Thiruppavai 12 kanaitthiLam

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Pasuram12-kanaitthiLam

kattrerumai

 

kanaitthiLam kattrerumai

kanrukkirangi

ninaitthu mulaivaziyE ninru pAl sOra

anaitthillam sErAkkum narselvan

thangai

panitthalai veeza nin

vAsalkadaipattri

sinandhingu thennilangai kOmAnai

chettra

manatthykku iniyAnai pAdavum nee

vai thiravAi

initthAn ezundhirAi eedhenna

pErurakkam

anaitthu illatthArum

arindhElOrempAvai

 

You,

the sister of the rich man in whose house the buffaloes let out abundant of

milk on account of the memory of their calves and the whole place is wet and

marshy with the milk, open your mouth and answer us. We have come here at your doorstep

and stand with dew drops falling on our heads. Wake up , why is this

long sleep? Come and sing of the Lord who wrathfully vanquished the lord of

Lanka.

 

In

the last pasuram the glory of the father of the girl who was being awakened was mentioned and in this, the brother of

the girl, who is called, is praised. There is an opinion that

this brother mentioned has reference to the close friend of Krishna,

named Sridhama.

 

KanaittiLam kattrerumai- The buffalo which has been let out to graze on

the wet grass as mentioned in the pasuram "keezvanam." It is making sound 'kanaiitthu' remembering its calf , which alone is enough

to make the milk flow, unlike the cow

which gives milk only in the presence of the calf.

 

sinandhingu----komanaicchettra- reference

is to Ramavathara and Ravana is mentioned as thennilangaikkOmAn to indicate that Rama did not

destroy Lanka because he has already

given it to Vibheeshana and only killed

the king of Lanka.

 

Manatthukku iniyAn- Rama was described by Valmiki as 'sOmavathpriyadarsanah,' because

by looking at him the heart gets joy as by the sight of the moon. He is a

delight to all the senses and to the mind.

 

initthAn ezundhirai- You

get up at least now after hearing about Rama because he is 'vigrahavaAn dharmah,'

the embodiment of dharma and Bharatha, listing

the sins that may come to him if he was guilty of plotting for Rama's

exile, mentions the sin of not doing the daily duties according to sasthras. and

hence not to get up in the morning and worship the Lord is also one of them.

 

anaitthu illatthArum arindhu-

Every one is here already and hence know that you are still sleeping.

 

As

the buffalo gives out milk by the mere remembrance of its calf and its milk

flows everywhere at all levels, the Lord

remembers us and makes His mercy flows

to us without distinction.

 

The

words 'erumai' and 'narselvan' denote Lakshmi and

the Lord respectively. The word for buffalo in sanskrit is mahishee

which also means the wife usually used to mean the queen. The word 'narselvan' refers to the Lord

as he has Lakshmi with Him and hence rich .

 

This

pasuram has the implication of the dvaya manthra, 'sreemannarayanacharanou saranam prapadhye, sreemathe

narayanaya namah,' as both the Lord and Sri are referred to,

..

 

Sridevi

thinks of us, her children and takes pity on us and recommends our case to the

Lord. As sinandhingu mentions

Ramavathara the Sita devi who said "who does not err", 'na kaschithnAparAdhyathi.'

is compared to the buffalo which gives out milk at the memory of its calf. She

also advised Rama about mercy and to Ravana about dharma trying to save him from his doom. The same

divine mother as the bhudevi incarnating as Andal now instructs us about saving

ourselves by saying His name. Thus the epithet 'kanaitthiLam-----serAkkum' qualifying the word 'thangAi' instead of 'narselvan' denotes the infinite

mercy of the divine mother and the same in connection with the latter word may

mean the infinite mercy of the Lord. ThangAi

is to be taken not as sister in this context but Lakshmi who is 'hiranmayi', thangAi meaning thangam

or gold.

 

Lanka

is the sarira .and the word sinam

here may mean the chinnam ( there is

no difference between cha and sa in Tamil script) meaning the

marks of shanku and chakra on those who have done saranagathi through the

acharya. With this mark one wins over the KomAn,

the monarch of the sarira , namely the ego. The word 'pErurakkam' means denoted the sarirAthma buddhi, the identification of oneself with

the body.

 

By

the grace of the divine mother giving

out the milk of her mercy thinking about the plight of her children , that is, us, the heart becomes

marshy with devotion. Then such a person is narselvan, one owning real riches in the form of bhakthisamrajya.

 

'vAsarkadai'

means doorstep and here it denotes the indhriyas, sense organs which are the

gateways of experience. When the senses are engaged in the thought of 'Sinandhingu----mantthukku iniyAn,'

the shower of dew, in the form of self knowledge falls on the head, 'panitthalai

veeza.'

 

The

reference is to poygai AzvAr, as he was

born on a lotus in a lake open to dew drops. He is compared to 'kanaitthiLam kattrerumai'

as he was the first of the three mudhalAzvArs to sing on the Lord (kanaitthu)

and gave out his experience at the darsan of the Lord or the sake of all out of

mercy.