|
 வாரண மாயிரம் சூழவ லம்செய்து, (VAraNa
mAyiram sUzhavalam seydu)
நாரண நம்பி நடக்கின்றா னென்றெதிர், (nAraNa
nambi naDakkinRAn enRedir)
பூரண பொற்குடம் வைத்துப் புறமெங்கும்,
(pUraNa poRkuDam vaittup puRamengum)
தோரணம் நாட்டக் கனாக்கண்டேன் தோழீநான் (tOraNam
nATTak kanAkkaNDEn tOzhinAn!)
---nAcciyAr thirumozhi 6.1
(With
a thousand elephants surrounding Him, Sri nArAyaNa is walking around
the town. The people of SrivillipuththUr carry golden pots filled
with holy water on their heads to welcome Him. The whole town wears
a festive look with festoons of mango leaves. I dreamed like that,
my friend!)
Yes, it was a majestic dream of Sri
ANDAL since she decided that she would not marry any ordinary human
being but Lord nArAyaNa Himself. Since she professed her love for
the Lord it becomes an obsession with her that she thinks of the
Lord all the time during waking hours as well during sleep too.
While sleeping she is dreaming — not just any mundane dream but a
divine one whereby the entire wedding process starting with the
arrival of the bridegroom, the garlanding, the acceptance of the
bride by the groom and his family and then on to the culmination
with the final sacrament with holy water is staged in sequence. She
describes her dream in its entirety to her close confidante. The
entire sequence is captured in the 10 songs gathered under the
title, “VAraNamAyiram” in nAcciyAr thirumozhi, a
segment of nAlAyira divya prabhandham.
ANDAL was not unaware of all the
wedding ceremonies practised in her time. Thus the 10 songs in the
VAraNamAyiram thirumozhi describe the ceremonies in proper order.
First the arrival of the bridegroom, on the stage for betrothal, is
heralded (nAcciyAr thirumozhi 6.1). Then the
bridegroom is seated for the betrothal ceremony and the date for the
wedding is fixed (6.2) under the canopy. The elders bless the
wedding and the bride is properly decorated (6.3). Next the
bridegroom coming into bride’s house followed by rakshAbandanam
(6.4) is described. Then some young maidens of the bride’s party
bring brightly lit lamps in their hands and approach the bridegroom
(6.5). These steps are the preliminaries leading to pANigrahaNam.
The bridegroom then grabs the hand of the bride (6.6) tightly and
both of them go around the fire taking seven steps (6.7) which then
leads to ammi midittal (6.8) followed by offering puffed rice
to the fire (6.9). The final step is the ablution of the bride and
groom with holy water (6.10).
ANDAL wants her wedding to be a grand
one and hence she brings in thousand elephants to surround Lord
nArAyaNa’s entry into the town where she lives. She wants the people
of the whole town to participate in inviting Him into their fold. It
is not just the bride’s house that is decorated but the whole town
is adorned with festoons bearing mango leaves and other
ornamentation. Since she is marrying the Lord she expects and
obtains (in her dream, of course) such grandeur. The betrothal
ceremony takes place under the canopy that has been decorated with
blooming betel nut trees when the Lord gOvindan enters the canopy.
ANDAL makes sure that He is coming only to wed her and not for any
other purpose and does not want the wedding to take place at some
future date. She wants the wedding date to be “tomorrow” (nALai).
Betrothal:
இந்திர னுள்ளிட்ட தேவர்கு
ழாமெல்லாம், (indiran uLLiTTa
dEvarkuzhAm ellAm)
வந்திருந் தென்னைம கட்பேசி மந்திரித்து,
(vandirundu ennai makaTpEsi mandirittu)
மந்திரக் கோடியு
டுத்திம ணமாலை, (mandirak kODi
uDutti maNamAlai)
அந்தரி சூட்டக்க
னாக்கண்டேன் தோழீநான்.(andari
suTTak kanAkkaNDEn tOzhInAn) 6.3
(The celestials including Indra came
to seek me as bride for Lord nArAyaNa. Then goddess durga helped me
wear the blessed sari and then adorned me with the wedding garland
too. I dreamed like that, my friend!)
 ANDAL then visualizes the gathering
of all the celestials including Indra who have come to ask that
ANDAL be given in marriage to the Lord. None other than goddess
durga (andari) helps her wear the blessed sari (kUraip
puDavai) and garlands her too in preparation for the wedding. It
was customary that the wedding had to be blessed by the elders and
our ANDAL has to have all the celestial beings to be present for
that event. It is also customary that the bridegroom’s sister
participates in dressing up the bride in decorative sari and get to
know her in person. Since goddess pArvati (also known as durga) is
the sister of Lord nArAyaNa, ANDAL is judicious in picking goddess
durga to be involved in this segment.
