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/ciRRaG/ciRu kAlE: Apologies to /mANIkka/vAcakar:nAT/kAlE

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Visu9 • September 21, 2002 


/Om namo/nArAyaNAya ||

Please allow me to correct a mistake. The last song of /tiru/vem/pAvai of /mANikka/vAcakar begings as /pORRI/aruLuka/nin AtiyAm pAta/malar. Of the eight lines in the piece, each one of the seven lines contains a direct word meaning /pAtam or /aTi. I had wrongly simplified it as /ponn/aTi. Please excuse me.

Concerning, the 29th /pAcuram of Sri ANTAL's tirup/paVai: Let us look at the word "kAl". Its basic meaning is "one quarter". Our leg is /kAl, because it consists of one-quarter of our body. /kAl when used to refer to morning needs an adjctive to give the meaning of /quarter of a day. Otherwise, one uses the word /kAlai.  For example, Sri ANTAL does use /nAT/kAlE nIr/ATi in /pAcuram 2. Meaning: Let us take a bath in the river or tank in the day's quarter (morning). 

Here /ANTAL says when a bath is taken for /tirup/pAvai. The time of the day for us is from sunrise to sunset and consists of 30 /nAZIkai equal to 12 hours. Let us say that in /mArkaZi the sun rises at 5:00 A.M. It does not rise until a little later. Thus bath should be taken between 5:00 a.m.  and 8:00 a.m. It seems correct with the customs I knew when my parents, brothers and I were living in /kamparacam/pETTai on the banks of the river /kAvEri near /tirucci. The /tirup/pAvai song was recited about 5:00 a.m on the street and we used to go to the river if time permitted; otherwise it was a quick bath at home. 

The point is /nAT/kAl is morning because it is one quarter of the day /NAL meaning daylight time of 30 /NAZikai. The use of the adjective /nAL is what gives it that meaning. /kAlE standing alone needs a prop to refer to morning. 

Nevertheless, continuing the reasoning, /ciRRaJ/ciRU /kAl would mean one quarter of what? Something /ciRRaJ/ciRu. Assuming it is to be morning, let us attempt to calulate its lower and upper bounds. Since /kAl is already 5:00 to 8:00 a.m, we need to calculate it as one-quarter to the third power of daytime. Each word /ciRu is small multiplication. That is (1/4) x (1/4) x (1/4) of daytime. This will be in terms of /nAZIkai equal to (30/64) /nAZikai or (3/16) of an hour. That is approximately, one-half /NAZikai, giving 11 minutes and 15 seconds for the act. That is the lower bound is time of sunrise and the upper bound is less than 12 minutes after sunrise; one-half /nAZikai after sunrise! A very tight schedule for the busy /perumAL! 

So one must be present in the prayer ceremony within 12 minutes of sunrise and must have completed his or her bath by that time. /perumAl surely would enjoy his bhaktAs who meet the deadline each day of /mArkaZi. 

I will write about /cinnaJ/ciRu /kAl in my next posting. Thanks for a nice arithmetic problem to teach children! 

/nalan/tarum collai nAn /kaNTu/koNtEn/ nArAyaNa ennum nAmam.







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