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thiruppAvai - 7

From the Bhakti List Archives

Anand Karalapakkam • Fri Mar 05 1999 - 16:04:48 PST 


Sri:
Sri Lakshminrusimha Parabrahmane namaha
Sri Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrivaNN -
SatakOpa Sri nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaha

namO nArAyaNA

ThiruppAvai upanyAsam of Sri U.Ve.VillUr KarunAkaran swAmi
**************************************************

In the previous posting, the thaniyan composed by bhattar was
presented. Actually, bhattar refers to bhoomi pirAtti as
"pAdavalla nAchchiyAr" < kaisika purAnam vyAkyAnam>,
since She has sung this thiruppAvai. Its also interesting to note
that the sanskrit name for AndAL "gOdA" and the tamil name
is "kOdai".  Sri KarunAkaran swAmi says that PeriAzhwAr
gave the name "kOdai" in tamil only, when AndAL ( who was
5 years old as per sthala purANam) revealed Herself near the
tulasi plant. This is because PeriAzhwAr was immersed in
performing pushpa kainkaryam to PerumAL and was in
constant rememberance of it ; now AndAL also was looking
like a beautiful flower ( "KOdai" in tamil means "flower"/
"garland" ). The sanskrit name "gOdA" also gives many
meanings, very much suitable to AndAL ( "the one who came
from earth", "the one who was given by earth", "the one
who delineated how a prabandham should be written" etc).
Such are Her  glories; one can keep on praising Her in various
languages.


   Thaniyan - 2 ( by UyyakkondAr) :
  ***************************
"anna vayal puduvai AndAL arangaRkup -
  pannu thiruppAvaip palpadiya(ga)m - innisaiyAl
pAdik koduttAL naRpAmAlai, poomAlai
  choodik koduttALaich chollu "

" The saint-poettes AndAL, was born in SrivilliputtUr
 (puduvai), girt with paddy-fields and (water-reservoirs
 full of) beautiful swans (annam). She dedicated Her
 beautifulgarland of songs, singing them sweetly (in praise
 of Him). She offered to Him the flower-garland, after
 wearing it Herself. May all of us pray to Her and sing
 Her poems ! "

 Here "anna paRavai" known as "hamsa paRavai" has
 deep meanings. It can be interpreted to refer to
 "parama hamsAs" (sanyAsis ; eg: Azhagiyasingar is
 given the title "parama hamsa parivrAjakAchArya ...")
 ie. SrivilliputtUr is filled with great mahAns
 (ie. parama hamsAs ). It is to be noted that Lord
 HayagrIva gives the sEvai (darSan) as that of a
 sanyAsi to chaturmukha  brahmA ( SAnti parvA ,
 MahAbhAratham).


  thaniyan 3 ( by UyyakkondAr) :
**************************

" choodik koduththa sudarkkodiyE tolpAvai,
   pAdiyaruLavalla palvaLayAy ! nAdinee
 "vEnkadavaRkku yennai vidhi" yenra immAtRam
   nAngadavA vaNNamE nalhu "

" Oh AndAL, shining like the flash of lightening ! You
 bedecked Yourself first the garland (intended for the
 Lord) and then offered it to Lord RanganAtha; You
 had the great expertise to compose the renowned and
ancient hymn of thiruppAvai. Oh AndAL with the
 multifarious and auspicious bangles ( adorning Your
 fore-arms) ! may You please shower Your grace on
 us (so that we become greatly devoted to the Lord),
 with the same sincerity of devotion ( you had towards
 the Lord of vEnkata hill) as You prayed to Manmathan
 (PerumAL) thus: "O manmathA, be pleased to make
 me (a humble servant and) the bride of
 thiruvEngadamudayAn " (NAchchiyAr thirumozhi 1.1).

 The deeper meaning to the reference of AndAL's
 bangles is that even the sound of bangles of AndAL is
 very pleasing to RanganAtha, OR even the bangles
 of AndAL sing thiruppAvai. But, this thaniyan is
 more oriented to nAchchiyAr thirumozhi (reference
to thiruvEngadamudayAn) and thus it would be logical
to think that this has to be a thaniyan  for nAchchiyAr
thirumozhi. But, why then is this a thaniyan for
thiruppAvai, wherein (apparently) no reference has
been made to thiruvEngadamudayAn ?  The answer
lies in the 20th pAsuram "muppaththu moovar".

note: All the translations of the thaniyans are adopted
(with slight editing) from Dr.VKSN Raghavan's
ThiruppAvai  translation and notes , published by
Sri VishistAdvaita PracAriNi SabhA.
-----------------------------------------

 adiyEn now concludes this series of postings on the
 excellent upanyAsam of Sri U.Ve. KarunAkaran
 swAmi. adiyEn requests Sri Sampath RengarAjan
 (SSR)  to continue with his postings ( moving into
 the second pAsuram) and also apologizes to him
 for taking a lot of time.

 The first pAsuram has already been dealt well by
 SSR and there were many additional inputs from
 other devotees. Though lot of wonderful insights
 ( in both anyApadEsam and swApadEsam) has
 been presented by Sri Karunkaran swAmi for
 the first pAsuram, it will take adiyEn more time
 to properly present them and also adiyEn has
 tight academic schedule this month. Some overlap
 also will occur with the things already presented.
 So, adiyEn requests SSR to kindly continue further
 on his postings. thanks.

            AndAL thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan
ananthapadmanAbha dAsan
krishNArpaNam