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The Ramayana in the Theology and Experience of the Srivaishnava Community

Notes and References


  1. I have used the standard International system of transliteration for Sanskrit words and the Madras Lexicon style for the Tamil words and phrases. Names like Rama, Sita and Krishna have been spelt in the form familiar to a western audience. All translations in this paper are mine.

  2. The works of the twelve alvars are not arranged chronologically in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham. The Periya Tirumoli of Tirumankai alvar forms the second thousand and the Tiruvaymoli of Nammalvar is usually the fourth thousand in the anthology.

  3. Recently, Friedhelm Hardy in Viraha Bhakti has characterized the corpus of the alvar poems as an expression of Krishna bhakti and uses the word ``Krsnaism'' to denote theology of the alvars. This is definitely not the case, as the alvars consider Krishna to be an important but only one of the incarnations of Visnu. For further details, see Narayanan, ``Hindu Devotional Literature: The Tamil Connection'' (forthcoming) Religious Studies Review January 1985.

  4. Mangala Murugesan, Sangam Age, Madras, Thendral Pathippakam: 1982, p. 254. For a discussion on this topic see Champakalaksmi, Vaisnava Iconography in the Tamil Country, New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1981, pp. 44-45 and 117-118. She notes that "inscriptional evidence...comes only from a record of about the seventh-eighth centuries A.D. and definite evolution of a Rama cult dates from the tenth century A.D....as the earliest sculptural representations belong to about the first half of the tenth century A.D. However, Rama occupies a place of great honour in the hymns of the...Alvars of the seventh-ninth centuries A.D." (p. 117).

  5. See Periyalvar Tirumoli 4-9-9 (translated, p. 11). Tirumankayalvar also talks about the ten incarnations of Visnu, Periya Tirumoli 8-8-10.

  6. On the other hand, Nammalvar's Tiruvaymoli which is about 1102 verses has only 39 references to Rama. Periyalvar refers to Rama or Ramayana incidents about 29 times; Antal, three times in the Tiruppavai and 6 times in her Nacciyar Tirumoli; Poykayalvar times in the Mutal Tiruvantati, Putatalvar 5 times in Irantam Tiruvantati, Peyalvar 2 times in Munram Tiruvantati and Tirumalicaialvar times in Tiruccanta Viruttam. These are approximate figures and came up when I prepared a concordance to the Ramayana incidents in alvar literature while working on the paper. I have not checked the literature a second time to fill in gaps. Each verse is taken as one reference even though we sometimes get more than one allusion in a single verse.

  7. Poykayalvar also refers to this incident: 
    		Can the immortals know him?
			Well let that be--
		My good heart, even we can know,
		the valor of him, who counted on his feet,
		all the heads of that wicked demon.
		The demon who bowed before the god
			who dwells on the lotus flower.
				Mutal Tiruvantati 45.

  8. The word 'eating' can be taken in two ways: the twelfth century commentator, following oral tradition, interprets as eating food; but a twentieth century commentator, following oral tradition, interprets it as the intimate relationship between the lord and the devotee for which the word 'eating' is used as an euphemism. For a detailed discussion, see Chapter XI "Looking behind the Commentary, 'Swallowing' a Metaphor in the Poem" in Carman and Narayanan: The Tamil Veda: Pillan's Interpretation of the Tiruvaymoli, (University of Chicago Press: 1989).

  9. The Ramayana is the setting in the following verses:
    • Periyalvar Tirumoli 3-10-1 to 10; Periyalvar speaks as Hanuman.
    • Perumal Tirumoli 8-1 to 11, 9-1 to 11, and 10-1 to 11. Kulacekara alvar takes on the role of Kausalya, Dasaratha and Valmiki.
    • Perumal Tirumoli 10-2-1 to 10 and 10-3-1 to 10.
    Total number of verses: 63.

  10. Arayirappati Guruparamparaprabhavam, ed. S. Krisnaswami Ayyangar, Tirucci: Puttur Agraharam, 1975, pp. 35-36.

  11. The refrain in this set of verses as well as in the one immediately following seem to indicate a kind of dance done by the people defeated in battle. The refrain in this case resembles the beating of drums, but the exact meaning is not known. The words are tatam ponkatam ponko and have no clear translation. The meaning is debated by modern theologians and they normally do not paraphrase it. The word 'ponko' may come from ponkutal which indicates 'flourishing' and 'overflowing', so they may perhaps be wishing good fortune to the victors. This however is highly speculative. No other piece with this refrain is extant today and hence one is unable to compare them. I have translated it as 'we beat our drums, we dance our surrender' using some of the ideas and meanings given by the commentators.

  12. For a discussion on this game, see Ate, 'Periyalvar's "Tirumoli"--a Bala Krsna Text from the Devotional Period in Tamil Literature.' Doctoral dissertation; University of Wisconsin, 1978; pp. 395-398.
    One may also note that this set of verses marks the transition in the whole work from poems which express devotion to Krishna to poems addressed to Rama and other manifestations of Visnu. Periyalvar singing about Rama in every alternate verse in the 3-9 decad indicates that he is making a self-conscious transition from Krishna bhakti to other themes.

  13. Early Tamil love poetry was frequently voiced through 'a heroine', the 'heroine's mother', 'foster mother' or her friend. For a complete list see Ramanujan, The Interior Landscape, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1974, pp.

