TAMIL
Commentary on Periya Tirumozhi
TIRUMANGAI AZHWAR ARULIA PERIYA TIRUMOZHI — Elaborate Commentary in Seven Volumes (complete): Kokkalai Jerajan; W-146, Anna Nagar West Extn, Chennai-600101. Rs. 460.
THIS BOOK is an elaborate commentary on Tirumangai Azhwar's Periya Tirumozhi, an important work in the Nalayira Divya Prabhandam. This work has different kinds of metre. Among the Azhwars, Tirumangai Azhwar is the only one who glorified the deities of more than 84 holy Srivaishnavite places out of 108 in his hymns.
The author has annotated each poem excellently and quoted profusely not only from the hymns of the other Azhwars, but also from the devotional lyrics of the Tirumurai, the epics and the Sangam classics to elucidate the contents of the Tirumozhi.
For example, while commenting on the poem "Ezhai etalan" (5-8-1), he takes the word "ezhai" as ignorant and not the common meaning of poor. For that he quotes from other sources also to support this meaning.
Another interesting commentary is on 3-4-1. Here he gives all the details like the four Vedas, five Yajnas, six Angas and seven notes of music. This will make the reader know about the ancient traditional arts especially while discussing about the music. The hymns pertaining to Tirukurungudi are good examples of "akatturai" literature.
As usual in the beginning of 9-5, he gives the importance of the holy shrines, name of the presiding deity and other Puranic information. At the end of each stanza the meaning of difficult words are given which is very useful.
K. K. A. VENKATACHARI
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