Listen for a few minutes to the above audio/clip ! Every Sri Vaishnava’s heart will indeed melt with emotion merely listening to the lyrics and chant !…. Beautiful verses from the “Siriya Tirumadal….. “ … How sonorous and poignant indeed is this Tirumangai Azhwaar’s hymn even to just listen !
When I shared the above thoughts with a good friend of mine he asked me a very pointed but pertinent question:
“Why poignant ?”
The question was both thought- provocative and insightful from a psychological viewpoint… because the lyrics of the hymn in the audio is actually a joyous celebration of Sri Krishna’s little mischievous pranks as a mere child in the hamlet of Gokulam where his foster mother , Yasodha, showered him with motherly love in his growing childhood days. The poetic sentiments in the the excerpted Tamizh hymns are so full of mirth and amusement and joy … where is the question of any “poignancy” in them ?!
Very good question indeed!
My answer to my percipient friend and his penetrative question was this:
The word poignant in English has a very specific connotation: poignancy is what evokes a keen sense of sadness or regret…. “E.g. a poignant reminder of the passing of time”.
In the words of the Madal that we hear in the audio-clip, I hear the motherly feelings of Yashodha for her darling little son Krishna being expressed so movingly in the context of his “cheshtitangaL” .. . i.e. his childish pranks, his mischievous little derring-do …. A mother’s feelings while watching her little son who is up to doing all kinds of little furtive mischiefs are always rather mixed … amusement, a little annoyance, a little consternation, lots of pride and unbearably delightful and overflowing love … Such ineffable, bitter-sweet feelings of motherhood experienced in motherhood are known only to mothers who know what it is to parent a child through its early growing years …
But delightful as such feelings are to the mother while experiencing such tender and loving rush of feelings , it is also always tinged indeed with a little bit of sadness too …
The mother knows that her darling little cherubic child , who fills her days with a joy that surpasses understanding, will soon however grow up and mature from being a playful, adorable little brat into a mature youth … And then he will become a serious and busy man-of-the-world and will no longer be the little mischievous yet adorable child he once was to her … He will grow up and go away into the world … leaving her behind alone in Gokulam with only the feelings that her motherly memories that were once aroused by him in her heart still endlessly haunting her … That is a cause of sadness indeed … and it is a certain poignancy that is inbuilt into the very joy of motherhood …
For those of us who have read and savoured the Hymn of Periya Azhwar in his Kaapidal, that peculiar mixed feelings of joyous and yet at the same time poignant motherhood ,which Yashodha experienced while watching her toddler Krishna growing up ,.. and which that Azhwaar so rapturously captured in his own mystic poems.. they easily and surely indeed can imagine what exactly is meant to be conveyed, if only close attention is paid to just one extraordinary phrase in that Kaapidal paasuram :
irukkodu nIr sangil koNdittu ezil maRaiyOr vanthu ninRAr tharukkElnambi! santhi ninRu thAy solluk koLLAy silanAL thirukkAppu nAn unnaich sAththath thEsudai vellARai ninRAy! urukkAttum anthi viLakku inRu oLi koLLa ERRukEn vArAy.
MEANING
O Lord residing in the divya desam populated by the righteous ones known for their austerities! O Lord intent on performing pranks without cessation! Please do not go near the four junctions, where ugra devathAs are assembled at their appointed hour of sandhyA kaalam. Please listen to the words of Your mother even for few minutes and pay heed! The Brahmins have assembled here with holy water in their conches to perform rakshA for You through the recitation of Veda manthrams like Purusha Sooktham. Please accept the protection that they are offering You. I will also light the evening lamp, which will reveal further Your Incomparable beauty. (translation by Dr V Sadagopan (www.sadagopan.org)
Now, the phrase “O Krishna! Please listen to the words of Your mother even for few minutes and pay heed! “ …. “thAy solluk koLLAy silanAL ….” is clear testimony to precisely that poignancy of motherly feelings which I’m talking about … and it is also the same one that anyone can easily sense has been evoked in the context of the wonderful lyrics of the Siriya Tirumadal of Tirumangai Azhwar too .. and it does come through so very loud and clearly to us as we listen in to the sonorous chanting of the Divya Prabhandham in the audio-clip… does it not?!
Sudarshan Madabushi
Anna Excellent Explanation of Lord Krishna at his Young Age with Mother Yasodha n Yasodha has been a Blessed Mother as every Mother will not have such close proximity with Paramathma