  14. The cankam poems dealing with romantic or heroic poems refer to five basic situations. These situations correspond in poetry to five landscape settings (tina), birds, flowers, times, etc.. The five basic settings of love are union, waiting for a beloved, hardship in separation, the patient waiting of a wife, and anger at a lover's real or imagined infidelity. These correspond to the mountainous, sea-side, arid, pastoral and agricultural landscapes.

  15. While Nammalvar has about two hundred and fifty three verses in which he speaks in the guise of a heroine/girl-friend/foster mother from old Tamil poetry, only in eleven verses does he directly speak like a cow-herd girl. In twenty two other verses, we know from the signature line at the end of the set that he speaks like a cow-herd girl, but the verses themselves do not make this very clear.

  16. "The little dwarf" and the reference in the following line is a reference to Visnu's incarnation as Vamana and then rising to the gigantic proportions of Trivikrama who covers the entire universe in three paces.

  17. Guruparamparaprabhavam pp. 208-214.

  18. Periyavaccan Pillai's "Muvayirappati" (3000) commentary on the Tiruppavai; ie. the commentary is in 3000 patis, or units of 32 characters in the Grantha script. My copy is edited by P. B. Annangaracarya, Kanci: 1974 (henceforth 3000); the reference is in page 127.

  19. 3000, p. 55.

  20. For further discussion, see Narayanan "The Goddess Sri: Blossoming Lotus and breast Jewel of Visnu" in The Divine Consort ed. Hawley and Wulff, pp.

  21. The sacred mantra here is called the tirumantra in Srivaisnava parlance and is given to an initiate at the time of his prapatti or surrender, by his acarya.

  22. Periyavaccan Pillai, Manikkamalai, ed. S. Krishnaswami Ayyangar, Tirucci: Puttur Agraharam, n.d.p. 4.

  23. Ibid., p. 6. It is believed that Vibhisana, Guha Laksmana and Sugriva approached Rama directly or indirectly through the mediation of Sita.

  24. A reference to an incident narrated in the Sundara Kandam of the Ramayana. Sita and Rama were in Citrakuta when a little crow attacked Sita; Rama angrily sent the all powerful weapon, the brahmastra after it. Not finding refuge in all three worlds, the crow finally sought refuge with Rama himself, in the presence of Sita. Sundara Kanda, 38-33.

  25. 3000, commentary on Tiruppavai v. 17, pp. 103-104.

  26. Periyavaccan Pillai, Sri Ramayana Tanislokam, part 1, ed. S. Krishnaswami Ayyangar, Tirucci: Puttur Agraharam, n.d.; comment on Ayodhya Kanda 31-2; p. 93.

  27. ibid.; comment on Bala Kanda, 17-26; p. 48.

  28. Vedanta Desika, Rahasya Traya Saram ed. Sri Navanitam Sri Ramadesikacaryar, Kumbakonam: Oppiliyappan Sanniti. 1970 p. .

  29. 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai v. 2, p. 25.

  30. Sri Ramayana Tanislokam, pp. 542-543.

  31. Periyavaccan Pillai, Paranta Rahasyam in Manikkamalai, p. 41.

  32. 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai v. 12, p. 74.

  33. 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai, v. 1, p. 11.

  34. Sri Ramayana Tanislokam, part 2, p. 500.

  35. 3000 commentary on v. 29, p. 195.

  36. For a brief but good discussion on this theme, see Ramanujan, Hymns for the Drowning, Princeton: 1981, pp. 143-144; for translations of poems, pp. 26-27.

  37. Sri Ramayana Tanislokam, pp. 61-62.

  38. Periyavaccan Pillai, Perumal tirumoli vyakyanam, ed. Sri K. Srinivasa Ayyangar, Tirucci: Puttur Agraharam, nd.d p. 123.

  39. 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai v. 15, p. 87.

  40. 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai v. 2, pp. 24-25.

  41. 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai v. 1, p. 7.

  42. 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai v. 1, p. 11.

  43. 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai v. 24, pp. 147-148.

  44. 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai v. 12, pp. 75-76.

  45. Vatakku Tiruviti Pillai, Itu-Muppattarayirappati commentary on Tiruvaymoli 2-1-6.

  46. Ayodhya kanda 12-29; Periyavaccan Pillai quotes it several times; for instance, he quotes it while commenting on Perumal Tirumoli 10-1; 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai v. 21.

  47. Perumal Tirumoli vyakyanam pp. 145, 151 and 158.

  48. Actually the shrine despite the name of the temple, is dedicated to Visnu who is known today as Sauriraja Perumal; it is an interesting temple where one of the consorts of the lord is considered to be a fisherwoman. For further details see L. V. Gopalan, Sri Vaishnava Divya Desams, Madras: Visistadvaita Pracharini Sabha, 1972, pp. 18-19.

  49. Perumal Tirumoli vyakyanam p. 128.

  50. ibid. p. 120.

  51. 3000 commentary on Tiruppavai v. 23, p. 139.

  52. I have discussed this in my dissertation "The Srivaisnava understanding of Bhakti and Prapatti: The alvars to Vedanta Desika", University of Bombay, 1978, ch. 5.

  53. The Anjaneya temple is located on Royapettah High Road, Mylapore, Madras.

  54. On the Madurantakam story, see L. V. Gopalan, Sri Vaisnava Divya Desams, p. 108.

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