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Book Review
'Aham' tradition in Azhwars' poems
NAALAAYIRATHIL AHA MARABUGALL (Tamil): Dr. P.B. Raja Rajeswari; Pub. by author, "Sri Raghavendra", M 21/2, 27th Cross Street, Besant Nagar, Chennai-600090. Rs. 100.
AZHWARS, PATRON-SAINTS of Vaishnavism, were great mystics of a very high order and composed verses numbering 4000 as they were intoxicated by their love towards the Supreme Being.
Their compositions are held in equal veneration like Vedas that they came to be called Dravida Vedas. But following the Tamil custom of "Aham" (love) poems, Azhwars had given expression to their mystic love towards the Almighty in the Nayaka-Nayaki bhava or that between a lover and the beloved. The beloved here is Lord Narayana, who, the creator, both transcendent in the Heaven and imminent in the Universe, has taken the Archa (idol) form in temples.
The book under review analyses in 11 sections how the Azhwars, especially Nammazhwar, who assumed the role of "Parankusa Nayaki" and Thirumangai Mannan, that of "Parakala Nayaki", have sung in ecstasy and longed to become one with the Supreme Being.
Starting with a translation of the Sanskrit verse beginning with the words "Aakaashath Pathitham Thoyam" which says that all worship offered to different gods reaches Lord Kesava as the water, that is showered on earth by clouds, takes different forms before it reaches the sea, the author explains the aims of her research study and says Azhwars' hymns could be classified under two sections — love poems and divine poems.
She has taken up for her analytical study only the love poems. She next shows how the Azhwars have followed in the footsteps of the Sangam poets in giving expression to their longing for union with God.
The third section presents different kinds of love poems and how the Azhwars' hymns are true expressions of the "Madura bhava" and how their separation from the Lord is unbearable to them.
Of the 12 Azhwars, the Mudalazhwars or the first three — Poigai, Bhoodam and Peyazhwar — who are the authors of the first, second and third Thiruvandadis, found the Lord residing not only in their hearts but in every being including nature.
Intense experience of the Lord fills these God-intoxicated mystic saints with delectable enjoyment relieving them of the stress and strain of worldly life.
But this experience lasts only for a short time and this varies from one Azhwar to another. When they get separated from the Lord, these saints yearn passionately for a reunion with God.
This kind of separation has led Thirumangai Azhwar to violate the custom of composing "Madals" by a lady-love. It is usually done by a male lover who riding a horse, made of the sword-like palmyra branches, after besmirching himself with ash, holding in his right hand a portrait of the lady whom he loved, will go round the streets.
The author, justifying this step of the Azhwar, says that love knows no rhyme or reason and the lady-love's one aim was to achieve the beloved or die.
The author's fine analytical work on the "Aham" tradition in Azhwars' poems is a veritable feast to lovers of Tamil literature, more so to those who are greatly interested in the study of Azhwars' outpourings.
T.A. SRINIVASAN
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