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SURRENDERING TO GOD IN TAMIL: A STUDY BASED ON VEDĀNTADEŚIKA’S MUMMAṆIKKŌVAI MANASICHA AKEPIYAPORNCHAI UNIVERSITY OF CORNELL [email protected]

his study investigates the Tamil Vaiṣṇava the town Tiruvahīndrapuram. This work is T masterpiece, the Mummaṇikkōvai, incomplete, and only ten verses are available to composed by Vedāntadeśika or Veṅkaṭanātha us. (c. 1268-1369 C.E.). Vedāntadeśika is one of Steven Hopkins’ analysis of this work the most important teachers of the Śrīvaiṣṇava is, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive tradition, a Vaiṣṇava tradition centered on and maybe the only elaborate treatment of the and originating in the tenth century Mummaṇikkōvai in English.1 In his analysis, C.E. He is widely known for expounding Hopkins stresses Vedāntadeśika’s “command of Qualified Non-dualism, (Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta) Tamil” and the connection between the a philosophy established by Rāmānuja (c. 1017- Mummaṇikkōvai and the “classical Tamil 1137 C.E.), and the traditional soteriological poetics of love” or the akam tradition, as well as doctrine of self-surrender to God (prapatti) in the Āḻvārs’ literature.2 Hopkins has his Sanskrit and Maṇipravāḷam (hybrid Tamil- impressively pioneered the study of this work, Sanskrit) philosophical-theological works. but there are still many things that can be However, a number of his Tamil poems seem to discovered about a literary piece as delicate as be less associated with philosophical- the Mummaṇikkōvai. theological arguments and had have received In my investigation, I pay more less attention in the scholarship. In this study, I attention to the genre of the Mummaṇikkōvai, call attention to Vedāntadeśika’s neglected the kōvai, situating it in the wider Tamil literary Tamil poetry as contribution to a better context. The kōvai genre was well-established understanding of Vedāntadeśika and of his by the time of Vedāntadeśika, and it can be multilingual corpus. understood as a combination of the akam and Unlike some of his other Tamil poetry puṟam dimensions. The latter focuses on the that aims at translating and summarizing exterior landscape of communities, kings, and doctrinal arguments or practices laid down in Sanskrit and Maṇipravāḷam works, the Mummaṇikkōvai indicates the distinct connections with devotionalism in the Tamil literary tradition and the devotional poetry of 1 the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition, especially the For his analysis of the Mummaṇikkōvai, see Steven Hopkins, Singing the Body of God: The Hymns of devotional corpus of the Āḻvārs, a group of Vedāntadeśika in Their South Indian Tradition Vaiṣṇava poet-saints who lived in South India (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), between the sixth and ninth centuries C.E. 116-129. Vedāntadeśika’s Mummaṇikkovāi is devoted to 2 Hopkins, Singing the Body of God, 117. a particular form of Viṣṇu, Lord Devanāyaka, at

Symposia 9 Special Issue (2018): 31-45. © The Author 2013. Published by University of Toronto. All rights reserved. SYMPOSIA 32 kingdoms.3 These two dimensions were derived supremacy and accessibility and the first group from the akam and puṟam poetry of the classical of devotees. The way this group of devotees Tamil literary corpus, Caṅkam. Thus, I explore approaches the Lord depends on the both akam and puṟam dimensions. I agree with manifestations of His supremacy and Hopkins that the akam dimension in this work accessibility. This tension is reflected through was influenced by Nammāḻvār’s Tiruvāymoḻi, the girl in love and the voices of other female arguably the most important poetry in the characters and continues until we reach verse devotional corpus of the Āḻvārs. For the puṟam ten in which the resolution is suggested. dimension, I propose that Vedāntadeśika This study is divided into five sections. seemed to be indebted to the Paripāṭal, one of The first section provides the background on the the eight anthologies [eṭṭuttokai] that constitute kōvai genre, the combination of the akam and the Caṅkam corpus and the earliest Tamil puṟam dimensions. These two dimensions literature devoted partly to Viṣṇu or Tirumāl. It coexist in the Mummmaṇikkōvai and I trace should be noted that, although I use the same their potential sources in the second section. edition of the Mummaṇikkōvai by V. N. The third section focuses on the akam Śrīrāmadeśika, my interpretation of verse six dimension in the Mummaṇikkōvai through a and ten deviates from Hopkins’ interpretation story of the girl in love with Lord Devanāyaka. that conforms to Śrīrāmadeśika’s Tamil The puṟam dimension is presented next through commentary as can be seen below.4 Lord Devanāyaka’s paradoxical nature. The last I argue that Vedāntadeśika employs the section centers on the combination of akam and kōvai genre, the combination of the akam and puṟam dimensions, represented by the two puṟam dimensions, to propose the theological groups of devotees. arguments that are not explicitly stated in his Sanskrit philosophical-theological works on The Kōvai Genre prapatti, namely the necessity of Viṣṇu’s consort, Śrī, in surrendering to Viṣṇu as well as The genre of kōvai, as Norman Cutler states, “is the paradoxical nature of Lord Devanāyaka’s usually described as a direct outgrowth of supremacy and accessibility. More importantly, classical Tamil akam poetry.”5 According to Vedāntadeśika favors the group of devotees Kamil V. Zvelebil, the term kōvai first had a who are twice-born, as represented by the image meaning of a “string of stanzas” and was later of the main character of the Mummaṇikkōvai, a used in a “technical sense” as “an anthology of girl in love with Lord Devanāyaka. The switch poems by a single poet, illustrating the akam between akam and puṟam dimensions creates themes arranged as a continuous story.”6 the tension between Lord Devanāyaka’s

5 Norman Cutler, Songs of Experience: The Poetics of 3 A. K. Ramanujan, The Interior Landscape: Classical Tamil Devotion (Religion in Asia and Africa Series. Tamil Love Poems (New York Review Books Poets. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987), 82. New York: New York Review Books, 2014), 84. 6 , , History of Indian 4 V. N. Śrīrāmadeśika, ed., Śrīdeśikapprabandham with Literature vol. 10, Fasc. 1 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, Tamil Commentary of Śrīrāmadeśika (Reprint, 1974), 202. See Zvelebil 1974, 202-204 for more the Chennai: Lipco, 2014), 389-405. development of literature in the kōvai genre.

