Margazhi signifies mysticism. There is something in Margazhi, may be the hymns and the kolams or the delayed and most awaited dawns. It is synonymous with another alliterative Mylapore, the place that hosts Brahmans. Every time I’m taught the hymn, “Vaazhga Anthanar Vaazhiya Anninam”, I’m reminded of Mylapore and Gokula. Margazhi is associated with Gokula too, when it comes to listening to Andal’s Thiruppavai on Lord Krishna, who would be her husband in the future. I had planned to visit Mylapore this year for Margazhi, as I would be free from my academic responsibilities. The hymns singers would sing every morning, kolams that adorn the ‘vasals’ of every house, the bajans at Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, a sip of Mylapore filter coffee and prayers at Kabaliswara Swamy and Madhava temples. However, things do not correspond to what we scheduled; they could never be compartmentalized. More than the times waves hit the shore, the waves of the virus keep hitting the country.
Every Margazhi would be more of temple visits, singing Thiruvempavai and Thirupavai from a cyclostyled material along with great spiritual leaders, (which I miss badly) and coming back home with a prasadam in my hand. Ekadasi and Thiruvadirai were marked by the sumptuous payasam and kali. This time, due to this virus outbreak, I could not go to the temples properly but I’ve found alternatives without complaining, which Margazhi demands. Every time, my teacher taught Silappathikaram, we were taught how Kannagi lived in seclusion even without complaining or blaming others for her plight. The same spirit of maturity has made me understand how I could spend my Margazhi with whatever I can afford to this year. Of course, I will go to temples only at times in this Margazhi.
1.As I live in a complex of flats, I choose to draw kolams in the Vinayagar temple in my colony.
2.Thanks to YouTube and Google, I can listen to Athma Gnana Mayyam, Desa Mangayarkarasi’s sermon on Thiruppavai and Thiruvempavai, every morning.
3.Kolam Podu on YouTube teaches every morning a new Kolam to present this Margazhi under the segment, Margazhi Dawns. The beauty is that the Kolams are given girl’s names.
4. Ragmalika TV has Saindhavi, Vinaya, Suchitra Balasubramaniyam, Vidya Kalyanaraman singing Thiruppavai and Thiruvempavai, which is similar to the exact situation that happened in the periods of both the poets. (conversation among friends)
Every time, I would wonder, how some of these prolific writers in India opt to pen their texts under a female pseudonym, while as a student of literature has been taught of how the Bronte sisters had to become Bell brothers and Mary Ann Evans had to don a male name. Now I recognize who their forerunner was, Manikavasagar, who assumes himself a woman and sings the song. He does not consider a woman, his subordinate but a spiritual person, whose prayer would benefit the whole cosmos. Wow, how beautifully, W.M. Thackeray said in one of his works that a mother is a dear woman, who direly loves and prays.
Andal is a girl, who could be an epitome of actual feminism. Her true love for the Lord through her hymns is reflected not in her dreams but in her father’s dream of finding Lord Paranthama coming for a bride seeing ceremony. Freud’s psychoanalysis is true with what happens to us: what we desire, we relish them in the dreams but that is not the case with Andal. She did not hold desire for the Lord. All she had was true love for the Lord, which connects me to the famous Buddha’s saying, “If you like a flower, you will pluck it; if you love them, you will water the plant”. That true love had made her give the garland she donned to God, which resulted in her marvellous wedding with the Lord and her divinization.
A candid representation in every house in the mornings would be finding a mother yelling at her sleeping daughter to wake up. Eventually both Manikkavasagar and Andal are comrades, who sing a song to wake their friend up. How pleasant would it be to listen to such soulful tunes every morning irrespective of the months? Let’s rise early, take Margazhi showers, draw kolams, listen and sing Thiruppavai and Thiruvampavai (so that it resonates with positivity) and eating healthy and limited meal (ensuring equal distribution). I had cultivated good habits this season like waking up before dawn, bathing right after I wake up, singing hymns with concentration. This Margazhi is special for me like yours is.
Though a week is over, I’m happy to write, what I like in that day’s Thirupavai and thiruvempavai every Margazhi day.
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