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The poetry forms of Divya PrabhandamWritten by Jayasree Saranathan, India.Introduction.One can see a divine design in the way aazhwars' avataras had beeneffected and the way they have sung the prabandhams.The songs of the first 3 Mudal aazhwars are all in traditional formsof poetry namely in VeNbaa.The aazhwars have started their verses in the traditional way oflighting Thiru villakku as is done before starting any worship oraction.Vilakku means `edu vilanga-ch-chaigiradO adu vilakku'. Bylighting the lamp, the aazhwars have removed the darkness or tamas.The first verse of the Mudal Thiruvandaadhi, " vaiyam thagaliya..'is about lighting the vilakku at the physical level with the world asthe lamp, the oceans as the ghee and the Sun as the light.Modernscience considers the entire world as a single cell, in that whateverhappens in one part of the land affects the other parts too.Thewind movements, monsoons, hurricanes are all only but a few examplesof global phenomenon.Poigaiyaar had considered the earth as one uniteven in those times itself and lit the lamp for the entire humanrace.The second Thiruvandhaadhi begins with lighting the ViLakku at themental level. (anbE thagaLiyaa).With this, the entire body of Bhagavan comes to be seen in the ThirdThiruvandhaadhi in Thiru-k-kandEn, pon mEni kanden..Thereafter the other aazhwars have taken up the task of revealingBhagavan in various ways for the benefit of mankind.And the poetry forms they have employed also showshow wonderfully they have been able to convey their message in waysthat can not be easily ignored or forgotten.Almost all of them are in Prabhandam form with suitabletypes of sound enjoyment (rhythm) that can be easily memorized andremembered.Not to miss is the bhava and the emotion conveyed by themby their choice of specific poetry forms.Before proceeding, lets us know some basic grammar to understand theverses.Each letter is known as `yezhutthu' in tamil.2 letters together are known as `asai'.The asai, coming singly or in two or in three together is known
 
as `sIr'. It is nothing but the `word'.It is this term sIr that one often finds in the poetry type of theverses.In Prabandham we find iru sIr (2 words), aru-sIr (6 words), ezhu-sIr(7 words) or eN sIr (8 words) in each line.Now about the poetry type. The poetry type is mostly a blendof `Viruttham' and `kali'.Viruttha-p-paa is known for its vOsai nayam (rhythm). So also kaliand aasiriya-p-paa. We often find the blend of Viruttham with kaliand aasiriyam in AruLi-ch-cheyal giving different sound effects.The basis of this is in placing `mellina mei' suitably in between 2vallinam (ka, cha, ta, tha, pa, ra). This combination can be made incountless ways and a beautiful stress can be attained on theotherwise soft mellinam. The Viruttha-p-paa gives plenty of thesecombinations. Kali viruttham is even more effective in bringing outthe sound variation effectively.To understand this, let us take up 2 verses from SenniyOngu pasurams.(Periaazhwar Thirumozhi). This is kali viruttham.The 3rd verse `emmanaa en kula deivamE' is full of such placing of mellinamei in between 2 vallinams or others.The bhava effect and soundeffect in this is different from the very next verse "kadal kadainduamudam kondu" which is dominated by vallinams with much less ofmellina mei.While the former exudes pathos, the latter excelsin `seppudal' (utterance).The poetry formsNow lets see the poetry types of starting from Thiruppallaandu( in the order as found in Mayilai Madahava dasan edition).(1) Thiruppallaandu. –aru sIr aasiriya viruttham.You will find 6 words (sIr) of 4 lines (may be split up in differentpublications)The aasiriyam ensures the `agavalOsai' which is like calling someoneor in the note of a peacock.(2) Periaazhwar Thirumozhi.A variety of forms have beenemployed. The popular one being Pillai-th-thamizh, about differentstages in the life of a child (pillai).>In kali viruttham, one can find 4 words of 4 linesØ In kali-th-thaazhisai (seeda-k-kadal), there is addition of
 
extra lines due to use of thaazhisai. The effect is that of a `neer-ch-chuzhi' (swirl) in thaazhisai as per grammar sutrasØ Likewise in other forms of kali viruttham, you can finddifferences in the number of words per line.Ø In aru sIr aasiriya viruttham, 6 words per lines are used andin eN sIr aasiriya viryttham, 8 words per line are used. The grammartype such as aasiriyam depends on the other angas of Yaappu as pergrammar.(3) Thiruppavai –iyal tharavu iNai kochchaga-k-kali-p-paa.Tharavu is the first part of kali-p-paa. There are many varieties bywhich the taravu is applied in a poem. By the name of it, I guessthat it is about the first two taravu (taravu iNAi) blendingnaturally (iyal – iyalbaaga).We find that the first 2 taravus (words) of each line go together.LikeMaagazhi-thingaLNeeraada-p-pOduvIrVongi-ulaguThat is, the words are blended in such a way that one of themconveys something of the other, either as adjective or adverb. Theyare best interpreted as one.This is understood from the way that the verses are paused at thenext or previous line while reciting.Such as,In the 3rd verse, Vongi ulagu, we make a pause at seertha mulaipattri vaanga and not at the end of 4th sIr, seertha mulai pattri.Because only then the next verse `kudam –niraikkum' completes thegrammar `iyal taravu iNai.'It should not be vaanga –k-kudam which is not a double taravu as perthe grammar of Thituppavai. It should be `kudam-niraikkum'.Some other places where we recite the taravu (from previous line)together are`nammaal pOttra' (not narayanan nammaal and then pOttra-p-paraitharum)`pandoru naaL koottram' (not puniyanaal pandorunaaL)`vulaginil thOttramaai'`matthinaal vOsai-p-paduttha' (we should not stop at matthinaal alongwith the previous line)`maadhavi-p-pandal mEl'`abhimaana bhangamaai'(4) Naachchiyaar Thirumozhi –The now familiar types of poetry forms are found in thiscomposition. The basic form is kali viruttham with beautiful rhythmiceffect. The kOchchgam is also a kind of kali-p-paa which has some
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