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some doubts on siRiya thirumadal

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Vijay Triplicane (vijayt) wrote:

 

* Sri Varadhan had brought up an interesting subject for

* discussion. Before going into the details of ninda stuthi

* and all i have a basic doubt here. can anybody please

* clarify.

 

[...]

 

* My question is this:

*

* arraar ivaRRin idai adhanai eydhuvar

* cheeraar irukalaiyum eythuvar.

 

* Doesn't this "ivaRRin idai adhanai" mean the center of

* these three which is poruL? (aRam - poruL - inbam) OR am

* i missing something????

 

'idai' here means 'among'. Thus "ivaRRin idai adhanai"

should read as "among these [three]" and not as "the one in

the middle".

 

* In the last few lines the aazhwaar even doubts the

* existence of mOksham and thereby highlights the

* significance of the archaa moorthy in this earth. Could

* this be bcos the aazhwaar takes the role of an innocent

* bhaktha ( a girl) for whom all those concepts of mOksham

* and everything is like greek and latin and hence chooses

* the one easy maargam to reach HIM which is uncontrolled

* love towards HIM.

 

This is a very common motif in aazhvaar paasuram. Compare

this with 'ichchuvai thavira yaan pOy indhira lOgam aaLum

achchuvai peridhum vENdEn aranga maa nakar uLaanE' by

thoNdar adippodi aazhvaar.

 

* 'adhunirka

* yeraarmuyalvittu kaakkaippin povadhe?'

 

The two 'madal' works by thiru mangai aazhvaar are

extremely beautiful, and in fact "revolutionary" in the

sense that they were completely against the existing

thamizh tradition (aazhvaar "herself" mentions that in the

work) prompting later day thamizh grammarians to add

special categories in their book.

 

I eagerly look forward to Sri Sadagopan's postings on these

exquisite works from thiru mangai aazhvaar.

 

--badri

 

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

S.Badrinarayanan

Graduate Student

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Cornell University

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

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>

>Vijay Triplicane (vijayt) wrote:

>

>* My question is this:

>*

>* arraar ivaRRin idai adhanai eydhuvar

>* cheeraar irukalaiyum eythuvar.

>

>* Doesn't this "ivaRRin idai adhanai" mean the center of

>* these three which is poruL? (aRam - poruL - inbam) OR am

>* i missing something????

 

 

Badri answered:

>

>'idai' here means 'among'. Thus "ivaRRin idai adhanai"

>should read as "among these [three]" and not as "the one in

>the middle".

 

As you reach the end of the phrase, aazhvaar includes

all three.

 

 

ivaRRinidai adhanai = the last among these, i.e. inbam

 

araar ...

 

seeraar irukalaiyum eydhuvaar = they will have the other

two as well, for there is

no "inbam" in the absence of

"aRam" and "poruL"

 

 

 

Vijay continues:

>

>* In the last few lines the aazhwaar even doubts the

>* existence of mOksham and thereby highlights the

 

 

Please see below....

 

 

>* significance of the archaa moorthy in this earth. Could

>* this be bcos the aazhwaar takes the role of an innocent

>* bhaktha ( a girl) for whom all those concepts of mOksham

>* and everything is like greek and latin and hence chooses

>* the one easy maargam to reach HIM which is uncontrolled

>* love towards HIM.

>

 

 

Badri answers:

>This is a very common motif in aazhvaar paasuram. Compare

>this with 'ichchuvai thavira yaan pOy indhira lOgam aaLum

>achchuvai peridhum vENdEn aranga maa nakar uLaanE' by

>thoNdar adippodi aazhvaar.

 

 

Badri's observation is absolutely correct, but

the example is not right. Thondaradipodi aazhvaar

rejects just "indhiralOkam" here, but thirumangai

"rejects" mOksham in favor of the earthly archaa

moorthees. Others, as Badri points out, including

Swami Sri dhEsikar, have done this. This is just

a matter relative perception, and also a matter of

dhayai towards us who are unable to see beyond

the current realm.

 

It is important to realize that thirumangai

aazhvaar does not doubt the existence of mOksham.

Consider "aRamudhal naangavayaay, moorthy moonRaay"

in thiruvezhukooRRirukkai.

 

In the beginning of siRiya thirumadal, the aazhvaar

sets the stage for the high praise he later showers

on the earthly archaa moorthees by praising them

as even higher than para vaasudhevan in vaikuNdam

whose existence is known only through word of mouth

("ulagaththaar sollum sol"). Where as, the archaa

moothees are here and now, waiting to be enjoyed.

