Introduction
The most famous thing about Margazhi is Thiruppavai. Sri Andal’s thirty verses for the thirty days of this holy month, dedicated to the worship and praise of the Lord to the exclusion of all other celebrations and earthly events.
Sri Andal’s story very briefly is as follows.
Andal was discovered as a baby by her foster father Periazhwar in his garden at a town called Srivilliputhur in Tamilnadu India.
Andal grew up with intense devotion to the Lord and was so fond of Lord Krishna that she pictured herself as one of the Gopikas and aspired to wed the Lord. Her father used to make a garland for the Lord everyday and take it to the temple and adorn the God. Andal used to take that garland and wear it herself and picture the scene of the Lord putting the garland on her (symbolic of the marriage) and then admire the enhancement of her beauty and glow as she wore the Lord’s garland. Legend has it that one day, like every other day she had worn the garland before her father took it to the temple. But on that day the priest notices a strand of hair on the garland and refused to put it on the Lord saying this is not pure and that someone had already worn it. Periazhwar was totally crestfallen at this very inauspicious happening and came home dejected and scolded the child severely. In some time, the Lord appears in the mind of the priest and orders him to bring the garland back saying that is the garland that He likes, The priest and andal’s father Periazhwar, realise the true nature of Andal’s intense devotion and the appreciation of the same by the Lord and wear the garland on the Lord to everyone’s joy.
Andal continues to celebrate her Lord and sing His praises in many a verse and does her penance to attain Him. The Thiruppavai is one such work in which her worship manifests. Eventually the Lord one fine day comes and marries her and takes her into His fold.
Understanding the structure of Thiruppavai
Let me take you through my simplistic, simplified sometimes trivialized explanation of how I understand the Thiruppavai. I claim no correctness or completeness of my understanding – my merit is that it is my interpretation (perhaps influenced partly by what I have heard or read ) written by me, my admiration for the work is sincere and my devotion to the Lord in whose name it is written is total and has no ulterior motive.
The framework – before we commence the study of the 30 verses let us see the framework of the Thiruppavai. Once you understand the framework it is that much easier to understand and appreciate the work and also slowly divine the inner meanings that emerge from the rich poetry in these verses.
Thiruppavai can be broadly split into three major sections with a few subsections inside them.
Section 1 ( Verses 1 – 5 )– Andal announces the intention to perform a month long Nonbu (let’s say a divine mission ) a sustained and intense worship of the Lord Narayana manifesting in the form of Lord Krishna. This section has five verses. In these five verses the fact of the Nonbu, some details of how it is going to be done, some do s and don’t s are described in the first two stanzas and in the next three verses the glory of the Lord in whose name the Nonbu is being done is extolled to create the motivation and the energy for carrying on the Nonbu and achieve success of the mission.
Section 2 (Verses 6 – 15)– Any good activity is enhanced when done together by a group of like minded good people. Every project works with a good team right ? so here is Andal in section 2 collecting her team, a group of ten young girls like her to join her in her penance. Section 2 contains 10 verses. Each verse describing how Andal goes to the house of one of the girls, waking her up and imploring her to join the band. Each verse besides waking up the girl is rich in poetry describing the environment then, alluding to the Lord in His many forms and glory.
Section 3 (Verses 16 -20 waking up the Lord, 21-28 His praise and Worship 29 – the Prayer 30- the blessing) – In the Sixteenth verse Andal and her friends reach the entrance to the Temple of the Lord and beseech the guard there to let them inside. The next four verses gently wake up the Lord and his consort Nappinnai . And as the Lord wakes up, opens his Lotus Eyes and walks up majestically to the yard, the next verses sing eloquent praise of the various great qualities and victories of the Lord.
More about these later as the days unfold…….
Let me recall the verses in English for the benefit of those who cannot read Tamil, and then the simplified meaning of the verses and some comments.
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