nAcciyAr tirumozhi XI - tAm ugakkum 1

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SrI:

SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE

SaraNam

 

General Introduction to nAcciyAr tirumozhi XI - tAm

ugakkum.

 

ANDAL had rested her hopes of attaining Him on two

counts: (1) kumaranAr Sol (10-4), and (2) the

SaraNAgati that she has performed through her guru and

father, periAzhvAr. Time passes; no sign of kaNNan

and her longing for Him increases. She becomes

depressed and suffers from sickness of separation from

Him. Everything around her uninterruptedly reminds

her of emperumAn, and

she is being hurt by everything like bhIshmA was hurt

by arjuna’s arrows in the mahAbhArata war. All the

mothers in the neighboring households and her friends

throng around her to find out exactly what is

bothering her. She tells them about the pitiful plight

her emperumAN has left her in. It is the same

emperumAn who spent sleepless nights and starved

without taking food when He had been separated from

sItA pirATTi, and the same emperumAn who rescued

rukmiNi from SiSupAlan. She declares to them that she

firmly believes that He will not let her down, and she

will still patiently wait for Him and will hold on to

her life, because He had unfailingly helped others

like her before.

 

pASuram 11.1(eleventh tirumozhi - pAsuram 1 tAm

ugakkum)

 

en Sa’ngu vaLaigaLai arangar kavarndu pOnArE

 

tAm ugakkum tam kaiyil Sa’ngamE pOlAvO

yAm ugakkum em kaiyil Sa’ngamum EndizhaiyIr

tI mugattu nAgaNai mEl SErum tiru ara’ngar

A! mugattai nOkkArAl ammanE! AmmanE!

 

A. Meaning from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

 

“Oh my friends, who are adorned with jewelry! Aren’t

the bangles that I used to wear in my hands as

important to me as the Sa’nkham that He is wearing in

His hand is for emperumAN? Then, why is it that He

takes away my bangles (i.e., I keep pining for Him

and my hands are becoming thinner and thinner, and the

bangles keep slipping out)? By comparison, His

Sa’nkham never leaves His hand. Maybe He thinks that

it is enough if His Sa’nkham stays put in His hand,

and it doesn’t matter if I loose my bangles (Sa’ngam

in tamizh also means bracelet). Alas! Alas! That tiru

ara’ngan, who is lying on the fierce-looking,

fire-spitting anantAzhvAn, is not even looking at my

face”.

 

B. Additional thoughts from SrI PVP:

 

tAm ugakkum tam kaiyil Sa’ngamE pOlAvO yAm ugakkum em

kaiyil Sa’ngamum: Just as He is fond of the Sa’nkham

that He has in His hand, I also am fond of the Sa’nkhu

vaLai (bangle) that I am wearing in my hand. If He

takes away my Sa’nkhu vaLai, shouldn’t He give me His

Sa’nkham? If He says, “You are a paratantrai; I am a

svatantran; you shall obey what I ordain, but you

cannot force me”, that does not sound right because He

would be saying that without knowing my pining for Him

and thus my weakness. If His response is: “I shall

not give anything I have in My hand; and I shall

snatch away what others have in their hand”, that

would be unacceptable because it is not fair. If His

response is: “We men will do anything we want because

it is purusha svabhAvam, and you women should just

keep quiet like women and watch”, I can say that I

know how to make Him bend by doing “maDal Urdal” etc.

To my question “Why do you refuse to give me my vaLai

that you have in your hand”, if He says “Because I

like it”, then can’t I ask: “just like that, I am also

fond of the Sa’nkham that you have in your hand; So

give that to me”? If He responds: “I am fond of my

pAncajanyam; how can I give it to you?”, gOdai’s

response would be: “that was not meant for you; all

your divya astrams were meant for your devotees”.

(“na tE rUpam na cAkArO na AyudhAni na cAspadam” –

jitantE 1- 5)

 

This phrase can also be looked at in a slightly

different way, with the “tAm” and “yAm” interchanged,

which results in a new anubhavam by SrI PVP: tAm

ugakkum em kaiyil Sa’nkhamE pOlAvO yAm ugakkum tam

kaiyyil Sa’nkhamum. EmperumAn seems to take the

position that He will not give up the Sa’nkham that is

in His hand that is dear to ANDAL, nor will He will

give back the Sa’nkham that is ANDAL’s hands that are

dear to Him”. If it is fair that those who like

something should get it, just as you have my kai vaLai

(bangle), your kai Sa’nkham must come to my hand. If

it is fair that each owner should keep what they own,

my kai vaLai must stay with me. The only way these

two conditions can simultaneously be fulfilled is if

we are united (samSlesham). That is the parama

tAtparyam conveyed in these words by ANDAL.

