Thiruppavai - thaniyans (dedicatory verses)

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SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dearest all,

 

Let us enjoy the thaniyan (dedicatory) verses.

[an extract from post by Sri Anand Karalapakkam Swami]

Thaniyans are those verses that stand apart from the main verses/pAsurams etc

ie. " thaniththu iruththal " . So, thaniyans for 4000 divya prabandhams are those

verses that are not a part of the pAsurams as such, but recited before them to

meditate on the glories of the AzhwAr, to understand the gist of the upadEsam

given by AzhwAr in that divya prabandham etc.

 

It was previously discussed that thiruppAvai as a mantram is one of its salient

features. For each mantram, there will be a dhyAna slOkam (whom to be meditated

upon and in what way ), and also, one should pay respect beforehand to the rishi

who intuited this mantram etc.

Similarly, for thiruppAvai (a mantram), the dhyAna slOkam is the thaniyan

composed by Bhattar - to chant even the name of this great AchAryA, we are not

qualified.

 

Bhattar once had " katti " (a boil and a swelling) at the back of his body. When a

sishya asked bhattar about this, bhattar answered that " disease " / " health

problem " is also an AchAryA (SwAmi Desikan refers to this in Srimad Rahasya

Traya sAram) since even when all the AchAryAs keep teaching that one has to take

refuge unto Sriman nArAyaNA, many won't listen to it; but when this AchAryA

(disease) comes, they automatically turn towards PerumAL !!

 

The great mahAn " ananthAzhwAn " , for whom thiruvEngadamudayAn Himself composed

thaniyan (accepting AzhwAn as His AchAryA). AnanthAzhwAn's kainkaryams to

PerumAL can't be matched - left even the company of emperumAnAr and proceeded to

thiruvEngadam to perform pushpa

kainkaryam, just because it will be pleasing to his AchArya emperumAnAr and

there are many many pastimes of ananthAzhwAn with thiruvEngadamudayAn.

 

Since PerumAL made ananthAzhwAn have paralysis, even when he had done enormous

amount of kainkaryam, some devotees could not tolerate it and were angry with

PerumAL. But, ananthAzhwAn told that thiruvEngadamudayAn will _always_ do only

good to His devotees ( " nangE seivAN " ) and this paralysis is just burning of some

past karmA/kadan and by this, the time to attain Sri VaikuNTham is shortened.

 

To make His devotee reach Him quickly, He gives things like this and this is a

great help given by PerumAL out of His dayA. Such was the most matured state of

thinking by ananthAzhwAn. When one gets suffering, one should realize that

PerumAL is quickly burning off some past karmA/kadan and this is only good

(pApam kazhinjuthu).

 

Coming back to the bhattar's katti, the doctor

himself was crying as to how to operate ; since

there was no anesthesia that time, the operation

would give enormous amount of intolerable pain to

bhattar. For this, bhattar told " Tommorrow,

thiruppAvai upanyAsam is there. So, you can please

operate during that time " !!! For bhattar,

thiruppAvai was anything and everything (unnum sORu,

parugum neer, thinnum vetRilai), and in that peak of

the bhagavad anubhavam arising out of thiruppAvai,

bhattar will completely loose the consciousness of

the body (whats the need of an anesthesia ?? ).

Such was the involvement of bhattar with thiruppAvai.

All the AchAryAs set such exemplary standard and

only from their lives we can understand a glimpse of

what bhagavad anubhavam is all about. Even in the

times of great difficulties, they set the right

example for us to follow - the mood one should have

etc.

 

PerumAL probably gives such difficulties to mahAns

to make their exaltedness known to all others and

also for others to follow the example set by these

mahAns during those times of difficulties. Bhattar

was given another diificulty by PerumAL and thus

bhattar from Srirangam went to thirukkOshtiyUr and

stayed there ( the ruling king of Srirangam made

bhAgavatha apachAram). Bhattar couldn't tolerate

the separation from RanganAthar and was in intense

viraha thApam. Nanjeeyar, the disciple of bhattar

told " Please forgive adiyEn; swAmi already knows;

but kindly let adiyEn tell this. To get rid of

this present suffering, we need PerumAL's aruL

which will easily fall upon if we get the

recommendation of AndAL <and kUratAzhwAn> " .Thus,

bhattar composed the following thaniyan in

sanskrit for thiruppAvai at that time :

 

