periya thirumozhi...

[Guest guest]

Hello thirumaN^gai AzhvAr abhimAnis,

I am extremely happy that our dear Sri Madhavakkannan has started

writing commentaries for periya thirumozhi. I thoroughly enjoyed it,

especially the fifth one,

"kaLvanEn AnEn ...

....

uLLelAm urugik kural thazhuth thozhin^dhEn udambelAm kaNNan^Ir chOra

n^aLLiruL aLavum pagalum n^Anazhaippan n^ArAyaNA ennum n^Amam"

This was really moving. I thought some of the thamizh readers would

appreciate it better if the original is reproduced along with the

commentary for such emotional pAsurams. The articles would become too

long if all the pAsurams are written. So I encourage evrybody to

download the text and have it by the side while reading the commentary.

This will help you appreciate our dear AzhvAr much better. AzhvAr's

n^aichyAnusan^dhAnam goes to its peak in these pAsurams...

 

I had privately sent my feedback to Sri Madhavakkannan, esp on the

3'rd pAsuram's commentary. He asked me to post it on the list and here

it is...

--

Dear Sri Madhavakkannan,

I am very happy that you have started writing about my dearest

AzhvAr's pAsurams. I am sure I'll enjoy every bit of it.

 

In your explanation of the 3'rd pAsuram, "chEmamE vENdi...", you

describe the phrase "oomanAr kaNda kanavilum pazhudhAy" as follows:

-------

such days have gone utter waste - and I am thinking of such useless days

 

similar to the dumb person?s thinking about his past (without being able

 

to narrate to others- Here AzhwAr is not able to narrate to others for

such brazen shameful acts of his in the past- he keeps silent being

unable to narrate to others).

--------

"oomanAr kaNda kanavilum pazhudhAy ozhindhana kazhindha an^ n^ALgaL"

 

I remember reading a sorta different description of this. Let me try to

put it in words. See how it fits.

Here AzhvAr thinks of his past and repents profusely for all the bad

deeds that he had been doing. He compares his past to the dreams of a

dumb person and says his past is even worse. This is how it is

explained. First of all dreams are not real. But if you have a good

dream, you could atleast talk about it to others and share your

happiness. But a dumb person can't do that. But he could atleast think

about it and be happy for himself. But look at our poor AzhvAr. He says

he can't even think about his past because there is nothing good and

that would only bring him sorrow. This is why he says his past is worse

than the dreams of the dumb. ("oomanAr kaNda kanavaik kAttilum

vyarthamAgavE en nAtkaL kazhindhana")

 

Another interesting point: The pAsuram starts in a good note, chEmamE

vENdi..." and then continues to talk about all his bad deeds. AzhvAr's

naichyam is so much that he does this sorta self analysis. He says,"

There are some bad people who think evil and do bad deeds. They fall in

a different category. But I thought good for others but ended up

forgetting all those to go behind women for just sensual pleasures.

isn't that even worse? " (This is like how a teacher would feel worse

for a good, sincere student failing the test than the one who usually

fails. )

 

adiyEn thirumaN^gai AzhvAr dhAsan

-Viji

 

 

 

 

--

Vijay Triplicane