Arayar Sevai , Dance-Abhinayam Tradition in Vaishnavite Rituals : Part 1

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs : On this Sri Vaikunta EkAdasi day ,

I received TuLasi and Kumkuma PrasAdham form

ThiruviNNagar ( Oppilaippan Sannidhi ). I thought it

was a wondeful soochakam form the Divya Dampathis to

do some thing special with respect to my likitha

Kaimkaryam . It occured to me that the arayar sEvai

that is so inricately interwoven with Thiru AdhyayanOthsavam

would be some thing special to reflect upon on this day .

I will write about the importance of Music and Dance

in our Sri VaishNavite tradition from EmperumAn onwards

through Naatha Muni and today's Arayars over the past

ELEVEN HUNDRED YEARS WITHOUT INTERRUPTION .

 

Prior to writing about the above topic , I would like to

invite your attention to the plans for this coming weekend at

Sri RanganAthA temple at Pomona , NY under the leadership

of "ParamiakAnthi Saarvabhouman " Sri Venkat KanumAlA .

Our Sri Venkat Kanumala was given this title by none other than

the Current Ahobila Matam Jeeyar during his First

anugraha BhAshaNam last month . I am looking forward

to join this Bhagavatha GhOshti to recite the assigned

two hundred ThiruvAi Mozhi paasurams on these two days .

Timings for the recitation/upanyAsam are indicated below .

 

Thiruvaaimozhi ThirunALL first day at Sri RanganaathA Temple

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

To prepare myself for this day, I recited this evening the first

one hundred paasurams of Swami Sri NammAzhwAr's Thiruvaimozhi on

this first day of Thiruvaimozhi Uthsavam. BhakthAs of

Sri RanganathA are reciting the First hundred at

Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple tonight as part of the Sri Vaikunta

EkAdasi celebration there . Every day , they plan to

recite one hundred more verses from subsequent patthus

at NamperumAL's temple on the Hudson as is wont at

NamperumAL's temple on the Cauvery at Srirangam .

 

Please join Sriman Venkat Kanumala , who has been

blessed to lead the way to construct the one and only

temple for Sri KasthUri Rangan and Sri Ranganaayaki

ThAyAr in all of Western hemisphere .BTW , On Jan 2 , H.H. ,

the Poundarikapuram Jeeyar will be speaking to us over

the Tele-Bridge from Srirangam between 10.30-11.30 A.M.

After the Sriman NaarAyaNa smaraNam initiated by

H.H. Sri GopAla MahA Desikan of Poundarikapuram

Aasramam , the ThiruvAimozhi ThirunALL function at Pomona

Sri RanganathA temple will start at 3 P.M.

and conclude at 5.P.M.Same times for Sunday as well .

 

I plan to join this devout group and recite with them

both on the fifth and Sixth Thiruvaimozhoi ThirunALL , if

there is no snow on ground . These two days are Saturday

( January 2 ) and Sunday ( January 3 ).The recitations

are set for 3 P.M and will last until 5 P.M with

commentaries on the key verses from each of the decads

of the centum on both days . It will be my BhAgyam

to lead the discussions , weather permitting .

 

The one hundred Thiruvaimozhi to be recited on

Saturday ( Jan 2 ) is the Fifth Patthu ( KaiyyAr chakkaratthen-

KarumANickkamE --);the centum for Sunday ( Jan 3 )is

the Sixth patthu ( Vaikal poonkazhi--) . These 200

verses house the famous SaraNAgathi Verses of

NammAzhwAr at ThiruviNNagar and at ThiruvEnkatam .

Further , these two centums have the mangaLAsAsanams

of Thirukkudanthai AarAvamudhan and ThiukkOLUr

Vaittha Maa Nidhi in addition to the salutations

to the EmperumAns of ThiruvallavAzh and

Tholaivillimangalam twin Thiruppathis.

 

Please start your New Year in the most auspicious way

through your week-end visit to Sri RanganaathA temple at

Pomona to join us and receive the Divya Dampathi's blessings

during this ThiruvAimozhi ThirunALL .With Their

abundant blessings , we may be able to celebrate

1999-2000 A.D ThiruadhyayanOthsavam at Their own

brand new temple with all the BhagavathAs !

