Dances of War, Pleas for Protection

The Dance of the Defeated Rākṣasas in Tirumaṅkai-āḻvār’s Periya Tirumoḻi

Abstract

This paper explores two sets of unusual Tamil poems, each ten verses long, composed by the 8th century Vaiṣṇava poet Tirumaṅkai-āḻvār. In these poems, he speaks in the voice of the defeated rākṣasas in the Rāmāyaṇa war. Speaking in the collective “we,” he pleads with the victors not to torment or kill “them.” Although these poems are unique, we contextualize them in the early history of the Tamil war ethics and victory dances done in battle- fields. We also discuss the connections between war and dance in Sanskrit and Tamil literature as well as the commentarial tradition on these poems, and argue that Tirumankai’s poems can be seen as a segue to the later con-cepts of seeking protection and coming for refuge (śaraṇāgati) in Śrīvaiṣṇava theology.