A Tamil equivalent for the word Bhakti

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SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA

 

Mr Visu has attempted to establish a Tamil equivalent

for the word BHAKTI.

He says

>The word /pakti is not a proper /tamiz word. Poets

>like /tAyumAvar have not

>used it.

 

I beg to differ from him.

This word has been very much in usage.

It is Bhaththi for bhakti and the Bhaththtar for the

Bhakta.

In Thiru-chanda Viruththam (79)

the last line goes thus:

 

"bhaththaraamavarkkalaathu muththi muttral aagumo'

 

The alwar by directly relating the bhaktha to mukhthi,

reveals clearly that "Bhaththan" is the

Bhakthan.Herein the word mukhti also has been changed

to Muththi

 

In Ramanuja Nootrandhadhi too, in verses 5, 6, 29 and

37, the word bhaththi is used to denote Bhakthi.

So it had been in common usage. Tamilising the word

Bhakti as Bhaththi has its precedence as early as the

Thiruvalluvar era.

Thiruvalluvar used the word Bhagwaan, (the sanskrit

word) as 'bhagavan' in his opening verse 'agara mudala

ezhuththellaam'

( as told by Sri Sadagopa Ramanuja sawmi in his

Kurippurai to Thirukkural and Parimelazhagar moolamum,

uraiyum)

It is 'vali kuraivu puNarchi' in adapting the

vadamozhi-chol in Bhagavan

and it is 'vallina puNarchi'in adapting Bhakti as

Bhaththi.

 

I went through the Sen tamil Agarathi, (N.C. Kandaiya

pillai, 1950 edition)The word Bhaththi (to mean

kadavuL Bhakti) and the word Bhththar to mean Adiyar

and the word Bhakhtha vathsalan to mean kadavul are

found.

Interestingly, I could not spot bhakti or bhaththi in

the Choodamani Nigandu brought out by Arumuga Navalar!

 

Nor could I spot any other word as a synonym for

bhakti.The reasons are obvious. The concept of Bhakti

was almost non-existant in the Vedic period as also in

the Tholkaappiyar period. The stress had been on

surrender and upasana in the Vedic period and

surrender or 'adi sEruthal' in the pre-Thiruvalluvar

Tamil nadu. (sweeping comments capable of generating

fresh controversies, is it?)

 

But Mr Visu's choice of 'Pattru' as a substitute for

Bhakti also seems untenable.

The reasons are

This word has been widely used in two contexts only.

to cite the famous example,

the kural from Thuravu,

'Pattruga Pattratrran pattrinai , appattrai

pattruga pattru vidarku'

 

and the two kurals preceding this kural,

"pattri vidaa.."

" pattrarra.."

 

Pattruthal is used to mean 'cling to', 'adhere to',

'hold on to' etc

The relevant relation to our discussion is that this

stands for 'sharanagathi' or surrender

In another context, the same word means

'desire', 'aasai'.

because in sv literature too (as in saivist

literature)

the word pattru is generously used to mean aasai or

'to come to hold on to'

In Ramanuja Nootrandhadhi this word is used in

pasurams 43, 85 and 86, to mean clinging to in the

former one and as surrender in the latter two.

 

In the Choodamani Nigandu,

pattru is given as a sysnonym of aasai.

There is this word pattruk-kodu in the Nigandu to mean

thanjam (surrender)

Once again this word is given to mean 'to like' and

'to hold on to' in the Sentamil agarathi.

Pattruthal means Aadharam as per this dictionary.

 

In Thiruvaimozhi too there comes a famous verse,

'attrathu pattrEnil uttrathu veeduyir"..(THI 1-2-5)

In this pattru means attachment or aasai

and in the next sentence ,

'attrirai pattrE'

it has come to mean 'surrnder' or 'clinging to the

Erai'

 

But nowhere this word has been used to maen Bhakti.

 

It is also difficult to take the logic in Mr Visu's

>expresson, "pARRu teyttuk koTU" which we say to our

>chldren or a servant is an

>example. We want them to clean the cooking vessel,

>because the dirt of sticky

>rice refuses to leave. It is an attachment to the

>vessel (/pAttiram). So we ask

>please get rid of this attachment by scrubbing. The

>literature often gives this

>as an example of /bhakti

 

I think the relevant word here is 'Paththu' (paththu

paathram ) not pattru. The root word must be

Parukakai (Our grand mothers can help us in knowing

this better)

 

Joining Mr Visu in his search for a proper Tamil word

for Bhakti,

 

Nammalvar uses the word VEtkai.

In Thiruvaimozhi 9-6,

Vetakai and vetkai noi are used to express thge

intense desire for the lord.

But choodamani Nigandu has clubbed this word along

with pattru to mean aasai.

I think Vetkai is not acceptable for one more reason.

In Aeinguru nooru (Ettu-thogai Nool), there is a

separate chapter called

'Vetkaip-paththu' reeling out verses impregnated with

desire or viruppam.

So the general usage of this word prohibits us from

using it to mean Bhakti.

 

Then ULLudhal is a better word used by alwars.

But then this also may mean thinking and bhakti is

more than mere thinking.

 

Anbu is one word that might fit in. Taking the leaf

from Poigai alwar,

"Anbu AAzhiyaanai anugu ennum..."

anbu looks a better word.

 

But the alwar's subsequent descriptions that

'Naa, avan-than panbu, aazhi, thoL paravi Eththu

ennum,

Munbu oozhi Kaanaanai kaaN ennum kaN,

Sevi kEL ennum

Poonaaram poondaan pugazh"

 

goes to show that Bhakti is a very vast idea. Starting

from Anbu it stretches further to include the

experiences at indriya level.

I think this word Bhakti is unique - like its very

implication.

Bhakti by any other term is NOT bhakti (unlike the

Shakespearian Rose)

It is and must be ORIGINAL

wherever it thrives

or for whomever it blooms!

 

jayasree sarnathan.

 

 

 

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