"seppanna menm-mulai.." : The "Mad Passion" of Bhakti

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Dear friends,

 

In stanza #20 of the TiruppAvai there is an extraordinary line:

 

seppana menn-mulai sevvAy siru marungul

napinnai nangAy! tiruvE tuyilezhAy !

 

The above lines read together with the lines in Stanza#19 "maitadan

kanninAy ..." and "napinnai kongai mEl vaittu kidandha malar mArbA.."

would literally translate into English as follows:

 

"The Lord Almighty Krishna, the broad-chested one,

who rests entrapped upon Napinnai's bosom, remains

enchanted with her large and beautiful eyes ("maitadan

kanninAy"), her full but delicate breasts

("seppana-menn-mulai"), her cherry-red mouth

("sevvAy") and slender waist ("siru-marungul"). Such

an enamoured One, hence, perhaps is oblivious of our

calls (the call of the "aayarpAdi" maidens)."

 

The above are really very suggestive lines indeed. To one who

understands their "svapadEsArtham" or their real, esoteric

significance which "AchAryA-s" reveal in their commentaries, the

lines are truly very profound!

 

But to any lay reader (particularly someone who is uninitiated into

the religious thought and idiom of SriVaishnavas) who reads the lines

for the first time, the lines may probably appear to have strong

erotic or sexual undertone ("sringAra-rasa"). It may also leave the

lay reader a little bewildered as to why a poetess would want to

depict the theme of religious devotion in the rather explicit idiom

of sexual passion. The answer to such an ordinarily troubling

question is given by various scholars steeped in the traditional

commentaries of "tiruppAvai".

 

In the book "Mysticism in the Upanishads" by Bankey Bihari (Pg.117)

it is explained that "The madness of sexual passion is generally

resorted to in expressing the madness of the devotees for the Lord".

 

V.Bashyam Iyengar in his book on "TiruppAvai" writes (pg.19): "(When

trying to understand these lines of the "tiruppAvai") one should note

an important fact: that the "breasts of Napinnai" ("seppana-menn-

mulai") which captivated the Lord and rivetted his attention were in

reality not of flesh and blood.It is heart-rending how much Lord

Krishna, our perfect 'avatAr' and Lord of Love has been misunderstood

and vilified by ignorant foreigners. Of course, they have not read

our books, much less comprehended their meaning. How else is it

possible to conceive that they could find fault with the doings of

One, whose unquestionable sanction or otherwise constitutes the sole

standard of Right and Wrong? The "svApadesArtham" or inner

significance of the inscrutable doings of the Lord is not understood

or realised except by those who have studied our books in the proper

traditional method."

 

Now, a lay reader with limited knowledge of TiruppAvai literature,

however, may well ask, "Alright, if our Poetess of Villiputtur in

using the phrase "seppana-menn-mulai" refers to far more than the

"full and

delicate breasts of Napinnai", and is not in the least carnal in

sense or purport, then what else did she exactly mean by it?". It is

a perfectly justified question and one which the 'tiruppAvai'

scholars have addressed very adequately and admirably.

 

The scholars explain that in Verses# 19 and #20:

 

"menn-mulai" (full breasts) is metaphor for "budding devotion or

bhakti";

 

"sevvAy" (luscious-red mouth) stands for "inner beauty of the soul"

 

"maitadan-kanninAy" (collyrium-etched eyes) is the metaphor for

the 'eye of gnyAna" or the "opening out" of spiritual knowledge

 

"marungul" (slim waist) is the perfect metaphor for "vairAgya" or

worldy renunciation.

 

V.Bashyam Iyengar further explains wonderfully:

 

"All incarnations of the Lord, originate in his natural love and

mercy for his children but Krishna's incarnation was pre-eminent in

that respect. And if in his quest for souls Krishna's unfathomable

kindness

and condescension induced him to play with cowherdesses, are we to

condemn such "leelA-s" as unbecoming and immoral? (No!). It was

really the incipient knowledge ("gnyAna" or spiritual awakening) that

He saw in the eyes ("maitadan-kanninAy") of the cowherdesses, the

budding devotion (the dawning of "bhakti") that He saw in their

succulent breasts ("menn-mulai") and the creeping "vairAgya" or

renunciation that He saw in their slender waists ("siru-marungul")."

 

Only when the "svapadEsArtham" of bodily 'angAs' such as breasts,

eyes, lips and waists are explained to us in easily understandable

language as above.... only then are we truly able to appreciate and

realize how well the poetic genius of AndAl indeed do in using them

as perfect metaphors for "the budding of bhakti", "the dawning of

gnyAna", "the birth of inner spiritual beauty" and "the austerity of

"vairAgyA" or renunciation" in Man.

 

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

 

In Stanza#21 there is another extraordinarily beautiful line:

 

"...perum passukal Atrap-padaittAn mahanE...".

 

I had always been taught that the above line was an address to

Krishna as being the "son of Nandagopan, the mighty tender of cows

whose udders were bursting with milk...". Adiyen had always thought

that the above expression was an address to Nandagopan's son.

 

Recently I came across a very creative piece of "vyAkhyAnam"

(interpretation) which tells me that the above phrase can also be

viewed as referring to Sri.RamanujachArya even though ANdal pre-dated

Ramanuja by at least 300-400 years! She probably had a prescient

awareness of the advent of Ramanuja on earth well before his time...

So say some scholars.

 

These scholars say that the term "perrum-passukal" refers to

Ramanuja's "disciples". "AtrapadaittAn" denotes the AchArya himself

and "mahanE" actually denotes the Tiru-narayan chella pillai, the

Deity of Melkote, whose idol was personally installed and consecrated

by Ramanuja in the Melkote temple. This temple was greatly favoured

by Ramanuja in his times.

 

If one mulls over the above ideas and the subject-lines of the

'tiruppAvai' one cannot help being amazed at their aptness and

applicability to Ramanuja who, yes, did have hundreds of disciples

("perrum-passukal"), who did tend to them carefully and lovingly by

providing leadership for them during the very troubled reign of King

Kollutungan of those times and, yes, who did regard the Lord of

Melkote, SampathkumAra-Chellapillai, as his own "darling son"!

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

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