A Peep into Periya ThiruMozhi 159

[Guest guest]

pranaya kalaham

(part I)

 

Devotees who attend and experience utsavam-s and cherish the anubavam-s very well know that the Lord who is away for a night is not permitted inside the temple by thAyAr. The supreme- Omniscient Lord - has to answer all sorts of questions to get leeway and squeeze His way in to His divine abode. Everyone would happily recount Sri nam-perumAL having spent the night at vuRaiyUr not being allowed inside the thiruvarangam periya-kOil. The questions asked start from 'where have You been all night? to 'Why is YOur kasturi thilakam-which is normally upright, tilted and smeared?'

It is another matter that reconciliation takes place and the Lord ultimately enters His own Home after passing the interview.

 

If this is the case for the Lor Himself, can one imagine the plight of a

crab? Yes, the masculine crab -alavan- affectionately goes in search of eatables, with the intention of submitting to its beloved, who is in the family way. The evening quest takes the alavan to a lotus and it enters the precinctsof the lotus and alas at the sunset the lotus closes itself. It tries to get out of the lotus but in smears itself with parts of lotus and nectars in the process.The crab has to wait till the sunrise in the morn. to get the doors opened and no sooner the gates are opened rushes towards the better half -who is resting in the alli- eagerly to give all the favourite gatherings it had made for its sweetheart.

 

Unfortunately, being the morning the alli closes itself.

 

Thirumangai mannan describes the wealth of the thirunaRaiyUr dhivya-dhEsam -in such a fashion.

Sri bhaTTar, goes on to explain the fact that since the alavan-masculine gender of the crab, had spent all night elsewhere -actually it was trapped inside the lotus, the female naNdu -naLLi- on seeing the marks on the body of its man, did not allow it inside-questioning its whereabouts and nocturnal ventures.

Not just being questioned, it did not permit the crab inside.

 

This was the plight of this crab, which had in fact eagerly and affecitionately spent a sleepless night for the sake of its wife.

 

The pAsuram goes on as follows

 

"paLLi-k kamalth idai-p-patta paguvAi alavan mugam nOkki,

naLLi vuDum vayal sUzhndha naRaiyUr" 6-7-6;

 

A natural day to day phenomenon, descrbed splendidly by kaliyan, a description of sprawling blossomed lotus and closed Ambal-s, and equally wonderfully explained by bhaTTar.

 

and there goes bhatTTar again with his supreme commentary skills.

 

(to be continued)

dAsan

vanamamalai padmanabhan