nilaiyidam

nilaiyidam

Glory of His avatars

‘meenODAmai kEzhal ari kuraLAi munnum irAmanAi tAnAi pinnum irAmanAi dAmOdaranAi karkiyumAnAn’— emberumAn took ten or more avatAras in order to please His Baktas. He asks AzhwAr to stay here and think of His avatAras. AzhwAr agrees to do in this tirumozhi.

1. nilaiyiDamengum inri neDuveLLam umbar
vaLanADumooDa imaiyOr
talaiyiDa maTTru emakkOr SaraNillaiyenna
araN Avan ennum aruLAl |
alaikaDal neer kuzhumba ahaDADavODi
ahal vAn urinja muduhil
malaihaLai meedukoNDuvarum meenaimAlai
maravAdu irainju en mananE || One ||

Oh! My Mind! Sing and worship Him who took matsyAvatAra in order to protect the jeevas, when there was mahApraLaya all the worlds including the dEva lOkas was submerged inside the praLaya water. The dEvas requested Him to protect them from the deluge. He took matsyAvatAra, lifted up the worlds with mountains etc., on His back and protected them. The water was agitated by Him, the waves rose high to touch brahma lOka. koorattAzhwAr in sundarabAhu stava expresses the same idea.

periyavAchchAn piLLai—The sarvESwara who has neither equal nor superior to Him changed His excellent divine form to a mere fish form in order to protect the dEvas. What and how can He be repaid except by not forgetting Him.

2. Serumihu vALeyiTTri aravonru SuTTri
tiSai maNNum viNNum uDanE
veruvara veLLaiveLLam muzhudum kuzhamba |
imaiyOrhaL ninru kaDaiya
paruvaraiyonru ninru muduhil parandu
Suzhala kiDandu tuyilum
aruvariyanna tanmai aDal AmaiyAna
tirumAl namakku Or araNE || Two ||

Our tirumAl took a powerful tortoise avatAra (koorma) in order to bear the weight of the mandara mountain which swayed here and there over His back when dEvas churned the pArkaDal with vAsuki as cord. It looked as two mountains one on the other. The huge sea was agitated and all the jeevas of all the worlds in all directions feared the act. Let Him be our only rakShaka.

3. teedaru tingaL ponguSuDar umbar
umbarulahEzhinODum uDanE
mAdira maNSumandu vaDakunrum ninra
malaiyArum EzhukaDalum |
pAdamar Soozh kuLambinaha maNDalattin
orupAl oDungavaLarSEr
Adimun EnamAhi araNan Ayamoorti
adu nammaiyALum araSE || Three ||

AzhwAr speaks on the greatness of varAhavatAra when the asura placed the earth in the aNDaBitti, emberumAn took the maha varAha avatAra, lifted her on His tusk. When He grew in size the luminaries, the dEva lOkas and other lOkas, the directions, mEru parvata and all other mountains, the seven seas etc., were endorsed inside the inner ring of His hoof. This emberumAn surely is our Lord and protector.

4. taLaiyavizh kOdaimAlai irupAl tayanga
eri kAnru iraNDu tarukaN
aLavezha vemmai mikkariyAhi anru
pariyOn SinangaL avizha |
vaLaiyuhirALi moimbil maravOnadAham
madiyAdu SenruoruhirAl
piLavezhaviTTa kuTTamadu vaiyam ooDu
peruneeril mummai peridE || Four ||

AzhwAr enjoys narasimhAvatAra. BagavAn took an awful narasimha form with two huge round rolling eyes emitting fire, the garland swinging on both sides as He walked towards hiraNya (taLaiyavizh kOdai mAlai irupAl tayanga). He split open the body of asura with His sharp nails. The blood gushing out like stream and covering the globe like deluge water. The anger of narasimha is due to the Bagavat apachAra and BAgavata apachAra committed by him. He was terrible to look at for hiraNya but very pleasant to look at for prahlAda.

vaLai uhirALi—can be applied to both hiraNya and narasimha.

5. vendiral vANan vELviyiDameidi angu
Or kuraLAhi meimai uNara
Sendozhil vEdanAvil muniyAhi vaiyam
aDimoornru irandu perinum |
mandarameedupOhi madininru irainja
malarOn vaNanga vaLarSEr
andaram EzhinooDu Sela uittapAdam
adu nammaiyALum arasE || Five ||

AzhwAr describes vAmana and trivikrama avatAras. Though mahAbali was a dhArmic person he was proud of his strength and waged war on dEvas (vendiral vANan). emberumAn took a vAmana roopa, went to his yAga SAla chanting vEdic mantras like a riShi (vEda nAvin muniyAhi). He begged three feet of land. As soon as He received it He grew immensely spreading His foot to cover the whole earth and another foot reaching the mEru mountain, then moon and then brahma lOka and through all the seven worlds. Thus He measured the worlds.

