nAcciyAr tirumozhi VI - vAraNam Ayiram 7

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

 

nAcciyAr tirumozhi VI - vAraNam Ayiram

pASuram 6.7 (sixth tirumozhi - pAsuram 7 vAi nallAr

nalla maRai Odi)

 

A. Translation from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

 

"Professional vaidikA-s chanting the good veda-s and reciting

the appropriate mantra-s, spread the green grass surrounding

the agni and placed the samit (wooden sticks) on them. Oh dear

friend! I saw kaNNan, who came majestically like an angry elephant,

hold my right hand and circumambulate the agni walking slowly."

 

vAi nallAr nalla maRai Odi mandirattAl

pASilai nANal paDuttup paridi vaittu

kAi Sina mA kaLiRu annAn en kai paRRi

tIvalam Seyyak kanAk kaNDEn tOzhI! nAn

 

Extract from SrImAn SadagOpan's write-up on saptapati mantrams and

their meanings (from the bhakti archives):

 

With each of the seven steps, a particular

mantram is recited. Let us examine these mantrams:

 

First Step : "EkamishE vishNus tvANvEtu" - is

the first mantram . This says : " O Dear girl !

O ANDAL ! You made the first step as my wife.

May Lord vishNu (Myself will) follow your step to make sure

that you have undiminishing food all your life

( prayer for subhishTam, akshaya pAtram )".

 

Second Step : "dvE UrjE vishNus tvANvEtu" - Here the groom prays

once again to Lord vishNu; he says : " O Dear girl!

You have now taken the second step with me as my wife .

May Lord vishNu ( Myself will ) follow your step and bless you

with pushTi (strength ) in your body ( a prayer for disease-free

life ) ".

 

Third Step : "trINi vratAya vishNus tvANvEtu" - here again,

the prayer is for Lord vishNu to follow godai's

third step and to grant the boon of vraTAnushTAnam

( performance of yaj~nams assigned to gruhastAs

as dharma patnI ) to her during her married life .

 

Fourth Step : "catvAri mAyO bhavAya vishNus tvANvEtu" -

this prayer once again is to mahA vishNu

( Himself ) to follow her during her fourth step and

grant her the boon of conjugal happiness .

 

Fifth Step : "panca pasUbhyO vishNus tvANvEtu" - the prayer

is : " may Lord vishNu follow your fifth step with me

and grow your wealth of cattle ( cows, horses, elephants

and isvaryams related to the four-footed )".

 

Sixth Step : "shad rutobhyO vishNus tvANvEtu " - here

MahA vishNu is beseeched to follow her sixth

step ( be behind her and support her ) for all

auspicious rutus (six seasons ) during her married

life .SrI ranganAthar hints that He is going to be right

next to her and make sure that vasantha rutu,

ghrIshma rutu and all the other four are going to

make her days with Him plesant .

 

Seventh Step : This is the last of the seven steps .

The prayer is : "saptas saptabhyO hOtrAbhyO vishNus tvANvEtu" -

the Lord said : "aNi putuvai paimkamalat taNteriyal bhattar

pirAn gOdE! When you recited the seventh mantram and took the

seventh step , I , MahA vishNu , the former resident of Srirangam

will follow You to help You perform oupAsanai, agni hOtram

and other gruhastha homams and yaj~nams without deficiencies .

You are the nAacciyAr of My house now. SrI villiputtUr

is your mALikai ( palace ). This is your place of birth.

Therefore , you have more power than me here. I will hence

follow you and bless you to have all SoubhAgyams by

moving over to your birth place and stay in my

father-in-law's place, your house. We guess that

periyAzhwAr was mighty pleased with the decision of

his Son-in-law so that he could have the Anandam of

seeing his daughter and the Lord, her husband right

there in SrI villiputtUr next to him. Even today , we

see rangamannAr, ANDAL and periyAzhwAr ( garuDan )

on one pITam at SrI villiputtUr.

 

The saptapati mantrams end with "sakhA saptapadAbhava"

(Be a friend with these 7 steps) and "sakhAyou saptapadAbhabhUva"

(We both are friends now after these 7 steps).

 

For additional details on vedic wedding mantrams, please refer to:

 

<http://www2.be.com/~mani/bhakti/archives/apr98/0063.html>

<http://www2.be.com/~mani/bhakti/archives/apr98/0083.html>

<http://www2.be.com/~mani/bhakti/archives/apr98/0088.html>

 

B. Some additional thoughts (from SrI PVP):

 

nalla maRai Odi: ANDAL is referring to "good" veda-s. Is there

a difference in vedam called good vedam and bad vedam? SrI PVP

explains this as follows: the first half of vedam describes the

yAgams that are to be done to the Lord who is antaryAmi in the dEva-s

like indra. The second half, which has the mantrams like purusha

sUktam, praise emperumAn's svarUpa guNams directly. godai points to

this second half as "nalla maRai".

 

mandirattAl: When mantra-s like purusha sUkta praising bhagavAn's

svarUpa guNa-s are being chanted, why is there a reference to

additional mantra-s? Again, ANDAL's reference here is to the

mantra-s associated with the kriya-s prescribed in gr*hya sUtra-s,

such as the paristaraNam around the fire, placement of samit, etc.

 

kAi Sinam mA kaLiRu annAn - When He came, He walked with the

majesty of a mad elephant (matta gajam). However, once He came and

held my hand, He walked slowly like a normal elephant when we

went round the agni together.

 

kaip-paRRi - It is as if the mad he-elephant came majestically and

took the hand of the mad she-elephant, which is now imprisoned

(owned) by the he-elephant.

 

tI valam Seyya - The reference here is to the sapta-pati which

is the part of the basic marriage ceremony. SrI PVP refers us to

the veda mantram that is recited during saptapati: "EkamishE vishNu:

..... sakhA saptapadA bhava" (yajurvEdam 3-3-89)

Since He has held her hand with agni as the witness, He cannot

leave her (hand) any more and she cannot leave Him (His hand) any more.

 

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

 

adiyEn,

Kalyani Krishnamachari