 

“veLLai viLi Sa’nkhu iDankaiyyil koNDa vimalan” (NT

5-2), so saying gOdai aspired for only one of His

AbharaNa-s, namely the Sa’nkham; Just because of

this, He took away all her vaLaigaL in toto - “tAn

koNDa sari vaLaigaL” (NT 8-5). He did not leave me

even one vaLai for me to wear in the memory that it is

dear to Him; He took everything. If it be asked of

ANDAL: “Why can’t you desire all His Sa’nkhams instead

of only one?” the truth is that just as there is only

one ISvaran, there is only one Sa’nkham that is

unmatched by any other Sa’nkham.

 

Sa’nkham is an Ayudham in His hand; why did godai want

the weapon of all the things that He possesses? It is

because she does not see it as a weapon in His hand.

Just as the bangles in her hand are jewelry for her

who is the best among women (nArINAm uttamA vadhUh),

she sees the Sa’nkham in emperumAn’s Hand as the

AbharaNam for the purushottaman. So, there is nothing

wrong in desiring that.

 

EndizhaiyIr: ANDAL is addressing the other womenfolk

around her as “you who are all wearing lots of

jewelry”. For her who is without any jewelry because

of her separation from Him, it is surprising that

there are those who can manage to keep their jewelry

still on themselves unlike her. It is as if these are

people who have managed to escape from praLayam!

 

SrI PVP refers to a similar state in which rAma finds

Himself when He loses sItA pirATTi in the forest. In

that state, Lord rAma’s thoughts are on how come

rAvaNa left alone the mates of the male peacocks,

since the peacocks were dancing together with their

mates merrily.

 

“mayUrasya vanE nUnam rakshasA na h*rdA priyA |

tasmAn n*rtyati ramyEshu vanEshu saha kAntayA || “

(rAmAyaNam kishkihnDa kANDam 1-40)

 

tI mugattu: SrI PVP’s anubhavam is that ANDAL is

using “tI mugattu” to refer to Adi Seshan in a

reprimanding tone. She feels: “AdiSEshan knows my

situation; yet, he is giving his body to serve as bed

for Him. AdiSeshan might not know the pangs of

separation, but he knows the taste of being with Him.

Knowing that, he will also know what it means to be

separated from Him. Given this, why is He giving his

body to my emperumAn when He has chosen to be

separated from me?” Just as she referred to her own

father earlier as “tangaL devarai” (since periAzhvAr

had a great relation with Him while she was having her

difficulties with Him), she is now referring to tiru

anantAzhvAn as “tI mukham”, because he is not helping

her to get her emperumAn and instead he is

establishing a relationship with Him for himself.

 

tImugattu: instead of feeling sorry for people

suffering like me and showing compassion, this nAgaNai

is having a face that looks like it is spewing out

fire.

 

sErum tiru arangar: It looks like emperumAn is

having His association with tiru anantAzhvAn just to

get instruction and training on how to be fierce,

rude, uncompassionate, etc. Or, it can mean that when

this tiru arangan goes to sleep on His bed, no other

Ayudam is needed but this tiru anantAzhvAn who has

faces spewing out fire. EmperumAn is ensuring that

people like me who are out of His favor keep away from

Him and do not approach Him, by associating Himself

with this bed of fire-spewing tiru anantAzhvAn. Even

if people manage to approach him, He will destroy

those whom He does not like - “eynda paNak kadir mEl

vevvuyirppa vAynda madu kaiDavarum vayiRu urugi

mANDAr” (mUnRam triuvandAdi 66) – He was lying on

AdiSeshan, who is adorned with the lustrous pearls,

and when madhu and kaiTabha approached Him, He

breathed out a long breath, and with that their very

guts burned out completely, and they died

instantaneously.

 

sErum: This aranganAthar’s behavior is just

opposite to what is a normal behavior in this world.