33 AKEPIYAPORNCHAI / SURRENDERING TO GOD

According to A. K. Ramanujan, the sequence of the narrative of love in akam poetry comprises From one point of view the akam of the following five themes: “meeting,” dimension of a kōvai encompasses its “anxiety before marriage and the symptoms of puṟam dimension. Its overall narrative love,” “the elopement and probably the framework is a legacy of akam tradition, marriage,” “the lover’s unfaithfulness and as are the situations that govern the reconciliation,” and “the going away of the structure of each verse. The puṟam lover, the pining and anxiety of the wife or contribution is restricted to localized beloved and his return, as well as the hardships references to the pāṭṭuṭai talaivaṉ, to his of the lover in the desert and his return.”7 realm, and to his heroic acts.10 However, these themes in akam poetry are not arranged chronologically in general. It is in the Cutler further proposes that one can also look at kōvai genre that they are transformed into a the kōvai genre as prioritizing the praising chronological narrative.8 purpose derived from the puṟam tradition: The kōvai genre also functions as “However, one can look at a kōvai in a different praise-poem and focuses on a specific figure way, and from this alternate perspective the such as a god or a hero who is associated with a puṟam dimension ranks first in the purpose of particular place and time. Cutler explains the the poet. From this point of view the kōvai difference between the figure in the kōvai and poet’s first concern is to honor the pāṭṭuṭai the hero in akam poetry as follows: talaivaṉ, and the akam framework is an instrument to this end.”11 In the language of Tamil poetics, the god Jennifer Clare also emphasizes the or hero who receives praise in each praising function of the kōvai genre, stating verse, usually in the form of a reference that: “The kōvai is not only multi-stanzaic, but that is worked into a description of is more specifically a praise-poem expressed in setting or into a poetic figure, is called multiple stanzas, called a prabandham in the the “hero of the composition” (pāṭṭuṭai Tamil tradition.”12 According to Clare, the talaivaṉ). …The pāṭṭuṭai talaivaṉ devotional corpus of the Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava belongs to the “real world,” while the saints is the first stage in the development of the “hero of the narrative” (kiḷavi talavaṉ) praise poetry that grows out of Tamil classical and the other characters involved in the puṟam poetry.13 This corpus focuses on praising akam narrative inhabit the special gods associated with different religious interior landscape of the poetic world.9 traditions. Although this corpus derives the

In summary, the kōvai genre embodies the literary elements found in both akam and puṟam 10 Ibid. poetry, again as Cutler points out: 11 Ibid. 12 Jennifer Steele Clare, “Canons, Conventions, and Creativity: Defining Literary Tradition in Premodern 7 Ramanujan, The Interior Landscape, 99. Tamil South India” (PhD diss., University of 8 Cutler, Songs of Experience, 83. California, Berkeley. ProQuest (3498949), 2011), 118. 9 Ibid. 13 Ibid., 65.

SYMPOSIA 34 akam and puṟam dimensions from the Caṅkam Thus, Hopkins suggests that the two motifs literary corpus, it does not strictly conform to its found in the akam verses in Nammāḻvār’s classical conventions. Its ultimate aim is to Tiruvāymoḻi underlie the akam dimension in the establish the “communion between the Mummaṇikkōvai. humanity and divinity.”14 From my reading of the The Potential Sources for the Akam and Puṟam Mummaṇikkōvai, I agree with Hopkins that the Dimensions in the Mummaṇikkōvai devotee is identified as the girl in love with Viṣṇu. However, it is difficult to see whether or The akam dimension is not at all unfamiliar in not Vedāntadeśika identifies himself with the the Śrīvaiṣṇava literary corpus. The image of a girl in love as Nammāḻvār does in the girl in love with Viṣṇu is presented in Tiruvāymoḻi. From the akam verses that are Nammāḻvār’s Tiruvāymoḻi. The akam verses in available to us in the Mummaṇikkōvai, we do the Tiruvāymoḻi illustrate two important motifs: not see the voice of the girl in love herself. The First, the identification of a girl in love with the story of the girl in love with Viṣṇu, identified devotee, who is Nammāḻvār himself, and, with Lord Devanāyaka in Tiruvahīndrapuram, is second, the devotion in separation [viraha- narrated through the voices of the outsiders who bhakti].15 come to this city and her two mothers, namely Hopkins agrees with Śrīrāmādeśika, the her foster mother and her real mother. commentator of the Mummaṇikkōvai, that “the The girl’s separation is unmistakably metatextual frame is the scenario par excellence the main theme in the Mummaṇikkōvai. of viraha-bhakti” or the devotion in However, it should be noted that the separation separation.16 He further points out the from the Lord that the girl in love suffers in the connection between the akam dimensions in Mummaṇikkōvai is different than the separation Nammāḻvār’s Tiruvāymoḻi and Vedāntadeśika’s in Nammāḻvār’s Tiruvāymoḻi and classical akam Mummaṇikkōvai: “Both Deśika and Nammāḻvār poetry due to his physical absence. tell of extremes in the life of the devotee/girl-in- Vedāntadeśika establishes the presence of Lord love witnessed from outside by a sympathetic Devanāyaka who is the manifestation of Viṣṇu outsider: a continual dialectic of ecstatic at the temple in Tiruvahīndrapuram in the possession and the sorrows of separation.”17 beginning of the Mummaṇikkōvai: “O Lord Devanāyaka, You take on the body [and/or become Truth] that gives grace for the servants. 14 Cutler, Songs of Experience, 83. You stand in order to give knowledge [to the 15 See more Francis Clooney, "The Use of Sanskrit as a servants].”18 Thus, the separation in the Theological Resource in the Interpretation of Mummaṇikkōvai is caused by Lord Tiruvāymoḻi." (International Journal of Hindu Studies Devanāyaka’s supremacy that creates distance 19, no. 1 (2015): 7-38). between the girl and Him. This supremacy 16 Hopkins, Singing the Body of God, 120. Friedhelm Hardy proposes that “viraha-bhakti” is an important represents the puṟam dimension in the contribution of Nammāḻvār to the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition. See Friedhelm Hardy, Viraha-bhakti: The Early History of Kṛṣṇa Devotion in South India (Delhi: 18 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse one, lines one and two, 389: Oxford, 1983). aruḷ tarum aṭiyarpāl meyyai vaittu 17 Hopkins, Singing the Body of God, 126. teruḷ tara niṉṟa teyavanāyaka niṉ