 

Music and Dance tradition in Sri VaishNavite Rituals

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

Professor VasudhA NaarAyanan has coverd in depth

the traditons of Music ( Chapter 6 ) and Dance/

performative commentaries by Arayars (Chapter 8)

in her scholarly book entitled "The Vernacular VedA :

Revelation , recitation and Ritual.

 

In her book , Professor NaarAyaNan has pointed out

to the importance of ThiruvAi Mozhi as a classic

case of an Anubhava Grantham and has referred to

Swami Sri SatakOpan's niyamanam on how to experience

his Bhagavadh Vishayam ( ThiruvAi Mozhi ). In his

ThiruvAimozhi Paasuram (9.10.11 ) , the revered

AzhwAr envisages his Prabhandham as being SUNG AND

DANCED IN FRONT OF THE LORD AT HIS TEMPLE . That

is exactly what Swami Sri Madhurakavi AzhwAr did :

 

thEvu maRRaRiyEn KuruhUr nampi

PAAVINNISAI PAADIT THIRIVENE

--KaNNInuNN SiRut ThAmpu :Paasuram 2

 

As the ideal disciple of Swami Sri NammAzhwAr ,

Madhura Kavi followed the precept set by his

ParamAchAryan in ThiruvAimozhi 9.10.11 associated

with AshtAkshara KshEthra EmperumAn at ThirukkaNNapuram :

 

PaaDu sArA vinai paRRaRa vENDuveer ,

maada Needu KuruhUr SatakOpan soll ,

paadalaana Tamizh Aayiratthulipatthum

PAADIYAADIP, paNiminavan TaaLkaLE

 

Professor NaarAyaNan's translation for this

key verse ( Pala Sruthi Paasuram ) occuring almost at

the end of ThiruvAimozhi is as follows :

 

O you who want to break

the hold of deeds

and stop them from coming close ,

worship the feet of the Lord ,

SINGING AND DANCING these ten

of the thousand Tamil songs

sung by SatakOpan who hails from KurukUr

a city with lofty mansions

 

Dr.V.N.Vedanatha Desikan's translation of

this verse in prose is a s follows :

 

" People who wish to keep all grief at a long distance !

Of the thousand verses of advice tendered by SatakOpA

of ThirukkuruhUr (of tall palatial residences ) , use

this decad to perform reverential worship with flowers ,say ,

at the Lord's feet . WHILE DOING SO , DANCE AND SING IN AN

ENTHUSIASTIC MANNER ;That would ensure a griefless life ! ".

 

Swami Sri NammAzhwAr performed upadEsam for

Sri RangaanAtha Muni of Veera NaarAyana Puram

at the foot of the tamarind tree at ThirukkuruhUr

and taught him all the 4000 paasrams of

Divya Prabhandham and Yoga rahasyam .

When Naatha Muni (824-924 A.D. )returned from ThirukkuruhUr

to his native Veera NaarayaNa puram , the EmperumAn

of this sthalam instructed Naatha Muni to

set the divya Prabhandham to music and dance .

Naatha Muni followed the Lord's command

and set a major portion of the divya Prabhandham

to music (isaippaa ) and left the rest to

be recited ( iyalppaa ). He taught the tunes

and abhinayam to his two nephews ,

VaradAchAr ( Melai ahatthu AzhwAn ) and

KrishNamAchAri ( Keezhaai ahatthu AzhwAn ) .

Swami Sri Desikan salutes the MahA Kaimkaryam

of Naatha Muni this way :

 

kALam valampuriyanna NaRkkathal adiyavarkku

TaaLam vazhangit Thamizh MaRai INNISAI TANTHA VALLAL

 

Swami states that the deva ghAnam was bequeathed to

us by Naatha Muni ( Tava NeRi mootiya Naatha Muni)

thru his two nephews serving as KaaLam and

Valampuri vAdhyams.

 

In the nexst posting , we will cover the ancient

nature of Dance as evidenced by its origin from the four

Vedams .

 

DaasAnu Daasan , ThiruviNNagar Sadagopan