Thiruppavai

Courtesy: Smt.Saroja Ramanujam

Sangatthamiz maalai

Andal of SouthIndia was like Meera of the North, great devotee of Lord
Narayana from her childhood. She was found among the bushes of Tulsi
plant by Vishnuchiththa, who was later known as Periyazvar due to his
hymns about the Lord to guard Him from evil eye. His story will follow
later. Andal wanted to marry only the Lord and unlike Meera her father
did not force her. She observed the vow of Pavai nonbu in the
month of Margazi collecting the girls in Srivillipuththur where she
lived and sang the verses which are famous today as Thiruppavai. The
work is steeped in Bhakthi and extolled as being capable of destroying
sins, showing the path to attain the feet of the Lord and it is said to
contain the essence of the vedas because it describes the Lord and the
means of attaining Him.

The story goes that Bhoodevi on being rescued from the depth of the
ocean asked Lord Varaha to tell her by which easy way can help her
children on earth attain Him

aham Sishyaa cha dhaasee cha bhaaryaa cha thvayi Madhava

madhkrthe sarvabhoothaanaam lghoopaayam vadha prabho

. Varahamurthi bade her to take birth as Godha to teach the humanity the
path of devotion. Thus Sookaramurthi has shown the sukara, easy to do
upaya.

sThithe manasi susvasThe Sareere sathi yo naraH

Dhaathusaamye sThithe smarthaa viSvaroopam cha maam ajam

thathasTham mriyamaaNam thu kaashTapaashaaNa sannibham

aham smraami madhbhaktham nayaami paramam gathim

The word godhaa means gaam dhadhaathi, gives good beneficial words in
the form of Thiruppavai to help the whole world, gavaa dhatthaa- given
by the earth as she came from the earth, and gaam dhamyathi ithi- one
who controlled her senses.

Pasuram1.

MargaziththingLl madhi niraindha nannaaLal

NeeraadappOdhuveer pOdhumino nerizaiyeer

Seer malgum aaippaadi selvasirumeergaaL

Koorvel kodunthozilan nandagopan kumaran

EraandhakaNNi yasodhai iLam singam

KaarmenichchengaNN kadhirmadhiyam pOl mugaththaan

NarayaNane namakke parai tharuvaan

PaarOr pugaza padindhelOrempaavai

margazi Thingal- month of Margazi.. .

In the month of Margazi the austerity of pavai nonbu is observed.

mathiniraindha nannaaL- full-moon day.

On the full-moon day in Margazi the star of Mrgasirsha is very near
the Moon. Hence the name Margaseersha which is known as margazi in
Tamil. Among the twelve names of the Lord, that which dominates the
month of Margazi is Kesava. Krishna says in the Gita `I am Margazi
among the twelve months." This month denotes the small hours of the
morning for the devas to whom one human year amounts to one day.
Moreover this month has the seed of the rain for the next year. For
these reasons the month is very sacred and any austerities undertaken in
this month fructify soon. Andal calls this day a nannaal, good day
because the day when the thought of attaining the Lord arises in the
mind is a good day.

neeraada pOdhuveer pOdhuminO- Come let us go and bathe in the river.

neeraadal means taking bath in ordinary language. But in this context
it implies the union with Krishna.

nerizaiyeer- Those with lustrous face and ornaments. As soon as they
were called to approach Krishna, their faces lighted with love and
expectation.

Seer malgum aaipaadi.- The gokula which is rich and beautiful. Gokula
,the residence of the cowherds became prosperous after Krishna's
arrival. The Lord has come as a cowherd boy and moves with the ordinary
folk who are ignorant as Andal says later aRivo
nRum illaadha aayykkulam which denotes the souSeelya and soulabhya of
the Lord

mahathah mandhaihi saha neerandhra samslesha svabhaavah souSeelyam, the
nature of close friendship of the great with poor and lowly. Soulabhya
is easy accessibility.

SelvachchirumeergaaL – Oh , the affluent cowherd girls., The wealth
of these girls is their devotion towards Krishna which alone is eternal
while all the other wealth is fleeting and transitory.

koorvel kodumthozilan nandagopan kumaran- The son of Nandagopa, who is
terrible, wielding his `vel.' The implication here is that Nanda
even though soft by nature became terrible ready to attack those who
wanted to harm Krishna.

Eraarndha kaNNi yasodhai iLam singam- The epithet erarndha kanni used
with reference to Yasodha means that she has lovely wide eyes on
account of looking at Krishna all the time and when used as one word it
refers to Krishna Himself when erarndha kanni means the vyjayanthi mala
worn by Him. The lion cub of Yasodha who is wearing the vyjayanthimala,
will be the meaning of the phrase then. He is called a lion cub here
whereas he was termed as kumaran, young boy in the previous line to
indicate that he was obedient and docile to his father while he asserts
himself like a lion cub when he was with his mother through her
indulgence.

kaarmeni- His dark body is compared to kaar, the rain bearing cloud
because His shower of mercy towards His devotees is like the life giving
rain to the world.

chengaNN- Eyes red like lotus.

kadhimadhiyam pol mugaththaan- His face is like both the Sun and the
Moon, scorching to His enemies and cool to His devotees.

