The symbols of purification, renewal and clarity associated with the water, dawn and the full moon respectively promise a spiritual awakening. Verse I In the month of Margazhi,On the good full-moon day,Let us bathe in the waters,O virtuous ones!Dear girls of the prosperousCowherd-dwellings!Sharp-speared,Hard-taskedNandagopas Son,Firm-eyed YasodasYoung Lion,The Dark-formedRed-eyed One,With face like the radiant moon,Narayana, Himself,Will grant us salvation,With the worlds blessings,Let us offer worship,O my Maidens!Īandaal begins her garland of verses thirty with this clarion call to the girls of the cowherd village to take a ritual bath on the full moon day in the invigoratingly cool early morning. Six representative pieces have taken up below for discussion. In its attempt to retain the lyrical simplicity and spiritual tone of the original, the free verse form has been adopted and slight deviations from the direct textual meaning have been made to ensure a smoother reading.

The Song of the Maidens is a translation of Thiruppavai by the author of this paper. The work is based on the philosophy of bridal mysticism in which the soul is envisioned as the bride to be wedded to the Eternal Bridegroom, the Saviour a theme particularly appropriate to the only woman in the Azhwar canon Her vivid imagination transforms the little town of Thiruvilliputthur into Brindavan, the young maidens into Gopis or girls of the cowherd clan and the temple into Krishnas palace. In Thiruppavai, a sequence of thirty verses, she calls upon the young girls of her village to undertake a month-long penance in order to attain their goal of salvation. Legend has it that she became his bride, merging with the divine image in the temple of Sri Rangam. From a very early age, she devoted her life to the worship of Lord Krishna, whom she vowed to wed.

and is considered the predecessor of Meera.

SRI ANDAAL- THE ONLY WOMAN AZHWAARAandaal, also known as Goda Devi lived in the eight century A.D. AANDAALS THIRUPPAVAI- AN ADVENTURE IN TRANSLATIONPresented byDr.SHOBHA RAMASWAMYAssistant ProfessorDepartment of English Kongunadu Arts and Science College (Autonomous)Coimbatore- 641 029.Īandaals Thiruppavai is a fascinating sequence of thirty verses, forming part of the Naalayira-Divya-Prabandam, the massive collection of the hymns of the twelve Azhwars or Tamil saint-poets belonging to the bhakti school of Sri Vaishnavism.

Thiruppavai in english pdf