Tiruppavai (Opening Pasurams) — Word-by-Word Meaning

The Tiruppavai is Andal's garland of thirty pasurams (verses) sung in the sacred month of Margazhi, in which she and her companions, imagining themselves as the cowherd girls (gopis) of Ayarpadi, take up the Paavai Nonbu vow to win the grace of Lord Krishna (Narayana). Verse 1: In the month of Margazhi, on this good day of the full moon, come, O well-adorned maidens, come for our holy bath! O fortunate young girls of prosperous Ayarpadi — the son of Nandagopa of the cruel sharp spear, the young lion of doe-eyed Yashoda, dark-bodied, red-eyed, His face like the radiant moon — Narayana Himself will grant us the 'parai' (the boon). Come, that the whole world may praise us, and take up our vow! Verse 2: O you who live in this world, hear the practices we follow for our vow: we sing the feet of the Supreme One who gently sleeps upon the ocean of milk; we eat no ghee, we drink no milk, we bathe at dawn; we do not darken our eyes with collyrium nor wear flowers in our hair; we do nothing forbidden, speak no slander; we give alms and charity as much as we can, and live thinking only of liberation — take up our vow! Verse 3: Singing the name of the Supreme One who grew tall and measured the worlds (Trivikrama), if we bathe and observe our Paavai vow, then without any harm the land will have rain thrice a month; tall red paddy will flourish, fish will leap among them, spotted bees will sleep in the blue lily blossoms, and generous great cows will fill the milk-pots to overflowing — unfailing prosperity will fill the land. Take up our vow! Verse 4: O rain-cloud, deep as the sea, withhold nothing! Plunge into the ocean, draw up its waters, roar and rise; dark like the form of the Primordial Lord, thunder like the discus in the hand of broad-shouldered Padmanabha, flash like His conch, and pour down like the arrow-rain loosed from His Sharnga bow — rain for the world's welfare, so that we too may rejoice to bathe in Margazhi. Take up our vow! Verse 5: The wondrous Lord, the prince of northern Mathura, the dweller on the banks of the pure deep Yamuna, the shining lamp born in the cowherd clan, Damodara who gave glory to His mother's womb — coming pure, let us scatter fresh flowers, worship Him, sing His praise with our mouths and meditate on Him in our hearts; then our past sins and the sins yet to come will all become as chaff in the fire. Take up our vow!