Thirupavai Pasuram 14

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/01/800x600-from-pullin-vaaykeendaanaip.html

 Picture of Moolavar lord Ranganathan also known as Peria Perumal at Sri Rangam

ungaL puzhakkadai(th) thOttaththu vaaviyuL

sengazhuneer vaay negizhndhu aambal vaay koombina kaaN

The girl mentioned in this pasuram is addressed as Nangai, Nanadhai, and Navudayai. Nangai is the name for a woman is the embodiment of all good qualities thus making her a complete woman. The male equivalent of Nangai is Nambi. The Perumal at Thiru Narayur and Thirukurungudi are called as Narayur Nambi and Vaishnava Nambi respectively. The Perumal at the above Divya Desam are poornans because Narayur Nambi performed Samasrayanam for Thirumangai Azhwar whereas Vaishnava Nambi asked Swami Ramanujar to perform Samasrayanam for Him as He too wanted to be known as the disciple of Swami Ramanujar.

Nanadhai is a name for a maiden who is not shy. Navudayai is a maiden who is skilled in arguing.

The girls arrived at the house of the ninth girl and called her.

‘The red lotuses have blossomed and the lilies have closed their blossom as the Sun has risen. Please come and join us!’

‘I have been waiting for you while chanting the names of Lord Krishna but in you eagerness you have arrived at my doorstep at midnight!’

‘It is daytime as the lotuses have opened their buds since the Sun rays touch them and the lilies have closed their buds.’

‘I don’t believe you!’

‘Then come and see for yourself!’

‘You must have forced the lotus blooms to open since you are very eager to start the Nombu!’

‘But the lotuses inside the well have blossomed. If we climbed inside the well our dress would be wet,’ said Nachiar.

 ‘You might have employed someone to open the lotus blooms!’ argued the girl.

‘Take a look at the lotus blooms growing in your backyard! We don’t have access to your backyard unless you let us in!’ answered a girl standing outside with Nachiar.

sengaR podi(k) koorai veNbal thavaththavar

thangaL thirukkOyil sangiduvaan pOdhanRaar

‘If you still don’t believe us, take a look at the Sanyasis walking to the temple wearing their ochre robes with pearly white teeth!’ suggested Nachiar.

Sanyasis have to wear ochre coloured robes and their teeth have to look white to show that they have pan stains on their teeth.

‘The Sanyasis are on their way to the temple in order to blow the conch.’

According to Embar, blowing conch here refers to the Sanyasis holding the key to the temple door. Traditionally Sanyasis have to do the kaimkaryams at the temple which included opening temple doors in the morning.

‘They are going to the temple because their sleep has been disturbed by your untimely singing! Even the Sanyasis are afraid of all of you and hence didn’t correct you!’

engaLai munnam ezhuppuvaan vaaypEsum

nangaay ezhundhiraay naaNaadhaay naavudaiyaay

‘If we keep arguing like this we will never make it through the day! Didn’t you tell us that you will wake us up first thing in the morning? You asked us not to worry about missing the wake-up call as you promised to make sure we got up at the right time. Don’t you feel bad for reneging on your promise?’ asked Nachiar. ‘Nangai come with us!’

Nangai is also a name for a mentally mature woman with excellent qualities.

‘Are you mocking me? I don’t appreciate the sarcasm! Are you calling me as an immature pod? If I am an immature pod leave me out of your group!’ said the girl ‘Yes I am all that you claim to be and hence am not fit to accompany you!’ she said.

sangOdu chakkaram Endhum thadakkaiyan

pangaya(k) kaNNaanai(p) paadElOr embaavaay.

‘Please don’t take offence with everything we say! We need you to be on our side when we see Krishna so that you can argue with Him on our behalf! You are a skillful spokesperson and we would be lost without you! Join us to sing the glories of the Lord who is holding the conch and disc in His hands.’

The girl then stopped arguing and willingly joined the girls.

Alternate Meaning:

 

This pasuram is about Thirupan Azhwar. He is Nanadhai because he shamelessly contradicted his words. Lokasaranga Munivar carried Azhwar on his back as Lord Ranganathan wanted to see Azhwar and ordered Lokasaranga Munivar to carry Azhwar on his back as punishment for offending Azhwar; but, Azhwar states in the very first stanza that Lord Ranganathan is Amalan and Nirmalan (no blame can be attached to Perumal) because He not only made Azhwar His devotee but also made Azhwar the “adiyar” to His other devotees. Azhwar thanks Lord Ranganathan for granting him the opportunity to do Bagawatha kaimkaryams. Nanadhai could also be interpreted as the one without ego. Thirupan Azhwar was the only Azhwar who did not sign his compositions or mention anything about himself in his composition. He truly believed that he should use his tongue only to sing the praise of the Lord.

