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Thiruppavai is a collection of 30 verses in Tamil written by Aandaal in praise of God Thirumal (an incarnation of Krishna). Thiruppavai holds important parts of Tamil literature. Thiruppavai is part of Naalaayira Divya Prabandham which is a work of Azhvars.

Contents 1 Paavai Genre 2 Importance to Vaishnava 3 Overview of the 30 verses 4 Each verse in detail 5 Trivia 6 Audio Links 7 External links 8 References

Thiruppaavai belongs to the Paavai genre of songs. Paavai songs were sung in the context of the Paavai Nonpu (Paavai vow) observed throughout the month of Maarkazi, originally by unmarried girls praying to the Paavai goddess (related to Parvathi) seeking blissful married life. It was a uniquely Tamil tradition. There are references to Paavai Nonpu in the late-sangam era Tamil musical anthology "Paripaadal".^[1]

Aandaal (the incarnation of Bhudevi) sang thirty songs containing the cardinal principles of Vaishnava Dharma during the month of Margazhi. Vaishnavas, especially in TamilNadu sing these songs to bring peace, prosperity and Divine Grace.

Andal, though brought up as a Brahmin girl, assumes the guise of a cowherdess in these 30 verses. She yearns for everlasting happiness and Service of the Lord.It is the age-old practice of Sri Vaishnavas to sing these stanzas every day of the year in the presence of the Lord in the temple as well as in their homes.This practice assumes special significance during Margazhi so much so that each day of this month gets its name from a paasuram (verse).

In these verses, it may appear in the beginning that Andal is intending to perform a particular religious vow to marry the Lord and thereby obtain His everlasting company,and that she is inviting all her girl friends to join her. It is only towards the end of Tiruppaavai that we learn that she did not actually go to any pond or river or perform a religious rite; she is actually praying to be granted the service of the Lord for eternity. Soul's inner craving to redeem itself and to reach His divine nearness in order to serve Him which forms the real purport of this poem. ^[2]

The first five stanzas provide an introduction to the main theme-the vrata, its principle, and purpose. According to Andal one should also give up luxuries during season. She believes that sincere prayers to the God would bring abundant rain thus prosperity. Meditate Lord Krishna with fresh flowers to ward off sins committed earlier and those that may be committed in future. In the next 10 stanzas she describes the importance of community participation. She invites her friends to gather flowers. She essays the ambience at her village-like the chirping of birds, colorful blossoms, the musical sound of the churning of butter, herds of cattle with tingling bells, and blowing of the conch from the temple.

She visits each household and awakes all her friends to join her for a bath in the nearby pond. She cajoles them and asks whether Kumbakarna had cast a spell on them? She also praises the incarnations of the Lord in between. The next five stanzas she describes her visit to the temple accompanied by her friends. She desires to render Suprabhata gently to wake up the Lord. The group appeases the temple guards and enters the temple cleverly. The group recites prayers extolling the parents of the Lord Krishna and begs them to wake up Krishna and Balarama. It was not fruitful and so they approach Neeladevi the consort of the Lord to have a darsan.

The last 9 pasurams are on the glories of the Lord. On receiving his blessings she list out her demands, which include milk for the vrata, white conch, lamps, flowers, and rich costume and jewellery to adorn after the vrata, and plenty of ghee and butter enough to sink her elbow, and finally seeks pardon for taking the liberty. In the concluding stanza she identifies her as the daughter of Vishnucittar who made this garland of 30 pasurams and says those who recite with devotion will have Lord’s blessings. ^[3]

Reference ^[4]

• 1st: In the first stanza, Andal explains that in the month of Margazhi, srivaishnavas ought to do a vrata, a religious observation(possibly for rains and wealth) and she calls on everyone to do so.
• 2nd: She explains the dos and don'ts of the vow (which is a metaphor for a code of conduct for all srivaishnavism followers).
• 3rd: She explains the benefits of the vow(the whole world will be prosperous).
• 4th: She instructs the rain god to fetch water from the ocean and pour as rain over the good and bad alike (metaphor for spreading knowledge to everyone).
• 5th: She says that the task will not appear difficult if one thinks of God constantly, all karma accrued from deliberate or accidental acts will disappear(metaphor for: by spreading knowledge, will we interfere with natural order and cause misery?)

In the process of reciting this poem, Aandaal transports herself and the context from 8th century agricultural south India to the mystical life of the cowherds in the time of Krishna. The identification with gopis gets stronger as the poem unwinds. In the next 10 stanzas, Aandaal explains the state of various girls who ought to be going to the temple to perform the vow. these are metaphors for the psychological state of various people who are walking on the path towards saranagati.

• 6th: She calls to a girl who is still asleep and is woken with the words "the birds are chirping and the priest in the temple is blowing a conch to signal the morning's worship" (signaling a person who is not awake to the fact that he/she has to seek moksha).
• 7th: She calls a girl who insists on sleeping although she has heard the birds (a person who is surrounded by information about saranagati and yet is blind to it).
• 8th: Aandaal calls to a girl who is isolated saying that she has stopped others from going to the temple and they are all waiting on her(metaphor: every devotee will aid the naive seeker to help them on the way to realization).
• 9th: Aandaal calls on a girl who is asleep in a palace. She also asks that girl's mother to wake her from her stupidity/intoxication.(metaphor: many humans are ensnared in the material world, their ties start from when they are babies, with the love of their parents. Aandaal wants to wake them to the reality of seeking moksha).
• 10th: She addresses a girl who is lazy because she has achieved heaven through hard work, she calls on her to not be complaisant(metaphor: people may reach a sense of satisfaction after doing all their duties but they ought to yearn for a greater union with god).
• 11th: She calls a girl who she describes in detail as being very beautiful and has powerful family yet asleep(metaphor:not all people are equally gifted in the pursuit of realization. Some are specially gifted with power yet they let their gifts go dormant).
• 12th: she calls a girl who is so immersed in prayer that she has neglected to milk her buffalo (metaphor: it is important not to let go of our daily duties in the pursuit of mystic union).
• 13th: She calls on a girl who think she has understood moksha and is waiting for it to come to her to leave her tricks and strive daily(metaphor: at some point you may realize a state of perfect grace but you have to focus on working towards it every moment).
• 14th: She calls on a girl who is their leader and who had promised to wake first and wake everyone else but is still asleep(Some consider this to be a reference to nammalvar who was a renowned author. It suggests that even the most wise devotees can slip if they do not enlighten others).
• 15th: Last, she calls to a girl who debates with her and teases her to go on (metaphor for a seeker who gets diverted by smart debates and logical sleighs-of-hand).