This bed was meant be for Him and me, who is His

nAyaki. And, He is lying there without me!

 

tiru arangar: He came to tiru ara’ngam from

SrIvaikunTham to help bhaktas in distress. But after

coming here, He forgot all that and is lying on tiru

anantAzhvAn, falling in love with the softness and

cool fragrance of the bed and is sleeping! It would

have been okay if He did not help me when He was far

away in parama padam, but it is inexcusable that He

comes to tiruara’ngam and then keeps ignoring me.

 

Amugattu : Alas! I am done! One can bear if a

nAyakan forgoes his love for his nAyaki in separation.

But, should He forego kaN nOkkam (looking at me)? Or

His karuNai (compassion)?

 

ammanE ammanE: This word depicts fear. ANDAL’s

thoughts seem to be: “During separation, when I think

of Him, it should be a sweet thought. Now He does not

even look at my face, and I am afraid to look at His

face. It has come to the situation where now I get

fear at His thought as if I have seen a snake or a

tiger. Alas! How was He then, and how He is today!”

 

“At least bhIshma could breathe his last by thinking

of hari in the last moment, just as all yogi-s

successfully get His thought in their last moment.

Even this may be only for the male folk like bhIshma,

and not for womenfolk like me. I may not be able to

think of His face even at my last moment.”

 

C. Additional thoughts from SrI PBA:

 

EndizhaiyIr: Instead of addressing her friends as “My

dear friends!”, “All of you girls around me!”, etc.,

she is addressing them as “You who are able to hold on

to your ornaments unlike me!”, wondering aloud how

they are able to keep themselves in that shape without

feeling the separation from Him.

 

mugattai nOkkArAl: Even if He does not embrace me

tightly, can’t He at least look at my face? What have

I done that I don’t even deserve that much from Him?

 

D. Additional thoughts from SrI UV:

 

Sa’nkham: Sa’nkhu/conch or kai vaLai/bangle. gOdai

wants to show that what is in her hand is equal to

what is in emperumAn’s hand; so, instead of choosing

different terms to refer His Sankham and to her

ornaments (e.g., as tiruvAzhi and bangles), she

chooses the same word “Sa’nkham” to denote the

pA’ncajanyam in His hand and the bangles in her hand.

Both have sweet sounds to them.

 

EndizhaiyIr: “Even though I have lost my bangles

because of my longing for Him, at least you all hold

on to your bangles and don’t lose them because of your

worry over me. How sad it is that I have become the

object of your deep concern and worry”.

 

Sa’nkhamE pOlAvO: Those who don’t normally wear

jewelry but make their weapons look like jewelry know

the importance of the AbharaNa-s. In this case, can’t

this emperumAn at least treat my bangles as important

as His Sa’nkham?

 

tI mugattu: On the one hand, I am here with my whole

self scorched by viraha tApam, and He does not feel

like even looking at my face because it is scorched by

this fire. On the other hand, He is lying on this

AdiSeshan who has a thousand faces spiting scorching

fire. This does not seem consistent. If He comes and

takes one look at my face, all the scorching on my

face will go away.

 

If it be said that He is attached to AdiSeshan because

he is protecting Him, then by reverse logic, emperumAn

should be attached to me because I need His

protection.

 

Will you go to tiru ara’ngam and tell Him that it is

only fair that He takes me to Him on this nAgaNai? Or,

will you at least take away His Sa’nkham and bring it

to me ?

 

But then again, with the fire-spitting faces of tiru

anantAzhvAn, no one can go near Him, no one can convey

my suffering to Him, and no one can bring me His

pA’ncajanyam. Thus we are at a stalemate, where He

won’t look at my face, and no one else will look at

His face to tell Him of my agony. AdiSeshan is

supposed to spit fire from his face only during the

praLaya kAlam to destroy the whole world, but it looks

like tiru ara’ngan’s nAgaNai mugattI has been created

for destroying me right now! Alas! Alas ! (ammanE!

ammanE!)

 

 

Abbreviations:

------------------

PVP= SrI periyavAccAn piLLai

PBA= SrI prativAdi bhayankaram aNNangarAcAriyAr

UV = SrI uttamUr vIrarAghavAcAriyAr

 

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyeti samarpayAmi.

 

adiyEn,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

 

 

 

 

 

 

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