Daily Archives: February 24, 2021

SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

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avathArikai (Introduction)

In the previous pAsuram, she [the nAyaki] had said “thaLapperu nINmuRuval seyyavAya thadamulai vaLapperu nAdan madhusUdhan ennum”. Her mother says “What is surprising about her saying such words in her youthful state? Isn’t this how she has been thinking even in her childhood days?”

Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:

mulaiyO muzhumuRRum pOndhila moy pUnguzhal kuRiya
kalaiyO araiyillai nAvO kuzhaRum kadal maNNellAm
vilaiyO ena miLirum kaN ivaL paramE perumAn
malaiyO thiruvEngadam enRu kaRkinRa vAsagamE

Word-by-Word Meanings

mulaiyO – if one considers her bosom
muzhumuRRum –  even a little bit
pOndhila – have not sprouted
moy – being dense
pU – being beautiful
kuzhal – locks
kuRiya – are short
kalaiyO – if one considers her dress
araiyillai – has not been properly tied on the waist
nAvO – if one considers her tongue
kuzhaRum – will not be clear
kadal – surrounded by the ocean
maN ellAm – this entire earth
vilaiyO ena –  will it be the price (for the eyes)
kaN – the eye
miLirum – huge
perumAn – sarvESvaran’s
malaiyO – if one considers thirumalai
thiruvEngadam – it happens to be thiruvEngadam
enRu – saying so
kaRkinRa – learning
vAsagam – spoken word
ivaL paramE – is it apt for her in her state?

Simple Translation

The bosoms of this girl have not sprouted. Her locks which are dense and beautiful are short. The dress which she wears does not sit well on her waist. Her tongue has not grown out of her child-like gibberish way of speaking. However her eyes are sparkling such that one could say that even the earth, surrounded by ocean, is not equivalent in terms of compensation for them. Her words saying that sarvESvaran’s divine hill is thiruvEngadam is indeed surprising.

vyAkyAnam

mulaiyO . . . – these words are best said after reaching a certain stage [in the development of a girl’s life].

mulaiyO muzhu muRRum pOndhila – it is not that her bosoms have not grown properly; even the place from where they sprout has not been identified [she is such a young girl].

moy pUnguzhal kuRiya – the locks which are dense and beautiful.

kuRiya – they are so short that if the nAyakan wants to arrange the locks into a bun and she, not liking that arrangement, wishes to let the locks down, he will not [be able to] fall at her feet [to beg her to keep them as a bun].

kalaiyO araiyillai – she does not even know as to where to tie her dress.

nAvO kuzhaRum – if the mothers teach her a few words, she would pronounce them indistinctly, like gibberish. They would then teach her a few simple words such as “iyar {father), Achchi (mother)” Her indistinct words sound better than their clear pronunciation.

kadal . . . – when parASara bhattar was explaining this pAsuram, his disciple, nanjIyar told him “he (AzhwAr) says that all the other limbs have not developed well. But he has spoken about the greatness of eyes alone. This appears contradictory” to which bhattar responded saying “It is not that way. Even here, he has stated only the condition of under-development”. “How is that?” “At a small age, the eyes will see objects fully; at a youthful stage [adolescent age], the eyes will see through glance only. Hence, here too AzhwAr is speaking of very young age only” The splendour in her eyes is such that even if the entire earth, surrounded by ocean, is given as a compensation, it will not be a match.

miLirum – even if the waves keep pushing against the shore, they cannot cross it. This is similar to that. When united with nAyakan, a girl will look at him with tenderness and love. Unlike that, this girl would look at her mother and her beloved, equally.

ivaL paramE – Is it apt for her age? It is because of her friends, just as it has been mentioned in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 3-7-2 “sAyvilAdha kuRundhalai” (even though they are young without any shyness or reverence, my girl is joining with a few girls and appears like one possessed).

