Overview of Periya Tirumadal
• March 1996
This note is my meager attempt to present an outline of Tirumangai Alvar’s periya thirumadal. This, I hope, will provide a context for Parakala Nayaki’s “threats” to our Lord that Badri posted earlier.
Even though I lack critical knowledge of Alvar’s works, I embark on this difficult task motivated by nothing else but a keen desire to write about them. Therefore, I seek the forbearance of, and welcome additions and corrections from, more knowledgeable members of this group.
periya thirumadal is credited as the last prabhandham of Tirumangai Alvar (vide Swami Sri Desikar’s prabandha saaram). Right after the Alvar finished this prabhandham, our Lord Sriman Narayana consummated His eternal embrace with Parakala Nayaki (PN). Apparently, PN’s threats at the end of the prabandham worked. It seems threatening our Lord comes easy to Tirumangai Mannan; for was he not the one who threatened our Lord with his sword and demanded to be initiated into tirumantram (vaaL valiyaal mandhirangoL)?
However, before threatening to “expose” the “misdeeds” of our Lord Sriman Narayana, PN pours out her heart with intense passion and longing. PN starts the prabhandham by first declaring that “mOksham” is only a theory and that “kaamam” is the only real purshaarththam. The other two purushaarththams, namely “dharmam” and “arththam” ultimately results in “kaamam” as well. This section of the prabhandham ends with:
”…aangu aNimuruval in amudham maandhi iruppaar
idhu anRE aRaththin payan aavadhu,
oN poruLum anna thiRaththathE,
aadhalaal kaamaththin mannum vazhimuRaiyE
niRRum naam.”
… thus, one enjoys the sweet nectar of the lover’s smiling lips; isn’t this the object of righteous living; verily this is the object of wealth as well; therefore let us pursue this “divine kaamam”
When pursuing this divine kaamam what is one to do if it is not reciprocated? madal oordhal is a powerful weapon to force the issue, but that is only for men. So, in the next section, PN embarks on an elaborate defense of why women must be allowed to undertake madal oordhal. PN presents two justifications. The first deals with the intolerable nature of unfulfilled love. She pleads, “how can one bear to be roasted by the flames shed by the full moon of open sky?” (“umbarvaay thunnu madhi uguththa thoonilaa neeL neruppil tham udalam vEvathth thaLaraadhaar” - Oh! my, my). The second justification deals with the repudiation of the Tamil tradition that forbids madal oordhal for love stricken women. PN cites several examples of women of northern tradition including Sita Piraatti and Uma.
”thunnu veyil vaRuththa vemparalmEl panchadiyaal mannan
iraaman pin vaidhEvi.. “
(having forced Sri Rama to take her along …) She followed Sri Rama, Her feet, soft as cotton, getting scorched by walking on small sharp stones heated to cinder by the fierce sun
Having established a woman’s right to undertake madaloordhal, PN then claims that right for herself by describing her own unbearable passion for our Lord:
mannum maRikadalum aarkkum,
(the calm seas seem to roar at me)
madhiyuguttha innilaavin kathirum enRanakkE veythaagum,
(the rays of the sweet moon strike me like scorching sun)
thennan pothiyil sezhuncanthin thaathaLainthu,
manniv vulagai manangaLippa vanthiyangum,
inniLampoon^ thenRalum veesum eriyenakkE,
(the delightful breeze from the south, fragrant with
sandlewood flowers, strikes me like harsh heat wave)
munniya peNNaimEl muLmuLarik koottagatthu,
pinnumav vanRil pedaivaayc siRukuralum,
ennudaiya nencukkO reervaaLaam enseykEn
(the sound of the sweet nothings the two love birds upon
a palmyra tree are exchanging sounds to me like a sword
cutting my heart into two pieces - what can I do!!)
kannavilthOL kaaman karuppuc silaivaLaiya,
konnavilum poongaNaikaL kOtthup pothavaNainthu,
thannudaiya thOLkazhiya vaangi, - thamiyEnmEl
ennudaiya necE ilakkaaga eykinRaan,
pinnithanaik kaappeer_thaam illaiyE,
(Cupid is taking aim at my heart with his sugar cane
bow and flowery arrows, is there none to save me from
these deadly arrows?)
The desperate yearning PN expresses in this passage is most exquisite. The “viraha thaapam” flows out like the waters of Niagara falls. This is a far cry from the Alvar’s earlier laments therivai maar uruvamE maruvi (I wasted my time seeking the pleasures of young women) in Periya Tirumozhi. The transformation to womanhood is complete when PN bares her heart for inseparable union with,
the Lord who severed the ten heads of Ravana,
the Lord who tore open the immense chest of Hirnyakasipu with his nails,
the Lord who killed Hiranayakshakan with His boarish tusks and rescued Bhumi piraatti,
the Lord who churned the seas and secured “amritham” for the devas,
the Lord who spanned the skies and earth and sent Mahabali to the underworld,
the Lord of Sri, …etc., etc.
What follows is a captivating listing of dhivya desa archaavathaaras with whom PN yearns for inseparable union. Just a couple of examples:
maamalarmEl annam thuyilum maNineer vayalaali
ennudaiya innamudhE
(my sweet Lord of Thuruvaali surrounded by fields
filled with large lotus flowers with napping cranes)
kOvaloor mannumidaikkazhi yemmaayavanai
(the beguiling Lord of Tirukkovaloor who appeared
in a narrow passage to enjoy the company of the first
three Alvars)
For more on this, please see Sri Rengi Sampath’s post.
PN ends this section with the ominous,
emperumaan thennaruLum aagamamum thaaraanEl
(if my Lord refuses to grant me His grace and union)
What follows is nothing short of extortion! See Badri’s post for details.
Alvar uses naayaki bhavam right from his first prabhandham Periya Tirumozhi, but it is in the two Tirumadals that “she” presents a completely transformed womanly personality. Even in thirun^edundhaaNdagam, Alvar betrays maleness when he signs off as “kaliyan sonna” in the last paasuram. In the two thirumadals Alvar shows no trace of maleness and thus our Lord consummates union with PN right after she completes periya thirumadal. This, I think, is an illustration of our true nature, to be a member of our Lord’s andhappuram.
It is interesting to note that the Alvar casts doubts about the existence of “mOksham” in the beginning of the thirumadal, but at the end achieves just that!
parakaala naayaki thiruvadigaLE saraNam
— dhaasan parthasarati dileepan
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