35 AKEPIYAPORNCHAI / SURRENDERING TO GOD

Mummaṇikkōvai. becoming superior in the battles, To my knowledge, the supremacy, the One who is like the father of both the which is one of the main themes in the praise- god of love (Kāma) and his brother poetry devoted to Viṣṇu, can be found as early (Sāman), as in the Paripāṭal of the Caṅkam corpus.19 In the Black One who wears shining the Paripāṭal, Viṣṇu’s supremacy is portrayed ornaments, in terms of His superiority in the battles with knowledge of Your arrival is clear to the demons who disrupt the welfare of the us.22 world, “You [Tirumāl/Viṣṇu], the Lord in the battles who is equipped with the army, destroy Moreover, Viṣṇu is closely connected the lives of Your enemies.”20 Viṣṇu is also with the Vedas. He is equated with the meaning regarded as the Primordial Being in the cosmic of the Vedas and is related to the Vedic creation, “The First One with discus which is sacrifice.23 He further presents Himself for the not recognized by anyone.”21 In addition to His Brahmins.24 Viṣṇu’s benevolence and supremacy, Viṣṇu is associated with a long string of attributes that illustrate His beauty. In some places, His supremacy is stated along with 22 Paripāṭal, Tirumāl, the first song, lines His beauty: twenty-six to twenty-nine, 7: innilai teriporuḷ tēriṉ innilai The One who destroyed the beliefs of niṉṉilai tōṉṟu niṉ toṉṉilai ciṟappē people who say that ōṅkuyar vāṉiṉ vāṅku vil puṟaiyum “We are equal to You,” pūṇ aṇi kalaiiya vār aṇI nittila 23 Paripāṭal, Tirumāl, the second song, lines sixty-two the Lord who is without faults, to sixty-four, 9: You are the performance of the killing regarding the [Vedic] sacrifice in a prescribed 19 The best work on the Paripāṭal is François Gros, Le manner Paripāṭal: Texte Tamoul (Publications De L'Institut [You are] the bright fire with the bright Français D'indologie; No 35. Pondichéry: Institut light that feeding the fire Français D’indologie, 1968). I use this edition of the while [there is a] singing the Sāmaveda Paripāṭal in this study. that suits Your fame 20 Paripāṭal, Tirumāl, the second song, lines forty-eight paṭinilai vēḷviyuḷ paṟṟI āṭu koḷalum to forty-nine, 9: pukaḻ iyantu icai maṟai uṟu kaṉal muṟai cērār iṉ uyir cerukkum mūṭṭi pōraṭu kurucil nī ēntiya paṭaiyē tikaḻoḷI ōṇcuṭar vaḷappāṭu koḷalum Tirumāl is associated with Viṣṇu by the time of the 24 Paripāṭal, Tirumāl, the first song, lines sixty-seven Paripāṭal. See Fred W. Clothey and A. K. Ramanujan, to sixty-eight, 9: The Many Faces of Murukaṉ: The History and Having occurred with Your form, Meaning of a South Indian God. Religion and Society but not coming to meet outsiders, (Hague, Netherlands); 6 (The Hague; New York: You come to be seen by the Brahmins who are Mouton, 1978), 64. proper for You. 21 Paripāṭal, Tirumāl, the second song, lines eighteen niṉ urupuṭaṉ uṇṭi to nineteen, 7: piṟar uṭam paṭu vārā ūḻi yāvarum uṇarā niṉṉoṭu puraiya āḻi mutalvu niṉ pēṇutum toḻutum antaṇar kāṇum varavu