" neeLAtungastanagiritaTi - suptamudbhodhya krushNam -

pArArthyam svam SrutiSataSirah: siddham-adhyApayantI |

svOcchishtAyAm sraji nigaLitam yA balAtkrutya bhunktE

godA tasyai nama idamidam-bhUya yevAstu bhUyaha " ||

 

" May I offer obeisance again and again to Goddess AndAL

alias GodA - to Her alone - who has awakened Lord

KrishNa(taking rest and) sleeping on the mountain-like

lofty breasts of Goddess nILA alias nappiNNai pirAtti;

GodA, who has imparted to Him her dependence (on Him)

as established in the hundreds of texts of the crown

of the vEdAs (viz. vEdAntA or upanishads); and gOdA ,

who forcefully enjoys Him after binding Him with

flower-wreaths that were already worn by Her "

 

So, the dhyAna slOkam is based on the 19th pAsuram

" kuttu viLakku " , wherein nAchchiyAr wakes up Krishnar

and nappiNNai ( " nappiNNai kongai mEl vaiththuk

kidantha malar mArban " - KrishNa is having His chest

resting on the breast of nappiNNai pirAtti). There are

many esoteric significances of this pAsuram - the

essence being that when devotees approach pirAtti

(nappiNNai), PerumAL is so much eager to bless them

<now, to open the door>, and when devotees

approach PerumAL, nappiNNai pirAtti is very much

eager bless them <now, to open the door>. Since

AndAL and Her friends prayed to both nappiNNai

pirAtti and PerumAL, both are in a fight as to who

will first open the door and thus one is pushing

the other down. Thus, one should understand about

this couple (PerumAL and pirAtti) who are very

eager to bless the devotees together with so much

vAtsalyam and they are our refuge. Thus, the

dhyAnam for thiruppAvai is on the unbounded dayA

of the divine couple towards us. Infact, on 19th

day of mArgazhi, ArAvamudhAzhwAn (kumbakOnam

sArngapAni PerumAL) will have nAchchiyAr

thirukkOlam and nAchchiyAr will have PerumAL

thirukkOlam. Probably this is the only divya

dEsam in which nAchchiyAr has PerumAL

thirukkOlam.

 

In the pAsuram, AndAL says only " nappiNNai kongai "

(breast of nappiNNai). But in the thaniyan, bhattar

says " mountain-like breasts of nILA " .

Sri U.Ve.nadAdUr (SribAshya SimhAsanAdipati)

Asukavi SArvabhouma SrInivAsAchArya swAmi (alias

SrInidhi swAmi), the AchAryA and thiruth -

thagappanAr (father) of Sri KarunAkaran swAmy has

given a wonderful insight into the thiru uLLam

of bhattar. In Peria thiru madal, thirumangai

mannan performs mangaLAsAsanam as

" ..mazhaikkoondal thennuyarporuppum dhaiva

vadamalaiyum, yennum ivayE mulaiyA-vadivamaindha

anna nadaya aNangE.. " ie. the mountains

thiruvEngada malai and thirumAlirunchOlai are

present as two (mountain-like) breasts of bhoomi

pirAtti and in them PerumAL resides with great

pleasure.Srinidhi swAmy refers to kUrathAzhwAn's

SundarabAhusthavam, after the composition of

which AzhwAn got the association of emperumAnAr

(for around 12 years, they were separated) and

the sEvai of ranganAthan at Srirangam. Thus,

bhattar follows the footsteps of his father

kUraththAzwAn and performs mangaLAsAsanam to

thirumAlirunchOlai Azhagar and thereby expects

that both kUraththAzhwAn and Azhagar will be

pleased by this thaniyan apart from AndAL, and

thus similar to the end of the viraha thApam

of kUraththAzhwAn, his viraha thApam also will

come to an end (which eventually ended also).

 

In this thaniyan, bhattar also reminds us about

the " balAt kruthyam " AndAL did to PerumAL and

giving Him the " mayarvaRa madiNalam " ( nallA

kattip pOttu pAdam kaRpithA - tied PerumAL

completely by giving the garland she wore and

taught (and reminded) Him that they belong to

Him and He is their rakshagan). Thirukkudanthai

AndavAn would jovially say that, only after

seeing AndAL teaching so effectively, all the

schools started recruiting lady teachers to teach

the students!!

