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thiruppavai day seventeen song seventeen

From the Bhakti List Archives

Ramani Naidu • December 31, 2002 


 
THIRUPPAVAI - DAY SEVENTEEEN - SONG SEVENTEEN
 
Transliteration

amparamE thannIrE corE aRam ceyyum
emperumAn nanthagOpA eLunthirAy
kompanArkkellAm koLunthe kula vilakkE
emperumAtti yacothAy eLunthirAy
amparam Utu aRuththOnki ulalaLantha
umparkOmAnE urankAthu elunthirAy
cempork kaLaLatic celvA palathEva
umpiyum nIyum urankElOr empAvAy.

 Translation

Our Lord Nantakopa! Wake up!
You administer clothing, water and food.
Our Lady Yesotha! Wake up!
You are the tenderest of the tender leaves of the creepers,
The auspicious lamp of the herdsmen clan.
Our God of gods! Wake up!
You tore the skies to measure the world of gods.
Baladeva! With your brother, wake up!
The golden anklets of valour adorn your feet.

 The six songs (17-22) make up another cluster within the Tiruppavai. Obviously, between the sixteenth and seventeenth songs, the maids have gained admittance into the abode of God. Songs 17-22 may be said to make up an invocation of GodÂ’s grace in the name of waking Him up from his sleep.

 That Hinduism is polytheistic is public knowledge. But that the word polytheism does not bring out the essence of the structural aspects of Hindu theology has to be acknowledged.

 The Vedic polytheism considered Brahma as the God. On various occasions, one particular god or the other was invoked and offered prayers for certain boons they can grant. Thus Vasudeva came to be a deity in Vedic religion while Brahma was the God Absolute. Such gods who were invoked on particular occasions were known as atistana devata – the god invoked.

 The later Hindu pantheon goes beyond such a simplistic explanation of polytheism. While Siva became the God Absolute for the Saivas, Narayana became the God Absolute for the Vaishnavas. Such theism can best be called personalistic holistic apperception of God. Should Being or Transcendence or God be regarded as personal or impersonal in nature? In answering this question, it has to be remembered that the inner passage traversed by the human consciousness is filled with an overwhelming of worthlessness of being unrelated to God. God should, in other words, be of such a nature as to be consciously related to manÂ’s being in the world so as to dispel his sense of despair, worthlessness or loneliness and create in their place a sense of hope, worth and inner companionship. Such a nature cannot be ascribed to the Transcendence or Being or God if it is conceived in purely impersonal terms. Hence it would be reasonable to suppose that Being or Transcendence or God bears a personal character so as to enter into comm

When God came to be so personalised, a number of gods were held to be in particular relationship with the God. Thence the temple iconography developed into an art in itself. The temples were structured in many layers that were in concentric squares the innermost of which is the sanctum sanctorum. Circumambulating each layer, the devotees offered their prayers to each god in the layer.

It is in the context of such a temple structure that one has to look at the songs 15-22 in the series of Tiruppavai.

Having gained admittance into the precincts of GodÂ’s abode, after the fifteenth song, the maids attune the praise of Nandagopa, Yesodha and Balarama along with God in the sixteenth song.

 Nandagopa is Krishna’s foster father and the Chief of the herdsmen. The word ‘aram’ in the first line of the poem is usually interpreted as the benevolent gifts given away by Nandagopa in the form of clothes, water and food. A better perspective would be to look at the word as indicating the administration of clothing, water and food in tune with the responsibilities of the Chief. Therefore the translation, “you administer” rather than “you give away”.

Secondly, Yesodha, KrishnaÂ’s foster mother is addressed. The women of ayppati are tender as creepers and the best of them is Yesodha. Besides she is also the auspicious lamp of the clan. It is to be noted that in Hindu society as well as Hindu pantheon, a certain place of dignity is assigned to woman. Invariably, the consorts of God are seen as the most sympathetic towards the devotees. In fact the appeal to GodÂ’s grace is routed through the consort or the mother. Natually, Yesodha falls in place in this song.

Though the ultimate appeal is to God, this songs makes an appeal from the outer square of the temple to God Himself in the name of one of his exploits – that of Vamana who measured all the worlds in two strides. The picture evoked with just a phrase – ambaram utu aruttu onkiya – is graphic. God grew in magnitude to tear through the sky and measure the world of Gods.

Baladeva, KrishnaÂ’s brother, is also invoked in this song. The terms of invocation are those of valour. The reference is to a kind of anklet worn by men. The anklet is said to have been made of pure gold.

Traditional interpretation will metaphorically explain the attributes to Nantagopa. God is the clothing, water and food to the devotees – the source of their sustenance and dignity. Nantagopa has bestowed on the maids the gift of God who is everything to them. The cross reference is interesting. – unnum coru, parukum nir, tinnum verrilaiyum ellam kannan – Kannan is to the Alwar the rice he eats, the water he drinks and the betal leaf he munches.

Yeshodha is seen as lying between Nantagopa and Krishna. Traditional interpretation would speak about the duality of motherhood. On the one side is the husband who is hugged so tight as to make him feel the pressure of her breasts on his chest. On the other side is the baby to be offered her breasts for milk. Yesodha is also called the tender tip of a creeper with fresh leaves. Any harm to the creeper will be reflected by the drooping of the tender leaves first. Any difficulty in the family will affect the womenfolk first. Therefore is Yesodha called the fresh leaf of the tender creeper.

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



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