Guest guest Posted January 13, 2000 Report Share Posted January 13, 2000 Dear friends, Many of you who are quite familiar with the "tiruppAvai" may have been a little surprised by adiyen's posts yesterday where Stanza#28 ("karavaigal pin-senru..") was hailed as being the "glorious culmination" of AndAl's song celestial. Those of you who are familiar with strictly traditional expositions on the "tiruppAvai" have no doubt been taught that it is Stanza#29 beginning with "sitran-siru- kAlE.." which is the grand finale of the "tiruppAvai" and not, as adiyen explained yesterday in his post, Stanza#28. Adiyen has no quarrel at all with the traditional preferences of orthodoxy but he himself chooses to regard Stanza#28 as the real "curtain-downer" of the tiruppAvai" and Stanza#29 to be AndAl's glorious "epilogue". The story of "tiruppAvai" is an endearing tale of love...God-love. And like any romantic story or ballad anywhere in the world, it is all about the hero and heroine yearning for each other, crossing innumerable hurdles and being in the end united in one joyous, climactic moment. Such a moment in the story (as we all know only too well) is generally described in the stock phrase, "... and then they lived happily ever after!". Adiyen strongly believes that in the "tiruppAvai", it is in Stanza#28 that such a climactic moment of union between hero and heroine takes place and not in Stanza#29. It is in Stanza#28, for the first time in the whole song, that the intense relationship of eternal love between the heroine(s) (i.e.the "aayarpAdi" girls) and the hero (the Lord Almighty) emerges and also gets instantly solemnized through AndAl in the resounding expression, "undannodu utrayval namakku ingu ozhikka-ozhiyAdu...". It is in Stanza#28 that the heroine(s) gives uninhibited expression to her love and passion... "anbinAl unnai siru-pEr-azhaithu". It in Stanza#28 that the girls cry, "iraivA, nee tArai!" (My beloved lord!) and openly acknowledge His Lordsip over them! Stanza#28 is hence the exact point in the story of the "tiruppAvai" where a script-writer of modern times would think it fit to insert those final words:"... and then they lived happily ever after!". Stanza#29 beginning with "sitran-siru-kALe", on the other hand, has all the characteristics of a fitting epilogue: It quickly follows the conclusion of the story i.e. the celebrated moment of union between hero and heroine. It describes what the hero and heroine do in the first flush of their union and in the first few moments just before setting out together, hand in hand ("kai-Odu- kai-sErthu"), on their long and happy journey of life hereafter. It leaves a lasting impression in the mind of the reader who, in effect, turns the last page of the story, closes the book finally, heaves a pleasant sigh and says to himself, "Gee! What a nice and warm story! I wonder how the hero and heroine lived and spent all those wonderful remaining days with each other!". The most fitting epilogue, at the end of a gripping love-story, must leave the reader at the end to his own imaginations.... and that is precisely what Stanza#29 of AndAl's "tiruppAvai" eminently succeeds in doing! Long after we have finished reading the tiruppAvai", the words of the 29th "pAsuram" still ring in our ears and mind. They leave us all still wistfully wondering how, after being united finally with God, AndAl's heroines, the "aayarpAdi" girls spent their endless days of joy with their Hero...Krishna, their Lord Almighty! adiyen will try and cover that epilogue in the post (2 of 2) that immediately follows this one today. dAsan, SampathkumAran Talk to your friends online with Messenger. http://im. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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