Post 17
Dear sri vaishNava perunthagaiyeer,
In previous posts we saw how the six paasurams of 'vaaraNam aayiram' padhikam of aaNdaaL, matchingly describe 'raama's marriage with seethaa' or aaNdaal's dream thinking about her marriage goes in lines of 'seethaa kalyaaNam'.
We are in the marriage hall of 'seethaa raama kalyaaNam' wherein the paaNi grahaNam is taking place.
Before going into details of marriage of 'seethaa raama', I wish to state 2 points.
Point 1:
In the paasuram 5 of aaNdaaL there is the line
"sathir iLa mangaiyar thaam vandhu edhir koLLa"
– this word 'sathir' is the name of the traditional tamil dance form
– The word 'sathir' used by aaNdaaL means the traditional dance form of 'tamil culture'.
– That is the point I want to make here.
– So 'sathir iLa mangaiyar thaam vandhu edhir koLLa' means – when the 'madhuraiyaar maNNan', the supreme lord kaNNan krishNa came – young girls dancing with lighted lamps in pots welcomed him or received him in the marriage hall.
– there are many references in silappathikaaram about 'sathir' says an article from tamil sangam available in the internet.
– This is like the other dance form known as 'kuravai'
– well known example of this kuravai is the "aaychchiyar kuravai" – the famous "vadavaraiyai maththaakki" - made popular by late Smt.M.S.Subbulakshmi. {earlier MGV gave the full text of this in an article to the lists – maybe bhakthi list of Mani varadarajan]
– kaNNan 'kuravaik kooththu aadinaan' says 4000 prabhandham [kuravai aaichchiyarOdu kOththadhum – says nammaazhvaar – 6-4 –1 - thiruvaaimozhi.
– third type of dance is kudam aaduthal - kudakkooththa ammaan saya nammaazhvaar in -2-5-11 thiruvaimozhi
So sathir, kuravai, kudakkooththu are traditional tamil dance forms. May be similar are the karagam etc which we have today.
'sathir' is the old tamil form of dance and it was named as 'bharatha naatyam' by one Dr.V.K.P.Sundaram in early 20th century - says that article in the internet mentioned above. Some time back there was serious discussion in the 'December music seasons' whether it is 'sathir' or 'bharatha naatyam'. Let us not worry whether it is 'bharatha naatyam' or 'sathir' - for we inherit a rich traditional dance form – that is what we have as sculptures in many old temples depicting various dance poses.
Even today we have this 'practice' in our marriages – of carrying lamps in vessels do the 'rounding' of bride and groom when they stand on the oonjal palagai - instead of 'dancing young girls', as stated by aaNdaaL to receive kaNNan - today we see 'elderly ladies' – 'dheerga sumangalees' – doing this – of course from both bride and groom family ladies. May be that traditional form of "kathir oLi dheepam kalasamudan Enthi sathir iLa mangaiyar" is modified to the present day form.
Point 2:
Another point is – that 'adhirap pugudha'in same verse 6-5 naachchiyaar thirumozhi – the recent popular tamil cinema phrase is 'summaa adhirudhilla' – this was commented by one of the tamil scholar in a serious topic lecture. He said this 'adhira' is originally used by aaNdaaL – and it is for the 'midukku' – 'gaambheeryam' – 'grandeur' in the walking of that 'madhuraiyaar mannan'. See the richness of aaNdaaL's tamil usage and enjoy the verses.
Now we move into the marriage hall and continue to enjoy seethaa raama kalyaaNam. AaNdaaL says 'maththaLam koTTa vari sa~ngam ninRu oodha' in the 6th verse – whether this was there in seethaa kalyaaNam – see vaalmeeki -
1-73-28b-29a.
saadhu + saadhu = nice, fine;
ithi + dhEvaanaam + risheeNaam + vadhathaam + thadhaa = thus, of gods, sages, while saying [exclaimed], then;
dhEva + dhundhubhi + nirghoshaH = heavenly, drums, drumming;
pushpa + varsham + mahaan + abhoot = flowers, showers, plentiful, occurred.
Meaning: Then there occurred plentiful flower-showers, while sages and gods exclaimed "Nice... Fine..." to the drumbeats of heavenly drums. [1-3-28b, 29a]
Point: the 'maththaLam koTTa' of aaNdaaL - is done by dhEvaas for 'seethaa raama vivaaham' – may be the dhEva bhaashai of 'saadhu saadhu' became the 'vari sangam' oodhudhal for aaNdaaL – why specifically 'ninRu' – the dhEvaas were standing in the sky and enjoying the marriage and showered flowers on the newly wed couple raama and seethaa [as per vaalmeeki in above slokam]
Let us continue more on the marriage in next post also
Dhasan
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