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Re: "yen thIrthanE".. ?

From the Bhakti List Archives

Vaide Venkatakrishnan • April 17, 1995 


Purely from a tamil poetry grammar point of view Sundar's interpretation is not
acceptable. To mean what he implies ( in terms of vinai or kali -----) the word
should read as thIrthananE, for the period of these poems and as this or
thIrthavanE in more recent poetry. In the original quote it is used as an
address- very often in Tamil poetry poems end with addressing a person and we
are taught to recognize this and in explaining its meaning use it as the
beginning.  I think that is the case with this poem too.

yen is more of an expression of belonging he to God an dGod to him arising out
of an intense devotion and longing for God. The poem could very well be ad
addressed to: "tIrththanE" and usually God's glory or an incident or charateristicstics 
tics are praised for the benefit of wordly people in such form of address.

Purely from this aspect I would tend to go with the interpretation presented
by Dileepan.

How about this: since Vishnu's abode is considered to be ThiruppaaRkadal,
could it imply addressing Him with an identification with water or theertham in
more common parlance.  Also the rivers associated with many a temple are
considered very pure and enjoy as much significance as the temple itself, and
more so as it is believed to imbibe the roopam ofthe presiding deity. 
especially in the times of these poems, you wouldn't have seen a 'dry' river
by a temple. As so much of reverence is attached to these waters, could it be
that thIrththan implies all of this and thus the deity of the place of worship
for this poem?

To sum up:

"Gangai aruviyaal thIrthan AnaanO?
Cauveri nNeeraal thIrthan AnaanO?
paaRkadal paLLiyinaal thIrthan AnaanO?
paavam pOkkiyathaal thIrthan anaanO?
parinNthuvanN thiNGu colveer bhakthargaaL"

Vaidehi V.