srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImadh varavaramunayE nama:
When they saw krishNan following their request by getting up from his bed to go to his royal throne (singhAsanam), gOpikAs forgot what they came for and enjoyed his beautiful walk; they start singing pallANdu (may you live forever) for that walk. Till seeing him one may think – “I want this, I want that”; after seeing him all they can think of is about him and his well-being.
As krishNan sits on the throne with nappinnai pirAtti, they touch His lotus feet and pray to Him. Seeing his soft feet, they say that long ago for the dhEvas’ own needs these feet walked and measured the worlds, and today we too asked him to get up and walk and have we become same as those dhEvas in making him walk? – They sing pallANdu to him – pORRi.
அன்று இவ்உலகம் அளந்தாய் அடிபோற்றி
சென்றங்குத் தென்இலங்கை செற்றாய் திறல்போற்றி
பொன்றச் சகடம் உதைத்தாய் புகழ்போற்றி
கன்று குணில் ஆ வெறிந்தாய் கழல்போற்றி
குன்று குடையாய் எடுத்தாய் குணம்போற்றி
வென்று பகைகெடுக்கும் நின்கையில் வேல்போற்றி
என்றென்றுன் சேவகமே ஏத்திப் பறைகொள்வான்
இன்றுயாம் வந்தோம் இரங்கேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.
anRu ivvulagam aLandhAi adi pORRi
senRanguth then ilangai cheRRAi thiRal pORRi
ponRach chakatam udhaiththAi pugazh pORRi
kanRu kuNilAi eRindhAi kazhal pORRi
kunRu kudaiyAi eduththAi guNam pORRi
venRu pagai kedukkum nin kaiyil vEl pORRi
enRenRun sEvagamE Eththip paRai koLvAn
inRu yAm vandhOm iRangu ElOrempAvAi
Word by Word Meaning
anRu – long ago that time (when indhiran and others suffered due to mahAbali)
aLandhAi ivvulagam – Oh you who measured these worlds! (with two steps)
adi – (those) divine feet (of yours)
pORRi – shall live for many years and more years (pallANdu pallANdu);
angu – in the place where rAvaNan lived
senRu – (you) went (எழுந்தருளி)
cheRRAi then ilangai – Oh you who destroyed the lanka of the south! (which is his country)
thiRal – (your) strength
pORRi – shall live for many years;
chakatam – chakatAsuran
udhaiththAi chakatam ponRa – Oh you, who kicked that chakatam (chakatAsuran) and destroyed!
pugazh – (your) valor
pORRi – shall live for a long time;
kanRu – vathsAsuran who stood as a calf
kuNilA – was used as a throwing staff (pole),
eRindhAi – Oh you who threw (at the asura who took the form of a fruit (viLAnkani / விளாங்கனி) (எறிந்தருளியவனே!)
kazhal – your thiruvadi (lotus feet – which stood ground)
pORRi – shall live for a long time;
eduththAi – Oh you who lifted
kunRu – gOvardhana mountain
kudaiyA – as an umbrella / shelter!
guNam – your characteristics (like sauseelyam, etc.,)
pORRi – should stay for years together;
nin kaiyil vEl – the spear in your hands
venRu – that won (the enemies)
pagai kedukkum – and destroyed them (the opposition)
pORRi – should live for a long time;
enRu enRu – So doing such mangaLAsAsanam several times,
Eththi – to praise / sthOthram
un sEvagamE – about only your strength/valor,
yAm – we
vandhOm – came and reached
ingu/inRu – this place / today
paRai koLvAn – to get paRai (instrument (mOksham))
irangu – please show compassion (to help us).