SYMPOSIA 36 accessibility are mentioned through His Vedāntadeśika’s prayer for the remaining of descending to the earth in the descent forms “tiru” can be interpreted as pointing to both [avatāras] and His dwelling in the Aḻakar hills. Viṣṇu and the manifestation of His grace, Śrī.26 Then Vedāntadeśika, in verse two, The Main Theological Arguments in the refers to this work as “the garland of the three Mummaṇikkōvai jewels” or “Mummaṇikkōvai,” which indicates a specific kind of Śaiva and Vaiṣṇava devotional In this section, I argue that Vedāntadeśika literature defined by its meters. The proposes two main theological arguments, Mummaṇikkōvai is comprised three different namely the necessity of approaching Viṣṇu’s meters: āciriyam, veṇpā, and kalittuṟai.27 The consort, Śrī, in reaching Viṣṇu and the “three jewels” would, firstly, refer to the three paradoxical nature of Lord Devanāyaka in verse meters used in this kind of poetry. They might one and two of the Mummaṇikkōvai further suggest the three sacred mantras of the respectively. Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition.28 After introducing the Verse one of the Mummaṇikkōvai can work, Vedāntadeśika offers it to the Lord as the be considered as the auspicious [maṅgala] garland to adorn His body: verse. After portraying Viṣṇu’s hearing of the requests for Him to incarnate with Śrī in order The speech, to “remove collected karma,” Vedāntadeśika which is the garland of the three jewels, then stresses that Śrī is the one who enables says, Viṣṇu to be close to the devotees and for the devotees to join with His feet: “Having joined with You [Śrī] to approach people who desire for grace in order that they can join with His 25 feet.” Interestingly, Vedāntadeśika, by placing 26 Vedāntadeśika’s argument that Śrī is the the word “tiru” at the end of the verse, makes it manifestation of Viṣṇu’s grace can be found in his possible to construe all verbal participles in this Maṇipravāḷam Rahasyatrayasāram (See Patricia Y. verse with either “tiru” at the end or Lord Mumme, The Śrīvaiṣṇava Theological Dispute: Devanāyaka who grammatically is the subject Maṇavāḷamāmuni and Vedānta Deśika (Madras: New Era Publications, 1988), 231 and 248-251. of all the participles in this verse and the 27 Clare, “Canons, Conventions, and Creativity,” 63. following verses. The flexibility of Tamil 28 The three sacred mantras are: grammatical structure, the use of “tiru” which Tirumantra - oṃ namo nārāyaṇāya. contains different meanings such as wealth, Dvayamantra - śrīmannārāyaṇacaranau prosperity, Śrī, and the identification of Viṣṇu prapadye śrīmate narāyaṇāya namaḥ. with Śrī ultimately create the ambiguity of the Caramaśloka - sarvadharmān parityajya māṃ ekam śaraṇam vraja aham tvā sarvapāpebhyo subject. Thus, at the end of this verse, mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ. See more in Francis X. Clooney, The Truth, the Way, the Life: Christian Commentary on the Three Holy 25 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse One, lines ten and eleven, Mantras of the Śrīvaiṣṇava Hindus. Christian 390: Commentaries on Non-Christian Sacred Texts taṉ aṭi cērnta tamar uṉai aṇuka (Leuven; Dudley, MA: Grand Rapids, Mich.: Peeters; niṉṉuṭaṉ cerntu niṟku niṉ tiruvē. Eerdmans, 2008).

37 AKEPIYAPORNCHAI / SURRENDERING TO GOD

“He piles up the garland of the jewels on a girl who is in love with Lord Devanāyaka and His holy chest where Śrī eternally other female characters, namely the girl’s real abides,” mother and foster mother. The narrative begins in order to make Tirumāl become the with the girl’s falling in love with Lord embodied One [and/or Truth] Devanāyaka in verse three, her longing and for the servants.29 symptoms of love in verse six, and the concern of the girl’s two mothers in verse nine. The word “mey” which is used to refer In verse three of the Mummaṇikkōvai, to the Lord in this verse as well as in other the girl is mentioned for the first time as the verses is one of the interesting features in the target of the arrows of the god of love, Mummaṇikkōvai. The word “mey” can mean Kāmadeva, through the speech of the girl’s either “truth” or “body.” This word is used by friend: Tirumaṅkaiyāḻvār to refer to the image of Viṣṇu at Tiruvahīndrapuram.30 Vedāntadeśika makes Having come to Tiruvahīndrapuram use of the ambiguity in the meanings of the where people speak the speech of the word “mey” to suggest two purposes of the Vedas, Mummaṇikkōvai: first, to make Viṣṇu manifest having become the Ocean of the sweet Himself as Lord Devanāyaka in nectar of immortality, Tiruvahīndrapuram and, second, to establish he said, “Those who want to enter, that the Lord is the Truth of the Vedas, the most come!” authoritative texts in the Vedic orthodoxy. The O rain of flowers, spill forth flower- Lord’s embodiment and His nature as the Truth arrows of the god of love (Kāmadeva). point to the paradoxical nature of His The god of love discharged [the arrows] supremacy and accessibility. Thus, in addition at the girl to being offered as an adornment, the garland of who longs for the tender feet of the the three jewels also makes known the embodied Lord paradoxical nature of the Lord. whose grace flows out of His eyes.31

The Akam Dimension: The Story of a Girl in The main structure of the verse consists of a Love with Lord Devanāyaka sequence of verbal participles of which Lord Devanāyaka is the subject. This structure covers This section focuses on the akam dimension of the first two lines of this verse and expresses the the Mummaṇikkōvai. The akam dimension is presented through the chronological narrative of

31 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse three, 392: moḻivār moḻivana mummaṟai ākum 29 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse two, 392: ayintaiyil vantu tirumāl aṭiyavarkku meyyaṉār ceyya iḻivār iḻikavenṟu in amuta kaṭal āki ninṟa tirumāmakaḷ eṉṟum cērum tirumārpil viḻivār aruḷ neymar mel aṭi vaṇṭiya immaṇikkōvaiyuṭaṉ ēṟkiṉṟār eṉtaṉ melliyal mel mummaṇikkōvai moḻi. poḻivār anaṅkartam pūm karumpu untiya 30 Hopkins, Singing the Body of God, 118. pū maḻaiyē.

