Episode 01 - Pillaiththamizh - Senkeerai.

Senkeerai

We move on to the third phase of this PiLLaith Thamizh – Senkeerai (செங்கீரைப்பருவம்)

(This is what we have said about this phase in the opening post: கீர் (KIr) would mean words. செங்கீரை would denote the baby, in his or her sixth month,  beginning to mouth sounds that are yet to form into words - gibberish or babble, as they say: and those engaging the baby would try to correlate the baby’s limb movements – kicking of the legs and shaking of the hands, with the babble and call on it to go on with that ‘dance’ without a concert - ஆடுக செங்கீரை!.)

We are, with great difficulty, picking three out of the ten verses that call for attention with equal attractiveness:

உய்ய உலகு படைத்து உண்ட மணிவயிறா

      ஊழிதொறு ஊழி பல ஆலின் இலையதன்மேல்

பைய உயோகு-துயில் கொண்ட பரம்பரனே

      பங்கய நீள் நயனத்து அஞ்சன மேனியனே

செய்யவள் நின் அகலம் சேமம் எனக் கருதி

      செல்வு பொலி மகரக் காது திகழ்ந்து இலக

ஐய எனக்கு ஒருகால் ஆடுக செங்கீரை

      ஆயர்கள் போரேறே ஆடுக ஆடுகவே

“Oh! The divine infant! That very Supreme Being!  On who created all the worlds,  their  animate and inanimate beings, sustained them and devoured them all in your tiny little stomach – in order to protect them from the all-engulfing great deluge (maha pralaya), letting them out as the deluge receded, in order to have the worlds ticking again! One who, in that all-consuming, engulfing deluge, remained THE ONLY commanding Supreme Being, reclined on a tiny banyan leaf! Oh! One! Who, reclined on that leaf, was engaged in a ‘Yoga Nidhra’ - உயோகு-துயில் – (sleep-like state in which He is all consciousness)! Oh! The Little One! The long-lashed Lotus-eyed One! Collyrium Complexioned One! Sri Maha Lakshmi, secured for Herself a seat on your broad and accommodating chest. With the ‘makarak kuzhai’ earrings adorning your handsome little ears bobbing in concert, come! Oh! My Sir! Raise a leg and dance for me! Oh! The Greatest Blessing of all the Yadavas! Do dance for me!

(The Great Dissolution – varyingly understood at different levels – pralayam, yuga pralayam, maha pralayam – represents the destruction of the Universe – implosion of all that exists and perceived into an indefinable nothingness. It is scary even to give this a thought – however silly and far-fetched for beings today to contemplate on this event that is so, so far away according to scriptures. But the Vaishnava and puranic tenets have made this fearsome event look like a normal, natural, mother and child event. As the great deluge overwhelms and consumes everything around – sentient and insentient alike – Sri Maha Vishnu, incarnate as ‘Balam Mukundam’ an infant from nowhere, takes in all those beings – sentient and insentient alike, all the elements, the sun, the stars and the moon, everything – devours them and keeps them safe in his tiny little stomach; he lolls with no care in the world (where is the world?) on a small leaf of the banyan as the deluge flows and eventually ebbs. As the deluge ebbs, the divine infant disgorges all those in his tiny little stomach for another grand creation – a brand new universe- to begin ticking.

மத்து அளவுந் தயிரும் வார்குழல் நன்மடவார்

      வைத்தன நெய் களவால் வாரி விழுங்கி ஒருங்கு

ஒத்த இணைமருதம் உன்னிய வந்தவரை

      ஊரு கரத்தினொடும் உந்திய வெந்திறலோய்

முத்தின் இளமுறுவல் முற்ற வருவதன்முன்

      முன்ன முகத்து அணிஆர் மொய்குழல்கள் அலைய

அத்த எனக்கு ஒருகால் ஆடுக செங்கீரை

      ஆயர்கள் போரேறே ஆடுக ஆடுகவே 

You would generously scoop, in your little stealing hands, and devour curds that churns would whip, the butter oil that the lovable ‘aaychis’ would put away from your sight! Oh! The Mighty Valorous One! With just your tiny elbows as your crawled, you uprooted those devilish Marudham trees!**  Those early pearl-like milk-teeth beguile us with your captivating smile! Oh! My Darling! Lift your little leg and dance for me! Oh! The Lion among the Aayars! Do dance for me.

முத்தின் இளமுறுவல் முற்ற வருவதன்முன் – Before the half-smile could grow  - When a smile progresses further it could become a sneer or a tearing laugh – a remarkably thought-out metaphor this is. The young, forming, milk teeth of the baby are likened to pearls.

** The puranic lore behind the two ‘Marudham’ trees that Kannan uproots, crawling through the gap between them with the pestle tied to his waist by Yasodha in tow, is this: These two were NiLakooparan and MaNikreevan – Kubera’s sons – who were cursed by Sage Narada as these two, inebriated, were frolicking in waters along with some ‘apsara’ maidens, without clothes; the women ran and covered themselves as the Sage approached; the two men, as they were drunk, remained oblivious of the offence they were causing and were cursed by the Sage. Narada also gave them a ‘vimochanam’ exit and that ‘vimochanam’ was delivered by the little Krishna.

