MummaNik Kovai : Part I: Introduction

[Guest guest]

At 01:15 PM 12/1/99 +0800, you wrote:

>SrI:

>NarayananE namakkE parai tharuvAn>

>Dear Bhagavataas:

>

>Adiyen wishes to share the excitement on reading

>Swami Desikan's "Mum manik kovai".In this work,

>Swami Desikan's 'definition' of our

>Lord is simply simple - and great!

>

>The 7th Paasuram reads like this:

>

>"payin madhi nEyA payin madhi tharudhalin

>velliyun nEyA vellyura nirralin

>Adiyen did shed some tears on reciting this pAsuram the

>first time.

 

Dear Sri Anand :

 

MummaNIKKOvai is indeed the distillation of

the essence of the genius of Swamy Desikan .

It is known as his Tamizh Kannik Kavithai ,

since this was the first (maiden) song in Tamil

composed by him during his residence at

ThiruvahIdhrapuram.It was composed at the command

of Lord DevanAthA .The Lord of Ahindra nagaram

appeared in Swamy Desikan's dream and asked him

to compose sthOthrams on Him and to house in them

the saarAmsam of the Four VedhAs .Swamy followed that

niyamanam and records that effort with the statement:

" Munthai maRai moyya Vazhi Mozhi Nee YenRu Mukunthan

aruL tantha payan peRREn naanE " . Swamy Desikan's

bliss in executing the command of the Lord and

the emanation of his Sri Sookthis with Vedha arthams

is housed in the above passage quoted .

The Vedha garbham of the individual sections

of the MummaNik Kovai will become abundantly

clear in the commentaries on each of these

Paasurams .

 

Type of prabhandham :

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

There are 96 kinds of Prabhandhams in Tamizh .

Swamy Desikan picked the MummaNik Kovai among them

for his prabhandham to eulogize the dhivya Dampathis

of ThiruvahIndhrapuram .

 

What is a MummaNik Kovai ?

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

It is one, which must have AasiriyappA ,

VeNN Paa and KattaLaik KalitthuRai following

each other to form 30 paadalkaL .Further all

the paaurams should be in the form of AndhAthis .

 

The uniqueness of MummaNik Kovai(MMK)

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

 

This is a great Tamizh Kaavyam . The three aspects

of a MahA KhAvyam are :(1) VyankhyArtham in the words

chosen or the dhvani echoed through those choices of

words (2) The dominant rasam ; a khAvyam must have

Saanthi rasam as the DOMINANT one among the nine rasams.

This is true in the case of MMK ; there are also

SrungAra rasam , adhbhutha rasam , KaaruNyam and

Veeram as secondary rasams in MMK (3) AlankAram or aNi is

another requirement of a MahA KhAvyam . Then there are 7 more

lakshaNams for the MahA KhAvyams . All these like

seRivu ,TheLivu are also abundantly present in MMK.

Therefore it is called a unique KhAvyam and is considered

a necklace made up of three kinds of gems ( mummaNI):

PurANa Rathnam, SthOthra Rathnam and manthra Rathnam .

 

The Realtionship of MummaNik Kovai to NammAzhwAr's Sri Sookthis

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

Swamy NammAzhwAr's first three prabhnadhams are

ThiruvAsiriyam , Periya ThiruvandhAthi and

Thiruviruttham . Swamy Desikan chose to follow

Swamy NammAzhwAr in every way in his life .

Therefore Swamy Desikan followed the exact Yaappus

(metres) of Swamy NammazhwAr's Yaappus in

MummaNik Kovai . Further , Swamy Desikan

condensed the meanings of the four Prabhandhams

(this includes ThiruvAimozhi as the fourth prabhandham)

in his Senthamizh work , MummaNIk Kovai.

 

The Individual Prabhandhams of Swamy NammAzhwAr and MMK

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

 

Sri SatakOpar's mudhal prabhandham is Thiruviruttham

in KaTTaLaik KalitthuRai . In this prabhandham , Swamy

NammAzhwAr deals with the ahapp poruLkaL that led to

his deep attachment to the Lord . In the Paasurams

set in KattaLik KalitthuRai metre of MMK , we find

the same emphasis on ahapp poruL and that leading to

Swamy Desikan's deep Bhagavath anubhavam .

 

The second Prabhandham of SatakOpar is ThiruvAsiriyam.

This prabhandham deals with the ecsataic description of

Swamy NammazhwAr about the aprAkrutha ThirumEni of

the Lord like a well strung kathambha Maalai with

multi-hued flowers of exquisite fragrance . Aaasiriyap Paa

is the metre chosen by Swamy NammAzhwAr for this prabhandham .

Swamy Desikan described his exquisite Bhagavath dhivyAnga-

Soundharya anubhavam of Sri DevanAthan in Aaasiriyappaa

paatalkaL of MMK

 

The third prabhandham of Swamy NammAzhwAr is Periya

ThiruvanthAdhi in VeNN Paa metre.Here SatakOpar explained

the mulitfaceted relationship that he has with the Lord

and meditated on that anandhaanubhavam . Swamy Desikan

enjoyed similarly the bhAndhavyam ( uRavu) with the Lord

and reflected on that unique relationship.

 

The fourth Prabhandham of SatakOpar is ThiruvAimozhi ,

the illustrious Sri Sookthi , which is the statement

of the anubhavam of the SaakshAthkAram of the Lord .

This enjoyment from direct experience of Lord DevanAthan

is captured in the tenth paattu of MMK.

 

Thus Swamy NammazhwAr's experience of Bhagavath

anubhavam is echoed by Swamy Desikan in letter

and spirit .This is the greatness of this maiden

Prabhandham of Swamy Desikan revered as MuMMaNik Kovai.

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Daasan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan