geethA sAstramum nedunthAndaka sAstramum-8

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

 

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

 

Sri vAnAchala mahA munayE Namaha

 

 

 

MUTTU KURI

 

 

 

One special happening during the araiyar sevai is the muttu kuri. Usually

during the araiyar sevai the araiyars do beautiful and apt abhinayam (enacting)

only to the paasurams. First the araiyars explain a paasuram with the abhinayam

and then they give out the commentary to the paasuram. This is the general

procedure followed on all days other than the day of the muttu kuri on which day

the enacting is done not only for the paasuram but also for some portions of the

commentary with music. This is also referred to as ‘abhinaya vAkyam’ in the

tambhirAnpadi vyakhyanam with the araiyars. During this occasion the araiyars

pose themselves to be a kuraththi (tribal woman who predicts hidden things)/

kattuvichchi, and tries to predict the reason behind the illness of the heroin

(thalaivi) and also the cure for the same.

 

 

 

Since the kattuvichchi uses pearls to predict the reason of illness, this

occasion has been named as muttu (pearl) kuri (prediction). This occasion

happens on the last day of pagal pattu utsavam, part of adhyayana utsavam in

Azhvar thirunagari. While in Srirangam this happens on the nineth day of the

pagal pattu utsavam. In case of Srivilliputtur this occasion is celebrated

three times in a year viz., on the tenth day of the Adipoora utsavam, on the

nineth day of mArgazhi ennai kAppu utsavam (on the 2nd day of month thai, on

kanu pongal) and tenth day of panguni thirukalyana utsavam. On the last day of

the margazhi pagal pattu utsavam thirumangai azhvar’s thirunedunthAndakam is

recited and amirthamadhanam is enacted.

 

 

 

The paasurams, which are selected for the muttu kuri occasion for araiyar sevai,

is the first 11 paasurams (“from minnuruvAi to pattudukkum”) of thirumangai

Azhvars, thirunedunthAndakam. Out of this, starting from “minnuruvAi” to the

third paasuram (“thiruvadiviR karunedumAl”…”peruvadivil kadalamudham konda

kAlam…”) forms one part. This is called as ‘amrithamadhanam’. Since the lines

in these paasurams indicate the incident of churning the milk ocean to get

amrutham, this occasion is called as ‘amruthamadhanam’. It is to be known at

this point that even bharatha muni has named the incident of churning the

parkadal as “amrutha madhanam” in his nAtya sAstra.

 

 

 

The second part starts with the fourth paasuram “indirarkum” and ends with the

tenth paasuram “ponnAnAi”.

 

 

 

The third part contains the 11th paasuram “pattudukkum” which is only named as

muttu kuri. This paasuram comes under the category of ‘agapporul pAdal’ in

Tamil literature. The first few lines of the paasuram are the words of the

heroin who is in love then follows the words of the heroin’s mother followed by

the words of the kattuvichchi, the tribal woman who does predictions.

 

 

 

The paasuram goes as follows:

 

 

 

“pattudukkum ayarthirangum pAvai penal

 

paNinedunkanneer thadumbha palli koLLAL

 

eLthunai pOdenkudankAl erukka killAL

 

emperumAn thiruvarangam engE?’ ennum

 

mattuvikki manivaNdu muralum koondal

 

madamAnai edhu seydhAr thammai ‘meyyE

 

kattuvichchi sol’ enna sonnAl ‘nangAi

 

kadalvannar edhu seidhAr kAppArArE?’

 

 

 

Here the mother with great worry enquires to the tribal woman to predict who has

created the love illness in her daughter’s mind. The woman predicts and says

that the emperuman, with the colour of the ocean has created love in the mind of

the heroin. While enacting this paasuram, the araiyar assumes himself to be the

heroin, the mother and the tribal woman and does an excellent performance. On

one side the araiyar shows the feelings inside the heroin (parakala nAyaki) on

not being able to get together with the hero (emperuman), then he enacts the

feelings of the mother who is worried on seeing her daughter in the depressed

state and wanting to know the reason behind the depression and hence requesting

the tribal woman to find out the same (“teerpAraiyAmini enganan nAdudhum”) and

finally the araiyar takes the role of the kattuvichchi and with the help of

pearls she finds the reason behind the heroin’s illness and delivers it to the

mother, “kadalvannar edhu seidhAr”. Thereby the

enacting is done in three stages. All these are enacted by the same araiyar.

While taking the role of the mother the araiyar puts a knot in the silk cloth in

his hand and assumes that to be her daughter and explains her daughter’s state

each time pointing towards the knot. The tambhirAnpadi vyakhyanam to this muttu

kuri paasuram is also elaborate. This is a long occasion when considered to all

other days of araiyar sevai. Though there are three stages in enacting the

paasuram the commentary does not show any difference.

 

 

 

In azhvar thirunagari and Srirangam, during the adhyayana utsavam both

amruthamadhanam and muttu kuri happens on the same day. In Srivilliputtur,

during the adhyayana utsavam only amruthamadhanam is enacted while muttu kuri

happens three times in a year (as discussed already). Since the paasuram starts

with “pattudukkum” the araiyar is first blessed with a silk cloth from the

temple and then the araiyar starts the sevai adorning the silk cloth. In azhvar

thirunagari the araiyar goes all round the long pagal pattu mandapam during this

occasion while in srivilliputtur the voice of the araiyar immerses all of us

into the occasion.

 

 

 

Stopping with happy anubhavams at this point let us from the next posting try to

analyse how thirumangai Azhvar has framed this prabhandam keeping in mind the

words of the geethAcharyan, Sri Parthasarathi emperuman. At this point we have

to remember that geetha is a crux of all the vedas and is regarded as the

Upanishad part of the fifth Veda “bharatham panchamO veda:” and the prabhandams

of thirumangai azhvar are regarded as the “tamil nannool turaigal

anjukkilakkiyam Arana sAram” (“mAran seidha thamizh maraikku mangaiyar kOn

Arangam koora avadhariththa”). Here out of the six prabhandams of thirumangai

azhvar the last prabhandam, thirunedunthAndakam is considered as the upanishadic

part by our poorvacharyas that contains the essence of the ultimate knowledge.

Let us try to analyse the two great works one by the tattvam, bhagavan

geethAcharyan himself and the other by the tattvadarshi, thirumangai azhvar to

the lowest level possible and leave the in-depth analyses to the divine

feet of the learned scholars who are well versed in ubhaya Vedanta. Let adiyen

inform you all at this point that adiyen is unfit to take this great task but

just out of interest and adiyen’s liking for both the works adiyen wishes to

scribble something about the two. Adiyen requests the pardon of all bhagavatas

for the mistakes already committed and those yet to be committed. Hope to spend

atleast a few hours in trying to learn something by bhagavat/bhagavata/Acharya

krupai.

 

 

 

Azhvar EmperumAnAr Jeeyer thiruvadigalE sharanam

 

 

 

Adiyen ramanuja dAsee

 

Sumithra Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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