tirumangai mannan was immersed in the worldly pleasures as he himself says ‘venriyE vENDi veezh poruTkiNangi vErkaNAr kalaviyE karudi ninravA nillA nenjinai uDaiyEn’ ‘SandEndu men mulaiyAr taDandOL puNar inba veLLattu AzhndEn’ and so on.
emberumAn wanted to correct him. But He thought he cannot be corrected by SAstra upadESa. Hence He decides to do that by revealing His beauty. AzhwAr forgot everything else and says ‘vEmbin puzhu vEmbanri uNNAdu aDiyEn nAn pinnum un SEvaDi anri nayavEn’.
AzhwAr enjoyed His guNas, chEShTitas, the tirumantrArtha and the divya dESas (which are the ultimate limit o tirumantrArtha). Starting from ‘vADinEn vADi varundinEn’ he enjoys various divya dESas and archa moortis.
BagavAn wants to take him to paramapada where he can have nityAnuBava. AzhwAr now has developed an great dislike for samsAra and its hollow pleasures. ‘ATTrangarai vAzh maram pOl’ ‘kATTrattu iDaippaTTa kalavar maram pOl’ ‘pAmbODu oru kooraiyilE payinrAr pOl’ ‘iru pADeri koLLiyunuL erumbE pOl’ ‘veLLattu iDaippaTTa nariyinam pOl’ etc., He cries loudly fearing samsAra.
AzhwAr pleads at Him ‘paNiyAi enakku uyyum vahai paranjOdee’ ‘andO aDiyErku aruLai unnaruLE’. Like a mother who delays feeding the child till the milk is digested, BagavAn keeps quiet listening to his cries. He wants parama Bakti in him. But AzhwAr like an extremely thirsty man, on seeing water drinks, splashes it on his face, dives in to it, salutes Him, makes anjali, pleads, cries, meditates in tirukkundANDaham. This does not quench his thirst. In fact his thirst increases. His desire for BagavadanuBava ‘ninnaDiyinai paNivan varum iDar ahala mATTrO vinaiyE’ in tiruvezhukkooTTritukkai.
emberumAn still keeps quiet. He wants AzhwAr to bring more jeevas to paramapada by his pASuras. When Sree rAma requested the sea god to give way he does not do so immediately. He gets angry and says ‘sAgaram soShayiShyAmi; chApamanaya soumitrE, padByAm yAntu plavangamAh’ (I shall dry this ocean. Oh! lakShmaNa! Bring me my bow. Let the vAnaras make through). Similarly AzhwAr gets angry at emberumAn and says ‘ I shall destroy the divya dESas , His guNas and chEShTitas if He refuses my request’ in siriya tirumaDal and periya tirumaDal.
Like the sea god who immediately agrees to give way, BagavAn immediately presents Himself to AzhwAr like He did to prahlAda and other Baktas. AzhwAr speaks of his happiness over it in tiruneDundANDaham.
This prabandha consists of 30 pASuras. The first ten AzhwAr speaks, the second ten tAyAr speaks and the third ten parakAla nAyaki speaks.
Sree BaTTar, the son of koorattAzhwAn had a great liking to this prabandha. He used to meditate on the innermost meaning of these pASuras and even give discourse on them. tiruvaranga perumAL araiyar, one of the AchAryas of Sree rAmAnuja, used to hear these discourses and wonder he has never heard anyone explain anything like this. ‘I am very fortunate to hear them from BaTTar’ he would say. He respected BaTTar for his knowledge, Bakti and BAva.
1. minnuruvAi munnuruvil vEdanAngAi
viLakkoLiyAi muLaittezhunda tingaL tAnAi
pinnuruvAi munnuruvil piNimooppillA
pirappiliyAi iruppadarkkE eNNAdu eNNum |
ponnuruvAi maNiyuruvil boodamaindAi
pulanuruvAi analuruvil tihazhum SOdi
tannuruvAi ennuruvil ninravendai
taLir puraiyum tiruvaDi en talaimElavE || One ||
AzhwAr remembers BagavAn’s help in removing his dEha sambandha upto giving His tiruvaDi sambandha.
munnuruvil minnuruvAi—munnuru means the objects seen in front of us as ‘this’ ‘this’, heard by our ears etc., Due to His grace the truth about the insentient and transient nature of these objects flashed upon me ‘minnin nilaiyila nannuyir AkkaihaL’—nammAzhwAr.
To a samsAri jeeva there is dEha sambandha which produces in him the notion that ‘this world is permanent. I was to enjoy it’. This is due to prakriti sambandha. To persons like AzhwAr the notion is ‘this world is impermanent and i have to remove it’. The idea of renunciation creates a desire for BagavadanuBava. The knowledge of the true nature of jeevAtma and paramAtma results. Since all AzhwArs are sent by emberumAn to teach the world the vEdic injunctions, they have natural disinclination towards the world and its objects. There is naturally a taste towards Bagavad anuBava and Bagavat kainkarya.
vEdam nAngAi—The vEdas are the teachings of BagavAn Himself. They teach us right knowledge that this body, prANa, manas, buddhi etc., are not Atma. They also give right knowledge of what Atma is.
The meaning of minnuruvAi munnuruvil vEda nAngAi—He is the creator of vEdas which say this body etc., are different from Atma and they are kShaNika (exist for a second) and Atma is nitya.
viLakkoLiyAi—Like a light dispels darkness He dispels jnAna andhakAra. Like a light reveals itself and objects He gives jnAna prakASa.
muLaittezhunda tingaL tAnAi—Like the moon which rises from the top of a mountain and rises high in the sky, He gives jnAna to us. Here two comparisons are given for the same jnAna—viLakkoLi and tingaL. The reason is there are grades of jnAna like SravaNa, manana, nididhyAsana and darSana. viLakkoLi—SravaNa (to hear about Him); muLaittu—manana (to think deeply about Him); ezhundu nididhyAsana (to do upAsana etc); tingaL tAnAi—darSana (to have His vision)
pinnuruvAi munnuruvil piNi mooppillA pirappiliyAi—pinnuruvAi—the 25th tatva i.e. jeevAtma. ‘pongaimulanum pori aindum karumEndiriyam aimboodam ingu ivvuyirEri prakriti mAn ahankAram mangaLE’—5 jnAnEndriyAs, 5 tanmAtras, 5 karmEndriylas, 5 Bootas prakriti, mahAn, ahankAra and manas are 24 taatvas 25th is jeevAtma which is beyond them.
munnuruvil—The insentient objects which are known by the jeeva and pointed as ‘this’ ‘this’.
pirappil—The birthless jeevAtma who does not undergo old age, disease, death etc. of the insentient objects like body etc., The phrase means jeevAtma with its characteristics as opposed to an Atma. The end word ‘ai’ means He who is niyAmaka.
irappadarkE eNNAdu—irappu means death. Here it refers to kaivalya mOkSha. How so? The dEha dies. The Atma does not die since it is nitya. The Sareera which was with Atma as long as it lived gets separated from it. It is called death to the body. Similarly if Atma gets separated from Him (because of the ignorance of its SEShatva) it is called ‘the death of Atma’. kaivalya mOkSha is called mOkSha since there is no entrance in to the body or exit out of it. But the Atma enjoys its own pleasure. AzhwAr does not want such mOkSha. He says he wants kainkarya here and in paramapda. mritO daridrah puruShah—a poor is as good as dead. The kaivalya mOkSha is as good as death.
eNNum ponnuruvAi—Not only emberumAn helps me in not giving kaivalya, he helps me by revealing His guNa, roopa, viBooti, etc., which are as enjoyable as pure gold.
maNi uruvil Boodam aindAi—Our body is made up of five Bootas whereas BagavAn’s Sareera is made up of pancha upaniShads as said in pAncharAtra Agamas (or) it is interpreted as He is an asAdhAraNa (extraordinary) maNi roopa in my heart as well as in all the achEtanas.
punaluruvAi—explains His soulaBya. He is like river whose banks enable one to dive and swim (whether he is a sage like viSwAmitra or a chanDALA). He is sulaBa irrespective of who the jeeva is.
analuruvAi—If He is sarva sulaBa will He not encounter danger from enemies? No. He is unapproachable like fire. To His anukoolas (friends) He is punaluruvan; to His pratikoolas (enemies) He is analuruvan.
SOdi tannuruvAi—All the luminaries like sun, moon, stars, agni etc., get their effulgence from Him alone.
upaniShad says ‘tasya BASA sarvam idam viBAti’. Therefore He is called paranjyOti.
ennruruvil ninra—Every thing exist because He is ever existent. But feels He exist because His Baktas exist. Previously AzhwAr was angry with Him and was about to renounce Him. Fearing to go as ‘non existent’ He immediately entered his heart to make Himself existent.
2. pAruruvil neererikAl viSumbumAhi
palvEru SamayamumAi parandu ninra
Eruruvil moovarumE ennininra
imaiyavar tam tiruvuru vEreNNum pOdu |
Oruruvam ponnuruvam onruSendee
onrumAkaDaluruvamottu ninra
moovuruvam kaNDa pOdOnrAm SOdi
muhiluruvam emmaDihaL uruvam tAnE || Two ||
AzhwAr is happy that emberumAn revealed another great truth about Him. Of the tree moortis brahma, viShNu and rudra, people think they are equal. But AzhwAr says they are not equal. viShNu is superior to the other two since He is the creator the others two being created; He is the SEShee; the other two SEShas; He is the Sareeri, the other two are Sareeras.
moovar—There are many minor gods such as varuNa, chandra, kubEra and so on. But the three moortis, brahma, viShNu, and Siva are the foremost among them. Of the three, if we analyze with the help of SAstra pramANa, one is brahma, of the colour of gold (ponnuruvam), rudra is of the colour of fire (Sendee) and Sreeman nArAyaNa of the colour of dark sea (karungaDal). If further analyzed, the SAstra says He who creates, sustains and destroys, He who is the supreme Lord and He who is the antaryAmi of all is of the colour of kALamEGa. From all these facts we can conclude without any doubt whatsoever that Sreeman nArAyaNa alone is the supreme Lord who is called as viShNu here.
‘Eruruvil moovarumE enna ninra imaiyavartam tiruvuru vEreNNembOdu Orurruvam ponnuruvam, onru Sendee, onru mAkaDaluruvam ottu ninra moovuruvam kaNDapOdu pAruruvAi neer eri kAl viSumbumahi palveruva samayamumAi parandu ninra onrAm SOdi muhil uruvam emmaDihaL uruvam tAnE’—is the prose order of this pASuram.
pAruruvi—‘oorvi’ in Sanskrit means Boomi. ‘pAr’ is the objective meaning huge, heavy etc., The pancha Bootas are first created from which aNDas form. brahma rudra and other dEvatas are in this aNDa. Hence they cannot be considered as equal to viShNu who created the pancha Bootas.
The SruShTi (creation) is of two kinds –samaShTi and vyaShTi. samaShTi SruShTi is one where the objects are in unmanifested condition without nAma and roopa (name and form) and individuality (pAruruvi neer erikAl viSumbAhi).
vyaShTi SruShTi is one where they are manifested with nAma, roopa and individual characteristics of each. For example the dEvas are created with their characteristics of being worshipped and drink amruta etc., the human beings having the characteristics of worshipping them and drink water, eat food etc., the insentient objects having the characteristics of being used for worship (flowers, sandal etc) and not eat anything. Thus it is understood with reference to all objects. This is meant by the word ‘samaya’ which means in sanskrit ‘individual characteristics).
parandu ninra—BagavAn ‘enters’ (anupravESha) into all sentient and insentient beings that are created as ‘Atma’ and becomes all pevasive. He is called ‘sookShma chEtana achEtana visiShTA’.
Eruruvil—why should AzhwAr call it Eruru when he should have aptly call it ‘iruL tarum ma jnAlam’? The jagat has dual role—it is detestable because it is where the samsAra exists; it is beautiful since it is BagavAn’s viBooti.
moovarumE enna ninra imaiyavar—The three moortis are brahma, viShNu and rudra doing the job of creation, maintenance and destruction respectively. The truth is Sreeman nArAyaNa as antaryAmi of brahma creates, as antaryAmi of rudra destroys and He Himself maintains (samrakShaNa). The ignorant people think brahma and rudra are independent deities who do the work. The vEda says ‘sa Atma; ajnAni anyA dEvatAh’—He is the Atma and the other dEvatas are His Sareera.
vEreNNumpOdu—‘nanrezhil nAraNan nAnmuhan aran ennum ivarai onrAnum manattu vaittu uLLi num irupasai aruttu nanrena nalam Seivadu avaniDai nammuDai nALE’—nammAzhwAr. If He is taken as ‘one tatva’ then He is muhiluru; if taken as different tatvas one is ponnuru and the other is Sendee. brahma is ponnuru since he is like gold from which all ornament are made; rudra is Sendee since he is the destroyer like fire. viShNu is muhiluru since He is like dark sea which contains within itself all kinds of creatures-good and bad and all kinds of gems. It is the abode of all. He is like rain cloud removes the tApa (duhKa) of all His dAsas and protects those who seek Him whether they are good or bad.
ottu ninra moovuruvam kaNDa pOdu—‘ottu’ means suitable. brahma is ponnururvam which suits his job of creation; rudra is Sendee which suits his job of desruction and viShNu is muhiluruvam to suit His job as rakShakatva. If, however, analyzed by SAstra, all is one which is muhiluruvam. ‘EkO ha vai nArAyaNa Aseet’—Clearly states this fact. muhiluruvam is synonymous with mAkaDaluruvam.
3. tiruvaDivil karuneDumAl SEyanenrum
tirEdaikkaN vaLaiyuruvAi tihazhndAnenrum
peruvaDivil kaDalamudam koNDa kAlam
perumAnai karuneelavaNNan tannai |
oruvaDivattOruruvenru uNaralAhAdu
oozhidOroozhi ninrEttalallAl
karuvaDivil SengaNNavaNNan tannai
kaTTuraiyE yAroruvar kANhirpArE || Three ||
In the previous pASura AzhwAr happily told us how he got over the delusion about the three moortis. Now he tells how he enjoys the oru moorti i.e. Sreeman nArAyaNa.
SAstra says He takes different colours in different yugas,---in krita yuga He is white like SanKa; in trEtAyuga He is red; in dwApara yuga He is green and in kali yuga He is dark
(His own natural colour) in Sreemad BAgavata in XI skanda, 5th chapter this point is elaborately described.
tirEdai kaN—Only this yuga is mentioned by name. kali yuga even though is not mentioned, is understood. peruvaDivil kaDal amudam koNDa kAlam—The yuga is mentioned by His act. AzhwAr thinks of His udAra guNa in helping the selfish dEvas, who pray Him only when they are in need of His help, by churning the great sea to get amruta. periyavAchchAn piLLai—‘periya tirunALilE AdaramuDaiyAr panguni mAsattukku pinbu kAriyam SeihirOm enna prAptamAyirukka periya tirunALukku pinbu kAriyam SeihirOm ennumAppOlE’. In those days it was the practice of Sree vaiShNavas to say periya tirunAL to do any act before or after instead of mentioning directly the particular month like panguni or chittirai. periya tirunAL is the great festival. Similarly AzhwAr does not mention the yuga but refers to His act of churning done in that yuga.
peruvaDivil—In tiruppArkaDal He lies on tiruanandAzhwAn with His huge form ‘tan tALum tOLum muDihaLum SamanilAda pala parappi’ when He gets up to churn the pArkaDal it looks like a sea churning a sea.
‘peruvaDivil’ also means many forms when churning the sea He stood with He dEvas to churn; was under the sea as koorma to support the whirling mountain; was inside the vAsuki, the serpent used as a cord, to give her strength. Thus He took many forms.
kaDalamudam koNDa kAlam—dEvas emberumAn and AzhwArs—all of them got ‘amudam’ from the pArkaDal. The dEvas got ‘amudam’ which is mere ‘uppuchchAru’ (essence of salt) which can only give them long life. emberumAn got the ‘amudam’ i.e, periya pirATTi when the sea was churned. ‘viNNavar amuduNNa amudil varum peNNamuduNDa emberumAnE’. AzhwAr got the amudam i.e. emberumAn Himself when they call as ‘sendAmaraikkaN SenganivAi nATTrOLamudE enaduyirE’.
tirEdaikkaN SEyan enrum—The yuga krama i.e. the order of yugas are krita yuga, trEtA yuga, dwApara yuga and kali yuga. But AzhwAr mentions trEtA yuga first. Why does he follow this order? The vEdas says ‘ajAm EkAm lOhita sukla kriShNAm’—red, white and black. AzhwAr too follows this order.
karuneela vaNNan—This dark blue is in kaliyuga.
oru vaDivattu Oruru enru uNarlAhAdu—‘meenAi AmaiyAi narasingamumAi kuraLAi kAriAr EnamumAi karkiyAm’. Thus He takes births in dEva; manuShya and tiryak (animal) jAtis. Also He takes different colours like white, red, green, blue etc., All these different forms and colours are according to His sankalpa (not karma). Hence they are out of reach of imagination and thinking even of jnAnis. How can ‘infinite’ be described in finite words and expressions?
kaTTuraiyE—By the grace of BagavAn I am able to say even this much about Him. Who else can speak about Him? Who else has seen Him? Tell me!.
4. indirarkum piramarkum mudalvan tannai
irunilamkAl teeneer viN boodamaindAi
Sendiratta tamizhOSai vaDaSollAhi
tiSainAngumAi tingaL jnAyirAhi |
andarattil dEvarkkukm ariyalAhA
andaNanai andaNar mATTandivaitta
mandirattai mandirattAl maravAdenrum
vAzhudiyEl vAzhalAm maDanenjamE || Four ||
AzhwAr does not want to enjoy Him all alone. He wants to share His experience with others. nityasooris and muktas who are interested in listening to him are not here; those who are here are not interested in Him. They run after food and clothing (uNDiyE uDaiyE uhandODum). Therefore he asks his mind to share his anuBava.
indirarkum piramarkum mudalvan tannai—People think and believe brahma is the creator. Therefore AzhwAr thinks it is necessary to clarify that emberumAn alone is the creator. But people don’t have any doubt that indra is not supreme Lord. Thus why should AzhwAr say indirarkum mudalvan when no one has even an iota of doubt? The reason is—AzhwAr wants to say emberumAn is the only kAraNa for all the creations. Not only is indra created but also brahma is created (he is not the creator) when the lowest and the highest are mentioned the in between are naturally included.
