The Shameless Strategy & A Peep into Periya thriuMozhi 227

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Thirumangai AzvAr' s Preference to Northern cult to Tamil one

 

When Thriumangai AzvAr Proclaimed in ThriuNedunthANdakam 'senThiRatha Thamizh

Osai vada sollAGi' ThirunedunthANdakam 4,the classical divine tamil, indeed

shows up the collar, a tribute from none other than nAlu kavip perumAL.

 

However, when it comes to emotion packed romance, love and affection,the pangs

of separation pushes Thirumangai mannan to relegate tamil cult to backseat when

AzhvAr opts fornorthern practices -vaDa neRiyEa vEANdinOam'.

 

There is another instance where Kaliyan endorses this view. When ParakAla

nAyaki's mother places her in an isolated place, ParakAla nAyaki looks around

to get a glimpse of the divine spot 'ThriukkaNNapuram'. The mother decidedly

felt that having put her in a secluded spot, the communication would get

snapped and so the relationship.

 

However, her predicament is realised by the holy messenger who goes on a singing

mission, bridges the gap, functions the job of router and concretises the

communicatin culminating in togetherness of the loved ones.

 

Generally, this singing missionary -pANan- is sent by the thalaivan -male

counterpart to assuage the hard feelings of the female counterpart -thalaivi.

This is the practice in tamil cult.

 

'nEnilA muTRAthE ninRivaL nOKKinAL,

kANumOA kaNNapuram enRu kATTinAL,

pANANAr thiNNamirukka ini ivaL

nANumOA? nanRu nanRu naRaiyURarkEa' Periya ThiruMozhi 8-2-2;

 

However, in northern cult, this can be done by female part to the male part

(refer Rukmini PirATTi's emissary to Lord KrshNA)

This line is toed by ParakAla nAyaki who mentions that the pANaNAr is in a

mission to ensure their togetherness and therefore she is unperturbed.

 

The swApadhEsam -AchAryan is the pANAnAr who ensures the prapannan with EmperumAn.

 

(Heard from upanyAsam-s)

dASan

vanamamalai padmanabhan

 

 

-

 

