CHENNAI: Aazhi mazhaikkannaa!
onru nee kai karavel
Aazhi ul pukku mugandhu kodarththari
Oozhi mudhalvan uruvam pol
mei karuththup
Paazhiyan tholudaiya
parpanaaban kaiyil
Aazhi pol minni valamburi
pol ninradhirndhu
Thaazhaadhae saarangam
udhaiththa saramazhai pol……
These words by the only female alvar (poet-saint), Andal, discuss the concept of water cycle in her collection, Thiruppavai. These verses can be understood as, “Andal assumes that Krishna, himself takes the water from the sea, goes up in the sky and fills it in the clouds and shoots his arrow — saarangam — for the rain to pour,” explains city-based historian, Meenakshi Devraj, noting that “even in the 7th century, people were aware of the water cycle.”
Margazhi masterpiece
This stanza is one of the 30 poems in the collection. These poems are commonly played in households during Margazhi, as their themes are closely tied to this sacred month. “I was introduced to Thiruppavai at a young age. Then, Meenakshi Aunty taught me the 4th pasuram (verse), in which Kodhai (Andal) describes rain. She taught me the meaning of Thiruppavai — Andal Nachi’s Sanga Tamil Malai — line by line, pasuram by pasuram,” shares Amaidhini, who lives in the US.
Amaidhini and many other NRIs attend workshops conducted by Meenakshi and deepen their literary knowledge of their roots. “People of Indian origin in the States, once they get financially settled, turn to their history to stand out and excel,” notes the historian. Some like Amaidhini are captivated by the rich reflections of society in literary works.
Amaidhini completed the workshop in September. Since then, she has kept herself busy by developing crosswords, trying to write the meaning of Thiruppavai in Tamil on her own, and creating drawings for each of the pasurams. The teenager shares, “I like to use words and phrases I learned from Thiruppavai when talking to family in everyday life. For example I say, ‘Kathai thiravai’.”
This instance points out that Andal’s language is simple, yet profoundly beautiful. Interestingly, the teacher’s and the student’s favourite line from the poems is from the 29th pasuram.
The stanza begins with the words ‘Sitram sirukaale’. “In this verse, Andal Nachi says to Lord Krishna, “We didn’t come to get a gift from you today just to leave you tomorrow. In this birth and every other, we just want to be with you and serve you.” In this pasuram, Andal imparts to us that the most important thing in life is a relationship with God,” says Amaidhini.
Painted pasurams
She adds, “Andal uses such eloquent words to make the early morning vividly come to life in her writing. We can almost hear the sound of birds chattering, ‘Chitchu! Chitchu!’ and smell the fragrance of blooming flowers. This inspired me to create drawings.” In one of her drawings of the 14th song, Andal wakes her friend, describing the flowers in the backyard ponds on the garden and the pond in her watercolour and pencil sketch.
This literature lover also faced difficulties in drawing the homes and people mentioned in the verses since architecture and clothing styles kept evolving. She overcame by learning how it would have been in the 7th and 9th century.
The series of poems has made a huge impact on the teenager as she further plans to create a descriptive narrative about Andal Nachi’s life including “how Perialvar found her, how Kodhai wore the garlands she offered to Naarayanan, description of the nature in the Srivilliputhur landscape, and how she and her friends did the Margazhi nombu that the world continues to celebrate,” shares Amaidhini.
Meenakshi was the main source for Amaidhini and others to press their pencils/paint brushes on paper. She teaches the pasurams with respect to nature so that the students relate to the literature. She says, “For certain flowers or birds, I compare how it is there (US) to here (India). More than the religious perspective, for the youngsters, I go with nature so that they know how rich we were. They will know their roots as they’re all Tamilians.”
While the motive of these workshops is for Indian-origin children to learn about their culture, it is also about the thousands of years of history. “Thiruppavai talks a lot about early mornings. There could be some other literature in some other country in some other language similar to this. When discussed at a global platform I’m able to establish connections and tell them that while your culture is one among the hundreds and is best, the Tamil heritage is also one of the hundreds,” she concludes.