Introduction to Section 5.5

In the last decad, the Āḻvār felt miserably handicapped by darkness and dew, the inner meaning whereof is that this land of nescience is enveloped in ‘tamas’ or darkness. The Nāyakī’s irresistible urge for the speedy attainment of the Lord, witnessed in V-3 (Mācu aṟu cōti), violently disturbed her firm conviction in the Lord as the Sole Means for attaining Him and made her contemplate the devious indulgence in self—effort, such as embarking on the technique of ‘maṭal’. The dark, dewy night, presented in V-4 (Ūrellām tuñci), only typifies the Saṃsāra, with its characteristic nescience, into which one is thrown back, when one loses track of one’s essential nature and with that, the correct perspective. In śloka 49 of the ‘Stotra Ratna’, Saint Yāmunācārya only echoed this, when he likened a person, entangled in ‘Saṃsāra’, to one badly caught up in foul weather, with dark, dense clouds gathering in, losing the sense of direction, beaten continually by ever-expanding miseries pouring in like the torrential rain. The sun-rise symbolises the removal of darkness, that is, ignorance and the influx of spiritual light (Satva) or purity. The Āḻvār could, with the return of light, enjoy, in his mind’s eye, the glorious vision of the Lord, enshrined in Tirukkuṟuṅkuṭi.

This decad is sung by the Āḻvār, while still in the feminine state. The elders who tried to bring the Nāyakī round by admonishing her, are hit back. The Nāyakī questions the propriety of their admonishing her whose heart stands rivetted to the exquisite form of the Lord at Tirukkuṟuṅkuṭi.