The TIRUPPAAVAI in MARVELLOUS METALLURGY !!
This lamp-shaped bowl described in the video-clip is not just a work of great ancient iconography and metallurgical marvel ! Whoever conceived of it and fashioned it out of the most extraordinary labour of aesthetics and love must surely have been a consummate artist-cum-philosopher-cum-religious-devotee steeped in the Bhakti tradition of India . ..
As a Sri Vaishnavite myself, I consider myself to be a student of the most outstanding scriptural literature of Tamizh Bhakthi tradition of Sri Andal . In the “Tiruppaavai” of 30 stanzas, the most famous of her Bhakti poems , there is one stanza which is a standout one and it is that which must be recalled here while appreciating the antiquarian beauty of the lamp-shaped bowl we see in the video-clip :
#மாயனை_மன்னு #வடமதுரை #மைந்தனைத்தூய பெருநீர் யமுனைத் துறைவனைஆயர் குலத்தினில் தோன்றும் அணி விளக்கைத்தாயைக் குடல் விளக்கஞ் செய்த தாமோதரனைதூயோமாய் வந்து நாம் தூமலர் தூவித் தொழுதுவாயினால் பாடி மனத்தினால் சிந்திக்கபோய பிழையும் புகுதருவான் நின்றனவும்தீயினில் தூசாகும் #செப்பேலோர்_எம்பாவாய்#
If we understand the true meaning of the above Tiruppaavai verse we will realise then how to relate it to this “Ani villakku” … lamp being idolised by Sri Andal ; also the poetic reference to “tooya peruneer” represented in the rising ebb of the tiny water level inside the hollow of metal icon as the River Yamuna ; the baby Krishna … whose other name is Damodaran (as in the verse) … being ferried across the river in spate by Krishna’s father Vasudeva both of whom are represented here in the lamp as its iconic leitmotif.
The purpose of this lamp thus is that it is intended to kindle in us a deep spiritual fervour … To make us dwell long and contemplate devotedly upon its wondrous form and significance … Such inward contemplation that is part of the very nature and spirit of pure Bhakti is what the Tiruppaavai verse too calls தூயோமாய் வந்து நாம் தூமலர் தூவித் தொழுதுவாயினால் பாடி மனத்தினால் சிந்திக்க
This is no ordinary lamp indeed! In my eyes, it is iconographic masterpiece that captures and distills the deepest mystic import contained in the entire 5th verse of Sri Andal’s Tiruppaavai. 🙏🙏
Sudarshan Madabushi