Chapter 3 Decad: 7 Thiruvempaavai (Oh Our Sacred Maiden) Sub-title : Saktiyai Viyanthathu (Amazed at the act of Sakthi) (Sung at Thiruvannaamalai) Thiru = Sacred, em = our; paavai = maiden, the sakthi, the dynamic aspect of God-head. It seems that there was a festival in vogue in Tamil Nadu in which young girls worshipped Sakthi as Paarvathi invoking Her grace in the early hours of the Tamil months of Maarghazhi and Thai (December-January). They used to call on the houses of one another and go through the street to the stream or pond singing the glory of God. They used to make an image, or Paavai (Paarvathi) out of sand of the stream and play at worshipping the image invoking Her grace to be blessed with a suitable husband and to pour rain. This fact that young maidens used to bathe very early in the morning in the month of Thai has been mentioned in ancient classical Tamil literature. This decad Thiruvempaavai and Thiruppaavai of the Vaishnava religious literature speak about this festival of girls. The saint Maanickavaachagar sings this decad in the traditional manner as Thiruvempaavai. This poem deals with the divine love of the saint for Civan-Maadevan in the form of a dialogue between girls and the lady-love and song by the girls addressed to Paavai. Each verse or stanza therefore ends with the refrain Eelor em paavaai which may mean “Arise or ponder Oh our damse!”. It is said that it is reminiscent of the songs of the past known as Paavai songs which used to end 342
