aazhwaar says that kaaman is the one that has the most 'sirappu' among

the three purushaarthaas. (My understanding is that 'kaamam' here is bhagavath

vishaya kaamam )

Those who have attained this purushaartha will have had attained

the other two purushaarthaas.

 

 

'chikkanamaRRu

aaraanumundembaar enbadhuthaanadhuvum

oraamaiyandre? ulagathaar sollumsol

oraamaiyaamaaradhuvuraikkenkeLaame'

 

Some not so learned people say that there is a fourth purushaartham -

i.e. moksHam or paramapadam or Vaikuntam. Let me(aazhvaar) tell you why

mokshavaadham

has no basis (or why 'mokshavaadam' is not based on deep research - I guess

this is a more appropriate meaning - Varadhan).

 

'kaaraarpuraviyezh poondhathaniyaazhi

theraar niraikadhiron mandalathaikkendu pukku

aaraavamudhamaNgaydhi'

 

To attain moksham one has to go through the soorya mandalam (That sooryan who

rides on a charriot that is drawn by 7 horses and has one wheel??) After one

goes through all this, they say that one attains moksha .

 

'adhuninrum

vaaradhozhivadhonrundE'

 

And those who do attain moksha after going through all that do not come back.

 

'adhunirka

yeraarmuyalvittu kaakkaippin povadhe?'

 

With all the archamoorthys in this earth, why would one go to great lengths to

achieve moksham?

 

 

----

 

I think that aazhwaar in the last few lines quoted above uses nahininda nyaayam

to go to the extent of even questioning the existence of moksham to express the

greatness of the archamoorthys on this earth.

(i.e.there is a remote possibility of a 7-horse drawn charriot

with one wheel , it is very difficult for anyone to go through sooryamandalam

unscorched- and those that they say have attained moksham have never come

back to tell us about it - so there may/may not be a moksham itself?)

 

This is where I think the ninda stuti is used. I do not understand how

the ninda stuti is used to abandon all other human values (i.e. aRam and poruL

) other than kaamam. I think that bhagavath vishaya kaamam is a positive

purushaartham rather than negative one.

 

That is where I think I am missing something. Can you please (when you get

time),

take time to clear my understanding of the above?

 

My apologies for the inconvenience,

 

Varadhan