In the third part, Aandaal describes the various approaches and preparations for the vow and imagines how krishna responds to it.

• 16th: She says she is beating the drum given by the Lord previously and asks the door keepers to open the doors(in srivaishnavism philosophy, the door keepers of vaikunta Jaya & Vijaya are very important. Legend says that when Vishnu wanted to give an example to people on earth how to live a virtuous life, they came to earth and took the lives of bad people so that Vishnu would take avatars, incarnations, and defeated these bad people. Thus they gained a lot of merit by helping spread the message of dharma.Jaya and Vijaya first came as Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu and were defeated by the Varaha and Narasimha avatars. Then they incarnated as Ravana and Kumbhakarna and were defeated by Rama. Then they came as Sishupala and Dantavakra and were defeated by Krishna. They are therefore proprieted first. the "drum given by the lord previously" is a reference to the dharmic messages from these avatars).
• 17th: Aandaal wakes Krishna's father Nanda who she praises as generous and charitable and his mother Yasoda who she says is the light of the clan and chief of all women and his brother Balarama the pure.(metaphor: Krishna as a metaphor for moksha is described through anthropomorphic qualities of a family: a generous father, a wise mother and a pure brother)
• 18th: Aandaal calls the daughter-in-law, Napinnai, of Nanda(described as he with the strong shoulders fearless against maddened elephants) to open the door with her feminine hands so Andal can worship Krishna, who holds a ball(once you surrender yourself to god, you are protected against the temptations of life, often compared to maddened elephants by the strong shoulders of a father figure)
• 19th: Aandaal rebukes Napinnai who is asleep on a majestic bed of not waking Krishna but keeping his company to herself.(metaphor: the world makes many demands that distract from the union of the soul and the paramatma)
• 20th: Aandaal describes Krishna as creating a balance in the universe and asks him and Sri to wake up and accept her prayers
• 21st: Andal says Krishna has many cows which give limitless milk, she says she has come like the enemies of Krishna who, surrendered abjectly(Aandaal describes a conflict in surrendering and encourages herself saying Krishna would have limitless milk--often compared to immortality, grace, light and wisdom)
• 22nd: Aandaal compares her supplication to kings like vishwamitra and possibly Kulashekhara who gave up the world to surrender to god and asks that Krishna open his eyes and give her grace(Aandaal is strengthening her resolve and overcoming her earlier conflict by reminding herself of people who gave up whole kingdoms)
• 23rd: she compares Krishna's coming out of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple to listen to their supplication to a lion coming out of a cave after the rains and roaring(reference to narasimha
• 24th: She continues to refer to avatars of vishnu and says she is submitted to the feet that did all of that
• 25th: She says krishna was born as the son of one woman (devaki) and grew as the son of another (Yasoda) and tormented Kamsa. She asks that He satisfy her thirst to sing His praises and thus get salvation(God is eternal and not of this world yet he takes on the role of a human so that people can approach and love him more easily. this is shown by drawing a parallel to his leaving the palace of Devaki and living in the huts of the cowherds)
• 26th: The girls ask for accessories for prayer: a conch, drums, lamps, flags etc.(earlier, Aandaal affirms that she would only get moksha if she helps every one of her fellow devotees achieve it. here, she asks for tools to spread the word to the whole world: conches are used in Hindu temples to make the primordial sound om, lamps symbolize dispelling the darkness of ignorance etc)
• 27th: The girls suggest that Krishna give them many things in return for singing his praises: flowers for their hair, bracelets, ear-rings, anklets, clothes and rich food.(metaphor for: the various stages attained by a yogi)
• 28th: They describe their naiveness and simple life as cowherds and say that their only happiness is in being related to God
• 29th: Being assured of God's grace, they ask that they will have a chance to praise and worship Him forever and receive his grace forever
• 30th: Phala stuti (reward couplet) usual at the end of most Sanskrit stotras, this tells the reward for saying this stotra. just like the gopis, people who say this Tamil garland composed by andal will get salvation. ^[5]

• Thiruppavai is also recited in Thailand. The last two stanzas (of the 30 verses) are recited in Tamil during coronation of the Rama (King of Thailand). ^[6]
• Thiruppaavai is sung in lieu of Suprabhatam during the month of Maarkazi at Tirumala^[7]

• Listen to Thiruppavai - Artist: Meera Krishna (Volume 1/3)
• Listen to Thiruppavai - Artist: Meera Krishna (Volume 2/3)
• Listen to Thiruppavai - Artist: Meera Krishna (Volume 3/3)
• Listen to Thiruppavai - Artist: Sudha Raghunathan (Volume 1/2)
• Listen to Thiruppavai - Artist: Sudha Raghunathan (Volume 2/2)

• Short essay on Thiruppavai
• Commentry on Thiruppavai
• Audio Commentry on Thiruppavai
• Explanation for Thiruppavai verses
• Thiruppavai in Telugu