perumAL malaiyO thiruvEngadamenRu – is it apt for her age to disregard para and vyUha forms of sarvESvaran and focus on archA form, and that too saying that thiruvEngadam is the divine hill for his residence? vEdhas set out to measure one quality, the joy of sarvESvaran, and returned empty handed. But the eminence of archAvathAram is not like that.

kaRkinRa vAsagam – the words spoken by her; alternatively, the words taught by her mothers so that they could hear them from her mouth. thiruvAimozhi 6-5-7 says “ivaL vAyanagaL thirundha” (to appear clearly from her mouth). The verse could be arranged as ivaL paramE perumAL malaiyO thiruvEngadamenRu kaRkinRa vAsagamE in which the meanings would be as given till now; alternatively, the words could be arranged as perumAL malai thiruvEngadamenRu kaRkinRa vAsagamE O ivaL paramE in which case, the sound O ivaL paramE would indicate astonishment.

svApadhEsam (distinguished meaning): Just as it has been mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam bAla kANdam 18-28 “bAlyAth prabhruthi susnigdha:” (amiable since childhood) and thiruvAimozhi 2-3-3 ”aRiyAkkAlaththuLLE” (at that age when I did not know about servitude), this pAsuram speaks about how AzhwAr’s engagement with matters relating to emperumAn has always been his sustaining force.

adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan

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SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Full Series

Previous

avathArikai (Introduction)

In the previous pAsuram, AzhwAr was joyous, praising the incarnation of thrivikrama, by saying “sarvESvaran, who is difficult to attain in SrIvaikuNtam, incarnated here and made himself easily approachable”. While his separation from sarvESvaran when he was in SrIvaikuNtam did not trouble him much, AzhwAr felt very sad due to his separation from sarvESvaran despite his coming here and taking residence. He attained the state of a pirAtti (AzhwAr in feminine form). Though there was a connection with sarvESvaran, since he did not come to see the nAyaki (AzhwAr in feminine form) during night time, which is the apt time for being together, she was unable to bear the distress of being separated from him now, after being united with him earlier. Her cry of “This night is harmful to me” is recited by her mother, in this pAsuram.

Let us go through the pAsuram and its meanings:

aLapparum thanmaiyavvUzhi angangul andhaNNandhuzhAyk
kuLapperum kAdhalil nILiyavAyuLa Ongu munnIr
vaLapperu nAdan madhusUdhanan ennum valvinaiyEn
thaLapperu nINmuRuval seyyavAya thadamulaiyE

Word-by-Word Meanings

val – being cruel
vinaiyEn – as my daughter, who has sins
thaLam – like jasmine buds
peru – having greatness
nIL – without limit (being enjoyable)
muRuval – having soft smile
seyya – reddish
vAy – having lips
thadam – expansive
mulai – she, who is having bosoms
aLappa – to measure
arum – difficult
thanmai – having nature
avvUzhi – more than that kalpam (a day of brahmA)
am – beautiful
thaNNam – being cool
thuzhAykku – for divine thuLasi
uLa – formed in (my) heart
peru – huge
kAdhalil – more than desire
nILiyavAy – being bigger
uLa – is present
(ennum – she will say so)
Ongu – being well grown
munnIr – made of three types of water
vaLam – having richness
peru – being expansive
nAdan – one who has land
madhusUdhanan – destroyer of demon madhu
ennum – she will say so

Simple Translation

(The mother is speaking with reference to the state of her daughter)

My daughter has cruel sins, greatness of a soft smile similar to jasmine buds, reddish lips and expansive bosoms. She says “The night times, which are more cruel than kalpams which are very difficult to measure, are longer and bigger than my desire which is present in my mind for the cool, divine thuLasi. madhusUdhanan has the expansive earth which is surrounded by ocean, which is formed from the three types of water and which is huge”.

vyAkyAnam

aLapparum thanmaiyavvUzhiyam kangul – night times, which are as long as praLayam (deluge) are difficult to measure even for sarvESvaran who measured with his divine feet the immeasurable entities too. If it is possible for him to measure them, wouldn’t he have appeared during the night? These nights have as their nature, the quality of being immeasurable.

