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thiruvidaven^dhai pAsuram

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Vijay Triplicane • April 9, 1999 


--
Vijay Triplicane



Dear Sri Madhavakkannan,
	This set of pAsurams and your excellent commentary are so beautiful that
I am really not able to do anything else so far this morning. I
personally like the 4'th pAsuram. (In fact, long back I was searching for
the word 'oozhi' in the dhivya prabhandhams and hit upon this one and
instantly liked it.) I posted an article about that. I made some
corrections to it and am reposting it since you have set a nice platfornm
for it. Thank you very much Sri Madhavakkannan for taking me down the
memory lane...
-Viji

-----------------------------------------------------
This one is from periya thirumozhi by sri thirumaN^gai AzhwAr:

Just happened to go through this and was instantly attracted to the sheer
beauty of this thamizh pAsuram and its emotions. Thought i will share it 
with the group..

This poem is sung by the mother of the nayaki, the heroine. The nayaki is 
madly in love with the Lord. Since the Lord doesn't show up she gets so
frustrated and restless which she explains to her sakhi, (friend).
Upon hearing this the mother is so worried about her daughter that she 
complains to the Lord and questions Him...

	`oozhiyil peridhaal n^aazhigai!' ennum
	 `oNsudar thuyinRadhaal!' ennum,
	 `aazhiyum pulambum! anRilum uRaN^gaa
	  thenRalum theeyiniR kodidhaam,
	  thOzhiyO!' ennum `thuNaimulai yarakkum
	   sollumin enseygEn?' ennum,
	   Ezhaiyen ponnuk ken n^inain^ dhirun^dhaay
	    idaven^dhai yenNdhai piraanE!     2.7.4


A free Translation:
--------------------
Oh! Lord of thiru idavendhai, my dear daughter is badly suffering the
separation from you. I heard her explaining to her friend as follows:

"The nights are as long as a yuga, it is so difficult to pass the night that
 I am more than eagerly looking forward for the day. When will the Sun rise?
Won't it rise at all? is the Sun dead or what? Oh! my dear friend, the Ocean
is so noisy and the krouncha birds are shouting all through the night. (It is 
said that the krouncha birds always live in pairs and never separate. If
they get separated, they will shout to death. Hence the shouts of the
krouncha birds seems like a bad omen to the nayaki, furthering her pain
and suffering). The southerly breeze is like a gust of fire on me 
(southerly breeze is said to be cold). I am so frustrated that I feel like
plucking my breasts out 

The mother is obviously worried at her daughter and complains to the Lord.
"Oh! Lord what have you done to my dear daughter?????"
 
	A closer look:
---------------
	oozhiyil peridhAl n^Azhigai" ennum -
	(my daughter tells her sakhi, "one n^aazhigai seems longer than 
	a yugam")

	"oN sudar thuyinRadhaal" ennum - 
	("the sun is dead or what??" ))
	(For the nayaki in her viraham, she finds the nights to be very very
	long and is eagerly looking for the day and therefore waiting for the
	sun to rise.. In her restlessness, she gets so mad that she asks
	whether the sun is dead or what?? )

An interesting reference:  For a love sick girl, getting through the day
is easier than the night. It seems longer and in their fit of frustration
they come up with so many such rhetorical questions.  Sri n^ammAzhvAr in
his nayaki bhAvam as parAN^kusa nAyaki expresses one such frustration in
thiruvAymozhi 5.4.4.
peNpiRandhaar eythum perundhuyar kaaNkilEn enRu,
oNsudarOn vaaraa thoLiththaan,im maNNaLandha
[...]
(It seems that the Sun did not want to come out to see all the sorrows
and frustrations of women that he hid himself...)

	In their eternal race of who expresses their agony of separation better,
between parAN^gusa nAyaki and parakAla nAyaki, once again parakAla nAyaki
(our dear thirumaN^gai mannan ) emerges as a clear winner! 
parAN^gusa nAyaki said the Sun hid himself fearing to face the sorrows of
women. But parakAla nAyaki went one step further and said he must've been
dead! (committed suicide?) :-) (Please take this in a lighter vein. This
is the beauty of the nectar like thamizh pAsurams. Lets enjoy every bit
of it. oNNum vittu vaikka vENdAm! )

	"Azhiyum pulambum, anRilum uRaN^gaa" -
	("the ocean is making so much of noise (the ocean is noisy during 
	the nights...) 
	the anRil (krouncha birds) keep shouting all through the night..)
	(It is said that the anRil birds are always in pairs and they never
	separate.. if one of them leaves the other, the this one keeps
	shouting for a while and kills itself! the fact that these birds keep
	shouting all through the night appears to be a bad omen to her,
	furthering her pain...)

	"thenRalum theeyiniR kodithAm" - (even the southerly wind which is
	cold for everyone is like fire on me..)

	"thuNai mulai arakkum", en seygEn sollumin - (the ammaa further
	continues.. the nayaki tells her sakhi that she will pluck her pair
	of breasts  outa frustration...the ammaa is obviously worried now, 
	what to do with this daughter...)

Another interesting reference:
	ANdAL expresses a similar sentiment in n^AchchiyAr thirumozhi - 8.
[...]
koLLum payan onRillaatha
  konkai thannaik kizhankOdum
aLLip paRiththittu avanmaarvil
  eRinthen azhalai theervEnE.   8


	Ezhai en ponnukku en n^inain^dhu irun^dhaay , idavendhai pirAnE-
	oh! the Lord of thiru idavendhai, what have you planned for my 
	daughter...

	[based on Sri PBA's commentary..]

sri thirumaN^gai AzhwAr thiruvadigaLE charaNam
thiru idavendhai Sri nithyakalyANap perumAL thiruvadigaLE charaNam

-Viji
(Vijay Triplicane)