This is part of an elaborate article written by Dr. Kaanchanaa Nataraajan and published in the Jan 2010 issue of Mountain Path magazine from Shri Ramanaashramam.
ЁЯМ╕ЁЯМ╣ЁЯНАЁЯНБЁЯМ║ЁЯМ╗ЁЯМ╝
Who was Avudai Akka? What took her to the great teaching of Advaita? Gomathi Rajankam, a prolific Tamil writer on spiritual issues, spent an extended period in Chengottai and other nearby villages gathering information about Akka’s life and songs from the local women. The following brief account of Avudai Akka’s life draws upon my conversations with an erudite scholar and school headmaster, Mr Janardhan, a resident of one of the agraharams in Chengottai village. I have also drawn from Gomathi Rajankam’s introduction to the work Chengottai Shri Avudai Akkal Padal Tirattu (2002).
The name ‘Avudai’ is the Tamil form of Gomati Amman, the presiding goddess of the temple Sankaran Koil, some 40 kilometres from Chengottai. This massive temple is dedicated to Shiva, his consort Gomati and Shankaranarayanan. Akka was born into an orthodox Brahmin family of the Chengottai agraharam, and her parents raised her with love and care. In keeping with tradition, she was married off at a very young age to a neighbour’s son; so young as to not know who her groom was, her formalised relation to him, or what marriage itself implied. Soon there was weeping in the house, and when she asked about the cause of the gloom and tears she was told that the neighbour’s child had died. Her immediate reaction was, “Why cry so much for a boy who has died in another house?” With her first menstruation she was initiated into the numbing rites of widowhood, such as tonsure, breaking of bangles, mandatory white sari, and relegation to a dark interior room, unending chores, and lifelong stigmatisation as an inauspicious woman. She was inconsolable at the thought that such claustrophobic subjugation
was to be her destiny.
The famous scholar Tiruvisainallur Shridhara Venkatesa Ayyawal, who belonged to the tradition of namasankirtan, was invited by the then king of Travancore to conduct the worship of Shiva on Shivaratri day. The master set out with a group of disciples, walking from Kumbhakonam. On the way he passed through Chengottai, and was welcomed by the brahmins of the agraharam. As he passed Akka’s house, where the threshold was neither swept clean nor decorated with the customary kolam because of the inauspicious presence of the child-widow, his legs became transfixed. He stood there singing the name of God. Akka flew out of the house like an arrow leaving the bow of a deft archer, fell weeping at his feet and begged him to save her from her fate as a widow. Ayyawal compassionately told her not to worry but to come to the riverside mantapam in the evening to receive initiation.
The onlookers were outraged at Akka’s audacity, and pushed her back into the house. They confronted Shridhara Ayyawal and rebuked him for encouraging the child-widow, saying that she was not eligible to receive any initiation from anyone, much less from a saint.
Ayyawal is supposed to have retorted, “If she is not eligible, then no one in this village is eligible for anything. Desire to know the truth is the only criterion for knowledge, and not the nature of embodiment, male, female, widowed or married.”
Unhappy at this reply, the brahmins of the agraharam threatened Akka’s parents with dire consequences if their daughter obeyed Ayyawal’s instructions. Heedless of all this, Akka managed to escape the house in the evening, went to the mantapam and received the Upanisadic mahavakya from her guru. Needless to say, she was ostracised from the agraharam, but the master allowed her to accompany him to Travancore. The women of the palace objected to a young child-widow being part of his all-male retinue. But Ayyawal insisted that Akka was a jnani. He demonstrated this publicly by making her perform the Shivaratri worship. The king provided ceremonial golden bilwa leaves for the puja that Akka performed with great concentration. The next morning she collected the golden leaves along with the faded flowers and cast them all into the flowing waters of the nearby river. The fact that Akka made no distinction between ordinary flowers and priceless golden leaves was proclaimed by Ayyawal to be an instance of her absolute dispassion.
