Arayar Sevai : Divine Music and Dance : Part 1

[Guest guest]

Dear BhakthAs :

 

This is the season of Thiru AdhyayanOthsavam at

Srirangam, SriVilliputthUr and AzhwAr Thirunahari .

During the 21 days of this uthsavam at Srirangam

for instance, Abhinayam , singing folowed by

Commentary (vyAkhyAnam ) from TampirAn pati is

peformed by the Arayars. This is a tradition that

goes back to Sri Ranganatha Muni(824-924 A.D.) ,

who was directly initated into Divya Prabhandham and

Yoga rahasyam by Swami Sri NammAzhwAr

at ThirukkuruhUr .

 

NammAzhwAr's upadEsam

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

NammAzhwAr himself has recommended his Thiruvaimozhi

to be sung and danced in front of the Lord . His prathama

sishyar , Mathura Kavi AzhwAr did just that and spent his

life propagting the message of Thiruvaimozh to one and all

( thEvu maRRaRiyEn KuruhUr Nampi , paavininissai

paatit thiruivEnE ).

 

In his Thiruvaimozhi (TVM )paasuram(9.10.11) , NammAzhwAr

envisages the use of music and dancing to salute the

Lord . This palasruthi paasuram is :

 

PaaDu saarA vinai paRRa vENduveer

maada needu KuruhUr SatakOpan soll

paadalAna Tamizh AayiratthuLip patthum

paadiyADip paNiminavan tALkalE

 

Professor VasudhA NaarAyaNan in her scholarly

treatise , " vernacular VedA : Recitation , Revelation

and Ritual " translates the meaning of the above paasuram

this way :

 

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

--TVM : 9.10.11

 

Dr.V.N. VedAntha Desikan , the author of

AzhwAr ThiruvuLLam translates this verse

as follows :

 

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

Of the thousand verses of advice tendered by SatakOpan of

ThirukkuruhUr (of tall palatial rsidences ), 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 ."

 

There are many other paasurams of NammazhwAr

and the other AzhwArs that recommend music and

dance as a part of the rituals to worship our Lord .

 

Arayars and their use of Dance & Music in worship

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

We will cover the veda pramANam for the use of

Dance and music in the worship of our Lord in

the next posting . Here , we will give a history of

the Arayar sEvai .

 

ThiruvAimozhi is generally considered as the essence

of Saama Vedam , the Vedam of UdhgItham . NammAzhwAr is

hailed as "Vedam Tamizh seytha MaaRan ". He instructed

Naatha Muni on the Divya Prabhandham including ThiruvAimozhi .

When Naatha Muni returned to his native place , Veera NaarAyaNa

Puram after his initiation by NammAzhwAr ,

the EmperumAn of this kshEthram commanded Naatha Muni

to set the divya prabhandham to music and tALam and

teach it to one and all . Naatha Muni taught his two

nephews , Melai ahatthu AzhwAn ( VaradAchAr ) and

Keezhai ahatthu AzhwAn ( KrishNamaacchAr ) the raagams

and the tAlams that he had set for the 4,000 Paasurams .

NigamAntha MahA Desikan celebrates this extraordinary service

to Sri Vaishnava community rendered by naatha Muni

this way :

 

Kaalam Valampurianna naRkkaathal adiyavarkku

TaaLam Vazhangit thamizh maRai INNISAI TANTHA VALLAL

MooLum tava neRi mootiya Naatha Muni KazhalE

nALum thozhuthezhuvOm namakkAr nihar nanilatthE

 

Swami Desikan compared the two disciples of Naatha Muni

to Kaalam and Valampuri ( two musical instruments )

and acknowledged their services to spread the deva

ghAnam . The male line of descendants and disciples of

the nephews of Naatha Muni maintained this singing

and dancing (abhinayam ) tradition of rendering divya

Prabhandhams and nurtured the traition of Arayar sEvai

for the past eleven hundred plus years in its pristine

from .

 

The arayars service to our SiddhAntham is matchless.

Once a great arayar was dispatched by the Srirangam

VaishnavA community to kanchipuram with a mission .

This arayar pleased so verymuch the heart of Sri VaradarAjan

through his exquisite singing and dancing of the divya

Prabhandha paasurams that the Lord of Kanchi conceded

to send RaamAnujA to Srirangam to take over the duties

of nourishing our sampradhAyam after AlavandhAr's

attainment of parama Padham . Lord of Srirangam

carrying the title of "Gaayaka Saarvabhouman "

listens with rapture to the services of Arayars

and honors them with Brahma Ratham at the end of

the Adhyayana Uthsavam.Our Lord of Srirangam

enjoys VeeNai rendering by VidwAn RengarAjan , just

as ThiruvEnakatamudayAN enjoys the VeeNA rendering

by the descendants of TaLapAkkam AnnamAchAryA .

Professor NarAyaNan has referred to stalwarts like

ThiruvallikkENi Venakta varadhan , late Sri V.V.Sadagopan

and Sri Raama Bharathi carrying on this tradition

of teaching this deva ghAnam to students to maintain

this mode of musical service to the Lord and

remind us that the Divya Prabhandham is an

anubhava Grantham both in the mode of recital

and commentary .

 

At the great and auspicious stage(arena /Rangam ) of

Srirangam , " the performative intrepretations "

of Divya prabhandham in general and Thiruvaimozhi

in particular continue even today in an uninterrupted

fashion from the times of Naatha Muni .

 

The ten paasurams of ThiruvAimozhi (TVM )recited ,

intrepreted and commented on the ten nights

of Iraa Patthu uthsavam are :

 

1. TVM : 1.1.1--uyaRvaRavyur nalamudayavan

2. TVM :2.10.1--kiLaroLi Ilamai keduvathan munn

3. TVM : 3.3.1--ozhivil kAlamellAm udanAi manni

4. TVM : 4.10.1--onRum thEvum ulahamuyirum maRRum

5. TVM : 5.8.1--AarAavamudhE adiyEnudalam ninn paal

6. TVM : 6.10.1--Ulaham uNda PeruvAyA

7. TVM : 7.2.1--kangum pahalum kaNDyilaRiyAL

8. TVM : 8.10.1--NedumARkku adimai seyvEn pOlavai

9. TVM : 9.10.1--maalai naNNI thozhuthezhuminE vinai keda

10.TVM :10.1.1--TaaLa ThAmarait taDamaNi vayaRRiru MohUr

 

The samslesham (the Union ) and the VislEsham

of the AzhwAr are intrepreted with a depth of

feeling by the Arayars in front of NamperumAL .

The emotional turmoils , the inner awakening

and the spiritual blossming of AzhwAr are enacted

for us in an unforgettable manner using ance and

music . Stories of Kamsa Vadham , HiraNya Vadham ,

IrAvaNa vadham are enacted to remind us of the

supermacy of the Lord over evil forces . The stories

of amruth amathanam , VamanAvathAram and Mutthuk KuRi

are dramatized with appropriate abhinayams .

 

Each of the divya desams , where Arayar sevai continues ,

have their own age old traditions . For instance , the

Cymbals used referred to as AzhwAr are the largest in

size at ThirukkuruhUr ; at Thiru NaarAyaNapuram ,

the passurams are sung without abhinayam . Professor

VasudhA NaarAyaNan , Srimathi KaLLapirAN RanganAyaki

AmmAl have provided many additional inputs on

the different aspects of Arayar sEvais .

 

We will now move on to the veda pramANams for

the use of dance and music in Bhagavadh sEvanam .

 

AzhwAr AchAryan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

ThiruviNNagar VaradachAri Sadagopan