SYMPOSIA 38 actions of the Lord who came to dwell in of the garden peacock with the eyes like Tiruvahīndrapuram. The purpose of His shapes of teardrops dwelling in the city is to become “the Ocean of who is in love with the dark cloud that the sweet nectar of immortality.” In other stays [in that city]?33 words, He dwells in this place to liberate the people who surrender to Him. This structure It should be noted that my reading of also contains the Lord’s speech that addresses this verse deviates from the interpretation of the people in the city who want to reach Him. The Hopkins who conforms to the commentator. other structure conforms to the vocative at the The commentator labels this verse as a speech end of this verse. This structure governs the last of the heroine’s friend who is talking to the two two lines. It communicates the state of the girl mothers about the states of the girl in love. They who is in love with the embodied Lord all feel worried, not knowing how to explain the Devanāyaka and, thus, desires to be at the girl’s lovesickness to people in the city. These Lord’s tender feet. The love of the girl is female characters are referred to by the pronoun indicated through the image of the arrows of the “we” in the last line in Tamil verse.34 However, god of love. Thus, Vedāntadeśika deploys these I suggest that the first person plural pronoun two structures to narrate the Lord’s actions and “we” indicates the people who have come to the the “interior” experience of the girl who city or “the newcomers.”35 The pronoun “we,” represents the devotees in the same verse. which is the subject of this verse, refers to the In verse six, we come across the phase people who have come to Tiruvahīndrapuram in that A. K. Ramanujan labels as “the symptoms the first line and, then, are worried about the of love.”32 The verse communicates that girl, not being able to explain her state to people although the Lord, who is like the dark cloud, dwells in the city, the girl, discouraged by the Lord’s supremacy, still cannot unite with Him. In the same way, the peacock can only look at the dark cloud that is in the distance. The 33 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse six, 398: peacock, the analogy of the girl, represents the ārkkum karuṇai poḻivāṉ ayintaiyil symptoms of love that are portrayed through the amarnta kār koṇṭalai kaṇṭa kātal puṉa mayil kaṇ speech of the newcomers: paṉiyā vōrkkum mukiḻkkum vitirvitirkkum veḻki vev We, having come to Tiruvahīndrapuram uyirkkum of the Lord who shows compassion for pārkkiṉṟavarkku itu nām eṉ kol eṉṟu His servants, payiluvamē. 34 what should we say Hopkins, Singing the Body of God, 122-123. 35 The newcomers, who are the narrators of the to those who see the sweating, flushed, symptoms of the girl, may represent the personae of the shivering, sighing due to confusion neighbors or what George Hart calls “onlookers.” See George L. Hart, The Four Hundred Songs of Love: An Anthology of Poems from Classical Tamil, The Akanāṉūṟu. Regards Sur L'Asie Du Sud/South Asian Perspectives 7 (Pondicherry: Institut Français De 32 Ramanujan, The Interior Landscape, 99. Pondichéry, 2015), 328.

39 AKEPIYAPORNCHAI / SURRENDERING TO GOD in the city in the last line.36 These newcomers, The Puṟam Dimension: Lord’s Devanāyaka seeing the symptoms of the girl, sympathize Paradoxical Nature with her situation. At the same time, seeing that the Lord is present there to show compassion to The puṟam dimension, demonstrated in verse the servants, they feel confused as to why the four, seven and eight, shows the paradoxical girl still cannot reach Him. nature of the Lord’s supremacy and In verse nine, the Lord’s supremacy and accessibility, introduced in verse two. In this accessibility cause confusion for the two section, I analyze the Lord’s supremacy and mothers. They are worried about the uncertain accessibility, illustrated in these puṟam verses, future of their girl if she ends up being with the and also read these puṟam verses with the akam Lord who has such a paradoxical nature. Here, verses in the previous section in order to form a the Lord’s supremacy is expressed through His continuing narrative of the girl in love. curing power. He is identified as the medicine In verse four, Vedāntadeśika illustrates that removes the bad karma of people in the the Lord’s supremacy that obstructs the girl town. The presence of Śrī in this verse affirms who falls in love with him in verse three from the Lord’s accessibility. The mothers, seeing the approaching the Lord. The Lord presented here combined nature of the Lord with whom their is not the embodied Lord, the beloved of the girl is in love, are concerned whether He will girl, but is the Lord of Truth and Viṣṇu, the take care of their girl and whether He will ever Supreme manifestation. Here, we see the leave her: identification of the Lord with “the king who protects people who resort to [Him] and who We, who dwell at the mountain does not dwell on thoughts regarding the sins of [Tiruvahīndrapuram], the servants.”38 The identification is heard with a surprise of the saying unmistakably a heritage of puṟam poetry that about the One who is the medicine praises the compassion of a king who protects that cures bad karmas in his subjects and forgives the criminals.39 Tiruvahīndrapuram. [We] are confused with our unchanging One with the slender bow-like eyebrows maruntu oṉṟu who has nature shown in a manner of Śrī, aṟputamāka amarntamai kēṭṭu aruḷ vēṇṭi who stays on the lotus, requesting His niṟka grace.37 paṟpu il amarnta ceyyāḷ paṭi kāṭṭiya paṇpu uṭai em vil puruva koṭikku ōr vilaṅkā mayal peṟṟṉamē. 38Mummaṇikkōvai, verse four, lines eleven and twelve, 36 My reading is based on the Tamil grammatical rule 393: that participles and verbs of a sentence must have the aṭiyavar piḻaikaḻ nin karuttu aṭaiyātu same subject. Thus, I construe the first person plural aṭaiya āṇtāruḻum aracaṉum nīye pronoun “we” as the subject of both the main verb in 39 See, for example, verses 212 and 213 of the the last line and the participle in the first line. Puṟunāṉuṟu in George L. Hart, The Four Hundred 37 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse nine, 403: Songs of War and Wisdom: An Anthology of Poems veṟpuṭaṉ oṉṟi ayintaiyil vev viṉai tīr from Classical Tamil: The Puṟanāṉūṟu. Translations

