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nAcciyAr tirumozhi IV-kUDal izhaittal - Introduction

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Kalyani Krishnamachari • October 20, 1998 


                                         SrI:
                SrI ANDAL samEta SrI rangamannAr tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam

                   nAcciyAr tirumozhi IV-kUDal izhaittal - Introduction

A. Translation from SrImAn SaDagOpan's tamizh treatise:

godai and her friends who had just struggled and fought with kaNNan, finally
got back their garments, and kaNNan disappeared after this.  As soon as He was
gone, they start worrying about how to be reunited with Him.  They decide to
do "kUDal izhaittal".  It is a method where a circle is drawn and then inside
that circle, several arbitrary number of small circles are randomly drawn.  
The small circles are then paired together (two at a time).  In the end, if all
small circles are paired, then it means the person who drew them will have 
her/his wish fulfilled and be united with her/his lover; if a small circle is 
left alone, this is an indication of bad omen and the wish to be united with 
the lover will fail.  godai uses this method to see if she will be reunited 
with her kaNNan.

In the third tirumozhi "teLLiyAr palar", consisting of 10 pASurams, ANDAL
indulges in the kUDal izhaittal hoping to get a good omen by getting all small 
circles paired inside the big circle.  Praying for a successful outcome in 
this, she does mangaLASAsanam to SrI sundararAjap perumAL of tirumAlirumSOlai,
vEnkatAcalapati of tiruppati, sourirAjap perumAL of tirukkaNNapuram, and 
kalyANa nArAyaNan housed in dvArakai temple.

B. Some additional thoughts:

SrI periyavAccAn piLLai makes the following comments on godai's resorting to
kUDal to reach kaNNan.   She falls at the feet of the "kUDal" method which
is acetanam, and asks for the desired result of pairing of the circles.
Why is she doing these kinds of things, which are inconsistent with the
actions of one for whom He is the only means?  SrI PVP interprets this as
the indication of ANDAL's extreme distress in not attaining Him.  Recall
that in the first tirumozhi she was pleading to kAman, a demi-god, for
blessing to be associated with kaNNan.  A similar explanation was given
there as well.  SrI PVP also remarks that He who has been acting like a
vr*tta hInan (lacking discipline and morals), is now being sought by ANDAL
who is a vr*ttavati (full of dharma and morals) through rigorous discipline
and conduct (vr*tta).  

SrI P.B. aNNa~ngarAcArya svAmi points out that kUDal is also referred to by
tirumazhisai AzhvAr in nAnmugan tiruvandAdi - "azahippan tiruvEnkaTattAnaik
kANa izhaippan tirukkUDal kUDa".  Thus this was probably one of the accepted
ways of expressing the intense desire in bhagavat samSlesham in AzhvAr's
times.   

sarvam SrIman nArAyaNAyEti samarpayAmi.

adiyEn,
Kalyani Krishnamachari
(kkrishnamachari@lucent.com)