Lord as Narsimha appears formidable with His mane spread and his loud
and violent laughter that strikes terror to all the three worlds, His
brows bent and throbbing with anger. Yet , says Vedanta Desika ,in his
kaamsikashtaka sthothra, the devotees are not deceived about His real
identity as the all merciful Lord. That is why Desika refers to Him as
kapata kesari, pseudo lion . The reason for this is , His self
contradicting actions. He looked fierce and frightening to Hiranyakasipu
but at the same time His looks directed towards Prahlada was that of a
mother towards her infant. He has vishamavilochana, one eye fierce and
burning like the Sun to the enemies of His devotees and the other cool
and comforting like the moon to the latter

narayaNane – Narayanane who has been described above will Himself
give us the boon of His service.

paarOrpugaza padindhelOrempavaai. – The word pavaai at the end of
each verse denotes the paavai nonbu they are observing. Andal says
here that the vratha which is usually observed for rain in the world
will fetch the desired result also and get them the praise of the
society even though it was only a pretext and their real purpose is to
unite with the Lord.

This world is the aayarpadi or aaippaadi. Andal represents the Acharya
who is instructing the devotees, who are endowed with the virtues of
kshama, ,patience, ahimsa, nonviolence, indriyanigraham, control of the
semses, dhayaa, mercy, jnanam, wisdom, tapas, austerity, dhyaanam,
contemplation and satyam , truth, to do service to the Lord

Ahimsaa praThamam pushpam puhpam indhriyanigrahaH

Sarvabhoothadhayaa pushpam kshamaapushpam viSeshathaH

Jnaanam pushpam thapaH pushpam Dhyaanam pushpam

thaThaiva cha

Sathyam ashtaviDham pushpam vishNoH preethikaram bhaveth

This service or kainkarya is the neeraadal or bathing and the
nerizai or ornaments are the above-said virtues. These are the riches,
`seer' and the selvachchirumeer refers to the devotees blessed
with the wealth of devotion.

madhi niraindha nannaaL is the day on which one starts
thinking about resorting to the Lord when it becomes nannaaL or good
day, filled, niraindha, with the thoughts mathi, of Him. Margazi or
MargaSeersha in Sanskrit means the way, marga, which is Seersha,(the
head) the first and foremost and refers to the path of surrender,
Prapaththimarga.

The words nandagopan and kumaran may both be taken to denote
Krishna himself, nanda meaning one who gives joy and kumaran may refer
to His eternal youth, Nithya yuva as He is called by Desika in
Godhasthuthi. Then the word kodunthozilan implies that He is merciless
towards the wicked. majjathaH paapajaathasya naasthi hasthaavalambanam,
says Desika in dhayasathakam, that is , there is no help from the Lord
for those who are deep in to the sin of their own doing. Parithraanaaya
saadhoonaam vinaasaya cha dush krthaam as He says in the Gita. Not only
the enemies outside but also the internal foes like kamakrodhaadhi flee
from the heart, once He is established in it. In that sense also He is
kodunthozilan and ilam singam

narayaNane namakke parai tharuvan- The `ekaara' in
narayanane is to emphasize that Lord Narayana alone, is capable of
giving parai, Moksha.

Andal says podhuveer podhumino to imply that whoever is so
inclined can join the group of devotees. It is always commendable to go
in groups for activities pertaining to God.

It is said in Srimathbhagavatham that the rshis of
Dandakaaranya were born as the gopis to enjoy the company of the Lord
which was denied to them in Ramavathara. They were steeped in bhakthi
and vairagya and hence termed as selvachirumeergaal, who have had the
wealth of His company and kainkarya.

Any work must have four requisites, namely , granTha- the work itself
– the aDhikaari, one who is qualified to read and understand it,
vishaya, the subject matter and prayojana, the fruit

granTha- The word pavaai denotes that the work is Thiruppavai, that is
,. observing paavai nonbu. In fact the whole pasuram indicates the
nature of the work by maargazi thingal madhi niraiNdha nannaLaal etc.
to paarOr pugza padindhElorempaavaai

aDhikaari- Seer mallgum aayppaadi SelavacchirumeergaaL

aayppadi is the world, and those who acquire the Seer , that is the
aathmagunas like ahimsa, dhaya, kshama etc. which are the nErizai.
Jewels, through the acharya who gives the knowledge of the
ananthakalyanagunas of the Lord which is like real wealth, Selvam. Those
who are qualified thus are reefed to as SelvachirumeergaaL.

vishaya- subject matter. That the Lord Himself who is upaaya and upeya,
the means and the goal denoted by naraayaNanE

prayojana- the fruit to be expected is the paRai, moksha.