Sendiratta tamizhOSai vaDa SollAhi—He is the revealer of both tamizh and Sanskrit vEdas and is revealed by both. Among the two vEdas AzhwAr has much preference to tamizh prabandhas since they are not restricted to particular caste alone; not ambiguous but explicit; talks of mOkSha puruShArthas too) ‘seyya tamizh mAlaihaL nAm teLiya Odi teLiyAda marai nilangaL teLhinrOmE’—vEdAnta dESikar.
andarattil dEvarkkum ariyalAhA andaNanai—The word ‘andaram’ normally means ‘dEvalOka’. But here it contextually means ‘antaryAmi’. In brihadAraNyaka upaniShad ‘yah prithivyam tiShTan prithivyAh antarah’ where antarah’ is interpreted as ‘antaryAmi’. He is not understood even by dEvas (who are much superior in intelligence that us) but is easily understood by AzhwArs and Baktas because of His nirhEtuka kaTAkSha.
andaNanai—Normally means brAhmaNa. But here it contextually means pure (like vaidika BrAhmaNa) ‘aravanai AzhippaDai andaNanai’—tiruvaimozhi. The antaryAmi (andaram) is all pervasive. Hence the fools think He is attached by the dOShas of those things pervaded by Him. AzhwAr says He is not attached by He dOShas of the objects He pervades even though He is antaryAmi He is pure (andaNan).
andaNar mATTu andi vaitta mandirattai—‘mADu’ has several meanings. Here it means ‘wealth’. The wealth of a brAhmaNa (andaNar) in the vEdas. ‘andi’ means end i.e. upaniShads which are the end portions of vEdas. In upaniShads He is hidden inside the mantras. In viShNu sahasranAma He is called ‘mantrah’ Sree SankarAchArya interprets this name as ‘He who is vEda mantra swaroopi and He who is revealed by mantras’. BaTTar interprets the name as—‘He who protects those who meditate on Him’. ALavandAr says His tiruvaDi are the wealth of Sree vaiShNavas ‘dhanam madeeyam tava pAda pankajam’.
mandirattAl enrum maravAdu vAzhudiyEl—Oh! Foolish mind! Do not think you can enjoy Him through vEdas, itihAsas and purANas, enjoy Him through aShTAkShara mantra.
enrum vAzhalAm—If you do that You can live forever like nityasooris till Atma exists (i.e. forever).
5. oNmidiyil punaluruviyorukAl nirpa
orukAlum kAmaruSeer avuNanuLLattu
eNmadiyum kaDandaNDameedupOhi
iruviSumbin ooDupOi ezhundu mElai |
taNmadiyum kadiravanum taviravODi
tArahayin puramtaDavi appAl mikku
maN muzhudum ahappaDuttu ninravendai
malar puraiyum tiruvaDiyE vaNanginEnE || Five ||
In the previous pASura AzhwAr asked his mind to ‘mandirattAl vAzhudiyEl’. Now he speaks of the vyApakatva of nArAyaNa through trivikrama avatAra.
orukAl oN madiyil punaluruvi nirpa—One of His tiruvaDi is expanded to cover the vast Boomi, the sapta sAgaras, the sapta dweepas, the sapta parvatas and mahAjala (the great water surrounding the BoomaNDala) entered aNDakaTAha and went beyond that to AvaraNa jala and stopped there. Why should the tiruvaDi go so far? In fact there are no jeevas beyond the aNDa and there is no reason to go far beyond that. If emberumAn’s idea is to protect all jeevas He should have stopped within the aNDa. The commentators say—nammAzhwAr starts with muDivir perum pAzhEyO and continues to say ‘Soozhndadanil periya ennavA’. AzhwAr’s deires goes even beyond tatva traya. If a BAgavatas love can go far, why not BagavAn’s vAtsalya go beyond even the region beyond inhabitation? Therefore the tiruvaDi went beyond even aNDa kaTAha and stopped a the AvaraNa jala.
Then he talks of the other tiruvaDi which went beyond the sky, the soorya maNDala, the chandra maNDala, the nakShatra maNDala and pierced the brahmalOka.
AzhwAr who normally uses the word tiruvaDi with due-respect ‘tuLir puraiyum tiruvaDi en talai mElavE’ ‘malar puraiyum tiruvaDiyE vaNanginEnE’ uses in this pASura the word ‘kAl’ which is a colloquial word. AzhwAr has a special way of making use of the choice of words. Here the word ‘kAl’ suggests the view of the samsAris. Though BagavAn placed His tiruvaDi on all alike irrespective of Baktas and non Baktas, the latter looked at Him with contempt as if to say ‘who is there to step on my head!’ The Baktas looked up at Him and received the tiruvaDi with bent head and tearful eyes. AzhwAr says ‘what a pity! The samsAris are so ignorant about Him that they don’t receive His tiruvaDi, which He voluntarily places on their heads with respect’. AzhwAr enjoys to say ‘kOlamAm un Sennikku un kamalmanna kuraikazhalE’.
kAmaru Seer avuNan uLLattu eN madiyum kaDandu—vAmana asked mahAbali just three feet of land (moovaDi nilam tA). mahAbali agreed to give Him thinking ‘after all He is a small brahmachAri who wants only three feet of land. Let me give. The rest is mine anyway’ so thinking he gave three feet of land of which the trivikrama measured the BoolOka with one foot. Then mahAbali thought ‘Well! the upperworlds are still mine’. Then trivikrama measured the upper worlds too with the another tiruvaDi. mahAbali felt ‘Ah! I have lost everything I had’. This is the meaning of the phrase ‘avuNan uLLattu eN madiyum kaDandu’.
kAmaru Seer—When all the AzhwArs talk about mahAbali they say he is full of ahankAra, tirumangai AzhwAr says ‘kAmaru Seer avuNan’ very fortunate rAkShasa! Why? The reason is while we are not fortunate to experience His vAmana roopa and Seela guNa, mahAbali was able to do that. periyavAchchAn piLLai Sree sookti—‘nAnum aDiyEn enru irukkiradai viTTu Bagavat viBootiyai abaharittu oudAryattai EriTTukkoNdu yajnattilE izhiya peTTrilEnE andO engirAr’ (AzhwAr says ‘Why should I call myself aDiyEn? Like mahAbali I should have grabbed others lands, perform yAgas, give alms etc then I would have His tiruvaDi on me!’) koorattAzhwAn in his sundarabAhustava says ‘Alas! I am not born as kALiya! If I were so I would have had kaNNa pirAn’s tiruvaDi on my head!’.
mElai taN madiyum kadiravanum—The sun region is the uppermost limit of antarikSha and the lower limit of swarga. chandra region is very farther away from it and further on is the nakShatra maNDala. His tiruvaDi went beyond all these regions.
6. alamburinda neDundaDakkai amararvEndan
anjiraippuL tanippAhan avuNarkkenrum
Salamburindu angaruLillA tanmaiyALan
tAn uhanda oorellAm tandALpADi |
nilamparanduvarum kaluzhi peNNaiyeertta
neDuvEihaL paDumuttam undavundi
pulambarandu pon viLaikkum poihaivEli
poongOvaloor tozhudum pOdunenjE || Six ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr enjoyed His trivikrama avatAra. He feels sad he was not there to see Him as the avatAra kAla was much earlier. BagavAn tells him ‘AzhwAr! I am here in tirukkOvaloor with the same glories for the sake of those who missed my avatAras to see and worship me. Why don’t you enjoy my archa moorti here? AzhwAr tells his mind ‘Oh! Mind ! Here is He in tirukkOvaloor. Let us go and worship Him’. Like a lonely traveler he sings His glories as He walks.
What are divya dESas? They are places where He resides happily. How is He? AzhwAr gives four lakShaNas (qualities)—valampuri neDundaDakkai; amarar vEndan; anjirai puL tani pAhan; avauNarkku enrum Salam purindu angu aruLillA tanmaiyALan.
alam purinda neDundaDakkai—‘alalm’ in Sanskrit means ‘enough’. He gives Baktas whatever they ask till they say ‘enough ‘enough’. He gives so much that the person need not go to another to beg further.
neDundaDakkai—‘neDu’ means long. His arms are long to reach the Baktas where they are. ‘taDa’ means big. He has big arms under the shade of which all the world can take rest.
‘alam’ can also mean ‘plough’ (nala of Sanskrit) alam purinda may also mean balarAma who carries plough as His weapon.
amarar vEndan—The nitya sooris receive His blessings till they say ‘enough’ ‘enough’.
anjiraippuL tanippAhan—AzhwAr said ‘amarar vEndan’. Now he says how the vEndan employs one of His nityasooris in His kainkarya. garuDa has two beautiful wide wings to fan Him when He is tired and to fly Him when He wants to go fast (as in gajEndra’s case).
avuNarkku enrum Salam purindu Angu aruLilklA tanmaiyALan—He takes rAma, kriShNa avatAras to kill the enemies. avuNan generally means an asura. It refers not to any particular asura. Those who have ahankAra and mamakAra and no Bakti are called asuras. asura is not the name of a jAti. prahlAda born of hiraNya is not an asura—upamAnam aSEShANAm sAdhoonAm yah sadA aBavat (he was an example for a sAdhu). viBeeShaNa was the brother of rAvaNa but is called ‘viBeeShaNah satu dharmAtma’. jayantan though born of a dEva had an asura tendency. Therefore it is said ‘viShNu Bakti parO dEvO vipareetah tadasurah’—Sree viShNu dharma. ‘dvou Bootasargan lOkEsmin deiva asura Eva cha deivee sampat vimOkShAya nibandhAya Asuree matA’—Bagavat geeta. Those having the characteristics of dEva are eligible for mOkSha and those having the characteristics of an asura are for samsAra. Those who meditate on Bagavat guNas, glories, chEShTitas, swaroopa and roopa etc., are dEvas; those who don’t are asuras. ‘naNNA asurar naliveida nalla amarar poliveida’—tiruvAimozhi. To such asuras BagavAn does not show anugraha but does nigraha (punishment).
AzhwAr calls his mind to come and join him to the pilgrimage to tirukkOvaloor. While walking along he describes the divya dESa. The peNNai river brings bamboos while gushing through the forests. Like a bride going to meet her husband she travels through the forest, plains and mountains. Due to the force of the river the bamboos split spreading the pearls in the fields. The farmers throw them away along the weeds. They get deposited in the neighbouring fields growing like gold.
poihai vEli—refers to three AzhwArs, poihai AzhwAr, pEyAzhwAr and BoodattAzhwAr who met in tirukkOvaloor.
7. varpuDaiya varaineDundOL mannarmALa
vaDivAya mazhuvEndi ulahamANDu
verpuDaiya neDungaDaluL tanivEluitta
vELmudalA venrAnoor vindaimEya |
karpuDaiya maDakkannikAval pooNDa
kaDipozhilSoozh neDumaruhil kamalavEli
porpuDaiya malaiyaraiyan paNiyaninra
poongOvaloor tozhudum pOdunenjE || Seven ||
In the last pASura AzhwAr asked his mind to come to tirukkOvaloor with him to worship Him. ‘poongOvaloor tozhudum pOdu nenjE’. When he saw Him who placed His tiruvaDi on all alike a fear creeped in to his mind. He forgot to worship Him. AzhwArs always fear for His safety—such is their Bakti. When AzhwAr thinks of His soundarya, guNa etc., he fears some harm may come to Him. When viBeeShaNa came to surrender to himself to Sree rAma sugreeva and others feared for rAma’s safety out of love for Him. However rAma removed their fear by showing His Buja bala and parAkrama. Similarly the king of tirukkOvaloor (malaiyaraiyan) removes the fear of AzhwAr by showing the defence of the city, the forts, securities, etc., AzhwAr heaves a sigh of relief and tells his mind ‘poongOvaloor tozhudum pOdu nenjE’.
varpuDaiya mannar mALa vaDivAya mazhuvEndi—paraSurAmAvatAra.
ulahamANDu—Sree rAmAvatAra
verpuDaiya neDungaDaluL tani vEluitta vEl mudalA venrAnoor—Sree kriShNAvatAra (bANAsura yuddha)
emberumAn thus reveals His avatAras to pacify him.
vaDivAya mazhu—vadivu Aya mazhu means a beautiful axe; vaDi vAya mazhu means an axe with a sharp tip.
verpuDaiya neDungaDaluL tani vEluitta vEL mudalA venrAn—Once upon a time all the mountains had wings and they would fly here and there threatening the people. dEvEndra once hit them with vajrAyudha cut their wings and made them stay in one place. Somehow mainAka mountain alone escaped by hiding inside the sea. subrahmaNya, the commander in chief of dEhas hit the parvata with his spear. Even this great hero was defeated by Sree kriShNa in bANAsura yuddha (vEL mudalA venrAn) such is the heroism of our swAmi.
vEL is the name of manmatha. But here it refers to subrahmaNya since he is very handsome. ‘nEr sarindAn koDi kOzhi koNDAn’—nammAzhwAr. ‘kArttihaiyAnum kari muhattAnum kanalum mukkaN mooriyum mODiyum veppum muduhiTTu’—rAmAnuja nooTTrandAdi.
vindai mEya karpuDaiya maDakkanni kAval pooNDa—The purANa says durga guards this city. periya tirumozhi 2-10-6 AzhwAr says ‘viyan kalai eN tOLinAL viLangu selva seriyArnda maNi mADam tihazhndu tOnrum tirukkOvaloor adanuL kaNDEn nAnE’. durga performed tapas at vindhya moutntain and came to tirukkOvaloor to guard the city, ‘vindai’, means vindhya parvata.
porpuDaiya malaiyaraiyan paNiya ninra—In tiruvallikkENi it is toNDAiyarkOn; in aTTabuyakara it is vayiramEGan; in nandipura viNNaharam it is nandivarman, in tirunaraiyoor it is Sembiyan kOchchengaNAn, in tirukkOvaloor it is malaya mAnavar.
8. neerahattAi neDuvaraiyin uchchimElAi
nilAttingaL tuNDattAi niraindakachchi
oorahattAi oNturaineer vehKAvuLLAi
uLLuvAr uLLattAi ulahamEttum |
kArahattAi kArvAnattuLLAi kaLvA
kAmarupoongAviriyin tenpAlmannu
pErahattAi pErAdu en nenjinuLLAi
perumAn un tiruvaDiyE pENinEnE || Eight ||
AzhwAr calls out at emberumAn residing in different divya dESas.
neerahattAi—tiruneeraham is a divya dESa in kAncheepuram. emberumAn’s neermai guNa is the cause of the nomenclature.
neDuvaraiyan uchchi mElAi—tiruvEngaDa mountain. He is enjoyed both by dEvas and mauShyas. ‘vAnavar, vanavar kOnODum sindu poo mahizhum tiruvEngaDam’ ‘vAnOrkkum maNNOrkkum vaippu’ ‘mandipAi vaDa vEngaDa mAmalai vAnavarhaL Sandi Seyya ninrAn’.
nilA tingaL tuNDattAi—is one of the 22 toNDai nATTu tiruppadis. This is in periya kAncheepuram inside dEvatAntara temple ( a non vaiShNava temple).
nirainda kachchi oorahattAi—is in kAncheepuram. BagavAn is in sarpa roopa (uraga). Hence the name.
nirainda kachchi—because kAncheepuram is full of diva dESas in and around.
oN turai neer veKA uLLai—It is oN turai –a beautiful bank since it is where tirumazhisai AzhwAr worshipped Him. Hence He is very fond of this place. He went behind AzhwAr when he left the city and came back with him when he returned back to the city. Such is His pAratantrya towards His dAsas.
uLLuvAr uLLattAi—Some commentators say it is a divya dESa like nilA tingaL tuNDam and is in a non-vaiShNava temple somewhere in kAncheepuram. But there is no mention of this divya dESa either by periyavAchchAn piLLai or piLLai perumAL aiyengAr who wrote nooTTreTtu tiuppadi andAdi. Hence it is interpreted as—He who in the hearts of Baktas. He enjoys His stay in their hearts more than paramapada, pArkaDal, tiruvEngaDam or tiruvarangam. He stays in these divya dESas only to wait for an opportune moment to enter their hearts.
ulaham Ettum kArahattAi—tirukkAraham is in tirukAncheepuram in ulahlaLanda perumAL sannidhi. Since He is like rain cloud in several aspects He is called kAraha.
kAr vAnattuLLai—It is one of the tiruppadis of toNDai nADu.
kaLva—He is a thief who steals the minds of these without their knowledge. He is like a thief who steals without the knowledge of the owner.
pErahattAi—He is in the appakkuDattAn sannidhi in tiruppEr.
9. vangattAlmA maNivandundu munneer
mallaiyAi madiLkachchiyoorAi pErAi
kongattAr vaLangonrai alangal mArvan
kulavaraiyan maDappAvai iDappAlkoNDAn |
pangattAi pArkaDalAi pArinmElAi
panivaraiyin uchchiyAi pavaLavaNNA
enguttAi emberumAn unnainADi
EzhaiyEn inganamE uzhitaruhEnE || Nine ||
Oh! swAmi! I shall roam about singing Your guNas, Your beauty of archAvatAras in various divya dESas. I shall sing Your Seela guNa which is revealed by Your, giving one part of Your body to the ahankAris like Siva.
vangattAl mA maNi vandu undu munneer mallaiyAi—The ship called vAtsalya carrying the precious gems called paravAsudEva unloaded them on the shore of kaDan mallai. Since it is a forest there was no one to appreciate the ‘gems’. Moreover the gems can be sold only in cities the ship carried them to tiruveKa in kAncheepuram. tirumangai AzhwAr says in another place ‘kachchi kiDandavanoor kaDalmallai talaSayanam’.