Akka is supposed to have lived near her master by the holy river Kaveri for many years, experiencing the supreme Advaitic truth. She began singing songs about this experience of sublimity. Her state of deep samadhi is legendary. Once, while meditating on the Kaveri bank, there was a flash flood; many of Iyyawal’s disciples ran for their lives. Akka, however, stayed totally oblivious to her surroundings; reportedly the surging river piled mud around her in a circular heap, forming an island so she could continue her meditation uninterrupted.
Akka was called an unmattha (one who wanders like a madwoman), spiritually intoxicated; she composed her songs while in this state. Her lament Anubhogaratnamalai, composed when she heard of the passing away of her master Ayyawal, stuns the readers with the heart- wrenching intensity of its pathos. A few women devotees, probably widows, attended to her when she was in the state of divine inebriation; they followed her, learnt her songs and passed this treasure on to other women. Slowly her songs became known in every local brahmin household. There may have been a time, perhaps, when the women of all brahmin households in Tiruneveli district sang her songs.
The story about Akka’s departure from the world claims that she told her three intimate disciples to accompany her to Kuttralam; and when they all climbed the cliff by the Shenbaka aruvi (waterfalls) she gestured to them not to follow her further. She walked on, never to return. Her disciples waited for a long time and then searched for her, but there was no trace of Akka or her remains. All that was left was the priceless legacy of her songs, which were taught to younger women and thus kept in circulation.
ЁЯМ╕ЁЯМ╣ЁЯНАЁЯНБЁЯМ║ЁЯМ╗ЁЯМ╝
The famous роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் song of Akkaal, translated into English by the author of the above article with one correction by me (I have placed the Thamizh version at the bottom):
Oh men! You lament ecchil-ecchil,
But there is no place without ecchil, Paraparame.
Ecchil of Microbes are on the forms of gods,
The honey is the ecchil of the bee,
And is not all nourishing mother’s milk also ecchil, Paraparame?
The ecchil of the fish is in the holy waters,
The holy Brahmins who dive into rivers are ecchil,
Are not (pecked) fruits the ecchil of parrots, Paraparame?
The ecchil of the insect bores and blights the coconut,
The excreta of little cats is everywhere, and I know
That space too is covered by ecchil, Paraparame.
The nadam is ecchil, the bindu is ecchil,
the four Vedas of the Brahmins are ecchil,
Is not the tongue that chants the Vedas ecchil, Paraparame?
The macrocosm and the microcosm, the worlds,
are all withdrawn into ecchil.
Do the dogmatic, frenzied religious men now even dare
To open their mouths to complain, Paraparame?
While their mouth and body are ecchil,
Simply washing their feet every now and then,
How will they be cleansed, Paraparame?
Only the Lord, the Truth is not ecchil,
Because that Light can never be expressed
through language Paraparame.
ЁЯМ╕ЁЯМ╣ЁЯНАЁЯНБЁЯМ║ЁЯМ╗ЁЯМ╝
Akkaal is like Stallone in Rambo III firing at and galloping towards the orthodox morons!! ЁЯШВ Or, like Cruise wearing advanced weaponry suite and firing brilliantly at the invading alien scums in the movie Edge of Tomorrow!! ЁЯШЬЁЯШВ
Looks for the phrases "Ecchil of Microbes..." and "I know The space too is covered...". You will realize that even commoners had knowledge about Microbes in the then India.