The Shameless Strategy

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

The Shameless StrategyYou would have seen a recent TV

commercial for a mobile phone, in which a youth climbs to the top of a

skyscraper under construction and bawls out for all to hear, 'Monica! I love

you! Please accept me' and so on. Given the large degree of exaggeration that

characterises all advertisement, I wondered idly whether someone would really

resort to such tactics to persuade his beloved to accept his attentions. All

said and done, love is a private matter and none would like others to know

about it prematurely, till it is confirmed to be a two-way affair. However,

what can the boy do if, despite his most sincere and industrious pursuit, a

girl refuses to accept or even acknowledge his affections? He can't really

throw in the towel and look at other eligible females, because his love for

this particular girl is really deep and has reached a stage where he can't live

without her. He has tried all the routine strategies for communicating with her,

like letters, SMS, messages through her friends, etc., but nothing seems to

work. It is in sheer desperation, knowing not what else to do to win her

affections, but convinced that he must do something, he climbs to the top of

the tower under construction and shouts his love for her, literally from the

rooftops, so that people who hear his forlorn message would perhaps take pity

on him and intercede with the girl on his behalf, or the girl herself would

realise from this shameless act the depth of his love for her and would be

sufficiently moved to return his affections. Whether the strategy succeeds or

not is a different matter-but its adoption indicates to us the desperation

behind the youth's action, the almost suicidal sincerity underlying his love

and his brazenness in not caring whether the entire world knows about his

innermost feelings.Given that love is a basic emotion and has been afflicting

boys and girls from time immemorial, it is no surprise for us to find mention

of the phenomenon is ancient Tamizh literature. In fact, the type of exhibition

youth put on in desperation to attract the notice of their beloved, during times

past, appears to be much more excessive than any even the current day youngsters

have come up with so far (which is definitely saying something). We are told

that in the face of a studied silence on the part of their beloved despite all

forms of entreaties, boys and girls used to forsake food and sleep, tormented

by constant thoughts of the beloved. They drew a portrait of their darling and

used to go anywhere and everywhere along with it, gazing at it with adoration

and yearning. Friends of the lover used to take him or her in a procession

through the town, portrait and all, especially through the street where the

unresponsive beloved resided. At the height of the malady, the boy or girl used

to fall at the feet of the portrait and even die in the same posture, having

given up basic life-saving functions like eating, sleeping and bathing. This

type of rather bizarre behaviour prompted by excessive and unrequited love, has

been given the name Madal Oordal, in Sangam literature. However, whatever be the

circumstance and however excessive be the emotion, women were not expected to

adopt such strategies for securing the attentions of their beloved.

Tiruvalluvar tells us that the ideal girl, whatever be the provocation, never

resorts to such tactics-'Kadal anna kaamam uzhandum madal eraPennil

peruntakkadu il'The hoary culture of ancient Tamils placed such premium on

modesty and continence in women, that though society was prepared to

countenance bizarre behaviour in males, prompted by a surfeit of love, it

preferred women never to be excessively demonstrative of their affections, even

if the separation from the beloved were to result in the girl's life being lost.

It was alright for women to rant, rave or grieve the absence of their beloved,

all within the four walls of the home, but it was not considered the done thing

for females to resort to Madal Oordal or similar publicly demonstrative

strategies for consummating their love.We are therefore surprised to find Sri

Tirumangai Mannan, the doyen of Tamizh poets and sporting the title Naalu Kavi

Perumal, taking a diametrically opposite stand vis-à-vis accepted norms of

behaviour for Tamizh women. In fact, Azhwar quotes these norms and makes fun of

such women for not adopting the tactics of Madal Oordal. We thus find Azhwar

running contrary to Tamizhar Panpaadu (Tamizh Culture), not even by oversight,

but with studied deliberation. Sri Kalian spurns the mores of Tamizh women and

prefers those of North Indian girls, who are much more venturesome in their

endeavours for attaining their beloved. If you find this hard to believe, here

are the poignant words of the peripatetic poet Parakala-'Anna nadaayaar alar

esa aadavar melmannu madal ooraar enbador vaasakamumten urayil kettu arivadu

undu-adanai yaam teliyommannum vada neriye vendinom''I have indeed heard Tamizh

poets pontificate that women of good birth and upbringing never resort to Madal

oordal for achieving union with their beloved, even if the prolonged separation

is likely to cost them their lives. However, I do not agree with this school of

thought and would much prefer to follow the models set by Sanskrit literature,

where we find such strategies freely adopted by women to achieve their ends'

says Sri Kalian, in his 'Periya Tiru Madal'.Not content with voicing his

disagreement with the Tamizh poets, Sri Tirumangai Mannan goes on to make fun

of the heroines of these poets, who hold their emotions in such tight check

that one wonders whether their love is really that intense. These girls do not

appear to experience any of the torment that characterises true and unrequited

love. These women very obviously do not realise the deleterious effects of cool

sandalwood paste (which burns the skin instead of cooling it) on those suffering

from pangs of separation. They fail to feel the sadness that sweet strains of

music induce, in the absence of the beloved to share them with. They fail to be

moved by the mellifluous chimes of bells around the necks of mating bulls. The

cheery chirping of bird couples in the throes of conjugal delight fails to move

these southern damsels, whereas their northern counterparts would have been

tormented at the thought of what bliss they too could have enjoyed in the

company of their beloved. To sum up, Sri Kalian concludes that since these

women portrayed by Tamizh poets fail to be moved by romantic sights and sounds,

their love must be rather shallow.Azhwar prefers to toe the line of other girls

acclaimed by Sanskrit literature, who are thrilled to the very core of their

being by the company of their beloved and are pushed to the verge of suicide by

separation, displaying the unfathomable depths of their emotion for those they

love.He prefers to say with the Divine Couple in Srimad Ramayanam that he would

not live an hour more, without the precious life partner-'Oordhvam maasaat na

jeeveyam tam vinaa asitekshanaam' .Sri Kalian's (or the Parakala Naayaki's)