IMHO, siRiya thirumadal is muyal and the archaa moorthees

are kaakkai, far away, in India :-). You will agree when

you listen to siRiya thirumadal, as the recitation

reaches the end, in a slow deliberate pace, the voice repeats,

 

seeraar thiruvEngadamE, thirukkOvaloorE ...

 

and reaches crescendo with "aaraamanj soozhndha arangam"

and then continues, "kaNamangai ..."

 

Azhvaar went against the Tamil tradition and portrayed

a female performing "madal Urdhal" as expression of

intense and insatiable love. Madal Urdhal is extremely

painful and thus the target of this action, a damsel,

and her family, acquiesces for the fulfillment of the man's

love. Parakaala Nayaki risks public ridicule by venturing

upon this "madal Urdhal" for it is forbidden for women.

Perhaps there is a lesson for us when we seem to be subjected

to the ridicule of modern rationalists, for they forget that

their rationality is a product of the meat machine called

brain.

 

 

 

 

-- dhaasan parthasarati dileepan

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Parthasarati Dileepan (MFPD) wrote:

 

* >Vijay Triplicane (vijayt) wrote:

*

* >* significance of the archaa moorthy in this earth. Could

* >* this be bcos the aazhwaar takes the role of an innocent

* >* bhaktha ( a girl) for whom all those concepts of mOksham

* >* and everything is like greek and latin and hence chooses

* >* the one easy maargam to reach HIM which is uncontrolled

* >* love towards HIM.

 

* Badri answers:

* >This is a very common motif in aazhvaar paasuram. Compare

* >this with 'ichchuvai thavira yaan pOy indhira lOgam aaLum

* >achchuvai peridhum vENdEn aranga maa nakar uLaanE' by

* >thoNdar adippodi aazhvaar.

*

*

* Badri's observation is absolutely correct, but

* the example is not right. Thondaradipodi aazhvaar

* rejects just "indhiralOkam" here, but thirumangai

* "rejects" mOksham in favor of the earthly archaa

* moorthees. Others, as Badri points out, including

* Swami Sri dhEsikar, have done this. This is just

* a matter relative perception, and also a matter of

* dhayai towards us who are unable to see beyond

* the current realm.

 

Yes. I made a mistake in the sense that the interpretations are

very different. The very tone is different in each case. But

the basic reasons why one rejects the 'indhra logam' and the

other rejects the very 'moksha' itself (albeit mockingly), are

nearly identical.

 

thoNdar adippodi aazhvaar feels that the mere pleasure of

staying in arangam and praising Him as "achyutha!", "dhEvaadhi

dhEvaa" and "aayar kozhundhE!" are sweeter than the enjoyment

one gets in indhra's abode.

 

thiru mangai aazhvaar grabs our attention with a very beautiful

simile and asks us, "muyal irukka kakkai pin pOvadhu En?"

 

Of course, in both the cases, they teach us an easy way to

reach that vaikuNdam!

 

I would rather not show off my limited knowledge, and would

wait for Sri Sadagopan's learned postings. In my humble

opinion, among the entire works of thiru mangai aazhvaar, the

two madals bring out the most, and are unquestionably his best.

But then, any such comparison among his works is as futile as

comparing the beauty of thiru naagai azhakiyaar and thiruk

kudandhai amudhanaar or thiru arangaththu aravaNaip paLLiyaar!

 

 

* Azhvaar went against the Tamil tradition and portrayed

* a female performing "madal Urdhal" as expression of

* intense and insatiable love. Madal Urdhal is extremely

* painful and thus the target of this action, a damsel,

* and her family, acquiesces for the fulfillment of the man's

* love. Parakaala Nayaki risks public ridicule by venturing

* upon this "madal Urdhal" for it is forbidden for women.

* Perhaps there is a lesson for us when we seem to be subjected

* to the ridicule of modern rationalists, for they forget that

* their rationality is a product of the meat machine called

* brain.

 

I wish I can get hold of periya vaachchaan piLLai's commentary

on the madals. Unfortunately all I have got are a few excerpts

here and there in a secondary book. The range of emotions

expressed by parakaala nayaki including a dry humour, the

novelty of expressions and concepts, the complete mastery of

the language and prosody etc. have simply no equal anywhere

else! I do hope there is a good English translation (preferably

in the form of a free verse, capturing the kali veNpaa meter)

for the sake of those who can not read and enjoy the original.

 

--badri

 

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

S.Badrinarayanan

Graduate Student

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Cornell University

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

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