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thiruppavai day twelve song twelve

From the Bhakti List Archives

Ramani Naidu • Thu Dec 26 2002 - 05:04:21 PST 


TIRUPPAVAI  - DAY TWELVE – SONG TWELVE

Transliteration

kanaiththu ilan kaRRerumai kanRukkiranki
ninaittu mulai vaziyE ninRu pAl cora
nanaiththillam cERAkkum naRcelvan thankAy
paniththalai vIza nin vAcaRkatai paRRi
cinaththinAl thennilankaik komAnaic ceRRa
manaththukkiniyanaip pAtavum nI vAy thiRavAy
iniththAn ezunthirAy Ithenna pERuRakkam
anaiththillaththArum arinthElOr empAvAy.

Translation

Buffaloes with brimming udders make a slush of spilt milk.
So rich is your brother’s household.
We wait at your doorstep,
Heads drenched in the dew.
We sing in praise of the Beloved
Who in wrath vanquished the Lord of Southern Lanka.
Yet you speak not.
What deep slumber is this of yours?
Wake up at least now.
Everyone around has become aware of your indolence.

The tone of persuasion begun in the eleventh song continues with the twelfth
song too.

The riches of the maid’s household are described in terms of abundance of
milk, the proceeds of cattle wealth. Milch buffaloes in her brother’s house
are so numerous that milking them in time is a herculean task.  There are
still many  buffaloes left with painful udders brimming with milk. Such
buffaloes just think of their calves and spill milk. The floor becomes
slushy. The maid of such a rich household is so indolent as to ignore the
song in praise of Rama who vanquished Ravana of Lanka. The maids wonder what
kind of a deep slumber is it of hers. She is told that all around have
become aware of her indolence. So, if not at their rebuke and persuasion,
she may have to get up and join them lest the reputation of such a rich
household should be at stake.

Traditional interpretation would identify the brother with Lakshmana, Rama’s
brother. Lakshmana was so devoted to Rama that he did not have any other
business of his own. Even if he had such business, like milking the
buffaloes, he has neglected them. Such interpretation however sounds
farfetched.

Another traditional interpretation sounds better. The spilling of milk is to
be identified with spontaneous grace of God. Even when Arjuna had not asked
Krishna to explicate the mystery of life and death, Krishna came out of his
own volition in the Gita. “bhUya eva mahA bAho. Srunu me paramam vaca.”
The reference to the dew drenched heads is in line with the showers of grace
spoken about in the fourth song. The maids are drenched in dew – drenched in
God’s grace.

There is a strange combination of wrath and annihilation on the one hand and
becoming beloved on the other. This needs an explanation. Though in wrath,
Rama did not choose to annihilate Ravana when he had been dispossessed of
his arms during the battle on the first day. He was so graceful as to tell
him to go back home and come back to the field the next day to fight it out.
It is such a grace even in wrath that makes Rama the Beloved.
The slumber can again be interpreted in two ways. Caught in the enticing net
of samsara, the worldly life, a binding with the life here and now, man
becomes oblivious of his real obligation to spiritual cultivation which in
effect is the true purpose of being endowed with human life. This is what is
called ‘loukikam’ – a preoccupation with the materialistic.

The other kind of slumber is the yogic slumber of God Himself called
‘vaithikam’. With his entire attention on the preservation of the whole
universe, God keeps His eyes closed as if in sleep.
The maid withindoors is not base enough to be lost in loukika – the
materialistic. Nor is her slumber like that of the Divine. Therefore the
sense of wonder – what kind of a slumber is this?
“Everyone around has become aware of your indolence” can also be interpreted
in two different ways. “If you would like to ensure that everyone has joined
the troop for the pavai observance, let us assure you that everyone is with
us.” – that is one reading of the line. The other reading is, “Don’t you
know that if everyone around comes to know of your indolence, it is not only
your reputation as a devotee but that of your noble brother at stake?”
Having identified Putattalwar with the maid in the previous song,
traditional interpretation would identify Poykai Alwar with the maid in this
song.
As the first of the Alwars, he is the mother and the others calves. He came
out with his experience of the Divine in his Tiruvantati for the sake of the
others to succeed him. The reference to the dew drenched heads is to the
story of the first three Alwars having met each other for the first time
when they sought shelter from the rains and subsequently came to have the
experience of the Divine in their midst.
There are overtones of Poykai Alwar’s songs in the twelfth song of
Tiruppavai. ‘pu meya matavatton” is Rama; ‘tal paninta val arakkan’ is
Ravana; ‘patamattal enninan panpu’ is the nobility of Rama despite his
wrath. The line in Poykai Alwar’s Tiruvantati reads as follows : “pumeya
matavatton tal paninta val arakkan nin mutiyaip patamattal enninan panpu”.
It is this nobility of Rama that has endeared Him to the maids :
‘manatukkiniyan’
Thus the twelfth song of Tiruppavai continues with its attempt at persuading
the maid withindoors to join the pavai observance. To the discerning reader,
the song is found to celebrate the tradition of bhakthi taking its origin
from the first three Alwars. Another point of interest is the reiterated
celebration of the nobility of God that endears Him to the devotees.







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