thiruppAvai - 4

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Sri:

Sri Lakshminrusimha Parabrahmane namaha

Sri Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrivaNN-

SatakOpa Sri nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaha

 

Dear devotees,

namO nArAyaNA.

 

ThiruppAvai upanyAsam of Sri U.Ve. VillUr KarunAkaran swAmy

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So far, the six salient features of thiruppAvai was presented as

beautifully explained by Sri karunAkaran swAmy. Lets proceed

now to the "avatArikai" of thiruppAvai and other related issues.

 

What is "pAvai" ?

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"pAvai" has various meanings. They are :

 

i. doll ( marap pAvai)

ii. beautiful personality ( usage : thiruvaLLuvar)

iii. pupil (in the eye )

iv. women ( usage : thEvAram)

v. koravam flower (usage: aimperumum nool)

vi. dance ( usage : sillappathikAram )

vii. nonbu (usage : AndAL)

viii.Ginger

ix. Fort ( ie. madhiL).

 

pAvai can refer to PerumAL also. We shall consider it later.

 

Thus, the meaning of the title "thiruppAvai" can be given

explained in many ways. The main meaning is related with

the "nOnbu" undergone by AndAL and Her friends.

 

Connection between pAvai as "ginger" with thiruppAvai :

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This is very very strange !! How come pAvai as ginger has

any connection with the "thiruppAvai" of AndAL ?

Ofcourse it has . In the thuLA kAvEri mAhAtmyam (*),

Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna about the vrattam to be

observed during the month of mArgazhi.

 

PerumAL says that during all the 30 days of the month,

one should take bath in the brahma muhUrtham and perform

the ArAdhanam. PerumAL wants only pongal to be offered

during that time. PerumAL also gives the recipie for pongal :

paiththam paruppu + (probably) pAsi payir + miLagu +

ginger. PerumAL says that ginger should neccessarily be

there !! thats the connection !

 

(*) : Actually, thuLA kAvEri mAhAtmyam is concerned

with the glories of river kAvEri : During aippasi month if

one takes bath in the river, it gets one rid of many sins.

 

 

pAvai as "madhiL" (for vEdAs) :

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ThiruppAvai is also a "madhiL" ie. fort gaurding vEdAs.

Once one knows thiruppAvai properly, he/she will not have

any problems in interpreting vEdam. To guard the vEdAs,

AndAL has built this fort of thiruppAvai.

 

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ThiruppAvai - avatArikai

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a. ThiruppAvai is an "anukaranam" ie. imitation :

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ThiruppAvai is the nOnbu observed by AndAL with Her

friends to obtain communion with Lord Krishna (Kannan).

AndAL follows the footsteps of gOpIS who had earlier

succeded during the krishnAvatAram. But, there is a

lot of difference. Even PeriAzhwAr was advising AndAL

that PerumAL is not in vibhavam now ; He is only in

archAvatAram wherein His sankalpam is purely to be

at the hands of the archakar(priest) - whether it is

taking bath, taking food or even to drive an insect

sitting on His thirumEni, only the archakar has to

do everything. Thus, PerumAL will not move, walk,

run etc and marrying Him in His archAvatAram is

almost impossible. Even then, AndAL was determined

to marry PerumAL (in archAvatAram).

 

AndAL transformed Herself into a gOpI and imitated

them. Usually, when one's love towards someone

becomes very extreme (and are in separation), he/she

imitates the act of the other. gOpIs imitated the

acts of krishnar when He disappeared suddenly during

the rAsa leelA, since without that imitation, their

mere existence (of life) itself was in question.

That deep feelings/emotions gives rise to that act

of imitation.Similarly, AndAL also had such feelings

and in order to obtain communion with Krishnar, she

transformed Herself into gOpIs, and considered all

Her friends as gOpIs too. Due to AndAL's intense

viraha thApam, SrivillipuththUr became the

AyppAdi(gOkulam), the pushkarini became river Yamuna,

vatapatrasAyI PerumAL became Krishnar, the temple

became the house of krishnar etc. AndAL was completely

in a different world altogether and transformed

Herself to be the leader of the gOpIs.

 

In the peak of such an emotion, AndAL even got the

way a gOpI would walk, talk etc ( usages like

"siRuveedu" in keezhvAnam pAsuram, "pAllunnOm" in

vaiyaththu pAsuram are very unique to that of gOpIs).

AndAL being brought up by BhattarpirAn (PeriAzhwAr),

who performs agnihotram etc, it won't be a surprise

if she uses such words connected with this brought

up. But,transforming oneself entirely as a gOpI

is very difficult. AndAL didn't practise being

like gOpIs, but directly got transformed !!

This is more than a simple imitation, rather

the peak of it. Moreover, "udainAttram" ie.

smell (milk, curd, butter etc) of the clothes

of gOpIs also was found with AndAL !!

 

Though the village people actually asked these

girls to perform the nOnbu so that enough rain

will shower and make the village prosperous,

AndAL (and Her friends) wanted to perform it

for a different cause (communion with krishna)

as the primary objective.

 

 

-- to be cont --

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

ananthapadmanAbha dAsan

krishNArpaNam