"seppanna menm-mulai.." & "AtRa-padithAn mahanE.."

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Dear friends,

 

The tiruppAvai verse of yesterday was Stanza#20

beginning "muppathhu-muvar". Today it is Stanza#21

beginning with "etra kalangal edir pongi..".

 

Both verses have some lines that are very riveting and

very interesting from a poetic or aesthetic angle and

especially for the vaishnava-layman of today's "hoi

polloi" (nice term a member used recently on the

list!) or (to use a 'tiruppAvai' expression) to any

lowly member of "arivonrum-illAda- aaykulam".

 

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In stanza #20 there is an extraordinary line:

 

seppana menn-mulai sevvAy siru marungul

napinnai nangAy! tiruvE tuyilezhAy !

 

The above lines read together with the lines in

Stanza#19 "maitadan kanninAy ..." and "napinnai kongai

mEl vaittu kidandha malar mArbA.." would literally

translate into English as follows:

 

"The Lord Almighty Krishna, the broad-chested one,

who rests entrapped upon Napinnai's bosom, remains

enchanted with her large and beautiful eyes ("maitadan

kanninAy"), her full but delicate breasts

("seppana-menn-mulai"), her cherry-red mouth

("sevvAy") and slender waist ("siru-marungul"). Such

an enamoured One, hence, perhaps is oblivious of our

calls ( the call of the "aayarpAdi" maidens)."

 

The above are extraordinary lines! To one who

understands their "svapadEsArtham" or their real,

esoteric significance which "AchAryA-s" reveal in

their commentaries, the lines are truly profound!

 

But to any lay reader (particularly someone from say a

Western background) who probably reads the lines for

the first time, the lines may appear to have strong

erotic or sexual overtones. It may also leave the lay

reader a little bewildered as to why a poetess would

want to depict the theme of "religious devotion" in

the rather explicit idiom of "mad sexual passion". The

answer to such an ordinarily troubling question is

given by various scholars steeped in the traditional

commentaries of "tiruppAvai".

 

In the book "Mysticism in the Upanishads" by Bankey

Bihari (Pg.117) it is explained that "The madness of

sexual passion is generally resorted to in expressing

the madness of the devotees for the Lord".

 

V.Bashyam Iyengar in his book on "TiruppAvai" writes

(pg.19): "(When trying to understand these line of the

"tiruppAvai") one should note an important fact: that

the "breasts of Napinnai" ("seppana-menn- mulai")

which captivated the Lord and rivetted his attention

were in reality not of flesh and blood.It is

heart-rending how much Lord Krishna, our perfect

'avatAr' and Lord of Love has been misunderstood and

vilified by ignorant foreigners. Of course, they have

not read our books, much less comprehended their

meaning. How else is it possible to conceive that they

could find fault with the doings of One, whose

unquestionable sanction or otherwise constitutes the

sole standard of Right and Wrong? The "svApadesArtham"

or inner significance of the inscrutable doings of the

Lord is not understood or realised except by those who

have studied our books in the proper traditional

method."

 

Now, we laymen (of the "hoi polloi"?) with our limited

mental faculties, however, may well ask ourselves,

"Alright, if our Poetess of Villiputtur in using the

phrase "seppana-menn-mulai" did not mean the "full and

delicate breasts of Napinnai" in the carnal sense of

"flesh and blood", then what else did she exactly mean

by it?".

 

It is a perfectly justified question and one which the

'tiruppAvai' scholars have addressed very adequately

and indeed very admirably.

 

What do they say? We "lay-srivaishnavas" who are eager

to appreciate the greatness of "tiruppAvai", must

keenly learn from them.

 

The scholars explain that in Verses# 19 and #20:

"menn-mulai" (full breasts) stands for "budding

devotion";

"sevvAy" (luscious-red mouth) stands for "inner beauty

of the soul"

"maitadan-kanninAy" (collyrium-etched eyes) stands for

the 'eye of gnyAna" or the "opening out" knowledge

"marungul" (slim waist) stands for "vairAgyam" or

renunciation.

 

V.Bashyam Iyengar further explains wonderfully:

"All incarnations of the Lord, originate in his

natural love and mercy for his children but Krishna's

incarnation was pre-eminent in that respect. And if in

his quest for souls Krishna's unfathomable kindness

and condescension induced him to play with

cowherdesses, are we to condemn such "leelA-s" as

unbecoming and immoral? (No!). It was really the

incipient knowledge ("gnyAna" or spiritual awakening)

that He saw in the eyes ("maitadan- kanninAy") of the

cowherdesses, the budding devotion (the dawning of

"bhakti") that He saw in their half-developed breasts

("menn-mulai") and the creeping "vairAgya" or

renunciation that He saw in their slender waists

("siru-marungul")."

 

Now for we lay-srivaishnavas (of the "hoi polloi")

only when the "svapadEsArtham" of breasts, eyes, lips

and waists are explained to us in easily

understandable language as above.... only then are we

truly able to appreciate and realize how well the

poetic genius of AndAl did to use them as perfect

metaphors for "the budding of bhakti", "the dawning of

gnyAna", "the birth of inner spiritual beauty" and

"the economy of "vyrAgyA" or renunciation" in Man.

 

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In today's verse, Stanza#21 there is another

extraordinary line:

 

"...perum passukal Atrap-padaittAn mahanE...".

 

Adiyen had always been taught that the above line was

an address to Krishna as being the "son of Nandagopan,

the mighty tender of cows whose udders were bursting

with milk...".

 

Adiyen had always thought that the above expression

was an address to Nandagopan.

 

Recently adiyen came across a very creative piece of

"vyAkhyAnam" (interpretation) which tells me that the

above phrase can also be viewed as addressing

Sri.RamanujachArya even though ANdal pre-dated Andal

by at least 300-400 years! She probably had a

prescient awareness of the coming of Ramanuja well

before his time... say some scholars.

 

These scholars say that the term "perrum-passukal"

refers to "disciples". "AtrapadaittAn" denotes AchArya

EmperumAnAr and "mahanE" actually denotes the Lord

Tiru-narayan chella pillai of Melkote who was

personally installed in his temple and greatly

favoured by Ramanuja in his times.

 

If one mulls over the above ideas and the subject

lines of the 'tiruppAvai' one cannot help being amazed

at their aptness and applicability to Ramanuja who,

yes, did have hundreds of disciples

("perrum-passukal"), who did tend to them very

carefully by providing leadership for them during the

very troubled reign of King Kollutungan and, yes, who

did regard the Lord of Melkote, SampathkumAra-

Chellapillai, as his own "darling son"!

 

And now on that pleasant note on our Lord

Sampathkumaran of Melkote, this "siriyan" Sampathkumar

(one amongst the "hoi polloi') will sign off!

 

dAsan,

Sampathkumaran

 

 

 

 

 

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