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Subject: thiruvempavai summation english
Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 22:25:26 +0530
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From: "Ramani Naidu"
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THIRUVEMPAVAI - SUMMATION
Let us try to have a global perspective of the twenty songs of
Thiruvempavai.
The maids come to know of the significance of the pavai observance. They had
talked it over among themselves and had decided to take it up with the
ritualistic bath on the auspicious Thiruvathirai day.
On the appointed day, they stand at the doorsteps of one of them who has not
yet joined them. They sing in praise of God to wake her up. When she fails
to leave the bed and join them, they speak in terms of endearments. Finally
she leaves the house to join them. Thus begins the series of Thiruvempavai.
In the second song, another maid is implored to join them. The tone of the
song shifts to upbraiding. After an interesting exchange of words, she also
joins the troop.
We hear a sense of humour playing its role in the third song.
We see devotion at the centre of the light-hearted exchange of remarks
between the maids in the fourth song.
The fifth song becomes almost bitter at the lethargy of the lazy lady. She
is called a liar in that she does not seem to have realised the truth in
what she had said about the greatness of pavai observance.
The next three songs, 6,7 and 8 present the conversation between the maids
on their way to the pond for the ritualistic bath.
One of them, who had joined them late, betraying her own earlier promise
that she would be the first to be on the scene is ridiculed in the sixth
song. The seventh song makes fun of another such and there is a warning
against indulgence in the song. The eighth song evokes the scene of dawn in
graphic language and declares that it will not be proper to keep slumbering
despite the refreshing morning.
The ninth song mentions the goal of the pavai observance. It is to obtain
devotees as husbands. The song is an expression more of a resolve than of a
prayer.
The tenth song pleads for means of identifying God in palpable terms so that
the maids could sing His praise.
The eleventh song is a fervent prayer for the realisation of the prize for
their observance.
The twelfth and thirteenth songs speak about bathing while singing His
praise.
The fourteenth song achieves a combination of verbal and emotional felicity
indicating the ecstasy of being immersed in His grace.
The fifteenth song looks at God as the one who inspires love for the divine
for the sake of redemption. The ecstasy in the previous song spills over
this song too.
The sixteenth song speaks about showers which become symbols of the showers
of God’s grace.
The seventeenth song celebrates the condescending grace of God.
The eighteenth song, beyond what it contains, has a point of historical
interest. There are those who consider that the reference to Annamalaiyar is
an indication that Thiruvempavai may perhaps have been composed at
Thirvuvannamalai.
The nineteenth song is a declaration of the resolve that the maids are so
devoted to Siva that they would associate themselves only with His devotees.
This song is identified as the one that sums up the specific intention of
the entire series.
The twentieth song expresses a sense of total reconciliation and absolute
surrender to the Ultimate.
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