"Sangu Thangu Munkai Nangai" is a phrase used by Thirumazhisai azwhar in his 57th pasuram in Thiruchandha virutham. He uses it to describe Periya Pirati Sri Mahalakshmi. The whole Thiruchandha virutham is ebullient with energy.
Meaning:
Sangu - valayal (bangles). Sangu has lot of meaning and one of them is "bangles"
Thangu - to stay
Munkai - front part of the hand (referring to the part where ladies wear their bangles)
Nangai - a lady with all auspicious characters present in the maximum order
Story: Once upon a time, there was businessman in a town. He was married recently. A week after his marriage, he called upon his wife and told "I need to go out of station for a couple of months. I shall be back after 2 months". The wife, who was wearing a lot of bangles in her hand, was so sad to hear this news from her husband. Upon hearing this, she began to thin out . Her hands began to shrink in size due to her fear of separation from her beloved husband. She was actually wearing a dozen (12) bangles. After this news, since she started to thin out, the bangles could not stay in her tender hands that almost half of them started to fall down and shatter into pieces. She somehow managed to save the remaining half. Seeing this, the husband was excited to see the love the wife had on him. He immediately thought and replied "Okay. Either, I shall not go or shall take you with me". The wife could'nt believe that. It took a few moments for the good news to sink in to her mind. She immediately began to grow . The hands that was shrunk enormously, now started to fatten out. It grew to an extent that, all the remaining 6 bangles was too tight for her stout hand and because of that it broke away and fell into pieces in the ground. So, the concept of separation made them grow or shrink in size, which was the love they had in olden times. This is one of the common ways of describing separation (pirivu aatraamai) in literature.
So, the point in the story is that, there was a concept of "separation" for a husband and wife due to which the bangles stay or break away. But, the concept of separation does not hold good in the case of Periya Pirati, Sri Mahalakshmi. This is why they say the bangles stay on her hand forever because her hands are not going to shrink in size because her Husband Sriman Narayanan is not going to get separated from her, nor He is going to announce afer a while (like in the story above) that He will come back after sometime so as to make her hands overgrow and still break. This will not be the case for the dhivya dampathis as she stays forever with HIM, though in the epics, she appears to get separated from HIM, for a much broader cause with deeper sampradhayic purports. Thirumazhisai azhwar says Ravanan tried to separate this divine lady, the lokshamaatha Seetha, who is a "sangu thangu munkai nangai" and the rest was history. While the fact of matter is that there is no separation between them forever, they appeared to us as separated for illustrating various key points and take aways in our sampradhayam, which could not have been possible, had both of them stayed in the forest and returned to Ayodhya at the end of 14 years. Swami Nammazhwar says this "agalagilen irayumendru malarmel mangai urai maarba" in his famous "Ulagamunda Peruvaaya" padhigam in Thiruvaimozhi 6.10.9. This "sangu thangu munkai nangai" is used by Swami Periyavachan Pillai in his Pasurapadi Ramayanam, taking this exact phrase from Thirumazhisai azhwar.
Pasuram:
சங்கு தங்கு முன்கை நங்கை கொங்கை தங்கல் உற்றவன்
அங்கமங்க அன்று சென்று அடர்த்து எறிந்த ஆழியான்
கொங்கு தங்கு வார்குழல் மடந்தைமார் குடந்தை நீர்
பொங்கு தண் குடந்தையுள் கிடந்த புண்டரீகனே
Meaning:
Sangu - valayal (bangles). Sangu has lot of meaning and one of them is "bangles"
Thangu - to stay
Munkai - front part of the hand (referring to the part where ladies wear their bangles)
Nangai - a lady with all auspicious characters present in the maximum order
Story: Once upon a time, there was businessman in a town. He was married recently. A week after his marriage, he called upon his wife and told "I need to go out of station for a couple of months. I shall be back after 2 months". The wife, who was wearing a lot of bangles in her hand, was so sad to hear this news from her husband. Upon hearing this, she began to thin out . Her hands began to shrink in size due to her fear of separation from her beloved husband. She was actually wearing a dozen (12) bangles. After this news, since she started to thin out, the bangles could not stay in her tender hands that almost half of them started to fall down and shatter into pieces. She somehow managed to save the remaining half. Seeing this, the husband was excited to see the love the wife had on him. He immediately thought and replied "Okay. Either, I shall not go or shall take you with me". The wife could'nt believe that. It took a few moments for the good news to sink in to her mind. She immediately began to grow . The hands that was shrunk enormously, now started to fatten out. It grew to an extent that, all the remaining 6 bangles was too tight for her stout hand and because of that it broke away and fell into pieces in the ground. So, the concept of separation made them grow or shrink in size, which was the love they had in olden times. This is one of the common ways of describing separation (pirivu aatraamai) in literature.
So, the point in the story is that, there was a concept of "separation" for a husband and wife due to which the bangles stay or break away. But, the concept of separation does not hold good in the case of Periya Pirati, Sri Mahalakshmi. This is why they say the bangles stay on her hand forever because her hands are not going to shrink in size because her Husband Sriman Narayanan is not going to get separated from her, nor He is going to announce afer a while (like in the story above) that He will come back after sometime so as to make her hands overgrow and still break. This will not be the case for the dhivya dampathis as she stays forever with HIM, though in the epics, she appears to get separated from HIM, for a much broader cause with deeper sampradhayic purports. Thirumazhisai azhwar says Ravanan tried to separate this divine lady, the lokshamaatha Seetha, who is a "sangu thangu munkai nangai" and the rest was history. While the fact of matter is that there is no separation between them forever, they appeared to us as separated for illustrating various key points and take aways in our sampradhayam, which could not have been possible, had both of them stayed in the forest and returned to Ayodhya at the end of 14 years. Swami Nammazhwar says this "agalagilen irayumendru malarmel mangai urai maarba" in his famous "Ulagamunda Peruvaaya" padhigam in Thiruvaimozhi 6.10.9. This "sangu thangu munkai nangai" is used by Swami Periyavachan Pillai in his Pasurapadi Ramayanam, taking this exact phrase from Thirumazhisai azhwar.
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