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Subject: thiruppavai 17 english
Date: Mon, 31 Dec 2001 20:58:34 +0530
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From: "Ramani Naidu"
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THIRUPPAVAI - DAY SEVENTEEEN - SONG SEVENTEEN
Transliteration
amparamE thannIrE corE aRam ceyyum
emperumAn nanthakOpAlA ezunthirAy
kompanArkkellAm kozunthE kula viLakkE
emperumAtti yacothAy ezunthirAy
amparam Utu aRuththOnki ulakaLantha
umparkOmAnE uRankAthu ezunthirAy
cempoRk kazalatic celvA palathEva
umpiyum nIyum uRankElOr empAvAy.
Translation
Our Lord Nantakopa! Wake up!
You administer clothing, water and food.
Our Lady Yesotha! Wake up!
You are the tenderest of the tender leaves of the creepers,
The auspicious lamp of the herdsmen clan.
Our God of gods! Wake up!
You tore the skies to measure the world of gods.
Baladeva! With your brother, wake up!
The golden anklets of valour adorn your feet.
The six songs (17-22) make up another cluster within the Tiruppavai.
Obviously, between the sixteenth and seventeenth songs, the maids have
gained admittance into the abode of God. Songs 17-22 may be said to make up
an invocation of God’s grace in the name of waking Him up from his sleep.
That Hinduism is polytheistic is public knowledge. But that the word
polytheism does not bring out the essence of the structural aspects of Hindu
theology has to be acknowledged.
The Vedic polytheism considered Brahma as the God. On various occasions, one
particular god or the other was invoked and offered prayers for certain
boons they can grant. Thus Vasudeva came to be a deity in Vedic religion
while Brahma was the God Absolute. Such gods who were invoked on particular
occasions were known as atistana devata – the god invoked.
The later Hindu pantheon goes beyond such a simplistic explanation of
polytheism. While Siva became the God Absolute for the Saivas, Narayana
became the God Absolute for the Vaishnavas. Such theism can best be called
personalistic holistic apperception of God. Should Being or Transcendence or
God be regarded as personal or impersonal in nature? In answering this
question, it has to be remembered that the inner passage traversed by the
human consciousness is filled with an overwhelming sense of worthlessness of
being unrelated to God. God should, in other words, be of such a nature as
to be consciously related to man’s being in the world so as to dispel his
sense of despair, worthlessness or loneliness and create in their place a
sense of hope, worth and inner companionship. Such a nature cannot be
ascribed to the Transcendence or Being or God if it is conceived in purely
impersonal terms.
Hence it would be reasonable to suppose that Being or Transcendence or God
bears a personal character so as to enter into communication with human
consciousness which has become intensely religious at the point of meeting
God and yearns to have a dialogue with Him. The religious dialogue takes the
forms of devotional music, poetry, prayer and ritualistic worship. These
would be meaningless if the God is impersonal and incapable of responding to
such religious appeals. Therefore the Being encountered by man’s religious
consciousness will have to be conceived as profoundly personal so as to make
man’s personal relationship or commitment to it really meaningful and
worthwhile. This concept would then be in conformity with man’s religious
consciousness which has developed through an inner psychological process of
longing for hope and worthfulness. The Transcendence or Being or God which
can thus be so related to man in personal terms cannot itself be anything
less than a personal God.
When God came to be so personalised, a number of gods were held to be in
particular relationship with the God. Thence the temple architecture and
iconography developed into an art in itself. The temples were structured in
many layers that were in concentric squares the innermost of which is the
sanctum sanctotum. Circumambulating each layer, the devotees offered their
prayers to each god in the layer.
It is in the context of such a temple structure that one has to look at the
songs 15-22 in the series of Tiruppavai.
Having gained admittance into the precincts of God’s abode, after the
fifteenth song, the maids attune the praise of Nandagopa, Yesodha and
Balarama along with God in the sixteenth song.
Nandagopa is Krishna’s foster father and the Chief of the herdsmen. The word
‘aram’ in the first line of the poem is usually interpreted as the
benevolent gifts given away by Nandagopa in the form of clothes, water and
food. A better perspective would be to look at the word as indicating the
administration of clothing, water and food in tune with the responsibilities
of the Chief. Therefore the translation, “you administer” rather than “you
give away”.
Secondly, Yesodha, Krishna’s foster mother is addressed. The women of
ayppati are tender as creepers and the best of them is Yesodha. Besides she
is also the auspicious lamp of the clan. It is to be noted that in Hindu
society as well as Hindu pantheon, a certain place of dignity is assigned to
woman. Invariably, the consorts of God are seen as the most sympathetic
towards the devotees. In fact the appeal to God’s grace is routed through
the consort or the mother. Natually, Yesodha falls in place in this song.
Though the ultimate appeal is to God, this song makes an appeal from the
outer square of the temple to God Himself in the name of one of his
exploits – that of Vamana who measured all the worlds in two strides. The
picture evoked with just a phrase – ambaram utu aruttu onkiya – is graphic.
God grew in magnitude to tear through the sky and measure the world of Gods.
Baladeva, Krishna’s brother, is also invoked in this song. The terms of
invocation are those of valour. The reference is to a kind of anklet worn by
men. The anklet is said to have been made of pure gold.
Traditional interpretation will metaphorically explain the attributes to
Nantagopa. God is the clothing, water and food to the devotees – the source
of their sustenance and dignity. Nantagopa has bestowed on the maids the
gift of God who is everything to them. The cross reference is interesting. –
unnum coru, parukum nir, tinnum verrilaiyum ellam kannan – Kannan is to the
Alwar the rice he eats, the water he drinks and the betal leaf he chews.
Yeshodha is seen as lying between Nantagopa and Krishna. Traditional
interpretation would speak about the duality of motherhood. On the one side
is the husband who is hugged so tight as to make him feel the pressure of
her breasts on his chest. On the other side is the baby to be offered her
breasts for milk. Yesodha is also called the tender tip of a creeper with
fresh leaves. Any harm to the creeper will be reflected by the drooping of
the tender leaves first. Any difficulty in the family will affect the
womenfolk first. Therefore is Yesodha called the fresh leaf of the tender
creeper.
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