Chitranchiru kaale - vyakhyanams

[Guest guest]

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

 

Dear BhAgavatas,

 

We have been talking about ciRRam ciRu kAlE and

pUrvacharya vyakhyanams for the same. It is therefore

important to know what they have said about this

phrase. AdiyEn has translated and paraphrased some

these vyakhyanams for your reference. The vyakhyanams

also talk of the use of kAlE versus kAlai toward the

end, so kindly read the whole post.

 

 

ciRRanj ciRu kAlE Vyakhyanams:

 

What is this time?

This is the cold early dawn at which time young girls

normally do not get up.

 

The time in which satva guNas rise: "brAhme muhurtte

sOtthAya cintayEdAtmanOhitam" (thinking of good things

after waking up in the pre-dawn). The time in which

they have the knowledge to leave right then and go to

Him, is the brAhma muhurttha kAlam, which is the best

time to think about what is good for the soul. Just as

everything fell in place such as the month being

Margazhi, the paksham becoming pUrva, the day being a

purNima day (paurNami), so too the time became the

ideal brAhma muhurththa time.

 

kalai - ciRu kAlai - ciRRanj ciRu kAlai:

The pre-dawn in which even those trapped in tamas

guNas gain knowledge. They have woken up before the

dawn, the dawn which is signified by the yadava

girls churning the milk ("Aycciyar maththinAl Osaip

paduththa").

 

They are awake at the time between night disappearing

and day beginning. That is the time of knowledge,

which happens between lack of knowledge and gaining

of the kainkarya goal. The time in between when one

stops being a samsAri and becomes a mukta is when one

is a mumukshu. That time is the ciRu kAlai.

 

One does karmic things all day, forgets everything at

night and sleeps and once awakened gets back into the

karmic ways. There is a small gap in between when

satva guNas surface. This is the time when the mind

can truly be fixed.

 

The soul is at first enslaved to itself, then it

becomes His. There is a small time in between when

this knowledge is realized. That time is ciRu kAlai.

 

The time in which darkness was dispelled and the

bhagavad vishayam was brought to light ("nArAyaNanaik

kaNdEn pagaR kaNdEn" - I saw Narayana and I saw the

day). The time in which the darkness has been removed

but the full brightness of being with Him as not yet

happened.

 

"kAlai nal gnyAnath thuRai padinthAdi" - The time for

gaining the true knowledge which is Him and reaching

Him through a sadAchArya, through pirAtti's

purushakAram, and the help of bhAgavatas.

 

The time in between, where the long dark samsAric night

has ended and the time to see Narayana has begun.

 

"andham tama ivAgnyAnam" - lack of knowledge is the

darkness.

 

The day is when the soul is brought to light. Just as

the Sun is the source of light for the external eyes,

He is the source of light for the internal eyes.

 

There is no night and day for Thiruvayppadi like it is

for the rest of us. When He was born there, then it

became day for them. He was born in the middle of the

night and then the world was awakened ("viriyum kathirE

pOlvAn").

 

 

Why say ciRRanj ciRu?

If they came at the ciRu kAlai, they won't be able to

catch Him. He would go early for grazing the cattle

("ciRu kAlE ooti oruppaduththEn - Periyazhvar Thirumozhi

3.3.2; another instance of the use of kAlE for kAlai).

He would only return late in the night after being with

the gOpikas. So, they went at a time that they knew He

would be around and that is ciRRanj ciRu kAlai.

 

Each day there is an early dawn and an awakening, but

this dawn has become most auspicious.

 

 

Why say kalE?

ciRRanj ciRu kAlE is a way of speaking (saying kAlE

instead of kAlaththilE) for certain kinds of people

(jAti). For example, saying "vetta vidiyAlE" (vidiyal

is early dawn: vidiyal kAlai). Because they are girls

they say ciRRanj ciRu kAlE, similar to saying vetta

vediyAlE.

 

--

 

I saw a point about third person showing up in the

middle of the pasuram. Just wanted to clarify something

on that.

 

The "iRRaip paRai koLvAnanRu" is not third person

addressed to a second person (such as addressing

Krishna and saying kutti kannan samarththu). It is

actually third person addressed to first person

(that is, koLvAn is not pointed to Govinda). So,

what should have been kolvOmanRu has become

kolvAnanRu. The meaning is, we are not here today

to take something (from you and leave, O Govinda).

