Thiruppavai - Day 01

Thiruppavai Day 01

Today is the first day of Margazhi. Margazhi is the most sacred month in the Tamizh calendar. Lord Krishna says that he is Margazhi among the months. One can imagine the sanctity of this month from his words!

The ritual of singing Thiruppavai - in praise of Mahavishnu and Thiruvempavai - in praise of Sivan during the month of Margazhi has been followed for a long long time.

This Margazhi, I am posting the 30 songs of Thiruppavai – one song per day on the 30 days of Margazhi. 

I dedicate this to Mr. K.Parthasarathi, who not only gave me the idea, but also helped me with a lot of inputs. Thank you Mr.Parthasarathi!

Thiruppavai was sung by Andal, one of the twelve Azhwars whose compositions on Mahavishnu form the Nalayira Divyaprabandam. A brief account on Andal is available on my earlier blog on Andal

In Thiruppavai, Andal shows us the way to reach the Lord by the simple but very effective way of Bhakti! She has shown the way of Vratham called paavai nombu with all its rules and regulations in her compositions and confirms that people who follow this paavai nombu are sure to reach the Lord’s feet!

All the 30 songs are composed as Andal waking her friends early in the morning of Margazhi to follow the Vratham to attain the Lord.

I give below the songs in Tamizh, one each day, with the gist of it in English as I feel that a word by word translation may not read well.

Here is the first song:

மார்கழித் திங்கள் மதிநிறைந்த நன்னாளால்
நீராடப் போதுவீர் போதுமினோ நேரிழையீர்
சீர்மல்கும் ஆய்ப்பாடிச் செல்வச் சிறுமீர்காள்
கூர்வேல் கொடுந்தொழிலன் நந்தகோபன் குமரன்
ஏரார்ந்த கண்ணி யசோதை இளஞ்சிங்கம்
கார்மேனிச் செங்கண் கதிர்மதியம் போல்முகத்தான்
நாரா யணனே நமக்கே பறைதருவான்
பாரோர் புகழப்  படிந்தேலோ ரெம்பாவாய்

Here Andal calls her friends, the beautiful girls of the prosperous Gokulam saying “this is the month of Margazhi where the moon shines brightly in the sky, come and have your bath. The dark skinned, lotus eyed, moon faced Krishna, son of the very tough Nandagopan and mother Yashoda’s lion cub will give us  his blessings and we can follow the nombu with all his blessings"

Nandagopan is said to be tough – koorvel kodunthozhilan – as he is very protective about his young son