what does 'adiyEn' mean?

[Guest guest]

[ A readers asked privately what the word 'adiyEn' means.

I thought this may be of general interest, so I am

posting my reply to the list as a whole. ]

 

'adiyEn' is Tamil for 'Your servant'. It has been used for

years in Tamil as a humble way of saying 'I', since the

usage of 'I' presumably signifies the ego. It was commonly

used by servants in old Tamil society when they needed to

refer to themselves in front of a king. The Alvars drew

from this model and often referred to themselves as 'adiyEn'

when speaking to God.

 

Even today Sri Vaishnavas say 'adiyEn' when speaking to

respected elders and swamis. However, we should be careful

not to overuse this expression. As Sri Anbil Ramaswamy

wrote over a year ago, "an indiscriminate use of expressions

such as 'Adiyen' and 'Dasan' without understanding their

meaning and purport also tend to make them look artificial."

 

Or, as another member privately expressed, sometimes it

seems that people say 'adiyEn' (Your servant) so vociferously

that it actually seems like they mean 'adippEn' (I will hit you). :-)

 

Mani

 

-----

> Hi

> I am sorry But I have to ask a really basic question:

>

> What is Adiyen? Why do people use it in place of "I" (at least it looks as

> though that is how it is used).

>

> Thanks in advance !!

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrI Lakshminrusimha ParabrahmaNE namaha

SrI Lakshminrusimha divya pAdukA sEvaka SrIvaN-

SatakOpa SrI nArAyaNa yateendra mahAdESikAya namaha

 

Dear devotees,

namO nArAyaNA.

> > What is Adiyen? Why do people use it in place of "I" (at least it looks as

> > though that is how it is used).

 

In addition to what Sri Mani wrote :

 

The term "adiyEn" exclusively refers to the

jIvAtma as being a servant of SrIman nArAyaNA.

"I" etc can be used to denote either the body, soul etc.

So, whenever oneself (ie.jIvAtma) is referred

exclusively, "adiyEn" is used. In this way, it

is a direct substitution for "I".

 

"adiyEn" is also used to denote "your servant", where

"your" stands for the person with whom conversation is

made. Depending upon the context, one can understand the

intention of the author.

 

adiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan

ananthapadmanAbha dAsan

krishNArpaNam

[Guest guest]

Sri:

 

Dearest Sisters and Brothers,

 

Sri Mani wrote:

> Or, as another member privately expressed, sometimes it

> seems that people say 'adiyEn' (Your servant) so vociferously

> that it actually seems like they mean 'adippEn' (I will hit you). :-)

=======

Do you remember, Mani, when you were here at Singapore on the

way to India, the same topic came, and you mentioned this:

 

Sometimes people ask (during thadhIyaaraadhanai- Srivaishnava feast)

"Swami.. adiyEnukku vadai illaiyaa?".. ) (there is no vadai for this

humble servant..?)

 

Regards

 

Narayana Narayana

 

Narayana dAsan Madhavakkannan

[Guest guest]

Hi.

I am a bit confused.

>Or, as another member privately expressed, sometimes it

>seems that people say 'adiyEn' (Your servant) so vociferously

>that it actually seems like they mean 'adippEn' (I will hit >you). :-)

>

>Mani

 

Is it "adiyEn" or "aDiyEn" (with a retroflex D)? Because "I will hit you" is

"aDippEn", and you don't seem to distinguish between "d" and "D".

 

Does "adiyEn" have anything to do with "aDi" one of whose meanings is

"bottom" (maybe at the feet of the Lord?) in Tamizh?

 

Thanks,

Ganesh.

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Hi,

 

On Thu, 15 Jul 1999, Sankaran Panchapagesan wrote:

> >Or, as another member privately expressed, sometimes it

> >seems that people say 'adiyEn' (Your servant) so vociferously

> >that it actually seems like they mean 'adippEn' (I will hit >you). :-)

>

> Is it "adiyEn" or "aDiyEn" (with a retroflex D)? Because "I will

> hit you" is

> "aDippEn", and you don't seem to distinguish between "d" and "D".

 

I think "D", the retroflex/cerebral, was meant.

> Does "adiyEn" have anything to do with "aDi" one of whose meanings is

> "bottom" (maybe at the feet of the Lord?) in Tamizh?

 

Yes, I think it does, tho here the meaning "feet" is used figuratively to

mean "servant". Tamil is one of the few (?) languages that allow the

somewhat exotic feature of polysynthesis, whereby a single word

accomodates more than one part of speech so that it can actually represent

a whole sentence or a word qualified by a relative clause. For example,

Sri ANDAL in Tiruppavai:

 

"aRiyAta piLLaykaL-OM" - we [who] are innocent/ignorant children

 

Thus, "aDiyEn" means "I am (your) servant" or "I who am (your) servant"

 

Namo Narayana,

Srikanth