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Dear friends,

In stanza #20 of the TiruppAvai there is an extraordinary line:

seppana menn-mulai sevvAy siru marungul
napinnai nangAy! tiruvE tuyilezhAy !

The above lines read together with the lines in Stanza#19 "maitadan
kanninAy ..." and "napinnai kongai mEl vaittu kidandha malar mArbA.."
would literally translate into English as follows:

"The Lord Almighty Krishna, the broad-chested one, 
who rests entrapped upon Napinnai's bosom, remains
enchanted with her large and beautiful eyes ("maitadan
kanninAy"), her full but delicate breasts
("seppana-menn-mulai"), her cherry-red mouth
("sevvAy") and slender waist ("siru-marungul"). Such
an enamoured One, hence, perhaps is oblivious of our
calls (the call of the "aayarpAdi" maidens)."

The above are really very suggestive lines indeed. To one who
understands their "svapadEsArtham" or their real, esoteric
significance which "AchAryA-s" reveal in their commentaries, the
lines are truly very profound! 

But to any lay reader (particularly someone who is uninitiated into
the religious thought and idiom of SriVaishnavas) who reads the lines
for the first time, the lines may probably appear to have strong
erotic or sexual undertone ("sringAra-rasa"). It may also leave the
lay reader a little bewildered as to why a poetess would want to
depict the theme of religious devotion in the rather explicit idiom
of sexual passion. The answer to such an ordinarily troubling
question is given by various scholars steeped in the traditional
commentaries of "tiruppAvai". 

In the book "Mysticism in the Upanishads" by Bankey Bihari (Pg.117)
it is explained that "The madness of sexual passion is generally
resorted to in expressing the madness of the devotees for the Lord".

V.Bashyam Iyengar in his book on "TiruppAvai" writes (pg.19): "(When
trying to understand these lines of the "tiruppAvai") one should note
an important fact: that the "breasts of Napinnai" ("seppana-menn-
mulai") which captivated the Lord and rivetted his attention were in
reality not of flesh and blood.It is heart-rending how much Lord
Krishna, our perfect 'avatAr' and Lord of Love has been misunderstood
and vilified by ignorant foreigners. Of course, they have not read
our books, much less comprehended their meaning. How else is it
possible to conceive that they could find fault with the doings of
One, whose unquestionable sanction or otherwise constitutes the sole
standard of Right and Wrong? The "svApadesArtham" or inner
significance of the inscrutable doings of the Lord is not understood
or realised except by those who have studied our books in the proper
traditional method." 

Now, a lay reader with limited knowledge of TiruppAvai literature,
however, may well ask, "Alright, if our Poetess of Villiputtur in
using the phrase "seppana-menn-mulai" refers to far more than the
"full and
delicate breasts of Napinnai", and is not in the least carnal in
sense or purport, then what else did she exactly mean by it?". It is
a perfectly justified question and one which the 'tiruppAvai'
scholars have addressed very adequately and admirably.

The scholars explain that in Verses# 19 and #20:

"menn-mulai" (full breasts) is metaphor for "budding devotion or
bhakti";

"sevvAy" (luscious-red mouth) stands for "inner beauty of the soul"

"maitadan-kanninAy" (collyrium-etched eyes) is the metaphor for
the 'eye of gnyAna" or the "opening out" of spiritual knowledge 

"marungul" (slim waist) is the perfect metaphor for "vairAgya" or
worldy renunciation. 

V.Bashyam Iyengar further explains wonderfully:

"All incarnations of the Lord, originate in his natural love and
mercy for his children but Krishna's incarnation was pre-eminent in
that respect. And if in his quest for souls Krishna's unfathomable
kindness
and condescension induced him to play with cowherdesses, are we to
condemn such "leelA-s" as unbecoming and immoral? (No!). It was
really the incipient knowledge ("gnyAna" or spiritual awakening) that
He saw in the eyes ("maitadan-kanninAy") of the cowherdesses, the
budding devotion (the dawning of "bhakti") that He saw in their
succulent breasts ("menn-mulai") and the creeping "vairAgya" or
renunciation that He saw in their slender waists ("siru-marungul")." 

Only when the "svapadEsArtham" of bodily 'angAs' such as breasts,
eyes, lips and waists are explained to us in easily understandable
language as above.... only then are we truly able to appreciate and
realize how well the poetic genius of AndAl indeed do in using them
as perfect metaphors for "the budding of bhakti", "the dawning of
gnyAna", "the birth of inner spiritual beauty" and "the austerity of
"vairAgyA" or renunciation" in Man.

********* ******** ********

In Stanza#21 there is another extraordinarily beautiful line:

"...perum passukal Atrap-padaittAn mahanE...".

I had always been taught that the above line was an address to
Krishna as being the "son of Nandagopan, the mighty tender of cows
whose udders were bursting with milk...". Adiyen had always thought
that the above expression was an address to Nandagopan's son. 

Recently I came across a very creative piece of "vyAkhyAnam"
(interpretation) which tells me that the above phrase can also be
viewed as referring to Sri.RamanujachArya even though ANdal pre-dated
Ramanuja by at least 300-400 years! She probably had a prescient
awareness of the advent of Ramanuja on earth well before his time...
So say some scholars.

These scholars say that the term "perrum-passukal" refers to
Ramanuja's "disciples". "AtrapadaittAn" denotes the AchArya himself
and "mahanE" actually denotes the Tiru-narayan chella pillai, the
Deity of Melkote, whose idol was personally installed and consecrated
by Ramanuja in the Melkote temple. This temple was greatly favoured
by Ramanuja in his times.

If one mulls over the above ideas and the subject-lines of the
'tiruppAvai' one cannot help being amazed at their aptness and
applicability to Ramanuja who, yes, did have hundreds of disciples
("perrum-passukal"), who did tend to them carefully and lovingly by
providing leadership for them during the very troubled reign of King
Kollutungan of those times and, yes, who did regard the Lord of
Melkote, SampathkumAra-Chellapillai, as his own "darling son"!

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan

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