 

--

 

Finally, in reading meanings into words in the

pasurams one has to be careful. It is possible for

any word to be broken up in multiple ways bringing

out multiple meanings. For example, the word empAvAy

is seen throughout Thiruppavai. I may choose to break

it up as em + pa + vAy (my mouth saying this pasuram)

or em + pa + Ay (my gOpikAs saying this pasuram), etc.

This might lead to some interesting anubhavams for

certain pasurams, but they cannot replace the original,

acharya explained meaning. They can at best be

additional anubhavams. The same holds true for ciRRanj

ciRu kAlE.

 

adiyEn madhurakavi dAsan

TCA Venkatesan

http://www.acharya.org

 

[ I have edited the transliteration of the word 'brAhma'

as in 'brAhma muhUrta' to avoid confusion with the word

'bhrama'. The former means 'great' or 'divine', and the

latter means 'delusion'. -- Moderator ]

[Guest guest]

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Excellent Post. It was out of my ignorance I placed the post regarding the First

& Third person. I hope Sri Vaishnavas will forgive me for my ignorance:) My

sincere apologies.

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan,

Lakshmi Narasimhan

 

-

TCA Venkatesan

Saturday, September 28, 2002 6:43 AM

bhakti-list

Chitranchiru kaale - vyakhyanams

 

Sri:

Srimathe Ramanujaya Nama:

 

Dear BhAgavatas,

 

We have been talking about ciRRam ciRu kAlE and

pUrvacharya vyakhyanams for the same. It is therefore

important to know what they have said about this

phrase. AdiyEn has translated and paraphrased some

these vyakhyanams for your reference. The vyakhyanams

also talk of the use of kAlE versus kAlai toward the

end, so kindly read the whole post.

 

[...]

[Guest guest]

SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA.

 

Pranams.

Sri TCA Venkatesan has given a very good translation of the

vyakhyanam for ciRRam ciru kAlE.

I think he has relied on 3000-padi and 6000-padi for this.

Let me add another information from 6000-padi in this context.

Sri Azhagiya Manvala perumal Nayanar quotes verses from Thiruppavai

to denote the activities done at different time periods such as,

kalai, ciru kalai and ciRRam ciru kAlai.

They are as follows:-

 

KAlai- is the period of breaking of the dawn -'vidivukku vudal'-when

thaamasar begin their day.

--"sengal podi-k-koorai" (Thiruppavai -14)

 

ciru kalai- "vidivukku adaiyaaLam" -the time when 'Aaichchiyar

maththinaal Osaippaduththa" (pasuram -7)

This is the time when yadava boys take their cattle for grazing.

Periyalwar Thirumozhi (NDP-245)speaks of this as ciru'kAlE' - already

quoted by Sri Venkatesan.

 

ciRRam ciru kalE- The time just before ciru kaalai when "munivargaLum

yOgigaLum" (pasuram -6)contemplate on Him (uLLaththu -k- kondu)

Therefore this is the praatha-kaalam / pancha-pancha ushas kaalam

when sattwam reigns supreme(6000-padi).

 

Other points to be mentioned here:-

 

# In many books it has been given as ciRRam ciru 'kAlai' only. This

is marked with a note that it is customary to read this as kAlE. I

think the confusion is because of the uasage as kalE.

 

# The term 'vandu' immediately after kalai is a clear indication that

the term under discussion is about time when they (Andal and others)

have come.(like when did you come - eppo vandaai?) 6000-padi uses not

less than 10 expressions for 'vandu' and Sri Venkatesan can do a good

traslation of them to ascertain that kaalai in this context really

stands for the time.

 

Now about 'IRRai parai koLvaan'

koLvaan has been variously described as vinai echcham and vinai muRRu

or vinai-ch-chol.

I beg to differ from all these three.

 

If it is a vinai echcham, the expressioin must be a broken one,

followed by another verb. The expression might then be 'kondu

vandhan' or 'kondu pOnaan'and not just 'koLvaan'

 

If it is a vinai-p-peyar, it would have have ended with 'al' viguthi,

like 'koLLuthal'

 

If it is a vinai muRRu, we must know that vaan, paan and paaku ending

alone do not decide whether it is a vinai muRRu or not. The meaning

(of action) must have ended with that term. To know this the

reference to the meaning and context is always made before arriving

at the exact geammatical connotation.

