SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImath varavaramunayE nama:
avathArikai
Since AzhwAr spoke about krishNAvathAram [incarnation as krishNa] through mA vAy piLandha in the previous pAsuram, he becomes bewildered, being involved with that avathAram.
Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:
maganAgak koNdu eduththAL mANbAya kongai
aganAra uNban enRu uNdu maganaith thAy
thERAdha vaNNam thiruththinAy thennilangai
nIRAga eydhu azhiththaAy nI
Word by Word Meaning
thennilangai – the beautiful lankA
nIRu Aga – to be converted into ashes
eydhu – shooting arrows
azhiththAy – Oh one who destroyed
nI – you
magan Aga koNdu eduththAL – (in order to suckle you with affection) the one who took a form to make you as her child, such pUthanA’s
mANbu Aya kongai – beautiful bosom
agan Ara uNban enRu uNdu – saying that you would drink to your stomach’s content, thus drinking (her life along with her milk)
maganai – in your matter, as her child
thAy – yaSOdhA, your mother
thERAdha vaNNam – to be without trust
thiruththinAy – you carried out
vyAkyAnam
maganAgak koNdu eduththAL – pUthanA, carried you skilfully just as a real mother would lift her infant, without displaying any difference. While you were born in SrI mathurA, as the son of vasudhEvar, and grew up in thiruvAyppAdi (SrI gOkulam) as [nandhagOpar’s] son, puthanA also acted as if you were her child.
mANbAya kongai – her bosom looked beautiful, being filled up with milk, which was saturated with poison
agan Ara uNban enRu uNdu – Just as pUthanA lifted you [as her son] without displaying any difference, kaNNan (krishNa) also drank milk as if he were nursing from his mother’s bosom, without displaying any difference. His position was very much similar to pUthanA’s. Just like she could not sustain herself without nursing him, he too drank her milk as if he could not sustain himself without that. He drank such that his stomach would feel contented.
maganaith thAy thERAdha vaNNam thiruththinAy – you acted in such a way that your mother, yaSOdhA, will not have any trust in you. If someone says “son”, it will refer only to you, just as it would refer only to yaSOdhA if someone were to say “mother”. Just like it would refer to dhaSaratha chakravarthy if someone says “affection towards son”, this is similar to that. You acted in such a way that your mother would start fretting as to what would happen to you, seeing you drinking poisoned milk from a demonic woman. You acted such that she would fret thinking about this, even after you had grown up. Alternatively, you acted such that no mother would believe her son henceforth. In other words, you acted in such a way that after giving birth to you, your mother yaSOdhA was scared that she had lost you, since you were in the hold of pUthanA.
thiruththinAy – you touched her.
thennilangai nIRAga eydhu azhiththAy nI – The act of burning lankA to ashes was carried out when [SrI rAma had] matured into a man, displaying his valour. AzhwAr is worried that suckling pUthanA was done when he was still an infant, before maturing of age. Did he carry out that act when a parent would feel proud that his/her son had gone to the battlefield and would return victorious (like SrI rAma)? Did he not do that act of suckling pUthana, as an infant! If one were to think about rAmAvathAram, one could keep his hand on the chest (and be without any fear) just as it is mentioned in nAnmugan thiruvandhAdhi “kUrambanallAl” (no one other than the one with sharp arrows (SrI rAma)). You [referring to krishNa] who had the fame as mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam 44-7 “kIrthibhUthAm pathAkAm yO lOkE bhramayathi prabhU: kinnAma dhurlabhAm thasya” (what is it which cannot be attained by Sri rAma who let fly his flag called fame!), you who had carried out deeds with a bow in your hands, blowing lankA to smithereens, carried out an act which made your mother not trust her child.
We shall take up the 30th pAsuram next.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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