SYMPOSIA 40

Another puṟam heritage is the specification of immortality or mokṣa.42 the city of Tiruvahīndrapuram. This verse The long string of attributes of Viṣṇu, describes Tiruvahīndrapuram as the place presented in verse four, evokes the illustration “where people speak the speech of the Vedas,” of Viṣṇu’s supremacy and beauty in the situating the town within the Vedic orthodoxy. Paripāṭal. The attributes in verse four of the Having ruled over Tiruvahīndrapuram, Lord Mummaṇikkōvai shares some motifs with the Devanāyaka “adorns” the people who live there attributes listed in the Paripāṭal, namely His and mingles with His devotees. Hopkins power, beauty, universality, grace, identity as suggests that “the image of mingling” hints at the knowledge of the Vedas, and the avatāras, an erotic motif.40 In addition to being present in as previously shown. Seeing the Lord’s this world, especially in Tiruvahīndrapuram, for supremacy, the girl feels the distance between “the joy of gods who live in the sky and the herself and Him. As a result, the girl with the virtuous devotees,” Lord Devanāyaka is Viṣṇu symptoms of love is desperately longing for the who “abides with Śrī” and “having become Lord as previously seen in verse six. Śrī/wealth (Tiru)” for His own Śrī. Here, In verse seven, we see the Lord’s Vedāntadeśika plays with the word “Tiru” supremacy and accessibility combined. The which can mean both “wealth” in a literal sense most interesting feature of this verse is the way and the Goddess on the lotus, “Śrī/Lakṣmī,” Vedāntadeśika makes use of the Tamil who is the Consort of Viṣṇu. Vedāntadeśika’s grammatical construction to form an description of Viṣṇu who becomes His own uninterrupted string of the Lord’s supreme and “Tiru” leads to the ambiguity of Viṣṇu and Śrī accessible qualities. Each line of this verse, that we first encounter in verse one. excluding the last two lines, consists of two Then, Viṣṇu manifests Himself as Lord parts. The first part states each quality of the Devanāyaka in Tiruvahīndrapuram, in the Lord through the second person singular divine manifestations [vyūhas], and in the pronoun addressing Him, “You indeed are…” avatāras. He is present in this city and The second part gives a reason for each everywhere at the same time. Most importantly, qualification through a participle construction Viṣṇu manifests Himself as the Lord of the with a genitive case attached. See, for example, Truth who explains “the ancient nature of the the literal translation of the first two lines: pure Vedas” and as the only essence of the Vedas.41 Finally, Viṣṇu is defined as the way to You indeed are the knowledge of the practice [to reach You]. Of You, there is the giving of the knowledge of the practice. You indeed are the lamp from the Asian Classics. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), 134-135. 40 Hopkins, Singing the Body of God, 121. 41 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse four, the last line, 394: “tol 42 It is stated, in verse four, line thirty-four, that Viṣṇu vakai kāṭṭum tuṇintu tū maṟaiyē,” and lines thirty-four “stands as the unlimited Ocean of the nectar of to thirty-five, 394: immortality” (“antam il amuta āḻiyāy niṟṟi,” 393) and, …maṟṟu oṉṟum in lines thirty-four, that without Him “the way is palvakai niṉṟa niṉpaṭi anaittinum unseen” (“kaṇṭilam kati uṉai aṉṟi,” 394).

41 AKEPIYAPORNCHAI / SURRENDERING TO GOD

Of You, there is causing the light to Because You destroy the state of evil. establish.43 Because You destroy the state of evil, You indeed are the companion. The genitive case attached to the participle in You indeed are the companion the second part allows us to read this second Because You have no equals. part of the line with the first part of the Because You have no equals, You indeed following line as follows: are the sacred One. You indeed are the sacred One. You indeed are the knowledge of the Because Śrī dwells with You. practice [to reach You] Because Śrī dwells with You, You Of You, there is the giving of the indeed are the Cause. knowledge of the practice. You indeed are the Cause. Of You, there is the giving of the Because You are Nārāyaṇa. knowledge of the practice. Because You are Nārāyaṇa, You indeed You indeed are the lamp. are the wish-giving tree. You indeed are the lamp. You indeed are the wish-giving tree Of You, there is causing the light to because You give a good-resting place. establish. Because You give a good-resting place, You indeed are the Supreme God. As a result, all the qualities in this verse are You indeed are the Supreme God, connected through this construction. It can be because You have no imperfection. speculated that Vedāntadeśika uses this … construction to construe this verse to illustrate You indeed are the ruler that the supremacy and accessibility coexist in because You have no mischief. the Lord. The genitive can be understood as Because You have no mischief, You giving the reasons for all the attributes of the indeed are the Capable One. Lord. Thus, it can be translated as “because.” You indeed are the Capable One In this verse, Lord Devanāyaka is because You ate and spilled out the attributed with supreme qualities as follows: world.44

You indeed are the path because You give grace for those who 44 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse seven, lines seven to thirteen take the path. and seventeen to eighteen, 399: Because You give grace for those who āṟum nīyē āṟṟukku aruḷtaliṉ take the path, You indeed are the aṟamum nīyē maṟa nilai māyttaliṉ tuṇaivaṉum nīyē iṇai ilai ātaliṉ dharma. tuyyaṉum nīyē ceyyāḷ uṟaitaliṉ You indeed are the dharma kāraṇam nīye nāraṇaṉ ātaliṉ kaṟpakam nīyē nal patam tarutaliṉ iṟaivaṉum nīyē kuṟai oṉṟu ilāmaiyiṉ 43 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse seven, lines one to two, 399: … payil mati nīyē payil mati tarutaliṉ nallāy nīyē pollāṅku ilāmaiyiṉ veḷiyum nīyē veḷi uṟa niṟṟaliṉ vallāy nīyē vaiyam uṇṭu umiḻtaliṉ