ЁЯМ╕ЁЯМ╣ЁЯНАЁЯНБЁЯМ║ЁЯМ╗ЁЯМ╝
роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ெроЪ்роЪிро▓் роОрой்ро▒ு рокுро▓роо்рокுроХிро▒ாроп் рооாройுроЯро░்роХро│்
роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் роЗро▓்ро▓ாрод роЗроЯрооிро▓்ро▓ை- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роЪிро▓்ро▓ெроЪ்роЪிро▓் рооூро░்род்родி роХைропிро▓் роИ роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் родேройро▓்ро▓ро╡ோ
роОрой்ро▒ைроХ்роХுроо் роЙрог்рогுроо் родாроп் рооுро▓ை роОроЪ்роЪிро▓рой்ро▒ோ- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роороЪ்роЪрооெроЪ்роЪிро▓் роиீро░ிро▓் ро╡рои்родு рооூро┤்роХுроо் рооро▒ைропோро░்роХро│் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓்
рокроЪ்роЪைроХ் роХிро│ி роХோродுроо் рокро┤роо் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் роЕрой்ро▒ோ- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
родேро░ை роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் родேроЩ்роХாроп் роЪிро▒ு рокூройை роОроЪ்роЪிро▓்
родேроЪрооெро▓்ро▓ாрооே роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ெрой்ро▒ро▒ிро╡ேрой் – рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роиாродрооெроЪ்роЪிро▓் рокிрои்родு роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் роиாро▓்рооро▒ைропோро░் ро╡ேродроо் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓்
роорои்родிро░роЩ்роХро│் роЪொро▓்ро▓ுроо் ро╡ாроп் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓рой்ро▒ோ- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роЕрог்роЯ рокிрог்роЯ ро▓ோроХрооெро▓்ро▓ாроо் роЕроЯроЩ்роХро▓ுроо் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ாроЪ்роЪே
ро╡рог்роЯ роород ро╡ாродிроХроЯ்роХு ро╡ாропுрог்роЯோ- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ுрой் ро╡ாропுроо் роЙроЯро▓ுроо் роПроХрооாропிро░ுроХ்роХைропிро▓ே
рокாродроо் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ெрой்ро▒ு роЕро▓роо்рок роЪுрод்родрооாроЪ்роЪோ- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роИроЪро░் роТро░ுро╡ро░் роЙрог்роЯே роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ிро▓்ро▓ாрод ро╡ро╕்родு родாрой் рокாроЯроХ
ро╡ாроЪроХро░ுроо் роХாрогா роЬோродி- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
ЁЯФп ро╕்ро░ீроЖро╡ுроЯைропроХ்роХாро│ுрооாрой роПроХрой் роЕройேроХрой் родிро░ுро╡роЯிроХ்роХு роЪрооро░்рок்рокрогроо் ЁЯФп
ЁЯМ╕ЁЯМ╣ЁЯНАЁЯНБЁЯМ║ЁЯМ╗ЁЯМ╝
Who was Avudai Akka? What took her to the great teaching of Advaita? Gomathi Rajankam, a prolific Tamil writer on spiritual issues, spent an extended period in Chengottai and other nearby villages gathering information about Akka’s life and songs from the local women. The following brief account of Avudai Akka’s life draws upon my conversations with an erudite scholar and school headmaster, Mr Janardhan, a resident of one of the agraharams in Chengottai village. I have also drawn from Gomathi Rajankam’s introduction to the work Chengottai Shri Avudai Akkal Padal Tirattu (2002).
The name ‘Avudai’ is the Tamil form of Gomati Amman, the presiding goddess of the temple Sankaran Koil, some 40 kilometres from Chengottai. This massive temple is dedicated to Shiva, his consort Gomati and Shankaranarayanan. Akka was born into an orthodox Brahmin family of the Chengottai agraharam, and her parents raised her with love and care. In keeping with tradition, she was married off at a very young age to a neighbour’s son; so young as to not know who her groom was, her formalised relation to him, or what marriage itself implied. Soon there was weeping in the house, and when she asked about the cause of the gloom and tears she was told that the neighbour’s child had died. Her immediate reaction was, “Why cry so much for a boy who has died in another house?” With her first menstruation she was initiated into the numbing rites of widowhood, such as tonsure, breaking of bangles, mandatory white sari, and relegation to a dark interior room, unending chores, and lifelong stigmatisation as an inauspicious woman. She was inconsolable at the thought that such claustrophobic subjugation
was to be her destiny.
The famous scholar Tiruvisainallur Shridhara Venkatesa Ayyawal, who belonged to the tradition of namasankirtan, was invited by the then king of Travancore to conduct the worship of Shiva on Shivaratri day. The master set out with a group of disciples, walking from Kumbhakonam. On the way he passed through Chengottai, and was welcomed by the brahmins of the agraharam. As he passed Akka’s house, where the threshold was neither swept clean nor decorated with the customary kolam because of the inauspicious presence of the child-widow, his legs became transfixed. He stood there singing the name of God. Akka flew out of the house like an arrow leaving the bow of a deft archer, fell weeping at his feet and begged him to save her from her fate as a widow. Ayyawal compassionately told her not to worry but to come to the riverside mantapam in the evening to receive initiation.