Uzhiyam kangul – Uzhik kAlam (deluge) is the proof that this night is indeed of long duration.

vyAkyAthA raises a query: Is it not possible to recite a pAsuram on that which cannot be measured? He answers that himself, saying . . .

andhaNNandhuzhAy . . . . – Just as it has been mentioned in thiruvAimozhi 10-10-10 “adhaniR periya en avA” (you, with your desire, surrounded me who has a huge desire to attain you). AzhwAr’s desire pervaded even sarvESvaran. vEdham returned empty handed, after trying to measure the joy of sarvESvaran, as mentioned in thaiththirIya upanishath “yathO vAchO nivarthanthE”. The same is true of this [measuring the length of night] also. bruhadhAraNya upanishath could only say in the negative when trying to describe sarvESvaran, saying “nEthi nEthi” (he is not like this), but could not define clearly that he is like this. andhaNNandhuzhAy – the garland on his divine shoulders. Those divine garlands have the power to control over everything in my mind. These nights are larger than the affection that I have for those garlands.

Ongu munnIr vaLapperunAdan madhusUdhanan ennum – am I distressed because I am outside his boundaries of reign? Am I distressed because he is powerless? He is the lord of the opulent land which is surrounded by ocean which contains three types of water (water from rivers, water from springs and water from rains).

madhusUdhanan – he is the destroyer of demon madhu who was like a weed for the entities which were to be protected [sarvESvaran’s followers]. Am I suffering because I am not connected to sarvESvaran? Am I suffereing because he is incapable of destroying my enemies?

valvinaiyEn – if her beauty [these are the words of nAyaki’s mother] were to be considered, there is no need for being distressed like this. The reason for her suffering, when actually it should he who should be suffering for not being together with her when she is so beautiful, is only because of my sin. This is similar to bharathAzhwAn feeling distressed about what happened in ayOdhyA which resulted in SrI rAma leaving for the forest, said that this is “math pApam Eva” (only because of my sin).

What is the reason for the mother saying that it is her sin which is the reason for the nAyaki’s suffering?

thaLapperu . . . – Is there any deficiency in the nAyaki’s physical form? thaLappu has got shortened to thaLa. thaLappu denotes something similar to the buds of jasmine, something which is difficult to obtain. Just as it has been mentioned in SrI rAmAyaNam AraNya kANdam 64-77 “purEva mE chAru dhathim” (sIthAppirAtti who had a beautiful row of teeth), it is the smile which is desired by the nAyakan and which melts his heart wherever he goes.

nIL muRuval – it is not the boisterous laughter of narasimhap perumAL; it is the gentle smile of a lady. However, an entity must be available like this. The word nIL refers to the enjoyability of that smile.

seyya . . . – having reddish lips which will be suitable for that gentle smile. Alternatively, since the next word spoken about is thada mulai, referring to the hugeness of her bosoms, the word seyyavAy could be added to thadamulai to make it as seyyavAy thadamulai as a single word, in which case it would refer to the straightness of the bosom.

thadamulaiyE – due to the separation from sarvESvaran, the bosom appeared like the ear of corn which has drooped. It appeared that the time frame set by the nAyakan was insufficient.

svApadhESam (distinghished meaning) – this refers to the words of SrIvaishNavas who speak of the distress of separation caused by the incongruence of the connection and knowledge of true nature of AzhwAr with the time suitable for enjoyment.

adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan

archived in http://divyaprabandham.koyil.org

pramEyam (goal) – http://koyil.org
pramANam (scriptures) – http://granthams.koyil.org
pramAthA (preceptors) – http://acharyas.koyil.org
SrIvaishNava education/kids portal – http://pillai.koyil.org