In the next sequence ANDAL visualizes
that the Brahmin priests carry holy water from all over and sprinkle
it on her head and chant holy scripts to confer benediction. When
the Lord arrives into the wedding hall both their hands are tied
with a sacred thread (kAppu nAN). Several beautiful young
damsels then come walking delicately in a dancing gait carrying
bright holy lamps in their hands to welcome the bridegroom.
PANigrahaNam (Hand holding):
மத்தளம் கொட்டவ ரிசங்கம்
நின்றூத, (mattaLam koTTa
varisangam ninRUda)
முத்துடைத் தாம நிரைதாழ்ந்த பந்தற்கீழ்(muttuDait
tAma niraitAzhnda pandaRkIzh)
மைத்துனன் நம்பி மதுசூதன் வந்து,என்னைக்
(maittunan nambi madusUdhan vandennaik)
கைத்தலம் பற்றக் கனாக்கண்டேன் தோழீநான்(kaittalam
paRRak kanAkkaNDEn tOzhInAn) 6.6
(The drums were sounding and the
conches were blowing non-stop. Under the canopy decorated with
hanging pearl garlands the Lord madusUdhan grabbed my hand tightly.
That was my dream, my friend!)
ANDAL considers herself to be a
cowherd girl and claims a relationship with Krishna by virtue of
living in gOkulam. As far as she is concerned the wedding is
consummated the moment madusUdhan grabs her hand under the canopy to
the chanting of scriptures by Brahmin priests. While the wedding
with her Lord is important to her in spirit she also wants the pomp
and pageantry that go with it such as the instruments playing under
the canopy decorated with beautiful pearl strands.
agni
pradakshiNam and ammi midittal (Going around the fire and
stepping on the stone):
As the priests chant the vEdAs they
spread green grass (dharbai) around the fire pit and place
little wooden sticks on them. Krishna held ANDAL’s hand tightly and
they both walk around the fire. The fire is a sacred witness of
their marital status. They take seven steps, each one signifying the
conferment of various benefits for married life such as peace,
prosperity, health, etc. ANDAL does not want to leave out this basic
feature of saptapati from her wedding ceremony. The next part
features the Lord grabbing her right foot with His right hand and
placing it on the stone (செம்மை
யுடைய திருக்கையால் தாள்பற்றி,
அம்மி
மிதிக்கக் கனாக்கண்டேன் தோழீநான்—He
held my right foot with His hand and placed it on the stone).
This act implies that her loyalty to
the Lord must be as strong as the stone on which her foot rests.
The denouement:
pori
mugam taTTa...
Anai mEl manjanam ATTa
In the next
sequence of her dream, ANDAL’s brothers (five of them) make her
stand in front of the fire, place her hands on top of KaNNan’s hands
and fill them with puffed rice to offer to the fire (lAja hOmam)
praying for a long life to her husband. Finally, like all good
things the dream must come to an end.
குங்கும மப்பிக் குளிர்சாந்தம் மட்டித்து, (kungumam
appik kuLirsAndam maTTittu)
மங்கல வீதி வலம்செய்து மணநீர், (mangala
vIdi valamseydu maNanIr)
அங்கவ னோடு முடஞ்சென்றங் கானைமேல்,(angu
avanODum uDansenRu angAnaimEl)
மஞ்சன மாட்டக்க னாக்கண்டேன் தோழீநான். (manjcanam
ATTak kanAkkaNDEn tOzhI nAn)
6.10
(Applying vermillion and cool sandal
paste to our bodies we then went around the streets seated on top of
an elephant and had holy water sprayed on us. That was my dream, my
dear friend!)
That brings us to the culmination of
ANDAL’s dream which eventually comes true when Lord RanganAtha
appears in the dream of PeriyAzhwAr, the Srirangam temple priests,
and the PANDya king asking them to bring ANDAL to Srirangam to his
abode. She merged with the Lord at the sanctum sanctorum upon
reaching there. A majestic dream with a fabulous denouement indeed!
All the figures shown in this article
are from:
http://www.sundarasimham.org/ebooks/NachiyaarThirumozhi.pdf
(To be continued)
Sethuraman Subramanian
|