The onlookers were outraged at Akka’s audacity, and pushed her back into the house. They confronted Shridhara Ayyawal and rebuked him for encouraging the child-widow, saying that she was not eligible to receive any initiation from anyone, much less from a saint.
Ayyawal is supposed to have retorted, “If she is not eligible, then no one in this village is eligible for anything. Desire to know the truth is the only criterion for knowledge, and not the nature of embodiment, male, female, widowed or married.”
Unhappy at this reply, the brahmins of the agraharam threatened Akka’s parents with dire consequences if their daughter obeyed Ayyawal’s instructions. Heedless of all this, Akka managed to escape the house in the evening, went to the mantapam and received the Upanisadic mahavakya from her guru. Needless to say, she was ostracised from the agraharam, but the master allowed her to accompany him to Travancore. The women of the palace objected to a young child-widow being part of his all-male retinue. But Ayyawal insisted that Akka was a jnani. He demonstrated this publicly by making her perform the Shivaratri worship. The king provided ceremonial golden bilwa leaves for the puja that Akka performed with great concentration. The next morning she collected the golden leaves along with the faded flowers and cast them all into the flowing waters of the nearby river. The fact that Akka made no distinction between ordinary flowers and priceless golden leaves was proclaimed by Ayyawal to be an instance of her absolute dispassion.
Akka is supposed to have lived near her master by the holy river Kaveri for many years, experiencing the supreme Advaitic truth. She began singing songs about this experience of sublimity. Her state of deep samadhi is legendary. Once, while meditating on the Kaveri bank, there was a flash flood; many of Iyyawal’s disciples ran for their lives. Akka, however, stayed totally oblivious to her surroundings; reportedly the surging river piled mud around her in a circular heap, forming an island so she could continue her meditation uninterrupted.
Akka was called an unmattha (one who wanders like a madwoman), spiritually intoxicated; she composed her songs while in this state. Her lament Anubhogaratnamalai, composed when she heard of the passing away of her master Ayyawal, stuns the readers with the heart- wrenching intensity of its pathos. A few women devotees, probably widows, attended to her when she was in the state of divine inebriation; they followed her, learnt her songs and passed this treasure on to other women. Slowly her songs became known in every local brahmin household. There may have been a time, perhaps, when the women of all brahmin households in Tiruneveli district sang her songs.
The story about Akka’s departure from the world claims that she told her three intimate disciples to accompany her to Kuttralam; and when they all climbed the cliff by the Shenbaka aruvi (waterfalls) she gestured to them not to follow her further. She walked on, never to return. Her disciples waited for a long time and then searched for her, but there was no trace of Akka or her remains. All that was left was the priceless legacy of her songs, which were taught to younger women and thus kept in circulation.
ЁЯМ╕ЁЯМ╣ЁЯНАЁЯНБЁЯМ║ЁЯМ╗ЁЯМ╝
The famous роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் song of Akkaal, translated into English by the author of the above article with one correction by me (I have placed the Thamizh version at the bottom):
Oh men! You lament ecchil-ecchil,
But there is no place without ecchil, Paraparame.
Ecchil of Microbes are on the forms of gods,
The honey is the ecchil of the bee,
And is not all nourishing mother’s milk also ecchil, Paraparame?
The ecchil of the fish is in the holy waters,
The holy Brahmins who dive into rivers are ecchil,
Are not (pecked) fruits the ecchil of parrots, Paraparame?
The ecchil of the insect bores and blights the coconut,
The excreta of little cats is everywhere, and I know
That space too is covered by ecchil, Paraparame.
The nadam is ecchil, the bindu is ecchil,
the four Vedas of the Brahmins are ecchil,
Is not the tongue that chants the Vedas ecchil, Paraparame?
