irAmAnusa nORRu anthAthi - part 6 - kattaLaik kalith thuRai

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Srimadh Azhagiya singar thiru vadikaLE saraNam

Sri thiru arangatthu amudhanAr thiruvadikaLE saraNam

Sri Ramanujar thiru vadigaLE saraNam

Sri thAyAr samEtha Sri AdikEsava perumAL thiruvadikaLE saraNam

Sri RanganAyikA samEtha Sri RangarAjan thiruvadikaLE saraNam

 

irAmAnusa nORRu anthAthi - part 6 - kattaLaik kalith thuRai

 

Dear bAgawathAs,

 

The empowering manthram known as " irAmAnusa nooRRu anthAthi "

becomes the " rakshai " for the shAshtram known as " nAlAyira divya

prabhandham " . The yanthram in which it is embedded, is known as

the " poetical structure " of this grantham " Sri irAmAnusa nooRRu

anthAthi " . This structure is known as " kattaLaik kalith thuRai " as

per " kAppu ilakkanam " (*) in tamil. A small attempt is being made

now to provide some simple explanation about this meter. Many

AchArya purushALs have praised the uniqueness of this meter while

praising " Sri irAmAnusa nooRRu anthAhti " . So it is important to

understand a little about it prior to going into the pAsurams.

 

" kattaLai " means an order or decree or rendering or a meter in the

poetical reference.

 

There are several types of " pA " s (short form of " pAdal " or song or

pAsuram is known as " pA " ) are present in tamizh poetry. Some of

them are " veN pA " , " Asiriyap pA " , " vanchip pA " and " kalip pA " .

Sometimes " kalip pAs " are also classified as s sub classification

of " veN pA " . The word " kali " in " kalith thuRai " is a short form of

" kalip pA " . i.e. the word " kalith thuRai " can be understood as

" kalip pAvil thuRai " . " kalip pA " is a distinct form of poetical

structure in tamil.

 

" thuRai " means a boundary or place or ghat at the banks of a river

or waterfront or sea, or that which envelops or that which

contain. In kAppu ilakkanam (** short form of the ilakkanam or

grammar delivered by Sri thol kAppiyar around BC 3rd century).

" thuRai " is considered a sub-category that identify certain

content in a pasuram. ie., " thuRai " is one that identify what it

contain in itself as a pasuram. " thuRai " also means that one may

find a particular theme that contain the grouping of people and

animals and so forth and all the AthmAs or living creations. This

grouping again is classified under " thiNai " . ie., " uyar thiNai "

means about people (here AchArya purushALs) and " ahiriNai " means

about non-human creations. Hence " thuRai " can be referred to a

poem or " pA " that contains themes and information about either

human forms or non human creations. Such content may be about

" agam " (introspection and internal qualities and aspects) or

" puram " (external qualities or aspects or specialties externally

associated with a person; In tamil there are literatures such as

" aga nAnooRu " and " puRa nAnooRu " ). In this " kalip pA " (known as

irAmAnusa nooRRu anthAthi), it is wholly delivered about AchArya

purushALs and their aham and purAm al together. Hence this " nool "

is classified under " thuRai " .

 

This nool is also in the " anthAthi " meter which means that the

last word of each pasuram is beginning with the first word of the

next pAsuram.

 

For a poem to come under " kattaLai kalip pA thuRai "

classification, the following are some requirements.

 

1. seer oRRumai ( accordance of seer)

2. Rhyming words in first or second seer.

3. Commonality in iyaibu.

4. poruL oRRumai (Concordance using a common theme on all pasurams)

5. viLi ERRam

 

Each poem is subdivided into sub structures such as " adi " , " seer " ,

" iyaibu, " thodai " , " thalai " . For " kalip pA " , more stringent

requirements are posed as compared to simple " veN pA " meter. The

syllabic structure known as " asai " and iyaibu. " asai " is a term

coined after the way the " seer " is pronounced or the way the mouth

moves and positions during and ending a " seer " pronounciation.

Both " asai " and " iyaibu " has to conform to some common basis

within themselves in a kalip pA.

