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Thirumangai's periya thirumadal

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Vijay Triplicane • November 23, 1999 


	Today is our dear thirumaN^gai AzhvAr's thirunakshathram.
(kArththigaiyil kArththigai). I was reading the excellent posts by
Badri Seshadri and Dileepan on periya thirumadal.
(http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/alvars/kaliyan/madal/periya-overview.html)
They both used to write more often and all of them were gems...

	I thought I would throw my 2 cents. AzhvAr taking the nAyikA
bhAvam as parakala nayaki, sings two madals. There is a good
description of the concept of madal in Badri's post. The thamizh
tradition to which parakaala naayaki(PN) belongs, repudiates the notion
of a woman performing madal. So, PN has to defend herself. This is
what she has to say.

mAnOkkin anna n^adaiyAr alarEsa AdavarmEl
mannu madalUrAr enbadhOr vAsagamum
thennuraiyil kEttu aRivadhuNdu - adhanai yAm theLiyOm
mannum vada n^eRiyE vENdinOm

(The southern (thamizh) tradition holds the view that tender
 beautiful women with eyes like that of a deer and the gait 
like that of hamsam do not engage in performing madal. But I don't
subscribe to that southern thought. I am going to embrace the
NOrthern line of thought (and am going to perform madal) )


vENdAdhAr 
thennan podhiyil sezhuNYchan^dhanak kuzhambin
annadhOr thanmai aRiyAdhAr- Ayan vEy
innisai Osaikku iraN^gAdhAr* mAl vidaiyin 
mannu maNi pulamba vAdAdhAr* - peNNai mEl
pinnum av anRil pEdai vAych chiRu kuralukku
unni udal urugi n^aiyAdhAr* - umbar vAyth
thunnu madhi uguththa thoon^ilaa n^IL n^eruppil
tham udalam vEvath thaLarAdhAr

(She describes those who think she is doing something wrong -
vENdAdhAr :
She gets really mad at them and describes them basically as totally
insensitive. She says," They don't realize the nature/fragrance of
the nice sandal paste, they don't get captivated by kannan's mellifluous
music for the cows, they don't even feel sorry for the female anRil bird 
that pitifully cries having lost her husband, how can they
bear the scorching heat showered by the full moon (because of
viraha thApam)..." and she goes on and on...)

	On getting immersed in AzhvAr's anubhavam, I really feel that no
other AzhvAr was this expressive, with such elaborate description
not only of her state of love but also of the insensitivity of those
who think otherwise.  This is amazing poetry! I am truly blessed
being able to read this and enjoy thoroughly the anubhavam of
AzhvAr as PN.

	Everybody should enjoy this anubhavam. It is available right at
your fingertip through Mani's webpage. Stalwarts like Badri and
Dileepan have written beautiful commentaries to some selected
pAsurams. (Search for thirumangai / kaliyan in the archives). With
all this overflowing sowlabhyam, if one doesn't make an attempt to
enjoy, then they can safely consider themselves as those that
AzhvAr described as "vENdAdhAr". :-) 

thirumaN^gai AzhvAr thiruvadigaLE SaraNam,
adiyEn
-Viji
(Vijay Triplicane)