From: aruna@tree.egr.uh.edu (Affable)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.tamil
Subject: tirupaLLi ezhuchchi [Was Re: Thiruppaavai Verses]
Date: 15 Dec 1992 21:23:05 GMT
Organization: University of Houston
Distribution: world
Reply-To: Venkatachalam Aruna <aruna@tree.egr.uh.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cive.egr.uh.edu

The efforts by Dr.K.S and Aravind are to be applauded.
This tiruppaavai thing brings back some memories.
Just reminiscing.

  There is a temple called "paasupathEswarar kOil " in Annamalai Nagar,
Chidambaram. [ "thala puraanam" says arjunan got his paasupatham here].
The people used to sing tiruppaLLi ehuchci and tiruvembaavai got transferred
or went out of town when I was in high school. So there was nobody to
perform that in the month of maarkazhi. So one of the trustees requested
my friend Krishan Kannan [ I think he is right now in Duke univ. Kannan,
Are you reading this?] to organise a group of kids to perform the bhajanai. 
He contacted all his friends and some accepted to come and sing those
songs.
  
Our home was very near to the temple and Kannan's as well. After constant
pestering ( anbuth thollai) from my parents, (dEy koil mani adichachchu,
thirupaLLi ezhuchchikku pokalaiyaa?), I used to get up at 4.45 and after a
bath (naan: Emma, kuLikkama kOilukkup pOnal enna? manasu suththama irunda
pOthatha?. Despite these arguments, she wouldn't allow me to go temple
without a bath) I would reach the temple by 5.00 am. We would start
singing, (reading would be the better word as nobody, among the kids,
knew how to sing those verses) walking along the four streets that 
encompass the temple. In one of the streets, an old lady used to wait for
us with a kerosene lamp in her hand and she would come to street when
she heard our hoarse voices and "jaalra" sound. She would worship us on the
presumption that we were "sivan adyaars". We all would feel embarassed
by her act and we tried to stop this and all our efforts went futile.
In due course we got used to it. She used to give some "prasad".
  
 We used to sing the last four or five verses in the  microphone.
(Until then mike used to give some pleasant music, like seerkazhi's
 "siva kankai kulatharuke ciRRaadai idai uduththi" -   what a lovely
song!) The next door uncle used to tease me : "unka tirupaLLi ezhuchiyila
siva perumaan ezhuntharO illaiyO naanka ellam ezhunthuttompa" with a
naughty grin in his face.
   After finishing the veN pongal, while returning home ( to get some
more sleep), it would be nice to see those girls' huge "kOlam" decorated
with some "parangippoo".
  Once I saw "tiruppaLLi ezhuchi" in the Nataraja temple in Chidambaram.
Most of them were old men and average age would be atleast 60. They had
all the paraphernalia required for the bhajan. Most of them had real
nice voices and moreover while singing it appeared they forgot themselves.

A side note: I think, tirupaLLi ezhuchi - 20 verses and tiruvembaavai -10
verses are for Sivan temples and tiruppaavai - 30 verses is for
vishnu temples. 

Nostalgically,
Venkat
--
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