words in the two Madals (Siriya Tiru Madal and Periya Tiru Madal) drip with

romance for the Supreme Being, full of bridal mysticism, the pain of parting,

sorrow at what he/she is missing, longing for reunion with the elusive Divine

Lover, determined to attain Him by any and all means, even at the cost of

throwing her modesty to the winds (as portrayed by the bizarre behaviour of

Madal Oordal mentioned above).The Madals represent a radical departure in

phraseology and approach, from the sedate paasurams of Kalian's 'Vaadinen

Vaadi', 'Angan maa gyaalam anja', 'Virperu vizhavum', etc.---. the latter

represent the sober words of an Azhwar describing the Lord, His auspicious

attributes and exhorting Samsaaris to surrender themselves to the Supreme

Being. However, the former (Madals) represent the uncontrollable outpourings of

a lady love longing for union with her beloved. The pangs of separation become

all the more unbearable and prompt shameless behaviour, considering the

boundless beauty and auspicious attributes of the person sought to be courted.

One may wonder whether such romancing is in tune with Azhwar's avowed objective

of Bhagavat anubhavam. Normally, when you want to concentrate on the Lord, such

thoughts prove to be a definite hindrance. However, Sri Kalian's strategy

appears to be to reserve all such passion solely for Sriman Narayana, in tune

with Sri Amudanar's dictum-'Kannanukke aamadu kaamam'-love, in all its myriad

facets, is to be reserved for Emperuman. If Sri Periazhwar could compose a

Pillai Tamizh, placing himself in the position of a fond mother to Sri Krishna,

Sri Parakala puts himself in the position of a lady love pining away for

Emperuman, deriving delirious pleasure in His company and feeling down in the

dumps upon separation. And the depth of his love for the Lord is such that he

is prepared to adopt any strategy, fair or foul, for achieving his object of

union with the Ultimate, adhering to the maxim 'All is fair in love and war'.

And Madal Oordal is perhaps a small price Azhwar is willing to pay for the

coveted prize of Bhagavat laabham. He cares little, like the youth on the tower

top described in the opening para of this piece, of what the people around him

would think of him for adopting such a brazen strategy-in this, he follows the

precedent set by Sri Parankusa, who too is willing to go to the extreme extent

of Madal Oordal for attaining Emperuman, who is playing truant-'Annai en seyyil

en oor en sollil en'. 'Let the whole world watch me resorting to Madal: let all

the women in the town call me shameless and brazen. I care little for all the

criticism, as long as I am able to win the affections of the Emperuman with the

Divine Discus and Cosmic Conch adorning His broad shoulders' says Sri Nammazhwar

too, from whom Sri Tirumangai Mannan appears to have derived inspiration for

adopting the Madal route to attaining the Lord. Here is Sri Nammazwar's

poignant paasuram, contemplating resort to the extreme step of Madal

oordal-'Yaam madal oordum em Aazhi angai Piraan udaiToomuruval tondai vaai

malar kondu chooduvomAamadam indri teruvu toru ayal tayyalaarNaa madangaa pazhi

thoottri naadum iraikkave'The Madals teach us that nothing, but nothing at all

is precious, including one's self-respect and standing in the eyes of society,

when the goal to be attained is exalted, being none other than the

Paramapurusha. Shedding one's ego completely and broadcasting one's love for

the Lord from the rooftops is not at all unthinkable for Azhwars, who exhort us

too to abandon our inhibitions and demonstrate our adoration for Emperuman for

all to see-'Perumayum naanum tavirndu pidattrumin pedamai teernde'Emperuman is

said to be accompanied by His two Consorts, Sridevi and Bhoodevi, at Sri

Vaikunttam. It would appear that in this world too, He had two Mahishis, the

Paraankusa Naayaki (Sri Nammazhwar) and the Parakaala Naayaki (Sri Tirumangai

Azhwar), whose love and affection were no less than those showered on Emperuman

by His Consorts in the Eternal Worlds.Srimate Sri Lakshmi Nrsimha divya paduka

sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:dasan,

sadagopan