Simple Translation
anRu ivvulagam aLandhAi adi pORRi
– (pallANdu to your feet which measured all the worlds that day (long ago))
anRu – that day (long ago) – when indhiran was suffering after king mahAbali stole the worlds from him (they are actually yours)
inRu – today – when we are suffering because of separation from you; when we got out of our sthrIthvAbhimAnam (from the thought that as woman one should not go to you (you should have come to us))
anRu – when you so easily made yourself available to everyone (as thrivikraman) by touching everyone’s head – you did dhULi dhAnam to them all (when giving lots of things to people one would shake their hands to give all the remaining small particles sticking in their hands too);
inRu – today you have to do dhULi dhAnam to us your beauty and grace; that is how krishNan and vAmanan would be similar.
ivvulagam aLandhAi – pirAttis would carefully touch your thiruvadi (lotus feet) treating them like flowers, but you took pains to measure all of this world – this world containing rugged land! That day you walked to mahAbali and got back the worlds for indhiran, and today you are walking for us, saving us from our separation from you.
adi pORRi – just by our requesting Him, krishNan is walking to his royal singhAsanam using his sukumAramAna thiruvadi (soft and pampered feet) – they are singing pallANdu for his thiruvadi for walking to mahAbali and measuring the worlds;
you took only two steps when you measured the worlds, but today you are taking 8-10 steps for us! (பத்தெட்டடி). When you measured the worlds that day, indhiran went back with some benefit (other than you), mahAbali got your generosity; we did not get anything (that is, you) that day, so to reduce that angst we sing pallANdu today.
adi pORRi – they are of the type who say ‘un sevvadi sevvi thirukkAppu‘ (thiruppallANdu – 1).
senRu angu then ilangai cheRRAi thiRal pORRi
That is, whom you could not win by your beauty you won by your arrows.
senRu angu – like going to the place where a tiger is sleeping and then waking it up and killing it, you went there to the place where that fellow was residing who separated pirAtti from you.
senRu – also, while on his way to ilangai, like (easily) walking over sand castles and destroying them, he killed other asuras like karan, kabandhan, and the like who were troubling the sanyAsis in the forest.
The gOpikAs stare at kaikEyi who caused that walk by foot.
angu – unlike thrivikraman standing in one place and measuring all the worlds like how a flower would blossom standing in one place, you walked in the dangerous and rough forest with your soft lotus feet?! “We are even more concerned about this than the thrivikrama avathAram”; “எவ்வாறு நடந்தனை எம் இராமா! ஓ!” / evvARu nadandhanai em irAmA! O! – (perumAL thirumozhi 9-2) – How were you able to walk like that, Oh my dear rAmA?!) “. Fearing for His safety is in their lineage (AzhwArs).
then ilangai – with beautiful palaces and protections, a place of arakkars assembled like a wasps’ nest, who trouble noble people.
cheRRAi – those who trouble your adiyArs are your enemies whom you win one way or other.
(On the day before the last day of war, when rAvaNan lost his weapons, chakravarthy thirumagan told him to go back for that day and come back next day (inRu pOi nALai vArAi) – reason for this is that perumAL hoped that he would come next day realizing his mistake and would come with anjali (kai kUppi /கை கூப்பி) – perumAn melts with affection when he sees someone doing anjali to Him ] – but that did not happen from rAvaNan next day, so perumAL had to kill him and release the AthmA from the body.)
thiRal pORRi – like building a protective wall for a compound wall, these girls are singing thirupallANdu for his strength/valor (மிடுக்கு). They sing pallANdu due to their lineage who sang ‘mallANda thiN thOL maNivaNNA‘; they are the ones who sing “ilangai pAzhALAgap padai porudhAnukkup pallANdu kURudhum”
Even maNdOdhari while having lost her husband, praised perumAL after seeing his greatness and considered him as the protector.
ponRach chakatam udhaiththAi pugazh pORRi
There is even more danger to krishNan, compared to just saying about rAvaNan as enemy. At least in the case of chakravarthy thirumagan, He had reached the right age when he fought with rAvaNan. In this case, krishNan was just a baby which would not even know what is going on. rAvaNan came in front of perumAL to fight, but here everything is hidden in things, animals, toys, fruits, etc. So the gOpikas are much more worried about this.
ponRa – unlike mArIchan or sUrpaNaka who created trouble for perumAL even after their first encounter, krishNan completely finished chakatAsuran.
udhaiththAi – For perumAL the marks are in his hands holding his bows; for krishNan it is the marks in his feet kicking the chakatam.
pugazh pORRi – the greatness of casually kicking and killing chakatAsuran when his dear mother could not help him (due to her absence) – pallANdu to that greatness. Without inquiring about anything you kicked him and killed him. (Compare this to killing the enemies with the help of a big army).