 

The " asai " can be classified into two as " nEr asai " and " nirai

asai " . " nEr asai " always ends with pronounciation of a vowel (ie.,

the mouth will not be closed when we pronounce this word or " seer "

or patham that ends with a vowel - example " poo " , " pA " , " thA " ,

" nA " ). " niRai asai " means that word or " seer " or " patham " ending

with the pronounciation of consonants. ie., When we pronounce this

" seer " the mouth closes. In " kalip pA " as against other " pA's " ,

the " muthal seer " or the first word, or the first " patham " may

only have one particular " asai " all throughout a particular

pAsuram or poem. As an example It can be seen from the first

pAsuram of Sri irAmAnusa nooRRu anthAthi that it has the first

words or " muthal seer " or the first " patham " of each " adi " or line

as " poo " , " pA " , " thA " , " nA " all of them in " nEr asai " .

 

For " kalip pA " and " venpA " meters, most often the first word or

" seer " always comes with rhym or " ethukai-mOnai " (a reference to

particular rhyming). The second patham or seer of eachline in the

first pasuram is " mannu " , " mannu " , " manna " and " manna " .

 

The next aspect of " kalip pA " ' is its syllabic structure known as

" iyaibu " . The commonalties in " iyaibu " are observed as the

uniqueness of " kalip pA " . " iyaibu " can be said as the " osai " or

the ending sound that is made to end naturally by one. ie.,

" iyalbAga varum adaippu " . The fourth seer in each line has the

words such as " porunthiya " (inth), " adipaNinthu " (inth),

" irAmAnusan " (an), and " nenchE " (nch) . pathams " inth " , " inth " ,

" an " , & " nch " are all the " iyaibu " s that appear in in these

words. They are all common in their sound or " osai " . The

commonality is that they all pronounce using the " nasal pipe " and

appears to end as such. This " iyaibu " in particular is very good

for a musical rendition. Even during gOshti, " Sri irAmAnusa nooRRu

anthAthi " and " madals " are rendered in musical notes by everyone

whether they know music or not. These " iyaibu " s facilitate such

musical rendition. A type of " Iyaibu " is also known as the " oli

iyaibu " . The last patham of the fifth seer of the first two lines

has the words such as " mArban " (an) and " uynthavan " (an). There is

also an " oli iyaibu " observed with these pathams, namely with the

sound of " an " at the end.

 

Same way, the 5th seer of the last two lines has the words

" 'saran " (ss) and " 'solluvOm " (ss). The sound " ss " observed in

beginning of these " pathams " is also observed as the " oli

iyaibu " s. Such " oli iyaibu " occur in a recurring way, making the

rendition even more musical. The " viLi vERRumai " by ending " E " in

" nench'E'! " conforms to the " kattaLai " or emaphasis. Above all the

" kalip pA " also must have a " poruL oRRumai " or concordance of the

meaning of a particular theme all throughout. irAmAnusar's

vaibavam and " perumai " or specialties serves as the " poruL

oRRumai " or the concordance and agreement of all the pAsurams, for

this grantham.

 

One may wonder that if someone can really keep in mind all these

nicities of a tamizh grammar when they deliver a grantham. It is

not that possible especially to either deliver a grantham or write

about it when one do it and attempt it on their own to fit all

these in their grantham. These granthams are all delivered by

perumAL's thiru uLLam conveyed through sadAchAryAL's or prapannA's

angyai. That is why it is important to understand why angyai from

perumAL's thiru uLLam is very imporant for dealing any of these

granthams. Sri thiru arangatthu amuthanAr delivered this precious

grantham spontaneously, using this aboorva yanthram or meter known

as " kattaLai kalith thuRai " as ordained (AngyA) by his sadachAryAL

Sri kooratthu AzhwAr.

 

Srimadh Azhagiya singar thiru vadikaLE saraNam

Sri thiru arangatthu amudhanAr thiruvadikaLE saraNam

Sri Ramanujar thiru vadigaLE saraNam

Sri thAyAr samEtha Sri AdikEsava perumAL thiruvadikaLE saraNam

Sri RanganAyikA samEtha Sri RangarAjan thiruvadikaLE saraNam

thiruk kudanthai Sampath Rengarajan

 

(*) Book titled as " tholkAppiyam a critical study with translation "

in english by S. IlakuvanAr, Madurai

 

(**) Book titled as " tholkAppiyam seyyuL iyal " , in english

by Sri kA. veLLaivAranan, Annamalai University, Annamalai nagar

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