I haven't slept for many days - My Bones are melting, the Smile is gone, the red lips have become darker - Only you know the Pangs of Separation
![]()
In the previous decad, Andal looked out for positive omens to see if the indications are right for her to unite with her beloved. Now in this fifth decad of Nachiyar Thirumozhi, she calls on the cuckoo to take her love messages to her Lord.
Andal dedicates an entire decad in the Nachiyar Thirumozhi to showcase the role of cuckoo as a messenger.Through these verses, she has a personal communication with the cuckoos directing them to pass on her love message to her beloved.
Andal dedicates an entire decad in the Nachiyar Thirumozhi to showcase the role of cuckoo as a messenger.Through these verses, she has a personal communication with the cuckoos directing them to pass on her love message to her beloved.
For long she says she has been longing to unite with him but he has evaded her. She has been bubbling with excitement and her entire body had risen with energy but in recent times her soul has been tormented with fading hopes. She asks the cuckoo to not go into hiding too just like her Lord and directs the cuckoo to call her lord who she identifies as one with conch and chakra and mace. In return for this effort, she says that the cuckoo will earn her lifelong gratitude and promises to place her head at the cuckoo’s feet.
She narrates to the cuckoo as to how she lost her bangles in her love life with her lord. And she finds this unfair. She is focussing solely on the Lord but the cuckoo stands in front of her pulling her remaining bangles.
Praising the Cuckoos as ones residing in Punnai, Kurukatti, Nalal and Serundi Groves, Andal wants her beloved Lord to be informed of her love plight. She compares her current state of mind to the Koel’s mind and states that it is the Koel who will be able to understand the pangs of separation from the beloved.
புன்னைகுருக்கத்திஞாழல்செருந்திப்
பொதும்பினில்வாழங்குயிலே
She provides clues to the Cuckoo to locate her Lord. Shes says that her Lord can be identified as one with beautiful coral lips in Sapphire hue, with a Garuda banner and with a white Conch (Andal describes in detail the greatness of the Conch later in the Nachiyar Thirumozhi).
She goes on to describe further her current state of mind in the next verse. She is losing patience and has now become a bit angry as well as her beloved is simply enjoying her dying dance and not responding to her cries. She is saddened that he does not appear before her.
உள்ளம்புகுந்துஎன்னைநைவித்துநாளும்
உயிர்பெய்துகூத்தாடும்காணும்
She turns her attention to the cuckoo and wants the cuckoo to sing songs inviting her Lord to come soon. She asks the Cuckook not to continue to sip the honey from the Shenbagam flowers. She asks the cuckoo not to evade her with sweet little talk and directs her to go immediately to the Lord of Venkatam. However just when the cuckoo was seemingly ready to leave, she found the buzzing bees sucking honey from the flowers and lost herself in that sight.
கள்ளவிழ்செண்பகப்பூ கோதிக் களித்திசை பாடும் குயிலே
What Love does to one!!!
![]()
Describing Srivilliputhur as a place with huge swarm of swans that graceful flap in pairs, Andal recounts her story of the past few days. She cannot find her Lord coming from any direction. Her bones are melting in anxiety. She is in total sorrow. She has not slept for many days. She showcases her misery as being as large as the ocean and says that she herself is like a small life boat in that large sea.
என்புருகிஇனவேல்நெடுங்கண்கள்
இமைபொருந்தாபலநாளும்
துன்பக்கடல்புக்குவைகுந்தனென்பதுஓர்
தோணிபெறாதுஉழல்கின்றேன்
She describes her fading personality inflicted by the endless wait for her lover. She has lost her smile, her red lips have become darker, her soul is agitating in grief and her breasts have become less beautiful and are rising yearning for his loving touch.
She questions the Cuckoo as to what she gains by thus hiding and not reaching out to her Lord and passing on her Love message to him. And says that it will indeed be a virtuous deed carried out by the Cuckoo if she helps this Lover unite with her beloved.
She questions the Cuckoo as to what she gains by thus hiding and not reaching out to her Lord and passing on her Love message to him. And says that it will indeed be a virtuous deed carried out by the Cuckoo if she helps this Lover unite with her beloved.
கொங்கைகிளர்ந்துகுமைத்துகுதூகலித்து
ஆவியைஆகுலம்செய்யும்
அங்குயிலேஉனக்கென்னமறைந்துறைவு
ஆழியும்சங்கும்ஒன்தண்டும்
தங்கியகையவனைவரக்கூவில்நீ
சாலத்தருமம்பெறுதி
Bribes the Cuckoo
Having requested and pleaded for a while, Andal lures the Cuckoo with an incentive. Reminding the cuckoo of her lack of sleep, she says that she has been yearning to see the golden feet of the Lord. She bribes the koel that if she does this helping act, she will be friend her like her parrot and will give her milk and sweet morsel.
மென்னடையன்னம்பரந்துவிளையாடும்.....
பொன்னடிகாண்பதோராசையினால்என்பொறுகயற்கண்ணினைதுஞ்சா
இன்னடிசிலோடுபாலமுதூட்டி
எடுத்தஎன்கோலக்கிளியை
உன்னொடுதோழமைகொழுவன்குயிலே
உலகளந்தான்வரக்கூவாய்
Praising the cuckoo as one that rests in a corner of the bunch of flowers, she promises to bow in respect if the cuckoo helps her unite with her beloved.
தத்துவனைவரக்கூகிற்றியாகில்
தலையல்லால்கைம்மாறிலேனே
You will get to know our love secrets
Andal reveals to the cuckoo that she is sharing many of her love stories. He is the one with the special Saranga bow and an ideal match for her and that that the two of them share many secrets. She addresses the cuckoo that is currently sipping nectar from the mango tree and asks her to go and call her Lord quickly. As a reward for the helping efforts, Andal promises to allow the cuckoo to watch her secret engagements with the beloved perched atop the tree.
நாங்கள்எமமிலிருந்தொட்டியகச்சங்கம்
நானும்அவனும்அறிதும்
ஆங்குவிரைந்தொல்லைக்கூகிற்றியாகில்
அவனைநான்செய்வனகாணோ
From request to bribe to threat
Having requested and motivated the cuckoo through the initial set of verses, Andal seems to have lost her patience towards the end as she moves on to now threatens the cuckoo providing him with just two choices for him to survive in those groves –
'Bring the Lord to me and secure back my lost bangles or else there will be no place for you in those beautiful nectar sipping groves'.
'Bring the Lord to me and secure back my lost bangles or else there will be no place for you in those beautiful nectar sipping groves'.
பொங்கொளிவண்டிரைக்கும்பொழில்வாழ்குயிலே
குறிக்கொண்டுஇதுநீகேள்
சங்கொடுசக்கரத்தான்வரக்கூவுதல்
பொன்வளைகொண்டுதருதல்
இங்குள்ளகாவினில்வாழக்கருதில்
இரண்டத்தொன்றேல்திண்ணம்வேண்டும்
She is shocked that even the moon light and the breeze are beginning to hurt her in her times of separation when she is being denied the opportunity of service to the Lord. And to add to her fury the Cuckoo continues to remain seated in front of her without taking her love message to the Lord.
'If he does not fly to her beloved she warns the cuckoo that he will be driven out of those groves.'
'If he does not fly to her beloved she warns the cuckoo that he will be driven out of those groves.'
இன்றுநாராயணனைவரக்கூவாவேல்
இன்குற்றுநின்றும்துரப்பன்