Paasuram (Stanza)

naayakanaay ninRa nan^thakOpan utaiya

kOyil kaappaanE! * koti thOnRum thOraNa

vaayil kaappaanE! * maNik kathavam thaaL thiRavaay *

aayar ciRumiyarOmukku * aRai paRai

maayan maNivaNNan nennalE vaay nErn^thaan *

thUyOmaay van^thOm thuyilezhap paatuvaan *

vaayaal munnamunnam maaRRaathE ammaa! * nI

nEya nilai kathavam nIkku ElOr empaavaay.

Meaning Courtesy: http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/tpv/vstp16.html

{Additional sites: http://www.asayana.com/religion/18-2/; https://www.sadagopan.org/pdfuploads/Thiruppavai-VS.pdf}

Context: Andal's thirty songs contain the cardinal principles of Vaishnava dharma during the month of Marghazhi. Vaishnavas sing these songs to bring peace, prosperity and Divine Grace. Andal assumes the guise of a cowherd girl in these 30 verses. Andal appears intent upon performing a particular religious vow to marry the Lord, thereby obtain His everlasting company, and inviting all her girl-friends to join her. Towards the end we learn that she did not actually perform a religious rite; but is simply praying to be granted the service of the Lord for eternity. She yearns for everlasting happiness and service of the Lord.

The ten girls symbolizing “the pancha-Laksham gOpis” of Gokulam are

awakened now and proceed together to NandagOpan's palace to awaken the residents of that

mansion. They start with the awakening of the guards at the flag-staff gate first.

Having woken up the ten girls and collected her retinue, Sri Andal has reached the temple of the Lord, it is either the Temple or the palace of of Krishna’s foster father Nandagopan. They find that the ornate doors and the festooned doorstep are bolted and guarded by sentries, so the girls address the gate keeper and ask him to open the bolts and let them in. The girls plead with the gatekeeper “we are small girls from the cowherd community and we seek the grace of the Lord. The Magical dark skinned Lord has made promises to us. We are pure and we come to sing the wake up song for Him. Please do not refuse entry for us, Please do open the door to enable us to obtain the grace of our Lord.