There was a parama Bakta called puNDareeka who had a beautiful nandavana (garden) near the sea. He plucked fresh beautiful flowers, made a garland and wanted to offer it to emberumAn across the sea. He scooped out water with his hand to empty the ocean and cross it. BagavAn appreciated his Bakti and came to the shore to lie there so that he can offer flowers and worship Him. This is the history of kadan mallai talaSayanam.
kongattAr vaLangonrai alangal mArvan kulavaraiyan maDappAvai iDappAl koNDAn pangattAi—emberumAn gives one side of His body to Siva who wears konrai mAlai and gives half of his body to his wife.
konguttAr—If the word is kongattAr it should be split askongu+ar (full of honey); if it is konguttAr it should be split as kongu-honey, tar-flower, valam- beauty, konrai alangal- konrai garland.
pArkaDalAi—You are so benevolent as to give one part of You to Siva, You are very merciful too, for You lie in tiruppArkaDal to enable indra and dEvas to approach You easily to pour out their woes.
pArin mElAi—The dEvas lost their homes when the asuras drove them away. You took rAma kriShNAdi avatAras in order to restore their places for them and roamed on this earth like ordinary mortals.
pani varaiyin uchchiyinAi—The cool mountain of tiruvEngadam removes the heat of samsAra.
pavaLa vaNNA—periyavAchchAn piLLai comments on it ‘as desirable as coral’. But piLLai perumAL aiyengAr in his nooTTreTTu tirupadi andAdi writes ‘kaNDarindum kETTarindum toTTarindum kAdalAl uNDarindum mOndarindum uyyEnE paNDaittapvLa vaNNA kAr vANNA sAma vaNNA kachchi pavaLa vaNNA nin porpAdam’. Here he refers to tiruppavaLavaNNam as one of the divya dESas.
enguTTrAi—AzhwArs says ‘however much shout for You, cry for You, You don’t seem to come. Are You not residing in these divya dESas for the sake of Your aDiyArs? ‘varundi nAn vAsahamAlai koNDu unnaiyE irundirundu ettanai kAlam pulambuvanE’. My only job is to cry for You throughout my life. Can't You have mercy on me?
10. ponnAnAi pozhilEzhum kAvalpooNDa
puhazhAnAi ihazhvAya toNDanEn nAn
ennAnAi ennAnAi ennalallAl
ennarivan EzhaiyEn ulahamEttum |
tennAnAi vaDavAnAi kuDapAlAnAi
kuNapAlamadayAnAi imaiyOrkenrum
munnAnAi pinnAnAr vaNangum SOdi
tirumozhikkaLattAnAi mudalAnAyE || Ten ||
Oh! emberumAn! Except calling You, Your names, Your guNas What else do I know?
ponnAnAi—You are gold. Those who possess gold and other who want to possess gold don’t get any sleep. Similarly He won't let Baktas sleep nor let muktas sleep (since they always see Him).
The gold will make those who lose it cry bitterly. Barata after rAma went to forest cried bitterly rolling on the floor in the court, ‘pazhudE pala phalum pOyina’, ‘inbattai izhanda pAviyEn enadAvi nillAdE’, ezhil koL nin tiurkkaNNiNai nOkkadannaiyum izhandEn izhandEnE’ ‘unnai kANbAn nAn alappAi AhAsattai nOkki azhuvan tozhuvanE’.
The gold will make the possessor to walk proudly. emberumAn also makes His Baktas feel proud about themselves. ‘enakkArum niharillaiyE’ ,mAruLadO immaNNin miSaiyE’ enakkennini vENDuvadE’ ‘illai enakkedir illai enakkedir illai enakkedirE’. Thus the similarities can be expanded.
pozhil Ezhum kAval pooNda puhazhAnai—pooNDa means to wear. He wears the vrata of protecting His Baktas as an ornament. ‘kAval pooNDa’ means He does not employ anyone to do the task of protection, He does it Himself. When viBeeShaNa came to seek protection and when sugreeva and others opposed the proposal rAma stood firmly in His stand to give him protection.
ihazhvAya toNDanEn nAn ennAnAi ennAnAi ennal allal ennarivEn nAnE EzhaiyEnE—ihazhwAya EzhaiyEn—very mean and low condemned by everyone. Like a low caste woman wants to marry an emperor, like a beggar wants to be crowned I, a nitya samsAri wants Your samslESha. I simply call You ‘Oh! swAmi! My elephant! etc., but I don’t know to perform any sAdhana or upAsana to attain You.
ulahamEttum tennAnAi—periyavAchchAn piLLai comments tirumangai mannan has placed four mad wild elephants (diggajas) in four directions—in the south tirumAliruSOlai; in the north tiruvEngaDam; in the west tiruvarangam and in the east tirukaNNapuram—tennAnai, vaDavAnai, kuDapAlAnai, kuNapAla madayAnai.
kuNapAla madayAnai—Some commentators feel it is kATTumannAr kOyil.
pinnAnAr vaNangum SOdi tiurmoozhikkaLattAnai—tirumoozhikkaLam is one of the 13 divya dESas of malai nADu. Only tirumangai AzhwAr and nammAzhwAr has sung Him. Here AzhwAr mentions tirumoozhikkaLam as an upalakShNa for all diyva dESas. ‘tirumoozhikkaLatturaiyum oN SuDar’ ‘muniyE tirumoozhikkaLattu viLakkE’ ‘tirumoozhikkaLattu viLakkinai’ ‘pinnAnAr vaNangum SOdi tirumoozhikkaLattAnai’.
Thus ‘SuDar’ ‘SOdi’ ‘viLakku’ etc., are used with reference to tirumoozhikkattu emberumAn. Perhaps He has such soulaBya which is always to remove ajnAna of samsAris.
pinnAnAr—Those who cannot enjoy paravAsudEva, vyooha moorti, viBavAvatAra and antaryAmi can enjoy archAvatAra in divya dESas like tirumoozhikkaLam.
(aduththa paththup pAsurangkaL - thalaivanaip pirindha
thalaiviyin AtRAmai kaNda thAy irangkik kURiyavai)
paTTuDukkum ayarttirangum pAvai pENAL
panineDungaNNeer tadumbappaLLikoLLAL
eTTuNai pOdu en kuDangAl irukkahillAL
emberumAn tiruvarangam engE ennum |
maTTuvikki maNivaNDu muralum koondal
maDamAnaiyidu SeidAr tammai meyyE
kaTTuvichchi Sollenna SonnAL nangAi
kaDalvaNNar iduSeidAr kAppArArE || Eleven ||
There are different ways of experiencing BagavAn—to chant His diyva nAmas; to speak about His guNas; to describe His divine and lovely form; to describe the divya dESas where He resides; to eulogize the vaidikas, vaiShNavas and aDiyArs in the divya dESas and so on. There is yet another way to experience Him that is by superimposing somebody like tiruttAyAr, tOzhi, nAyaki, gOpi etc., on himself and talk in their tone their language and BAvanas. Like a river flows in different channels but is called by the name of the river itself AzhwAr is one who speaks from different mouths. That is why in the final pASuras he says ‘mannu mA maNi mADa mangai vEndan mAna vEl parakAlan kaliyan Sonna’ etc.,
Why should AzhwAr lose his individuality and superimpose stree BAva? He does not do it purposely, it comes to him out of extreme Bakti. He alone is puruShOttama; all the others are strees (women). All jeevAtmas are paratantras, i.e., they are not swatantras. Because of this reason AzhwAr (when he thinks himself as His dAsa) the stree BAva comes to him. It is said the riShis of daNDakAraNya wanted to possess Sree rAma enchanted as they were by His beauty and therefore they were born as gOpis in kriShNAvatAra. AzhwAr, however, does not wait for another avatAra, he wants to enjoy Him in this birth alone. Hence he becomes a woman in His Bava in this birth alone.
A man enjoys the pleasure of women out of their union. Here AzhwAr’s talk of separation, the description of breasts etc. suggests worldly carnal pleasures are sung in the prabandhas. It is not so. There are two types of desires –viShayAntara kAma and Bagavat viShayakama. The former is worldly pleasures whereas the latter is BagavadanuBava. The samsAric love (the carnal pleasures) is called Bakti—a divine love towards BagavAn. One in earthly, low, mean, physical, temporary etc., The other is divine, high, beyond mind, boddy complex on a higher plane with BagavAn. One is called mundane love the other is called para Bakti. These forms of Bakti are symbolized by the words kongai etc.
One more question arises why should AzhwAr use such words as kongai etc and speak the language of earthly love? The answer is like a pill is sugar coated AzhwAr speaks the divine love in the language understood by common man of earthly love.
These pASuras are of three types—tiruttAyAr pASuras, tOzhi pASuras and talaivi (nAyaki) pASuras.
tOzhi pASuras—tOzhi is a friend who helps the nAyaki to unite with the nAyaka. The ananyArha SEShatva revealed in tirumantra shows the sambandha jnAna between jeevAtma and paramAtma. This prajnAvasta is called tOzhi.
tAi pASuras—A mother is one who prevents her daughter (who is in love) from stepping out of the house in search of her lover. She asks her daughter who in haste, not to behave in this way and asks her to maintain the kula maryAda. A prapanna should wait for Him and His anugraha. He should not try any other upAya to reach Him. This is revealed by the namah pada of tirumantra. This prajnAvasta is called ‘tAi’.
nAyaki—is one who is in love with nAyaka. Here AzhwAr is, parakAla nAyaki or parAnkuSa nAyaki who is in love with BagavAn (nAyaka). She hears His guNas, swaroopa, roopa, aiSwarya etc. and falls in love with Him. She forgets all her worldly relations, renounces all her worldly desires and transgresses all kula maryAdas, forgets her womanly qualities. 'avanai kiTTiyallAdu nAn uyir vAzhndirukka mATTEn’—in her only thought emberumAn is the only SEShee and the Baktas are SEShas. He is the SaraNya and we are the seekers. The praNava and namah Sabda reveal this. He alone is the upAya (means) and He alone is the upEya (goal). a prapanna is one who surrenders himself totally at His feet and waits for His anugraha. But nAyaki does not want to wait though she is prapnna. The ‘tvarai’ (haste) is due to her extreme love towards Him. (The tAyAr advices to keep quiet and wait for Him to come). This prajnAvasta is called nAyaki.
In whichever prajnAvasta AzhwAr is in that avasta he speaks as tAyAr, tOzhi or nAyaki.
The ten pASuras from 11-20 are tAyAr pASuras. AzhwAr has much haste to enjoy Him but feels at the same time he should not transgress the norms of a prapanna. Thus the two opposite ideas occur in him simultaneously. When he thinks of His swaroopa vailakShaNya he wants to hurry up, when he thinks of the prapanna lakShaNa he wants to wait.
The tAyAr watches the girl and her behaviour. She wonders about her behaviour, not knowing the cause, she comes to this daughter is in love with a nAyaka but does not know who He is she asks a ‘kaTTuvichchi’ (a palmist) about who caused this condition in her daughter. The kaTTuvichchi says ‘emberumAn alone is the cause’. The tAyAr expresses her concern to her neighbours and friends who came to her to enquire about the girl.
paTTuDukkum—My daughter wears a beautiful silk saree waiting for His arrival. He is enchanted by her dress and once come will not have a mind to leave her. Then she waited for a long time. But He did not come at all. She fainted and murmured some words ayarthi—fainted irangum-spoke incoherent words. The order should be ‘she spoke incoherently and fainted’. But here AzhwAr says ‘ayarttu irangum’ only those immersed in BagavadanuBava would know this, not others.
paTTuDukkum ayarttu viangum is interpreted differently. She has attained the age to wear sarees only now. Even at this young age her condition is pathetic and her mind disturbed. She swoon (which is better since she is not aware of duhKa) and speaks incoherently like a mad girl.
The mother wants to pacify her and bring her back to her senses. She gives her favourite dolls and asks her to play with them. But the daughter hates the very sight of them and throws them away (pAvai penal). It shows the attachment to the Bagavat viShaya results in the renunciation of worldly viShayas.
pani neDuganneer tadumba paLLi koLLAL—neDungAN—she has such large eyes that it can contain Him in one corner of it! But now the tears fill the whole length of her eyes! When she should be shedding tears of Ananda (Ananda kaNNeer) now she is shedding tears of sorrow (SOka kaNNeer). The inner meaning of kaN to jnAna. Since emberumAn is absent there is jnAna kalakkam (confusion).
To stop her cry I told her to sleep for a while. But she refuses to do so. ‘tollai mAlai kaNNAra kaNDu kazhivadOr kAdaluTTrArkkum uNDO kaNgaL tunjudal’. When He is present she sheds Ananda tears, when He is absent she sheds SOka tears. He won't let her sleep in samslESha and the viraha tApa won't let her sleep in vislESha.
The mother uses the word ‘aLLikoLLAL’ instead of ‘urangAL’ (was a respectable word) to her daughter. The reason is anyone having Bagavat sambandha deserves respect. ‘kaLLavizh SOlai kaNNapuram k aitozhum piLLaiyai piLLai enru eNNapperuvarE’ ‘viLakkoLiyai marahadattai tiruttaNkAvil vehKAvil tirumAlai pADakkETTu vaLarttadanAl payan peTTrEn varuha enru maDakkiLiyai kai kooppi vaNanginALE’.
ettuNai pOdu en kuDangAl irukkahillAL—Since she refused to sleep in the bed the mother put her on her lap as she used to do when she was small. ‘But this girl suddenly got up and left me as if the very touch burned her. Alas! She who used to sleep on my lap for hours does not stay there even for a minute’!—says the mother.
irangum—She talks incoherently. What does she say? ‘emberumAn tiruvarangam engE?’ Where is He who made me suffer like this? Ah! He is cozily lying on tiruanandAzhwAn in tiruvarangam. ‘Oh! Where is He who made me sleepless who made me faint, who made me cry like this and who made me leave my dear mothers lap and who made me mad? emberumAn—she does not specify Him by name but simply says ‘emberumAn'. Sure it is love at first sight she does not know much about Him. But how does she know Him in tiruvarangam? He had promised her earlier during samslESha that He would never leave her; if at all He leaves she can chant His divya dESa at least. Thus He had told her His whereabouts.
The mother knows very well emberumAn is the cause of her condition. Still she in order to show the feet to the other women, searches for a kaTTuvichchi to read her palms. At that time a kaTTuvichchi passes through the street singing---
kongum kuDandaiyum kOTTiyoorum pErum
engum tirindu inrE meeLvELai yAringazhaittadooooo—
kaNDiyoor arangam meyyam kachchi pEr mallai enru
maNDiyE tirivELai yAringazhaittadoooo---|
viNNaharam mA mADa vELukkai ten kuDandai
engum tirindu inrE meeLvELai yAringazhaittadooooo----
nAhattaNai kuDandai vehKA tiruvevvuL
nAhattaNai arangam pEranbil nAvAuyum
engum tirindu inrE meeLvELai yAringazhaittadooooo
vEngaDamum viNNaharum vehKAvum ahkAda
poongiDangin neeL kOval ponnaharum poodoorum
engum tirindu inrE meeLvELai yAringazhaittadooooo
The tiruttAyAr calls her and tells ‘maTTu vikki maNi vaNDu muralum koondal maDamAnai idu SeidAr tammai meyyE kaTTuvichchi Sol’.
A gypsy woman who can read ones palm is called kaTTuvichchi. ‘idu kANmin annaimeer ikkaTTuvichchi Sor koNDu’—tiruvAimozhi. ‘adu kETTu kArAr kuzharkoNDai kaTtuvichchi kaTTEri’—Siriya tirumaDal.
In this tiruvaranga kalambaham ‘ kAlam uNarndu kuratti nAn karudinai onrAdu SolluvEn bAlahan uchchiyil eNNei vAr pazhahiyadOr kalai koNDu vA kOla malar kuzhan mangAi nin kongai muhakkuri nanru kAn jnAlam uvandiDa nALaiyE naNNuvai nam perumAlaiyE’—so says the kaTTuvichchi.
maTTu vikki—In the earlier days she used to wear honey-laden flowers on her hair which the honey bees would drink stomachful. Now the daughter is suffering from the heat of separation that the flowers have dried causing the bees to starve.
kaTTuvichchi meyyE Sol—Please tell me the truth as it is; don’t tell lies only to please me. The kaTTuvichchi replies ‘kaDal vaNNar idu SeidAr’. Can anyone rescue what is taken inside the kaDal?
kAppAr Ar—When the fence itself eats the crop who will save? AzhwAr received BagavAn’s nirhEtuka anugraha. Since he is still in this leelAviBooti he could not enjoy Him and do kainkarya. Therefore he feels like ‘ATTrangarai maram pOl’—like a tree on the banks of a river.
12. nenjuruhi kaN panippa nirkum SOrum
neDiduyirkkum uNDariyAL urakkam pENAL
nanjaravil tuyilamarnda nambeeyennum
vambAr poom vayalAli maindAvennum
anjiraiya puTkoDiyE ADum pADum
aNiyarangam ADudumO tOzhiyennum |
en Sirahin keezh aDangAppeNNaipeTTrEn
irunilattOr pazhipaDaittEn EpAvamE || Twelve ||
kaTTuvuchchi said it is the work of ‘kaDal vaNNan’. The daughter also cries ‘emberumAn tiruvarangam engE’. Still He does not come. nAyaki’s condition is slightly better than before. Her angry increases and she cries loudly. The mother pours out her worries to the women who have gathered there after hearing her cries. ‘This girl is in a very bad shape; she does not listen to me; she is in a very bad shape; she does not listen to me; she is totally out of my control; this i s her swaroopa hAni (destruction of her swaroopa). All this is due to my pApas that I should see her suffer like this’.
nenjuruhi kaN panippa nirkum SOrum—In the last pASura tAyAr said ‘irangum’. Now she explains this word further ‘nenju uruhi—her mind melts like a wax in a flame. kaN panippa—they melted like a dam water passing out through a breach pours out through her eyes.
nirkum—She stands stupefied not knowing what to do. Since her mind, which is an instrument of thought, has already melted, she could not think.
SOrum—She feels weary and sits down.
neDiduyirukkum—She sighs often as an expression of agony ad mental weariness
uNDariyAL—She has not eaten for several days. She felt ‘uNNum SOru, paruhum neer, tinnum veTTrilai ellAm kaNNan’ when He was near her. He was her food, water etc., so there was no need to eat anything else. Now when He is absent the food is like poison to her. So she doesn’t eat. In short she has forgotten the very act of eating.
urakkam pENAL—I tell her ‘Oh! My daughter! Come! Have some sleep! You will feel better. Don’t you like to be fresh when He comes? you simply spoil your health by not sleeping. If you spoil your health how can You enjoy Him?’ But she does not listen to me. Let it be so. But hear no. She is shouting His nAmas. ‘nanjaravil tuyil amarnda nambee’. tiruanandAzhwAn possesses all the qualities of a good bed. Soft, cool, fragrant etc. So emberumAn lies on Him very comfortably. Even then tiruanandAzhwAn has utmost concern for His safety. So He is spitting venom whenever he sees a slightest threat from the weakest enemey! Therefore parakAla nAyaki respects Him and says ‘nanjaravu’. emberumAn sleeps on him without having the slightest notion of getting up. He looks like an emerald embedded in a gold plate.