SYMPOSIA 42

At the end of the verse, the fact that the Lord is The supremacy and the accessibility of the Truth of the Vedas is stated: Lord Devanāyaka are summarized in verse eight, the following verse, through the O The Vedas of knowledge joins combined images of Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme together in every way with Your nature manifestation, and the dwarf-descent which is the Truth that appears [vamanāvatāra], the more accessible form who everywhere45 descended to restore the worlds from the demon king, Bali: Along with His supremacy, His accessibility is illustrated through these qualities: The golden Himālaya, Having come to Tiruvahīndrapuram You indeed are the mother which is permeated by the Vedas, because You give protection. Became the vessel of Truth Because You give protection, You To wash the foot lifted up that day by the indeed are the father. big one for the sake of that [Nārāyaṇa].47 You indeed are the father Nārāyaṇa, who has the color of the because You create, having established ocean, stands as the Cause of the before. manifestation. Because You create, having established before, You indeed are the relation. I understand that the combination of the You indeed are the relation Lord’s supremacy and the accessibility in verse because You remain without renouncing. seven and eight is the reason why the girl, who … is obstructed by the Lord’s supremacy in verse You indeed are the pleasure because You six, can eventually approach Him in verse ten. remove sufferings. However, the combination causes confusion and Because You remove sufferings, You concern for the girl’s two mothers as previously indeed are even me. seen in verse nine. You indeed are even me because You dwell in me.

Because You dwell in me, You indeed are mine. tāyum nīyē cāyai tantu ukattaliṉ You indeed are mine tantaiyum nīyē munti niṉṟu aḷittaliṉ because You become [my] pleasure uṟavum nīyē tuṟavātu oḻitaliṉ without [thinking of] yours.46 uṟṟatu nīyē ciṟṟiṉpam iṉmaiyiṉ … iṉpamum nīyē tuṉpam tuṭaittaliṉ yāṉum nīyē eṉṉuḷ uṟaitaliṉ 45 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse seven, lines nineteen to eṉatum nīyē uṉatu aṉṟi iṉmaiyiṉ twenty, 399: 47 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse eight, 402: eṅṅaṉam ākum meyya niṉ iyalpē āraṇaṅkaḷ tēṭa ayintai nakar vantu utitta aṅṅanē okka aṟivatu āraṇamē. kāraṇarāy niṉṟa kaṭal vaṇṇar nāraṇanār 46 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse seven, lines three to six and ippaṭikku mikku aṉṟu eṭutta pātam kaḻuva fourteen to sixteen, 399: mey paṭikkam āṉatu poṉ veṟpu.

43 AKEPIYAPORNCHAI / SURRENDERING TO GOD

The Akam and Puṟam Dimensions: Intellectual The classification of the two groups of and Emotional Devotees devotees, side-by-side, is an interesting move. Although these two groups surrender to the Although only ten verses of the Lord and He accepts them both, it is the girl Mummaṇikkōvai are available, we glimpse the who expresses the helplessness and the distress resolution of this tension between the Lord’s caused by not having any means to reach the paradoxical nature and the girl in love with Him Lord, the two main components of eligibility for in verse ten. In my interpretation, this verse surrender. Moreover, the Mummaṇikkōvai addresses two groups of people: one represents centers on the story of the girl in love who the akam dimension and the other indicates the represents the emotional devotees. Thus, I argue puṟam dimension. The first group prioritizes that the Mummaṇikkōvai pays attention to the their love for the Lord over knowledge, while devotees who are not twice-born, unlike the second group emphasizes the knowledge of Vedāntadeśika’s Sanskrit works that generally the Vedas, which is attained from the outside address the group of intellectual devotees who source and enables them to surrender have access to the Vedic knowledge. themselves to the Lord, over love. The first In this verse, the narrator addresses the group operates within the akam dimension since Lord with the second person pronoun “You” they stress their “interior” or their love for the [nī], which is the form that shows the Lord. In other words, the girl and this group familiarity rather than the respectful feature of share similar features: their love for the Lord the Lord. Although the Lord remains the and the inability to comprehend His supremacy. Supreme in this verse, His accessibility is On the other hand, the second group recalls the emphasized: Brahmins in the Paripāṭal who praise and surrender to Viṣṇu.48 They are eligible for the You indeed are the Creator study of the Vedas since they are twice-born. because You generate everything to Their devotion and surrender is mediated by the make appear another [generations]. knowledge from the Vedic learning. I term the You are the pleasure of humans who are first group “emotional devotees” and the second without You. “intellectual devotees.” O You are for Your sake. Nothing is for me. You indeed are the Cause who came to bring forth protection for those who rise 48 See for example, Paripāṭal, Tirumāl, the with love even without [seeing] Your second song, lines sixty-nine to seventy-six, 9 and 11: qualities and the servants who hold on to Your virtuous greatness does not meet with [their] relationship with You. the cycle of time These servants are at Your feet, In Your mind which is the nectar of 49 immortality to be drunk manifesting themselves for You. In many ways, we put hands together near the head [and place them] at the feet of You who came 49 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse ten, 404: for gods who are with imperishable nature. peṟṟaṉai nīyē maṟṟu uḷa ellām We praise and sing with the stable minds. peṟuvatu niṉṉai uṟuvatu koḷvār

