Thirumangai AzvAr' s
Preference to Northern cult to Tamil one
When Thriumangai AzvAr Proclaimed in
ThriuNedunthANdakam 'senThiRatha Thamizh Osai vada
sollAGi' ThirunedunthANdakam 4,the classical divine tamil, indeed shows up the
collar, a tribute from none other than nAlu kavip perumAL.
However, when it comes to emotion packed
romance, love and affection,the pangs of separation pushes Thirumangai mannan
to relegate tamil cult to backseat when AzhvAr opts
fornorthern practices -vaDa neRiyEa vEANdinOam'.
There is another instance where Kaliyan
endorses this view. When ParakAla nAyaki's mother places her in an isolated
place, ParakAla nAyaki looks around to get a glimpse of the divine spot 'ThriukkaNNapuram'. The mother decidedly felt that having
put her in a secluded spot, the communication would get snapped and so the
relationship.
However, her predicament is realised by
the holy messenger who goes on a singing mission, bridges the gap, functions the
job of router and concretises the communicatin culminating in togetherness of
the loved ones.
Generally, this singing missionary -pANan-
is sent by the thalaivan -male counterpart to assuage the hard feelings of the
female counterpart -thalaivi. This is the practice in tamil
cult.
'nEnilA muTRAthE ninRivaL
nOKKinAL,
kANumOA kaNNapuram enRu
kATTinAL,
pANANAr thiNNamirukka ini
ivaL
nANumOA? nanRu nanRu
naRaiyURarkEa' Periya ThiruMozhi 8-2-2;
However, in northern cult, this can be
done by female part to the male part (refer Rukmini PirATTi's emissary to Lord
KrshNA)
This line
is toed by ParakAla nAyaki who mentions that the pANaNAr
is in a mission to ensure their
togetherness and therefore she is unperturbed.
The swApadhEsam -AchAryan is the pANAnAr
who ensures the prapannan with EmperumAn.
(Heard from
upanyAsam-s)
dASan
vanamamalai
padmanabhan
----- Original Message -----
Subject: [Oppiliappan] The Shameless
Strategy
Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta
Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya
nama:
The Shameless Strategy
You would have seen a recent TV
commercial for a mobile phone, in which a youth climbs to the top of a
skyscraper under construction and bawls out for all to hear, 'Monica! I love
you! Please accept me' and so on. Given the large degree of exaggeration that
characterises all advertisement, I wondered idly whether someone would really
resort to such tactics to persuade his beloved to accept his attentions. All
said and done, love is a private matter and none would like others to know
about it prematurely, till it is confirmed to be a two-way affair. However,
what can the boy do if, despite his most sincere and industrious pursuit, a
girl refuses to accept or even acknowledge his affections? He can't really
throw in the towel and look at other eligible females, because his love for
this particular girl is really deep and has reached a stage where he can't
live without her. He has tried all the routine strategies for communicating
with her, like letters, SMS, messages through her friends, etc., but nothing
seems to work. It is in sheer desperation, knowing not what else to do to win
her affections, but convinced that he must do something, he climbs to the top
of the tower under construction and shouts his love for her, literally from
the rooftops, so that people who hear his forlorn message would perhaps take
pity on him and intercede with the girl on his behalf, or the girl herself
would realise from this shameless act the depth of his love for her and would
be sufficiently moved to return his affections. Whether the strategy succeeds
or not is a different matter-but its adoption indicates to us the desperation
behind the youth's action, the almost suicidal sincerity underlying his love
and his brazenness in not caring whether the entire world knows about his
innermost feelings.
Given that love is a basic emotion and has
been afflicting boys and girls from time immemorial, it is no surprise for us
to find mention of the phenomenon is ancient Tamizh literature. In fact, the
type of exhibition youth put on in desperation to attract the notice of their
beloved, during times past, appears to be much more excessive than any even
the current day youngsters have come up with so far (which is definitely
saying something). We are told that in the face of a studied silence on the
part of their beloved despite all forms of entreaties, boys and girls used to
forsake food and sleep, tormented by constant thoughts of the beloved. They
drew a portrait of their darling and used to go anywhere and everywhere along
with it, gazing at it with adoration and yearning. Friends of the lover
used to take him or her in a procession through the town, portrait and all,
especially through the street where the unresponsive beloved resided. At the
height of the malady, the boy or girl used to fall at the feet of the portrait
and even die in the same posture, having given up basic life-saving functions
like eating, sleeping and bathing.