 

(*) ParamaikAntins are those who have single pointed

devotion towards Sriman nArAyaNA and are interested

only in the performance of kainkaryam to Him (here

and in Sri VaikuNTham) and His devotees ; they don't

have any interest of their own, other than these

kainkaryams. As AzhwAr says, they are " maRandhum

puram thozhA mAndhar " .

 

Actually, bhattar refers to bhoomi pirAtti as

" pAdavalla nAchchiyAr " < kaisika purAnam vyAkyAnam>,

since She has sung this thiruppAvai. It's also interesting to note

that the sanskrit name for AndAL " gOdA " and the tamil name

is " kOdai " . Sri KarunAkaran swAmi says that PeriAzhwAr

gave the name " kOdai " in tamil only, when AndAL ( who was

5 years old as per sthala purANam) revealed Herself near the

tulasi plant. This is because PeriAzhwAr was immersed in

performing pushpa kainkaryam to PerumAL and was in

constant rememberance of it ; now AndAL also was looking

like a beautiful flower ( " KOdai " in tamil means " flower " /

" garland " ). The sanskrit name " gOdA " also gives many

meanings, very much suitable to AndAL ( " the one who came

from earth " , " the one who was given by earth " , " the one

who delineated how a prabandham should be written " etc).

Such are Her glories; one can keep on praising Her in various

languages.

 

 

Thaniyan - 2 ( by UyyakkondAr) :

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

" anna vayal puduvai AndAL arangaRkup -

pannu thiruppAvaip palpadiya(ga)m - innisaiyAl

pAdik koduttAL naRpAmAlai, poomAlai

choodik koduttALaich chollu "

 

" The saint-poettes AndAL, was born in SrivilliputtUr

(puduvai), girt with paddy-fields and (water-reservoirs

full of) beautiful swans (annam). She dedicated Her

beautifulgarland of songs, singing them sweetly (in praise

of Him). She offered to Him the flower-garland, after

wearing it Herself. May all of us pray to Her and sing

Her poems ! "

 

Here " anna paRavai " known as " hamsa paRavai " has

deep meanings. It can be interpreted to refer to

" parama hamsAs " (sanyAsis ; eg: Azhagiyasingar is

given the title " parama hamsa parivrAjakAchArya ... " )

ie. SrivilliputtUr is filled with great mahAns

(ie. parama hamsAs ). It is to be noted that Lord

HayagrIva gives the sEvai (darSan) as that of a

sanyAsi to chaturmukha brahmA ( SAnti parvA ,

MahAbhAratham).

 

 

thaniyan 3 ( by UyyakkondAr) :

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

 

" choodik koduththa sudarkkodiyE tolpAvai,

pAdiyaruLavalla palvaLayAy ! nAdinee

" vEnkadavaRkku yennai vidhi " yenra immAtRam

nAngadavA vaNNamE nalhu "

 

" Oh AndAL, shining like the flash of lightening ! You

bedecked Yourself first the garland (intended for the

Lord) and then offered it to Lord RanganAtha; You

had the great expertise to compose the renowned and

ancient hymn of thiruppAvai. Oh AndAL with the

multifarious and auspicious bangles ( adorning Your

fore-arms) ! may You please shower Your grace on

us (so that we become greatly devoted to the Lord),

with the same sincerity of devotion ( you had towards

the Lord of vEnkata hill) as You prayed to Manmathan

(PerumAL) thus: " O manmathA, be pleased to make

me (a humble servant and) the bride of

thiruvEngadamudayAn " (NAchchiyAr thirumozhi 1.1).

 

The deeper meaning to the reference of AndAL's

bangles is that even the sound of bangles of AndAL is

very pleasing to RanganAtha, OR even the bangles

of AndAL sing thiruppAvai. But, this thaniyan is

more oriented to nAchchiyAr thirumozhi (reference

to thiruvEngadamudayAn) and thus it would be logical

to think that this has to be a thaniyan for nAchchiyAr

thirumozhi. But, why then is this a thaniyan for

thiruppAvai, wherein (apparently) no reference has

been made to thiruvEngadamudayAn ? The answer

lies in the 20th pAsuram " muppaththu moovar " .

 

[note: All the translations of the thaniyans are adopted

(with slight editing) from Dr.VKSN Raghavan's

ThiruppAvai translation and notes , published by

Sri VishistAdvaita PracAriNi SabhA-

 

Let us enjoy the 1st and 2nd verses morrow.

AndAL ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

namo narayana