pORRi – this is about something even more dangerous to perumAn than the previous case. In the previous case of rAma avathAram, the father was a great warrior who could fight sambaran a dhEva; country the great thiru ayOdhyai; learned people like vasishtar were present; ministers were like very wise sumanthirar; the boys there easily killed many asuras; but, here in thiruvAyppAdi, parents, innocent cowherds; place, a small village; ones who are there to give any advice, young cowherd samsAris; enemies, kamsan and his asuras; in srI brindhAvanam even very small budding plants may turn out to be rakshasas trying to kill dear krishNan; elder brother is of the type who in a fraction of a second slips and falls inside the snake’s mouth; there is no dearth of danger for krishNan from asuras – so the only protection for him is mangaLAsAsanam (pallANdu / pORRi).
kanRu kuNilAi eRindhAi kazhal pORRi
At least in the previous one (chakatam), one might think that the baby did that by accident/coincidence. But as you grew some more, you killed the asuran who came in the form of a calf, and you made that act very famous (our worry is that if many people come to know about it, it might reach kamsan’s ears and he might know where you are living).
You used the calf (asuran who came in that form) as a throwing pole and threw it on the other asuran who was in the form of viLA fruit and killed them both. These gOpikas are getting afraid what would have happened if those two (vathsAsuran and kapiththAsuran) had an understanding with each other to fall together on krishNan!
kazhal – kAppu for lotus feet. They are singing pallANdu to the feet which stuck to the ground for killing the two asuras.
kunRu kudaiyAy eduththAi guNam pORRi
You lifted the gOvardhana giri to save the people from indhiran’s rain, but did not kill indhiran (and forgave him) as you thought he is doing all these only because he is too hungry – pallANdu to your guNam.
In the first line of the pAsuram they talked about what perumAn did to help indhiran, and in this line they are talking about how that indhiran forgot all that help and created trouble for krishNan’s people.
At least in the previous cases it is the enemies that gave trouble; now the trouble came from someone whom you had helped. This is even more dangerous to you; saying so, they are even more supportive of perumAn‘s thiruvadi, and they sing pORRi. When it comes to perumAn‘s pallANdu, there is no difference between how they see asuras and dhEvas.
perumAn thought, ‘indhiran is not an enemy, he is pouring so much rain because he is not able to withstand his hunger; let us protect these cows and people with the gOvardhan”; pallaNdu to your great guNam of protecting those who depend on you, with a soft heart (Anrusamsyam / ஆந்ருஸம்ஸ்யம்).
guNam pORRi – when it was raining you were holding gOvardhan for so long that your hands would have become so tired – you stood there for such a long time – we sing pallANdu to that great guNam. You patiently stood there holding gOvardhan thinking that indhiran would get tired of pouring rain, like how when her baby pinches her she would think that it would stop whenever its hands would tire, and so the mother would give herself for baby to continue pinching.
that rain – our vishaya prAvaNyam due to ahankAram that comes from agyAnam
your lifting the mountain – creating in us the prAvaNyam (interest) in kainkaryams that follow what is accepted in vEdhas, and he being the protector of such prapannas.
venRu pagai kedukkum nin kaiyil vEl pORRi
After the rain stopped, he put down the mountain and took the spear in his hands to save the cows in case any lions came across. So they are supporting his act of taking up the spear and saving everyone.
Fearing that others will put ‘kaN echchil’ (dhrushti – casting of eye – ‘being jealous/upset looking at the greatness of krishNan’), they are now saying that all these tasks were done only by that sharp spear in your hand – shifting those people’s attention away from krishNan. ‘ivvEl anRO iv vyApAram ellAm paNNiRRu’ / ‘இவ்வேலன்றோ இவ்யாபாரமெல்லாம் பண்ணிற்று’ என்கிறார்கள்.
