During this Thiruppavai season, a few friends have enquired of me about the
origin of the word "vangak kadal" in the Thiruppavy Pasuram "vangak kadal
kadaintha mAthavanai " and its link with the Tamil name for the Bay of
Bengal. Recently, I found the question answered in a 1998 message to the
Bhakti List by Shriman Sampath Rengarajan which I would like to share with
devotees of the Oppiliappan Group. I am therefore reproducing it below, in
full:
Dasan.
krishnaswamy m k
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/may98/0128.html
thiruk kaNNan kudi - part 8 - "vanga mA munneer" - thirumangai pAsuram
*From:* Sampath Rengarajan (*srengara_at_ford.com*)
*Date:* Fri May 15 1998
Sri MaNavALa mAmunigaL did mangalA sAsanam at this divya dEsam.
Sri Pillai perumAL iyengar has also delivered his pAsuram on this
Lord. Thirumangai AzhwAr is the only AzwhAr who delivered prabandhams
on this Lord among the 12 AzhwArs. Thirumangai delivered 10 pAsurams.
vanga mA munneer vari niRap periya
vAL aravin anai mEvich
changamAr angaith thadamalar unthich
sAma mAmEni en thalaivan
angam ARau ainthu vELvi nAl vEtham
arum kalai payinRu eri moonRum
sengaiyAl valarkkum thuLakkam il
manaththOr thiruk kannan kudiyuL ninrAnE
periya thiru mozhi (9-1-1)
*Vangak kadal* : An explanation: Vanga in tamil means white or
veNmai. It is the color of the milk and hence it is called in
sanskrit as ksheera sAgaram and in tamil as pArk kadal (pAl means
milk).
vangak kadal kadaintha mAthavanai - means one who churned the
ksheera sAgaram or thirup pAr kadal (paR or pAl here is denoted by
vangam or white) during His koorma avathAram as Lord Sri Koorma.
vangam also means thooymai in tamil ie., cleanliness or purity.
vangam also has two other meanings in tamil that are not related to
the current context.
The term vanga dEsam and the adjacent sea known as vangak kadal or
bay of Bengal is a term that was derived in the later years.
vangam also means ship in tamil. munneer means kadal or ocean.
In this pasuram vanga ma muneer means at surface level a similar
sea like bay of bengal where huge ships float. AzhwAr draws
parallel to this ocean and transforms the scene in this pasuram in
the inner layer of meaning to ksheera sAgram or thirup pARk kadal
by showing the similarity of the ocean. One should not mistake that
there are huge ships that are floating in thirup pARk kadal.
meaning: There are huge ships (vanga) that floats in the high
sea. In such similar sea, ie thirup pARk kadal thiru anantha
azhwAn Sri Adi sEshan, appears with beautiful lines or stripes on
HIS thiru mEni. On such adisEshan, our lord is appearing with HIS
Sri Changam and Sri Chakram and the lotus in HIS naabhi or navel.
Such Lord appears in HIS shyAmala vaNNam (ie blue in color).
There are anthanars or brahmins who are knowledgable in six angams
(six vedAngams) and ithihaas (Srimadh rAmAyanam and Srimadh
bAgavatham) and who are also experienced in conducting the five
yAgAs (vELvi). They pray all the three agni as prescribed in four
vEdAs. Such mahAns who have unwavering or unflinched mind
(thulakkam il manatthOr) towards the Lord live here in thiruk
kaNNan kudi and our Lord appeared there in the midst of such
mahAns and is living there in nitya vAsam.
There is a reason to choose this pAsuram among the 10 pAsuram
delivered by thirumangai on this Lord. This is the first in the
decad. And also that our next part will deal on an encounter that
thirumangai and his parivAram had during their journey to this
place with the mariners of Sea Trading. Thirumangai delivers the
last decad of the 7m patthu (7th centum) on Lord thiruk kaNNa
mangai and then proceed to thiruk kaNNa puram and delivers a whole
100 pasurams on the Lord Sowri Rajan of thiruk kaNNa puram. On
completion of this, AzhwAr delivers the first decad of the 9th
centum (9m patthu) on the Lord of thiruk kaNNan kudi. This is a
coastal belt on bay of Bengal and must have been scenic as AzhwAr
passed through this belt. He delivers about the beauty of the sea
first that his vision captured and identifies the shipping trade
(due to his citation as "many boats") that took place during his
era. Sea trade or kadal vANibam took place even much prior to
thirumangai's era(**). We must not stray our thoughts on the basis of
modern historians who may deal very little about bhAratha kandam's
historical truth that were *recorded* in our sAthvika purANams.
Instead we must have faith in our poorvAchaAryAL'S vyAkyAnams
and follow them.
Sri lOka nAyaki samEtha Sri lOka nAyakan thiru vadikaLE saraNam
Sampath Rengarajan
note: (*) There are always controversies that are raised by the
historians on the actual period of AzhwArs' incarnation. There was
a historian who tried to identify that ANDAL must belong to 8th
century AD as the lines "veLLi ezhunthu viyAzhan urangiRRu". ie,
as per some westerner this level of astronomical knowledge was
available only after 8th century AD. By saying so the western
view point totally missed to take into account the entire Indian
purAnic and mythological explanations of the Indian astronomical
gnyAnam. The verse of ANDAL was about the Venus and Jupiter
positions on the early morning sky when these pasurams on the
paavai nOnbu were sung by HER.
Unfortunately it is believed that this led a famous (late)
Indian politician to publicly question that the thirup pAvai was
sung by periAzhwAr and not by ANDAL. Our Sri Putthur Swami gave
such a hard hitting reply, to which the questioner is believed to have
withdrawn his question and accepted Sri putthur swami's
explanation. adiyEn have privately explained this to a few last
December when the same was raised in this forum. In this authorship
question what was quoted by some as "authentic truth" as similar to
announcement in "sanga kAlap palakai" turned out to be "untrue". This
issue on authorship of thirup pAvai was set to rest by Sri Putthur
Swami more than twenty years ago. One can find such explanations of
Sri Putthur swamigaL from his publications. Due to my own owe and as
well due to the fact that the politician is not alive, I do not want
to write the details about this in the net. Please forgive me for any
apachArams committed by bringing out this truth.
(**) As per Tamil Historians the shipping and trade across the seas
of chOla sEra pAndiyan kingdoms took place many many centuries ago.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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