Yet Another Love Story, This Time A Perfect One!

Dear Sudha and Lalitha,

Now that you have raised a query I am making you both jump the queue for my view on that.

Actually Paanar is the name of his caste and he is known by his caste. Paanar is a caste whose sole occupation is singing and playing veena. The higher castes got hold of the music domain much later in the history.

Another example on this point is that dance was once under the control of daasis or deva-daasis as they were called in those days. Thanks to the temple priests' domination the dasi class degenerated into that of prostitutes. Legend has it that Ponnachi belonged to the Daasi clan and when Villi married her there was a huge social opposition. But the society could do nothing about that because Villi was the king's pet and Villi's mother approved of the marriage.

regards,

Dear Sridhar,
Wow if that caste could devote themselves to music and arts , how come they were treated so badly and not let into the temple. As against the dasis, who were the temple dancers as such in the service of the Lord!
My so much has happened in the course of history that every view we hold seems so distorted now...... How things have changed in the years and i wonder it is all going to change in the next 200 years or so!
thanks for the clarification......

Dear Sir,
Reading about Paanan's love for god, i remember this Thevaram song :

Kaathalaagi Kasinthu Kanneer malgi
Othuvaar thammai nannerikku uyppathu
Vetham Nanginum meiporulaavathu
Nathan namam namacchivaayavey.

Waiting to read what plan God has for Paanan.

( about Devadasis : Devadasis were responsible for keeping and developing both music and art of Sadir and this was made as Bharathanatyam by Smt. Rukmini Devi. Devadasi custom was going well with much respect but the English people did not understand the system and seeing with british ideas thought dancing is bad and banned it so poor devadasis became like badword and their condition became so bad. Mr.Sriram has written a book about Bangalore Nagaratnammal (The Devadasi and The Saint) in that, good background history is there.)

dear sridhar sir,
you know, when we are kids, we begin a count down to diwali...everyday, on getting up, we think, it only 5 more days away, just 4 days away, etc...like that, i was awaiting Friday for the past few days to see what your next love story would be....
Thanks for bringing Paanan from Ponni's banks to our PCs.... :)
like serial directors, you have an uncanny knack for choosing the right places to end an episode...seriyaana edathula thodarum potutel... :)
well, when the Universal Mother herself does her recommendations, Paanan is ofcourse sure to be showered with the most benign grace....

maybe there are no perfect love stories....or maybe every love story is perfect in itself....when one is really in love, maybe the only thing that matters is the love itself...and not whether it fructifies into a relationship thats sustainable....
hmmm....maybe its better to love and to lose than to not know love at all...
well, who has the perfect answer to the enigma that is love....
whatever form it takes, its the only thing that makes the world thrive...
அன்பு தனில் செழித்திடும் வையம்...

sridhar,
'Gopura dharisanam kodi puniyam'...
Paanan had that puniyam..too...
FBs and your replies are always a treat to the readers...
waiting to read the next episode of Thiruppaazhwar'...

sriniketan

Dear Lalitha,
Happy to know that you have already read the story. Stories like this and that of Villi have to be read, heard, listened to, remembered, reminisced, mused again and again. Whatever they say for getting Vedas into our heart applies to immortal stories like this. You must first get the whole story in one go. Then should get one particular instance in the story and go over it again and again. Then another. And finally you will have to again read the story in full once again.

But fortunately there is no need to remember the method. When it is a love story, our heart will supply the appropriate method to us.

It is heartening to note that Amarchitra Katha is doing a yeoman service in bringing stories like these to our homes, especially to our children. Though I know that most of our ILites know this story, I am repeating it again in the same way Ramayana and Mahabaratha stories are repeated at every katha kalakshepam.

Once again you have done this - bringing a fresh whiff of pure & divine love to us.

thanks.

These words are very true that even the holiest place becomes little impure infront of this divine love. It is really our blessing to read these kind of stories again and energise ourselves with Pure love which is very much needed in today's world. And defintely Lord Ranganatha had no other way but to give his nod before this beautiful and Pure love of Thirupan.

I am happy you liked the words there.

I sincerely pray to the Lord to fill this world with more of this kind of love.

A very sensible prayer. But as JK said, let's not bother about the world. Let's first fill up our minds with love. The world will and has to follow. For JK said in his usual cryptic manner "You are the world."

Once again thanx Sridhar for bringing this to us. I really understand and appreciate the effort behind this.

