thiruppavai day twelve song twelve

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TIRUPPAVAI - DAY TWELVE – SONG TWELVE

 

Transliteration

 

kanaiththu ilan kaRRerumai kanRukkiranki

ninaittu mulai vaziyE ninRu pAl cora

nanaiththillam cERAkkum naRcelvan thankAy

paniththalai vIza nin vAcaRkatai paRRi

cinaththinAl thennilankaik komAnaic ceRRa

manaththukkiniyanaip pAtavum nI vAy thiRavAy

iniththAn ezunthirAy Ithenna pERuRakkam

anaiththillaththArum arinthElOr empAvAy.

 

Translation

 

Buffaloes with brimming udders make a slush of spilt milk.

So rich is your brother’s household.

We wait at your doorstep,

Heads drenched in the dew.

We sing in praise of the Beloved

Who in wrath vanquished the Lord of Southern Lanka.

Yet you speak not.

What deep slumber is this of yours?

Wake up at least now.

Everyone around has become aware of your indolence.

 

The tone of persuasion begun in the eleventh song continues with the twelfth

song too.

 

The riches of the maid’s household are described in terms of abundance of

milk, the proceeds of cattle wealth. Milch buffaloes in her brother’s house

are so numerous that milking them in time is a herculean task. There are

still many buffaloes left with painful udders brimming with milk. Such

buffaloes just think of their calves and spill milk. The floor becomes

slushy. The maid of such a rich household is so indolent as to ignore the

song in praise of Rama who vanquished Ravana of Lanka. The maids wonder what

kind of a deep slumber is it of hers. She is told that all around have

become aware of her indolence. So, if not at their rebuke and persuasion,

she may have to get up and join them lest the reputation of such a rich

household should be at stake.

 

Traditional interpretation would identify the brother with Lakshmana, Rama’s

brother. Lakshmana was so devoted to Rama that he did not have any other

business of his own. Even if he had such business, like milking the

buffaloes, he has neglected them. Such interpretation however sounds

farfetched.

 

Another traditional interpretation sounds better. The spilling of milk is to

be identified with spontaneous grace of God. Even when Arjuna had not asked

Krishna to explicate the mystery of life and death, Krishna came out of his

own volition in the Gita. “bhUya eva mahA bAho. Srunu me paramam vaca.”

The reference to the dew drenched heads is in line with the showers of grace

spoken about in the fourth song. The maids are drenched in dew – drenched in

God’s grace.

 

There is a strange combination of wrath and annihilation on the one hand and

becoming beloved on the other. This needs an explanation. Though in wrath,

Rama did not choose to annihilate Ravana when he had been dispossessed of

his arms during the battle on the first day. He was so graceful as to tell

him to go back home and come back to the field the next day to fight it out.

It is such a grace even in wrath that makes Rama the Beloved.

The slumber can again be interpreted in two ways. Caught in the enticing net

of samsara, the worldly life, a binding with the life here and now, man

becomes oblivious of his real obligation to spiritual cultivation which in

effect is the true purpose of being endowed with human life. This is what is

called ‘loukikam’ – a preoccupation with the materialistic.

 

The other kind of slumber is the yogic slumber of God Himself called

‘vaithikam’. With his entire attention on the preservation of the whole

universe, God keeps His eyes closed as if in sleep.

The maid withindoors is not base enough to be lost in loukika – the

materialistic. Nor is her slumber like that of the Divine. Therefore the

sense of wonder – what kind of a slumber is this?

“Everyone around has become aware of your indolence” can also be interpreted

in two different ways. “If you would like to ensure that everyone has joined

the troop for the pavai observance, let us assure you that everyone is with

us.” – that is one reading of the line. The other reading is, “Don’t you

know that if everyone around comes to know of your indolence, it is not only

your reputation as a devotee but that of your noble brother at stake?”

Having identified Putattalwar with the maid in the previous song,

traditional interpretation would identify Poykai Alwar with the maid in this

song.

As the first of the Alwars, he is the mother and the others calves. He came

out with his experience of the Divine in his Tiruvantati for the sake of the

others to succeed him. The reference to the dew drenched heads is to the

story of the first three Alwars having met each other for the first time

when they sought shelter from the rains and subsequently came to have the

experience of the Divine in their midst.

There are overtones of Poykai Alwar’s songs in the twelfth song of

Tiruppavai. ‘pu meya matavatton” is Rama; ‘tal paninta val arakkan’ is

Ravana; ‘patamattal enninan panpu’ is the nobility of Rama despite his

wrath. The line in Poykai Alwar’s Tiruvantati reads as follows : “pumeya

matavatton tal paninta val arakkan nin mutiyaip patamattal enninan panpu”.

It is this nobility of Rama that has endeared Him to the maids :

‘manatukkiniyan’

Thus the twelfth song of Tiruppavai continues with its attempt at persuading

the maid withindoors to join the pavai observance. To the discerning reader,

the song is found to celebrate the tradition of bhakthi taking its origin

from the first three Alwars. Another point of interest is the reiterated

celebration of the nobility of God that endears Him to the devotees.