geethA sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-8

[Guest guest]

Sri Parthasarathi thunai

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

MUTTU KURI

 

One special happening during the araiyar sevai is the muttu kuri.

Usually during the araiyar sevai the araiyars do beautiful and apt

abhinayam (enacting) only to the paasurams. First the araiyars

explain a paasuram with the abhinayam and then they give out the

commentary to the paasuram. This is the general procedure followed

on all days other than the day of the muttu kuri on which day the

enacting is done not only for the paasuram but also for some portions

of the commentary with music. This is also referred to as ‘abhinaya

vAkyam’ in the tambhirAnpadi vyakhyanam with the araiyars. During

this occasion the araiyars pose themselves to be a kuraththi (tribal

woman who predicts hidden things)/

kattuvichchi, and tries to predict the reason behind the illness of

the heroin (thalaivi) and also the cure for the same.

 

Since the kattuvichchi uses pearls to predict the reason of illness,

this occasion has been named as muttu (pearl) kuri (prediction).

This occasion happens on the last day of pagal pattu utsavam, part of

adhyayana utsavam in Azhvar thirunagari. While in Srirangam this

happens on the nineth day of the pagal pattu utsavam. In case of

Srivilliputtur this occasion is celebrated three times in a year

viz., on the tenth day of the Adipoora utsavam, on the nineth day of

mArgazhi ennai kAppu utsavam (on the 2nd day of month thai, on kanu

pongal) and tenth day of panguni thirukalyana utsavam. On the last

day of the margazhi pagal pattu utsavam thirumangai azhvar’s

thirunedunthAndakam is recited and amirthamadhanam is enacted.

 

The paasurams, which are selected for the muttu kuri occasion for

araiyar sevai, is the first 11 paasurams (“from minnuruvAi to

pattudukkum”) of thirumangai Azhvars, thirunedunthAndakam. Out of

this, starting from “minnuruvAi” to the third paasuram (“thiruvadiviR

karunedumAl”…”peruvadivil kadalamudham konda kAlam…”) forms one part.

This is called as ‘amrithamadhanam’. Since the lines in these

paasurams indicate the incident of churning the milk ocean to get

amrutham, this occasion is called as ‘amruthamadhanam’. It is to be

known at this point that even bharatha muni has named the incident of

churning the parkadal as “amrutha madhanam” in his nAtya sAstra.

 

The second part starts with the fourth paasuram “indirarkum” and ends

with the tenth paasuram “ponnAnAi”.

 

The third part contains the 11th paasuram “pattudukkum” which is only

named as muttu kuri. This paasuram comes under the category of

‘agapporul pAdal’ in Tamil literature. The first few lines of the

paasuram are the words of the heroin who is in love then follows the

words of the heroin’s mother followed by the words of the

kattuvichchi, the tribal woman who does predictions.

 

The paasuram goes as follows:

 

“pattudukkum ayarthirangum pAvai penal

paNinedunkanneer thadumbha palli koLLAL

eLthunai pOdenkudankAl erukka killAL

emperumAn thiruvarangam engE?’ ennum

mattuvikki manivaNdu muralum koondal

madamAnai edhu seydhAr thammai ‘meyyE

kattuvichchi sol’ enna sonnAl ‘nangAi

kadalvannar edhu seidhAr kAppArArE?’

 

Here the mother with great worry enquires to the tribal woman to

predict who has created the love illness in her daughter’s mind. The

woman predicts and says that the emperuman, with the colour of the

ocean has created love in the mind of the heroin. While enacting

this paasuram, the araiyar assumes himself to be the heroin, the

mother and the tribal woman and does an excellent performance. On

one side the araiyar shows the feelings inside the heroin (parakala

nAyaki) on not being able to get together with the hero (emperuman),

then he enacts the feelings of the mother who is worried on seeing

her daughter in the depressed state and wanting to know the reason

behind the depression and hence requesting the tribal woman to find

out the same

(“teerpAraiyAmini enganan nAdudhum”) and finally the araiyar takes the

role of the kattuvichchi and with the help of pearls she finds the

reason behind the heroin’s illness and delivers it to the mother,

“kadalvannar edhu seidhAr”. Thereby the enacting is done in three

stages. All these are enacted by the same araiyar. While taking the

role of the mother the araiyar puts a knot in the silk cloth in his

hand and assumes that to be her daughter and explains her daughter’s

state each time pointing towards the knot. The tambhirAnpadi

vyakhyanam to this muttu kuri paasuram is also elaborate. This is a

long occasion when considered to all other days of araiyar sevai.

Though there are three stages in enacting the paasuram

the commentary does not show any difference.

 

In azhvar thirunagari and Srirangam, during the adhyayana utsavam both

amruthamadhanam and muttu kuri happens on the same day. In

Srivilliputtur, during the adhyayana utsavam only amruthamadhanam is

enacted while muttu kuri happens three times in a year (as discussed

already). Since the paasuram starts with “pattudukkum” the araiyar

is first blessed with a silk cloth from the temple and then the

araiyar starts the sevai adorning the silk cloth. In azhvar

thirunagari the araiyar goes all round the long pagal pattu mandapam

during this occasion while in srivilliputtur the voice of the araiyar

immerses all of us into the occasion.

 

Stopping with happy anubhavams at this point let us from the next

posting try to analyse how thirumangai Azhvar has framed this

prabhandam keeping in mind the words of the geethAcharyan, Sri

Parthasarathi emperuman. At this point we have to remember that

geetha is a crux of all the vedas and is regarded as the Upanishad

part of the fifth Veda “bharatham panchamO veda:” and the prabhandams

of thirumangai azhvar are regarded as the “tamil nannool turaigal

anjukkilakkiyam Arana sAram” (“mAran seidha thamizh maraikku

mangaiyar kOn Arangam koora avadhariththa”). Here out of the six

prabhandams of thirumangai azhvar the last prabhandam,

thirunedunthAndakam is considered as the upanishadic part by our

poorvacharyas that contains the essence of the ultimate knowledge.

Let us try to analyse the two great works one by the tattvam,

bhagavan geethAcharyan himself and the other by the tattvadarshi,

thirumangai azhvar to the lowest level possible and leave the

in-depth analyses to the divine feet of the learned scholars who are

well versed in ubhaya Vedanta. Let adiyen inform you all at this

point that adiyen is unfit to take this great task but just out of

interest and adiyen’s liking for both the works adiyen wishes to

scribble something about the two. Adiyen requests the pardon of all

bhagavatas for the mistakes already committed and those yet to be

committed. Hope to spend atleast a few hours in trying to learn

something by bhagavat/bhagavata/Acharya krupai.

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes