Search:
Bhakti List Archives

thiruppavai day eighteen song eighteen

From the Bhakti List Archives

Ramani Naidu • January 1, 2003 


TIRUPPAVAI  - DAY EIGHTEEN - SONG EIGHTEEN

Transliteration

unthu mathakaÃŽiRRan OtAtha thOL valiyan
nanthakOpAlan marumakaLE nappinnAy
kantham kamazum kuzali katai thiRavAy
vanthenkum kOzi azaiththana kAn mathavip
panthal mEl palkAl kuyilinankaL kUvinakAn
panthAr viRali un maiththunan pEr pAta
centhamaraik kaiyAl cIRAr vaLai olippa
vanthu thiRavAy makilnthElOr empAvAy.

Translation

Mighty as an elephant in musth and
Strong shouldered in the battlefield
Is Nantakopa.
Nappinnai, his daughter-in-law, with perfumed hair!
Throw open the corridor.
Listen to the cocks crowing everywhere.
Listen to the insistent cooing of koels in flower beds.
Supple fingered for a game of balls!
We sing in praise of your Lord.
Open the door with a happy heart
As the bangles at your lotus arms jingle.

As stated earlier, the purpose of the eighteenth song of Tiruppavai is to
invoke KrishnaÂ’s consort, Nappinnai.

KrishnaÂ’s consort is identified as NantakopanÂ’s daughter-in-law. In the
Hindu society, the very identity of a woman suffers a sea change; once she
gets married. She comes not only to enjoy the deference due to the house but
also becomes a symbol of the familyÂ’s honour.

Perhaps in line with such a tradition that Nappinnai, KrishnaÂ’s consort is
identified in the name of NantakopanÂ’s daughter-in-law.

Nantakopan is said to be mighty as an elephant in musth – untu mata
kalirran. This phrase is interpreted in three ways. a) mighty as an elephant
in musth; b)one who holds the elephants in musth in check and c)one who
possesses elephants. The last interpretation is by far the far-fetched.
Insofar as the first two celebrate his might, they can be taken as the right
reading. It is complemented by the next phrase that celebrates his valour.
The might and valour of Nantakopan are rightly cited to indicate the fact
that in the midst of the oppressive rule of Kamsa, Nantakopan alone can
ensure honour and safety. Legendary stories with regard to KamsaÂ’s
despatching monsters to kill the child Krishna in various forms like
Bhutanai the woman, Sakatasura and Kesi the horse also fall in place.

What follows in the song refers to the typical scenes at dawn – the crowing
cocks, the cooing of the koels. But the context is different. Such
references were made earlier in the series to implore the maid to join the
pavai. But here, it is a prayer to Nappinnai. She had Krishna all to herself
during the night and it is time that Krishna graces the maids with his
august presence.

The reference to the supple fingers of Nappinnai is also curious. She has
fingers adept in playing a game of balls. Perhaps she holds on to the balls
that she has won in the game even as she sleeps.

That the grace of God cannot be compelled even by the best of devotees
appears to be underscored in the prayer to Nappinnai to open the door for
the maids to enter. The gods are to acknowledge devotion for the grace of
God to ultimately abound. It is this acknowledgement that is sought in the
prayer to Nappinnai to open the door herself as the bangles in her arms
jingle.

Looking closely at the five songs 18-22, a curious question arises. While in
the eighteenth song Nappinnai, the consort is prayed to open the door, from
19 to 22, the GodÂ’s awakening is also invoked. That leads to the curious
question. Ignorance may be considered to be sleep in the context of the maid
or maids in succession being woken up in the previous cluster. Denial for
admittance may be attributed to the sleep of Nantakopan, Yesodha and
Baladeva. To ascribe sleep to God Himself may be construed to be an assumed
awareness of the maids of possible indifference on His part. But to consider
God indifferent is blasphemous. How then is the invocation of God to be
perspectivised.

This is explained in two different ways. One is the traditional, theological
explanation and the other is the modern literary imagist explanation.

According to the first, Krishna in his manifest form is to be acknowledged
to have been understood in his essential transcendental form of Narayana.
Therefore besides making the maids understand that the essence of the soul
consists of waking up from their ignorance of samsara, Krishna is also
invoked in his essential transcendental nature in the form of awakening him
from his slumber. It is not as if He is woken up but as if the realisation
of the Transcendent in the form of the near and dear Krishna is
acknowledged.

Secondly, modern literary criticism which identifies the pavai ritual with
fertility cult, suggests the idea of an image. Nappinnai is an image for the
earth.Vishnu is the God of abundance. The harvest due to follow the next
month is presented in the form of Krishna lying abed with Nappinnai. So the
invocation is an anticipation of the abundance of the harvest due.






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



--------------------------------------------------------------
           - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH -
To Post a message, send it to:   bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com
Group Home: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bhakti-list
Archives: http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/
 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/