பாலொடு நெய் தயிர் ஒண் சாந்தொடு சண்பகமும்

      பங்கயம் நல்ல கருப்பூரமும் நாறி வர

கோல நறும்பவளச் செந்துவர் வாயினிடைக்

      கோமள வெள்ளிமுளை போல் சில பல் இலக

நீல நிறத்து அழகார் ஐம்படையின் நடுவே

      நின் கனிவாய் அமுதம் இற்று முறிந்து விழ

ஏலும் மறைப்பொருளே ஆடுக செங்கீரை

      ஏழ் உலகும் உடையாய் ஆடுக ஆடுகவே 

When you crawl in here, with you arrives a compounded fragrance – of milk, curd, butter, sandal paste, the champaka blossoms, lotus and camphor – all elevated by your own indescribable divine child fragrance; your coral-red lips ajar, the faintly showing silvery milk-teeth, Oh! The dark-complexioned beauty! The nectar-like drool from your lips drip and drop between the ‘Aimpadai’ garland on your captivating chest! Oh! The essence of the Vedhas on legs! Dance for me! Oh! The One who lords over all the seven worlds! Do dance for me!

It is futile to translate these verses with the objective of distilling the ecstasy and grandeur that the words in Thamizh convey; it shall fall far short. The Azhwar excels the mother of the divine Kannan – Yasodha, possibly for the reason that he was an exalted njana purusha who could infuse his heart, his entire life-breath of Bhakti into those words he puts into the mouth of that unmatched, unbelievably blessed (playing mother to the JagadOthaaraNa Himself), yet a simple, uninitiated ‘aaychi’. No commentator could rise to match the Azhwar’s psyche, as the Azhwar poured out those divine words. (No ‘aparadham’ meant to the great seers and acharyas who have rendered exceptional commentaries on the Naalaayiram.)

But we can do one better: visualize in front of our eyes, this divine child, dark complexioned, well-fed, with devouring lotus eyes darting everywhere, stealing everything around, including the hearts of the ‘aayars’ and aaychiyars’ without exception and yet looking so coyly, truly, innocent, with His dark and dense tresses bobbing and falling around his captivating face, a thoroughly disarming half-smile and enacting a thousand dramas in each of his darting eye-flights, electrifying the whole place, as it were, filling it with a divine ecstasy that the poor shepherd community had never known till Kannan arrived in their midst. The ornaments on this divine child’s person seem to acquire a deific embellishment themselves rather than adding anything to Kannan’s captivating handsomeness. The hands of the ‘aaychi’s which raise in fleeting anger and mock reprimand, fall involuntarily as He looks at them with his all-devouring eyes that plead ‘Could I, this poor me, have done any mischief at all? Search your heart.’

A N D … VISUALISE THIS AS WELL…

It is the end of the world – not just the world, all of the Universe, all of this creation; nothing is left: the elements, sun, moon, the stars .. and even the creator Brahma is not spared; everything is being engulfed and consumed by the ‘maha pralaya’. And in that unimaginable total destruction – the dissolution – there is just One remaining, an infant, a divine infant that is from no womb, no known source or cause (Nammazhwar would use stunning appellations - முதற் கிழங்கு; முதல் தனி வித்து (the first seed without a source) – What does that infant do? It DEVOURS in its little mouth, all of this universe – the planets, the sun, the moon, the stars, the Akasa ether, the elements, the animates, the inanimates AND TIME.  SPACE as well. The Upanishad calls it ‘death’ because it is only darkness.**  When thus consumed and secure in that tiny little divine stomach of this infant, the Universe goes to sleep  not having a care nor worry about the all-consuming pralaya outside. Could there be a more secure and caring SAFE VAULT for this amazing creation? The infant, lying as It does on a small banyan leaf, daring the waves, goes to sleep as well. It is a sleep that is all consciousness; it is a sleep that also commands  what is happening around. When the deluge eventually ebbs – is there a measure of time? – the infant disgorges what it had secured in its inners. And we have a full-blown Universe back again, live, vibrant, brilliant and dark, animates, inanimates, the elements, the whole stuff. And the Divine Infant now assumes a role of sustaining and protecting this Universe – till TIME will again stand still, the dissolution would begin – for the infant to have that celebrated meal once again! What better way to inculcate Total, Unflinching Faith in Him, ‘Maha Viswasam’ as the Sri Vaishnavites would define.

ஓதநீர் உலகுண்டு ஆலினிலைமேலிலங்கும் ஆதிமதலாய்

பாதஞ்சுவைத்துப் பசியாறி மீண்டுமுலகு உமிழ்ந்தாயோ..

……

 ஓதும் அடியார்பால் உவப்புற்றாய்! உத்தமனே கண்ணுறாங்கு.

(Kettathellaam Tharuvaan… Thaalaattu).

பேதைக்குழவி பிடித்துச் சுவைத்துண்ணும்

பாதக்கமலங்கள் காணீரே

பவளவாயீர் வந்து காணீரே

(Periyaazhwar – PiLLaithThamizh)

**naiveha kiṁcanāgra āsīt,

 mṛtyunaivedam āvṛtam āsīt,

Originally, there was nothing. Death was enveloping everything… BrihathaaraNyaka Upanishad.