The phrase is interpreted in another way too. I thought always anandAzhwAn spits venom on His enemies; but I am surprised to find him do so on me too! I am not His friend? Ah! The bed (anandAzhwAn) has space for two to sleep. But only He aloe is sleeping. I find the tender loving lap of my mother detestable to sleep. I wonder how He could sleep soundly on tiruanandAzhwAn! Doesn’t He love me?
vambAr poo vayalAli maindA ennum—She talks of the place where He married her. vayalAli maNavALan lives in a place where it is spring always; where He made me His by revealing His youth. I find my place dry and dull without any vegetation (as if they mourn for me) His place is full of flowering thus and honey-laden flowers!
maindA ennum—Oh! emberumAn! Your intention was to love me and leave me. That is why You revealed Your youth to me. You revealed Your guNas, glories etc. and made me renounce everything that I was after and sing ‘vADinEn vADi’ etc. seeking Your tiruvaDi alone. Not only did I lose my worldly pleasures but lose You and Your kainkarya too. I have neither way to go.
anjiraiya puTkoDiyE ADum pADum—parakAla nAyaki now imitates garuDa. It was viSwAmitra rishi who helped rAma’s marriage with seeta pirATTi. It was garuDa who helped vayalAli maNavALan in her marriage with Him. It was he who carried maNavALan in her marriage with Him. When garuDa is seen from far off distance it indicates His coming. Like a person feeling very thirsty expresses his thirst by action and gets water immediately, she imitates garuDa by action so that he will come soon (indicating His arrival). She feels a little better and starts singing (pADum). The song is full of pathos that the listeners shed tears.
At that time her friend comes. nAyaki asks her ‘aNi arangam ADudumO tOzhee’—let us go to tiruvarangam and have samslESha with Him. In tamizh literature too there is ‘SunaiyADal’ ‘punalADal’ etc. which refers to samslESha. ‘poTTrAmarai kayam neerADappOnAL poruvaTTrAL en mahaL’.
To the mother who thus laments, one of the elderly friend asks’ why don’t you advice her? Why don’t you ask her to stay quiet and wait for His arrival?’ To her the mother replies ‘Alas! Alas! She doesn’t listen to me. She is an adamant girl (aDangA peNNei peTTrEn) who is highly independent. She who is under the care of emberumAn (sirahu) is no more under me’. ‘enna nOnbu nOTTrAL kolO ivanai peTTra vayiruDaiyAL’, jnAlattu puttiranai peTTrAL nangaimeer nAnE maTTrArum illai’— periyAzhwAr. The mother feels happy inside her that she has given birth to such a wonderful girl who seeks emberumAn alone; but outwardly tells her friends that she is sorry for her. She blames herself as her pApas causes this plight in her daughter (Or pazhi paDaittEn ).
13. kalleDuttu kalmArikAttAi enrum
kAmaru poom kachchiyoorahattAi enrum
viliruttu melliyaltOL tOindAi enrum
vehKAvil tuyilamarnda vEndE enrum |
mallaDarttu mallaraiyanru aTTAi enrum
mAkeeNDa kaittalattu en maindA enrum
SolleDuttu tan kiLiyai SollEyenru
tuNai mulai mEl tuLiSOra SOrhinrALE || Thirteen ||
Like all the girls of her age parakAla nAyaki had a pet parrot. She had taught him BagavAn nAmas. The parrot would chant these names when she is in good mood. Now that she is sad, the parrot also is silent. Seeing her mood and to cheer her up the mother brings the parrot for her to play with. She asks him to chant the names. He keeps quiet. Therefore she prompts him by starting the first word. He completes the sentences. On hearing the names she sheds tears profusely.
kalleDuttu—It is said gOvardhana mountain is not a rocky one. it contained forests with green trees and colourful flowers. But parakAla nAyaki says ‘kalleDuttu’. Why? She says so only to suggest He lifted it up as effortlessly as lifting a stone. ‘koDiyEru SendAmarai kai viralhaL tOlan azhudila vADiTTrila vaDivEru tiruhir’ nondumila maNivaNNan malaiyum oor Sambiradam’— periyAzhwAr ‘pollA arakkanai kiLLi kaLaindAnai’ (the word kiLLi suggests effortlessly).
kalleDuttu kal mAri kallAi—BaTTar would jestingly say ‘kal mazhai AhaiyAlE kallai eDuttu rakShittAn, neer mazhai yAhil kaDalai eDuttu rakShikkum kANum’. He is sarva SaktimAn having infinite Sakti. So that He can do what is impossible. periyavAchchAn piLLai Sree sookti—‘pirarAl vanda AbattilO rakShikkalAvadu (do You propose to protect those who are threatened by others?) unnAl vanda Abattil rakShikkalAhAdO (won't You protect those like me who are threatened by You?) kal varShattil ahappaTTAraiyO rakShikkalAvadu (do You protect only those affected by kalmazhai?) duhKa varShattil ahappaTTArai rakShikkalAhAdO (won't You protect those affected by rain of duhKa?) oru oorAhanOvupaTTAlO rakShikkalAvadu (do You protect only when the whole city is affected?) avvoorAha paTTa nOvai orutti paTTAl rakShikkalAhAdO (won't You protect me who suffers the sum total of all the duhKas of all the people?) ennuDaiya rakShaNattukkum Edum malaiyai eDukka vENumO (should You lift any mountain to protect me?) malaiyai eDutta tOLai kATTa amaiyAdO (won't it suffice just to show Your shoulder that lifted the mountain?) kAmaru poongachchi oorahattAi ennum—You stand here in ooraham in order to enslave those who were present during Your kriShNAvatAra period. I am such a mahApApi that i miss You even here.
In this pASura there are lines that speak of viBavAtAra (rAma, kriShNa etc) and there are lines that speak of His archAvatAra in diyva dESas (oorahattAi etc) They are mixed up as in the first line where He talks of kriShNAvatAra as well as calls Him oorahattAn. As for other AzhwArs they talk of paratva by talking about paravAsudEva and talk of soulaBya when they mention avatAras. They talk of archa and diyva dESa if they speak of soulaBya. But tirumangai AzhwAr is different from them that he experiences paratva in archAvatAra, experiences soulaBya in an archA moorti and has the vision of them in the archa alone. Like a person who pours a ladle of ghee with every morsel of food, He mixes archa with paratva.
villiruttu melliyal tOl tOindAi enrum—King janaka announced he will give his daughter seeta in marriage to the one who breaks the bow. Sree rAma broke the bow. The king was very much pleased and was ready to give his daughter in marriage immediately. But rAma says ‘I have not come here in search of a girl to get married: I just came here as a king’s son to show my heroism. If at all you want to give your daughter in marriage consult my guru viSwAmitra and my parents’. On hearing this reply seeta’s heart melted.
vehkAvil tuyil amarnda vEndE ennum—It appears He as a newly married groom with His consort has come here to lie down and take rest.
mallaDarttu—Everyone say the mallas of kamsa’s court are mahApApis, but I think they are very fortunate and done lot of puNya since they had Your embrace when You fought with them. Even that puNya I don’t have. Perhaps if I were Your enemy I would have had that opportunity.
mA keeNDa karittalattu en maindA ennum—I am not as fortunate as AyarpADi women who had the darSan of Your tirumEni.
SolleDuttu—When parakAla nAyaki prompted the bird chanted His names. She felt—‘such a one as He who helped all those in distress should be so indifferent to me alone!
14. maLaikkadirai kurunguDiyuL muhilai moovA
moovulahum kaDandappAl mudalAi ninra
aLappariya Aramudai arangamEya
andaNanai andaNartam SindaiyAnai |
viLakkoLiyai marahadattai tiruttaNkAvil
vehKAvil tirumAlai pADakkETTu
vaLarttadanAl payan peTTrEn varuhavenru
maDakkiLiyai kaikooppi vaNanginALE || Fourteen ||
In the last pASura tituttAyAr said ‘SolleDuttu tan kiLiyai SollE enru tuNai mulai mEl tuLi SOra sOrhinrALE’. The parrot chanted the names of emberumAn after being prompted by her. Now the bird felt sad on seeing her cry who had taken good care and loved him tenderly. He wants to gladden her by chanting the names which she had taught him. She became happy and said ‘vaLarttadanAl payan peTTrEn varuha’ and did anjali to him.
What did the parrot chant?—‘muLaikkadir’ ‘kurunguDiyuL muhil’ ‘moovA moovulahum kaDandu appAl mudalAi ninra aLappariya AramudE’ ‘arangam mEya andaNan’ ‘andaNar tam SindaiyAn’ ‘viLakkoLi’ ‘ tiruttaNkAvil marahadam’ ‘vehKAvil tirumAl’ etc.
muLaikkadirai—The early morning sun. As one can see the morning sun with eyes and enjoy so can one see Him and His divya mangaLa vigraha and enjoy. ‘prasanna Aditya varchasam’ (vEdas). BagavAn turned AzhwAr’s vision towards Him diverting his worldly attention by revealing His beautiful form. Hence it is the first nAma taught by her.
kurunguDiyuL muhil—His divya mangaLa vigraha revealed to her is not through any SAstric knowledge, nor through guru upadESa but through the archa moorti of tirukkurunguDi. It is not a passing cloud but a permanent cloud over tirukkurunguDi. Hence AzhwAr uses the word tirukkurunguDiyuL muhil rather than tirukkurunguDi muhil. He has come down from paramapada to reside in tirukkurunguDi.
moovA—imperishable. moovulahum—three kinds of Atma, nityAtma, muktAtma and baddhAtma. nityAtma are those jeevas in paramapada called nityasooris who never had any samsAra; muktAtmAs are those jeevas who were released from samsAra; baddhAtma are those jeevas who are in samsAra. All the jeevas are nityas in the sense the Atma is imperishable only the Sareera perishes.
mudalAi—He who gives existence to all.
aLappariya amudai—He is a sea of nectar whose swaroopa, roopa, guNa etc are infinite.
arangam mEya andaNanai—A tiny droplet of that sea of nectar has fallen in tiruvarangam and lies there.
andaNan—parisuddha. He is pure and makes others pure who see His divya mangaLa vigraha. The purity of a samsAri is to renounce ahankAra and mamakAra.
andaNar tam SindaiyAn—‘ninradendai oorahattu irundadendai pADahattu anru vehKaNai kiDandu ennilAda munnelAm anru nAn pirandilEn pirandapin marandilEn ninradum irundadum kiDandadum en nenjuLE’—tirumazhisai AzhwAr. BagavAn resides in paramapada, pArkaDal, tiruvarangam and tirumalai only to wait for an opportunity to enter into His aDiyAr’s minds. After He enters the minds He does not like to stay in paramapda etc. In fact His stay in other places is an upAya to get the puruShArtha of entering the aDiyAr’s minds.
viLakkoLiyai—AzhwAr says He illumined in me the artha panchaka—paramAtma swaroopa, jeevAtma swaroopa, upAya swaroopa, virOdhi swaroopa and puruShArtha swaroopa—like a lamp illumines an object.
The word tiruttaNkA follws the word viLakkoLiyai. It can be taken to mean the viLakkoLi perumAL of tiruttaNkA (deepaprakSa). It was a Sayana tirukkOla in those days is known form periyavAchchAn piLLai’s vyAKyAna and other texts.
tiruttaNkAvil marahadattai—He is marahada and tiruttaNkA is an adjective qualifying that marahada like we say Arabic horse. ‘pachchai mA malai pOl mEni’—says toNDaraDippoDi AzhwAr.
vehKAvil tirumAlai—‘villiruttu melliyal tOl tOindAi ennum vehKAvil tuyilamarnda vEndE ennum’—He lies in tiruvehKA after marrying periya pirATTi. His Sriyahpatitva is fully manifested here.
The maDakkiLi chanted all these names to raise her spirit. She felt happy, took him in her hand and said ‘He who calls Himself a rakShaka left me when I was in need of His help, you who is a mere bird, helps me when I am sad’—so saying she did anjali to him.
Whoever it may be, whether a SiShya or a son, if he helps in BagavadiShaya he should be respected ‘kaNapuram kaitozhum piLLaiyai piLLai enru eNNapperuvarE’.
15. kalluyarnda neDumadiLSoozh kachchimEya
kaLirenrum kaDal kiDanda kaniyEyenrum
alliyam poomalar poihaippazhanavEli
aNiyazhundoor ninruhanda ammAnenrum |
Solluyarnda neDuveeNai mulaimEl tAngi
toomuruval nahaiyiraiyE tOnranakku
melviralhaL Sivappeida taDaviyAngE
menkiLipOl mihamizhaTTrum en pEdaiyE || Fifteen ||
In the last pASura the kiLippiLlai chanted His names. This brought her some peace of mind. Now she takes veeNa in her hands and sings playing it with her soft fingers moving them over the strings imagining the instrument as He Himself.
kalluyarnda neDu madiL Soozh kachchi mEya kaLiru enrum—The forts are made up of strong stones. The space inside the forts could contain plenty of elephants. therefore it is said ‘nedu madiL’ periyavAchchAn piLLai comments this diyva dESa must be tirupADaham. He gives the reason too. tirumazhisaippirAn said ‘ninradendai oorahattu irundadendai pADahattu anru vehKAvil kiDandadu’. tirumangai AzhwAr also enjoys the three states in three places—tiruvazhundoor ninra kOlam; tiruppArkaDal—kiDanda kOlam. Hence the third should be tiruppADaham where He is in irunda kOlam.
kaDal kiDanda kaniyE—He is like a sweet fruit lying in tiruppArkaDal. kani makes one desire to eat it immediately and dries and falls if not eaten. Similarly He is very enjoyable for His Baktas and when He is not enjoyed He (as if) loses His very existence. Such a one as He should be indifferent to me surprises me says parakAla nAyaki. Is it false that He ceases to exist (as if) when no Baktas come to Him? I seek Him day and night but it appears I will cease to exist if He does not come to me. Thus she laments.
alliyampoo malar poihai pazhana vEli aniyazhundoor ninru uhanda ammAn enrum—She sings playing on the veeNa—‘Oh! emberumAn! You reside in this divya dESa which is surrounded on all sides by lotus ponds and rivers. This place is difficult to approach by Your enemies but easy for Your aDiyArs. You rejoice when they sing Your names and guNas and seek Your tiruvaDi for kainkarya.
Solluyarnda neDu veeNai mulai mEl tAngi—She sings while playing on veeNa ‘kallyuranda neDu madil Soozh kachchi mEya kaLirE’ etc. She remembers His touch during samslESha when she touches the instrument. She remembers His hands, fingers, shoulders and His vaDivazhahu (beautiful form). As she placed Him and hugged Him against her breasts she hugs the veeNa. ‘gruheetvA prEkShamANA sA Bartuh karaviBooShaNam BartAramiva samprAptA jAnakee muditA aBavat’—on seeing the ring of rAma given to her by hanumAn she felt she has seen Him person.
too muruval nahai iraiyE tOnra nakku—When she hugged the veeNa she felt as happy as she hugged Him. She smiled a little revealing her pearl white teeth. Her naturally red fingers became more red (mel viralhaL Sivappeida) when she struck the veeNa. Then she started to sing sweetly like a parrot (men kiLi pOl miha mizhaTTrum)
en pEdaiyE—I thought my daughter was very innocent. I never knew she could sing His names so sweetly and play on veeNa too!
16. kanrumEitta iniduhanda kALAyenrum
kaDipozhil Soozh kaNapurattu en kaniyE enrum
manramarakkoottADi mahizhndAi enrum
vaDatiruvEngaDam mEya maindAvenrum |
venraSurar kulangaLainda vEndE enrum
viripozhilSoozh tirunaraiyoor ninrAi enrum
tunrukuzhal karunirattu en tuNaiyE enrum
tuNaimulaimEl tuLiSOra SOrhinrALE || Sixteen ||
In the last pASura tiruttAyAr said ‘men kiLi pOl miha mizhaTTrum en pEdaiyE’. The nAyaki spoke sweetly like a parrot to Him whom she imagined standing before her. He did not reply. Again the sorrow over took her and she cried loudly chanting His names. ‘Oh! I am a mahApApi! His soulaBya, souSeelya and rakShakatva are not for me!’
kanru mEittu inidu uhanda kALAi enrum—You are reputed as ssarva rakShaka. You grazed cattle and protected them from heavy rain. Oh! kaNNa! If You had employed Your rakShakatva to nitya sooris I wouldn’t have felt as I do now; if it were for the innocent AyarpADi women I would not weep like this. But it was shown towards the animals where as I am waiting for You depending on You alone!
kaNNan is happy to graze cattle. But very happy to graze calves. ‘divattilum paSu nirai mEippu uvatti’—nammAzhwAr. ‘kanru mEittu inidu uhanda’—tirumangai AzhwAr.
kaDi pozhil Soozh kaNapurattu en kaniyE enrum—You are standing in tirukkaNNapuram like a ripe fruit for those who missed rAma, kriShNAdi avatAras. BaTTar would jestingly say –kaNNan once was grazing the herds of cattle. When some of them strayed He went behind them and found a forest. Tempted by its beauty He could not move further. That place perhaps is tirukkaNNapuram’. He is called by the vEdas as ‘sarvagandhah’. The forests are so fragrant as to attract even sarva gandha. SourirAja perumAL of tirukkaNNapuram is the fruit of that forest. To those who are still sAdhakas He is a kAi (raw fruit) and to those prapannas He is a kani ( a ripe fruit).
manramara koottADi mahizhndAi enrum—manra means the junction of four roads. Here in this context it is taken to mean ‘the place where Ayars gather’.
amara—Even when the koottu is over if feels as if it is still on. BaTTar would say ‘perumAL ezhundaruLi pukka tiruveedi pOlE kAN tiruvAippADiyil ambalam iruppadu’. After the procession of perumAL left the street and entered the temple the place still has the scent of His presence and the gala of procession.
mahizhndAi—He created happiness in the minds of on lookers and Himself felt happy in performing the act. When a BrAhmaNa gets aiSwarya he performs yAgas; when a samsAri gets aiSwarya He marries many women; when Ayar gets aiSwarya they perform kuDakkoottu.
nAyaki laments—He who performed kuDakkoottu and He who was considered as the sole property of the AyarpADi is far away from me’.
vaDa tiruvEngaDam mEya maindA enrum—When He performed kuDakkoottu He stole all the minds of all the folks of AyarpADi; when He stands in tirumala He steals the minds of all the dEvas and manuShyas ‘kaNNAvAn enrum maNNar viNNOrkku taNNAr vEngaDa viNNOr verpanE’. ‘vAnavar vAnavarkOnODum namanru ezhum tiruvEngaDam’ ‘kAnamum vAnaramum vEDumuDai vEngaDam’. He stands on the mountain tiruvEgaDam between the two viBootis worshipped by the jeevas of both the viBootis including the tribals therein. ‘He who is sarvasulaBa to all is a rare property to me alone’—says nAyaki.
venru asurar kulam kaLainda vEndE enrum—‘I won't feel so much for Him if He were a coward and incapable of fighting a rAkShasa. But He destroys the whole clan of asuras in kShaNa (second). Hence I feel the loss very much.
viri pozhil Soozh tirunaraiyoor ninrAi enrum—To those like one who missed His avatAras He stands here. The kaTAkSha of perumAL and pirATTi floods the fields and makes the city fertile (viripozhil). He who reveals His kaTAkSha even to trees and plants is silent in my case! The place tirunaraiyoor is popularly called nAchchiyAr kOyil. He lets them call by the name of pirATTi—since He is very fond of her. I wonder why He is neglecting me who is like a lump of clay in His hands’.
tunru kuzhal karu niratten tuNaiyE—thinking of His kuzhal (hairs) and His form she sheds tears profusely.
kanru mEittu iniduhanda kALAi enru Solli tuNai mulai mEl tuLi SOra SorhinrAL; kaDi pozhil Soozh kaNapuratten kaniyE enru Solli tuNai mulai mEl tuLi SOra SorhinrAL;-like this each sentences should be understood.
