From: kat@doe.carleton.ca (Kathiravan Krishnamurthi)
Subject: Re: pattinaththAr
Organization: Dept. of Electronics, Carleton University
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 22:31:06 GMT

In <5193@gos.ukc.ac.uk> rmv@ukc.ac.uk (raj) writes:

>I am currently reading some of the songs of pattinaththAr (Oh ! it is too long 
>to type. Let me call him 'P' in the following text ;-)) . I am curious know 
>the circumstances under which he became a "siththar"/thuRavi/whatever it is !

>Does anybody know his history (not just few incidents ) ?

   You should watch a movie produced on "pattinathaar" in thamizh
to know him.
   
>       WARNING !
>I am going to quote some of his songs which may offend some readers.

>     In one he says ..

>     "ethanai pEr thotta mulai
>      ethanai pEr natta kuzhi"


>    In another he laments  
>   
>    "piRakkum idaththai thEduthE manam
>     kaRakkum idaththai nAduthE kaN "

>  
>I know that many saint lamented to God that they were unable to get
>"immuned" to the (fatal) attraction of women & sex ( sitrinbam) and pleaded His
>help to help their mind focus on pErinbam. But this guy --P, goes a bit
>beyond.

>  In one song he mocks at men ..

   I think somebody should have the "pakkuvam" to read siththar poems.
Some siththars are blunt and not very poetic. But
some of them are very good. thirumoolar was the first and foremost. 
raamlinga vaLLalaar was the last and one of the
greatest siththars. 
The siththars wanted to renounce "aasai"
maNaasai, peNaasai and ponaasai.-lust for land, women and women.

 siththars wrote independent of each other.    aruNagiri is one of the siththars who has written a lot
of sweet poems. His experiences with women are included in thiruppugazh.
But if you take unconnected sentences they will seem pervert for
somebody without "pakkuvam". One should not take things out
of context.

In this poem aruNakiri tells his personal experience- his
excessive desire for women. His path from lechery to
sainthood is very well described in his poems. In this poem,
 he wants murukan to liberate
him. This is just one single poem. But if you read all
the anupoothi's then you will be able to derive
something out of it. .

"koorvEl vizhi mangkayar kongkayilE
 sErvEn, aruL sEravum eNNumathO?
 soorvErodu kunRu thoLaiththa nedum
 pOrvEla! puranthara poopathiyE!"
 

     I went after the bosoms (kongkayil) of koorvEl(sharp-spearlike)
vizhi(eye) mangkayar (women)! Why am I not thinking of joining
you and getting your aruL (grace). O! murukaa! vElavaa! the lord with
spear who broke open the asura (demon) and the mountain (kunRu).
-------------------------------------------------------------- 
   Dr. S. Pasupathy of Univ of Toronto has a team of
singers who sing thiruppugazh. Some of them are kids
born in NA. I listened to them when they came to Ottawa.
These songs are very melodious.
-----------------------------------------------------------

  aruNagiri's songs are sweet, philosophical and are set
to thamizh isai.

  My favourite song is

"muththai tharu paththith thirunagai
 aththik kiRai saththich charavaNa
 muththik oru viththuk kurupara ena Othum!

muRppatathu kaRip................

   iKathiravan

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