Chapter 88 - Thirukanaper or Tirukkanapper (Ur) (Hymn 84)

I

This place had been famous from the times of the Cankam Age as a fortress conquered from a chieftain Venkai marpan by the ancient Pandya king Ukkirap peruvaluti. The other name of this place is Kalaiyar Koil— the temple of the ‘Kalai’ or the youth. This form of the Lord as the eternal youth appears before the mind of the Poet; according to Cekkilar, our poet has a vision of this form in his dream when the Lord disappears saying that He resides at Kanaper (ur). The hymn describes this beautiful form and every last line exclaims, “When am I, the servant, to see and worship this youth residing at Kanaper surrounded by the fields receiving water from the clouds?” The conception of ‘Nalaip-povar’ of the devotee hankering after going to the temple to worship His beautiful form is a significant development of the Temple cult and pilgrimage. Tirunalaippovar had become the name of the saint. This same conception is beautifully brought out by the first hymn of Kulasekhara Alvar who is known in Sanskrit tradition as Alvar Nalaippovar. As Kulasekharar, according to our view, will be posterior to Nampi Arurar, his hymn has reminiscences of the present hymn. Probably Kulasekharar, the Cera king had some difficulty in going to Sn Rangam, in the Cola territory probably under the Pallavas. Our poet, as already pointed out, has been so desirous of visiting the temples in the Pandya country that he expresses this feeling in this hymn. It is this hankering, if the use of the word can be pardoned, that is brought out by the exclamations of this hymn.

II

“To the great joy and relief of my eyes, when am I to see and worship the devoted servants, worshipping at His feet, His bright and young crescent moon, His company of the damsel, His form like the lotus, His throat shining like the cloud where resides the idea of His feasting on the poison, His eight shoulders and His colourful form of the beautiful and sweet smelling mat-lock”? (1). It will be seen that the poet is as it were, concentrating and enjoying the sight of every one of the parts of the Lord beginning from His feet and ending with His crown. It will also be seen that our poet suggests that these forms have a significance and an idea behind them; for instance, the idea of love or pity is behind the blue throat. The poet starts describing the Lord as the beloved of the devotees worshipping at His feet.

The other verses similarly refer to the puranic descriptions of the Lord; “His cool mat-lock, with its harmony of the serpents, the crane’s feather, the ‘mattam’ flower (2) and the crescent moon (3), His lordship over the Devas (3), His dance in the midst of the forest (3), His great victory over the three castles of the air (4), His Ardhanarisvara form, His shoulders befitting a wrestler (4), His sacred ash (4), His company of the damsel (4), the beauty of His bull (5), His Tillai dance (5), His battle-axe (5), the fire in His hand (5), the eye in His forehead (6), His being the forms of Visnu, Brahma and Rudra (7), His form of Vedic scholar (8), His great form unknown to Visnu and Brahma (8) and His ear wearing the ‘makara kuntala' (9)”.

III

What is more important and interesting is his subjective experience of the Lord as His devotee, an experience which is expressed in some places in general (1), as that of all the devotees and in others as special to him. The devotees worship at His feet (1). “They are learned masters of all that speak of His feet and they experience this truth” (2). “They contemplate your greatness and their hearts melt in love. They become one with you and there arises a voice within—the creative impulse trying to give expression to their mystic union” (2). “They sing. They are not different from you; they are but yourself. Realizing this, when am I to become one with them, big with love, to worship you lovingly with grand flowers in my hand so that my miseries (or, the sufferings of my eye in which case he could not have been cured completely of his eye defect) may disappear?” (2).

“He is the great Supreme—Patron, giving me all that is good, even as a thing and a wealth possessed wholly by me. He is Shiva, the great significance, vivifying the words pronounced by those who realize Him as the Highest sphere and the Best ideal. He is the sweet nectar—inside the honey, nay, its clear quintessence. He is the full moon in the skies; the blotless light and also the storm, the water and this earth (sphere); when am I to reach Him as the Great Dancer?” (3).

“The important characteristic features of His are (1) the image form (bhavakam) (4) contemplated by His devotees and servants those who as devoid of all their defects (4), their path (neri) and their unique musical compositions they recite (icaip-paricu). When am I to worship with my heart and praise His holy marks with the help of all that I had studied for fame?” (4). “The devotees stand around Him, playing on the musical drum ‘kallavatam’ in accompaniment to His dance with which everything in Him and around Him keep time” (5).

“The songs full of the best effects of music and tune—their continuous outpour—the love of the damsels beautiful and bright like the Goddess of Lotus, the great longing of those who wake up exclaiming that He is the first and the greatest Lord who thinks of His devotees only after conferring salvation and freedom on them—these are important marks of His identity. I stand by the side of these, mixed up with them, pining for a way of reaching Him and becoming one with my father and sovereign. He counts even me as of worth and showers His blessing on me so as to save me. When am I to see this Lord of the eye on the forehead (He is indeed the Lord of the eye; for has He not seen the poet) the sweetest fruit?” (6).

But pretensions will never pay. “He does not come near the heart of those of deceitful minds. He is the primaeval, first mould and seed of all. He is the nectar unto those who are attached to truth, without any pretensions and who embrace Him with their whole body (and soul). He is the Great Beyond relishing their five, (pancagavya) beginning with milk, ghee and curd. (Thus we get the details of the ceremony of His worship of our poet’s days). When am I to sing of Him as the sovereign protecting me?” (7).

“He is the flame and light, so easy of approach to His servants. He is the rule or order or dharma, the meaning and significance of the holy pure Vedas. He is the eternal One escaping even the poison of the seas. He is the Universe. He is its Beginning and its Chief giving out to the Lords of the Universe the Agamas or the Scriptures. He is the greatest mystic wisdom of great fame. When am I to go and reach Him with all love?” (8),.

“He is the Lord. He is the great sound evolved out of Nada. He is the life in this body of flesh, in the form of the brightness of the lamp or jnana or wisdom. He is the green corns, which feed the lives. He is Beauty. He never leaves even for a while His attachment to the minds of those great beloved devotees of His. His ideal followers are blotless. He is the envoy and messenger. He is the bosom companion saving me. He is my Lord (who listens with His ears, all my requests). When am I His dog of a slave, to reach Him? (9). He is the sugar candy, the sweet nectar, the youth of Kanaper” (10).

IV

The poet has thus brought out the bliss, the power, the universality, the all pervasiveness, the wisdom, the truth and the purity of the Lord and His Grace. He has given us a picture of the devotees and their life and worship. He has taken us into His confidence and shown us his own heart of love. He describes himself as the Aruran, the chief of Naval of shining gardens, praising in the cool Tamil in which is enshrined all glory and greatness, the Eternal youth and contemplating on Him with all His heart melting in never forgetting love. His hymn expresses the joy of Bhaktas and their greatness. Those who will recite these ten verses of music of the peculiar repetitive rhythm will catch this contagion of love. They will also become blessed with the characteristic qualities of these Bhaktas— that is the assurance given by our poet. These Bhaktas are found in the company of the eternal Lord. Therefore, they will sit in happiness firm for ever, even praised by all the points of the compass. Even if they do not become rulers of the Heaven they are sure to live happily as the heads of mandalams (kingdoms). It is curious that the poet is thinking of regional overlordship, once he is in the Pandya country, probably because of the troubles of the period succeeding the demise of Rajasimha (10).