upadhEsa raththina mAlai – 11

srI:
srImathE satakOpAya nama:
srImathE rAmAnujAya nama:
srImath varavaramunayE nama:

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pAsuram 11

manniya seer mArgazhiyil kEttai inRu mAnilaththeer
en idhanukku ERRam enil uraikkEn – thunnu pugazh
mAmaRaiyOn thoNdaradippodi AzhvAr piRappAl
nAnmaRaiyOr koNdAdum nAL.                                                   11

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Word by word meaning

mAnilaththeer – Oh who are in this big world!
inRu – this today
manniya – is the well established
seer – glorious
mArgazhiyil – month of mArgazhi (mArgashIrsha)
kEttai – and star of kEttai (jyEshta).
en ennil – If you asked what
ERRam – is the glory
idhanukku – of this day,
uraikkiREn (uraikkEn) – I shall tell that to you;
It is,
thunnu – fittingly
pugazh – excellent,
mA – and glorious,
maRaiyOn – and most distinguished brAhmaNa,
that is, thoNdaradippodi AzhvAr’s,
piRappAl – incarnation, and because of that
nAn maRaiyOr – those who know the four vEdhas
koNdAdum – celebrate
nAL – this day.

vyAkyAnam

srI thoNdaradippodi AzhvAr’s incarnation day that is mArgazhi (mArgashIrsha) month’s kEttai (jyEshta) star day, is the day celebrated by parama vaidhikas (those who are expert followers of vEdhas), so advises maNavALa mAmunigaL to others.

manniya seer, etc – Fullness of glory for the month of mArgazhi is – ‘mAsAnAm mArgaseershOham [bhagavath gIthA – 10.35]’ (In the months, I am the mArgazhi), so it is a vaishNava month, ‘mArgazhith thingaL madhi niRaindha nannAL [thiruppAvai – 1]’, that is having the greatness of ANdAL’s incarnation in that month, also thiru adhyayana uthsavam starts during this month.

Moreover, through the prabandham of ‘thiruppaLLiyezhuchchi’, he wakes up periya perumAL, so this AzhvAr’s incarnation is the greatness for this month.

Also, manniya seerthis month is like an adjective to his star day kEttai, like how that month is the best of months, this could be said as, the best of star days is kEttai.

Like said as ‘viprANAm gyAnathOsrEshtam’ (best in knowledge, among the brAmhaNa), he who is having the glory of gyAnam (knowledge) being incarnated in this month/day is the glory for this month/day.

Since he is absolutely glorious as a thoNdaradippodi (~ devoted to His devotees), his incarnation day also would be glorious isn’t it? Like so the day that helps be among emperumAn and his devotees is this wonderful day!

mAnilaththIrSince he whose identity is subservience to His devotees, due to his incarnation this earth is having such connection; Oh those who are in such earth!

en idhanukku ERRam enil uraikkEn – If you asked, ‘When there are other star days in this month, what is the greatness of this star day?’, then listen to me explaining about that as I have known about its greatness.

thunnu pugazh mAmaRaiyOn – etc. – That is, he is having the greatness of ‘thuLapath thoNdAya thol seer [thirumAlai – 45]’ (~ greatness/subservience of making thiruththuzhAi (thuLasi) garland (for emperumAn)), and ‘kaRRinam mEyththa endhai kazhaliNaikkeezh – uRRa thirumAlai pAdum seer [thirumAlai thaniyan]’ (~ being able to create/sing about/under divine feet of my father that is emperumAn who herded the cows) – having immersed in such character due to doing these kainkaryams.

This AzhvAr is ‘mikka seerth thoNdar [periya thirumozhi 11.1.9] (~ a srIvaishNava, ananyaprayOjanar (not asking for anything else from emperumAn), isn’t it?

Also he makes ‘seyyum pasum thuLabath thozhil mAlai [rAmAnusa nURRanthAdhi – 13]’ (makes garland of thiruththuzhAi that becomes bright by the touch of thoNdaradippodi AzhvAr’s hand), isn’t it?

This is how his ‘aham sarvam karishyAmi’ is. [ayOdhyA kAntam 31-25]’ (iLaiya perumAL saying, ‘I will do every kainkaryam (in the forest)). It is this that is his rich glory. It is same as said in ‘mali pugazh vAnavar [thiruvAimozhi 4.2.11]’ (rich glory of nithyasUris).

mAmaRaiyOn – Reason for all this is that he is distinguished among the brAhmaNas who are involved in finding the meanings of vEdhas. As said in ‘vaidhikarE, meyppadiyAl un thiruvadich chUdum thagaimaiyinAr [thiruviruththam – 94]’ (vaidhikAs are by true ways keep your divine feet in their head), since he is a great vaidhika and is having tenacity/devotion in kainkaryam. It is this that is his well established glory.

mAmaRaiyOn, thoNdaradippodi AzhvAr – He got this name because the inner meaning of vEdhas, that is, being subservient to His devotees as said in ‘mikka vEdhiyar vEdhaththin ut poruL [kaNNinuNchiruththAmbu – 9]’. This is the way in which he affectionately lives by.

nambikku anbar thalai meedhu adippodi [AchArya hrudhayam – 153]’ (dust of the feet of devotees on his head), is how the glory of him who does according to what the devotees wish him to do (itta vazhakku).

AzhvAr piRappAlIt is his birth that is a (distinguished) birth; birth of rest are lowly only (due to karma?). Even though he thought of his birth as lowly when saying ‘en seivAn thOnRinEnE [thirumAlai – 26] ( (have not done anything good related to emperuman) why have I born?), he is divining so since he has born as an AzhvAr.

As said in ‘srushtasthvam vana vAsAya [ayOdhyA kAntam – 40-5]’ (You have born only to be living in the forest) {, this AzhvAr is born for serving other devotees only?}.

nAnmaRaiyOr koNdAdum nALAs he is being in this way, the vaidhikas similar to him who have understood the inner meanings of vEdham enthusiastically celebrate this day.

thoNdaradippodi AzhvAr - with emperumAnAr and maNavALa mAmunigaLthoNdaradippodi AzhvAr with those (emperumAnAr and mAmunigaL) who celebrate this day of his incarnation

mAmaRaiyOr – They are understanding and celebrating, which is matching with their birth.

So,

mAnilaththIr Oh! the people of this world, you also understand the greatness of this day, nurture it, and reach the true goal (ujjIviyungOL), is the meaning.

Further to this, this mArgazhi’s kEttai is also having the superiority that it is the day of incarnation of he who loved periya kOyil (srIrangam) and periya perumAL (srI ranganAthan), and who is having the eminence/honour of being an AchAryan of the lOkaguru (emperumAnAr) – that is periya nambi.

– – – – –

English Translation: raghurAm srInivAsa dhAsan

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