Chapter 79 - Thiruvarur or Tiruvarur (Hymn 95)

I

Because of the importance of the mystic hymn it has been discussed at some length, ourselves following in the footsteps of Vaishnavite commentators who represent the best bhakti tradition. Therein, one found the complete self-surrender of the poet as the lover of the Lord and his complete confidence in the Lord’s Grace. But the world, being what it is, disturbs for a while this great confidence. Our poet has come back to Thiruvarur but unfortunately his eyesight has not yet been completely restored. This drives him into a sulky mood and he almost curses the Lord in the present hymn though at the same time he once again expresses his complete confidence and self-surrender. Every poem ends with the expression ‘Vdlntu pdtire'!—‘You go prosperous’! The subjective element predominates in this hymn. Sometimes the sufferings are expressed as the poet’s own, sometimes he reaches the universal stage where he describes the suffering as that of the followers in general as often found in Arurar s poems. “They have become irredeemable slaves and servants unto you alone, without caring for others. Like the fire which does not easily flare up, inside their mind itself, their suffering was smouldering. Their faces droop and fade a great deal. When these followers of yours serving you, inform you of their sufferings, you keep quiet (without being moved or without any word of assurance). You, the Lord of Thiruvarur, you had better prosper!” (1).

II

“You may sell away, but I am not a hypothec. I lovingly became your servant. I have not committed any mistake. You have made me blind. Why did you take away my eye, my Master? The calumny is yours. If you are going to leave off without giving the other eyesight, you had better prosper!” (2).

“The calf hits against the udder of its mother for feeding itself but the cow becomes full with milk and secretes in abundance to be drunk by its calf. Like those cows the bhaktas without any break, ever go on singing of you inspired by your love. (They have no other thought except your glorificaton). If the eyes of these followers of yours cannot see and if they dash against a hillock and fall into the pit, well, you had better prosper!” (3).

“Your followers full of love for you, express their miseries to you but you keep them in that state of misery and suffering and order for them only blessings for the next birth. If this must be so, well, you had better prosper!” (4).

“Our Lord! Is this the end to which they come, they who come to serve? These Bhaktas who sing in varied rhythms, have not eyes to see; if these, in their blinaness come to you and cry, ‘O, Our Lord! Is this just?’ (You keep mum). Well! You had better prosper!” (5).

“It is not because of want of wealth that they grow emaciated. Their eyes become blind and could not see. Their minds suffer. If that is how your followers (have to) sit brooding, well, You had better prosper!” (6).

“O, Our Lord! Is this what becomes of those who come to serve You display the delusions. You bring us our births. You bring about our mind which does not forget you. You bring about this body and the Bhaktas stand full of tears in their eyes. If this is what happens to them, well, You had better prosper!” (7).

“We were born in no bemeaning clan (elsewhere we have interpreted this as referring to the poet’s superior birth of a Brahmin, but we had occasion to refer to our poet’s conception of a community of Bhaktas and it is to this he must bo referring here; for, the next sentence following this about birth speaks only about the characteristics of the Bhaktas). We praise you without any derision. Our Lord! You do not know that this is calumny or sin, if we, the Bhaktas who sing of you, sit with a confused whirling mind without seeing the way out; well. You had better prosper; You that have become the lagoon and the sea near the lagoon, the ship on the sea, the land as the shore to be reached by the ship and also the words connected with the experience of all these!” (8).

“All others say that it is cruel to separate even for once though it be from the devil. If your mind is intent on that and if you attain and accept it, even the unripe fruit, if it is loved, is it not as good as the sweet ripe fruit? Those who had come to serve, roam about in the centre, like a dutiful and grateful dog. If you do not open your mouth (in reply) to these servants, well, You had better prosper!” (9).

“We sit, we stand, we lay ourselves down; in whatever position we may be, we praise you without slighting you. We come all the way suffering and if we express to you our sufferings—well, You had better prosper (if you care not to listen to us and to shower your blessings on us)’” (10).

III

That this hymn is sung in a sulky mood is made clear by the last verse where the poet calling himself tirumulattanatte atipper Aruran"—‘Aruran, who bears the name of the Lord in the garbhagrha of Arur.' complains, ‘You have taken away my eyesight. The cities of the whole world know this. You alone have become calumniated. You have appropriated Yourself half the body of the damsel of ribbon tucked up bosom, well, You had better prosper!” (11).

IV

The poet describes the holy place of Arur and the descriptions become one with the context. The Lord is inside Arur of the groves where come to rest without fail the ‘anriV couple (3). The erotic symbolism of the previous hymn is still working in the mind of the poet and this description suggests that the Lord of the place where even the loving couple of birds are never disappointed, should not disappoint His lovers, viz., His followers. The tradition has suggested that our poet has been hankering after Thiruvarur and at the sight or rather on reaching Thiruvarur, which he could not clearly see because he did not completely recover from his blinan ess, he exclaims, “Is this Thiruvarur. of the groves where ‘cerunti’ puts forth its golden flowers and where shine the red and cool corahs?” (10). And again the poet who had addressed the white crane in the previous hymn as the messenger of love laid the emphasis there on the whiteness of the wings which must carry the bird to the Lord for carrying the message of love. The erotic imagery continues here, and the poet speaks of the crane reaching Thiruvarur, but here the crane has to sit or stand comfortably for delivering the message and the emphasis, therefore, is on the beautiful red leg appearing like the stem of the millet plant (6). The groves of Arur comes to his mind as the place where the swarm of birds, those messengers of love of the previous hymn, reach for rest, along with these loving couples. (7).

V

God is addressed as the Lord (Adigal -5); as the Great Man (Peruman - 5); as One who is responsible for the illusion of the world, for births, and ultimately also for our mind which in the end never forgets the Lord (7) and as One who is the back water, the sea, the ship and the shore and the word describing these (8). (These seem to suggest the narrower experience of the world leading us on to the sea of births and deaths where one, if fortunate enough to get hold of the ship of confidence or reliance on God’s feet, reaches the other shore of divine bliss. He is also the words—the ‘sabdha prapancn’ expressing this experience).

VI

Our poet as usual in his hymn of subjective experience has not room enough for describing the Puranic stories. Here in this hymn, he refers to the Lord of the mat-lock, the twisted and dull mat-lock adorned with the gold-like garland of konrai (6) and to His black throat (11), High eight arms (11), His three eyes (11), and His innumerable arts or knowledge (11) which are all but the forms of the Lord. The Lord, it is, who resides in the temples. The temple cult is thus emphasized especially in the fourth verse where the poet says, “You reside in Turutti; Pdlanam is you city: You rule over Thiruchotruthurai; You have Thiruvarur for your rendezvous; it is not necessary to speak of your residence of our mind (for you are not taking care of us much less the temple of our mind)”.

VII

This hymn shows how pure and faultless is our poet. This is important also as singing the glories of the Bhaktas for whom the poet is making a special pleading, for, after all, he is one of them. The Bhaktas are like him lovers of the Lord, songsters and poets, always praising Him, representing the worship through poetry, music and love.

VIII

This hymn is peculiar in that it does not assure us of any good effect flowing from the recitation or mastery of this hymn probably because besides being purely a personal appeal the recitation is itself an inexpressible bliss.