17. poongAr malliLangongai ponnEpooppa
porukayal kaNNeerarumba pOnduninru
SengAla maDappuravam peDaikkupESum
Sirukuralukku uDaluruhi Sindittu AngE |
taNkAlum taNkuDandainaharum pADi
taNkOvaloor pADiyADakkETTu
nangAi nanguDikiduvO nanmaiyenna
naraiyoorum pADuvAL navilhinrALE || Seventeen ||
In the last pASura tiruttAyAr said ‘tuNai mulai mEl tuLi SOra SOrhinrALE’. On seeing her crying bitterly she wanted to pacify her. She asks her ‘Oh! Girl! Is Your behaviour befitting our family-dignity and maryAda?’ Instead of stopping she comes out of the house and shouts loudly.
pongAr melliLam kongai ponnE pooppa—The pallor done to separation is called ‘pasalai niram’ or ‘ponniram’. In kurundohai there is a poem ‘ooruN kENi uNDurai tokka pAsiyAaTTrE pasalai, kAdalar toDuvuzhi toDuvuzhi neengi viDuvuzhi viDuvuzhi parattalAnE’—there is a tank in a village. The people get drinking water from it. It is covered by moss. When You put your hand the moss moves. When you remove your hand it covers again. This is called pasalai (moss). Similarly whenever He touches the girl the pasalai goes and whenever He removes the pasalai appears.
toDuvuzhi—When He touches, viDuvuzhi—when He takes His hand away, parattalAn—spreads.
porukayal kaNNeer arumba—The eyes are compared to two fighting fishes. When there is separation the eyes shed tears of duhKa; whenever there is union the eyes shed tears of Ananda. Therefore the eyes are always filled with tears.
pOndu ninru—The mother tells her daughter ‘you are young and beautiful with soft breasts and fish like eyes. Actually He should come seeking you instead of You crying for Him, chanting His names and shouting loudly the divya dESas’. Suddenly she comes out and stands there. The words of the mother are like live coals poured into her ears. viBeeShaNa came out of the court when rAvaNa spoke to him harsh words.
ninru—means to stand firmly. It is possible to stand firmly for a girl who is pining for her lover? Yes. viBeeShaNa came out of the court and stood firmly in the sky (even though he had not met rAma) ‘uttaram teeram ASAdya thastha Eva vyavasthitah’, vyavasthitah means to stand firmly.
SengAla puravam peDaikku pESum Siru kuralukku—Like a person running away from a snake falls into the mouth of a lion, she ran away from her mother but had to hear the love talks of a dove. That burnt her ears till more. ‘Ah! These birds are able to be together whereas I stand here alone separated from my lover’. She melted. She remembered how she would talk with Him in low voice near His ears and turn bashful when He replied something in her ears. She melted again.
SengAla maDappuravam—The red leg of the bird reminds her of His lotus like tiruvaDi. It is like poison to her eyes. The Sirukural reminds her of His talks. It is poison to her ears.
AngE taN kAlum etc—Then she starts crying out loudly His names and divya dESas where she is going to meet Him—taNkAl, tirukkuDandai, tirukkOvaloor etc.,
taNkAl—means cool breeze. His form is like cool breeze which removes the weariness of those who see Him. She found her weariness gone when she embraced Him. Hence she remembers this place.
taN kuDandai naharum pADi—It is said the prasAda is offered first to tirumazhisai AzhwAr before serving Him. Thus He is very fond of His aDiyArs. p[arakala nAyaki wants Him to be so in her case too.
taN kOvaloor pADi—‘pAvarundamizhAl pEr peru panuval pAvalar pAdinALiravin moovaru nerukki mozhi viLakkETTri mukundanai tozhuda nannADu’—poihai AzhwAr, BoodattAzhwAr and pEyAzhwAr—took shelter in a small corridor which had space only for 3 standing people and were pushed by a fourth person which is emberumAn Himself. They lighted the lamp of words and saw Him. parakAla nAyaki says He is still standing there even after AzhwArs left the place.
ADa—Not only is she singing but started dancing too. The mother tells her ‘Oh! daughter! you are not acting like a prapanna wait for Him to seek You. That alone is proper.’ On hearing this she started to shout more loudly. ‘Oh! tirunaraiyoor emberumAn!’ ‘peDai aDartta maDavannam piriyAdu malar kamala maDaleDuttu madu nuharum vayaluDutta tirunaraiyoorilE Senru SErapperuvadu ennALO’.
18. kArvaNNar tirumEni kaNNum vAyum
kaittalumum aDiyiNaiyum kamalavaNNam
pArvaNNamaDamangaipattar pittar
panimalarmEl pAvaikku pAvam SeidEn |
ErvaNNa enpEdai en Sol kELAL
emberumAn tiruvarangam engE ennum
neervaNNan neermalaikkE pOvEnnenum
iduvanrO niraiyazhindAr nirkumArE || Eighteen ||
In the last pASura tAyAr said ‘nangAi! nanguDukku iduvO nanmai? enna naraiyoorum pADuvAL navilhinrALE’. The mother felt she is not going to listen to her advice. She wants to find out what her thoughts are by going along her line of thought. So she asks her ‘nangAi! un eNNangaLai SillikkANAi’. parakAla nAyaki tells her about emberumAn’s vaDivazhahu, His love towards malar mangai (Sree dEvi) and maN maDandai (Boomi dEvi), asks her where is tiruvarangam. Then she tells her mother she will not stay here but go and seek Him herself. tAyAr finally comments ‘iduvanrO niraiyazhindAr nirkumArE’.
She talks of His tirumEni first. ‘He is dark like kALamEGa’. His eyes are lotus, His mouth is lotus, His hands are also lotus and His tiruvaDi are lotus’ since He had shown His form earlier she remembers Him very well. In fact to all Baktas He reveals His form’—to hanumAn, Barata and akroora. ‘tam samutthApya kAkutsthah chirasyAkShi; patham gatam ankE Baratam ArOpua muditah pariShaswajE’—Sreemad rAmAyaNa. ‘ESha sarvasra Bootastu parkShwangO hanoomatah mayA kalam imam prApya dattah tasya mahAtmanah:’—to hanumAn.
‘sOpyEnam dhwajavajrAbjakrita chinnEna pANina samspriShya AkruShya cha preetyA sugADham pariSharwajE’—to akroora.
The greatest boon He can give His Baktas is Alingana.
kAr vaNNam tirumEni—‘His tirumEni is dark like rain cloud that cools the heat of samsAra duhKa and the heat of separation of His Baktas.
kaNNum vAyum kaittalamum aDiyiNaiyum kamala vaNNam—His eyes, mouth, hands, and tiruvaDi are like lotuses which look like a lotus forest in the midst of a cloud (kAr vaNNa mEni).
pAr vaNNa maDa mangai pattar—It is proper to say so and so is a Bakta to Him. But is it proper to say He is a Bakta of so and so? Yes. He is always a dAsa to His Baktas. Here too He is a dAsa to His loving consort Boomi pirATTi who has dived into the sAgara of His beauty. nAyaki laments ‘why should He neglect me who is also immersed in the same sAgara?’
pittar pani malar mEl pAvaikku—periya pirATTi is the very incarnation of the scent of lotus. It is no wonder He is simply mad about her (pittar) ‘alli malar mahaL bOga mayakkukkaLAliyum nirkum ammAn’.
Therefore He has forgotten me since He is immersed in the BOga of periya pirATTi.
pAvam SeidEn—The tiruttAyAr cries loudly and tells the women gathered there—‘I cannot change her desires; I cannot bear to see her cry; I cannot make Him come; He cares litter for her; she doesn’t stop form caring for Him; I can't do anything except watch her cry. All this due to my sins committed in all births’ .
The tiruttAyAr is in fact very happy that her daughter has para bkati towards emberumAn, that her daughter is not an ordinary girl. But she doesn't reveal her happiness to the women around her since she knows they don’t understand the feelings of her daughter nor about the mother’s consent to such feelings. Hence she simply says ‘pAvam SeidEn’ instead of saying ‘puNNiyam SeidEn’. yaSOda tells the AyarpADi women ‘jnAlattu puttiranai peTTrAL nangaimeer nAnE maTTrArumillai’. tiruttAyAr also wants to say ‘jnAlattu puttiriyai peTTrAr nangaimeer nAnE maTTrArumillai’ but does not say so.
Er vaNNa en pEdai—He is kAr vaNNan i.e. His form can be compared to a dark cloud; but my daughter i.e. ErvaNNa i.e. without comparison. She has an unsurpassing beauty which deserves His attention. But lo! My daughter is pining for Him!
en sol kELAL—There was a time when she listened to me. Now she has gone beyond my control. I keep telling her ‘my dear! You will surely get Him. Wait for the time. The fruit takes its own time to ripen. There is no use being anxious. But she closes her ears when I start telling her anything. She listens to such words as ‘mAmEkam SaraNam vraja’ ‘aBayam sarva BootEByO dadAmi Etad vratam mama’ not to mine.
emberumAn tiruvarangam engE ennum—Not only she not listen to me but keeps asking me for the way to tiruvarangam. She wants to go there against my will.
neer vaNNan neer malaikkE pOvEn ennum—When she called ‘tiruvarangam engE’ no one answered Now she says ‘I shall go to tiruneermalai’. tAyAr says ‘I think she starts from tirukkuraiyaloor, then to tiruneermalai and from there to tiruvarangam’. It is like a person searching for his lost rupee in all other places except where he lost it.
iduvanrO niraiyazhindAr nirkumAru—This is the way of one who desires for something very high not knowing their unworthiness. Alas! My daughter should throw into air all kinds of dignity!
19. muttArA vanamulaiyAL pAvai mAyan
moyyahalattuLLiruppAL akdum kaNDu
attAL tan niraiyazhindAL AvikkinrAL
aNiyarangam ADudumO tOzhee ennum |
peTTrEn vAiSol iraiyum pESakkELAL
pEr pADi taNkuDandai naharum pADi
poottAmaraikkayam neerADappOnAL
poruvaTTrAL en mahaLum ponnumakdE || Nineteen ||
In the last pASura tAyAr said ‘iduvanrO niraiyazhindArnirkumArE’. On hearing thus her friends tell her, How can you talk like this? How can you keep quiet? Shouldn’t You advise your daughter? Tell her that He loves other women. That is why is indifferent to her. Ask her not to cry and keep quiet. Tell her she can find another man suitable to her’. tiruttAyAr replies—‘I have told her whatever you said but she doesn’t listen to me. All my words fall on deaf ears’.
muttAra vana mulaiyAL pAvai—refers to periya pirATTi. She is called ‘yuvatischa kumAriNee’ by Sruti. She is young having tender breasts, but she has enslaved Him who is uBayaviBooti nirAhaka, who has jnAna bala etc. in full measure, who is absolute swatantra and who is avApta samasta kAman (having His desires full filled).
mAyan moyyahalattuL iruppAL akdu kaNDumATTrAL—They are divya dampatis (divine couple). She says residing in His tirumArbu ‘ahalahillEn iraiyum’; He says resting on her tirumulaittaDam ahalahillEn iraiyum’. parakAla nAyaki though aware very well of this fact doesn’t stop from loving Him. All His love is flowing in one channel ‘tivaLum veN madi pOl tirumuhattu arivai sezhungaDal amudinil pirandavaLum nin ahattiruppadum arindum Ahilum Asai viDALAl’. Similarly parkAla nAyaki loves Him who is in love with periya pirATTi and Boomi pirATTi and who is loved by them in return.
periya pirATTi never leaves Him since when He gets angry at jeevas who commit pApas she does. puruShakAra and pacifies Him. ‘neeril neruppu kilarumAppOlE kuLirndu tiruvuLLattilE aparAdhattAlE SeeTTram pirandAl poruppadu ivaLukkAha’. When He gets angry periya pirATTi pacifies Him; when she gets angry He consoles her ‘tannaDiyAr tirattu tAmaraiyALAhilum SidahuraikkumEl ennaDiyAr adu SeyyAr SeidArEl nanru SeidAr’ periyAzhwAr. Thus He takes even the wrong done by them as proper due to His love towards them.
parakAla nAyaki feels she should seek ‘mithunam' alone (the presence of both).
tan niraiyozhindAlL—She has lost her demeanor, docility softness obedience etc., ‘How do you know that?’ ‘Well! She says aNiyarangam engE? engE?’ Nobody answered her. She herself did not know it either. Therefore she sighs aNiyarangam ADudumO tOzhee ennum—nAyaki’s friend is watching all these. She thinks ‘this girl is madly in love with emberumAn who does not care for her. She doesn’t listen to her mother’s advice too. Let me talk to her’. So she comes near nAyaki. To her nAyaki says ‘tOzhee! aNiyarangam ADudumO’---Let us dive into the pond called Sree ranganAtha and take bath.
peTTrEn vAi Sol iraiyum pESa kELAL—tiruttAyAr says ‘when I advise her she doesn’t listen. When I talk along with her she doesn’t listen. In short whenever I open my mouth to say (whether agreeable of disagreeable) she shuts her ears. She willingly listen to her tOzhi but not to me.
pEr pADi taN kuDandai naharum pADi—If one starts from tirukkuraiyaloor one has to go to tirukkuDandai and then tiruppErai. Here she reverses the order since her mind is confused and agitated.
peTTrAmarai kayan neerADa pOnA pOnAL—The poTTrAmarai tank of tirukkuDandai. It is interpreted as –poTTrAmarai tank is emberumAn Himself. neerADa means samslESha. In tamizh literature samslESha is referred by ‘sunaiyADal’ ‘neerADal’ etc., emberumAn Hmself is the tank ‘vAsa taDam pOl varuvAnE’. ‘dayaradan peTTra maragada maNittaDam’—(taDam means emberumAn Himself).
The women ask her ‘why don’t you prevent your girl from going out seeking Him?’ The tAyAr replies ‘poruvaTTrAL en mahaL’—she has snapped off my sambandha. The word ‘poruvaTTrAL’ also means ‘without any equal’.
um ponnum akdE—There are two kinds of interpretation.
Are your daughters like this girl—disobedient, adamant?
Are your daughters like her—seek emberumAn and cry for Him? or Are thy ordinary?
The gOpis of AyarpADi were mad about kriShNa in His avatAra kAla but parakAla nAyaki is mad about the archa moorti in diyva dESas.
20. tErALum vALarakkan Selvam mALa
tennilangai mun malanga Sendeeyolhi
pOrALan AyiramtOL vANan mALa
porukaDalai araNkaDandu pukku mikka |
pArALan pAriDandu pAraiyuNDu
pArumizhndu pAraLandu pAraiyANDa
pErALan pErOdum peNNaimaNmEl
perundavattAL enrallAl pESalAmE || Twenty ||
parakAla nAyaki remembers how He helped seeta pirATTi in rAma avatAra; helped His grandson in kriShNa avatAra; helped Boomi pirATTi in varAha avatAra, helped all the jeevas in trivikrama avatAra. She laments only she has been forgotten by Him. The tiruttAyAr says my daughter is very fortunate in that she is always thinking of Him and His deeds. What is there for me to say except this—says the mother.
tErALumvALarakkan Selvam mALa—It is simply said tErALum (without mentioning the number of chariots) in order to show he had innumerable chariots under his control. The heroes are called adirathas, mahArathas etc, (who command a number of army) He is called tErALum vALarakkan. The word tEr (chariot) is upalakShNa for gaja (elephant), turaga (horses) and padAti (foot soldiers). This king of lankApuri, rAvaNa, is a great swordsman who is an expert wielder of sword that he can make even indra run away from the battle field. Sree rAma destroyed the aiSwarya (selvam) of such a hero and king as rAvaNa. His aiSwarya is so great that even hanumAn (a great sanyAsi) praises it like this—‘yadi adharmO na balavAn syAdayam rakShaSESwarah syadayam suralOkasya sasakrasyApi rakShitah (if only He had no adharma He is fit to be dEvAdi dEva).
tennilangai mun malanga Sendee olhi—‘ten’ here means lankApuri well guarded and well built city surrounded on four sides by sea as its natural fort in addition to beautiful tall mountains. Such a city was destroyed by rAma in no time causing it to look like a burial ground. When rAvaNa was the king even the pancha Bootas were afraid of him. agni BagavAn had no food and looked pale. When hanumAn set fire to the city he had lot of things to eat. When rAma too defeated him the city was burnt fully which filled the stomach of agni dEva.
All this is done for the sake of seeta pirATTi.
pOrALan Ayiram tOL vANan mALa—Though bANAsura was not killed but simply defeated, AzhwAr says ‘mALa’ to show bANAsura was like a living corpse, after his defeat.
porukaDal—The turbulent sea with lashing waves is difficult to cross.
kaDandu—But kriShNa crossed it easily.
pukku—He entered the city called bNApura.
mikka—became victorious—had the poorNa anugraha (full blessing) of veeralakShmi.
pArALan—Cut the thousand arms of bANAsura and ruled the earth.
pAriDandu—He carried Boomi pirATTi on His tusk (taking varAha avatAra) when she was submerged in praLaya water. ‘pAsi toortu kiDanda pAr mahaTku paNDoru nAL mAsuDambil neer vArA mAnamilA panriyAm (ANDAL).
