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A Tamil equivalent for the word Bhakti

From the Bhakti List Archives

jasn sn • July 3, 2002 


SRIMATHE  RAMANUJAYA  NAMAHA

Mr Visu has attempted to establish a Tamil equivalent
for the word BHAKTI.
He says

>The word /pakti is not a proper /tamiz word. Poets
>like /tAyumAvar have not
>used it. 

I beg to differ from him.
This word has been  very much in usage.
It is Bhaththi for bhakti and the Bhaththtar for the 
Bhakta.
In Thiru-chanda Viruththam (79)
the last line goes thus:

"bhaththaraamavarkkalaathu muththi muttral aagumo'

The alwar by directly relating the bhaktha to mukhthi,
reveals clearly that "Bhaththan" is the
Bhakthan.Herein the word mukhti also has been changed
to Muththi

In Ramanuja Nootrandhadhi too, in verses 5, 6, 29 and
37, the word bhaththi is used to denote Bhakthi.
So it had been in  common usage. Tamilising the word
Bhakti as Bhaththi has its precedence as early as the
Thiruvalluvar era.
 Thiruvalluvar used the word Bhagwaan, (the sanskrit
word) as 'bhagavan' in his opening verse 'agara mudala
ezhuththellaam' 
( as told by Sri Sadagopa Ramanuja sawmi in his
Kurippurai to Thirukkural and Parimelazhagar moolamum,
uraiyum)
It is 'vali kuraivu puNarchi' in adapting the
vadamozhi-chol in Bhagavan
and it is 'vallina puNarchi'in adapting Bhakti as
Bhaththi.

I went through the Sen tamil Agarathi, (N.C. Kandaiya
pillai, 1950 edition)The word Bhaththi (to mean
kadavuL Bhakti) and the word Bhththar to mean Adiyar
and the word Bhakhtha vathsalan to mean kadavul are
found.
Interestingly, I could not spot bhakti or bhaththi in
the Choodamani Nigandu brought out by Arumuga Navalar!

Nor could I  spot any other word as a synonym for
bhakti.The reasons are obvious. The concept of Bhakti
was almost non-existant in the Vedic period as also in
the Tholkaappiyar period. The stress had been on
surrender and upasana in the Vedic period and
surrender or 'adi sEruthal' in the pre-Thiruvalluvar
Tamil nadu. (sweeping comments capable of generating
fresh controversies, is it?)

But Mr Visu's choice of 'Pattru' as a substitute for
Bhakti also seems untenable. 
The reasons are
This word has been widely used in two contexts only. 
to cite the famous example,
the kural from Thuravu,
'Pattruga Pattratrran pattrinai , appattrai 
 pattruga pattru vidarku'

and the two kurals preceding this kural,
"pattri vidaa.."
" pattrarra.."

Pattruthal is used to mean 'cling to', 'adhere to',
'hold on to' etc
The relevant relation to our discussion is that this
stands for 'sharanagathi' or surrender
In another context, the same word means
'desire', 'aasai'.
because in sv literature too (as in saivist
literature)
the word pattru is generously used to mean aasai or
'to come to hold on to'
In Ramanuja Nootrandhadhi this word is used in
pasurams 43, 85 and 86,  to mean clinging to in the
former one and as surrender in the latter  two.

In the Choodamani Nigandu,
pattru is given as a sysnonym of aasai.
There is this word pattruk-kodu in the Nigandu to mean
thanjam (surrender)
Once again this word is given to mean 'to like' and
'to hold on to' in the Sentamil agarathi. 
Pattruthal means Aadharam as per this dictionary.  

In Thiruvaimozhi too there comes a famous verse,
'attrathu pattrEnil uttrathu veeduyir"..(THI 1-2-5)
In this pattru means attachment or aasai
and in the next sentence , 
'attrirai pattrE'
it has come to mean 'surrnder' or 'clinging to the
Erai'

But nowhere this word has been used to maen Bhakti.

It is also difficult to take the logic in Mr Visu's 
>expresson, "pARRu teyttuk koTU" which we say to our
>chldren or a servant is an
>example. We want them to clean the cooking vessel,
>because the dirt of sticky
>rice refuses to leave. It is an attachment to the
>vessel (/pAttiram). So we ask
>please get rid of this attachment by scrubbing. The
>literature often gives this
>as an example of /bhakti

I think the relevant word here is 'Paththu' (paththu
paathram ) not pattru. The root word must be
Parukakai (Our grand mothers can help us in knowing
this better)

Joining Mr Visu in his search for a proper Tamil word
for Bhakti,

Nammalvar uses the word VEtkai.
In Thiruvaimozhi 9-6,
Vetakai and vetkai noi are used to express thge
intense desire for the lord.
But choodamani Nigandu has clubbed this word along
with pattru to mean aasai. 
I think Vetkai is not acceptable for one more reason.
In Aeinguru nooru (Ettu-thogai Nool), there is a
separate chapter called 
'Vetkaip-paththu' reeling out verses impregnated with
desire or viruppam.
So the general usage of this word prohibits us from
using it to mean Bhakti.  

Then ULLudhal is a better word used by alwars.
But then this also may mean thinking and bhakti is
more than mere thinking.

Anbu is one word that might fit in. Taking the leaf
from Poigai alwar,
"Anbu AAzhiyaanai anugu ennum..."
anbu looks a better word.

But the alwar's subsequent descriptions that
'Naa, avan-than panbu, aazhi, thoL paravi Eththu
ennum,
Munbu oozhi Kaanaanai kaaN ennum kaN,
Sevi kEL ennum
Poonaaram poondaan pugazh"

goes to show that Bhakti is a very vast idea. Starting
from Anbu it stretches further to include the
experiences at indriya level.
I think this word Bhakti is unique - like its very
implication.
Bhakti by any other term is NOT bhakti (unlike the
Shakespearian Rose)
It is and must be ORIGINAL
wherever it thrives 
or for whomever it blooms!

jayasree sarnathan.

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