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tiru-p-pAvai in Thailand.

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Tssundararajan • September 29, 2000 


Friends,

Many thanks to Sri Mani Varadarajan for sharing the message from Dr Kannan on the 'tiru-p-pAvai' tradition of the Thailand royalty.  

Thanks equally owed to Dr Kannan for the information.  May I request him to cite the source also?

Here is my small supplementation (repeating my previous 1997 posting):  the ritual recitation of the scripture of 'tiru-p-pAvai' is known as the 'lOr-pA' festival, evidently after the terminal refrain of "E-lOr-em-pAvAi" occurring in each stanza.

The nAcchiAr tirumozhi quote in primary message contains a mistake "VaaraNam Aayiram suuzha valam vanthu".  When it comes to scripture, we should verify the text from the book every time (or indicate the quote is from memory). I apologise for unintended tone of censure, but a misquote from scripture is primarily an 'apachAram' and may also lead to misinterpretation and wrong vibrations.  We stand warned, "bibhEti alpa-SrutAt vEdO mAm ayam pratarishyati".

We SrivaishNava-s should benefit from the model of Bible printing for the justified boast that there are no misprints in the Bible.  So is the reverencing of the Jewish 'Torah' which is calligraphed in hand by the scribe in observance of (as I learn) as many as 65 Talmud-ic rules.  It used to be said that The Times of London  used to recruit its sub-editors for their experience in Bible proof-reading. (The misprints which occurred in Bible production were so rare that the editions which carried them became high-priced collectibles !  The Bible misprints constitute a fascinating mini-history of their own ~~ like the 'Printers' Bible (where it was 'printers' for 'princes') and the 'vinegar' Bible (with 'vinegar' in place of 'vineyard').

I have read that the brahmin scholar who disseminated our culture in Thailand and Cambodia was of 'kAuNDinya gOtram' and from South India.  Vedic roots in the South East is a fascinating study by itself.   The reigning Thai king is named 'atulya-tEj bhUmipAl' and his queen 'Sri-keerti' (adulya-dej-bhumibol and siri-kitti in the Thai 'apa-bhramSam'). 

aDiyEn rAmAnuja-dAsan,
tirumanjanam Sundara Rajan.

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Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2000 14:57:02 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mani Varadarajan 
Subject: Tiruppavai and Thailand

Dear Members,

 I had read a few years back of a connection between
 Tiruppavai and Thailand. Evidently, the Tiruppavai was
 recited as part of the Thai coronation ceremony. 
 Today, I was searching the Net for information  corroborating  this when I stumbled across this astonishing bit of  news:

  From "Dr.N.Kannan" 

If it might interest you, several centuries ago, 
Sri Vaishnava Brahmins from Srivillippuththur area of Ramanathapuram District, migrated to Thailand.
Their descendants are still in Bangkok.
They are known as the Thai Brahmin community.
They are the Royal Praeceptors (RajaGuru)of the Thai kings. It is to be noted that the Thai kings although
claim descent from the Solar Royalty and Sri Rama, are now Buddhists.  But the Royal Guru happens to be the 
Sri Vishnava Thai Brahmins.

There is a very strong tradition of Thiruppaavai hymns in Thailand. The hymn, 
"VaaraNam Aayiram suuzha valam vanthu" 
is still sung in Tamil. 
But of course without understanding the meaning. There are about 2000 Brahmins in Bangkok. 

If anyone has more info about this, I would love to hear it.

 Mani


 

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