Thus did He take all efforts to save Boomi pirATTi;
pAraiyuNDu—If only I were present when He swallowed all the jeevas and jagat in to His tiruvayiru in order to protect them, I would have had His Sareera sambandha.
pArumizhndu—He gave all the jeevas the indriyas, manas, buddhi etc for them to enjoy this world. I suppose I was given them only to suffer!.
pAraLandu—Both Baktas and non Baktas alike got His tiruvaDi sambandha when He measured the worlds. He who gave His tiruvaDi unasked even to non Baktas is refusing my request who is His dAsi.
pAraiyANDa—The pASura should be read like this—tErALum vALarakkan Selvam mALa tennilangai mun malanga Sendee olhi pAraiyANDa pErALan; pAriDandu pAraiyANDa pErALan; pAraiyuNDu pAraiyANDa pErALan; pArumizhndu pAraiyANDa pErALan; pAraLandu pAraiyANDa pErALan. The tAyAr says ‘thus my daughter keeps chanting His names, she who thus incessantly thinks of Him, talks of Him, does kainkarya to Him in perundavattAL indeed! I think she has come down to earth from the group of nitya sooris! Or perhaps she is a human being with the guNa of nitya sooris. What else is there to say about her?
Thus the middle ten pASuras of tiruttAyAr ends.
(aduththa aindhu pAsurangkaL - thalaivi thOzhikku aRaththodu nitRal)
maivaNNa narungunji kuzhal pin tAzha
makaram SErkuzhai irupADilangiyADa
eivaNNa venjilaiyE tuNaiyA ingE
iruvarAi vandAr en munnE ninrAr |
kaivaNNam tAmarai vAi kamalam pOlum
kaNNiNaiyum aravindam aDiyum akdE
avvaNNattavar nilaimai kaNDum tOzhee
avarainAm dEvarenru anjinOmE || Twenty One ||
tiruneDundANDaham is divided in to three portion—The first ten is from AzhwAr as himself; the second ten from the mouth of tiruttAyAr and the third ten from the mouth of parakAla nAyaki.
There is a SlOka in Bagavadgeeta which says ‘machchittA madgata prANAh bOdhayantah parasparam kathayantascha mAm tuShyanti cha ramanti cha’—they have devoted their thoughts to me alone. They place their lives under my care. They narrate their experiences of emberumAn’s guNas and chEShTitas to others and enjoy doing so.
The first ten pASuras explain ‘machchittAh—AzhwAr’s thoughts are fully engrossed in Him alone like vyAsa muni and parASara muni.
The second ten explains ‘madgata prANAh’—AzhwAr could not speak as AzhwAr, so he superimposes tiruttAyAr and speaks through her mouth. Hence madgata prANAh.
The third daSaka explains bOdhayantah parasparam, parakAla nAyaki speaks her mind to her friend and listens to her too.
There is a poem in suBAShita ‘adarSanE darSana mAtra kAmah druShTvA pariShwanga rasaikalOlAh AlingitAm unarAyatAkShyAm ASAstE vigrahayOraBEdam’—The lovers desire to meet each other just once as long as they are separated. After the meeting they feel it is enough if they embrace each other just once. After embracing they feel there should be no gap between them even for the air to pass.
In the first ten AzhwAr says ‘enguTTrAi embrumAn unnai nADi EzhaiyE inganamE uzhitaruhEnE’ — she has the highest desire to see Him. Therefore it is ‘adarSanE darSanamATra kAmAh’.
The second ten ‘muTTrArA vana mulaiyAL pAvai mAya moyyaalattuL iruppAL akdum kANDum aTTrAL’—she desires to embrace Him as periya pirATTi does. Therefore ‘driShTvA pariShvanga rasaikalOlAh’’.
In the last ten pASura she likes samlESha with Him.
‘kaLLoorum painduzAi mAlaiyAnai kanaviDattil yAn kANban kaNDapOdu puLLoorum kaLvA nee pOhEl enban’ ‘enran ponnilangu mulai kuvaTTil pooTTikkoNDu pOhAmai vallEnAi pulavi eidi ennil angamellAm vandu inbameida eppozhudum ninaindu urhi iruppan nAnE’. Therefore it is ‘ASAstE vigrahayOraBEdam’.
tiruttAyAr found out that her daughter and emberumAn had gandharva vivAha. She asks her daughter ‘nangAi! nanguDikku iduvO nanmai?’ The daughter is afraid what her mother would say ‘annai ennAhum enru njuhinrEn’. She keeps quiet without going to Him. emberumAn wonders why she has not come to Him. ‘What has happened to her?’ He is shy to go there Himself and doesn’t send a messenger too. Hence dressed as a hunter He comes to the forest where she has come with her tOzhi to pluck flowers. He comes there after tying up His hair, tightening His belt from where hangs a sword, carrying in His left hand a bow and a bunch of arrows in the quiver tied at His back. The tOzhi had gone somewhere under some pretext leaving them alone.
The nAyaka and the nAyki had samslEsha. Then He leaves her saying ‘I shall go to tiruvarangam’ (‘punalarangam oor enru pOyinArE’). The tOzhi comes backs, looks at her friend, understood what had happened, finds Him not there and asks her ‘nangAi! talaivan vandapaDi en? SeidapaDi en?’ The talaivi tells her everything. The first pASura is what nAyaki tells her.
In the pervious pASura the tiruttAyAr left her daughter after her unsuccessful attempt to listen to her advice and says ‘pErALan pErOdum peNNai maN mEl perudavattAL enrallAl pEsalAmE’.
emberumAn is happy to find the nAyaki renounce all her relatives, friends and worldly desires and thinks nothing but Him alone. Therefore He thinks His efforts have paid fruit and keeps quiet. When, thus, both of them keep quiet the tOzhi thought she should do something, and be with her. She feels nAyaki is feeling very sad when emberumAn left her. She feels she should be with her, love her, pacify her, solve her problems, remove her agony, help her in all ways. She think by doing so she will keep her alive. The only way is to talk about emberumAn. So thinking she asks her ‘avan vandapaDi en? unnODu kalandapaDi en? pinbu pirindapOdu unakku tErudalAha SollippOna vArttai EdEnum uNDA? SollikkANAi’. Then nAyaki narrates everything to her. Oh! tOzhee! I saw Him! He was guNavAn and very beautiful. Yet I lost Him thinking He is someone else! Oh! What can I do now!’
periyavAchchAn piLLai interprets this pASura as sung by seta pirATTi as talaivi and Sree rAma pirAn as talaimahan. AzhwAr speaks as jAnaki.
maivaNNa marungunji kuzhal pin tAzha—The locks of hair is dark and curly, then why should she add the adjective ‘maivaN Na’ to it? Such maivaNNa narungunji is found in emberumAn alone and in no one else. Hence the adjective. The dark hair is so dark that even His dark tirumEni appears like white crystal. It is not only dark but has natural fragrance too. This fragrance removes the tApa of samsAris as well as of Bakas (virahatApa). The dark fragrant curly hair fall on His shoulders.
parakAla nAyaki describes Him as she sees His back. As a person would turn his back when he sees a sea whose waves come lashing at him, so too He turns His back when the waves of soundarya (beauty) of the nAyaki lashes at Him. When He turns she appreciates the beauty of His maivaNNa narungunji.
maharam SEr kuzhai irupADu ilangiyADa—When she sees His dark locks of hair it is as if darkness everywhere. At that time she sees two bright moons—The two makara kuNDalas (ear rings). When hanuman was searching for seta in the dark in lankApuri the moonlight helped him in his search. Similarly the two bright moon-like mahara kuzhai helped her in seeing the face.
ilangai—She wonders whether the maharakuzhai adds to the beauty of tirukkuzhal (hair) or the tirukkuzhal enhances the brightness of the maharakkuzhai.
ADa—When He saw me, His favourite dAsi, His face showed expression of joy (ADa en munnE ninrAr).
ADa—nanjeeyar interprets as—He turned this side and that side, showed His front and turned to show His back that ‘tOzhee! I was infatuated by His beauty’. He would do anything to woo a poor woman! ‘munbai kATTuvadu pinbai kATTuvadAha ettanai ADalaL SeidAn ivaLuDaiya peNmaiyai azhikkaikkAha!
eivaNNa venjilaiyE tuNaiyA—tOzhi asks her ‘did anyone come with Him’? ‘He came with His bow alone (venjilaiyE tuNaiyAha)’ ‘villiruttu melliyal tOL tOindAn’—He married seeta pirATTi after breaking the bow. Hence he carries it to do the same now also. (or) He came with the bow as His companion so that He can enjoy her company without any disturbance. (or) He came only with His bow so that He can have a ready answer if anyone asks Him ‘Why are you here?’ that ‘I have come to hunt’.
ingEvandAr-ingE—she shows the place where He come and stood. ‘This is the place where I found the ‘treasure’. periyavAchchAn piLLai Sree sookti—‘’kalandu pirinda pinbu maNNai mOndu koNDu kiDakkalAmbaDi kAN ilachchinai paDa naDanda aDichchuvaDu irundapaDi.’
iruvarAi vandAr—Why say ‘iruvarAi’ when just now she says ‘venjilaiyE tuNaiyAha’? iruvarAi can be taken as Sree rAma and lakShmaNa. Here too lakShmaNa is not a separate vyakti as rAma himself says ‘lakShmaNa is my right arm’ (rAmasya dakShiNO bAhuh).
iruvarAi vandAr—when He comes for samslEsha He comes with this bed (AdiSESha). Is lakShmaNa His bed? Yes. Isn’t it said ‘AdiSESha does all kinds of kainkarya to Him—senrAl kuDaiyAm etc.,’
iruvarAi vandAr—He came with both SEShatva and SEShitva guNas. When He is in samslESha with her He acts like SESha (losing His independence) when He did pANi grahaNA (marriage) He acts as SEShee. Sree sookti—‘tammuDaiya kAlai en talaiyilE vaikka kaDavadAha vandu en kAlai tan talaiyilE vaittukkoNDAr engirAL, pANigrahaNam paNNumbOdu SEShiyAyirukkaiyum pAaDukkaiyilE murai keDa pachilmAruhaiyumAyirE iruppadu’. ‘na SAstram naiva cha kramah (in samslESha time).
iruvarAi vandAr—He came to make us two (He and me)
vandAr—When His vailakShaNya is considered it is He who should be sought after. But He Himself came to me. That is the greatness of His soulaBya!
vandAr—He walked with a beautiful gait! Oh! tOzhi! you missed it!
vandAr en munnE ninrAr—Oh! tOzhi! He came hurrying in my direction but when He saw me He stopped.
Now she starts narrating how she enjoyed His soundarya and how she got immersed into not able to come out.
kai vaNNam tAmarai vAi kamalam pOlum kaNNiNaiyum aravindam aDiyum akdE—It is a standart practice to describe Him from tirumuDi to tiruvaDi or from tiruvaDi to tirumuDi. But parakAla nAyaki describes them in her own order—hands, mouth, eyes and tiruvaDi. There is a significance in this krama—first she describes the hands which held her hands in marriage (pANigrahaNA). He described her –‘Ah! your beauty is wonderful! These breasts are marvelous! your eyes are superb! etc. She thus remembers His mouth that spoke these nice words. He stopped speaking. The eyes spoke the rest. Thus she remembers His eyes. She fell at His tiruvaDi defeated by the beauty of His eyes. Then she describes His tiruvaDi.
In the 18th pASura AzhwAr said ‘kaNNum vAyum kaittalamum aDiyiNaiyum kamala vaNNan’ He lists all the avayavas and concludes of of them are like lotus. In this pAsura for every avayava he use the synonymous of lotus. tAmarai, kamalam, aravindam, koorattAzhwAn in varadarAjastava says ‘abjapANipAdam abjanEtram’; in sundarabAhu stavam says ‘abjapAdam aravindalOchanam padmapANi talam’. BaTTar in Sree rangarAstavam says ‘kamalapAda karAkSham’.
aDiyum akdE—In fact His avyavas have no comparison at all. But he is forced to say something similar to them. Hence he uses the word louts. To tiruvaDi, however, he simply says ‘aDiyum akdE’. (which has no comparison at all).
avvaNNattavar nilimai kaNDum tOzhee—avvaNNattavar—Oh! tOzhee! There are no words to describe the beauty of His form! He is simply wonderful! That is all! I can only say avvaNNattavar nothing more!
avarai nAm dEvar enru anjinOmE—After seeing His vaDivazhahu and Seela guNa I feared He was the paramapuruSha. ‘ammAn AzhippirAn avan evviDattAn yAnAr’ and did not go near Him. Alas! I lost Him! I thought of His paratva alone ‘onrum dEvum ulahum uyirum maTTrum yAdumillA anru nAn muhan tannODu dEvarulahODu uyir paDaitta perumAn; naranAraNanAi ulahattu aranool SingAmai viritta perumAn anrO’. I am a mahApApi who lost, out of my stupidity, an opportunity to be with Him! He who said ‘AtmAnam mAnuSham manyE’ stood before me. I didn’t listen to his words. I only listened to the words of the passers by who said ‘BagavAn nArAyaNO dEvah’! Oh! dear! Oh! dear!.
The vyAKyAna for the last two lines are very elaborate in periyavAchchAn piLLai grantha.
22. naivaLam onrAyA nammainOkkA
nANinAr pOl iraiyE nayangaL pinnum
SeivaLavil enmanamum kaNNumODi
emberumAn tiruvaDikkeezh aNaiya ippAl |
kaivaLaiyum mEhalaiyum kANEn kaNDEn
kanamaharakkuzhai iraNDum nAngutOLum
evvaLavuNDu emberumAn kOyil enrErku
iduvanrO ezhilAli enrArtAmE || Twenty Two ||
In the last pASura nAyaki said ‘avarai nAm dEvar enru anjinOmE’. The tOzhi asks her ‘Oh! nangAi! you say you feared His paratva and hesitated to go near Him. Thus how did you have samslESha with me. Listen! When I feared ‘ivar dEvar enru’ He thought ‘I think I may have to go back. I have come with an idea of having samslESha, but this girl, though willing, does not come forward. I have failed in my attempt. To obtain her I revealed my vadavazhahum and Seela guNa, as a SEShee would do to get a SESha vastu. If I fail in this case how can I become paripoorNA? What shall I do to woo her? Ah! I shall employ the same formula as I did for the gOpis of AyarpADi’ so thinking He sang softly. Since He has come under the guise of a hunter no one would question Him if He sings. That very moment I fell for Him!
naivaLam onru ArAyA—‘naivaLam’ is a kind of song which melts the hearts of the hearer. It is very effective especially in wooing a woman. If it fails nothing can work. What is not possible by karma yOga and jnAna yOga is made possible by Bakti yOga; what is not possible by Bakti yOga is made possible by prapatti yOga; what is not possible by prapatti yOga is not possible by any other yoga. Similarly emberurmAn employs the last means this tune (naivaLam). He thinks ‘if it could melt a man like me, it certainly would melt this girl’s mind’. Even though I felt as He supposed I did not show it outside but put on a stern face. He thought He had failed in His last attempt and felt a little shy. I could see it in His face. He could not see me directly. So He turned His gaze here and there, this side and that side.
pinnum nayangal SeivaLavil—He didn’t keep quiet. He sang again the tune adding more words like ‘aDiyEn’ etc.
en manamum kaNNum Odi embeurmAn tiruvaDikkeezh aNaiya—‘Oh! tOzhee! However much I tried to control my mind, I could not do so. On hearing Him sing again my mind and my eyes went fast to seek His tiruvaDi.
periyavAchchAn piLlai—‘avar ninaittavaLavanru kAN nan azhindapaDi engirAL. en mulaiyai tan mArvilE nerukki tazhuvi koLLavAyiTTru avar ninaittirundadu, nAr avar kAlai en talaiyilE vaittu koNDEn enirAL’.—His idea was to embrace me tightly; but I fell at His feet and placed His tiruvaDi on my head.
ippAl kaivaLaiyum mEhalaiyum kANEn—I lost my bangles and mEkala (golden belt). One loses the bangles etc. in vislESha but how can she lose them in samslESha? The bangles are lost not only in vislESha but also in samslESha. In the case of former she becomes thin and they slip off; in the case of latter she swells out of joy, they break and fall. If that were the case when will the stay in her hands? They stay in the hands until the samslESha reaches the peak.
The inner meaning of ‘kaivaLaiyum mEhalaiyum kANEn’ is—I totally lost my ahankAra and mamakAra. I lost the three enemies—upAya virOdhi, upEya virOdhi, and puruShArtha virOdhi. It is the same experience when ANDAL says ‘undannODu uTTrOmEyAvOm unakkE nAm ATcheivOm maTTrai nam kAmangaL mATTru’. ‘I am not the enjoyer, I don’t have an object of enjoyment; you are the enjoyer and I am the object of your enjoyment’—this is the BAva. This is the swaroopa of Atma.
kaNDEn kana mahara kuzhai iraNDum nAngutOLum—I saw His two maharakkuzhai which pricked me when I embraced Him tightly. I saw is four arms that embraced me. He who embraced her is chakravarti tirumahan (Sree rAma). Why does she say four arms?—either she imagined four arms or He revealed His four arms—His real swaroopa.
evvaLavuNDu emberumAn kOyil—I thought I would go to His place where He does nityavAsa so that I can enjoy His company forever. So I asked Him ‘how far is your place?’ If it is near I thought I would enjoy His company with all the Sree vaiShNavas. He replied ‘it is tiruvAli’. There you see the place and pointed towards that direction. Then suddenly He disappeared! Ah! tOzhee! My very question made Him leave me! Why did I do that?
23. uLLoorum SindainOi enakkE tandu
en oLivaLaiyum mAniramum koNDAr ingE
teLLoorum iLandengin tEral mAndi
SEluhaLum tiruvarangam nammoorenna |
kaLLoorum painduzhAimAlaiyAnai
kanaviDattil yAnkANban kaNDapOdu
puLLoorum kaLvanee pOhEl enban
enrAlum idu namakkOr pulavitAnE || Twenty Three ||
The tOzhi speaks to her ‘Oh! nangAi! You say He thought Himself very fortunate to come to you on His own. Then why did He leave you? Didn’t you ask Him not to go?
