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Thiru NaRaiyoor - madal parisu peRRa thalam - Part 4

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sampath Rengarajan • March 27, 1996 


"Madal oorvan" oru viLakkam ie "madal oorvan" an explanation.

kadalanna kaamam uzhanRum madalERaap
peNNiR perunthakka thil
			Thiru VaLLuvar in thiruk kural on "madal oorthal"
and

eththani marunginum magadu U madan mER
poRpudai neRiyinmai yaana ..

 ie the practice of madal mEl selluthal or the such neRi is not common for
magaLIr or woman, as per Tamil IlakkaNam.

Madal Eruthal is a paNpaadu or vazhimuRai or practice for sanga Kaala
thamizhar. During sanga kaalam, the thalaivan or male lover, wants to
propagandae or make it public that he was betrayed by his love ie his
counterpart namely the female lover. He makes a horse made of panai Olai (palm
leaves), and draws or paints his lover's picture in a cloth and hangs it as a
flag for the horse and wears erukkam poo maalai (garland made of a type of un
unsual flower ie used mostly for pillaiyaar, a bachelor lord) for himslef and
rides in alankOlam and and cries out to the public that this is the merciless
female who betrayed him.

When thirumangai assumed the naayagi baavam, he instigates the Lord that if you
would not present me your darshan, I would do madal Eruthal. He openly
(outwardly) delivered the love on the Lord in two madals ie periya and siriya
thiru madal. ie in tamil, kaathalai kaatta madal viduththaar mangai. Though he
makes reference to many kshethrams , the madal oorthal is meant for "thiru
naRaiyoor" only as per the poorvaachchaaryaaLS.

ooRaa thozhiyEn ulakaRiya onnuthaleer
seeraar mulaith thadangaLai sEraLavum paarellaam
anRu Ongi ninRu aLanthaan ninRa thiru naraiyoor
mannOnga oorvan madal
			- Kambar
Thirumangai built mathil for srirangam. Thus pleased by such service, Arangan
presented aazhwwar, theerththam, parivattam, and sadagOpam, and asked him,
aazhweer, won't you present the thirumadal prabandam for me also ie in Tamil,
"thirumadal prabandangalai namakku aruLich cheyyal aakaathO ?"

Thirumangai replied, "mathil ingE and madal angE ie thiru naRaiyoor".

Pillai thirunaRaiyoor araiyar, in his thaniYan for periya thiru madal,

ponnulakil vaanavarum poomakaLum pORRich cheyyum
nannuthaleer nambi naRaiyoorar - maNNUlakil
ennilamai kaNdum irangaarE yaamaakil
mannu "madaloorvan" vanthu.

The sarchchai or controversy  whether thirumangai adopted this as a male or in
his baavam of naayaki. The expert vyaakyaanams of achaaryaaLS points that he
delivered this in his naayaki baavam. Thirumangai as a female and  being in the
strong Tamil culture, how can he adopt such a posture  may be a question. But
the content is such that "if you are not to offer me your darshan, though I
very strongly adopt the Tamil culture,  please be aware that madaloorthal is
also adopted by female as per vada nool ie sanskrit literaures and that I will
do it if you donot offer your darshan".

mannum vazhi muRaiyE niRkum naam - maanOkkin
anna nadaiyaar larEsa aadavar mEl
mannum madalooraar enbathOr vaasakamum
thennuraiyil keTTarivathuNdu

and

athanaiyaam theLiyOm

ie mannum vadaneRiYe vENdinOm

It is clear here that he quoted this in his naayagi baavam. He is so bold to
quote this crossing (not following) the protocols of tamil culture, as he
assumed naayaki baavam . . It is believed that An aaychchi or goPikaa who loved
Sri Krishnaa, attempted to do madal Eruthal as she realises that she cannot
attain HIM now. Similar to that vEkavathi, and ulaabikai also were in love with
the Lord and that is what thirumangai is referring as his similarities of the
love for the Lord as a naayaki and "threatens" a humiliation for the Lord id he
has to do madal Eruthal.

Since aaraavamuthan who loved this aazwaar and Thamizh mozhi so much granted
such darshan and the aawaar dropped his idea of madal eeruthal. Since thiru
naRaiyoor is the kshEthram where thirumangai got his pancha samaskaram done by
the Lord Himslef it is considerd that doing pancha samaskaaram was the darshan
and thirumanthra upadEsam was considered as the discussion of the Lord for
aazhwaar. Hence this kshthram is the only one considered as the madal winner
among the 108 DD's. (ie as per aazhwaar and Arangan conversation)

Thirumangai thiruvadikaLe saraNam
Nambikkai naachchiyaar samEtha Thiru NaRaiyoor nambi thiruvadikaLe saraNam
Sampath Rengarajan