This type of rather
bizarre behaviour prompted by excessive and unrequited love, has been given
the name Madal Oordal, in Sangam literature. However, whatever be the
circumstance and however excessive be the emotion, women were not expected to
adopt such strategies for securing the attentions of their beloved.
Tiruvalluvar tells us that the ideal girl, whatever be the provocation, never
resorts to such tactics-
'Kadal anna kaamam uzhandum madal
era
Pennil peruntakkadu il'
The hoary culture of ancient
Tamils placed such premium on modesty and continence in women, that though
society was prepared to countenance bizarre behaviour in males, prompted by a
surfeit of love, it preferred women never to be excessively demonstrative of
their affections, even if the separation from the beloved were to result in
the girl's life being lost. It was alright for women to rant, rave or grieve
the absence of their beloved, all within the four walls of the home, but it
was not considered the done thing for females to resort to Madal Oordal or
similar publicly demonstrative strategies for consummating their
love.
We are therefore surprised to find Sri Tirumangai Mannan,
the doyen of Tamizh poets and sporting the title Naalu Kavi Perumal, taking a
diametrically opposite stand vis-à-vis accepted norms of behaviour for Tamizh
women. In fact, Azhwar quotes these norms and makes fun of such women for not
adopting the tactics of Madal Oordal. We thus find Azhwar running contrary to
Tamizhar Panpaadu (Tamizh Culture), not even by oversight, but with studied
deliberation. Sri Kalian spurns the mores of Tamizh women and prefers those of
North Indian girls, who are much more venturesome in their endeavours for
attaining their beloved.
If you find this hard to believe, here are
the poignant words of the peripatetic poet Parakala-
'Anna
nadaayaar alar esa aadavar mel
mannu madal ooraar enbador
vaasakamum
ten urayil kettu arivadu undu-adanai yaam
teliyom
mannum vada neriye vendinom'
'I have indeed
heard Tamizh poets pontificate that women of good birth and upbringing never
resort to Madal oordal for achieving union with their beloved, even if the
prolonged separation is likely to cost them their lives. However, I do not
agree with this school of thought and would much prefer to follow the models
set by Sanskrit literature, where we find such strategies freely adopted by
women to achieve their ends' says Sri Kalian, in his 'Periya Tiru
Madal'.
Not content with voicing his disagreement with the
Tamizh poets, Sri Tirumangai Mannan goes on to make fun of the heroines of
these poets, who hold their emotions in such tight check that one wonders
whether their love is really that intense. These girls do not appear to
experience any of the torment that characterises true and unrequited love.
These women very obviously do not realise the deleterious effects of cool
sandalwood paste (which burns the skin instead of cooling it) on those
suffering from pangs of separation. They fail to feel the sadness that sweet
strains of music induce, in the absence of the beloved to share them with.
They fail to be moved by the mellifluous chimes of bells around the necks of
mating bulls. The cheery chirping of bird couples in the throes of conjugal
delight fails to move these southern damsels, whereas their northern
counterparts would have been tormented at the thought of what bliss they too
could have enjoyed in the company of their beloved. To sum up, Sri Kalian
concludes that since these women portrayed by Tamizh poets fail to be moved by
romantic sights and sounds, their love must be rather
shallow.
Azhwar prefers to toe the line of other girls
acclaimed by Sanskrit literature, who are thrilled to the very core of their
being by the company of their beloved and are pushed to the verge of suicide
by separation, displaying the unfathomable depths of their emotion for those
they love.
He prefers to say with the Divine Couple in Srimad Ramayanam
that he would not live an hour more, without the precious life
partner-'Oordhvam maasaat na jeeveyam tam vinaa asitekshanaam'
.
