thiruppavai day six song six

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THIRUPPAVAI - DAY SIX – SONG SIX

 

Transliteration

 

puLLum cilampinakAn puLLaraiyan kOvil

veLLai viLic cankin pEraravam kEttilaiyO

piLLAy ezuntirAy pEy mulai nancuntu

kaLLac cakatam kalakkaziyak kAlOchi

VeLLat tharavil thuyilamarntha viththinai

uLLaththuk kontu munivarkaLum yOkikaLum

MeLLa ezunthu ariyenRa pEraravam

uLLam pukuntu kuLirnthElOr empAvAy.

 

Translation

 

Listen! The birds have started chirping.

Hear the booming white conch beckoning

>From the temple of the Lord of the lord of birds.

Wake up lass! The munis and yokis

Wake gently up and in their hearts is the Lord

Who sucked away the life of the devil;

Who knocked away the wheel of the treacherous cart;

Who is the cosmic seed but lies abed

The snake on the milky ocean.

Listen!

Their call to Hari gathers to greatness

And fills the heart to soothe.

The first song of the Thiruppavai referred to Narayana, the transcendent

reality.

The second song referred to His condescending manifestation on the milky

ocean.

The third song referrred to the deed of manifestation in the form of vamana.

The fourth song was an appeal for the bliss of God’s grace to be showered on

the devotees.

 

The fifth song speaks about impediments in realising God and celebrates the

readiness of God to answer even humble acts of piety like showering flowers

at His feet, singing His praise and meditation.

Beginning the sixth song through the fourteenth song, such of those maids

who have got themselves ready for the pavai observance try to awaken the

lazy one who continues to lie asleep.

The sixth song is dominated by sound imagery. The chirping of the birds at

dawn, the boom of the conch, the invocation of Hari by munis and yogis

suggest the dawn and the characteristic sounds thereof. Interwoven are the

stories of extermination of the evil by God in his Krishna avatar.

Putanai was a devil who came to Yesoda’s house in the guise of a beautiful

woman. Her intention was to breastfeed Krishna with poison. Krishna sucked

away the life of Putanai pretending to suck milk off her breasts.

Kanchan the asura sent a monster to kill Krishna. Krishna was lying asleep

below a cart. The monster moved up the cart with the intention of pushing it

down to smother Krishna. But Krishna waited until the monster moved up the

cart. As soon as the monster was in the cart, Krishna kicked away one of the

wheels of the cart and brought him down and finally killed him.

Narayana is seen as the cosmic seed from whom everything and everybody have

grown. Though He is the primordial origin, He lies asleep on the thousand

headed adisesha, as if He is unaware of His own greatness.

Immediately after referring to the chirping birds, the song refers to the

beckoning of the white conch from the temple. The eagle is God’s mount and

is also the lord of the birds. Therefore the temple is called that of the

Lord of the lord of birds.

The song is the beginning of a series that dramatises several situations.

One of the maids is asleep. The others who have already woken up implore her

to get up and join them for the pavai observance. When the languid maid asks

for indications of the morn, the others sing this song.

 

The term muni has a special meaning. It refers to those devotees whose minds

are exclusively riveted on the experience of the Divine. So also is the word

yogi. It refers to those who show their devotion to God through their acts

of piety. There is a certain tenderness about the description of how the

munis and yogis get up. Their hearts harbour God. Lest God in their hearts

should in any way feel the jolt of their getting up, they are said to get up

gently. By extension the sound imagery in the song can be explained as

follows.

 

The reference to the chirping of birds refers to a physical sensation. The

reference to the beckoning of the booming conch is a call to the mind. The

invocation of the name of Hari by the munis and yogis is a call to the

spirit. Thus the call to the maid asleep is a call simultaneously to the

physical, mental and the spiritual.