‘ON madiyil punaluruvi oru kAl nirpa, oru kAlum kAmaru Seer avauNan uLLattu eN madiyum kaDandu aNDa meedu pOhi iru viSumbinooDu pOi ezhundu mElai taN madiyum kadiravanum tavira ODi tArahaiyin puram taDavi appAl mikku maN muzhudum ahappaDuttu ninra endai’—tiruneDundANDaham.

meimai uNara—The vAmana roopa was so perfect that mahAbali thought ‘this boy is a brahmachAri coming here chanting vEdic mantras. He has come to participate in this yAga’.

6. irunila mannar tammai irunAlumeTTum
orunAlum onrumuDanE
SerunudalooDupOhi avarAvi manga
mazhuvALil venra tiralOn |
perunilamangaimannar malarmangainAdar
pulamangaikELvar puhazhSEr
perunilam uNDumizhnda peruvAyarAhi
avar nammai ALvar peridE || Six ||

Here AzhwAr talks of paraSurAma avatAra. He is the consort of Boomi pirATTi, periya pirATTi and neeLa pirATTi. He killed the kShatriya race for twenty one generations with His axe to reduce the Boomi BAra. Let Him be my swAmi who puts all the creations in to His stomach during praLaya and who spits them out during creation.

Though paraSurAma avatAra is not for upAsana, He is eulogized since He reveals the guNa of viOdhi nirasana (destruction of enemies). In rAmAnuja nooTTrandAdi amudanAr says ‘kOkkula mannarai moovezhukAl oru koor mezhuvAl pOkkiya dEvanai pOTTrum punidan-----------------rAmAnuSan’.

7. ilaimalipaLLieidi idumAyam enna
inam AyamAn pin ezhil SEr
alaimali vElkaNALai ahal vippadarku
Or uruvAya mAnai amaiyA |
kolai malieiduvitta koDiyOn ilangai
poDiyAha venri amaruL
Silaimali SenjarangaL Sela uitta nangaL
tirumAl namakku Or araNE || Seven ||

This pASura is on rAmAvatAra. mAreecha was sent by rAvaNa to separate seeta pirATTi from rAmabirAn. He came as a ‘mAya mAn’ to catch the attention of seeta jumping and playing near the parNaSAla. mAreecha was killed by rAma. In the war that ensured between rAvaNa and rAma, the former was killed, his city was ruined and the whole rAkShasa kula exterminated. This rAmachandra moorti is our asylum.

8. mun ulahangaLEzhum iruLmaNDiyuNNa
mudalOdu veeDum ariyAdu
ennidu vandadu enna imaiyOr tiSaippa
ezhilvEdam inrimaraiya |
pinnaiyum vAnavarkkum munivarkkum nalhi
iruL teerndu ivvaiyam mahizha
annamadAi irundu angu aranool uraitta
adu nammaiALum arasE || Eight ||

His hamsAvatAra is mentioned in this pASura. Once when the two asuras madhu and kaiTaBa snatched away the vEdas from brahma, the worlds were enveloped by the darkness of ignorance. The dEvas prayed Sreeman nArAyaNa who took hamsAvatAra and brought back the vEdas. It brought light and knowledge to the worlds.

9. tuNainilai maTTru emakkOr uLadenrirAdu
tozhuminhaL toNDar tolaiya
uNamulai mun koDutta uravOLadAvi
uhavuNDu veNNei maruvi |
paNa mulai AyarmAdar uralODukaTTa
adanODum ODi aDalSEr
iNaimarudiTTru veezha naDaikaTTra teTTral
vinai paTTru arukkum vidiyE || Nine ||

Oh! BAgavatas! Worship Him alone. Don’t think there are other gods and wealthy men who can protect you. It is He who killed pootana, who came to kill Him, by sucking life with the milk from the poison-smeared breasts. It is He who stole butter and ate them. He was tied to a mortar by angry yaSOda. He crawled between the twin maruda trees and felled them to the ground. It is He who can remove all our pApas with vAsana and give us the excellent abode of paramapada.

10. kolaikezhu Semmuhatta kaLironru konru
koDiyOn ilangai poDiyA
Sialikezhu SenjarangaL Selauitta nangaL
tirumAlai vElai puDaiSoozh |
kalikezhu mADaveedi vayal mangaimannu
kalikanri Sonna panuval
olikezhu pADal pADi uzhalhinra toNDar
avar ALvar umbarulahE || Ten ||

AzhwAr has sung this tirumozhi, which sing His avatAras. In this pASura kriShNAvatAra and rAmAvatAra is repeated by referring to kuvaLayApeeDa and rAvaNa. Perhaps AzhwAr has great liking to these two. Those who sing these pASuras will go to paramapada and rule over the place.

vElai puDai Soozh—It literally mean sea. But there is no sea in tirumangai nADu. Some commentators take it to mean river kAvEri. But some commentators feel there might have been sea near the city but due to taper of time the sea has receded. The same argument is valid regarding tirukaNNapuram ‘vElai mOdum madil Soozh tirukkaNNapuram’.