The macrocosm and the microcosm, the worlds,
are all withdrawn into ecchil.
Do the dogmatic, frenzied religious men now even dare
To open their mouths to complain, Paraparame?
While their mouth and body are ecchil,
Simply washing their feet every now and then,
How will they be cleansed, Paraparame?
Only the Lord, the Truth is not ecchil,
Because that Light can never be expressed
through language Paraparame.
ЁЯМ╕ЁЯМ╣ЁЯНАЁЯНБЁЯМ║ЁЯМ╗ЁЯМ╝
Akkaal is like Stallone in Rambo III firing at and galloping towards the orthodox morons!! ЁЯШВ Or, like Cruise wearing advanced weaponry suite and firing brilliantly at the invading alien scums in the movie Edge of Tomorrow!! ЁЯШЬЁЯШВ
Looks for the phrases "Ecchil of Microbes..." and "I know The space too is covered...". You will realize that even commoners had knowledge about Microbes in the then India.
ЁЯМ╕ЁЯМ╣ЁЯНАЁЯНБЁЯМ║ЁЯМ╗ЁЯМ╝
роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ெроЪ்роЪிро▓் роОрой்ро▒ு рокுро▓роо்рокுроХிро▒ாроп் рооாройுроЯро░்роХро│்
роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் роЗро▓்ро▓ாрод роЗроЯрооிро▓்ро▓ை- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роЪிро▓்ро▓ெроЪ்роЪிро▓் рооூро░்род்родி роХைропிро▓் роИ роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் родேройро▓்ро▓ро╡ோ
роОрой்ро▒ைроХ்роХுроо் роЙрог்рогுроо் родாроп் рооுро▓ை роОроЪ்роЪிро▓рой்ро▒ோ- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роороЪ்роЪрооெроЪ்роЪிро▓் роиீро░ிро▓் ро╡рои்родு рооூро┤்роХுроо் рооро▒ைропோро░்роХро│் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓்
рокроЪ்роЪைроХ் роХிро│ி роХோродுроо் рокро┤роо் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் роЕрой்ро▒ோ- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
родேро░ை роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் родேроЩ்роХாроп் роЪிро▒ு рокூройை роОроЪ்роЪிро▓்
родேроЪрооெро▓்ро▓ாрооே роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ெрой்ро▒ро▒ிро╡ேрой் – рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роиாродрооெроЪ்роЪிро▓் рокிрои்родு роОроЪ்роЪிро▓் роиாро▓்рооро▒ைропோро░் ро╡ேродроо் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓்
роорои்родிро░роЩ்роХро│் роЪொро▓்ро▓ுроо் ро╡ாроп் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓рой்ро▒ோ- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роЕрог்роЯ рокிрог்роЯ ро▓ோроХрооெро▓்ро▓ாроо் роЕроЯроЩ்роХро▓ுроо் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ாроЪ்роЪே
ро╡рог்роЯ роород ро╡ாродிроХроЯ்роХு ро╡ாропுрог்роЯோ- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ுрой் ро╡ாропுроо் роЙроЯро▓ுроо் роПроХрооாропிро░ுроХ்роХைропிро▓ே
рокாродроо் роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ெрой்ро▒ு роЕро▓роо்рок роЪுрод்родрооாроЪ்роЪோ- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
роИроЪро░் роТро░ுро╡ро░் роЙрог்роЯே роОроЪ்роЪிро▓ிро▓்ро▓ாрод ро╡ро╕்родு родாрой் рокாроЯроХ
ро╡ாроЪроХро░ுроо் роХாрогா роЬோродி- рокро░ாрокро░рооே
ЁЯФп ро╕்ро░ீроЖро╡ுроЯைропроХ்роХாро│ுрооாрой роПроХрой் роЕройேроХрой் родிро░ுро╡роЯிроХ்роХு роЪрооро░்рок்рокрогроо் ЁЯФп
posted from Bloggeroid
This is a very moving article, and the song is also very enlightening. I am researching the contributions of tamil iyers to spirituality. Can we assume that this saint was a tamil iyer?
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