Oh! tOzhi! I asked Him not to go. But He didn’t listen to me’.
‘He who was your dAsa during samslESha should have listened to you. He shouldn’t have disregarded your words’. ‘It was not He who was willing to go. It was the periya tiruvaDi (garuDa) who hastened Him to leave on this back’.
‘He is uBayaviBootinAtha and you are His favourite girl. He certainly would have gifted you with something’.
‘Yes. He gave me uLLoorum sindai nOi’.
sindai nOi is a mental affliction which does not show its symptoms outside but moves inside like a snake. nAyaki says ‘He presented that nOi to me before He left’.
enakkE tandu—this ‘prEma vyAdhi’ He has given me alone not to any other dEvis (takkAr palar dEvimAr sAla uDaiyeer) ‘Did you give anything in return?’
‘Yes. I gave Him my bangles and beautiful complexion. (oLivaLaiyum mA niramum) In fact He didn’t wait for me to give; He took them away Himself (koNDAr). Isn't He a famous thief? (kaLvA).
In the last pASura she said ‘kaivaLaiyum mEhalaiyum kANEn’—It is due to samslESha. Here she says ‘en oLivaLaiyum mA niramum koNDAr’—it is due to vislESha.
Already in the last pASura she lost her bangles. There are no bangles in her hand in this pASura. Then how can she say oLivaLaiyum etc? The interpretation is—the literal meaning is not taken here; it simply refers to her vislESha duhKa.
en oLivaLaiyum—if the vaLai refers to her ahankara then how can she say ‘en oLvaLai etc’? (my bangles). The explanation is the bangles are ‘my bangles’ which He appreciated during samslEsha as ‘Oh! What a beautiful bangles! Ah! How bright they are! You look wonderful wearing them etc’. Hence she says ‘en oLivaLai’ which He appreciated.
ingE—In the last pASura she indicated the place as ingE to indicate the place of ‘treasure’. Now she indicates the place where she lost ‘it’. This is the place where I wanted to possess Him but this is the place where I lost myself to Him.
‘Oh! nangAi! When He took Your oLivaLai and mAniram didn’t you ask Him the place where He is going?
‘Oh! tOzhee! He Himself told me ‘tiruvarangam namoor’ It is is the place surrounded by water where fish live jumping and playing drinking the honey flowing from the coconuts. He did not say ‘ennoor’ (my place) for it would damage His Asrita pAratantrya, neither said ‘unnoor’ (your place) for it would damage my swaroopa. Hence He said ‘namoor’.
Even though He was very cruel to leave her, she remembers Him and the sweet memories ‘kaLLoorum painduzhAi mAlaiyAnai’. The tiruvarangam where he lives, the coconuts shed honey the tuzhasi mAla which He wears also shed honey.
kanaviDattil yAn kANban—‘kanavu’ literally means dream. It may be taken as leelA viBooti which the jnAnis call as dream.
‘We are walking for a while after samslESha. At that time periya tiruvaDi (garuDa) came to remind Him ‘Lord! Your job is over. Let us go’. I pleaded Him ‘puLLoorum kaLvA pOhEl’. Still the bird took Him away. there is a law that vislESha should follow samslESha. Now my job is to cry. What else is there to do?
24. irukaiyil Sangivai nillA ellE pAvam
ilangolineer perumpouvam maNDiyuNDa
peruvayiTTra karumihilEyoppAr vaNNam
perundavattar arundavattu munivarSoozha |
orukaiyil Sangu orukaimaTTrAzhiyEndi
ulahuNDa peruvAyar ingEvandu en
porukayal kaNNeerarumba pulavitandu
punalarangam oorenru pOyinArE || Twenty Four ||
In the last pASura nAyaki said ‘puLLoorum kaLvA nee pOhEl! enban. enrAlum idu namakkOr pularidAnE!. The tOzhi asks her ‘Oh! nangAi! You say periya tiruvaDi carried Him away! Isn't he (garuDa) under your control?’
‘How come’?
‘Because emberumAn is your lover and listens to your word. garuDa is His servant. Hence naturally he (His servant) becomes your servant too. ‘oruvan aDimai koLLumpOdu gruhiNikkenru anrE AvaNa Olai ezhuduvadu, Ahilum paNi Seivadu gruhiNikkEyanrE’. Therefore you should have ordered garuDa not to take Him’.
‘tOzhi! You are right. But He was not alone. If He were I would have done so. He was surrounded by riShis, tapasvis, vaiShNavas and so on. I could not even go near Him.
irakkaiyil sangivai nillA—He went away. Alright! Should He take away my bangles and think of Him who touched them, spoke about them and appreciated them. I looked at one of my hands. The bangles were not there! Then I looked at my other hand! So! The bangles were not there too! What should I do?
parakAla nAyaki uses the word ‘sangivai nillA’—instead of ‘sangu nillA’. The significance of this is—He left me suddenly; should my bangles too leave me? He left me because He is SEShee who can do what helices; should these bangles too do the same being SESha? He is chEtana. So He left me perhaps finding some fault with me; but should my bangles, which are achEtanas, do the same? After samslEsha He went away; should these bangles, which are always with me, go away? He went away because He is swatantra; should they go when they are under my control? Perhaps He might, for some reason, change His mind and stay with me; but my bangles! They went away having determined to do so!
nillA—I asked Him not to go; yet He went away. Look at these bangles! They slip away; I put them back; again they fall. Thus again and again I had to wear them!
ellE pAvam—How unfortunate! All of them leave me—whether chEtanas or achEtanas—at my very touch! I think I have committed many sins over many births.
ilangoli neer perum bouvam maNDi uNDa pruvayiTTra karumuhilE oppar vaNNam—parakAla nAyaki compares herself with a huge sea and He with kALamEGa. The cloud comes with great ado, sucks in water till the bottom is seen; rises to the sky to stay there. Similarly He came to her, took away her soundarya sAgara and went away. In the last pASura she said ‘en oLivaLaiyum mA niramum koNDAr’. What He had taken away from her, He now possesses. This phrase ‘peruvayiTTra karumuhilE oppar vaNNam’ does not praise Him. She uses the phrase sarcastically to say He had them after stealing from her. She laments ‘ Oh! tOzhi! I am in the place from where He steals; I am not where He sheds (His anugraha like rains)
peruvayiTTra—Even after drinking all the waters of the sea, the kALa mEGa is not satisfied. Similarly even after staling all that is mine, He is not satisfied.
perudavattar arundavattu munivar Soozha—‘Oh! nangAi! Perhaps one or two were with them? ‘No. tOzhee! There were so many of them around Him. ‘vaikuNThE to pare lOkE SriyA sArdam jagatpatih AstE viShNuh achintyAtma baktaih Bagavataih saha’. When the amruta came from pArkaDal all of those present stood around it. Similarly He was in the center surrounded by many jnAnis. How can I go near and prevent Him from going?’
orukaiyil Sangu maTTrouru kai Azhi Endi—Even if I went near Him I couldn’t have seen Him. The SanKa and chakra that He was carrying in both hands were highly effulgent. ‘kukzhumi dEvar kuzhAngaL kai tozha SOdi veLLattinuLLe ezhuvadOruru’. The hands which were holding my feet during were holding SanKa and chakra. He was sarva sulaBa when He was with me. Now when surrounded by riShis He was paramapuruSha! I could only sing pallANDu to Him from a distance. ‘vaDivAr SOdi valatturaiyum SuDarAzhiyum pallANDu paDai pOr pukku muzhangum appAnchajanniyamum pallANDE’ (periyAzhwAr)
ulahuNDa peruvAyar ingE vandu—This expression is normally interpreted as He who protected all the jeevas during praLaya by swallowing them. Here it means—He who is the only rakShaka for all the worlds during praLaya was all humility when He came here for samlESha.
poru kayal kaNNeer arumba pulavi tandu—The fruit of His samslEsha is my ‘tearful eyes’. The word ‘arumba’ instead of ‘peruha’ suggests the mind as well as the eyes are dry. There are no tears to flow down like a stream.
pulavi tandu—It is said in SAstra that He gives infinite Ananda to those who see Him, but to me He gave infinite duhKa only.
tandu—He is the supreme Lord of the two viBootis—paramapada as well as created worlds. So He has gifted me on parting this alone (taking from His pocket which contains all the aiSwaryas).
‘This show lack of mercy is not His nature. I think this is only a temporary state’—says nAyaki.
‘How do you say so?’
‘Because He uttered as He was going ‘punalarangam oor’. I can sustain my life uttering the name of this divya dESa.
25. minnilangu tiruvuruvam periyatOLum
karimuninda kaittalamum kaNNumvAyum
tannalarnda narunduzhAi malarin keezhE
tAzhndilangumakaram SEr kuzhaiyum kATTi |
ennalanum enniraiyum en Sindaiyum
envaLaiyum koNDu ennaiyALungoNDu
ponnalarndanarum Serundi pozhilinooDE
punalarangam oorenru pOyinArE || Twenty Five ||
parakAla nAyaki tells her friend ‘He showed His aiSwarya and took away all my aiSwarya and vanished’
minnilangu tiruvuruvam—She tells her tOzhi that He first revealed His form why does she say ‘minnilangu tiruvuruvam’ ‘What it is ‘kAr vaNNam tirumEni’ ‘karumuhil oppar vaNNam’ ‘muhil uruvam emmaDihaL uruvam tAnE’ etc? When nAyaki thinks of His udAra guNa (benevolence) and His nature to quench the thirst (for jnAna) she calls Him muhiluruvam; when she thinks of His effulgence she calls Him ‘minnilangu tiruvuruvam’.
He carries in His hand the brilliant chakrAyudha which reflects the brilliance on His tirumEni to make it appear ‘minnilangu tiruvuruvam’.
He looks like kALa mEGa hiding the sun. periyAzhwAr said ‘vaDivAr SOdi valatturaiyum SuDarAzhiyum’ ‘oru kaiyil Sangu oru kai maTTrAzhi Endi ulahuNDa peruvAyar inge vandu’ (so she said in her pASura).
periya tOLum—No one gets satiated even after enjoying the beauty of His tOL for a lifetime. ‘tOL kaNDAr tLEkaNDAr (kambarAmAyaNam). Even after all the worlds take shelter under the shade of His shoulders there is still space for such many more worlds to come under them ‘bAhu chAyAm avaShThabdO yasya lOkO mahAtmahnah’
kari muninda kaittalamum—The hands are being qualified as ‘those that killed the mad elephant kuvaLayApeeDa where as the eyes and mouth have their own natural beauty without being qualified.
tannalarnda naruduzhAi—The tuzhasi looks more fresh and aromatic when they are on His tirumArbu than when they are in the birthplace. The makara kuNDalas touch the tiruttuzhAi on the shoulders.
ennalanum, enniraiyum, enSindaiyum, en varaiyum koNDu ennaiyALum koNDu—people who want to renounce give away everything that they possess as dAna. Here He has taken away everything that I possess to own it for Himself.
nalan—guNas. Here Atma guNas such as achcham, maDam, nANam and payirppu and also physical guNas like beauty, softness, youth, etc (nANam—to feel shy to do bad actions; achcham—to fear even small things; maDam—to be simple and plain even though very learned; payirppu—to feel disgust when even the dress of another man touches you).
parakAla nAyaki adds ‘en’ to each word to stress each item. ‘I should have taken away His pouruSha, His heart; His ornaments etc. as mine’.
ennaiyALum koNDu—Not only did He rob me everything of mine but made me His maid servant to carry those things on my head! Like a thief who robs a man of His possessions and asks him to carry them on his head to deposit them in His house. He had done this to me.
ennaiyALum koNDu—He made me His slave when He had samslESha ‘kommai mulaihaL iDarteera gOvindarkkOr kuttrEval (ANDAL)’
He told me ‘punalaranganoor’ so that I can exist. The idea is only if I exist He can rob me again! If I die He can't do that! A person who wants to torture his enemy doesn’t kill him makes him live so that he can torture him again and again. That is the reason He uttered the words ‘punalarangam oor’ as He went away. Not only did He say His oor is tiruvarangam He described the place too as ‘ponnalarnda narum Serundi pozhilinooDE’.
BaTTar would comment on this pASura ‘tirunahariyil ninrum kOyilaLavum Sella pozhilAi kiDandadO ennil oru kALa mEGam varShittukkoNDu pOhAninrAl kaNDaviDamengum taLirum muriyumahAdO’.
vikrama chOzha, a great tamizh poet and critic used to invite many vaiShNava and saiva pandits to his court and listen to the literary works. Once he asked the pandits to tell him a poet where the talaivi expresses the agony of separation. A vaiShNava pandit chanted this pASura and saiva pandit a pASura from saiva nool. The king expressed his appreciation over this pASura and said the talaivi’s feelings are best expressed this pASura than the other one.
(vaNdu vidu thUdhu)
26. tEmaruvu pozhiliDattu malarndapOdai
tEnadanai vAi maDattu un peDaiyum neeyum
poomaruvi inidamarndu poriyilArnda
arukAla SiruvaNDE tozhudEn unnai |
Amaruvi niraimEitta amararkOmAn
aNiyazhundoor ninrAnukku inrE Senru
neemaruviyanjAdE ninrOrmAdu
ninnayandAL enru iraiyE iyambikkANE || Twenty Six ||
Five pASuras starting from ‘maivaNNa narungunji are dialogue between the tOzhi and the talaivi. The tOzhia asks her several questions for which talaivi answers. Now the tOzhi keeps quiet, as there is nothing more to ask. talaivi, however, is in the same condition. She now sends a messenger to emberumAn.
In Sreemad rAmAyaNa hanumAn, the monkey, was sent as a messenger by rAma to seeta. He successfully completed the task and came back. Here too parakAla nAyaki thinks she would send a bee as a messenger and hopes he would successfully accomplish the task.
In the first two lines she describes the ‘vaNDu’ in the last two lines she explains what he should do. She asks him to go to tiruvazhundoor Amaruviyappan and tell Him about her. The vaNDu is happily drinking the honey along with his mate. She asks him ‘How can you be so happy when I am sad?’ You are lying cozily in the flower after eating well. But for me ‘men malar paLLi vempaLLiyAlO’.
What might be the reason for his happiness? He is with his mate! That is why he is happy drinking honey and lying o a flower bed. She says ‘as for me, I am very sad. I don’t like flowers, don’t get any sleep, I have lost my complexion too. Oh! vaNDu! Will you make me also as happy as you ?’
The ‘bees’ are Sree vaiShNavas who drink the ‘honey’ called BagavadviShaya ‘(uLLam kanindu irukkum aDiyavar tangAL uLLattuL ooriya tEn’). They have a ‘vrata’ which is to drink the honey of kainkarya. ‘pOndadu en nenjam ennum ponvaNDu unadaDippOdil oN SeerAm teLitEn uNdu amarndiDa vENDi’. The BAgavatas have two wings. karma and jnAna—that take them to the height go BagavadanuBava. They drink the honey of the flowers called vEda and SAstra.
parakAla nAyaki asks such Sree vaiShNavas to go to emberumAn, do puruShakAra and ask Him to take her as one of His aDiyArs, allow her to do Bagavat kainkarya.
arukAla SiruvaNDE tozhudEn unnai—Why should she mention that it has six legs which is a known fact? Some AchAryas used to comment ‘She wants him to go fast and give the message’. BaTTar comments—‘whether it has two legs or six legs doesn’t matter. Since it is not going by walking; it is going to fly. So the idea is she wants him to give the message on her behalf and make Him come to her. If this is accomplished she would place the legs of the vaNDu on her head (the words tozhudEn unnai follows). Hence this interpretation becomes to be valid. ‘engAnal aham kazhivAi irai tErndu inginidu amarum sengAla maDa nArAi tirumoozhikkaLattu uraiyum kongAr nungAlhaL en talai mEl kezhumeerO numarODE’—tiruvAimozhi.
SiruvaNDE—‘you are small. It is easy for you to go anywhere unawares, settle on His tiruttuzhAi mAla worn on ‘tOLiNai mElum nan mArbin mElum SuDar muDi mElum tALinai mElum punainda taNNanduzhAi’. you can talk on Him. you need not take the trouble to shrink your form (as hanumAn had to do) you are fortunate to be born as a ‘vaNDu’ and that too a Siru vaNDu.
The bee was in a state of ecstasy since he was drunk and lying with his mate on a flower. So she had to call him loudly ‘Oh! poomaruvi inidarndu poriyilArnda arukAla Siru vaNDE----‘get up!’ The bee suddenly wakes up and stares at her blankly. She tells him ‘tozhudEn unnai’. ‘Oh! bee! If you accomplish this task for me I shall keep your feet on my head not his tiruvaDi. I fall at your feet now. you are my AchArya who is going to do puruShakAra’.
bee—‘Oh! nAyaki! Why should You fall at my feet? Tell me what I should do.’
nAyaki—‘take a message from me to the amararkOn’
bee—‘What!Isnt He the Lord of the nitya sooris? How can I go near Him?’
nAyaki—‘you are right. He is no doubt the amararkOn very difficult to go near by. But He is Amaruvi nirai mEitta amararkOn. He set aside His paratva to graze the cattle of AyarpADi. He mingled freely with the shepherds as kriShNa. Hence you need not hesitate’.
bee—‘But nAyaki! Those days are gone. What do I do now?’
nAyaki—He is now in aNiyazhundoor. During kriShNAvatAra He controlled the cattle; now in tiruvazhundoor He controls the people who are like cattle. Go and see Him there.
When emberumAn left He said ‘SEluhaLum tiruvarangam namoor’ ‘punalarangam namoor’. Why does nAyaki ask the vaNDu to go to tiruvarangam yet and is still there taking rest. (or) He had gone to tiruvarangam which is surrounded by ‘ponnArnda narum Serundi pozhilinooDE’. He did not want to stay there all alone. He missed His nAyaki. So He must have returned and now is in tiruvazhundoor catching a brief rest.
ninrAnukku—He is in tiruvazhundoor waiting for a message from parakAla nAyaki from tiruvAli tirunahari.
inrE Senru—‘don’t say tomorrow because I won't live to see th morrow. If I am not there He too won't sustain His life. If both of us cease to exist will the world be there? You too would not exist. Who will go as messenger to whom? So it must be today or never.
nee maruvi—He is Amaruviyappan who grazed the cattle. Since You also belong to the animal species you can easily approach Him. You need not ear Him as I feared. ‘avarai dEvar enru anjinOmE’.
anjAdE ninru—you need have no fear. Just go near Him and feel free as a servant from the queen’s harem would approach a king without hesitation.