You are most welcome, dear. Narrating this story involved no effort. Effort is needed only when you do some thing that you do not like but have to do it. You don't have to take efforts to kiss your daughter, right? Nor will you plan, 'Ok,on this sunday at 10 in the morning, I shall kiss my daughter." You don't do that. When you just see her running towards you with open hands, you just lift her off the ground and plant a kiss in her cheeks before even you know what you are doing.
Believe me Lalitha, my writing for you all is something similar to that.

love,

dear pavi,
thanks.
I wanted to post the story in one go.But then I thought we wont be thinking about the story as we do now.The waiting period between the first and second parts, is pregnant with many messages.
I will post the next part sooner than you may expect. Stay tuned.

regards,
sridhar

Originally Posted by pavithrasriram

dear varlotti,
well great story again but i am still waiting for the perfect ending!!!!
mandaye vedichudum pola erukku!!!!
what happened next post it as soon as possible!!!!!
regards
pavi

Dear Sridhar,

This was another absolute pleasure from you. And I welcome this new trend in your writing. It is really very satisfying to read stories from our past with strong cultural and moral base. Some we may know and many are new. This way, one can brush up on the faded memories or read and understand the lovely stories with a new interpretation and when you pen them, we get the added bonus of great exchange of ideas and much more to learn.
In this day and age where we click the button to watch some movie on the tv, when you mention 'kaanamal kadhal', true, Ajith and Devyani are the ones who jump into our thoughts! Hence, Villi and Paana are a very welcome change.
Even I wondered about Paana's veena playing abilities considering he was from the low of the lowest caste. But the further discussions on that subject was very interesting and informing. So, that's exactly what I meant about learning about culture through your threads. I am also awaiting for the next episode. Although, when the Great Lord says He is going to play a prank on Paana, my heart sinks a bit. Though I already know Paana will get his panah (shelter) at His feet, I dread to think as to what fires of testing he will have to march through. Hope he is not tested too much. Sigh!
Your observations on khadi wearing gentlemen and purity of love was very enjoyable.
If one had the insight of Paana, the glorius darshan of the distant temple gopuram is any day better than the sanctum sanctorium of the temple where you have to press a currency note into the palm of the priest to get a whole 30 seconds darshanam of the Lord!
Till next week Sridhar.......And oh yes, even when you plunge into your new romantic novel, please do not stop giving us these little culture based stories.

L, Kamla

Dear Sudha,

About your query on Paana's caste and its devotion to music, I've already answered. Also please refer to N.S.Swarnalatha's inputs on the Devadasi system and how bharatham evolved from that. (Post #13)

Normally I do not guarantee anything regarding the ending of my stories. But this story is of a saint, a story written on the canvas of reality by the Lord Himself. When He writes how can the end be otherwise than perfect!

We are conditioned to think that love is dependent on the object of love. With this conditioning our literature narrowly focus on the love between a man and a woman. No doubt that is also blissful. But the quality of love depends not on the person loved, but on the person loving.

In this context it is really sobering to remember the words of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad which has been interpreted in various ways. But the meaning which appealed to me is this:

"A husband loves his wife not for her sake but for the sake of his own self. A wife loves her husband not for his sake but for the sake of her own self."
So the great upanishad goes on talking about all kinds of love being rooted in selfish reasons. In that context the selfless love of Paana and Villi shine by contrast.

But awaiting the Darshan of Lord Renganatha in this Lover's abode!?! Hope it will be soon!

Yes, it will be soon. But when God Himself writes the story, you can't jump to conclusions. Just wait and watch the fun.
regards,

Dear Swarnalatha,

That was a moving Thevaram song. And you have given emphasis at the most important line. Unfortunately many give stress on the last line and say that uttering his name is important. And so like a parrot they keep on repeating Nama Shivaya or Namo Narayanaaya without that crucial element of "kaadhalaagi kasinthu kanneer malgi". And that part cannot be taught from outside. It has to come on its own.

And I will have to thank you for the enlightening piece about Devadasis and sathir. I feel sad these days when they organise "record dance" for temple festivals in the villages.In those days devadasis (literally, servants of God) provided quality entertainment. And since they wanted to devote their entire lives in the service of God, they did not marry and have a family. Kalki in his great novel Sivagamiyin Sabatham had ended the story beautifully, by making Sivakami wear the Thaali of Kanchipuram Ekambareswarar. She is a classical dancer and that was a symbolic gesture of a life devoted to nothing but dance.

Your post (and Sudha's and Lalitha's questions) gave a cultural and historic dimension to this thread. Thanks a lot.

regards,