– This is what her father also said in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi (1-1-9) imagining himself to be yasOdhai : first he sang: ‘kidakkil thottil kizhiya udhaiththidum‘, that is ‘this kaNNan baby when lying down, kicks his legs So much that his bed (bassinet) might tear’, but then to avoid others’ ‘kaN echchil’ about his strength and wellness (s)he changed their focus saying ‘midukku illAmaiyAl nAn melindhEn‘, that is, “I don’t have enough strength to handle all these and I became lean”.
vEl – like his father who is a ‘kUr vEl kodum thozhilan‘ (1), krishNan has got a spear too.
venRu pagai kedukkum – enemies of adiyArs are won over and demolished.
nin kaiyil vEl pORRi – since the spear is also His, they are singing mangaLAsAsanam to it too (out of affection towards Him; for his safety). Father too sang, ‘vadivAr sOdhi valaththu uRaiyum sudar Azhiyum pallANdu‘, that is, pallANdu to perumAn‘s weapons/decoration.
nin kaiyil vEl – ‘while we are supposed to do Arathi (to remove ‘kaN echchil’/dhrushti) for just your beauty even when you are not even holding anything in your hands, the beauty is even more with how you are holding the spear’ so they sing pallANdu for that.
kaiyil vEl – it does not even have to touch the enemies, just your holding it will finish them.
jIyar (nanjIyar) said: Like building a dam quite after the water has drained out of the river, this father and daughter have taken up singing pallANdu for his avathArams that happened long ago, long after perumAn had gone back safely to srI vaikuntam. This is all what they know to do.
(srIvachana bhushaNam: / ஸ்ரீவசந பூஷணம்:
athItha kAlangaLil apadhAnangaLukku uththara kAlaththilE vayir eRivadhu… / அதீத காலங்களில் அபதானங்களுக்கு உத்தர காலத்திலே வயிரெறிவது..).
gyAna vibhAga kAryamAna agyAnaththAlE varumavai ellAm adik kazhanju peRum / ஞான விபாக கார்யமான அஞ்ஞானத்தாலே வருமவையெல்லாம் அடிக்கழஞ்சு பெறும்.
mangaLasAsanam svarUpa viruthdham anRo ennil, gyAna dhasaiyil rakshya rakshaka bhAvam than kappilE kidakkum, prEma dhasaiyil thattu mARik kidakkum; avan svarUpaththai anusandhiththAl avanaik kadagAgak koNdu thannai nOkkum – saukumAryaththai anusandhiththAl thannaik kadagAgak koNdu avanai nOkkum / மங்களாசாஸநம் ஸ்வரூப விருத்தமன்றோ வென்னில், ஞான தசையில் ரக்ஷ்ய ரக்ஷக பாவம் தன் கப்பிலே கிடக்கும், ப்ரேம தசையில் தட்டுமாறிக் கிடக்கும்; அவன் ஸ்வரூபத்தை அநுஸந்தித்தால் அவனைக் கடகாகக் கொண்டு தன்னை நோக்கும் – ஸௌகுமார்யத்தை அநுஸந்தித்தால் தன்னைக் கடகாகக் கொண்டு அவனை நோக்கும்.
enRenRun sEvagamE Eththip paRai kOLvAn
Singing pallAndu to you is the benefit we are seeking.
enRu enRu : Repeatedly; After saying ‘pallANdu’, these people want to say ‘pallANdu‘ again (thirupallANdu (1)). Even after going to srI vaikuntam, they would ‘sUzhndhirundhu (all staying there surrounding him)’ say the same thing (thirupallANdu (12)). They too repeat pORRI in this pAsuram, ‘adi pORRi, thiRal pORRi, pugazh pORRi, kazhal pORRi, guNam pORRi, vEl pORRi’.
samsAris like to get something from others, and also like to get something from perumAn; but these srIvaishNavas won’t do anything to get something in return from other people, nor would they do something to get something back from their perumAn – instead they wish to do kainkaryam to perumAn, and ‘Andhanaiyum kai kAtti‘ (2) show others too the way to get perumAn.
