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thiruppavai day twenty four song twenty four

From the Bhakti List Archives

Ramani Naidu • January 7, 2003 


THIRUPPAVAI – DAY TWENTY FOUR – SONG TWENTY FOUR

Transliteration

anRu ivvulakam alanthAy ati poRRi
cenRankuth thennilankai ceRRAy pORRi
ponRac cakatam uthaithAy pORRi
kanRu kunilA erinthAy kaLal pORRi
kunRu kutaiyAy etuththAy kunam pORRi
venRu pakai ketukkum nin kaiyil vEl pORRi
enRenRum un cEvakamE eththip paRai kolvAn
inRu yAm vanthOm irankElOr empAvAy.


Translation

Hail to Thy feet that strode all the worlds that day!
Hail to Thy valour that vanquished Lanka in the South!
Hail to Thy kick that annihilated Sakatasura!
Hail to Thy poised feet that flung the calf away!
Hail to Thy greatness that made an umbrella of a hillock!
Hail to Thy spear that vanquishes the foes!
Here are we today to remain Thy slaves,
Singing Thy praise for ever and ever.
Pray bless us with Your grace.


The twenty-third song appealed to God to assume the throne and dispense
Divine justice in obliterating the elemental sin of the bodily existence of
the maids. The twenty-fourth song hails God who has thus assumed the throne
in all His majesty, splendour and grandeur. Not surprisingly, the song lists
out the manifest greatness of God in all his exploits against the evil
forces.

The first line refers to Vamana. God appeared as a midget brahmin when
Mahabali was reigning supreme through all worlds three. The gods represented
to Narayana and He appeared in the form of a midget brahmin. Mahabali was
munificent besides being an oppressive ruler. Vamana the midget brahmin was
offered a gift of his asking. He asked for a gift of land measurable by
three strides of his. The surprised Mahabali offered the gift ceremoniously
with his laughter reserved at such a humble gift. Once the gift had been
formally made, Vamana grew in magnitude and measured all the worlds in two
strides. The third step still remaining, Mahabali understood the Divine
intention. He bowed to Narayana asking Him to place his third step on his
head and thus annihilate him and at the same time redeem him. Such is the
story of Vamana avatara.

The second line speaks about the vanquishing of Ravana by Rama. The curious
word is ‘cenranku’ meaning ‘going there’. A series of situations was so
manipulated that Rama had to leave Ayodhya in the north and go all the way
to Lanka to annihilate Ravana. The speciality about the incidents narrated
in the story of Rama (Ramayana) is that all of them are essentially human
and the character of Rama that Narayana assumed was devoid of any blemish
associated with being human. Thus Rama manifestation can be taken to be a
lesson in the human ideal.

The third, fourth and fifth lines speak about Krishna manifestation. Perhaps
Krishna is the most romantic as well as the noblest and valourosque
manifestation of God. That makes Krishna the most beloved and the most
trusted form of Narayana. The third and fourth lines refer to how Krishna as
a child annihilated asuras despatched by Kamsa to kill him. The first
reference is to Sakatasura – a monster who possessed a cart and tried to
smash Krishna. Krishna is supposed to have kicked the cart away from beneath
and thus to have annihilated the monster.

The third reference is still more interesting. The herdsmen were in the
habit of offering prayers to Indira, the god of rain, fire and wind. When he
became wrathful at the negligence on the part of the herdsmen,  he sent
Varuna the rain god to Gokulam. There was a mammoth downpour. Unable to
stand the floods any more, the herdsmen sought KrishnaÂ’s grace. Krishna is
supposed to have held a hillock above his head beneath which the herdsmen
and their cattle were protected from the rain.

A note on the manifestations will be very much in place here. There are
altogether ten manifestations mentioned of whom the tenth is awaited. There
is a certain evolutionary progression about the manifestations. The first
three belong to the animate forms, the fourth is anthropomorphic and the
next five to the human forms while about the tenth there are speculations
that definitely point to the superhuman.

>From the aquatic fish (macca) to the amphibian tortoise; from the amphibian
tortoise to the boar, the land animal; from the boar to the anthropomorphic
Narasimha, the lion headed human bodied manifestation, the first four
manifestations show a definite upward progression in terms of specialization
of species. The second aspect about the first four is that they are instant
appearances in all His might with a specific mission each to be
accomplished.

The next five are human in form. There is also a certain order of
progression. From the dwarf Vamana to Balarama is the development from the
primitive to the agricultural and social. From Balarama who wields the
plough to Parasurama who wields the weapons of war is to be seen the
progression from the agricultural to the political. From Parasurama to Rama
is a progression from type to a complete human ideal.

>From Rama to Krishna is the shift from the ideal to the practical. The
latest manifestation, namely Krishna, is an embodiment of a series of
several valorous exploits that ultimately reach a climax in the form of
KrishnaÂ’s role in the battle of the Bharatha in which Krishna is a party but
not a part insofar as he wields no weapon at all. Thus it is but natural
that the last two manifestations are more celebrated than the others and the
last, Krishna is the most celebrated manifestation of Narayana. Looking at
the rapid strides that man is making today in the fields of science and
technology, which would have sounded almost superhuman until a few tens of
years ago, the belief that Kalki, the anticipated tenth manifestation of
Narayana may be a high-tech manifestation need not be discounted, perhaps!

The twenty-fourth song, besides being an invocation, is also a declaration
of absolute commitment on the part of the maids. Though they have approached
the God now, their commitment remains eternal – enrenrum – for times
unended. Therefore they rightfully implore GodÂ’s grace in the last line of
the song.






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



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