thiruppavai day thirty song thirty

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THIRUPPAVAI – DAY THIRTY – SONG THIRTY

 

Transliteration

 

vankak katal kataintha mAthavanaik kEcavanaith

thinkal thirumukaththuc cEyiLaiyAr cenRiRainji

ankap paRai kontavARRai aniputhuvai

painkamalath thantheriyal pattar pirAn kOthai conna

cankath thamiL mAlai muppathum thappAmE

inkip paricuRaippAr Irirantu mAlvaraiththOL

cenkaN thirumukaththuc celvath thirumAlAl

enkum thiruvaruL peRRu inpuruvAr empAvAy.

 

 

Translation

 

Songs in praise of matavan kecavan

Who churned the trafficked ocean;

Songs in celebration of the prayers and gifts obtained

By the moonfaced and bejewelled maids,

Sung by kotai the daughter of the Pattar at Srivilliputtur,

Donned in a garland of lotus –

Mal the mountain shouldered and noble faced with eyes red

Blesses everyone everywhere with His grace

Those who recite them in cankat tamil in all piety,

And leaves them blessed.

 

The last song of the Tiruppavai formally concludes the series with a mention

of the benefits that accrue to the devotees when they recite the thirty

songs in all piety while the twenty-ninth song has clinched the pavai

observance.

 

The thirtieth song is an assurance to the effect that either sung along with

Andal in realtime or sung in the days to come, the Tiruppavai songs bestow

Divine grace and bliss.

 

The reference to churning the milky ocean has a definite purpose. The

Vaishnavite belief is that appeals to God for His grace are best answered

when made through Lakshmi, his consort. And Lakshmi has been one of the

incidental outcomes of the churning of the milky ocean for the sake of

obtaining amrita, which was believed to bestow immortality. Moreover, God

who has gone to the extent of taking the form of the tortoise to provide a

base for the mountain used as the churnpost will certainly grace the maids

with His gifts. Both ways, the reference to the churning of the milky ocean

is very much in context in this song.

 

That the maids are beautiful in form and determined in devotion is indicated

by ‘tinkal tirumukattu ceyilar’ – moonfaced and bejewelled maids.

 

The gift acknowledged in the thirtieth song is the ultimate gift of being

blessed with Divine association for several seven births indicated in the

twenty-ninth song – ‘erraikkum elel piravikkum untannotu urrome avom’.

 

Srivilliputtur, the place of appearance of Andal is called ‘aniputuvai’ in

the sense that Periyalwar and Andal had adorned the place with their

presence. Brahmins are honoured with a garland of roses. Periyalwar is

called ‘pattar piran’, the Lord of the Brahmins because he has established

the meaning and message of the Vedas in the royal court amidst thousands of

brahmins. He is also the great among the brahmins because he has the special

privilege of giving his daughter in marriage to none other than God Himself.

 

Andal identifies herself in the name of Kotai. The Sanskrit word ‘Goda’ and

the Tamil word Kotai are almost synonymous. While the Tamil word means just

a maid, the Sanskrit word means the one who came out with divine songs.

 

Cankat tamil can be interpreted in two ways. In the first, it is Tamil

nurtured by the cankams. The First, Second and Third cankam were the

assemblies of poets and scholars in Tamil successively sponsored by the

Pandya kings in Tamilnadu. Secondly it may be taken to refer to the nature

of the Tiruppavai songs in Tamil community songs songs meant for community

worship.

 

A note on identifying the composer by name will be in place here. This is a

tradition with the Vaishnavite Alwars. When the composition is fairly long,

at regular intervals the composer identifies himself and declares that

recitals of the songs is an assurance for redemption. It is in the same

tradition that Andal has identified herself in the last song of the series.

It is called ‘mudra’ in the general context of Indian art. A sculptor or a

painter leaves his name or some other indication of himself in his work.

 

Ramani thanks everyone who has read the elucidation of Thiruppavai. He owes

a special note of thanks to everyone who has encouraged him through the

series.