thiruppavai day twenty three song twenty three

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TIRUPPAVAI - DAY TWENTY THREE – SONG TWENTY THREE

 

Transliteration

 

mAri malai muzainjil mannik kitanthuRankum

cIriya cinkam arivuRRuth thI viziththu

vEri mayir ponka eppAtum pErnthuthaRi

mUri nimirnthu muzankip puRappattup

pOtharumAp pOlE nI pUvaippU vannA un

kOyil ninRu inkanE pOntharulik kOpputaiya

cIriya cinkAthanathirunthu yAm vantha

kAriyam ArAynthu arulElOr empAvAy.

 

Translation

 

The Puvaippu-Hued!

Like the noble lion in the rocky den

On the hills after the monsoon at dawn

Awakening, staring fiercely, swelling its mane,

Giving a shake through and through,

Throwing away all the dust,

Starting majestically, roaring aloud,

Leave your abode and grace the noble throne

And consider our business and bless us with grace.

 

The twenty-third song is the most graphic of all the thirty songs in the

Tiruppavai. Graphic evocation is very much part of the genius of Andal and

in the twenty-third song, it is at its best.

 

In a rocky cave up in the mountains after the monsoon at dawn is the noble

lion – thus begins the evocation. The lion awakens and the evocation becomes

dynamic. The eyes of the lion burn bright as it stares. The mane swells like

frothing waters. A shake given through and through the whole body throws

away all the dust of the sleep.

 

The lion straightens up, stiffens its body and roars. The roaring echoes

through the rocky cave and is heard in its amplified form outside. Thence

the lion starts majestically to attend to its business – dispensation of

justice in the forest, perhaps.

 

The dynamism in the evocation is the most significant aspect about the song.

Scenes previously evoked recreated the scenes either of the indulgent sleep

of the maid or the luxurious sleep of God in His abode on the one hand. On

the other hand, evocation was used as a poetic device to celebrate the

manifest expression of God’s valour.

 

On yet other occasions, the typical indications of dawn in the form of the

activities of the instinctive animate and the conscious human as well as the

forms of natural phenomena like the effect of dawn on flowers were seen. The

majestic dynamism of the graphic has been perhaps reserved for the

twenty-third song. It marks majesty, splendour and grandeur.

 

The keyword for appreciating the song is ‘kAriyam’. A literal translation of

the word will be ‘business’. The appeal to God is to consider

sympathetically the business for the fulfilment of which the maids have

approached God. The business here is to get rid of the ‘capam’ mentioned in

the previous song. It has been adequately explained as elemental sin which

however is not a sin of any particular commission or omission.

 

The fact remains that however one tries doing whatever one considers to be

commensurate with virtuous living, the elemental sin cannot be done away

with.

 

It is so because one suffers the elemental sin which in itself is the origin

of bodily existence and at the same time remains unawares of its nature.

 

If anything can be done to atone for, it is first to be known for what it

is. The mystery of living consists of realising the necessity for atoning

for the elemental sin and yet remaining unawares of its nature and extent.

In such a context, total surrender to God and earnest prayer alone can

dispel the bondage of elemental sin thus severing recurrence of bodily

existence. Severing bodily existence is the beginning of unimpeded communion

with God.

 

That such severing is the ultimate that the maids pray for is made clear in

the twenty-eighth song. ‘piRavip peRuntanai punniyam yAmutaiyOm’ – as long

as we are given a life to live in body, we cannot achieve salvation.

 

‘unthannOtu uRavEl namakku inku olikka oliyAthu’ – the relationship between

God and soul cannot be undone. Again, the twenty-ninth song declares for

certain the essential nature of the maids – ‘eRRaikkum ELEL piravikkum

unthannOtu uRROmE AvOm umakkE nAm Atc ceyvOm’ – for ever and for seven times

seven births our business is to achieve unimpeded communion with God.

 

If the bondage of elemental sin is so strong, it requires an equally strong

force to obliterate it. That makes the maids in this song associate God with

majesty, splendour and grandeur. It is much more than valour in that valour

removes evil forces in the course of living.

 

What the maids ask for is more than that – to enable the soul extricate

itself from elemental sin which is possible only by a concernful God of such

majesty, splendour and grandeur. And it is exactly such majesty, splendour

and grandeur attributed to the lion in turn gets attributed to God in the

twenty-third song.

 

Thus considered, the apparent disparity in the terms of description of the

lion and what is expected of God can be resolved – the dynamic, resolute

force of the lion and consideration of God sought.