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nAcciyAr tirumozhi VI - vAraNam Ayiram 7

From the Bhakti List Archives

Kalyani Krishnamachari • February 10, 1999 


			SrI:
      SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

             nAcciyAr tirumozhi VI - vAraNam Ayiram
      pASuram 6.7 (sixth tirumozhi - pAsuram 7 vAi nallAr 
                   nalla maRai Odi)

A. Translation from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

"Professional vaidikA-s chanting the good veda-s and reciting 
the appropriate mantra-s, spread the green grass surrounding 
the agni and placed the samit (wooden sticks) on them.  Oh dear 
friend! I saw kaNNan, who came majestically like an angry elephant, 
hold my right hand and circumambulate the agni walking slowly."

vAi nallAr nalla maRai Odi mandirattAl
 pASilai nANal paDuttup paridi vaittu
kAi Sina mA kaLiRu annAn en kai paRRi
 tIvalam Seyyak kanAk kaNDEn tOzhI! nAn

Extract from SrImAn SadagOpan's write-up on saptapati mantrams and
their meanings (from the bhakti archives):

With each of the seven steps, a particular
mantram is recited. Let us examine these mantrams:

First Step : "EkamishE vishNus tvANvEtu" -  is
the first mantram . This says : " O Dear girl !
O ANDAL ! You made the first step as my wife.
May Lord vishNu (Myself will) follow your step to make sure
that you have undiminishing food all your life
( prayer for subhishTam, akshaya pAtram )".

Second Step : "dvE UrjE vishNus tvANvEtu" - Here the groom prays
once again to Lord vishNu; he says : " O Dear girl!
You have now taken the second step with me as my wife .
May Lord vishNu ( Myself will ) follow your step and bless you
with pushTi (strength ) in your body ( a prayer for disease-free 
life ) ".

Third Step : "trINi vratAya vishNus tvANvEtu" - here again,
the prayer is for Lord vishNu to follow godai's
third step and to grant the boon of vraTAnushTAnam
( performance of yaj~nams assigned to gruhastAs
as dharma patnI )  to her during her married life .

Fourth Step : "catvAri mAyO bhavAya vishNus tvANvEtu" -  
this prayer once again is to mahA vishNu
( Himself ) to follow her during her fourth step and
grant her the boon of conjugal happiness .

Fifth Step : "panca pasUbhyO vishNus tvANvEtu" - the prayer
is : " may Lord vishNu follow your fifth step with me
and grow your wealth of cattle ( cows, horses, elephants 
and isvaryams related to the four-footed )".

Sixth Step : "shad rutobhyO vishNus tvANvEtu " - here
MahA vishNu is beseeched to follow her sixth
step ( be behind her and support her ) for all
auspicious rutus (six seasons ) during her married
life .SrI ranganAthar hints that He is going to be right
next to her and make sure that vasantha rutu,
ghrIshma rutu and all the other four are going to
make her days with Him plesant .

Seventh Step : This is the last of the seven steps .
The prayer is : "saptas saptabhyO hOtrAbhyO vishNus tvANvEtu" - 
the Lord said : "aNi putuvai paimkamalat taNteriyal bhattar 
pirAn gOdE! When you recited the seventh mantram and took the 
seventh step , I , MahA vishNu , the former resident of Srirangam 
will follow You to help You perform oupAsanai, agni hOtram
and other gruhastha homams and yaj~nams without deficiencies .
You are the nAacciyAr of My house now. SrI villiputtUr
is your mALikai ( palace ). This is your place of birth.
Therefore , you have more power than me here. I will hence
follow you and bless you to have all SoubhAgyams by
moving over to your birth place and stay in my
father-in-law's place, your house. We guess that
periyAzhwAr was mighty pleased with the decision of
his Son-in-law so that he could have the Anandam of
seeing his daughter and the Lord, her husband right
there in SrI villiputtUr next to him. Even today , we
see rangamannAr, ANDAL and periyAzhwAr ( garuDan )
on one pITam at SrI villiputtUr.

The saptapati mantrams end with "sakhA saptapadAbhava"
(Be a friend with these 7 steps) and "sakhAyou saptapadAbhabhUva"
(We both are friends now after these 7 steps).

For additional details on vedic wedding mantrams, please refer to:

<http://www2.be.com/~mani/bhakti/archives/apr98/0063.html> 
<http://www2.be.com/~mani/bhakti/archives/apr98/0083.html> 
<http://www2.be.com/~mani/bhakti/archives/apr98/0088.html> 

B. Some additional thoughts (from SrI PVP):

nalla maRai Odi:  ANDAL is referring to  "good" veda-s.  Is there 
a difference in vedam called good vedam and bad vedam?  SrI PVP 
explains this as follows:  the first half of vedam describes the 
yAgams that are to be done to the Lord who is antaryAmi in the dEva-s 
like indra. The second half, which has the mantrams like purusha 
sUktam, praise emperumAn's svarUpa guNams directly.   godai points to 
this second half as  "nalla maRai".

mandirattAl:  When mantra-s like purusha sUkta praising bhagavAn's 
svarUpa guNa-s are being chanted, why is there a reference to 
additional mantra-s? Again, ANDAL's reference here is to the 
mantra-s associated with the kriya-s prescribed in gr*hya sUtra-s, 
such as the paristaraNam around the fire, placement of samit, etc.

kAi Sinam mA kaLiRu annAn - When He came, He walked with the 
majesty of a mad elephant (matta gajam).  However, once He came and 
held my hand, He walked slowly like a normal elephant when we 
went round the agni together. 

kaip-paRRi - It is as if the mad he-elephant came majestically and 
took the hand of the mad she-elephant, which is now imprisoned 
(owned) by the he-elephant.

tI valam Seyya - The reference here is to the sapta-pati which 
is the part of the basic marriage ceremony. SrI PVP refers us to 
the veda mantram that is recited during saptapati:  "EkamishE vishNu:
  ..... sakhA saptapadA bhava" (yajurvEdam 3-3-89) 
Since He has held her hand with agni as the witness, He cannot 
leave her (hand) any more and she cannot leave Him (His hand) any more.


sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

adiyEn,
Kalyani Krishnamachari