tiru-p-pAvai in Thailand.

[Guest guest]

Friends,

 

Many thanks to Sri Mani Varadarajan for sharing the message from Dr Kannan on

the 'tiru-p-pAvai' tradition of the Thailand royalty.

 

Thanks equally owed to Dr Kannan for the information. May I request him to cite

the source also?

 

Here is my small supplementation (repeating my previous 1997 posting): the

ritual recitation of the scripture of 'tiru-p-pAvai' is known as the 'lOr-pA'

festival, evidently after the terminal refrain of "E-lOr-em-pAvAi" occurring in

each stanza.

 

The nAcchiAr tirumozhi quote in primary message contains a mistake "VaaraNam

Aayiram suuzha valam vanthu". When it comes to scripture, we should verify the

text from the book every time (or indicate the quote is from memory). I

apologise for unintended tone of censure, but a misquote from scripture is

primarily an 'apachAram' and may also lead to misinterpretation and wrong

vibrations. We stand warned, "bibhEti alpa-SrutAt vEdO mAm ayam pratarishyati".

 

We SrivaishNava-s should benefit from the model of Bible printing for the

justified boast that there are no misprints in the Bible. So is the reverencing

of the Jewish 'Torah' which is calligraphed in hand by the scribe in observance

of (as I learn) as many as 65 Talmud-ic rules. It used to be said that The

Times of London used to recruit its sub-editors for their experience in Bible

proof-reading. (The misprints which occurred in Bible production were so rare

that the editions which carried them became high-priced collectibles ! The

Bible misprints constitute a fascinating mini-history of their own ~~ like the

'Printers' Bible (where it was 'printers' for 'princes') and the 'vinegar' Bible

(with 'vinegar' in place of 'vineyard').

 

I have read that the brahmin scholar who disseminated our culture in Thailand

and Cambodia was of 'kAuNDinya gOtram' and from South India. Vedic roots in the

South East is a fascinating study by itself. The reigning Thai king is named

'atulya-tEj bhUmipAl' and his queen 'Sri-keerti' (adulya-dej-bhumibol and

siri-kitti in the Thai 'apa-bhramSam').

 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan,

tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Thu, 28 Sep 2000 14:57:02 -0700 (PDT)

Mani Varadarajan <mani

Tiruppavai and Thailand

 

Dear Members,

 

I had read a few years back of a connection between

Tiruppavai and Thailand. Evidently, the Tiruppavai was

recited as part of the Thai coronation ceremony.

Today, I was searching the Net for information corroborating this when I

stumbled across this astonishing bit of news:

 

From "Dr.N.Kannan" <nkannan

 

If it might interest you, several centuries ago,

Sri Vaishnava Brahmins from Srivillippuththur area of Ramanathapuram District,

migrated to Thailand.

Their descendants are still in Bangkok.

They are known as the Thai Brahmin community.

They are the Royal Praeceptors (RajaGuru)of the Thai kings. It is to be noted

that the Thai kings although

claim descent from the Solar Royalty and Sri Rama, are now Buddhists. But the

Royal Guru happens to be the

Sri Vishnava Thai Brahmins.

 

There is a very strong tradition of Thiruppaavai hymns in Thailand. The hymn,

"VaaraNam Aayiram suuzha valam vanthu"

is still sung in Tamil.

But of course without understanding the meaning. There are about 2000 Brahmins

in Bangkok.

 

If anyone has more info about this, I would love to hear it.

 

Mani