Azhwar is Navudayai because when someone asks him why he contradicted his own actions in the first stanza, he would humbly inform us that he only rode on the back of Lokasaranga Munivar to please the Munivar as well as Lord Ranganathan.

This entire Thirupavai pasuram compliments Amalanadhipiran. Through this pasuram we can have a darshan of Lord Ranganathan (moolavar Peria Perumal) very easily in our mind’s eye in the same manner in which Azhwar experienced Peria Perumal.

ungaL puzhakkadai(th) thOttaththu vaaviyuL

sengazhuneer vaay negizhndhu aambal vaay koombina kaaN

The above verse corresponds to the first stanza of Amalanadhipiran. Azhwar compares Lord Ranganatha to a forest of lotus blooms in a large blue pond. Perumal is the beautiful blue pond and His feet are like a beautiful pair of lotus blooms which attract Azhwar.

sengaR podi(k) koorai 

Picture of Lord of Tirumala

SengaR is ochre or red colour. Koorai refers to dothi. Thus SengaR podi(k) koorai refers to the red border on Perumal’s peethambaram which decorate Perumal’s legs.

sengazhuneer vaay negizhndhu

The above verse describes Perumal’s beautiful eyes. Thirupan Azhwar also described Perumal’s eyes in his pasuram. Azhwar describes Perumal’s eyes as beautiful large lotus petals. His eyes are always wet with out of compassion for us. His eyes have a beautiful red line as if someone has drawn a line with a red eye liner.

This Thirupavai pasuram helped Swami Ramanujar to explain the phrase “kapyasam Pundareekaksham”. Swami Ramanujar studied under Yadava Prakashar. Once Swami Ramanujar heard Yadava Prakashar explain the phrase “kapyasam Pundareekaksham” as “the Lord’s eyes are like red lotus blooms. The lotus blooms are as red as a monkey’s butt.”

Swami Ramanujar felt very sad that the Lord’s eyes have been compared with monkey’s butt and started to cry. Yadava Prakashar challenged swami to see if he could come up with a better explanation.

Swami Ramanujar said, ‘Kapyasam could be split using the rules of sandhi as Kam + apyasam. Kam is a name for water whereas apyasam means sitting on. Thus kapyasam refers to a lotus bloom which has blossomed on top of a water body like a pond. Kapyasam could also be split as Kapi + pyasam . Kapi is a name for Lord Surya since he drinks the water by evaporating it. Thus the phrase would now mean the lotus bloomed when it was touched by the warm rays of the Sun. Hence when we have such better explanations it is not seen fit to interpret kapi as a monkey and thus kapyasam as monkey’s butt!’

sangOdu chakkaram Endhum thadakkaiyan

The above verse can be compared to Azhwar’s “kaiyinar suri sanganal azhiyar”. Azhwar mentions Perumal with a conch and a disc in His hands. We know that Azhwar sang the ten pasurams on the moolavar Lord Ranganathan who is seen only with two hands. Then why did Azhwar sing about the Lord with conch and disc in His hands?

In the Valmiki Ramayana, when lord hanuman met Lord Rama and Lakshmana for the very first time, Lord Hanuman praised the beauty of the Lord’s hands and asked why He hadn’t worn any ornaments on His hands. In Sanskrit language apart from singular and plural we also have dual to represent quantity of two. Lord hanuman did not use the dual form for the Lord’s hands but used the word for “hands” in plural form. Thus Lord Hanuman saw Lord Rama with four hands. This is confirmed by Lord Rama Himself when He applauds Lord Hanuman’s grammatically correct speech thus proving to us that the usage of the word or hands in plural form is correct since Lord Hanuman saw Lord Rama with four hands. We wonder if Thirupan Azhwar like Lord Hanuman saw the moolavar lord Ranganathan with four hands.

Another interpretation is provided by Swami Vedanta Desikan in Munivahanabogham. Azhwar sang about the conch and disc in the Lord’s hand as the Azhwar saw the marks of a conch and disc in the Lord’s palm print.

Azhwar described perumal’s hands as strong yet beautiful.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/01/thirupavai-pasuram-15.html