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thiruppavai day eleven song eleven

From the Bhakti List Archives

Ramani Naidu • December 25, 2002 


THIRUPPAVAI – DAY ELEVEN – SONG ELEVEN

Transliteration

kaRRuk kaRavayk kanankaL pala kaRanthu
ceRRAr thiral aziyac cenRu ceRuc ceyyum
kuRRamonRillAtha kOvalar tham poRkotiyE
puRRaravalkul puna mayilE pOtharAy
cuRRaththuth thOLimAr ellOrum vanthu nin
muRRam pukunthu mukilvannan pEr pAta
ciRRAthE pEcAthE celvap pentAtti nI
eRRukku uRankum porulElOr empAvAy.

Translation

Golden maid of the clan of the herdsmen
Who milk the calf-cows of countless herds,
Who undo the pride of foes in valorous wars,
Who are the unblemished.
Your vaginal slant is beautiful like the spread hood of a snake.
Your gait is like that of the wild peacock.
O maid of riches! Come and join us!
What mean you with your sleep and silence
When all your kinsfolk have assembled in front of your house
Singing in praise of the Cloud-Hued?

The eleventh song continues with the situation in the previous songs – the
maids on their way to the pond for the ritualistic bath stand in front of
the house of a friend to call her to join them.  But there is a definite
change of tone in the eleventh song. While the previous songs tried to
upbraid her, tease her and provoke her, there is a tone of persuasion in
this song.

The herdsmen own countless herds of cattle. Their valour is such that the
pride of the foes is reduced to nothing. They are also said to be free from
all blemishes.

The maid is the golden maid of such a clan. She has a shapely waist and her
vaginal slant is as beautiful as the spread hood of a snake. She has as
gentle a gait as the wild peacock. She is persuaded to wake up and join the
friends waiting for her. “Don’t you know that there is nothing to be
achieved by keeping away from us? We are all your kinsfolk. We have
assembled in front of your palace. We celebrate the various names of the
cloud-hued God.”

Though the previous songs also acknowledged the nobility of the maid yet to
join those on their way to the pond, a sense of impatience and even
irritation was to be seen in their call to her. Beginning the eleventh song
through the fourteenth, the maids sound less sharp. They try to persuade her
to join them.

The fifteenth song dramatises a conversation between them even as they
remain where they are – she within doors and they in front of her palace.
There is a certain contradiction of terms in ‘kaRRuk kaRavai’. ‘kaRavai’
means milch cow and ‘kaRRu’ means calf. God in his grace for the cows will
make calves of cows and yet make them flow with devotion for Him. Therefore
the countless devotees of countless faiths shall be taken to be the
calf-cows of countless herds.

Nammalvar would say

vanankum thuRaikaL palapalavAkki mathi vikaRpAl
pinankum camayam palapalavAkki avaiyavai thORum
anankum palapalavAkki nin mUrththi parappi vaiththAy
inanku ninnOrai illAy ninkan vEtkai ezuvippanE.

Means of devotion so many You have caused.
Faiths so many You have caused.
Gods so many have You caused.
Means of devotion so many You have caused.
And in all You have instressed yourself.
You are the Unparallelled.
You have caused the thirst for You within me.

Foes are those who nurture antagonism towards God and those who offend the
devotees. Periyalwar would describe Kamsa as the vicious who nurtured anger
against God – thIyapuntik kanchan un mEl cinamutaiyAn’.
Nammalvar would say that kanchan offended the pious and the people – cAtu
canattai naliyum kanchanaiÂ’. Therefore the herdsmen clan is to be taken
valorous enough to undo such pride which makes one turn against God and the
devotees.

‘kOvalartham poRkotiyE’ can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, the maid is
the ornament of gold in the herdsmen clan. Secondly, she is like a creeper,
however lush, dependent on a prop for existence. Her life depends on the
support she seeks from her prop, the God, through the pavai observance.

“Shouldn’t the very mention of the hue of the cloud make you jump off your
bed and join us? Does it become of you to lie still and silent even as we
sing in praise of the cloud-hued God?” That is the persuasion in the song.
This is easily obtained since she is called a wild peacock which at the very
sight of dark clouds spreads its long beautiful and colourful tail and
dances.

This song by extension is said to refer to the first three of the twelve
alwars – Poykai Alwar, Puttatu Alwar and Pey Alwar. They were wandering
yogis. While the other Alwars have to their credit long pieces of
composition, these three have composed only a hundred stanzas each  in
quadruplets.

Poykai AlwarÂ’s Tiruvantati is one herd. Along with PuttattalwarÂ’s
Tiruvantati, it becomes two. And with PeyalwarÂ’s Tiruvantati, they become
many. They were constantly on the move removing ignorance and insensitivity
to God with their songs. Therefore the reference to undoing the pride of
foes. All the three had been untainted in that they did not have a human
origin. Poykai Alwar made his appearance from a pond; Putattalwar from a
flower and Peyalwar from a well. They had also not tainted themselves with
any worldly attachments whatsoever. The question of renunciation does not
apply to them since they had appeared and lived with nothing to renounce.
Therefore ‘unblemished’.

In effect, the first three Alwars become the archetypes of the clan of the
devotees. The slant of the hip down to the vagina compared to the spread
hood of a snake also has metaphorical implications. The beauty of the hip is
the nobility of devotion, bhakthi. Besides, devotion is between the other
two means of realisation of God – jnana and virakthi. While Poykai Alwar is
an embodiment of jnana and Peyalwar is an embodiment of virakthi which is
also called parabhakthi, Puttatalwar is an embodiment of bhakti. He
concludes his hundred songs with, “My devotion is as large as myself” –
enran alavanrAl yAnutaiya anpu. The eleventh song in effect can be
identified as a celebration of the tradition of devotion to God beginning
with the first three of the Alwars in which Andal fits naturally in place
both as a devotee par excellence and poet par excellence.







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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