Or mAdu nin nayandAL enru—‘What should I tell Him?’ asked the vaNDu. She replies ‘go and tell Him ‘Or mAdu nin nayandAL enru’. You need not mention my name He will understand who it is if You say ‘Or mAdu’
If a person tells a hunter that there is a wounded deer in the forest the hunter knows who it is since it is he who hit the deer.
nin nayandAL—It is enough to say ‘Or mAdu’. If you want to add anything say ‘nin nayandAL’ (she loved You).
The suggested meaning is—there is a girl who loved You but was killed by You. Or mAdu has not loved any mean fellow but a paramapuruSha. Her love is not for His paratva, nor for His vyooha, nor for His viBavAvatAra not for the antaryAmi but for an archAmoorti alone who deserves all kinds of Bakti.
iraiyE iyambikAN—you need not make a long speech. Just say ‘or mAdu’. He will know who you are, who has sent you, what your message is. He would embrace you before you finish the message like rAma embraced hanumAn ‘yESha sarvasvaBootastu pariShvangO hanoomatah’.
(nArai vidu thUdhu)
27. SengAla maDanArAi inrESenru
tirukkaNNapuram pukku en SengaNmAlukku
en kAdal en tuNaivarkku uraittiyAhil
iduvoppademakku inbamillai nALum |
paingAnam eedellAm unadEyAha
pazhanameen kavarnduNNa taruvan tandAl
ingEvandu inidirundu un peDaiyum neeyum
irunilattil inidinbam eidalAmE || Twenty Seven ||
parakAla nAyaki sent a bee as messenger in the last pASura. She could not wait till he returns: Now she sends a ‘nArai’ (crane) as a messenger.
Sree rAma sent numerous monkeys in all directions to search for seeta. Similarly parakAla nAyaki sends whatever she sees to emberumAn as messenger. ‘dikShu sarvAsu mArgantE’. Because of rAma pirAn the animals got the honour; because of parakAla nAyaki the bird race get the honour.
sengAla maDa nArAi—emberumAn used to appreciate her beauty and the redness of her legs during samslESha. She remembers that when she sees the red legs of the nArai ‘Ah! Such beautiful legs! How sad I have to send him walking to carry my message’. It is like using the beautiful fresh flower garland, twisting it like a ring to used it as a head load to keep a heavy basket on it.
nArAi—is an expression which is like calling the mother as ‘ammE’ with all love and affection. The nAyaki’s face brightened on seeing hanumAn return from lanka on the banks of river pampa.
When she calls him affectionately ‘Oh! sengAla maDa nArAi’ it comes near her as if to ask ‘what can I do for you ‘inrE Senru’ etc. ‘you start immediately. (inrE Senru). My state is similar to seeta pirATTi’s ‘na cha seetA svaya heenA na chAhamapi rAGava muhoortamapi jeevAvO jalAt matsyAvivOdhutau’ and His state is like rAma’s ‘na jeevEyam kShaNamapi vina tAm asitEkShaNAm’. Therefore you should start immediately. ‘Where to?’
‘to tirukaNNapuram’.
In the last pASura she sent the bee to tiruvazhundoor. Now she sends the nArai to tirukaNNapuram. Why this confusion? perhaps He had started post haste unhearing the bee’s message. Now He would have reached tirukkaNNapuram.
It should be understood that it doesn’t matter what divya dESa is, the point to be noted is she wants to send a message to archa moorti.
‘How can I know Him in tirukkaNNapuram?’
en SengANmAlukku—He is puNDareekAkSha. His eyes reveal all thelove He has for me. ‘kariyavahi puDai parandu miLirndu SevvariyOdi neeNDa apperiyavAya kaNgaL ennai pEdamai SeidanavE’ (tiruppANAzhwAr). you will know Him as soon as you see His eyes which dove me crazy.
en tuNaivarkku—He is my only succour. Though He is far from me His guNAnuBava makes me survive. He is the only medicine to cure my disease even though He is the cause for it. ‘eruttu koDiyAnum piramanum indiranum maTTrum eruttarum ippiravi ennum nOikku marundarivArum illai’.
‘What shall I tell Him when I see Him?’
‘Tell Him there is a girl who is greatly in love with You. ‘The word ‘her love’ would suffice (en kAdal). He will understand the rest. ‘sollAdu ozhiyahillEn arinda sollil nummaDiyAr ellArODum okka eNNiyirundeer aDiyEnai nallAr ariveer teeyAr ariveer namakku ivvulahattu ellAm ariveer eedEyariyeer indaLooreerE’ (tirumangai AzhwAr). My love (en kAdal) is not like the love of all the others. It is not like that of mumukShus (desirous of mOkSha), not like that of nityasooris, not like that of ayarvarum amararhaL adhipadi (embeurman).
When someone says ‘BaratA’s nOi;’ it is understood by all. Similarly it is ‘my nOi’.
uraittilyAhil—‘if you are able to speak. It is ‘if’ because anyone face to face with Him stand awestruck by His extraordinary form. Therefore, ‘Oh! nArAi! Steady yourself.
uraittiyAhil—the very purpose your mouth is to utter my message.
‘Will He surely come after hearing me?’
‘Whether He comes or not is immaterial to me. Yet you give Him my message. Since He is parama chaitanya He cannot but heed them. He will positively come here.
uraittiyAhil idu oppadOr inbam emakku illai—I shall be extremely pleased if you convey the message, and going to meet Him on my behalf fives me extreme pleasure.
Oh! nArAi! you should without saying ‘no’ accept my gift, which I give You as a token of my gratitude. nALum paingAnam eedellam unadEyAha pazhana meen kavarnduNNa taruvan—I shall write in your name this vast ocean. I will collect all the fat fishes for you to eat. The inner meaning is—AzhwAr would gift all that is under the sky for the AchArya who does puruShakAra. ‘ponnulahALeerO’. What AchArya does for the SiShya is done in just one minute but the SiShya should feel the gratitude for his lifetime. He should offer the guru what he likes. (pazhana meer uNNa taruvan).
tandAl ingE vandu inidu irundu neegum un pEDaiyum irunilattil inidu inbam eidalAmE—Please accept my gift. you should stay with me. I feel happy on seeing you happy. I shall forget my loneliness.
(paRavaigaLaith thUdhu viduththa thalaivi thalaivan varak kANAmaiyAl
avanaip patRi Udal koNdu thOzhikkuk kURiya pAsuram)
28. tennilangai araNSidari avuNanmALa
Senrulaha moonrinaiyum tirindOr tErAl
mannilangu bAradattai mALavoornda
varaiyuruvin mAkaLiTTrai tOzhee entan |
ponnilangu mulai kuvaTTil pooTTikkoNDu
pOhAmai vallEnAi pulavi eidi
ennilangamellAm vandinbameida
eppozhudum ninaiduruhiyiruppan nAnE || Twenty Eight ||
nammAzhwAr in the tiruppadiham ‘vaihla poongazhivAi’ pleads emberumAn to come. But He doesn’t come. parAnkuSa nAyaki gets extremely angry at Him. Similarly here parakAla nAyaki gets angry. ‘I am at the peak of my agony. I have sent messenger to Him; I find good omen too to suggest good tidings; was very sure. He would come. But He hasn’t . Well! I won't talk to Him. Alas! A vislESha always follows samslESha. Even if He come He will go away again. I am not ready for still another vislESha, and undergo repeatedly all that I had undergone so far. Hence I shall die right in front of Him, so that I can have an end of all sufferings.
A person who wants to die will like to have all the sense pleasures for the last time. Similarly she is very clear in her ideas, not at all confused, perplexed and deluded. Even though she is melting with anger and sorrow she appeared calm and quiet outside.
The tOzhi doubts ‘how can our nAyaki be quiet and calm in such a situation? Something is definitely wrong. I shall ask her and find out’. She asks parakAla nAyaki ‘Oh! nangAi! What is in your mind? Tell me;’ She replies ‘if He comes I shall turn my face away. I have decided to put an end to myself right in front of Him’.
‘Oh! My god! Do you feel you can fight with a mountain? you are a mere woman. He is the Lord of uBaya viBooti. Do you think it is wise to fight with Him? ‘nalla en tOzhi nAhaNai miSai namparar selvar periyar Seer mANiDavar nam Seivaden’—so said ANDAL. You are a fool!
‘tOzhi! Just watch how His praButva is going to suffer in my hands!’
tOzhi is much worried about her and thinks she should find a way to stop her from doing any drastic action. So she says ‘nangAi! Don’t you know He has Asrita pakShapAta? (bias towards His Baktas). He is the one who ruined the city of lanka for the sake of pirATTi He is the one who measured all the worlds after begging three feet of land from mahAbali for the sake of indra. He is the one who drove the chariot of arjuna in the mahABArata yuddha for the sake of His friend’.
‘Yes. I know all these. They are done out of some selfish motives? tOzhee! I don’t go back on my decision to die!.
tennilangai aran Sidari—She calls Him ‘varaiyuruvin mA kaLiru’. He is a mad wild elephant who kicks, crushes, smashes, destroys, kills everything as His way. So also emberumAn as a ‘madakaLiru’ killed Kara and dooShaNa; killed vAli with an arrow; went to the sea to bind the sea god (build a bridge), crossed to lanka, ruined the whole city, mercilessly destroyed the rAkShasa clan including the king (rAvaNa). nangAi! Didn’t He do all this for the sake of a woman?’
nAyaki replies sarcastically ‘He would do anything for a woman! humbly!
ulaham moonrinaiyum tirindu—Like a ‘madakaLiru’ that stamps His foot on everything, He placed His tiruvaDi on all alike in trivikrama avatAra. The tOzhi says ‘nangAi! He is the sea of mercy. That is why He placed His tiruvaDi on the heads of even those having anyaSEShatva (dAsas to those other than Him) and swatantra pratipatti (having swatantra buddhi)’.
‘Yes! I know Him! He would place His tiruvaDi on those having anyaSEShatva and swatantra pratipatti but not on those like one who know nothing but Him! ‘aDichchiyem talai miSai nee aNiyAi AzhiyangaNNA un kOlappAdam’. Or tErAl mannilangu bAradattai mALa oorndu—
duryOdhana asked kriShNa not to take up arms in the BArata yuddha. He did not ask Him not to drive a chariot! Hence kriShNa drove the chariot of arjuna and caused the destruction of foes. tOzhi says ‘all this He did for the sake of droupadi’.
‘Yes! I know Him! All these that He did for pANDavas is to show the world that the is very compassionate, He is very humble etc. It is not the real picture. His true nature is what He is towards me!
enran ponnilangu mulai kuvaTTil pooTTikkoNDu—‘tOzhi! I heave got a brahmAstra. I make use of it. I shall tie the mad elephant (embeurman) to a pillar (my breasts) so that the will not go anywhere. Like yaSOda who bound Him with a cord to a mortar I shall bind Him tightly to my breasts. This is how I am going to punish Him who stole my heart and killed me. ‘kuTTramaTTra mulai tannai kumaran kOla paNaittOLODu attar kuTTram avai teera aNaiya amukki kaTTeerE’ (ANDAL).
vallEnAya—‘I shall certainly do it ‘if’ I can. Why ‘if’? because if He smiles at me I feel like falling at His feet! I therefore, shall ignore Him, turn my face away: tOzhi! Don’t support Him!
pulavi eidi—‘All the sufferings of me when He was away He should know. Therefore I am going to suffer when as before when He comes let Him understand and take pity on me!’ pulavi eidi—It is interpreted as—‘all the sufferings that I had let Him also experience when I am there.’
ennil angamellAm vandu inbam eida—there was samslESha, now there is vislESha. Again there is going to be samslEsha follwed by vislESha. This has been going on. This is my fate. I cannot experience anymore duhKa. Therefore I shall die right before Him! Let all my avayavas like eyes, hands, legs, breasts—die! Like a poor brAmaNa with a large family cannot bear to see his family members suffer due to hunger tries to kill all of them and finally kills himself, I shall do the same. tOzhi! Don’t even think I will change my mind after seeing Him. I certainly mean what I say’.
parakAla nAyaki is at the peak of praNaya rOSha. This state is called parama Bakti—the highest state of Bakti.
(aduththa iraNdu pAsurangkaL - AzhvAr thAmAna thanmaiyil aruLich seydhavai)
29. anru Ayar kulahamahaLukku araiyan tannai
alaikaDalaikkaDaindu aDaittu ammAn tannai
kunrAha valiyarakkar kOnaimALa
koDunjilaivAi Sarandurandu kulangaLaindu |
venrAnai kunreDutta tOLinAnai
viritiraineer viNNaharam maruvinALum
ninrAnai taNkuDandai kiDandamAlai
neDiyAnai aDinAyEn ninaindiTTEnE || Twenty Nine ||
In the last pASura nAyaki determined to punish Him when He comes. But He didn’t come. How can she punish Him? She calls loudly, cries and shouts. She cries calling His archAvatAras and viBavAvatAras. nammAzhwAr too does the same in the padiha ‘muniyE nAn muhanE’.
anru Ayar kula mahaLukku araiyan tannai—araiyan means arasan (king). He is the Lord of nappinnai pirATTi, daughter of an Ayar.
alai kaDalai kaDaindiTTa ammAn tannai—He churned the pArkaDal for the sake of pirATTi. Didn’t He churned for the sake of dEvas who wanted nectar? No. The main purpose is to get periya pirATTi for Himself. The secondary objective was to get amruta for dEvas. viNNavar amuduNNa amudil varum peNNamudu uNDa emberumAnE’—tirumangai AzhwAr.
kunrAda vali arakkar kOnai mALa—The nature of the rAkShasas is to torture others haughty as they are due to varabala (boons) and Bujabala(might). rAvaNa is the chief of such rAkShasas. rAma killed him with His bow and arrows bringing great relief to the dEvas and others.
kulam kaLaindu—Uprooting the rAkShasa kula. But a question arises—didn’t He spare viBeeShaNa who is also a rAkShasa? Yes. The reasons are—according to rAvaNa; viBeeShaNa is not at all a rAkShasa since he has sAtvik nature; according to AzhwAr viBeeShaNa is not a rAkShasa by guNA; according to emberumAn he is one of His dAsas. This is the siddhAnta of vAlmeeki too. This is explained in detail in Sree vachana BooShaNa.
rAvaNa caused trouble to dEvas and others; not all the rAkShasas idd that. Then why should rAma kill the whole race? The answer is—if one person in a family does ananya Bakti to Him his family for generations past and future get His anugraha; if on the other hand, one person offends Him His family for generation past and future get the punishment. Because of one person rAvaNa the whole rAkShasa race got killed. ecause of one dAsa sugreeva the whole of vAnara race got His anugraha. ‘kESavan tamar keezh mEl emar EzhEzhu pirappum mAsadiridu peTTru nammuDai vahzuvu vaikkinravA’.
kunreDutta tOLinAi—kriShNa was born in Ayar kula. Hence any threat to His kinsmen He hastened to their rescue. parakAla nAyaki says ‘there is nothing great about it. If He hastens to me there it is a feather to His cap’.
viritirai neer viNNaharam mEvi nALum ninrAnai—tiruviNNahar is called oppiliyappan sannidhi. It is one of the chOzha nATTu tiruppadis. He is there to shower His anugraha to those who came after His viBavAvatAra. He stands in tiruviNNahar (ninrAnai); He lies in tirukkuDandai (tiukkuDandaiyuL kiDandAnai) When He stands He seems to be ready to go anytime. When He lies He appears to stay there for ever. But in tiruviNNahar He seems to stay for ever (nALum mEvi ninrAn) as if to say ‘I will not stir from this place till the samsAra is over for all the jeevas.’
mAlai—He is infatuated by His aDiyArs and in turn infatuate them. ‘mAlA piranda nambiyai mAlE Seyyum maNALanai’.
neDiyAnai—He who is like this is far away from me!
aDinAyEn ninaindiTTEnE—As there is no upper limit to His paratva there is no lower limit to my ‘lowness’. I am as low as a dog who enters wherever he finds the open doors and roams as he pleases. me, who is mean like this should desire Him! ‘ammAn AzhippirAn avan evviDattAn yAnAr emmApAviyarkkum vidivAikkinru vAikkum kaNDeer! I sincerely wish the sambandha between Him and me should continue by god’s grace (ninaindiTTEn).
mangaLam
30. minnu mAmazhai tavazhum mEhavaNNA
viNNavar tamperumAnE aruLAi enru
annamAi munivarODu amararEtta
arumaraiyai veLippaDutta ammAn tannai |
mannumAmaNimADa mangaivEndan
mAnavEl parakAlan kaliyan Sonna
panniyanool tamizhmAlai vallAr tollai
pazhavinaiyai mudalariyavallAr tAmE || Thirty ||
This last pASura is Pala Sruti sung as AzhwAr himself. He says those who sing these pASuras will certainly get rid of their anAdi pApas as I did.
minnum mA mazhai tavazhum mEGa vaNNA—Oh! emberumAn! You are like kALa mEGa that thunders loudly with brilliant lightning. periyavAchchAn piLLai—‘aDinAyEn ninaindiTTEnE enra ivaruDaiya Arta nAdattai kETTu ivaruDaiya tApamellAm neengumpaDiyAha kuLira nOkkikkoNDu kALamEGaniBa ShyAmamaAna vaDivODu vandu muham kATTina paDiyai Solluhiradu’.
viNNavar tam perumAnE—He who is minnum mA mazhai tavazhum mEGavaNNan is the adhipadi of ayarvarum amararhaL. AzhwAr says ‘there is nothing great about Your anugraha to them. It is raining over the ocean and giving drinking water to the fish!’ You should do anugraha to me that I too should experience the nityAnuBava like them (aruLAi).
tirumangai AzhwAr who carries a mAnavEl sings these pASuras. ‘arasamaindAn aDi SooDum arasaiyallAl arasAha eNNEn maTTrarasu tAnE’—kulaSEKara AzhwAr.
This prabandha is called ‘mAlai’ since it is worn on the heads by BAgavatas and BagavAn.
Those who read these pASuras certainly will get rid of all their pApas and do nitya kainkarya to Him.
tiruneDundANDaham sampoorNam
tirumangai AzhwAr tiruvaDihaLE SaraNam
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