Part 16: "There is Salvation in numbers" - The Theme of "satsangh" in TiruppAvai

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

(18) "vandhu enggUm … kUyil-innanggal koovinagaan…"

(19) "kOttalar poo… "

 

If we searched the TiruppAvai for metaphors that

instantly evoke in our minds vivid images of a

'satsangh', they would surely be the above two indeed.

 

 

The first metaphor is about singing birds

--"kuyilinnangal". The second metaphor is about a

clutch of flowers in full bloom -- "kotthalar poo…"

These two metaphors leave us reflecting keenly on two

strands of thought:

 

(a) The very "sight" of a 'satsangh' is auspicious ---

as auspicious as it is to gaze upon a crowd of fresh

flowers that blooms forth at the first break of dawn.

In the "tirupalliyEchi" of Tondaradipodi AzhwAr there

is a lovely line about precisely such an auspicious

sight of flowers:

 

"madhu virindhu ozhigina mA malar ellAm…" (verse 1)

 

In the sacred month of 'mArgazhi', in the early

hours of the day, it is customary (especially in the

rural districts of south India) for little bands of

men, women and children to go in 'satsangh' around the

village or town chanting the "tiruppAvai" and singing

"nAma-sankirtan". They go around from street to

street, from house to house in small batches. They

sling a "tambura" or a harmonium around their

shoulder. Some carry pipes and others percussion such

as the "dolak" or "mridanga". The rest carry cymbals

or castanets to keep rhythm…

 

It is a wonderful sight indeed to watch these little

"satsanghs" as they perambulate the neighbourhood and

AndAl's metaphor of "kotthalar poo…" would describe

them perfectly. It is a sight for the Gods indeed to

see these 'satsanghs' going around with songs of God

and Bhakti upon their lips! They merrily clap hands

and they sway gently to the sounds and beats of the

mystic mood that envelops them soon enough and the

streets they roam as well.

 

(It is interesting that in the same stanza of the

TiruppAvai, God is described as "malar mArbA..." to

convey the sense that the Almighty's 'infatuation'

with "blossoms" adorning his breast are no less deep

than his infatution with the divine consort,

'sridevi-nAcchiyAr'...i.e. His love for his devotees

is no less than love for his consort).

 

(b) Equally as the "sight" of these 'satsanghs', the

"sounds" they make in 'satsangh' too are wholly

auspicious. Their singing and "nAma-sankirtan" is as

melodious as the music of a brood of "kuyilinnangal"….

 

 

"Birds" are staple and favorite diet for poetic

imaginations all over the world. The "kuyil" or

cuckoo, the 'koyal', the skylark, the nightingale, the

humming-bird… all these winged creatures for ages have

held endless fascination for the poetic eye. Our

poetess of SriVilliputtur was no exception... (The

image of AndAl commonly portrayed everywhere, be it in

sculpture or painting, is always shown with a winged

creature, a little parakeet, perched upon her slender

shoulders).

 

In order to get some but by no means adequate idea of

the beauty of the metaphor, "kuyillinangal" in the

TiruppAvai, it would not be out of place here for us

to sample and savor a few comparative verses in

English poetry which too speak of singing birds:

 

William Wordsworth once wrote beautiful lines in his

poem "To the Cuckoo":

 

"O blithe newcomer! I have heard,

I hear thee and rejoice,

O cuckoo! Shall I call thee Bird

Or but a wandering Voice?

 

While I am lying on the grass

Thy two-fold shout I hear;

From hill to hill it seems to pass

At once far off and near.

 

Though babbling only to the vale

Of sunshine and of flowers

Thou bringest unto me a tale

Of visionary hours."

 

The sounds of the cuckoo, the poet says, might sound

like "babble" to the rest of the world (i.e. "to the

vale of sunshine and flowers") but to him there is

something about the "wandering Voice" that is deeply

moving and vastly mystic … It sounds like some "tale

of visionary hours".

 

What is so deeply moving, we might wonder and ask

ourselves, what is in the sounds of the "kuyil", the

metaphoric equal of singing "satsanghs", which moves

poets to speak of it in terms of almost religious and

near-mystic awe -- as a "tale of visionary hours" or

as a "wandering Voice"? Another great poet,

P.B.Shelley, gave vent to that deep sense of poetic

and mystic wonder very beautifully indeed. In a poem

in praise of another of the winged angels of God, "The

Skylark", he wrote:

 

What art thou we know not;

What is most like thee?

From rainbow clouds there flow not

Drops so bright to see

As from thy presence showers a rain of melody!

 

Teach us, sprite or bird,

What sweet thoughts are thine:

I have never heard

Praise of love or wine

That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine!

 

Teach me half the gladness

That thy mind must know,

Such harmonious madness

From my lips would flow

The world should listen then, as I am listening now!

 

************

(to be continued)

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

 

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