SYMPOSIA 44

Once again, my interpretation of this verse is twice-born who are eligible for the study of the different from that of Hopkins. Hopkins, Vedas. Having realized the Lord’s supremacy, following the commentator, understands that especially His identity as the essence of the this verse suggests “an image of radical mercy Vedas, these devotees give up themselves to the [aruḷ] and divine tender love [aṉpu]: the rescue servitude to the Lord. Here, the use of the word of the distressed elephant-king devotee “Nārāyaṇa” to refer to the Lord is significant. Gajendra from the jaws of a crocodile, one of The word “Nārāyaṇa” has the respectful the most popular stories in South Indian connotation and it points to the Supreme status bhakti.”50 I agree that this verse can be read this of the Lord as opposed to the embodied Lord way, but the word “vāraṇa” in the last line of who is the combination of both supremacy and this verse can mean both “an elephant” and accessibility in verse seven, eight, and nine: “protection.” However, the meaning “protection” is more suitable given the O Brahmā grammatical structure in the last line and the We, having filled with the whole context of the verse. precious knowledge, which Here, the group of emotional devotees, gives an unshakable faith and is “those who rise with love even without [seeing] the essence of the pure Vedas, Your qualities,” is represented by the girl who offer servitude only to Nārāyaṇa is in love with the Lord. As we have seen in at Tiruvahīndrapuram where previous verses, the girl is portrayed as the one people bow down in the who has no eligibility for the sacred knowledge recitation ceremony of the of the Vedas and cannot relate to the Lord’s Vedas [Pārāyaṇam].51 supremacy. On the other hand, the group of intellectual devotees, “the servants who hold on Conclusion to [their] relationship” with the Lord, refers to the people who have the knowledge that the Vedāntadeśika’s Tamil poetry, the Lord is the essence of the Vedas and surrender Mummaṇikkōvai, adds to the Śrīvaiṣṇavas’ and to Him. They are at His feet for servitude, South Indian Tamil devotional corpus. His knowing their relationship as being subordinate decision to use the kōvai may reflect his attempt to the Lord, the Creator of all things. to create a “Vaiṣṇava kōvai” that parallels a The group of intellectual devotees is Śaiva kōvai, Tirukkōvaiyār, by Māṇikkavācakar introduced in verse five in which they are (the ninth century C.E.) to complement and expressed with the first person plural pronoun claim the poetic authority for the Vaiṣṇava “we.” They represent, in verse five, the group of devotional corpus. Vedāntadeśika makes use of the

niṉṉāl aṉṟi maṉṉār iṉpam niṉṉa poruṭṭu nī eṉṉa poruṭṭu ilia 51 Mummaṇikkōvai, verse five, 397: niṉ taṉakku nikar niṉ aṭi aṭaivār tū maṟaiyiṉ uḷḷam tuḷaṅkā tuṇivu tarum niṉ pāl aṉṟi aṉpāl uyyār ām aṟivāl ārntu aṭimai ākiṉṟōm pū maṟaiyōṉ vāraṇam aḻaikka vanta kāraṇaṉē. pārāyaṇattil paṇiyum ayintai nakar 50 Hopkins, Singing the Body of God, 126. nārāyaṇaṉārkkē nām.

45 AKEPIYAPORNCHAI / SURRENDERING TO GOD narrativity, which is one of the main features of Poetics of Tamil Devotion. Religion in the kōvai, to further the story of the girl in love Asia and Africa Series. Bloomington: with God in Nammāḻvār’s Tiruvāymoḻi and the Indiana University Press, 1987. praise of Viṣṇu in Paripāṭal. The chronological Gros, François. Le Paripāṭal: Texte Tamoul. narrative frame of the kōvai enables Publications De L'Institut Français Vedāntadeśika to tell the story with not only D'indologie; No 35. Pondichéry: Institut content but also structure. The structure of the Français D’indologie, 1968. Mummaṇikkōvai is constructed through the Hart, George L. The Four Hundred Songs of weaving of the akam and puṟam verses that Love: An Anthology of Poems from allows Vedāntadeśika to praise Lord Classical Tamil, The Akanāṉūṟu. Devanāyaka and to focus on “the interior Regards Sur L'Asie Du Sud/South Asian landscapes” of the devotees at the same time. Perspectives 7. Pondicherry: Institut Through the mediums of the Tamil Français De Pondichéry, 2015. language and the kōvai genre in the Hart, George L, and Hank Heifetz. The Four Mummaṇikkōvai, Vedāntadeśika broadens his Hundred Songs of War and Wisdom: An theological arguments in Sanskrit philosophical- Anthology of Poems from Classical theological works. He advances the necessity of Tamil: The Puṟanāṉūṟu. Translations surrendering to Śrī and the Lord’s paradoxical from the Asian Classics. New York: nature. Moreover, he prioritizes the devotees Columbia University Press, 1999. who are not eligible for the Vedic study and Hopkins, Steven P. Singing the Body of have no other ways to approach God apart from God: The Hymns of Vedāntadeśika in Their their love for Him presumably to complement South Indian Tradition. Oxford; New the emphasis on the Vedic intellectual York: Oxford University Press, 2002. knowledge that dominates the Sanskrit Mumme, Patricia Y. The Śrīvaiṣṇava philosophical-theological works of himself as Theological Dispute: Maṇavāḷamāmuni well as the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition. and Vedānta Deśika. Madras: New Era Publications, 1988. Bibliography Ramanujan, A. K. The Interior Landscape: Classical Tamil Love Poems. New York Clare, Jennifer Steele. “Canons, Conventions, Review Books Poets. New York: New and Creativity: Defining Literary York Review Books, 2014. Tradition in Premodern Tamil South Śrīrāmadeśika, V. N. ed. India.” PhD diss., University of Śrīdeśikapprabandham with Tamil California, Berkeley. ProQuest commentary of Śrīrāmadeśika. Reprint, (3498949), 2011. Chennai: Libco, 2014. Clothey, Fred W. and A. K. Ramanujan. The Zvelebil, Kamil. Tamil Literature. History of Many Faces of Murukaṉ: The History ; v. 10, Fasc. 1. and Meaning of a South Indian God. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1974. Religion and Society (Hague, the Netherlands); 6. The Hague; New York: Mouton, 1978. Cutler, Norman. Songs of Experience: The