த஠ருவெம்பாவை / Thiruvempavai(Audio/Lyrics/Meaning)

The Thiruvempavai (த஠ருவெம்பாவை) is a collection of twenty hymns sung for Lord Shiva by his devotee Manicka vasagar. The Thiruvempavai songs were composed in Thiruvannamalai temple during the month of Margazhi(December-january) when the temple town was celebrating the Pavai Nolumbu. The twenty songs of Thiruvempavai are recited all over Tamil Nadu in the holy month of Margazhi in Lord Siva Temples.
The Thiruvembavai is part of Thiruvasagam.

The Thiruvembavai penance is observed by unmarried girls of those times to get good husbands. The maids all wake up early , wake each other up and with song and dance go to the ponds and streams for bathing and then worship Pavai (woman goddess) and request her to bless them with suitable husbands. The Thiruvembavai songs are sung by them during the festival on 10 days preceding the Thiruadhirai Nolumbu. Though, ostensibly, Thiruvempavai is merely a poem about young girls encouraging each other to go and worship Shiva, their trips to the temple are interpreted to be emblematic of the soul’s journey towards union with Shiva. The Thiruvempavai is thus a poem which encourages enthusiasm for the ultimate pilgrimage that culminates in the experience of Shiva.

About Manikka vasakar

The ancient Tamil Nadu saw two important Bhakthi movements. The sentinels(sages) of Bhakthi movement worshipping Lord Shiva were called Nayanmars and those worshipping Lord Vishnu were called Azhwars. Among those 63 sages, four Natyanmars were the most important and they were Appar, Thirugnana Sambandar, Thirunavukkarsar and Manikka Vasagar. All of them were great poets and traveled through out Tamil Nadu visiting the shiva temples and composing poems on the deities in each Temple.

Manikka vasakar was a 9th-century Tamil poet who wrote Tiruvasakam (Holy script), a book of Shaiva hymns. He was one of the main authors of Saivite Tirumurai, his work forms one volume of the Tirumurai, the key religious text of Tamil language Shaiva Siddhanta.”Thiru Vasagathukku urugar Evvasagathukkum Urugar” meaning,” those who do not melt for Thiruvasagam will never melt for any other book”, is a famous Tamil Saying of those times.

Meaning is available for all 20 Thiruvembavai (த஠ருவெம்பாவை) songs.

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