In verse three of Tiruppavai, Andal prays for rain thrice
every month and the prosperity that results from timely
rains. The monthly rains that come thrice a month should
be spaced out in order to be beneficial.Massaging oil on the head is said to be good, but that doesn’t mean one should take a lot of oil and pour it all on the head in one go. One takes a little, massages it, and waits for the oil to be absorbed by the skin, before applying some more. In the same way, the rains that Andal prays for are rains that are conveniently spaced out. She doesn’t ask for one torrent of rain.
What is the significance of rain thrice a month? Rains fall
once for the sake of those chanting Vedas. They fall a second time on account of the presence of virtuous women; they fall a third time because of just and honest rulers, said P.T. Seshadri, in a discourse. Andal also talks of paddy plants that are tall. There is a verse in the Divya Prabandham, which describes the natural wealth of Thiruvanvandur in Kerala.
The verse talks of stalks of grain that, because of the
weight of the grains, bend and touch the water in the fields.
Fish that have fattened on these grains are so stout that
mother storks are unable to offer them as food for their little
ones. Nampillai, in his commentary on this verse, says the
paddy plants here are so high that they reach up to the place
where everyone says, “aham annam.” The reference is to Sri
Vaikuntha! So the verse, according to Nampillai, says that
the paddy plants reach up to Sri Vaikuntha.
Bees perch on lotus flowers and, as the flowers sway in
the breeze, the bees resemble princes on swings in palaces!
This is the kind of prosperity Andal prays for in verse three
of Tiruppavai.
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