Sri Kalian's (or the Parakala Naayaki's) words in the two
Madals (Siriya Tiru Madal and Periya Tiru Madal) drip with romance for the
Supreme Being, full of bridal mysticism, the pain of parting, sorrow at what
he/she is missing, longing for reunion with the elusive Divine Lover,
determined to attain Him by any and all means, even at the cost of
throwing her modesty to the winds (as portrayed by the bizarre behaviour of
Madal Oordal mentioned above).
The Madals represent a radical
departure in phraseology and approach, from the sedate paasurams of Kalian's
'Vaadinen Vaadi', 'Angan maa gyaalam anja', 'Virperu vizhavum', etc.---. the
latter represent the sober words of an Azhwar describing the Lord, His
auspicious attributes and exhorting Samsaaris to surrender themselves to the
Supreme Being. However, the former (Madals) represent the uncontrollable
outpourings of a lady love longing for union with her beloved. The pangs of
separation become all the more unbearable and prompt shameless behaviour,
considering the boundless beauty and auspicious attributes of the person
sought to be courted.
One may wonder whether such romancing is
in tune with Azhwar's avowed objective of Bhagavat anubhavam. Normally, when
you want to concentrate on the Lord, such thoughts prove to be a definite
hindrance. However, Sri Kalian's strategy appears to be to reserve all such
passion solely for Sriman Narayana, in tune with Sri Amudanar's
dictum-'Kannanukke aamadu kaamam'-love, in all its myriad facets, is to be
reserved for Emperuman.
If Sri Periazhwar could compose a
Pillai Tamizh, placing himself in the position of a fond mother to Sri
Krishna, Sri Parakala puts himself in the position of a lady love pining away
for Emperuman, deriving delirious pleasure in His company and feeling down in
the dumps upon separation. And the depth of his love for the Lord is such that
he is prepared to adopt any strategy, fair or foul, for achieving his object
of union with the Ultimate, adhering to the maxim 'All is fair in love and
war'. And Madal Oordal is perhaps a small price Azhwar is willing to pay for
the coveted prize of Bhagavat laabham. He cares little, like the youth on the
tower top described in the opening para of this piece, of what the people
around him would think of him for adopting such a brazen strategy-in this, he
follows the precedent set by Sri Parankusa, who too is willing to go to the
extreme extent of Madal Oordal for attaining Emperuman, who is playing
truant-'Annai en seyyil en oor en sollil en'. 'Let the whole world watch me
resorting to Madal: let all the women in the town call me shameless and
brazen. I care little for all the criticism, as long as I am able to win the
affections of the Emperuman with the Divine Discus and Cosmic Conch adorning
His broad shoulders' says Sri Nammazhwar too, from whom Sri Tirumangai Mannan
appears to have derived inspiration for adopting the Madal route to attaining
the Lord. Here is Sri Nammazwar's poignant paasuram, contemplating resort to
the extreme step of Madal oordal-
'Yaam madal oordum em Aazhi
angai Piraan udai
Toomuruval tondai vaai malar kondu
chooduvom
Aamadam indri teruvu toru ayal tayyalaar
Naa madangaa
pazhi thoottri naadum iraikkave'
The Madals teach us that
nothing, but nothing at all is precious, including one's self-respect and
standing in the eyes of society, when the goal to be attained is exalted,
being none other than the Paramapurusha. Shedding one's ego completely and
broadcasting one's love for the Lord from the rooftops is not at all
unthinkable for Azhwars, who exhort us too to abandon our inhibitions and
demonstrate our adoration for Emperuman for all to see-'Perumayum naanum
tavirndu pidattrumin pedamai teernde'
Emperuman is said to be
accompanied by His two Consorts, Sridevi and Bhoodevi, at Sri Vaikunttam. It
would appear that in this world too, He had two Mahishis, the Paraankusa
Naayaki (Sri Nammazhwar) and the Parakaala Naayaki (Sri Tirumangai Azhwar),
whose love and affection were no less than those showered on Emperuman by His
Consorts in the Eternal Worlds.
Srimate Sri Lakshmi Nrsimha
divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya
nama:
dasan,
sadagopan
[Non-text
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