thiurppavai day fourteen song fourteen

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THIRUPPAVAI – DAY FOURTEEN – SONG FOURTEEN

 

Transliteration

 

unkaL puzakkataith thOttaththu vAviyuL

cenkazunIr vAy nekiznthu Ampal vAy kUmpinakAn

cenkal potikkurai venpal thavaththavar

tankal thirukkoyil cankituvan pOkinrAr

enkalai munnam eLuppuvAn vAy pEcum

nankAY elunthirAy nAnAthAy nAvutaiyAy

cankotu cakkaram Enthum thatakkaiyan

panakayak kannAnaip pAtElOr empAvAy.

 

Translation

 

The cenkalunir in the pond at the backyard has opened up.

The ampal has closed down.

The saffron-robed, white-teethed seers

Are on their way to the temples, keys on hand.

You had promised to wake us up early, lady of virtues!

Aren’t you shameless of still lying abed?

Sweet tongued aren’t you!

Let us sing in praise of the Lotus-Eyed,

Holding the conch and the discus in His noble hands.

 

The fourteenth song is the last in a series in which the maids on their way

to the pond for the pavai bath implore the maid withindoors to join them.

The fifteenth song dramatises a conversation between them, the maids calling

the maid and the maid answering them from within. At the end of the song,

the maid joins the troop and the march to the temple begins.

 

The fourteenth song continues with a reference to a few more indications of

the dawn. The red kuvalai flowers, also called cenkalunir, a kind of water

lily, opens up as the sun rises. The ampal, which is also called alli,

closes down at dawn. The words used to the opening up an closing down are

significant. ‘nekilntu’ may be literally translated as loosening. The word

associated with ‘vay’, the mouth, is highly suggestive. In anticipation of

the sun, the flower opens up its petals. Throbbing in anticipated

fulfilment, passionate lips open up. Therefore ‘vay nekilntu’ is highly

suggestive of a passionate anticipation of the fulfilment of the longing for

union with God. ‘kumpina’ is the other word. That word is also suggestive in

its own way. When the longing for union is frustrated, the face withers.

Thus the bliss of the Divine experience is simultaneously gratifying and

frustrating.

 

The second scene described is that of the seers in charge of the temple

administration on their way to the temples to have it opened for the day’s

worship. By implication, it means that once the devotees have initiated the

spiritual cultivation, the heart of God is prepared to receive them. The

colour of the saffron robes of the seers is said to be that of the brick.

 

When there was no sign of the maid withindoors stirring, the maids become

exasperated. They remind her of her promise to join them and impress upon

her that she has to join them lest she should be taken to have betrayed her

own promise. But almost immediately, they try to placate her ascribing sweet

tongue to her – a maid of sweet words.

 

There is a contradiction of terms in the name assigned to God again. He

holds the mighty discus on one hand and the magnificant conch on the other.

They are meant to instil fear in the hearts of the foes. But God’s eyes are

said to be as fresh, soft, mild and beautiful as the lotus. In fact, the

conch and the discus are weapons that Lord Narayana in his manifested forms

does not hold explicitly. Perhaps the maids in their true devotion can see

the transcendental form of Narayana though they have seen Krishna as a

shepherd among the shepherds.

 

Thus, a careful reading of the song reveals contradictions complimenting

each other. The flowers that open up and those that close down; the dull

robes of the seers and their bright white teeth; the exasperated chiding and

the flattery; the mighty weapons and the merciful eyes.

 

Moreover, there is a colour pattern running through the song. Red and white

alternate each other through and through. The red and white flowers; the

saffron robe and the white teeth; the white conch and the fiery red discus.

And in the last, both the colours are in one – the eyes of God : white with

beautiful red lines. Perhaps, white as the colour of purity refers to God

and red as is traditionally done, is associated with his consort, Lakshmi.

It is surprising that the colour that is usually associated with God in the

Vaishnava literature is black. This song appears to be an exception. More

explanations can be offered by discerning readers.

 

Traditional interpretation will identify the maid in this song with

Tiruppanalvar. He has to his credit only ten songs in a collection of about

four thousand by the twelve Alwars. The legend about him is as follows:

 

Tiruppanalvar had been the son of a heavenly angel born to a brahmin. Unable

to take him with her to heaven, she left him behind on the earth. The child

was found in a paddy field by a minstrel couple who did not have a child of

their own. They brought him up. True to the clan in which he grew,

Tiruppanalvar mastered music and was given to rapturous ecstasy while

singing in praise of God.

 

Since he was identified with the minstrel clan, he had no admittance into

the temple. He used to stand on the banks of the Cauvery and sing

rapturously in praise of God.

 

Lokasarankar was a brahmin in the temple service. His duty was to fetch

water from the river for bathing the God. One early morning when he was

on his way to the river, he found Tiruppanalvar in the middle of the path

and asked him to move away and make way. But he was in such a rapture that

he heard not the words. A brahmin was not supposed to brush against those of

the lower castes. So to make way to the brahmin, stones were pelted at

Tiruppanalvar. But there was no sign of his coming to consciousness. The

brahmins chose another path to the river.

 

But then, when they reached the temple, they found the image of God in the

sanctum sanctorum bleeding at the forehead as if of the wound of a pelted

stone. Lokesarankar was ordered by God to carry Tiruppanalvar on his

shoulders and bring him into the temple. Accordingly was Tiruppanalvar

brought into the temple.

 

Once his eyes fell on the beautiful image of God, Tiruppanalvar composed the

ten songs celebrating the beauty. Those songs have been incorporated in the

collection Nalayira Divya Prabandham under the title ‘amalanatipppiran’.

 

The maid is addressed ‘nankay’ meaning lady of virtues. Tiruppanalvar agreed

to ride to the temple on the shoulders of Lokasaranka, the brahmin in

perfect reconciliation with God’s will. Therefore lady of virtues. Even as

he was carried by a brahmin, he identified the will of God in it and was in

no way proud of himself. ‘atiyarkku ennai atpatutta vimalan’. Therefore

‘nanatay’ in that ‘nan’ also means pride – one who is not proud. ‘navutaiyay

’, translated as ‘sweet tongued’ may be taken to refer to the poetic

grandeur of Tiruppanalvar. In just ten songs, he has loaded the implications

of the Vedas. Desikar will say, “panperumal patiyator patal pattum

palamaraiyin porul” – All that Panalwar has sung makes up the meaning of the

vedas of the old.

 

Tiruppanalvar, again, has acknowledged the beauty of the Divine in the

physical manifestation. ‘kaiyar curicanku anal aliyar’ and ‘kariyavakip

putai parantu milirntu cevvariyoti nintavap periyavayakankal’ – therefore

the aptness of the line in Andal’s song – ‘the Lotus-Eyed’ and ‘Holding the

discus and the conch in noble hands’.

 

The saffron robe has a reference to Lokasaranka.

 

The dichotomy between what Tiruppanalvar has claimed in his song and what

actually happened is also brought out in this song. ‘atiyarkku ennai

atpatutta vimalan’ – Vimalan has rendered me a servant to the devotees –

that was his claim. But he was carried to the temple by a devotee. Perhaps

the maids subtly suggest the contradiction between the promise by the maid

and remaining withindoors even as the others are ready for the pavai

observance.