 

In this context, that is, in the expression, "iRRai parai

koLvaanandru kaaN', kaaN is the vinai muRRu and not koLvaan.

 

koLvaan is the 'vinaiyaal aNaiyum peyar' -i.e., a noun upon which an

action is attributed - which is predicated by the action word 'kaaN'

 

If we look at the meaning,(according to 6000-padi), Andal says this

with aatraamai and veruppu (in disgust and distress). 9 times we said

about this parai (1.parai tharuvaan, 2.paddi-p-parai kondu, 3.pORRa-p-

parai tharum, 4.arai parai, 5.irrai parai kolvan, 6. parai

thaaruthiyaagil, 7.saala-p-perunm parai, 8. undrannai paadi parai

kondu, 9. nee thaarai parai)

But still He is aking us to bring the parai. Does He not know what we

mean by parai?

 

"EngaLai nee kolLumaththanai vozhiya, naangaL un pakkalilE unaai

vozhiyavum koLvadhondrundu endru irundhayO"

 

It is like telling, "see, how He has made us bring the parai, when He

actually promised that He will give us the parai" -(the reference

here is to 'NaaraayananE namakkE parai tharuvan -pasuram -1). The

meaning herein sdubstantiates that koLvaan is a vinaiyal aNaiyum

peyar.

 

That it can not be a vinai muRRu is proved by comparing 'parai

tharuvan' (Pasuram -1)

with 'parai koLvaan'(pasuram -29)

(These two have been treated as the very essence of thiruppavai in

many swaapadEsa vyakhyanams too.He guranteed in the beginning that He

will take care of us. But now it seems He is more concerned about His

cattle (therefore the expression Govindha, coming after koLvaanandru

kaaN)and not about us. Therefore it is upto us to cling to Him -

undanOdu uRROmE- unakkE *naaam* aat cheyvOm)

 

Coming to the grammar,

In 'NarayananE namakkE parai 'tharuvaan'', the action is complete and

the following term is part of the next sentence -'paarOr pugazha...'

Therefore tharuvaan here is a vinai muRRu

 

In parai koLvaan, on the contrary, the sentence goes further and

completes with kaaN, which is a vinai mRRu.

In a vinaiyal aNaiyum peyar, any reference to gender, number,tense

etc is immaterial- it can be anything.It is a noun (peyar-ch- chol)to

which an action is attributed.

 

 

jayasree sarnathan.

 

Food for thought:-

When someone requested Emperumaanaar to render upanyaasm for atleast

one pasuram of Thiruppavai, he was supposed to have replied, "Thiru-p-

pallaNdukku aaL kidaikkilum, Thiruppavaikku aaL kidaiyaadu"

[Guest guest]

I am very sorry. I have very clearly mentioned that the 'vaan' in 'koLvaan' is

vinai echcham and not vinai mutru. The NanUl sUtram that I had quoted also

clearly states that. If it was vinyaal aNayum peyar, who was that masculine

gender that was present there?

 

I quote from the Tamil Lexicon published by the University of Madras. (Vol. VI,

Page 3625)

 

"vaan: part. An ending of verbal participle; oru vinai echcha vighudhi"

 

I know what is meant by 'naaraayananE namakkE parai tharuvaan.' The 'vaan' here

cannot be equated with the one in 'koLvaan.' I don't see any purpose in

pursuing this when the meaning is abundantly clear.

 

Kindly forgive me. This is my last mail on this subject.

 

Hari Krishnan

 

 

-

"jayasartn" <jayasartn

<bhakti-list>

Thursday, October 03, 2002 3:50 PM

Re: Chitranchiru kaale - vyakhyanams

 

 

|

| SRIMATHE RAMANUJAYA NAMAHA.

|

| If it is a vinai echcham, the expressioin must be a broken one,

followed by another verb.

| |

| If it is a vinai muRRu, we must know that vaan, paan and paaku ending

| alone do not decide whether it is a vinai muRRu or not. The meaning

| (of action) must have ended with that term. To know this the

| reference to the meaning and context is always made before arriving

| at the exact geammatical connotation.

|

| jayasree sarnathan.

|

|