Tiruppavai
Andal appears intent upon performing a particular religious vow to marry Vishnu and remain in his everlasting company, inviting of all her friends to join her to serve him with her.[7] According to the religious hymns the symbolic undertone behind Andal's entreaty to her friends to wake up and seek Krishna subsumes the essence of the three basic mantras in the Vaishnava tradition — the Tirumantram, Dvayam, and Charama Sloka that signify the truth of the paramatma or the Supreme being who dwells in everything.On receiving his blessings Andal lists her demands; milk for the vrata, white conch, lamps, flowers, and rich costume and jewellery, plenty of ghee and butter.These are given first and a translation into verse given then:- On this day filled with the light of moon, Come for bathing, Oh ladies who are richly dressed, And Oh ladies in rich homes of cowherds, For he with the sharp spear, He who kills his enemies without mercy, He who is the son of Nanda gopa, He who is the darling son of Yasodha, Who wore scented flower garlands, He who is a lion cub, He who is pretty in black colour, He who has small red eyes, He who has a face like the well-lit moon, And He, who is our deity Narayana, Is going to give us protection, So that we bathe and that is our Pavai (vratam or practice), In a way that the whole world sings about.Be pleased to hear of those penances, That we daily do for the worship of Pavai, We will sing of those holy feet, Of Him who sleeps in the ocean of milk, We will not take the very tasty ghee, We will avoid the health giving milk, We will daily bathe before the dawn, We will not wear any collyrium to the eye, We will not tie flowers in our hair, We will not do Any act that is banned, We will not talk ill of any to any one else, We will give alms and do charity, As much as we can, And do all those acts to make others free of sorrow, This is our vratam (Pavai).Oh rain God who comes from the sea, Enter the sea, please, and bring water to your fill, And with zest and sound take it up, And like the God of the deluge become black, And shine like the holy wheel in the hands, Of The God Padmanabha who has powerful biceps, And make booming pleasing sounds, Like the right spiraled conch, And rain with out stop like the arrow storm, From Saranga the bow of Vishnu and descend on us, To make this world happy, And to help us take bath in month of Margaḻi, To Him the son of Mathura in the north, To Him who played and frolicked, In the shores of holy Yamuna, To Him who is the ornamental lamp, Of the family of cow herds, And to the Damodara who made, His mothers womb holy, We came after a holy bath, And offered pure flowers at his feet, And sang with our mouth, And brought the thoughts of him in our mind, And we were sure, That all our mistakes of the past, And all that we will do in future, Will vanish as ashes in fire,The buffaloes are free to walk and graze, The remaining lasses, have stopped from going, All those who wanted to go, And have come to call you, Oh girl filled with happiness, Please wake up.In the soft cotton bed, In the pearl filled Villa, Well lit from all sides, And full of the smoke of incense, Please open the ornamental door.Oh aunt, why don't you wake her up, Is your daughter dumb or deaf, Or down right lazy, Or she is in trance of deep pleasurable sleep, Let us all call him the great enchanter, Madhavan and he who lives in Vaikunta, By several of His names, And get benefited,Who milks herds of cows, And wages war on enemies And makes his enemies lose their strength, Oh Golden tendril, Oh lass who has the mount of venus, Like the hood of the snake, Wake up and come, When your flock of friends, Have come to your courtyard, And sing of Krishna, Who has the colour of the cloud, Oh rich, rich lady, How can you neither move nor talk, And lie in deep trance,Venus has risen in the morning, Jupiter has vanished from the sky, The birds are making lot of sound, Of beautiful one with wide eyes red as a flower.The lily in the ponds have opened, The night flowers have closed, The white toothed sages, Who wear clothes as red as, The powder of brick, Are going to their temples.Of Nanda gopa, who has several elephants, And who is a great hero who never ran away from his enemies, Hey Lady Nappinnai, who has hair surrounded by holy scent, Please be kind to open the door.On the ornamental four legged ivory cot, On the soft bed filled with cotton, Reclining on the busts of Nappinnai, You sleep, Oh he who has a flower like heart, Please open your mouth.Oh lord who is like the blue sapphire, If you ask us what we need, In your great grace and great deeds, For our holy bath of Margaḻi, We will ask for very many conches Like the milk white conch of yours called Pancha Janya, Very many big drums whose sound can be heard everywhere, Several musicians of fame to sing “Pallandu ” Several beautiful pretty lamps, Several flags and cloths to make tents, Oh, He who sleeps on a banyan leaf at time of deluge, Please give us them all,The thirty odes in sweet Tamil, Of the story of how the rich ladies, With faces like moon, Who worshipped and requested, The Madhava who is also deity Kesava, Who churned the ocean of milk, For getting a drum to worship Goddess Pavai, As sung by Kodhai who is the dear daughter, Of Vishnu Chitta the bhattar, From the beautiful city of Puduvai, Will be happy and get the grace, Of our Vishnu with merciful pretty eyes.