Guest guest Posted December 21, 2002 Report Share Posted December 21, 2002 TIRUPPAVAI - DAY SEVEN – SONG SEVEN Transliteration kIsukIcenrenkum AnaiccAththan kalantu pEcina pEccaravam kEttilaiyO pEyppennE kAcum piRappum kalakalappak kaipErththu vAca naRum kuLal Aycciyar maththinAl Ocaippatuththa tayiraravam kEttilaiyO nAyakap penpillAy nArayanan murththi kEcavanaip pAtavum nI kEtte kitaththiyO thEcamutaiyAy thiRavElOrempAvAy. Translation Don’t you hear the shrill screech of the king crows? You are besides yourself, we are sure! Don’t you hear the churning staff of the fragrant haired shepherdesses And the jingle of the lockets on their thali? Aren’t you the chief of the maids here? Do you keep lying even as we sing in praise of Kesava? Aren’t you the lady bright? Won’t you open the doors? The seventh song, in continuation of what began in the sixth song, is a more insistent appeal to the maid within the house to get up and join the troop of women on pavai observance. The screech of the king crows in the morning is so shrill and so spread through that they cannot be missed. One should be besides oneself indeed not to be woken up by such shrill noise. The king crow is a skylark like bird in India. Like the skylark it has a long tail shaped like a V at the bottom. It shoots perpendicularly up the sky and shoots down to float horizontally. As it shoots up it starts its high pitched screech which grows in volume and as it descends, the volume of the screech gradually with a shrill screech again. The appearance of the bird is a typical morning scene in India. Churning the curds is a typical early morning activity of the womenfolk. Besides the noise of the churning staff, one could hear the jingle of the ‘thali’, the mark of marriage worn at the neck by the women. It varies from the simplest thread to the most ornate gold chain. Whether in its simplest form or in its most ornate form, it will have two types of lockets. One is moulded and the other is in the form of thin gold coins. The moulded locket will have the coins on both the sides. As the women swing their torso along with the rope round the churn staff, the thali is thrown out and sideways alternatively and the lockets jingle. This is a very dramatic rendering of the early morning activity of the household women in the village of the shepherds. The scene has been graphically evoked in this song. Moreover, the shepherdess are said to have fragrant hair. While churning curd, the air will be filled with the smell of fermented curd churned into buttermilk. Such smell which is slightly offensive to the nose is offset by the fragrance from the hair of the swinging women as they churn the curd. The maid who has not yet joined the others is not one among the many. She is the leader of the troop of maids observing the pavai. Therefore the reprove that she of all continues to lie abed though it is time for the pavai rituals. The maids wonder that such a maid is still abed despite the song in praise of Kesava they have already started singing. Kesava is another name of Narayana. The name has three references. First, it is the name of Narayana, the God of gods. Secondly, it refers to the glorious hair of Narayana. Thirdly, it refers to the vanquishing of Kesi, the monster. Kesi was a monster in the form of a horse. Kamsa despatched Kesi to throw scareballs amidst the shepherds and kill Krishna. Krishna grew in magnitude; held his huge arm between the jaws of the horse; knocked away the teeth and tore the horse diagonally into two. The maid within is not only their leader. She is also the one endowed with brightness by virtue of her happiness at the experience of the Divine. It is surprising indeed that such a maid is so late to join the others in pavai observance. Traditional interpretation of the song associates the qualities ascribed to the maid with those of Kulasekara Alwar, one of the twelve Vaishnavite saint poets. The seventh song has verbal felicity and evocative felicity. It recreates a typical Indian village scene early in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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