The Icon Thinking of Punitavati- Part 2

Love Unto BEING is there Always

The Bakti movement, coming in the wake of the collapse of the ancient Vedism and Vedanta and also Buddhism and Jainism brought also along with it a NEW NOTION of Moksa that gets well articulated by Punitavati, the women saint of the Saivas who also became quite well known across the seas,in south east Asian countries and so forth. 

We have here the birth of the notion of Mukti as PiRappu ARuttal and which is a further refinement of TiruvaLLular’s piRavi peruGkadal niintal, swimming across the seas of life and reaching the shores of the Divine Feet. 

In the following verse she speaks of Siva’s “enbu aRaak koolam” and ‘eriyaaddu’ where both are shapes BEING assumes for the sake of destroying something. As forms of Fire, the agnim illee of Rig Veda, Siva is the Kaalagni Rudra, the immensely strong FIRE that does not allow anything to sustain itself in the world. 

The soul is entangled with the Mummalam, the aaNavam, Kanmam and Maayai and because of which it has to suffer EXISTENCE as such and under normal circumstances the soul cherishes such a way being. However there comes a point of metaphysical maturity where TRUE FREEDOM or Moksa is intuited as one's own possibility and AGAINST WHICH the bodily existence itself becomes painful. Living is begun to be seen as living in a prison, the prison that’s the world and all because of the bodily embodiment and which brings along with it sexuality, being a male or female and yearning for sexual gratification through marriage and so forth. 

It is this 'THROWNESS' into the sexual way of Being-in-the-World and its immense power that makes Punitavati bleed with pains and insurmountable anguish. 

But she also sees a way out.

Siva as Agnim Illee, the Radiant Fire, the Cudar Uru, can singe to ashes all these desires and FREE her and purify her from this way of Being. On account of this, Siva as the wearer of the garland of skulls and resplendent fire become not forms of BEING to be feared but on the contrary to be loved most intimately. 

2. இடர்களையா ரேனும் எமக்கிரங்கா ரேனும்

படருநெறி பணியா ரேனுஞ் -சுடருருவில்

என்பறாக் கோலத் தெரியாடும் எம்மானார்க்(கு)

அன்பறா தென்நெஞ் சமவர்க்கு

(அ-ரை: திரு வி.க) 

படரும் நெறி பணியாரேனும் --பற்றிச் செல்லும் நெறி இஇ·தெனப் பணித்தருளாவிட்டாலும். என்பு அறா - என்பு மாலை நீங்காத எம்மானார்க்கு; அவர்க்கு -- 'எரியாடும் எம்மானார்க்கே' என்பதை வலியுறுத்த வேண்டி இஇருமுறை குறிப்பிட்டவாறாம். 

(உரை: உலகன்) 

உடலுற்று இஇப்பிரபஞ்ச வாழ்க்கையில் பட்டு அதனால் பல இஇடர்களை நான் அனுபவிக்க நேர்ந்தாலும், இஇறைவன் வீடுபேறு நல்கி அந்த இஇடர்களைக் களையாதிருக்கட்டும். மேலும் அவ்வாறு வீடுபேறு அடையத் தரும் செந்நெறிதான் யாதென்று எனக்கு தெள்ளிதின் விளக்கிப் பணியாரேனும் ஆகட்டும். சுத்தச் சோதிவடிவில் என்புமாலை தரித்து தானே அனைத்தையும் சங்கரிக்க வல்லவன் எனக் காட்டிக்கொண்டே  எரியாடும் எம் பெருமானுக்கு, இஇவ்வாறு அவன் விளையாடினாலும் அதுவும் என் நன்மைக்கே என நினைத்து அவன் மேல் என்றும் மாறா அன்புடனேயே நான் வாழ்வேன் கண்டாய்! 

2. 

idarkaLaiyaa reenum emakkiraGkaa reenum

padaruneRi paNiyaa reenunj - cudaruruvil

enpaRaak koolat teriyaadum emmanaark(ku)

anbaRaa then nenjen camavarkku 

Meaning 

Let HIM be indifferent to my existential anguish by not relieving me from this bodily existence. 

Let Him conceal from me an understanding of the WAY that would lead me unto HIM by not instructing me on it in some ways. 

Whatever it is I remain firm in my LOVE for Him who always discloses Himself as the Brilliant Radiance and who wearing the garland of bones, sports the all destructive Fire. 

Comments:

Punitavati had a fascination for the DESTRUCTIVE aspects of BEING as Siva that she has sung eloquently in her Muutta Tiruppatikam. Having become totally disenchanted with her biological presence in the world as an embodied anma subject to the tribulations of worldly desires that such a bodily existence always brings along with it, she yearns for liberation that would relieve her from being born again and again into the world. She has become aware that it is possible to be but without any inclination towards biological birth and hence the sexual desires that come along with it. As a wife who was deserted by her husband and as one who could not think of another round of domestic life with another man, she just abandons herself to Siva in deep and unshaken LOVE, something that was there in her heart right from early childhood but somehow forgotten. 

The destruction of her family life and hence the drying up of the sexual libido,  is actually the Play of BEING, of Siva the Destroyer to enable her to RECOVER her true Love and which is for Siva. Now that she has recovered it , she will never abandon it, no matter what. There is HOPE and she continuously reminds herself that BEING can take many forms, one of them being an archetype as One who wearing the garland of bones, sports FIRE in His hands,  signaling that only He can singe to ashes the various passions rustling in her heart and without burning  off which she cannot be freed from this endless existential repetition. 

ULLAGANAR

( Editing and re-paragraphing by his student )