They will give one or hundred thousand to him (onRu nURayiramAk koduththu pinnum ALum seivan – nAchchiAr thirumozhi 9-7), and when they see perumAn happily taking it, they will do ‘Andhanaiyum kai kAtti‘ and pay him wages for accepting their kainkaryam (srIvachana bhUshaNam – koduththuk koLLAdhE, kondaththukkuk kaik kUli kodukka vENum; thAn kai ElAdhE avanaik kai Erkkap paNNugai. / ஸ்ரீவசந பூஷணம் – கொடுத்துக் கொள்ளாதே, கொண்டத்துக்குக் கைக்கூலி கொடுக்க வேணும்; தான் கையேலாதே அவனைக் கையேற்கப் பண்ணுகை.)
un sEvagamE Eththi – to praise/highlight by telling the stories of your valor, to enjoy and experience you.
Eththip paRai koLvAn – we get our wish (to be with you), and then the elders need to get what they wanted (rain).
singing about your parathvam and sowlabhyam is our kainkaryam.
inRu
Today, when we agree (that we are your property);
Today, when you are sleeping while we are awake and waiting for you; we didn’t come to you all these days, but we are here today; did we come yesterday or all the days earlier when the elders had separated us from you? we came only today when they have allowed us to meet you (for nOnbu/kainkaryam). [We don’t know whether they will allow tomorrow. We are here, Today.]
That day others (indhiran, pANdavas, and such) came to you asking for small things for their own benefit – you walked with your pampered, divine, lotus feet for them; they did not sing pallANdu to you. Today we think about those efforts of yours, and sing pallANdu for that, and for your walking for us Today.
inRi yAm vandhOm – we came without any means/benefit on our side.
yAm
We, who were suffering for a long time because of the elders (who kept us away from your thImbu (naughty activities)).
vandhOm
While the old women sleep, we came here due to our angst; our troubles will be removed by you.
yAm vandhOm – you feel terrible that you should have come and seen us first, but we came because of our angst.
irangu
Whatever efforts we took, nothing good would happen unless you take pity on us.
So is this the reason for doing pORRi six times in this pAsuram – to get him to take pity on us and help us? No – taking pity on us is His nature; to worry what might happen to Him is adiyAr’s nature (‘அவனுக்கு என் வருகிறதோ’).
anRu ivvulagam aLandhAi – inRu yAm vandhOm : That day you came searching for us in all the worlds, today we came here searching for you.
aLandhAi, then ilangai chERRAi, chakatam udhaiththAi – yAm vandhOm : Your pirAttis (AzhwArs) said ‘if thrivikraman comes’, ‘if kAkuththan (irAman) comes’, and ‘if kaNNan comes’. See the difference here – we came to you.
anRu ivvulagam aLandhAi, irangu – You happily measured the worlds that day with so much enthusiasm (uvandha uLLaththanAi (amalanAdhipirAn)/ உவந்த உள்ளத்தனாய்..(அமலனாதிபிரான்)). Today for us even if you don’t happily take us, please show at least your kindness.
aLandhAi, irangu; thennilangai cheRRAi, irangu; chakatam udhaiththAi, irangu; kunRu kudaiyAy eduththAi, irangu.
They live with the thought that their mangaLAsAsanam cannot be used by Him as the reason for helping them – it is not the means; only He should help, and that too only out of His kindness and compassion.
ElOrempAvAi – dear girl, think through well and follow us.
In this pAsuram they sing pallANdu to krishNan: You took so much efforts and walked everywhere to help dhEvas who came to you for their own benefit and who did not stop to sing pallANdu to you after that; to support you we sing pallANdu; looking at your beautiful and majestic walk we sing pallANdu for that; we sing pallANdu to your valor which is actually for the spear. (They forget what they came for after seeing his beauty… reminded of his efforts to save others, they sing pallANdu for his safety). பெரியாழ்வார் மகளிறே. After all isn’t she periyAzhwAr’s daughter?
{Singing pallANdu for perumAn is one of the best kainkaryams that one could do. Doing kainkaryams including singing and reciting AzhwArs‘ dhivya prabandhams in front of him for making perumAn happy, without expecting any benefits in return, without the thought that it is we who did it, is what ANdAL emphasizes in thiruppAvai.
This pAsuram is everyone’s favorite because people feel happy to say pORRi (pallANdu) to perumAn, because their svarUpam is active when they sing pallANdu. }
English translation raghurAm srInivAsa dhAsan
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